The Fae Wars- Book One Chapter One

So this is the first chapter of the novel I am working on. Just finished it. This is only the first draft, so I want some criticism before I continue.

Chapter One

If I think of the world like a game, there are so many pieces that have already been put into place and all of them seem to be unmovable from the very beginning. Every aspect of my life has been decided from birth. Where I am going to live, what I am going to do and when I am going to die. At least that is what I have been told. My father has always told me that life is unmoldable and that there is nothing that I can do to change the way my future is shaped. I do not want to live that way. I want my choices to matter in my life. If I choose something today, I want to know that it will be unchangeable tomorrow. I do not want my life to be definite.

I think that is why I chose to live my life like it were a game. Maybe a game of chess where each piece counts, or a video game where battle counts to whether or not you will be able to defeat the final boss. That is how I have wanted to live, at least since I first owned my gaming systems.

My name is Eli. If you are trying to reach me, it will probably be impossible. I will probably be in my room, with the lights out and my music blasting in my overly large headphones while I beat the final boss to a brand new video game. I cannot count how many times I have been scolded by my mom, being told that playing games in the dark will ruin my eyes more than they already are. It doesn't matter to me.

I live in a beach town in New Jersey. It is not as great as they say. As I walk down the wooden plank boardwalk, I stare up into the brightly lit night sky. My house sat in the distance. It is a small beach house, with wide French glass doors pointed towards the ocean. It is just big enough for my family, with two bedrooms, one for me and the other for my mom and dad. We don't have much of a yard but the park is close by. I still have fond memories of playing kickball with a group of friends from the neighborhood. All of the houses seemed so empty late at night, with the lights out and the cars parked in their garages. Seeing as all of the seniors had gone away to college, a lot of the people I had thought of as friends disappeared. It is weird not being able to see them every day from just outside my window.

I open up my Nintendo DS and flinch as the light touches my eyes. I touch the area on the screen where it read Pokemon Pearl and began to make my way down the lonely road, battling monsters in hand. The streets were so familiar to me that I did not even have to look to see where I was headed. The countless times my mother had walked me down the road just to get me out of the house had engraved the rugged paths into my mind. If I had not looked up to rub my eyes, I would not have seen the girl standing in front of me.

Her strawberry-blond hair blew in the slight breeze, causing a wave of light color. She wore a black leather body suit with a short white shirt and tan skirt over it. She had two belts overlapping each other with a sheath and iron cross attached to it. In her outstretched hand, she held a small creature by the throat. At first, I believed it to be a small child. But then the light must have changed, for it then was a small gnome-like creature with short, pointed ears. It made strange gasping noises and I realized that it could not breath.

I hid behind a car, watching over the strange scene I had encountered. I closed my DS and shoved it into the back pocket of my tan cargo pants. I kept my breath steady, hoping that they would not notice me. I listened closely to the soft words of the conversation.

"It would be really great if you could just give me the information." The girl spoke with authority, squeezing her fingers tighter around the creature’s neck. I wanted to help the small creature, but I did not want to blow my cover. "It's a shame that you have to fall like this. You were so loyal to your king, even to the end." She took her free hand and went to the other side of her belt. She drew out a sharp looking blade that did not look to be made of any metal I had ever seen.

I could not stand it any longer. I ran out from behind the car and smacked the girl's hand. She dropped the small thing to the ground and it scurried off grasping it's neck. The girl pointed the sword to my neck, her eyes daring me to move. I took a small breath.

"Who are you?" Her voice was sharp and quick, and she did not hold back her anger. She pushed the sword forward. The tip of the sword touched my throat, the blade cold and icy. I began to shudder. "Answer me!"

"Give me your name first." I closed my eyes, knowing that I was not as brave as I was trying to be. I opened one eyes slightly and her face was smug. "I will not answer until you do." I could feel my voice crack.

She lowered her sword but did not sheath it. "My name is Ariana. Now that I have answered your question, you must answer mine." The sword was still tightly gripped in her hand and it was pointed towards me.

There was no path of escape. There is no way that I would be able to run if I needed to. I had no way out of this. Why am I such an idiot? "My... My name is Eli." I inched me feet away but she stepped closer when she noticed. "What are you?"

"That is not for you to know." She looked around. "You have already seen too much and I cannot answer any more questions. I must leave." Before I could speak again, she placed two fingers to my lips. With a grim smile, she disappeared. I was left standing alone in the middle of the empty sidewalk.

I ran the last few scenes over again in my mind. There was no way that it had just happened to me. My mother would have told me that I was just dreaming it and that I played to many games. But even that could not explain why I could still feel the cold touch of her fingers on my lips.

The next day was bright and sunny and the sun reflected off of the waves that crashed on the shore. I walked beside my best friend, Piper, towards our school. She skipped happily beside me, humming a song that she was learning in her chorus class. It was typical of her to be happy. It was rare for me to see her sad. She grasped my hand and smiled.

"We should go to the book store after school. There is a new novel I want to pick up and it's has been out for so long. I only just got the money to pay for it." She stopped skipping and walked along beside me, hand in hand. It still felt weird to me. We had only started dating at the end of the summer, so it still felt awkward for me to be dating my best friend. I don't want it to end badly.

I nod in response to her. When she looks disappointed in my response, I give her a smile. "I'll go with you. Don't give me that look." I pinched her cheek and she giggles like she did when we were small children. "Does this mean that you aren't staying after for choir? Don't you have a concert soon?"

She frowned. "I thought I had told you this already. Miss Moore is sick in the hospital this week so choir is canceled. I swear, sometimes I feel like you don't listen to me." Piper pouted her lips and let go of my hand, purposefully walking faster so that I had to keep up with her. I rubbed the back of my head, clearly not remembering her ever telling me.

"I'm sorry. I promise to listen to you more. It's not like I don't mean to, I just get distracted sometimes." Piper rests her head on my shoulder as we make our way down the stairs to the bottom of the hill near the football field. "So where should I meet you later? Your locker?" She clasps her hand back together in mine.

"I guess so. I'm probably going to be pulled out after chemistry. I'm not doing so well." When we reach the bottom of the hill, we make our way across the field where the lacrosse players are getting in some morning practice.

The school stood tall and proud on the other side of the field. It's entire three floors overlooked the parking lots and courtyards with what seemed to be eyes in every window. Piper and I made our ways in different directions when we got inside the school building. I made my way down the long hallways and up two flights of stairs to my locker on the third floor. And let me tell you, it is the worst place to have a locker. The lockers on the third floor are old and the paint was chipping off and they all had a funny smell. I unlocked mine and tossed my half empty book bag into it. I grabbed three text books and a binder and then small my locker shut. I slid down the railing for the stairs and down to the second floor where I walked to my home room.

I sat by myself in the back of the classroom for the first ten minutes of school. There was something different about today. I continuously heard a small sound. It was as though someone was dropping a coin onto the tiled school floors. But I seemed to be the only one to hear it. I plugged the ear buds that I had slipped through my jacket sleeve into my ears and began to blast music to block out the sound.

I then began to see things. Flashes of colors darted through my vision. They bounced across the classroom at amazing speeds. I closed my eyes and waited for the bell to ring. I felt as though I were crazy. I let my mind slip away into the music.

I spent the entire day like that, unable to think. I couldn’t answer a single question on my US history test because I could not pay attention. By the time lunch came, I was worn out.

After grabbing a cheeseburger from the lunch line, I sat down beside where Piper sat with her friends. She hung out with the choir students, so I had no idea who any of them were. It was very difficult to pull up a conversation with someone who had no idea who I was and vice versa. I ate my burger while keeping my eyes on Piper. She laughed happily at the jokes the girl next to her made.

When lunch ended, Piper took my hand and walked with me to the next class that we shared. “Are you alright, Eli? You’re acting strange.” She pulled me towards the classroom door, but I did not move. “Are you sick?”

I shook my head. “It’s strange. I’ve been seeing these weird things all day and they have no explanation. I think I’m hallucinating.” I hold my head with my free hand. Piper looks at me with a worried expression. I smile to show her that I am okay. "We only have three classes left. I can make it through the day. I'm not feeling bad. It's just all in my head." I let her lead me into the room. But she is not fast enough. I see a small creature sitting on the window sill across the hall from me. It smiles and waves. It's body is short and inhuman. The creature has red skin and horns protruding from each side of it's head. The creature is just barely as tall as a fire hydrant.

Something comes over me after looking at it and I fall. Piper is there to catch me in her arms, but she is not strong enough to hold me up. I slump to the ground and I close my eyes, sleep taking control of my mind.

When I wake up, Piper is sitting next to me. The nurses office is painted white like a hospital room and she has three cots set up for when students get sick or hurt themselves. I am laying on the cot farthest from the door, Piper's hands clasped around my right one. Her face is red and worried.

"What happened?" I begin to sit up but she pushes me back down with one hand. "What time is it?"

"You fainted. Louis helped me to carry you down here. You have no idea how worried I was about you." When I imagine Louis and Piper carrying me down to the nurse, I almost laugh. Especially since the kid practically despises me. I suppress it to hear more of what Piper is telling me. "Why didn't you tell me you weren't feeling well. You could have gone home."

I sit up and this time brush away Piper's hands. "I probably just didn't get enough sleep last night. It's nothing that bad."

She pouts her lips at me. "It's cause you spend your nights wandering the streets. It's dangerous. Something could happen to you." I think back to what happened last night and my encounter with the strange blond haired girl. I decide to keep it from Piper. She would freak out at me if she heard about the weird meeting.

"I can't help it. Sometimes I just can't sleep at night." I stretch my arms out wide.

Piper placed a hand on my shoulder. "You worry me." I held her hand, not wanting her to worry anymore.