Amazon
Eloquent Rascals
Barnes and Noble Nook
Amazon
Category:
Children
Publisher: Eloquent Rascals Publishing
ISBN-10: 0990709434
Type: Fiction
Pages: 222
Copyright: June 1 2016
ISBN-13: 9780990709435
Price: $2.99 (eBook)
13-year-old twins, Nadia and Aidan Shaw, discover an intricately carved icon, the Ravenstone that offers mysterious powers to the twins who hold it. At the bidding of an ancient shaman, the kids are thrown back 1500 years, on a quest that only they can fulfill. They encounter pre-Columbian Native Americans, warring Celtic princes, and are aided by a shape-shifting raven. If they succeed, they will bring back something that will save their father's lifework, and change the course of human existence. If they can survive the danger!
Longer Description:
Imagine a raven appearing out of thin air and guiding you to an exquisitely carved icon that glows with ancient light and pulses with shamanic power.
This is how the adventure begins for Nadia and Aidan Shaw, thirteen-year-old twins, who live in idyllic Cold Spring, New York, on the banks of the Hudson River. Armed with the power of the Ravenstone and their own special gifts, they embark on a harrowing quest across centuries, at the bidding of a mysterious old shaman. They must depend on their courage, their faith in their friends, and luck. Or is it destiny?
If they succeed, what they bring back could change the course of human existence.
Excerpt
1892: Ninham Mountain,
near Cold Spring, New York
"Where's the chamber?" Nora asked. "Is it much further?"
She walked quietly beside her twin brother, Patrick, through the sparse woods. "We'd better not be gone long or Mom will worry." She stopped and gazed behind her. All she could see was the trail disappearing between towering pines, hemlocks, and maples, and dappled sunlight streaming across the forest floor. She could no longer see their family gathered in the big meadow for the twins' thirteenth birthday party.
Patrick got his bearings and hurried forward. "It's around here somewhere – I swear every time I come up here things have moved. But, I know this is the trail I took last time." He grabbed her hand and led her further down a slight path between the trees. He grinned. "We'll get back in time for cake... Oh, and don't tell Mother and Father about the stone chamber, all right?"
"Why not? Is it a secret?"
"Not a secret, exactly. But, somehow I don't think they'd approve." He scowled. "Father, especially, would view it a waste of my time, I'm sure."
Just then, a dark, swooping shadow overhead startled them. It was a great black bird, which appeared out of nowhere and came to rest ten feet away on a bed of pine needles.
"A raven!" Patrick spoke in a low tone, but his excitement was obvious. "They don't usually come so close to people."
"He's huge. And so beautiful," whispered his sister. I'd love to draw him, she thought.
The raven fluffed its feathers and tilted its head. Then it stretched high on its black feet, reached into the air with velvety wings and lifted effortlessly off the ground. Gliding down the trail, the bird was nearly out of sight before the kids could react. They raced after the raven, which led them off onto a smaller trail through a break in the bushes. This new trail, covered with a carpet of soft moss and tiny flowers, soon blossomed into a miniature meadow, at the end of which stood the open doorway of a stone chamber.
"Look!" Nora spotted the raven again. "It led us right to it!" The bird stood near the dark doorway, gazing at the opening with unblinking eyes, cocking its head from side to side. In the sunlight, she could see the black feathers gleaming with an iridescent purple hue.
Giant hewn stones supporting a huge capstone created the chamber opening and to one side of the door stood a single pointed stone pillar. Nora had the impression that, rather than having been built into the hill, the stone chamber had emerged right out of the hill, of its own accord. It looked like it had been there forever.
Nora wondered how large it was, inside. That sounded great; the heat of the sun and the exertion of the hike made the cool dark cavity within very enticing.
Nora asked, "Who made it, do you know? What's it for? And why is the raven there?"
Patrick chuckled, then shrugged. "I don't know... But come on."
As he started for the door, the raven hopped into the chamber and vanished from view. The kids glanced at each other, then ventured slowly into the chamber after their feathered guide.
It took a minute or two for Nora's eyes to adjust to the dark inside the chamber, after the brightness of the sunshine. Slowly, she could make out the inner surfaces of the stone walls and the rough dirt floor. It was not a large space, perhaps ten or twelve feet deep, but they could stand up. The ceiling was a few feet above their heads.
It was empty. Except for the raven.
"Look!" Nora pointed to the back of the chamber where the raven was pecking and scratching at the hard dirt floor near the wall.
"What's it doing?" Patrick started toward the raven, which shied away from him and in a strange, stilted walk, returned to the chamber doorway. There in the sunlight, it stared at them with one black shiny eye, then spread its wings and lifted into the air. When Patrick turned back to the spot where the bird had been scratching, he knelt down in the dirt. "There's something here... something the raven was pecking!"
Nora nodded." She peered down at something glowing yellowish-red with streaks of black. It protruded ever so slightly out of the earth.
"It's so dark in here." Patrick felt around in the dirt with his hands. "Can you move a little, out of the light?"
As Nora shifted to one side, the sunlight streamed down onto the spot where Patrick was scrabbling and the item glowed even brighter. Reaching into his pocket, Patrick pulled out a penknife.
"This is turning out to be a great birthday present," he said. He managed to dust off the exposed portion of the object and Nora could see it was not the same rough stone as everything else in the chamber, but rather smooth and polished and rounded on the end.
"It feels warm," Patrick said. "Isn't that odd? The earth around it is cool. Can you help? The ground here is as hard as stone."
Nora looked around and found a small flat rock. Forgetting her good party dress and shoes in her excitement, she fell to her knees and began to scratch on the other side of the stone object. It was caked with dirt and the ancient floor held it tight. "It's like treasure!" she exclaimed.
Patrick merely grunted in response. He finally scraped enough dirt away to get his fingers all the way around the object. He leaned back, pulling hard and the artifact slipped suddenly out of the ground with a spray of dust and dirt. He fell back, victory on his face, and stared down at his prize.
Nora leaned forward to get a closer look. Made of stone, it was about eight or nine inches long and fit comfortably in her brother's hands. It was smooth, resembling the handle of a cane. There were bird's heads etched into the ends, each end the mirror image of the other.
"They're bird heads!" said Nora. "What a lot of dirt – I wish we had some water. And look at it glow!"
"Come on, let's take it outside where we can see it better," her brother replied.
They moved into the doorway, both so intent on the object in Patrick's hands that neither noticed the raven, now perched atop the capstone directly over the entrance. A still and silent sentinel, it watched their every move.
Patrick brushed the carved stone object back and forth on his shirt and picked at the remaining bits of dirt to expose the carvings. "Look at these indents! Here, feel it… how it fits in your hand."
Nora wrapped her fingers around the smooth, warm stone. It could not have fit her hand better if it had been created just for her. "It fits so perfectly. What do you think it's for?"
"No idea," Patrick replied. "But, it's beautiful and looks very old. Kind of looks lit from within, somehow, you know what I mean?" He touched it with the tips of his fingers, feeling the grooves and carvings. "How I'd love to know where this came from... and who created it. Indians? Ancient Romans or Celts? Druids?" He paused. "Sometimes I think I was born in the wrong time."
Nora gave a small smile. "It must have been a magical time, for someone to create something so beautiful."
Patrick seemed mesmerized by the carved icon. "How I wish I were there, where this was made." As he spoke, he slowly reached out to grasp the end that Nora was extending in his direction. His fingers slipped into the contours and wrapped around it almost as if he were reaching for Nora's hand in a handshake. Their thumbs touched.
A bolt of electricity ran through Nora and she shivered.
"What on earth?" Patrick cried out.
The sensation intensified and Nora's every sense began to tremble as if they were in a new and strange dimension. Patrick reached for her arm with his free hand and she grabbed for him at the same moment.
A huge golden arc swept up before them, incorporating everything around them into its vast space. Her ears filled with an overwhelming roaring noise. Then the cave, the doorway, and the sunlit forest all dissolved away as even the ground fell away from their feet. She felt suspended in that golden archway of light with complete utter darkness all around them. The light shimmered and pulsed and began to expand away from them in a long undulating path. She could feel it pulling, reaching for her, beckoning to her.
Patrick leaned into the light, then stepped forward toward the brilliant shining path, drawing Nora with him.
Nora sensed her brother's eagerness, but she did not share it. No, her immediate and total reaction was one of fear and panic. This couldn't be right – no, it felt completely wrong!
She shook, she trembled, she felt as if she'd been struck. Then she couldn't breathe, the air was sucked out of her lungs. In the throes of her terror, she knew, with every cell of her being, that this light held only danger and disaster, that she must run the other direction as fast and hard as she could.
With a huge effort that demanded all her will, she pulled herself back. She pulled back with all her might, hoping to save Patrick too. She fell backward, hard, onto the ground, still clutching the stone icon, but Patrick had already let go.
"Patrick!" Nora screamed, scrambling up to her feet and reaching out toward him. He was already out of reach and slipping further and further away. It seemed he was fading, as the golden light drew him further along the shimmering pathway.
As she stood clutching the icon to her chest, unaware of the tears coursing down her cheeks, the raven lifted from its perch on the capstone and flew straight into the light after Patrick.
Then it was gone. The light was gone. And her beloved twin brother was gone. There was nothing but the soft breeze, the quiet, sunlit opening in the forest, and the chamber door behind her. All was as it was before.
Except now, she was alone.
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