chapter 1

Falling in

Hoa Kim Alwin starts every new day by reading 51 pages before breakfast. She then reads 14 pages as she eats breakfast, and makes sure to say, sure, or whatever when her family speaks to her during the morning time. on the way to school she makes sure to walk a foot behind her younger brother Chien, of 13 years as she reads at least ten more pages of the latest story. The moment she enters her high school, across the street from her brother’s middle school, Hoa carefully marks the page of the book, slips it into her black and white jack skellington note bag, and quickly finds her way to homeroom class. She keeps her eyes plastered to the ground, so she doesn´t accidently meet anyone’s eyes, even though she was a good foot taller then most everyone, at six feet and six and a half inches. She only knew of one other that was taller then she, and he was now a senior and Hoa, a sophomore. In her early years, she had grown up in a small town in Vietnam, where her six foot Three inch, French American father had met her small Vietnamese mother, of five foot four. They got married soon after meeting, as they fell deeply in love. and even though the rest of Thuan´s family didn´t like Jean much, Thuan wasn´t anything like the meaning of the name she was given at birth, she was far from ´tamed´. 
Hoa Kim Alwin was five and Chien Leon Alwin two years young when Jean suggested they move back to his home, which was half way across the world, in Madison, Wisconsin. Thuan was thrilled at the idea of leaving, and within a month they moved into a much larger home, on a street a few blocks away from a local school. 
Hoa Kim thought about it all, as she leaned down and buried her face into her arms resting on the desktop. She sighed. She missed what little memories she had of her birthplace. She missed the quiet, the small market where everyone knew each other, and had faces similar to hers. Now she was surrounded by many who looked similar to father, and ones with dark skin, and wide eyes. She learned to hate her slanted grey eyes at a young age, here. She learned how to read to get away from all the self-pity, and all the people who said mean things to her. In her books, she could be whoever, man or woman, strong one moment, weak another, the tallest person on earth one second and smaller than a grain of sand the next. Hoa was itching to go back to Wizards First Rule, by terry brooks, to see what would happen to Richard next, what that beautiful evil mad man would think of doing and how he, if he would be, be thwarted down. She sat up and was just about to pick it out of her bag when she looked at the clock. Twenty two seconds to go till Mr. Twiggy came. The tyrant. Twenty one seconds till the old teacher, with white snow hair, would come in and take roll call. Twenty seconds till he would show up in his signature green wool vest, and red striped tie, with large lensed glasses that would sit atop the bridge of his nose: making his eyes bug out like an old frog. Nineteen seconds now. Hoa bent over again onto her desk and buried her face into her arms. She counted down mentally, for she knew Mr. Twiggy was always on time, to the very millisecond. He was also so obdurate in his teaching methods, that just about everyone in class shut up and stayed quiet when the old man spoke. Hoa counted down on one, and on zero, on cue, the door opened, in stepped Mr. Twiggy. The room that once buzzed with talk instantly became as silent as an old graveyard in the middle of a dark night. A few students hurried to their right seats under the glare of the bug eyed dictator. Hoa looked at him lazily, hiding the outright discomfort that made her skin crawl. She glanced around and as was usual, everyone sat up straight, and everyone was as nervous as hell. Only Hoa sat slouched. She knew it drove him crazy, and she could devise the smallest grimace from Mr. Twiggys wrinkled face, as he looked at her. But today he didn´t say anything. He took roll call. He went over homework, and gave an impossibly hard quiz on a random subject. Math. Algebra. 
The moment the bell rang Mr. Twiggy let out the prisoners out of the homeroom hell and they all but ran to their next cells. Nicer ones mostly. But Mr. Twiggy held one Prisoner still. Hoa Kim Alwin. 
¨Young lady, i have said this to you many times. Sit up straight as a presentable student. You may never know that littlest thing can help you along. It was...¨ 
Mr. Twiggy began off on another lecture, and Hoa turned off his voice, thinking only of the book that seemed to burn her from the side of her jack skellington bag. Read me, Hoa. Read me, read me, read me, hey don’t you hear me? HEY READ ME ALREADY GOSH DARN IT!!, HEYY READ- 
¨Do you understand me, Miss Alwin?¨ 
Hoa jolted slightly before she turned her head, keeping her slanted eyes glued on the ground. ¨Yes Mr. Twiggy.¨
Mr. Twiggy gave a small nod of his head and motioned her off, as the next of his class began to trickle in. She hurried off and headed towards her next scheduled class. 9th grade math. Several times she had failed that class, and she didn´t care if it happened again. She rushed into the girl’s bathroom, locked herself in a stall and tore out the book in her bag. Hoa barely noticed the bell ring again signaling second period at end. Then third. And fourth. Just as she finished the last page she glanced at the time on her watch. Crap, it was 4:26 pm. School ended at 3:33pm, and she knew there was no club activities, since they had made clear that everyone knew during homeroom hour. She dropped the book back into her bag, zipped it up and opened the stall. She checked in the mirror that her hair was still in place, in a tight bun on the top of her head with a black and red spider webbed elastic cover, over the bun. A single strand of her obsidian black hair hung down to her striped bat hoodie, which she plucked out and let fall past her spotted grey jeans. She sighed as she leaned down to see her eyes in the mirror, no matter what she did, despite the heavy eyeliner and mascara, Hoa felt she looked more like Chien. A boy. She ran water and rubbed the make-up off her face and sulked. Ah. Better go before i get in trouble with mum, she thought as she walked out into the hall way. It was unusually quiet. The wide halls, that were almost always filled with students of many colors, mostly black, were dead silent. The only sound was the faint sqeak of her black converses on the wet floor. It had been mopped already. So, she thought looking this way and that, wondered if the janitor was nearby. But no matter which way she turned did she see one. The doors leading outside was locked. Every single one. And every single one needed a key lock. Hoa had not remembered it being like this before. Suddenly came the sound of metal against metal. It sounded like sword fighting, like from the Kung-Fu movies Chien would watch. She realized it came from down the hall, leading to the library. Perhaps the janitor was watching a movie there? Strange as that thought was, she remembered seeing a TV in the corner before. Hoa soon stood at the door way and the sound had become louder by far. Now there were grunts that she could hear, dwarfed by the sound of blade against blade, slamming into each other. But the TV was off she saw. And she searched high and low and there was no one there. Hoa swallowed and began to back out of the library. If no one was there, and the tv wasn´t even on, then where on earth were the sounds coming from? She froze as an inhuman growl sounded not inches from behind her. She spun round, the elastic nearly loosing its hold to her bun. Despite the sound being so close, nothing was there but shelves of books. Her eyes widened as something struck her mind. Could these noises be coming from...a book? It couldn´t be. But then, it had to be. Again she gulped and reached out with her large shaking hand and picked up the nearest book. She opened it. The sound stayed at the same volume. Not the right one. She picked up another. And another. One more she thought, before she bolted and tried to get out. Just...one more, she thought as he fingers brushed against a nameless book spine. It felt warm, and soft...almost like skin. She pulled her hand back and the sounds stopped. She breathed in and out deeply before deciding that was the book. Again she reached out and firmly gripped the book, and pulled it from the shelf. It was still warm, and she could feel it breathe in her hands. Never before had a book been so alive to her, it was so intoxicating that she had to open it. Had to see what was inside. But Part of her told her to drop the book that something horrible would happen if she didn´t escape now. Now. Right now. She wrapped her fingers on the corner of the book cover and began to pull it open it, pausing only for a moment, before she flung the book wide open. Immediately the floor beneath Kim’s feet disintegrated and crumbled away like dry sand, lights and glimmering ribbons flashed out from the book, enveloping her in its illumination and warmth as she began to fall into the darkness beneath where the solid library floor once existed. She reached out as if she could grab hold to her reality, but it was already too late, continuing to fall. Her fate had been sealed the moment her fingers met with the book. As she fell faster with each passing moment, she began to take view of the green ground far below and passed out within moments of hitting the ground…

Hoa woke up in her class room. Mr. Twiggy was standing at the front of the class, and everything was where it should be. Or was it? Hoa noticed Mr. Twiggy wasn´t moving. Wasn´t breathing. She stood up and the illusion of the classroom faded away like smoke. She was now in the middle of a forest glade, with strange shaped flowers that encircled her. They were vivid in color and more beautiful than any painting or live flowers she had ever seen before. The long grass that grew outside the circle of flowers, were bright green tinged with blue veins, swaying back and forth from a pleasant breeze she couldn´t feel. It was airless in the circle, nearly impossible to breathe she realized standing there. She clutched her flat chest and fought against passing out. She leapt from the circle and cool fresh air filled her aching lungs. Before Hoa´s eyes the circle of flowers faded away. She was now in the middle of a field of tall grass, that stretched on for miles and miles in every direction. That book, she thought, must of brought me here. Why? How? Her head spun and she plumped herself down in the grass and sulked. I should of put that stupid book down the moment i picked it up. No, i never should have even touched the thing. The very feel of it drew me in, beyond my good judgment. She nodded. Should have, damn it. She brought her fingers to her mouth and chewed on her already short fingernails. Am i even on earth anymore? She slapped herself and screamed. I want to go back home! She stood up and looked around franticly. There has to be some sort of door way to get back, maybe another book? Another thing that masqueraded itself as a book more like. Still nothing but tall swaying grass.  Fine. If there isn´t anything here to get me back...I´ll find the right place, wherever it is. She looked up into the sky blue, and there instead of one sun, there were two. One high was the largest, and slightly purple, the other was to the far right and was bluish. She knew west from east from the many books she read. But how to find which with two alien stars in the suns place, was the problem. She stomped her feet and screamed again. Fine. Fine. I´ll just walk around blindly until i find a way out of this field. This huge, monumentally huge field. She chewed on her thin lips as she turned right to left, left to right. Which way should i go? After several minutes of indecision she decided to leave it to chance. She closed her eyes, spun around until she felt sick, stopped and pointed. She opened her eyes and saw that she was pointing right at the blue sun. So she walked forward, following the line of sight of the blue sun. For hours she rustled through the long grass, for hours she kept her view above the grass by a few inches, but as the blue sun disappeared from the sky, and the now blinding purple sun soon followed after. In the complete darkness her heart beat like a wild bird in a small cage, and she felt her stomach leap to her mouth. She was deathly afraid of the dark. She looked to the sky, hoping for the faintest twinkling of a heavenly star, but dark clouds devoured the night sky. She sighed, and decided to try and sleep. She sat down, and patted down the grass for a small bed of bent grass. She curled up in a fetal position and shivered in the cold foreign dark. She imagined the howl that had pierced through her heart in the library, and what made it.

Miles and miles away, as Hoa slept fretfully in the field of long grass, something came awake. A man with silver hair sat up straight in his chair made of dead men as the smell of something foreign invaded his nostrils. It was the scent of a living blood, and not that of the stale stench of old blood that stained his dirt floor. Am i hungry? Thought the man as he focused in on the scent. He sneered, his fangs glimering faintly in the dim light. He leaned to the side of his chair, and reached out, dragging his claws down the rough rocky wall and snickered quietly. Yes, he thought as he slithered out of his chair, I shall have blood soon....more blood to spill, to drink. He grinned widely and visualized the prey. Outside of his cave, he lifted his head to the moonless sky, and howled. This beastly cry was heard from leagues away, down the mountain, through the valley and into the field of long swaying grass. 
This gruesome report awakened Hoa with a horrid start. Was that now, apart of a nightmare or..? An eerie silence enveloped her very being. The grass had stopped swaying; the wind had died. Slowly, ever so slowly she stood up, peering over the tops of the blades of grass. It was to dark to see anything. Nothing but shadows. Deep shadows. She chewed on her lip as she shook. The silence was becoming more and more like a feral cry in her mind, with each second. Then again, came the howl. Oh god, oh god, oh god....please god, let it not be- 
¨AAAAAAAAOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHH¨ 
Hoa had had it. She could no longer stand in place. Hoa turned tail and ran as fast as she could. Her long lithe legs carried her quickly through the field, the grass whipping at her neck and ears as she passed. Another baleful howl seemed to draw closer to Hoa, even as she ran faster yet. Her thoughts clouded with fear, and she did not notice the steady decline as she kept on, until she finally fell to the ground in a useless heap. As she lay gasping, in the grass her ears pricked up as she heard something rustling, something moving in the grass not far from her. In her mind she said goodbye to her father, her mother and brother. She curled into a ball and shook, waiting to be pounced upon and torn limb from limb. A feral cat sauntered through the grass and came upon Hoa with slight shock. It sat just inches away from where Hoa covered her face with her arms, and mewed loudly. What was this silly thing doing? Hoa having realized that she was not dead, or mauled lowered her arms and saw a small dark shadow. Again the cat mewed, this time reaching out a curious paw, swatting at her hair. Hoa sat up and laughed nervously. She reached out slowly, letting the feral feline sniff her fingers before she pet it softly on the head. Hoa strained to listen for another howl of the horrible beast that had cried before, but it had died. And the wind, had returned and blew peacefully around her. The small cat purred softly, and drew in to rub herself over the body of the being who so kindly petted her. Being feral was rather lonely in the grass land. Perhaps a friend wouldn´t hurt.

The two suns were high in the blue sky when Hoa awoke. She stretched stiffly, and the small feral cat that had curled up on her stomach, late last night, slid off and mewed loudly in protest. Hoa sat for a while petting the cat before standing up. She gasped. In the dark she had not been able to see anything but dark shadow. Now it was clear that before her, only several a few yards away, there was an end to the great field of the green blue veined grass. There was a steep ridge that plummeted down, and down on a rocky face into a deep valley. It was green with forest, and as she squinted, perhaps those black dots were buildings nestled among the trees? Her stomach growled loudly, and she licked over her chapped lips. Perhaps there was a good place to start looking for a way to get back home. Her eyes went over every inch of the ridge, hoping that there would be at least one somewhat safe path down to that village, but to her eyes, the only way down was suicide, while every way else, sure death. The small feral cat mewed loudly and dug its claws into Hoa´s left shin. She jerked away and exclaimed loudly in pain. She looked down and saw to her dismay a deep gash running down, several inches long. Cute cat, she thought as she looked down at it in turn. The cat meowed louder than tore a bit of cloth from Hoa´s pants and leapt down the ridge. Hoa gasped in horror. The poor stupid thing just committed suicide! She thought inching to the very edge. The cat was sliding down a dirt like slide, swerving sharply back and forth but at the bottom of the slide, there was a teeny tiny dot that was pacing back and forth. The cat? Before she could think much on it, as she shifted her weight the rocky edge crumbled and she went flying forward, and down the same slide the cat had went down. Hoa screamed and screamed and screamed, even after several minutes of landing in a pile of trampled grass at the end. The small feral cat inwardly laughed at the silly human. It wasn´t called for to scream for so shallow a decline. Finally, gasping and shivering, she sat up off her stomach. The sweater and jeans she wore was now nearly worn through after going down that natural slide, and her stomach felt a bit sore. The bun on top of her head fell lopsided on her head, and several strands of hair covered her face. Frustrated she pulled the bun out and let her raven black hair fall down past her shoulders, and shed her sweater leaving her with just a black tank top. After she stood and wiped off as much dirt and dust off her, she tied the worn sweater around her waist. She rested her hands upon her hips and nodded her head. Time to find the town. Time to eat, rest and find someone who might help her get back home. After wandering for hours, she finally came upon the bunch of buildings she had seen from the ridge. They were small huts made of wood, stone and grass, some fashioning crude doors that were moved by hand, and not by any hinge. Some had openings much to short for her to walk in straight, that gaped like a mouth. There was a well close to one hut, and there was a small circle made of small white stones close to another hut, larger than the rest. But no one was there. She searched every inch of every hut, peered down the well and tried crying out for help. Finally, after several minutes she collapsed down and whined. Why is nothing going my way? She crossed her arms and felt like breaking down and was about to cry when she heard someone scream. She pricked her ears and stood up. ¨H...Hello?¨ Hoa replied, looking around franticly. Again came the scream, only it didn´t sound so human now. Again the cry came, and it began to evolve into a vicious snarl. It was close. She spun round and behind her was the figure of a man in the shadow of a nearby hut. He was bent over and a single hand rested against the wooden hut, only it was more like a claw, as his nails were thick and gleamed in the light. 
¨Wha...who are you??¨ squeaked Hoa backing up slowly. The snarl became a loud cawing laugh as the man...or something else moved forward into the light, his face no longer hiding in the shadow. Despite her fear, her face flushed as the creatures face came into view. His wide eyes were a warm gold flecked with dark red, like old blood. His lips were full and his nose small and curved. His jaw was round and she could no longer tell if it was really a man or woman. Whatever it was, it was gorgeous. A gorgeous monster, with a sneer playing upon its seemingly innocent lips. 

¨I am Takeo Yamamoto.¨ declared the beautiful monster. 
Hoa had never felt such fear and awe before. The vision of its beauty shattered as it let out a long loud howl. The same howl from before. From in the library, and from the grassy field. 
¨And now, you shall die.¨ snarled Takeo, twitching violently, before he sprang forward like lightning.

Inches away from ripping holes into Hoa´s chest, Takeo froze in place. His claws flexed, his arms tensed, snarling he glared. But no matter how much power he used to will his body to move it would not. Hoa collapsed backwards gasping loudly, staring back in shock. Why am i not being torn apart right now? Not that i want to be, she thought. She stood up shakily and realized the monster could not move. 
¨H…How?! Can I??!¨ Takeo glowered at Hoa. 
¨A witch??