Chasing Away the Demons, Kayla Stiles [book club books .TXT] 📗

you by your name! You’re so amazed and ecstatic, you don’t realize someone else arriving until they tap you on your shoulder. You jump a mile into the air and notice that it is the royal catering service. You hold the door open for them, and then follow them inside the palace doors.
     You follow the royal procession into the royal dining hall. Once inside, you gaze about you in awe. Gold seems to be on everything. There are gold plates, gold silverware, gold chairs, and even gold-colored napkins. There are gold inlays in the walls as well as little nooks carved out of the walls to create little shelves for golden statues of crosses and the Virgin Mary. Windows are set high up in the gilded walls, the illuminating light cast from the high sun glinting off of the golden, glittering dining ware.
     You stand there in the middle of the doorway, your jaw long-since dropped from the awe you feel at the sight of the vast dining room. Twenty long tables sit side by side in the room. Table cloths of the finest blue silk lay over each table. A hand is placed on your shoulder, causing you to jump, startled, once again. You turn shyly and see that it is the beautiful Lady Undiel. 
     “Well, well, well. If it isn’t my dear friend. The humble Dietros. I’m glad to see you were able to make it to the grand feast,” Lady Undiel murmurs in that soft, gentle whisper of a voice of hers.
     Before you can get a single syllable out, a cool, low voice utters from behind you, “My, my, my. And who is your…eh…friend, Lady Undiel?”
     Turning slowly, you see the youthful, dark Lady Isingale. She looks just as beautiful as ever, with a golden circlet atop her head. You notice an aura of arrogance and haughtiness about her, an aura that doe4s not lie about Lady Undiel. Her blood red lips make her bright green eyes seem even brighter. Her black fingernails are sharpened to a point and she holds a cigarette in her right hand, between her pointer and middle fingers.
     Lady Undiel’s hushed voice pulls you out of your trance.
     “His name is Dietros Amanni, and he is going to be joining us for dinner tonight,” Lady Undiel replies.
     You look down at your ragged peasant shoes, cheeks burning with embarrassment.
     But you have little time to mope, for within seconds, Lady Undiel is nudging you towards a nearby table. You stop long enough to pull her chair out for her, and then you are ushered into your own chair, startlingly by her side. A royal servant comes out and sees you by the Lady’s side.
     “Ahem. Sir? I’m afraid that you must move. These tables are for the king’s guests only.”
     You start to rise, but Lady Undiel puts a hand on yours and, looking up at the servant, mutters, “He’s with me.”
     One look into her electrifyingly icy blue eyes and the servant is on his way back to the kitchens. He knows better than to argue with the rich.
     You glance down at your new companion and smile at her. “Thank you,” you murmur.
     “Not a problem,” Lady Undiel mutters back. “Now come. Sit down. Let us eat.”
     You two start to delve into the scrumptious roasted pig, the delicious turkey legs, the squash and sweet potatoes, the juicy corn on the cob, the crisp cabbage leaves. Suddenly, Lady Isingale appears behind you both and whispers softly.
     “May I join you two in polite company?” Lady Isingale murmurs.
     You turn in your seat and murmur softly, “Of course, my Lady,” beckoning her to the empty seat on your right.
     She lightly takes the seat and smiles softly at you.
     “Thank you humble sir. You are most kind,” she murmurs.
     “No trouble at all, Lady Isingale,” you say, averting your eyes from her own.
     You all go back to eating in silence, occasionally exclaiming over how good the food is. But that is all the words that are spoken between the three of you for the rest of the meal.
     A couple hours later, the feast is over, having ended with a dessert of sweet and succulent native fruits.
     You have nowhere to stay and it is well into the nighttime hours. The full pale moon is hung high in the sky and it is not wise to walk alone in these parts at night. Then Lady Undiel pipes up.
     “You can stay in the Lady Isingale’s and my own room,” she says.
     You try to decline the offer, but both women grab a hold of each of your hands and pull you to the room.
     Once there, you plop onto a feather mattress, tired and worn out, but happy. Lady Isingale sits to your left and Lady Undiel to your right. The rest of the evening is full of harmony and pleasure.
     The next morning, you awake to a ray of golden sunlight falling over your face. You glance around. The bed you lay on is empty, but for yourself and a pale envelope.
     The envelope is addressed to you, Dietros.
     Slowly, with shaky hands, you slip your finger under the seal and pull the paper open. Inside is written in wavy, yet threatening handwriting:

Young Dietros,
     We know of your low stature and your love affair with the beautiful and noble ladies Isingale and Undiel. Because of your affairs, you have put the kingdom in dire danger. Because of this, we, the Order of the King’s Monks, have taken captive of both of these noble ladies. You will find us at the crossing of Mirsh and Sheesha, at the old Field’s Cemetery. Be there by 5 tonight, and come alone. Not that you have anyone to call upon for help.
Sincerely,
The Order of the King’s Monks

     With tears in your eyes and a heavy heart, you get dressed and begin your 4-mile walk to the cemetery.
     As you get closer to the cemetery, your heart grows heavier and heavier. Suddenly, you run into a wooden post. Looking up, your heart fills with dread. You’re at the crossing of Mirsh and Sheesha.
     You slowly trudge through the tall, gargoyle-flanked, iron gates. A figure dressed all in black, with a hood covering his face, appears before you. Your heart speeds up in fear and sweat pours down your face. The figure says nothing. Only turns and walks down a steep, rocky pathway partially hidden, covered with shrubbery. You know that this figure wants you to follow. You don’t have to be told twice, or even once for that matter.
     You follow the dark figure down the steep and winding pathway until you reach a large stone tomb. The tomb is made of pure white marble stone and has a shiny mahogany door. It is through this door that the monk leads you. You can barely breathe, your heart is beating so fast. You look past the monk and your heart stops. There, bent over a table of cold stone, is Lady Isingale and Lady Undiel. Their hands are bound behind their back and gags rest between their teeth. You try to rush towards them, but the monk holds you back.
     Suddenly, a clear, cold voice resonates from the opposite end of the tomb.
     “You have a choice, young horse master Dietros,” the monk at the end of the tomb says.
     “You must choose which lady you truly love,” he continues. “Either you take the beautiful, dark, and lovely Black Swan, Lady Isingale. OR you can take the gorgeous, light, and cheerful White Mare, Lady Undiel. Whatever your choice, the other will die. It is up to you.”
     Your palms sweat and your eyes bug out. You are so nervous. This is the hardest decision you have ever had to make. Sure, Lady Undiel was the one to be so nice to you and she treated you like an equal. But Lady Isingale changed her ways and was nice to you as well. You raise your eyes and look into both ladies’ eyes. There is where you see you decision. You lift your eyes to the monk who spoke to you and open your mouth to say your decision.

The End

Dana and Esai

Dana and Esai

     In the year 2011, in a small but decent-sized house in the small town of Clifton, Arizona, there lives a young girl, Dana Stone, 16 years of age, a junior at Clifton High School. She lives with her evil stepfather, Seth McGreave, and her gentle-hearted mother Athena Stone-McGreave.
     Dana’s stepfather is not quite ugly, yet not quite handsome either. He has slate-grey eyes that are almost always bloodshot from him drinking. His hair is buzzed and completely grey, his skin forever tanned a dark reddish brown. He is 45 years old. Her mother, on the flip side, is beautiful, with fiery red hair falling about her face in gentle curls, big baby blue eyes, full lips, and a fair complexion. She is merely 35 years old. Her daughter, Dana, had gotten her mother’s looks, rather than getting her biological father’s looks. Her father had been a good man, all the up to his last breath. He had died at the tender age of 26 of an aneurism, when Dana’s mother was 23, 4 years after Dana was born. He’d had thin lips, a light dusting of freckles across his nose, light brown hair, bright green eyes, and a bright smile. Dana has hair black as the devil’s heart, pale, full lips, and her mother’s big blue eyes. Dana is beautiful, yet she does not believe it because of her stepfather’s demeaning rants.
When Seth McGreave first came into Dana Stone’s life when she was 10 years old, he had been a pretty decent guy. But then something happened. Dana turned 12 and finally hit puberty. She began to grow progressively more beautiful over the next 4 years. Seth also began to grow progressively meaner over those 4 short years, especially towards Dana. He wasn’t physically abusive to her, at least that’s what it would look like to an outsider. He would simply do things, like step on her toes with his steel toe work boots on or slam a door on her fingers, which would seem like a pure accident. But he was emotionally and mentally abusive to young Dana. You see, Seth McGreave would constantly tell Dana that she was in fact not beautiful, that she was actually really ugly and that she was nothing more than a simple-minded girl who no one would ever like or even love. Of course, he would do all this behind his wife, Dana’s mother’s back. Athena Stone-McGreave didn’t know of the war that was going on between her daughter and her husband. Dana fought back against Seth with her words, but inside she was hurting bad and she slowly began to believe the things Seth said.