Eight Children from across they world find themselves 'living the adventure' when they download an e-book entitled, Octinnia. This is the first in a series of eight stories.
In Book One the children enter zone one and find themselves in Ancient Greece where they not only have to discover a quest but solve it. On top of this four of them find that they have been turned into animals.
In their quest they meet mythical creatures and ancient Gods, even travelling to Mount Olympus.
Excerpt
With a soft bump Abbie hit the ground. She looked around for the others, but there was no sign of anybody. She was alone on a hillside overlooking a wide grassy valley surrounded by several other steep slopes spattered with shrubby greenery. Sheep were bleating somewhere near by although she couldn’t see them. The mobile phone was still clenched tightly in her fist and she realised it was up to her to contact the others. What had Cal rushed them off for? They hadn’t even had time to exchange ID numbers. Luckily she had checked her own, it was sixteen and she had been sitting next to last on the right hand side of the semi-circle. Why, she wondered wasn’t it two or seven, depending upon which way the numbers ran. There had to be a logical reason. She remembered that there were eight of them in the group and that each of them had been born on the eighth day of the month. Eight must be the significant factor. Perhaps the ID numbers went up in eights. She tried desperately to recall where everybody had been sitting. She was number sixteen so if they ran from the right Bea would be number eight, Bruce 24, Simran 32, Juanita 40, Cal 48, John 56, and Philippe 64.
“Well, here goes nothing!” she said out loud and pressed 48. Immediately Cal’s voice sounded inside her head.
“Abbie? That you?”
“Yes, I’m the one with the phone, remember? Where are you?”
“I don’t know. There’s nothing here but sheep.”
“I can hear sheep here, hang on a minute, I’ll have a look around.”
She stood up and set off in the direction of the bleating. As she cleared a patch of shrubby woodland, hundreds of sheep came into view.
“Well, I’ve found the sheep, but can’t see you?”
“I’m up here!”
“I can really hear you now, not just inside my head, but I still haven’t seen you.”
“Here I am; up the hill on your left.”
She spotted him and struggled to stop laughing out loud. He looked ridiculous, dressed in a sort of tunic that hung from one shoulder and finished in a kind of skirt just above his knees. He wore what looked like towel secured by a piece of rope on his head. Suddenly it dawned on her that if Cal was dressed differently, then she probably was too. For the first time she looked down at her own clothing. She wore a long, flowing, white dress, silky to the touch and like Cal’s outfit it hung off one shoulder. She put up a hand to her hair and found that it was piled high on her head, held in place by beaded circlets from which cascaded long, graceful, ringlets.
Cal’s face was anxious, “Where do you think we are?”
“I don’t know about where, what I’d like to know is when. It certainly isn’t our century.”
“Too right! Look at this lot.” An expression of total disgust smothered his features, “I wish I knew where my pants were! It’s alright for you, you look OK. In fact you look fab. I think I’m supposed to be a shepherd or something, don’t know about you.”
Abbie smothered a smile, “Do you think we should wait here for the others or try to find them?”
“Use the phone. Did you hear me in your head? Great aint it? ”
“I don’t know if I can use it to get them. You rushed us off before I got all the ID numbers. I had to guess at yours. I guessed that they went up in eights. Trouble is I’m not completely sure where everyone was sitting. I was next to Bea. She was at one end of the line and Bruce was at the other.”
“Good one; I’d never have thought of that. You got me right, so you’re probably right with the others.”
“I only knew where you were because we were the last ones to sit down. Do you remember? If not, I’ll just have to guess.”
“I was next to Juanita and Simran. But try Bea since she’s probably eight.”
Abbie pressed it at the same time thinking, “Abbie here, I’m with Cal.”
Immediately she heard Bea’s voice in her head,
“Where are you?”
“We don’t really know for sure, on some hillside overlooking a wide valley. There’s not much here except for loads of sheep. Is anyone with you?”
“Yes, Bruce is; he landed on top of me.”
“Lucky Bruce!” Cal giggled.
Abbie was surprised, “Can you hear her too?”
“Sure, weird aint it?”
“Is that you on the hill to the left of the trees?”
“Yes, but where are you? There’s nothing but sheep for miles.”
“We’re right in front of you.”
“Where?”
“You see those two sheep standing a bit apart from the rest?”
“Yes.”
“Well, that’s us, me and Bruce.”
A grin as wide as a chasm split Cal’s face in two, “Ha, ha, ha - they’re sheep!” he almost choked with laughter.
“Shhh,” Abbie shoved him in the ribs, “Don’t.”
“You’d best come up here, Bea. Can you... err ...speak... I mean apart from on the mobile?”
“Yes.”
Abbie threw Cal a filthy look as the two sheep trundled up the hillside. He was still rolling about sniggering when they reached them. Seeing the warning look on her face he attempted to pull himself together, but without much success. Abbie instinctively knew not to show their amusement in front of Bruce and Bea.
The higher you go into the hills, the deeper the secrets...
A seemingly innocent piece of mail shatters the illusion of Beverly Hills luxury, forcing a terrifying statement from a powerful action movie mogul: "they can't kill us fast enough."
