Octinnia, Book One, Chapter One

1st chapter of this full length fantasy for older children

Chapter One

Her birthday over for another year, Abbie lay in bed thinking over the day. All in all it had been good, even if her brother had teased her for saying that she felt more grown up now that she was thirteen. It was late but she didn’t feel like sleeping, she’d read for a bit - that always made her drowsy. Then she remembered she hadn’t tried the new Kindle her parents had given her for her birthday. There were hundreds of e-books to choose from. She skimmed through title after title. Why she settled on Octinnia, she didn’t know - she’d felt drawn to it. Its sub-title intrigued her; “Live the Adventure”. No sooner had she opened it than everything about her began to swirl. A bright light filled the room and she had a weird feeling that she was shrinking. Dizziness made her close her eyes as a sing-song voice began to chant inside her head,

History, Geography, Legend and Lore;
New friendships to form and so much more;
Learn through reality, discover your quest,
Developing skills that will help you the best.
Two gadgets to use with logic and guile;
A wondrous remote and a special mobile;
Companions share an adventure supreme,
Working together, an unstoppable team.
Difficulties and dangers must be overcome,
Fearful, frightening, some even gruesome;
Eight quests to complete; so much to learn,
All eight must be finished before your return
Use cunning and reason to find your way
Plus courage and daring to win the day

After a few moments the voice ceased and the spinning stopped. Abbie opened her eyes to find herself in a large, brightly lit room. Seven other youngsters, three girls and four boys, stood about, looking as bewildered as she felt. A tall, curly haired boy grinned at her. He had bright blue eyes, which twinkled when he smiled.

“Weird, eh?” he said in an American twang.

Before Abbie could reply a disembodied voice echoed around the room,

“Your group is now complete. Please make yourselves comfortable, have some refreshment and to get to know each other before you begin the first quest.”

Three round tables laden with food suddenly appeared together with several exceedingly squashy chairs - one for each child. The boy who’d spoken didn’t need to be asked twice to help himself to food. He’d taken a huge bite of a massive beef burger before Abbie could stop him,

“I shouldn’t eat or drink anything before we know more about this place.”

“That sounds like right bonza advice, mate.” Another boy agreed. He too was tall but had short, spiky brown hair and clear grey eyes. He sounded Australian.

The first boy stopped chewing for a moment, hesitated, shrugged his shoulders and then took another bite,

“It’s ok, I feel fine and they’re the best burgers I’ve ever tasted. I didn’t put any sauce or anything on but it taste like I did. It’s just the way I like them. I reckon it’s safe, don’t be sissy.”

After watching him for a few minutes and seeing no ill effects, five of them followed his lead. Abbie and the brown haired boy hung back.

“I’m not hungry anyway; I was reading in bed when I found myself here.”

“In bed? Why, what time was it where you were?”

“Eleven o’clock at night. I’m from Yorkshire, England.”

“That’s the other side of the world from me, my home’s in Sydney, Australia - and it’s lunchtime there now.” He looked longingly towards the food tables, “What you think? They all seem ok,”

“Mmm, I suppose. You have some, if you think it’s safe. I’m really not hungry. My name’s Abbie by the way, Abigail Illingworth, what’s yours?”

“Bruce McIntosh. No one looks to be poisoned; I think I will risk it.”

He sauntered over to the food. Abbie flopped down in one of the squashy chairs and waited for them to finish. A short, stocky, dark skinned boy was the first to leave the tables. He smiled shyly at her.

“I’m not too hungry either, but I thought since we don’t know what’s coming, it might be sensible to eat something. I heard what you were saying to that boy. I’m Philippe Rocard. I live in Paris, France.”

“Your English is really good. I know some French, we do it at school, but I couldn’t manage a proper conversation.”

“What do you mean; everyone’s speaking French.”

“No, they aren’t. That blond boy’s American and Bruce is Australian, they’re speaking English - so are you.”

Philippe looked puzzled, “But I can’t speak English, or not very much I can’t.”

Abbie stared at the rest of the children. They were all talking between mouthfuls and as far as she could tell, were all speaking English. But to Philippe it was French. They all looked as if they came from different countries. One of the boys looked Chinese; a dark haired girl might be Spanish or Mexican, another one looked Dutch, German or perhaps Scandinavian. There was a beautiful Asian girl, possibly from India as well as the American and Australian boys. If they were all speaking their own language how it was they seemed to understand each other?

“Yes, I suppose that is weird, but whatever, Abbie, I think you ought to eat something. We’ve no idea what’s going to happen next. It might be ages before we get the chance of food again.”

“You’re probably right, I suppose I should try.” She left him and approached the food tables. There was still plenty of choice. Most of them had finished eating and had wandered over to the comfy chairs. It seemed however that the American boy possessed a bottomless pit as he was still shovelling in food.”

“Hi again, thought you didn’t want anything?” he managed to say between mouthfuls.

“Philippe, he’s the dark boy, suggested I should as we don’t know when we’ll get fed again.”

“Too right. That his name, Philippe? You’re Abbie, I heard. I’m Calvin Henderson, Cal. I come from the States. We live in Boston, well me and Mom do, Dad’s in New York; they’re divorced.”

Abbie picked at a chicken sandwich, which to her surprise she found totally delicious even though she hadn’t felt a bit hungry. A bowlful of strawberries and cream proved scrumptious too. She’d never tasted any as mouth wateringly good.

”Thought you weren’t hungry.” Cal laughed finishing off his third slice of blueberry pie.

“I thought so too, but everything’s so yummy. Amazing isn’t it?”

“Sure. You know, I think this is going to be great fun.”

“The song that played in my head on the way here didn’t sound much fun to me.”

“You hear that too?”

“Yes, I think we all did. It’s all a bit freaky, don’t you think?”

“Naa, weird maybe, not freaky.”

“Everybody’s speaking different languages, but we can all understand each other, if that’s not freaky, I don’t know what is.”

“Yea, well, I suppose, exciting though, aint it? I can’t wait to find out what happens next.”

“We were told to get to know each other. I think we’re going to have to work as a team.”

“If that’s right, we’ll need a Leader - I think I’d be good.”

“We all need to talk before deciding things like that.”

Cal looked sullen, “How old are you?” he asked as they made their way across to the chairs.

“Thirteen.”

“Me too. When?”

“Today - well, it’ must be yesterday by now.”

“Ah, so I’m older by three months. Let’s ask the others. Bet I’m the oldest.”

She gave him a sideways look and was glad to see that the two remaining empty chairs were not next to each other. She took one between Bruce and the long haired, blond girl, leaving Cal to sit next to the Chinese boy who was next to Philippe Rocard at the far end of the semi circle. Barely had they sat down than Cal was on his feet again,

“I’m Cal Henderson, Calvin really but I don’t like that much. I’m thirteen and three months. What about the rest of you?”

“I’ll be fourteen next month.” Bruce said a smug expression on his sunburnt face.

Cal turned to the others looking rather put out.

One by one they introduced themselves.

John Hoy, the Chinese boy, came from Hong Kong. He was thirteen and a half. Juanita Fernandez from Guadalajara, Mexico, was thirteen and two months. Simran Khan, the very pretty Indian girl, like Abbie, had had her thirteenth birthday yesterday. The girl with long blond hair turned out to be from South Africa, her name was Beatrix Van Muwen although she asked if they’d call her Bea. She was the next oldest after Bruce at almost fourteen. Philippe Rocard was older than Cal by a month. The quirky fact that everyone’s birthday fell on the 8th of the month seemed more than a coincidence.

“It gets weirder,” thought Abbie.

“Well, what now? We still haven’t chosen leader.” Cal wasn’t one to give up easily.

“Maybe we won’t need one,” Bea voice sounded a note of common sense, “I should think they’ll tell us if we do.”

The disembodied voice rang out again and as it did so the food tables disappeared to be replaced by a single desk on which was a remote control and a mobile cell phone. Behind the desk a large white screen displayed the words OCTINNIA, THE FIRST QUEST in vivid colours. Eight faces turned expectantly towards it. The letters faded to be replaced by a female face. It gazed at each of them in turn finally stopping on Cal.

“It has been decided that you should be the group leader.” Cal’s grin spread from ear to ear. The face moved over them again, this time stopping on Abbie, “You have been selected to assist as second in command. The two of you will take charge of the only equipment you will be allowed to take into the zones. Now, listen carefully to the following rules. They must be rigidly obeyed:

“1. Only the Leader and Second in Command can activate the equipment.

“2. Zones are changed by means of the remote control. You cannot switch zones individually; only as a complete group. The remote has many uses besides zone changing. You may like to experiment with it before beginning the first quest.

“3. You will find an identity number on the back of the chairs. The mobile has been preset with them. Communication is activated when they are pressed. You cannot contact anyone outside Octinna by this equipment.

“4. You will only be allowed to exit Octinnia upon the completion of all eight tasks.

“Calvin, please collect the equipment. You may begin in your own time. You can return to the Transit Room at any time by using the remote; pressing PAUSE will automatically return the whole group to this room. You can also return singly by holding down the relevant ID number at the same time as activating the PAUSE facility. Any Questions?”

Cal picked up the remote and the mobile, “We call this a cell not a mobile, but whatever, how do we start?

“When you are all ready press the remote’s ON button followed by number one.”

The face disappeared. The words OCTINNIA: THE FIRST QUEST lit up the screen again.

Having first examined the cell phone Cal handed it to Abbie, keeping the remote himself,

“Right then, I say we go for it - ok? Anybody object?”

“I do.” Bruce looked cross, “I’d like to know what use a single cell phone is?”

Instantly the face reappeared,

“Once activated the phone works by thought transference. You will be able to communicate without speaking. Texts can also be sent by any of the group simply by thinking the word text followed by your message. Any other questions?”

“Will we move directly from quest to quest, or come back here in between?” Simran wanted to know.

“That’s up to you. As I explained, you can return here anytime you wish simply by using PAUSE. Zones will be visited in order. When you have completed a quest, you may go directly to next zone by pressing its number. Should you attempt to move on before you have completed a quest or press a number out of sequence it will have no effect and you will remain in the zone you are in.”

“Anything else?”

“Will we be told each quest before we enter the zone?” Philippe asked.

“No. It is for you first to discover the quest and then work out how to successfully complete it.”

Cal shuffled his feet impatiently, his irritation clear, “Anybody else before she goes again, no?” The face disappeared and his finger hovered over the ON button, “Right then, we ready?”

“Shouldn’t we see what else the remote can do, before we rush in?” John seemed to be having difficulty accepting a boy younger than himself as leader.

“I really think we should, Cal.” Abbie smiled sympathetically at him.

“Right, what shall I try? We know the numbers are to change zones and that PAUSE brings us back here.”

“Try MUTE” suggested Juanita.

Cal pressed it and a deep silence settled on the room. He turned to Abbie and was amazed to see that her lips were moving. He tried to speak but although the words formed on his lips, nothing came out. He pressed MUTE again and immediately sound returned.

“Well, that was obvious. I expect all the rest are too. FAST FORWARD and REVERSE speak for themselves. Want to try any more? No? Right then, here goes....”

Whilst still speaking Cal pressed the ON button and before they could stop him, he hit number one. A bright light flashed around the room. Abbie found herself alone, floating weightlessly in a swirling mist.

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