Two Shadows: The Chosen One

Introduction

Without her mother, Samantha is lost. Everything that she knows about her life is changing. Strange people, places, and creatures are taking over. Who can she trust and who should she fear? This is not how she wants to spend the rest of her life, running from those who want her and hiding from those who want her dead! There are two worlds, and only the one who is chosen has the power to reunite the two Clans—the one whose destiny will either bring them together or tear them apart. Samantha didn’t ask to be the Chosen One, nor did she ask for her future to be torn in two different directions, but with her will and grace, she can overcome anything. With her friends by her side, the possibilities are endless.

Table of Contents

1. The Meeting

2. The Drive and the Mall

3. Schedules and Classes

4. School and Lunch

5. The Ride Home

6. The Dance

7. Consequences

8. The Plan

9. Recovery and Mysteries

10. Mirrors and Moons

11. Home Again

12. Sweet 16

13. The Book

14. The Vision

15. Truths, Friends, and Food

16. Friends or Foe

Chapter 1

The Meeting

I sat looking out over the small dimly lit town. Wow, this sure is beautiful I thought to myself.

In the distance, as the sun was setting, I could see the far reaching hills. I barely heard the sound of the car coming up the gravel drive. I figured it must be Dad coming up to get me. He always came up the butte to bring me home when I stayed out too late. I struggled to move out of the cross legged position I had been sitting in and stand up. My legs were shaking under the weight of my small frame. I walked to the edge of the cliff and leaned over the railing. I wanted to take in all that I could before we went back to town. As my mind busied with all sorts of thoughts, I saw a flash of headlights and heard the car engine turn off. I could barely see Dad stepping out of the car.

My father was considered a hottie and a good catch by many women over the age of 20. He was strong, but not too muscular, and though he was in good shape, he concealed it under his baggy clothes. He was clean cut, but still had a rugged appeal. His prior military experience gave him a strong, determined stance. My friends would get all weird around him, but to me he was just Dad.

Sam, are you ready to go home yet?

Dad wouldn’t allow me to walk home after dark. He would rather I sat up here alone than walk the long path down to the house. I really feared nothing, but he was so protective. With my mother gone, I felt like I was all he had left. Meredith, my stepmother, wasn’t much of a companion, as she was gone all the time. Anyway, what was there to fear here in my small town? Nothing ever happened—no kidnapping, no murders, or anything of the sort. I felt insulated. Everyone knew everyone, and if you did something bad, news of your misdeed would travel to your parents before you reached home.

Yes, I’m ready. Let’s go, I replied with a sigh.

I moaned as I snapped out of my reminiscence. My legs still tingling, I struggled to walk to the car. The pins and needles sticking in my foot were enough to make me hop a bit in an attempt to make the pain stop. As I hopped along, I stumbled, catching my balance by grabbing a small tree near the edge of the cliff. A few more steps and I might have fallen off the edge. There was a small gap between the tree and what was left of the railing; part of it had fallen off some time ago. I wondered whether it would ever get fixed.

Then I passed a large pine tree that seemed to grow a foot wider every year, and suddenly, the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. Out of nowhere, I saw a dark shadow fly by. I nearly jumped out of my skin; I jumped just high enough for my hair to get caught on a tree branch.

Ouch, ouch, ouch!

I felt like I was dangling from the branch by my hair. It was a battle between me and the branch; who would win? How did I always manage to get myself into these positions? I stood on my tip toes, trying not to put added pressure on my hair, and I reached up to untangle the mess.

Dad, are you going to help or not? What was he waiting for? Couldn’t he see that I was in pain? Dad appeared to be watching something, but I was not sure what it was. For a moment, my mind drifted back to the shadow. Maybe he saw the same thing I’d just seen. What was that thing? I’ve seen some strange things in the past, but this shadow gave me an odd feeling. Whatever the thing was, it must’ve been large, because its shadow had blocked out the stars.

Sam, are you okay? Dad finally snapped out of his daze and noticed that I needed help. He walked up to me cautiously, as if he sensed something was about to happen. He reached up and started to untangle my blonde knots from the wayward branch. It seemed like it was taking forever to free my hair. Once he finished, Dad shook his head at me as if to stay that I was a dork.

I made my way over to the car. I decided to walk slowly, being careful to avoid other potentially adversarial trees. I reached for the car door and looked around once more to make sure nothing was there. It seemed the night was growing darker, if that was even possible. There were suddenly no stars visible in the sky; it was if I was in a void. Sometimes these strange occurrences made me wonder if I should be afraid to come to the butte alone. This was not the first time I had seen strange things, and while it never seemed to bother me before, this was becoming a frequent occurrence. Rumors had gone around about people seeing large wolves around the borders of our small town. Maybe that was what was prowling around here tonight.

The drive home was silent as always, except for the low-playing classic 80s music on the radio. The quiet time Dad and I shared allowed us to calm down and clear our minds. Dad was not big on talking, anyway. He usually zoned out after about the third word I said. He called my endless talking my girlie mumbo jumbo and said that it was a great way to go to sleep. Of course, I knew he would miss it if I didn’t talk to him at all.

We pulled into the driveway, and I could see the beautiful sparkling stars in the sky again. It seemed strange that they were visible now, but while on the butte, the sky had grown so dark that they disappeared. I made my way out of the car and walked over to open the garage for Dad. I used every ounce of strength to heave up the heavy door. Dad believed it was good exercise and we did not need an automatic door opener, but I begged to differ. I told him all the time that we needed some modern conveniences, but he didn’t care.

The funny thing was that I didn’t even know why Dad worried about parking in the garage. His beat up, old 1986 station wagon with over 100,000 miles on it was not going to be damaged by the weather. He carefully drove into the tightly packed garage, and while I stood outside, I wondered why I had to be subjected to this slave labor. My dad insisted on having a clean garage, but it was always full to the brim because my stepmother never threw anything away. I would laugh at the fact that Dad had tennis balls hanging from the ceiling, so that when he was parked at just the right angle, the balls would rest on the windshield on the driver’s side. I think he treated it like a game to see how quickly he could get into the garage and be parked perfectly. Once in the garage, you would have to wedge yourself out of the car, because every box had its place, and they were all spaced evenly throughout the space. He must have measured every inch of the garage to make it this perfect; he could tell if anything had been moved, even just an inch. Dad would leave just enough room so you could inch out of the car sideways, shut the door, and then squeeze back to the entrance to the house. Fortunately, on my side, he would leave a little extra room because Meredith, my stepmother, would need to get out without messing up her hair or clothes. I think it had probably been about three years since I had actually ridden into the garage, as that was about the time that I grew tall enough to reach the garage door when it was up. In the beginning, it was fun to get the door, but now, it was boring!

After he parked where he wanted to, I entered the garage and turned to pull the door down by the ragged line hanging from the handle. Dad was just sitting in the car like he was in a trance, and since I was tired, I was not waiting on him to snap out of it. When I walked into the house, I heard a beeping noise that seemed vaguely familiar. The sound was growing increasingly annoying. As I walked through the laundry room and made my way into the kitchen, it dawned on me that what I was hearing was the answering machine. It had been a long time since anyone had left us a message at home. Almost everyone called us on our cell phones. I think Dad kept the home phone for bill collectors and telemarketers. I reached out to press the play button, stumbled over the area rug, and almost fell face first on the floor. I caught myself at the last second by grabbing the handle on the refrigerator. At this point, I had used it so many times to prevent myself from a fall that the handle was barely hanging on. Dad kept telling me that if it came off, he would deduct the cost of a new refrigerator from my allowance. I knew he was joking, but he was such a penny pincher and did not buy anything new unless he had to. It seemed the older I was getting, the clumsier I was becoming. I was not sure how I had stayed in one piece so far. I pressed play on the answering machine and prayed to hear some funny sales pitch to lighten my mood.

Sam, it’s Sarah. I just wanted to remind you that school starts next Monday and we have to pick up our schedules this Friday. Call me ASAP! Let me know what you’re planning. Talk to you later. Bye! Now, this was Sarah’s third message; she had already left two others on my cell phone to remind me about the same thing. Did she think I could forget about school? As if she really needed to call me three times!

I would call her back later; I just wasn’t motivated to talk with her now. I headed upstairs to check out my clothes. Maybe if I stared at my stuff long enough, something would magically appear that was not there before. Wouldn’t that be nice, if it really worked that way? I guessed there was nothing to worry about. Dad always made sure I got enough money to buy a few outfit every couple of months. He always said it was better to buy a little bit at a time than a big pile of stuff that would go unworn.

After about a half-hour of searching and complete indecision on what to wear the first day of school, I decided that tomorrow, I would take Sarah and go shopping in Bend. Bend, Oregon, was a large town within a three-hour drive from where we lived, and it was the best place to shop. The town was small, but larger than Klamath Falls, Oregon, or Kfalls as we call it. I needed more than the big box stores to get my style together. We would drive the long distance to get the best deals. Bend had some great new shops, and I knew Sarah would love to go for the ride.

I seamlessly planned every detail of the trip so that when I called Sarah, she would have no reason to panic. Sarah had her license, so I could drive with my learner’s permit as long as she was with me. Just think, in a few short months, I would have my license. I had my money from the savings account/trust fund that my mother had set up for me when I was little. I still had to get permission from my over-protective Dad to borrow his car. It was too late now, but I could call Sarah first thing in the morning.

I realized it was getting late and I needed some sleep. I quickly grabbed my favorite PJs, brushed my teeth, and hopped into my nice, soft, fluffy bed. I loved to snuggle in and act like I was at some luxurious resort. I gently rolled over and turned off the light.

I must have fallen asleep right away, because the next thing I knew, I was waking up to the sun shining through my open window and the birds singing their good morning songs. Sometimes, I just wanted to shoot the little noisemakers out of the trees. They could really interrupt my beauty sleep. I lay there staring out the window. As the cool breeze whisked across the room, I saw an object out of the corner of my eye. It was the dinosaur mobile I had made in third grade, spinning in the air. Third grade seemed so long ago. Mom was my inspiration for the mobile, because she always took me to museums and places where we could explore nature. Oh, the fun we used to have searching for fossils and collecting rocks! I missed my mom. She really meant the world to me, but now, all I had were my memories.

I rolled over and looked at the clock. It was 9 a.m.! Oh my gosh! I gasped. I was late! I had planned to wake up at seven so I wouldn’t have to rush. I jumped up as fast as I could and rapidly ran an oversized brush through my long hair with one hand while I brushed my teeth with the other hand. I suddenly remembered that I still needed to call Sarah to confirm my shopping plans. There was no way I could make this three-hour drive without her. Plus, with only a learner’s permit, Dad was not going to let me take the car. She was going to kill me! She loved to shop, but she needed way too much time to get ready.

It took at least 10 minutes to get to Sarah’s, and she was always