The Stone of Atlantis (Full first chapter)
Hey guys! I come to you with my full first chapter! I hope you all like it, and leave feedback in the comments!
My Principal has a Meeting with a Monster
There’s no better way to say it. Dragons are real. I know because I just so happen to live with them, go to a school based upon them, and I share a soul with one of them. I know that you’re probably thinking that this must be really, really cool. Sometimes it is, but most of the time, it’s terrifying.
Before you continue reading my thrilling tale of adventure, I have to warn you: If you get the feeling of Déjà vu whilst reading, throw this book down, and then stomp on it a few times. When you’re done having a fit, find your nymph. She’ll be at your school somewhere, you’ll find her if you’re looking hard enough.
My name is Quinn Marks and I’m twelve years old. When my story started, I was going to HIGH- Houston Institute for (the) Gifted. When they say gifted, they mean giftedly troubled. Take me, for an example. I’m ADHD- Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. I excel at being hyperactive and it’s common for me to flunk my tests. I’m smart, but not in an academic way.
The day started normally. I got up, I got dressed, I brushed my teeth, and frowned at myself in the mirror. My hair is curly brown with these caramel colored highlights mixed into it, and I have no idea how they got there. I’m a tiny kid; I’m four-foot-seven at twelve. I have a claw mark where my cheek meets my jawline. Mom always says it happened when baby me met the neighbors’ dog. I was wearing a red t-shirt about two sizes too big and jeans with my worn out sneakers. I try not to draw attention to myself. My eyes are crystal blue, so lightly colored that they reflect and absorb the colors around me.
I put my hands on my hips and squinted at my reflection. “You, girl, are going to survive today.” I tell myself. “And you won’t get mad, either.” I
I grab my Air Force jacket from my bedpost and tie it around my waist. The jacket was my grandfathers’. I inherited it when he died. I’ve always loved the idea of being a pilot. I’ve always wanted to fly, so I keep Grandpa’s jacket. I don’t care how hot it is, I will have it with me.
I run down the stairs for the normal morning routine- Tell Mom and brother good morning, give them a hug and a peck on the cheek, grab a poptart out of the pantry and head out. We live in a cheap apartment in, you guessed it, Houston. We don’t have much, but we have each other. It’s enough for me, but it wasn’t for my older siblings…
The apartment isn’t far from the school, so I walk there every day. It’s the last day, so I don’t bother bringing a backpack. The morning is humid, the sun is warm, and the early sky is clear. It even looked like an average day. However, even now that wasn’t the case. A lot of kids have been going missing lately and the earth has been shaking- not like the violent earthquakes, but more the shakes that make someone fall over on the street or knock things off tables.
Math, my first period, was boring. It dragged on, minute emphasizing minute, and when the bell finally rang, I almost shed a tear of happiness. E.L.A wasn’t much better. The teacher gave us a form to do, and when we were done, we had nothing else. Science is when things finally get interesting.
The teacher is a elderly woman by the name of Mrs. Parkam. She’s so senile, I can’t even pridict her age. Her skin is like your fingers when you leave them in water for too long- pale and wrinkly. She’s never out of purple. She wore a dark purple blouse today with an even darker purple skirt that ended at her ankles. Her hair is silver and always tied back. She wears dark makeup and dark shoes everyday.
She says she used to be a scientist who studied behaviors, specifically childrens’ behaviors. Today she decided to do one of her “experiments”- She divided her class into groups of four, locked them in the classroom, and watched them from the security cameras in the office. Most people were upset that Parkam would do such a thing, but I was just upset with who she put me in a group with.
The problem was Lindsey Holmer, the stuck up popular kid, the girl who thinks everything should be handed to her on the silver platter. The girl is fake. Everything to her laugh, her hair, her eyelashes, and her friends are fake. Her hair is blond with hair extensions. Her eyes are icy blue and her eyelashes are too long. She wears expensive designer clothes and shoes and shows no shame when she boasts about how rich her parents are. She was orange from the amount of spray-on tanners she uses. So, basically, she’s the kind of girl who gets on everyone’s nerves.
The other two weren’t so bad. There was Stephanie Kingsly, a nice, quiet girl with curly red hair and doe brown eyes. She always has her nose stuck in a book. She’s pale, like she spends most of her time inside.
Then there was Asher Raighns, another quiet kid. He lets his shaggy black hair cover his eyes most of the time, but I know they’re gray. He doesn’t talk much, and he shies away from people. He’s the tallest kind in my class, which makes him look like a giant compared to me.
We were stuck with these people with only a laptop and a book to keep us busy. Earnest to stay away from Lindsey, I sit on the opposite side of her. Stephanie sat beside her and Asher sat beside me. Stephanie snapped up the book and started to read. Lindsey opened the laptop and scrolled through it, obviously bored.
“Well, this is boring.” Lindsey sighs.
“No, it’s very entertaining. You don’t see the circus behind you?” I grumble, laying my head down.
“Very funny, Marks.”
“Shut up.”
Stephanie snorts. “Can you two quiet down, please? I’m getting to a good part.”
Lindsey leans over and snatches the book out of Stephanie’s hands, then closes it so she loses her place. “Whoops,” Lindsey sneers. “You need to look at the real world, anyway.”
I glared at Lindsey. “Like you’re any good example of that. You act like someone’s just gonna hand you everything you need when they aren’t.”
She wrinkled her nose at me. “Who asked you?”
I turn to Asher. “If it comes down to a fight, dude, I’d get out of the way.” I turn my attention back to Lindsey and say sweetly, “Can’t a girl have an opinion?”
“A fight?” Lindsey recoils at the word. “Are you… Are you threatening me?”
“I said if. If you stopped only caring about yourself, you’d hear that.”
Lindsey gritted her teeth. She took a deep breath and regained her sneer. “I’m beginning to see why your dad left, Quinn. He couldn’t deal with you, your mother, and your annoying little brother, so he took the good kids and left.”
I stare at her blankly. Surprise clouded my anger for a couple of minutes, then it kicked into high-gear. “That is none of your business, Holmer!” I shout. You don’t need to know any of this!”
The other kids had turned around and were recording it all with their phones. Some looked shocked. Others were glaring at Lindsey. Some were even crying. Great. If I hate anything, it’s being pitied.
Lindsey stands up and I do the same. I march around to her side of the group and I slap her across the face. My advantages were being a little quicker with my movements, but my disadvantage was that I was so small. I dodge her own slap and dance out of her reach. Once I’m behind her, I yank her hair back. Lindsey’s faster than I thought. She spins around and nails me underneath my left eye.
“That is enough.” The woman of the hour, Mrs. Parkam, who will probably never hear the end of this, stood in the doorway. Took her long enough. “My hypothesis was correct. When two children who are not fond of one another are stuck together without supervision, they revert to violence.”
“Are we going to get in trouble?” Lindsey says worriedly.
“I am not sure of that, and I do not care. Mrs. Birch would like to see all of your group.” Parkam’s heels click against the tile floor as she walks to her desk.
“What did they do?” I gesture to Asher and Stephanie, who are rising from their desks, confused.
“Nothing much, but I believe this visit is unrelated to that little episode. Speaking of which, do not mention this episode to the principal. I do not wish to get in trouble because of you.”
I smirk and glance at Asher. He seems to know what I’m thinking, because he smiled mischievously. “We’ll see.” I shrug, and I walk out of the room.
Stephanie catches up with me. “I’m sorry,” She says.
“What about?” I bite the inside of my cheek. I don’t want her to be sorry for me, no matter what I’m going through.
“I… I didn’t know your Dad died.” Stephanie said hesitantly. “I’ll read every adventure novel you give me, but I never read the paper.
“It’s fine.” I say shakily.
Stephanie looked at me doubtfully, but she sighed and walked ahead. Lindsey was right behind her, and she whipped her head around to glare at me. Asher walks beside me, still smiling.
“Dunno about you, but I’m telling Birch everything. Maybe it’ll keep Parkam from coming back next year.” Asher grins.
“I agree, but what are you hiding your eyes for? I don’t know how you see at all most of the time.” I scowl.
Asher’s smile crumbles. “I don’t like them. They’re weird. I didn’t want people to be afraid of them.. Afraid of me.”
I smile and stop. “You shouldn’t be. If someone doesn’t like it, then they’re just as bad as Lindsey Holmer.” I reach up and push away every tuft of hair covering his eyes. “Besides, they’re cute.” I pull my hand away.
Asher’s cheeks burn. He clears his throat. “Uh, okay. I’ll keep that in mind.”
When we start to walk again, the ground begins to shake. I sigh in annoyance. However, the shaking feels more powerful than usual, like whatever’s causing it is close to us.
“Seriously, these quakes never stop.” Asher gripes.
I’ve been building on this idea for days now. The quakes are more like rumbles to me, like something really heavy is walking around. Not long after these “earthquakes”, a child usually goes missing. “What if it’s not an earthquake? What if it’s a thing?” I test the idea on my tongue.
“What?”
“Watch.” Everytime the earth rumbles, I step, so it looks like I’m causing earthquakes every time I walk. My problem was that I wasn’t in total sync with the rumbling. It was like the whatever-it-is was four legged.
“Whenever this happens, someone gets kidnapped.” I say quietly, looking back at him.
Asher’s eyes widened. “You’re saying that the earthquakes that have been going on for months are from a really heavy animal? And I’m believing you?”
“It’s an idea, and if I’m right, then the whatever-it-is is close, so we need to get to the office to warn Birch.” I say anxiously.
We started to hear the screaming when we were within a yard of the office door. I broke into a run and was about to open the door when Asher put a hand on my shoulder.
“We need a plan,” He whispers.
“We don’t have anything to make a plan with, so we’re doing this Quinn Style- going in following gut instinct.” I turn the knob and walk inside.
The first thing was the smell. I’ve never caught the scent of rotting corpses, but if I had, it would’ve smelled like this. It was so acrid, I had to fight the urge to gag. Once I got over the smell, I saw what was causing it.
It was built like a lion, except bigger. It was the size of two washing machines atop of one another and it was as long as the two washers lying horizontally. It’s tail was as long as the whole body. It had two pointed ears, and it’s gray and black fur was matted with something dark and sticky-looking. A quill-like mohawk sprang up from between it’s ears, about a foot high, and it ended where it’s neck met it’s back. It’s head was as big as a yoga ball, with a narrow snout and huge fangs. It’s paws were the size of basketballs, with claws the size of my hands.
Saying this thing was big was an understatement.
Gangster Lion, or G.L for short, had taken out the fan on the ceiling. It was lying on the ground in pieces. The fan had knocked into the bookshelf, and that had fallen over, making books and broken pottery(Which had been placed for decorative purposes) scattered in the room. The room was dark, with only the window to give us light. However, the blinds were closed, so the room was still quite eerie. The gray carpet was covered in muddy paw prints, which was strange, since we didn’t see any outside.
G.L was circling the desk, saliva dripping from its mouth. Three things were standing on the desk: a terrified Stephanie, an unconscious Lindsey(Who technically wasn’t standing, but she was leaning on Stephanie.), and a very angry woman.
The woman reminded me of Taylor Swift, except she had dark green hair and eyes, was vampire pale, and had pointed ears. She wore a white blouse and jeans with gold sandals. She was confident, terrified, pretty, and strange, all at the same time. Something about her was strangely familiar…
“Go!” She shouted. “This is not your place.”
“The Marker! Give me the Marker and the Stormbringer and these two will not be taken.” G.L’s voice was like nails on a chalkboard. It was a male voice, but it was like he hadn’t used it in years. I guessed he just let his teeth and claws do the talking.
I got a sickly feeling in my stomach when he said “Marker”. However, fretting over words wasn’t the important thing. Making sure that G.L didn’t steal away any more kids? That was important.
I scan the room for anything useful. Unless I wanted to throw books at it or scratch it to death with pottery shards, I was out of luck. The only thing left was trickery.
“Hey!” I shout, being stupid.
“What’re you doing?” Asher whispers behind me.
G.L swiveled his head around. “So this is the legendary Marker? The powerful girl of fate?” G.L cackles. “Why, you are just a runt of a girl! I don’t see why you’re such a problem. And the Stormbringer? Even less promising!”
I grit my teeth, but I force a smile. “Who are you, again? You look so familiar!” What? I like to know the name of my enemies.
“Who am I?!” G.L sounded offended, but it’s hard to read an evil lions’ expression. “Why, I’m the general of the Ichneumons! I am second only to my elder brother! I shake the earth with every step I take!”
“Yeah, yeah, but what’s your name?” I put my hands on my hips to keep them from shaking.
“I am Abaddon!” He roars. “I have only one weakness!”
“What’s that?” I say sweetly.
“Fire!” Abaddon quickly realizes his mistake. “Did I just tell you all my weakness?”
“Maybe. Are all of your kind weak to fire?” I ask kindly. While I had on a sweet mask on the outside, my mind kept asking, why is he telling me all of this?
“Yes. Wait, no! You didn’t hear that!” Abaddon fretted.
This guy’s an idiot. I think. “It’s okay! Like you said, I’m just a runt of a girl! I can’t cause any harm, right?”
Abaddon considers this. “I suppose.”
“You wouldn’t mind if I go find some matches, then, would you?”
“Of course not.”
“Be right back, then!” I bolt out the door, wondering where the heck I’ll ever find matches in a schoolhouse.
I got myself a fifty second head start. Abaddon roared in frustration and bounded after me, which shook the ground pretty badly. I took a sharp left in the hallway, and Abaddon crashed into the wall. I ran into the nearest room and slammed the door shut.
The teachers’ lounge. It had about five bookshelves inside with a white carpet stained from something brown(Coffee, from how strong the place smelled of it.). Two coffee makers sat on a countertop with plastic cups stacked next to them. And, thank God, someone had lit candles and had left the strike-anywhere matches sitting next to it. I had never been so happy to see matches.
In the rush to snatch them up, I knock the box off the table. I quickly pluck up one and push open the door. Abaddon was stumbling around, shaking his head. I used the advantage to run back to the office, where yet another enemy had approached.
It had broken in through the window. The woman lay unconscious while it cornered Stephanie and Asher. It was made completely from stone. It had the wings of a bat and the face of a goblin. It had paws similar to a bears’. It had the body of a wolf, which was an odd and ugly combination.
“We are going to sit right here and wait on the all-powerful general!” It’s voice was so high and squeaky that it made me think it was on helium.
I pick up a book from the toppled bookshelf. “Yeah, well, your general is stupid.” I threw the book and I hit the stone-thing with the edge. I broke off a chunk of stone that looked like the left ear and eye.
Abaddon chose that moment to rudely barge in. His eyes were wide and wild as it took in the situation. Then he purred, “Good job, gargoyle! Let us remove these children, now, eh?”
“Kill that one!” The gargoyle points it’s bear claw at me. I almost burst into laughter; He doesn’t look quite as freaky with a missing ear and eye. “She wasn’t very nice!”
“Well, you’re creepy.” I force myself to frown.
Stephanie looked on the verge of passing out, like Lindsey. She was leaning against Asher dependingly, and speaking of Asher… A metallic smell was coming from him, cutting through Abaddon’s acrid stench. His thunderstorm eyes glared at everything he seemed to hate. Saying he was angry was an understatement.
“We need her, sadly.” Abaddon says wistfully. “We need her on our side, not theirs. Besides, I do not wish to upset Sage.”
The name Sage gives me chills. “Who?” I say shakily.
“Why, your sister!” Abaddon cackled. “You haven’t forgotten her, have you?”
I felt my temper return, overcoming my surprise. I struck the match to ward off Abaddon, but I dropped the match. Thinking on instinct, I swipe down my free hand to grab the match. As soon as the tiny flame touches my hand, my palm catches fire.
I didn’t know that I could do that. I gasped, but the fire hadn’t hurt me. I balled up my palm, and the flame died immediately. My hand was unharmed. The only people who seemed affected were Stephanie, who was pushed to her last nerve and passed out, Asher, who was wearing a shocked expression, and Abaddon, who had pressed himself against the wall in fright.
“Fire maker! Fire maker!” He yelped. “Gargoyle! Get the fainted ones out of here!”
The gargoyle worked fast. It grabbed Stephanie and Lindsey in his bear claws and flew out the window in the matter of five seconds.
“You may have one this battle, you silver-tongued fire maker, but you haven’t won the war.” Abaddon hissed, and he stomped the carpet with his paw. A bathtub-sized tunnel opened, and Abaddon quickly squeezed inside. Once he fully disappeared into the tunnel, it closed up, leaving nothing but a crack the shape of a jagged oval.
For about a minute, we stood there in silence. The unconscious lady started to snore, and I considered fainting myself. Maybe, if I slept long enough, this day would become a dream..
Finally, Asher broke the ice. “What just happened?” Asher said, his voice ragged.
I take a deep breath. “Our lives just changed.”
