Category: Fantasy Publisher: Lulu.com & MISSMARYPOTTER Books™
ISBN-10: 1430314648
Type: Fiction
Pages: 336
Copyright: June 2, 2007
ISBN-13: 9781430314646
Thirteen-year old Mercury Brightman has crossed the great divide that keeps Thera (the world of magic), and Earth apart, and discovers a magical world of enchantment and possibility. Before she has a chance to experience its pure magic she learns that it is she who must save it from its terrible fate. Stranded in a world of magic, mayhem and mystery, Mercury must unlock its secrets if she is going to ever get home -- wherever it may be.
Join Mercury and her new friends, as they embark on this magical quest to find the answers that could save both worlds.
PG because it contains minor violence, primarily fist fights, small battle and tragedy when a town is attacked. It also contains magic. There is no profanity or inappropriate scenes. Recommended for youths 12 and up.
Excerpt from the end of Chapter 2, Nevermore
Mercury grabbed her textbook, her mother's journal and quickly shoved as many trinkets as she could into her bag. She carefully closed the lid of the trunk and locked it, checking to make sure she hadn't dropped anything. Looking around to make sure the coast was clear, Mercury dashed up the stairs and into her bedroom, closing the door softly behind her.
Safely in her room and breathless, she was too angry and worried to think straight. She dumped her book and her mother's journal on her bed and began to pace back and forth. Each time she would stop and stare at herself in the mirror as if to ask her reflection the questions that were bombarding her mind. Too many questions with no answers... How could this have happened? Why? What had she done to deserve any of this? What was she going to do? Who could she tell? Who could help her? How was she going to get out of this fix? The situation seemed hopeless and grim.
The knowledge of what was going to happen meant that she had three days to figure out a way to escape and get help. Mercury reached into her pocket and discovered that the business card from Mrs. Solis was not there. Remembering that she had been using it as a bookmark in the textbook she sat on the bed Indian-style, and thumbed through the book to find it. She found the card and stuffed it safely into her inside coat pocket, without bothering to mark the page. The other bookmark that had been in her mother's field journal had fallen out and was lying beside her pillow. She picked it up and looked at it, and for a moment she forgot her immediate troubles. The ship suddenly lurched as if it made a sharp northerly turn. Her mother's field journal fell off the bed, hit the floor and slid to the far corner of her room just out of reach. Mercury heard a small click as if it locked itself on impact when it hit the wall.
She reached for it, and saw that the eyes of the Moon had closed and it gave her the chills. The ship rocked violently again, forcing her to hold on to the wall for support. She thought she would pick the journal up when the instability ceased, but the boat rocked on and shook in a violent manner that frightened her. Tearing her eyes away from the journal and trying to hold on to the walls she gazed at the medallion. Mercury became transfixed by the way the light from the window made the blue stone shimmer and shine. She thought she heard the twinkling of chimes in the distance, but dismissed it as falling utensils in the galley.
The rocking steadied and she heard the echoes of the crew members running about above. Nervous and scared, she felt a sudden need for security and secrecy. Mercury happened to glance at her watch and saw that it was 12:26 PM. Soon the others would be coming down to their quarters to freshen up for lunch. Releasing the frayed rope that held the shower curtain to the side, she pulled it across so that she shut out the light from the porthole. This made it difficult to see clearly, so she pulled out her fish-shaped flashlight. Holding the medallion up in her left palm for viewing, she squeezed the flashlight with her right hand and shined it at the medallion. Once again she heard the twinkling sound, this time it was like the sound of shattering glass on the floors above her.
The stone was more then just a smooth and glistening blue gem; it was like no other stone she had ever seen before. Mercury recalled a blue opal she saw in a jewelry store once, but this was far more beautiful then any opal she had ever seen. Colorful flecks of shiny material sparkled in the light trapped within the crystalline veins of the stone. The side she was examining was old and worn like pewter. The Roman letters were beautifully etched around the stone and spelled out three words separated by stars that she had never heard before. Flipping the medallion over she discovered that the reverse side was rather plain in comparison to the front. It was gold plated with two big indentations in it that divided it into four equal sections like the head of a screw. Mercury turned it over once more in the center of her left palm to look at it closely again. Slowly she sounded out the words on the medallion.
"Cupitor. Clavis. Repercetre," she said aloud.
In the flashlight's beam the stone shimmered and she suddenly had the uncontrollable desire to touch the gem. As she rubbed her thumb across its glassy surface, something happened to her that she could not describe nor even fully understand. Blinding light flooded her senses and she had the incredible sensation of an unseen force pulling her inward as if she was being sucked through a tube. The room quickly faded away and the world around her spun in a centrifuge of color and light. It was as if she were spinning tremendously fast on a merry-go-round. Just as Mercury was starting to feel horribly dizzy and sick the spinning stopped.
The next thing she knew she was looking upward at a partly cloudy blue sky and she had the sensation she was flying. But I can't fly, she thought. Am I dead, is this heaven? Oh my!
Nervously she looked over her shoulder and down. To her extreme surprise, the Nevermore and the Pacific Ocean had vanished, quite literally into thin air; all she saw was a dense forest below her.
"What the..." was all she managed to shout.
Knowing full well that she could not fly, it was as though gravity had finally agreed with her. The next thing Mercury knew she was falling fast towards the mysterious forest below.
Excerpt
"Mergies, that is a nasty name. It seems a bit barbaric, you think? The classifications you assign people are... are... sick," Mercury said scowling.
"Really, how?" Jude asked. "Do the Naulty (Earth people) not call each other names? Informal ones. Names that are ugly or sick?"
"As a matter of fact they do, but that does not mean I do. True it is the way some people think and it is imperfect, but that does not make it right," Mercury shrugged. "Race should never define who or what you can become."
"So, you agree that Earth is just as sick and messed up as Thera is?" Jude asked.
"I assume so. Why are you getting defensive?" Mercury asked.
"I am not being defensive," Jude said defensively.
"Yes, you are," Mya interjected. "The point is that both Thera and Earth have their... problems. There is no perfect system."
"Sure there is," Mercury said.
"And what is that?" Jude asked.
"To have no system at all," Mercury, said smartly.
"Dream on," he responded.
"Perhaps that is why you are here Mercury," Mya theorized. "To change it."
"I doubt it, but I could try," Mercury said shrugging her shoulders.
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