Prologue

“Dad where are we going?”  Catherine asked quietly.

“Between the trees, you see that warehouse, that’s where, now when we get there don’t say a word, and when we get done running, do whatever you have to to stop breathing loudly.  Got it.”

She nodded, it had been a hard day in the fields and she was to exhausted to speak.  They took off jogging at first, then at her father’s urging, they speed up to full tilt, when they got there she covered the bottom half of her face to conceal her panting.

After they entered through a small window, her father pointed to the opposite wall.  Her imagination ran wild, what could create something like that, she wondered.  There was something there but it was indescribable.  A swirl of silver colors, constantly moving.  She turned to her father and heard what he said but couldn’t understand it or see him say it.

While they were there in the warehouse, there seemed to be something there that made their minds tell them not to speak, or disaster would strike.   When Catherine looked at her father, he held out his hand.  Taking it calmed the panic she felt starting to surge through her veins.

Suddenly they were flung against the wall opposite to the none existent one.  Earlier they had been standing on boxes, now she looked at what she was sitting in, bugs, and not just your average, slimly gross-you-out bugs; never had she seen anything so disgusting, she didn’t even know where these things could be placed on the globe.

Hearing her father groan, she went to his side and he started to speak,  “Well Catherine it’s your turn, I thought I’d have awhile to teach you all you need to know, but I guess not.  I need you to memorize this passage.”  He handed her a piece of paper “A man born and banished for his appearance, the women of the same world leave with their husbands, the man is strong, he will protect them, for this he will be accepted again, but through the portals was too exhausting for him, he stayed, a women of the counter world held him and made him better, they had a daughter and a son, and for 17 generations that is how it went, alternating the first born between male and female, each gaining more strength to return back, each that wasn’t meant to go, dying secretly and strangely, only their oldest seeing it, and hoping that as they went their child would be the one to return and correct this disease that now clogs our world.”

She looked at him as he spoke again.  “It could be you Catherine, I know you aren’t prepared for it, but you will have the help of a boy who will claim something amazing about you, the circlet I gave you, in the loop goes this purple stone, you know what to do with that one, also this green one and this white one, never use these until it comes to you in your dreams, I have to go now honey, maybe I’ll see you on the other side.  Tell your mother and brother the truth, Timothy will believe you, I’m not so sure about Edith, and tell them I love them, and know that I love you.”  He coughed up blood, she knew he couldn’t last much longer, and as tears wet her cheeks he recovered enough energy to say one last thing.  “Your turning eighteen next year, after that, things get really wired.  Remember, Aphecelle is over the horizon and...”  He didn’t say any more, she heard sirens in the background, and figured they weren’t coming here.

Her name is Catherine Sonja Dominick, she has light auburn hair just past her waist, her eyes are an amethyst hazel and she is the tall daughter of a country in bonds.  So begins THE QUEST FOR APHECELLE.

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