The Phoenix, Bianca Gray [best books to read now txt] 📗

Prologue


Dearest Phoenix,
I’m sorry I had to die before you were born. It wasn’t by choice. I’m hoping you are reading this when you are 16. After your 16th birthday, I told my daughter, your mother, to give you this letter. You don’t know this but…you are a, well, mythical bird. You are a phoenix. Only one can exist at one time and I too am a phoenix. That is why I’m dying. My grandmother before me was a phoenix too. So on this day, a very hot August day, you will be born, August 21st, noon. I was also born in August at noon. Oh sorry I’m getting off track. You won’t have any training with your new powers so please try to figure them out. You will be able to shape shift into a bird on fire, have the melting hand, control fire, and control ashes. I bid you farewell my dear Phoenix. Remember; be careful, somebody might be looking for you.

Love Your Grandmother,
Phoenix Fire

I folded up my letter and kissed the top of it. I looked up at my son-in-law and smiled weakly. I was sitting in a hospital bed, taking my last breaths. My daughter was in labor, giving birth, in the room next door. My daughter, Margaret, not knowing about the magical world, decided to marry someone I did not approve of. A human. It was going to be very difficult for the little phoenix to have two human parents. I mean, who was going to train her. I handed my son-in-law, John, the letter.
“Remember,” I coughed, “give this to her when she turns 16. Exactly 16. Do you understand?” I asked giving him a stern look. He nodded his head and took my hand. I coughed some more.
“Now, if someone is looking for her, protect her as much as you can. If she dies, we all do,” I said dazed. Everyone who I know thinks I’m crazy which included my son-in-law. John just smiled a knowing smile on his face because he did not believe me. When I said ‘we all do’ I meant all the phoenixes that have ever been born onto this earth. We would all be extinct. I coughed some more. I looked at him weakly. I knew it was soon the end.
“Give my daughter and my granddaughter my blessings and my love,” I whispered. As I took my last breath, I heard the screams of a newborn baby. The next phoenix.

Chapter 1
The beginning

Back, forth, back, forth, I thought as I kicked my legs back and forth on the swing. I felt my chocolate curls bounce on my shoulders. I’m doing it! I’m doing it! I screamed in my head. I looked over to my mother on the playground bench talking to some lady. I smiled my best smile. I was swinging! All by myself!! I looked over at some little girl. I think she was my age and she was concentrating very hard over a pile of rocks. She had tight black curls that framed her little ivory face like vines on a tree. Her cheeks were red from such concentration. Her eyebrows puckered up on her forehead and her little pink tongue was sticking out. It was pure concentration. I bet she can’t swing as good as I can, I thought. So I smiled and slowed down on the swing. I got up and walked up to her. I sat down next to her pile of rocks. She just glanced at me and then went back to concentrating.
“Do you want to have a swinging contest?” I asked. She looked at me more closely.
“No,” she said. Then she looked back at her pile of rocks. I frowned.
“Are you afraid I’ll beat you?” I asked quietly. She looked at me like I was crazy.
“No, I’m a really good swinger,” she said her shoulders straightening.
“Then why won’t you have a swinging contest?” I asked smiling. She glared at me for a moment.
“Fine, I’ll do it!” she exclaimed, pumping her little fist into the air. She smiled a sly smile and sat down on one of the swings. I ran and sat down on the swing next to her.
“One,” I said.
“Two,” she said.
“Three!” we both cried. Then we pumped our little legs as fast as we could. I felt beads of sweat on my forehead. I was a very tiny little girl so while I was pumping my legs, I was slipping off the large swing. So the swing threw me off. For a second, I felt like I was flying. Then I felt my little red shoes touch the ground. I dusted off my red dress and turned to look at a shocked face.
“How did you do that?” she asked. I shrugged.
“I don’t know,” I said. She slowed down her swing and walked up to me.
“My name is Jolie Parker. What’s your name?” asked the girl.
“I’m Mel. Mel Fire,” I said smiling at the girl. I knew we were going to be friends forever. I was five.

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I closed my eyes and felt the sun on my face. It was a beautiful spring day in April. I’ve always loved the heat and I loved to run. It felt like flying. I sat down on the black top during recess and let the sun wash over me like water in a hot bath. Jolie walked up behind me and sat down. So far we were always in the same classes. She looked over to me. I opened my eyes and looked over to her. She was now closing her eyes and waving her hand over the grass. I never understood why she did that. I looked over to Kate. She was the new girl and I guess she was okay. I wasn’t a friend to her though. She had caramel waves and green blue eyes. Her eyes were like the sea. She looked really upset right now though. It was right after lunch and a bunch of mean boys were surrounding her. I walked over to her. When I was in hearing distance, I heard what those boys were saying.
“My mom made me brownies for lunch,” said one boy with a sneer.
“My mom made me cookies,” said another boy.
“My mom made me a cake!” cried a boy with a black shirt. In this heat? I asked myself. I frowned. A boy, it looked like the leader, hit him on his shoulder.
“That’s because it was your birthday,” he said glaring at him.
“So?” he asked confused. I didn’t know what was going on here. I almost turned around when I heard the leader boy’s voice.
“So what did your mommy make you?” he asked in an innocent voice. Everyone knew that poor Kate’s mommy was dead. That was the reason why she moved here.
“My mommy’s dead,” she whispered. One of the boys laughed.
“I’m sorry but I don’t think I heard you,” said the boy who laughed. She whipped her head around at him and glared.
“My mommy is DEAD!” she screamed at him. That’s when I ran. Who was this boy and why was he teasing her? Why were they all teasing her? I ran and slipped through between two boys. All the boys looked at me. The leader came up to me and sneered. I pushed him a little.
“Leave her alone!” I told him. He smiled and pushed me a little harder.
“You’re not the boss of me,” he said. I pushed him harder.
“You’re making her upset!” I said. Then he pushed me even harder. I landed on my butt against the ground. Then I think the ground pushed me up because I was on my feet and I glared at him. I felt heat from the sun and it was boiling inside of me. There was a ball of heat in my heart that kept building and building. I pushed my hands out and let the heat flow through it. I pushed him to the ground. I felt especially proud of myself until I saw his shirt. There were two burnt hand marks on his shirt. The two hand marks looked like they were burning through his shirt and almost touching his skin. I started to panic.
“Does someone have any water?” I cried. Kate somehow appeared a bucket from behind of her.
“I do!” she cried. Then I splashed the leader boy with water. She smiled at me.
“Thank you,” she whispered to me. I smiled back.
“Your welcome,” I said. That was when I became friends with Kate Harrison. I was nine.

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I heard the echo of my footsteps in the big hallway. The floors were marble and made huge echoes in this empty hallway. I was looking for my step-dad when I ran into a girl. Her hair was cut in layers and her hair was a strawberry blonde. It looked like it went up to her shoulders. Her head was in her hands and she didn’t look too happy. I sat down next to her on the bench. She looked up and I saw that her eyes were a dark brown. A darker brown then my eyes. Her face was dotted in freckles but so was everyone else’s these days. She just sighed and put her head back in her hands. I looked around. Don’t talk to her! Don’t talk to her! She’s here for a reason! My head screamed at me but I was curious. I wanted to know why she was in a courthouse. I looked at her hard.
“Why are you here?” I asked warily. She looked at me bored.
“I’m waiting for my trial to say whether I go to jail or not,” she said in a bored tone.
“But why would you go to jail?” I asked her. She looked at me and squinted.
“I wanted to sell cookies to the strangers who work here but they decided to arrest me because one of them was allergic to peanuts,” she said in a sarcastic tone.
“Really?” I said carefully. I think she came from the nut house.
“What do you think?” she asked.
“I think that’s not true,” I said. She gave me thumbs up with fake enthusiasm.
“Ding! Ding! We have a winner. The reason why I’m here is because of my stupid aunt. She thinks it’s illegal to create a hurricane in Hawaii. She doesn’t even have proof except for that stupid video. I mean seriously! I mean I guess the government does want us to be a secret but she’s always been jealous of me. Just because I have the family powers and she doesn’t! Did you know she killed my mom and dad? But no one believes me!” said the girl in frustration. I scooted an inch away from her. She was crazy, I was sure. She stuck out her hand.
“My name is Aria Greene. What’s yours?” she asked. I smiled and shook her hand.
“Mel Fire,” I said. I was thirteen.

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I was packing my books into my backpack. I looked around our big kitchen and saw the envelope. I knew I was only allowed to open it when I turned sixteen. Only 4 more months! I screamed in my head. Only, on my birthday, I have to be at my dad’s house.