Centhin: The Opening - Erin Riordan (free e books to read online txt) 📗

first met Kimoshu. He looked in a suitcase someone had placed at the edge of his bed and changed into the yellow T-shirt and white shorts he found there. He brushed his teeth and combed his hair in the master bathroom, then walked outside to stretch in the morning light. Kimoshu was a panther – no wings.
“Hi Joey!” Dalen called, jogging up to him. “Kyros wants to see you on the second floor of the Commons house.”
“Alright. Thanks Dalen,” Joey said.
Dalen nodded with a grin and took off, towards the sword fighting clearing.
Joey nervously walked towards the Commons house, cautious as to why the director needed to speak with him.
Am I in trouble? he thought. He recounted the past events in the last two days he had been in the safe haven. It didn’t seem like he had done anything to be punished for. Unless he was talking about the earlier battle, but according to Eliana that was a normal event here. Joey was puzzled.
He entered the Commons house and made his way up the stairs to the second floor. Kyros was waiting for him, sitting at the head of a long table in a relaxed position.
“Joey, welcome. Study the posters for a moment so I can gather my thoughts,” Kyros instructed.
Joey turned to the wall to his right and looked at a painting. It depicted an enormous red fox fighting a dull brown hawk, equally enormous. The setting was a beach. The waves were crashing at unbelievable heights and lightning flickered in the stormy gray sky. In the left hand corner was a name. Joey leaned in closer to read it. The name was Weltros.
Joey looked to the left of the painting and saw a list of all the cabins in the haven. Joey read it:
I. Commons House
II. House of Large Cats
III. House of Divine Forms
IV. House of Dogs
V. House of Small Birds
VI. House of Large Birds
VII. House of Small Cats
VIII. House of Fish
IX. House of Fox
X. House of Owls
XI. House of Rodents
XII. House of Dark Forms
XIII. House of Bears
XIV. House of Insects
XV. Uncertain House
XVI. House of Sea Mammals
XVII. House of the Ocean
XVIII. House of Tree Mammals
XIX. House of Arachnids
XX. Burial House
The houses were arranged in this order, Joey realized. Looking out a window, he saw the Burial House. He thought he knew what was in there.
“Alright, Joey. Come over here. Please, sit,” Kyros said. After Joey had sat down across the table from Kyros he continued, “I realize that this is only your third day here in our little safe haven. But you have already done so many things. You’ve battled with your Creature; allied your cabin to the winning side, and I don’t mean to be taking sides; and you’ve trained with one of my best swordsman, Dalen. You’ll someday be quite an accomplished child.”
Joey was stunned. He had thought he was going to be lectured, not praised.
“Uh, thank you, Kyros,” Joey stammered.
“But I didn’t call you up here to be praised, I have some things I need you to do,” Kyros said. “Actually, you only have to listen. I have to tell you some things about this place. Are you ready for my speech?”
Joey nodded, grinning alongside Kyros.
“Alright then. Everyone here has had training. You need to be trained so that you will be able to live. You will train in athletics, – including running, jumping, climbing, etc. – sword fighting, artisanship, and fighting Shædems and other monsters. You may train with any of our senior members. They should be happy to help. Now go, maybe you could practice more sword fighting with Dalen this morning, then get your breakfast. You are dismissed.”
Joey left with a respectful nod to Kyros and went to the sword fighting clearing.

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Over the next month, Joey trained. He had help from Dalen; the head of the house of Large Birds, Rolond; Eliana; Kyros; and Keira. Kimoshu trained alongside Joey. That month had been very hard on Joey, but also very strengthening. His arms, legs, and chest were well-muscled and his technique in sword fighting had improved drastically. Kimoshu had been changed as well. She was faster now, and she put more thought into every move she made. Joey happily felt that they had improved together, as a team.
But he never forgot those red eyes. The entire month Joey had spent away from the clearing in which he and Eliana had first battled. The two eyes interrupted his dreams every night. He’d usually awoken screaming.
Joey had already trained with Dalen in sword fighting and fist fighting that morning, and trained in art and healing after lunch with Keira so he decided to ask Gelp to go swimming in the lake. He had found out from Rolond that there was a blue lake on the other side of a small hill that had been used for training before. But Joey didn’t want to train right then, he just wanted to hand out with his friend for a while. The two plus Eliana had become close friends over the course of the month and did almost everything together.
Joey found Gelp lying on his back in the grass, looking up at Fælon joyously.
“Fælon has gotten so much stronger. I think he’s ready to take on any monster now,” Gelp said happily. He rose and brushed off his jeans. He studied Joey’s face. “You want to do something, don’t you? Something besides training. I know how you feel. Let’s do it!”
“Okay. I just had the idea that we could go to the lake and swim for a while,” Joey replied.
“Great! See ya’,” he called over his shoulder, racing towards the lake. Joey grinned and took off after him, Kimoshu running gracefully at his right.
Joey was at the top of the hill now, looking down at the lake. He couldn’t see Gelp anywhere. Then, a hand pulled him into a bush, and another clamped itself over his mouth. He turned his head to see Gelp sitting there.
Gelp whispered, “Sh. Eliana’s down there. Come on, let’s look. And be quiet!”
Joey nodded and followed Gelp through the bushes until they were only about twenty feet from the shore. In between them and the water was Eliana, her back to them. Gelp’s Creature had turned into a mouse so Joey motioned for Kimoshu to do the same. She looked displeased with the weak shape.
Joey turned his attention back to Eliana. She was down on one knee, bowing her head and chanting. Cæma had bowed her head and was not moving so much as a twitch. Then, the strangest thing happened.
Suddenly, there was darkness. A ring of hills surrounded the lake. Anything outside the hills was light but inside the ring, it was night-time black. Then, the moon reflected on the surface of the lake, even though there was no moon overhead. Cæma stood and leaped into the lake, disappearing under the surface. A silver figure floated out of the water and spoke to Eliana. She was vaguely humanoid.
“Eliana. I have tried and failed to help you. You must bear the curse a while longer,” the figure said.
Eliana looked up. “Is there nothing you can do?”
“I am sorry, young one. I have sent my best spirits into the world to look for the remedy but alas, none have returned with success,” the figure said sadly.
Eliana sighed dejectedly. “Thank you – I guess – Lady Plephoi.”
Plephoi nodded and disappeared under the water and Cæma leapt out, completely dry. Then, it was light again and Joey and Gelp had to blink for their eyes to adjust, so sudden was the radiance.
Gelp turned to face Joey and said, “Uh, wow.”
Joey blinked and grinned. Gelp was always able to lighten the mood. But Joey still had a lot of apprehension for Eliana. Apparently, she bore a curse.
And he was sure, as a friend, that he would help her.




Chapter 4

Eliana and Cæma stayed kneeling a moment longer and then rose, turning to face the houses. They sprinted away from the lake, not noticing Gelp’s muffled screech.
“I, hate, spiders!” he shivered. “Get your hand off my mouth!”
Joey removed his hand and said, “Eliana could’ve heard you! We would’ve been found out if not for me!” Then he laughed and said, “Amazing. Spiders.”
Gelp punched him on the shoulder and said, “Don’t mess around, man. Those things give me the creeps. Is Eliana over the hill?”
“Yep. Let’s not swim though,” Joey said, remembering the spirit in the water. Gelp paused for a moment in mid-protest and decided that he didn’t want to swim in ghost either.
“Okay Joey, let’s go see the little kid’s training,” Gelp suggested.
“Alright.”
Joey and Gelp walked luxuriously up the hill and towards the clearing where they had seen the red eyes. The only reason Joey was going there was because there would be plenty of people to fight any Shædem off there.
Eight kids were sitting in a semi-circle around Jowg, the head of the house of Bears. He was by far the eldest of the house, 18 years. All his cabin mates were around 6 to 10 years old.
Jowg was having his creature – a white bear named Ruil – perform all sorts of battle moves. The other kid’s bears were cubs, and they were trying to copy Ruil.
“Hi Jowg!” Gelp called, trotting down into the clearing. “We just came to watch for a little bit.”
Jowg snorted. “Don’t you two have better things to do?”
“Actually, no!” Gelp replied cheerily. And he sat down in the grass and patted the ground next to him, motioning for Joey to sit as well.
Jowg sighed, “Very well. Just don’t distract my house!”
Gelp nodded overenthusiastically. Joey groaned.
Gelp and Joey watched Jowg train his pupils for two hours and then they decided to head back to the pavilion for some dinner. Gelp’s belly rumbled, which he was obviously not embarrassed about at all.
Jowg had pushed his house really hard in training. Most of the kids collapsed from exhaustion afterwards. Joey and Kimoshu had a small portion of steak and white rice and then headed cheerily to their house.
This is the first time I’ve gone to sleep happily, Joey thought as he climbed into his beautiful bed. He yawned once and was unconscious soon after.
Joey’s dream-self was in the sky. It was night out and the starts were shining above. It was a quarter moon. He saw a silver light and a red light circling each other. Then, the red one attacked, and the two fought.
Joey yelled, “Stop it!” But of course, the lights didn’t listen. Joey kept yelling at them, but the scene was fading. His dream-self soon slipped into sleep, still whimpering, “Stop it.”

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Text: http://www.myselfanand.com/2010/12/near-lnfrared-image-of-the-milky-way-target-name-milky-way-spacecraft-cosmic-background-explorer-produced-by-nasa-this-image-of-our-galaxy-the-milky-way-was-taken-with-nasas-cosmic-bac/
Publication Date: 04-17-2011

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