Kara
rubbed her temples and leaned on the submerged library’s stone desk,
her eyes unfocused as she stared at the letter she could now magically
read. She didn’t try to tell herself to calm down, to chill out, or to
breathe. Her only thought was of how royally she’d screwed herself over
by walking through that gazebo or lichgate or whatever it was.
She
had walked through a door in a mountain. A ten-by-ten dirt closet had
swallowed her phone. Her pack and stun gun had probably already been
eaten by a bear. She had heard whispers while alone in a massive,
underground library and opened a secret book called the Grimoire, which
was apparently pretty important. She’d discovered a hidden pocket of
Earth called Ourea.
In
an effort to stay calm, she took deep breaths. It didn’t work. Each
breath became a panicked gasp as she tried to figure out what was going
on. Only, she couldn’t figure out what was going on. That’s why she was
panicking.
It was a vicious cycle.
The flick, flick, flick of
the Grimoire’s turning pages stole her focus. The last page lingered in
the air as it fell to reveal a small block of red text on the otherwise
empty beige paper.
I
wish I could have caused no pain or fear, but such isn’t a reality of
life. A treasure has been awoken within you—you are now a vagabond of
Ourea.
She groaned. “Yeah, thanks, I gathered that much. So what happens now?”
The
pages flipped to another image of the hooded figure, but this time he
wore a thick leather band wrapped around his wrist. Spidery red text
adorned the paper beside him. Something was off about the drawing, and
she leaned in for a closer look. It took her a second to realize the
clover pendant in her hand was also drawn into his wrist guard.
The
last blood-red rays of the day poured through the skylight. She sighed.
Her dad’s search party would head out any minute, scanning the ditches
for her body. Oh, he was going to love this story.
She resigned herself to the impending lecture and leaned in to read the red text besides the drawing.
This
is the Vagabond as he was in life. He wrote the observations of his
travels here, creating me over his lifetime. The trials he faced were
treacherous, and you will fare the same. The life of a vagabond isn’t an
easy one.
I
was made to open only for the gifted and the strong. Be patient in the
times to come and trust yourself, for you are worthy of the power here.
Though
it may sometimes seem as if life is decided for us, remember that in
all actions before this, you made the choices which brought you here.
You alone decide where to go next. There is always choice.
“Freaking awesome.” She rubbed her eyes. Apparently, it was her fault she’d been dragged by a root down a dirt closet.
She
fiddled with her locket and looked down once again at the tiny clover
amulet. Its diamond wasn’t blue anymore, though it did shimmer. She slid
it over her head with a quiet sigh, and the clover dangled just above
her collarbone.
“Look, I just want to get home. How do I get out of here?”
The
pages flipped toward the back, where a sketch of the library consumed
the page and more spidery red text described how to open a secret door
in one of the shelves. She lifted the book and carried it with her as
she looked for the way out. At least using the Grimoire was easy enough.
That had to be some small compensation for the unrestrained hell it had
already brought upon her.
Kara scanned the shelves for a few minutes, browsing through titles like The History of Isen Guilds, Earaks are Evil, and even such treasures as All Anyone Will Ever Need to Know about Beer before she finally found The Ways of Peace,
the green cover mentioned in the Grimoire’s instructions. It was the
last on its shelf to survive the gale from earlier, as the rest of its
neighbors littered the floor. She took care not to step on them as she
reached for the green book and pulled, rolling it back on a hinge. The
crack of splitting rock broke across the room.
A
rumble quaked through the library. More books fell. Two shelves pulled
inward on the opposite wall, opening like doors and missing the edges of
the desk by inches. Beyond the confines of her book-lined prison was a
dark cavern, its roof riddled with holes that leaked in the twilight and
dripping lines of rainwater. The broken remnants of a white castle
tower lay against the side of the cave, most of its bricks crushed to
dust.
But Kara had a visitor.
A
brunette looked up from where she knelt on the floor. The fading light
caught the glint of a golden cross in her hand as flowing curls coursed
over her loose white tunic. The stranger paused, watching the library
with narrow eyes, but quickly stood and sneered.
Kara forced herself to swallow the rising sting of fear in her throat. She should’ve just stayed in the stupid library.
“The
writing is flawless. The kingdoms and surrounding landscapes
breathtaking. The Grimoire is a piece of imaginative genius that
bedazzles from the moment Kara falls into the land of Ourea. – Nikki
Jefford, author of the Spellbound Trilogy
Spring 2013 Rankings
#6 Kindle Store | #1 Science Fiction & Fantasy | #1 Epic Fantasy | #1 Sword & Sorcery | #1 Teens
Now an international Amazon bestseller. Fans of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and Eragon will enjoy this contemporary remix of the classic epic fantasy genre.
—————-
Kara Magari is about to discover a beautiful world full of terrifying things: Ourea.
Kara,
a college student still reeling from her mother’s recent death, has no
idea the hidden world of Ourea even exists until a freak storm traps her
in a sunken library. With nothing to do, she opens an ancient book of
magic called the Grimoire and unwittingly becomes its master, which
means Kara now wields the cursed book’s untamed power. Discovered by
Ourea’s royalty, she becomes an unwilling pawn in a generations-old
conflict – a war intensified by her arrival. In this world of chilling
creatures and betrayal, Kara shouldn’t trust anyone… but she’s being
hunted and can’t survive on her own. She drops her guard when Braeden, a
native soldier with a dark secret, vows to keep her safe. And though
she doesn’t know it, her growing attraction to him may just be her
undoing.
For
twelve years, Braeden Drakonin has lived a lie. The Grimoire is his one
chance at redemption, and it lands in his lap when Kara Magari comes
into his life. Though he begins to care for this human girl, there is
something he wants more. He wants the Grimoire.
Welcome to Ourea, where only the cunning survive.
—————-
Novels in the Grimoire Saga:
Lichgates (#1)
Treason (#2)
Heritage (#3) – Available Fall 2013
Illusion (#4) – Available Fall 2014
Genre – Fantasy
Rating – PG13
