Flair

J.L. Platt

Description

There is a lot of magic at work in that necklace, Ashia said, "and I'm not sure all of it is good." Hidden away for years in the remote forest of the southern country of Xamalie, the Deluvias tried to keep their daughters free. Thrown into the war after they are discovered, Kelly and Leandra Deluvia are assigned the task of rescuing their dads from the western country, Temoragu. With help from some unlikely sources, the teens start an epic journey as Kelly unlocks the power within her as she discovers what it means to be a Flair.

Sujets

• Fantastique
• Epic Fantasy
• Epic
• Fiction
• Fantasy

Informations

• Publié par: Outskirts Press
• Date de parution: 02 octobre 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781977204219
• Langue: English

Extrait

Flair
All Rights Reserved.
Copyright © 2018 J.L. Platt
v5.0

This is a work of fiction. The events and characters described herein are imaginary and are not intended to refer to specific places or living persons. The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author and do not represent the opinions or thoughts of the publisher. The author has represented and warranted full ownership and/or legal right to publish all the materials in this book.

This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the express written consent of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Outskirts Press, Inc.
http://www.outskirtspress.com

ISBN: 978-1-9772-0421-9

Cover Image by J.L. Platt

Outskirts Press and the “OP” logo are trademarks belonging to Outskirts Press, Inc.

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA


CONTENTS
Kelly
Leandra
Kelly
Nicholas
Kelly
Nicholas
Kelly
Leandra
Kelly
Edan
Kelly
Nolan
Kelly
Nicholas
Edan
Kelly
Aerlene
Kelly
Patrick
Leandra
Kelly
Ashia
Leandra
Edan
Kelly
Redding
Kelly
Cal
Nolan
Redding
Kelly
Jones
Cal
Kelly
Ashia
Kelly
Leandra
Kelly
Jones
Kelly
Cal
Kelly
Leandra
Kelly
Jax
Aerlene
Kelly
Cal
Kelly
Leandra
Kelly
Jax
Kelly
Patrick
Kelly
Todd
Kelly
Redding
Kelly
Leandra
Kelly
Aerlene
Kelly
Redding
Ashia
Kelly
Nolan
Leandra
Aerlene
Kelly
Redding
Aerlene
Kelly
Todd
Kelly
Patrick
Kelly
Leandra
Kelly
Leandra
Kelly
Nolan
Leandra
Kelly
Leandra
Aerlene
Redding
Kelly


KELLY

As Kelly ran, she fought with herself to keep her expectations low. Lower than low. Nonexistent, low. Unfortunately for her, she was losing that battle, just like she lost that battle every day for the past three years. Sweat was pouring down Kelly’s back. Her hair was clinging to the back of her neck. Her legs strained against the speed she was asking them to carry, but she didn’t care. Well into her second hour of running, she was thankful that it was a chilly morning. Heart pounding, she sucked in wind as fast as she could. Would today be it? The day that she finally found someone ?
The trees and flowers around her were in full summer bloom, but it was not the pleasing distraction that it sometimes was. She did occasionally enjoy seeing the flowers in the bushes as she ran by, but those days were growing farther and farther apart. Neither she nor her cousin had ever met someone other than their parents, and they were growing nervous as a sense of foreboding grew. Determined to find someone, Kelly concentrated all of her effort on pushing past this last climb. She could see the summit, now. Slightly light-headed from the pace she demanded of herself threatened to slow her down but she still refused to relent. She had to know.
With one final push, Kelly broke through the last bit of trees and stopped. Clasping her hands together over her head, she breathed deep and tried to refill her lungs with the air they so needed. Once she got her breathing under control, she stared out over the valley. Rather than be covered by trees, as the path was, the valley was home to several flowering bushes and tall grass. There was a small pond that looked to be the home of many fish, judging by the cloud of insects above the water and the ripples on the surface. The one thing that she did not see, was a human being.
“What?” she screamed, her voice causing a few birds in a nearby tree to take flight. “NOBODY!”
Kelly tried to make sense of this. How was it possible for her family to live in the woods with nobody else around them? More importantly, how could her dad and uncle be serving in a war in this land if there was no one to fight? Kelly knew they must exist; Leandra and her saw their dads come back countless times bloodied and bruised, sometimes worse, before Leandra’s mom healed them. It happened regularly. But how?
“Where are they?” she asked, her hazel eyes searching the scene in front of her.
She knew about the war in theory. Her aunt told her and her cousin about it every morning in the daily lesson. Kelly knew all about the war—when it started, who was fighting whom, how long it had been going on. Everything really, except where it was fought.
Her relatives tried to satiate Kelly’s questions any time she felt bold enough to ask that question. We have a safe house was the current reason being given to her, but she heard several over the years— We don’t live by anyone else, We are in hiding, and on days that she really annoyed them, We’re keeping you safe.
Safe. With no one around their home, her family certainly had that response right. They kept her and Leandra so safe that they hadn’t met anybody else in either of their seventeen years of living.
Her dad and uncle left a week ago. They walked out the door and then they were gone. Kelly took off for her morning run not even five minutes after they departed, but she didn’t find them. She raced off in the direction they left in, but she never caught them. How did they do it? Kelly tried to catch them each time they departed for a mission and each time, she failed. She never got close. How could that be? Kelly was the fastest runner in the family. She should have been able to catch them at least once in all of her tries over the past two years.
“I will find somebody next time,” Kelly promised, giving one final fleeting glance across the land below. She may not have found someone today, but she refused to admit defeat. With unwavering determination, she turned around and started the run back to her home.



LEANDRA

“Leandra! Time to get up!”
Leandra Deluvia groaned and shoved her head deeper into the pillow. She hated mornings, but that never stopped any of her relatives from waking her at sunrise. Today it was her mom, but it could be her dad or uncle, too. Before her aunt was killed, it was sometimes her. That was how it was for the past decade. For the past ten years, Leandra was forced to rise with the sun to train. Ever since she and her cousin discovered the weapons arsenal in the back bedroom of their small home when they were seven.
“I hate summer,” Leandra grumbled into her pillow. “Why can’t the sun sleep in?”
“You hate mornings ,” she heard Kel chuckle as she stretched.
Kel was Leandra’s younger cousin. Both teens were seventeen. Their birthdays were only eight days apart. Though they were cousins, they lived in the same home, out in the woods. Nobody lived around them. Leandra knew that because she didn’t know anyone other than the family she lived with and because that was what Kel told her. She liked to run and even she said the same thing. They were isolated. Completely.
Shaking her head, Leandra scrunched her face up at her cousin. “Don’t act so high and mighty; you don’t like mornings any more than I do.”
“What makes you say that?” Kel asked, flicking an eyebrow up. “I’ve been on a run already this morning. What have you done?”
Leandra scowled. She was about to give that question the retort it deserved when her mom appeared in the doorway.
“Leandra! Did I or did I not tell you to get up?”
“Yeah, Leandra?” Kel teased, “How come you’re still in bed? It’s time to seize the day!” And with a grand gesture, Kel tore the warm blanket off of her.
“That’s it!” Leandra roared, springing to her feet. Her arms were outstretched to try and grab Kel, but the move was too slow. Leandra was rarely able to catch Kel off guard. A large part of the reason for that was because her cousin was an avid runner. Just like their dads, she was fast and could run for a really long time. Leandra could run for a long time, too, but she was slow. Painfully slow, when compared to everyone else in the family. Kel scampered off to the kitchen, uncaught, as always and Leandra slowly followed her. As she walked through her clean but modest home, she wished she was quick enough to catch Kel. If she were, then her cousin would have literally no chance of survival, because Leandra was a highly trained Warrior. Not that she was allowed to tell Kel that. For whatever reason, her parents forbade her from revealing that she knew how to fight. They also gave her explicit instructions to never engage in a fight with her cousin. Leandra didn’t understand what the big deal would be if she did beat up Kel. It wasn’t like she would cause permanent damage or anything; she just wanted to rough her up a little so that Kel would respect her more. What would be so bad about that?
“When are our dads getting back, again?” Leandra asked, completely ignoring the smug look coming from Kel’s hazel eyes.
“Their mission should be completed by the end of the week.”
Her mom, Regan, was a private individual. Leandra sometimes wondered how her parents met, because her dad was not a private individual. If it weren’t for the fact that Leandra was a carbon copy of her mom with her full blonde hair and bright blue eyes, she might have thought she were adopted. Unlike Leandra and her mom, Kel was a brunette, like everyone else in the family.
“It will be good to have Dad and Uncle Nolan home,” Kel said, taking a drink of water. “Our home feels empty when they are gone.”
“That it does,” Leandra agreed. Finally turning to face her cousin, she asked Kel, “So how was your run?”
“Uneventful,” Kel frowned. “Again.”
Kel liked to run. That was one of the biggest differences between her and Leandra. To Leandra, running was tiring and boring. There was nothing to focus on. To Kel, running was mindless. She told Leandra once that running allowed her to think a