Read The Coalition Episodes 1-4 Online
Authors: Aria J. Wolfe
The Coalition Episodes 1-4
The Coalition
Episodes 1-4
Copyright 2013 Aria J. Wolfe
Published by
KingdomNow Publishing
Smashwords Edition
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2013 by Aria J. Wolfe
Jacket art copyright © 2013 by Yvette R. Dempster
All rights reserved. Published in Canada by KingdomNow Publishing,
RR 2 Site 456 Box 4 Comp 9,
Drayton Valley, Alberta, Canada.
Visit us on the Web! ariajwolfe.com
The coalition / Aria J. Wolfe. -- 1st ed.
Book one of: The coalition series
[1.Young adult-- fiction. 2. Fantasy]
Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group
Smashwords Edition License Notes
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Table of Contents
I thank God for giving me such a vivid imagination. For encountering me. For never letting go.
Thank you to my mom, Glenda, for your endless hours of reading through each revision and providing suggestions, for your constant encouragement, numerous phone calls, wisdom and advice. You never seemed to get tired of talking about the characters, they seemed to be as alive to you as they are to me. I will be forever grateful to you.
Dad, thanks for listening to me chat endlessly about my website ideas. Your enthusiasm is so infectious.
To my sisters, Rebecca, Breanna, Shyanna and my brothers Scott and Adam (Shannon) for your support! And the kids my parents care for in their home for your support and interest.
Thank you Carmen Kostwinder for beta reading and for your invaluable feedback. I appreciate you!
Thank you to my family for showing me great grace and patience throughout these past two years: John, even though you admit to never having read a novel before (or was it you never ‘enjoyed’ reading a novel before?), I am grateful that you offered to read my manuscript. You must love me! Thank you for understanding my idiosyncrasies, my keeping crazy writing hours, my strange ‘hypothetical’ questions and for being a sounding board. You keep me sane.
My oldest son Steve (and Sara), thanks for your constant enthusiasm and the fun chats we had about books, plot, setting etc. Never a dull moment.
Sydney-Maegan, my daughter, thank you for your company, your encouragement and for being ‘real.’ I appreciate your honesty and your love.
To my youngest son Braeden, it has been a joy to write whenever you’re around. I could always count on receiving a shoulder-rub or an encouraging smile. And your whispers of “I love you Mom” kept me going far beyond the moments when I wanted to quit.
A sincere ‘thank you’ to my friends for putting coffee dates on hold and for being so understanding when my head was in ‘another world.’
Also, a huge bouquet of thanks to my editor Lydia Conrad for your hard work, suggestions, and fantastic questions that kept me on my toes. Thank you for stretching me beyond my comfort zone. It has been a pleasure getting to know you a little bit, through our many emails across the miles.
And lastly (importantly) thank you to my readers. Without you, what would this novel be?
To each one, let me say again a thousand times, “thanks!”
Okay, I’m finished… I think.
Mom
You made this possible
"Hang my locket around your neck, wear my ring on your finger. Love is invincible facing danger and death. Passion laughs at the terrors of hell. The fire of love stops at nothing - it sweeps everything before it."
Song of Solomon 8:
6
Sector 1- Adena (symbol: Infinity)
Sector 2- Brenton (symbol: Circle)
Sector 3- Conley (symbol: Crescent)
Sector 4- Fino (symbol: Sun)
Sector 5- Hadyn (symbol: Eye)
Sector 6- Kegan (symbol: Triangle)
Sector 7- Kent (symbol: Flame)
The Coalition- (symbol: 3 Interlocking Circles)
Shai (SHAY)
Aliah (AY-lee-yah)
Ellersly (ELL-ers-lee)
Eliana (el-ee-YON-ah)
Sileas (SIL-ee-us)
Maire (MARE)
Samael (sam-AY-el)
Zev (ZEV)
Mara (MAHR-ah)
Akan (AY-kan)
Elchai (EL-kye)
Remiel (REM-ee-el)
The Community of Lael (lay-EL)
Shai
Shai sat on a hard wooden bench in the chapel staring at the back of the young man in front of her. She crossed her ankles and swung them as she noted how his hair had begun to curl up around his ears and along his neck. Her chest warmed, the way it always did when she thought of him. She smiled as he ran a hand through his thick, dark hair, making it stand on end.
A sharp poke in her ribs snapped her out of her daydream.
"Listen, Shai!" Her friend Sileas narrowed her eyes and jabbed a thumb in the direction of the speaker's platform at the front of the room. Shai rolled her eyes and faced front.
"There are twenty-one more days until the next Watcher Recruitment round. That's enough time to prepare yourselves." A thin, middle-aged woman with mousy-brown hair that she wore in a severe bun, had begun the speech that Shai and the other teens in the community of Lael heard every three weeks. It was always the same thing: be diligent in the duties assigned to you, manage the younger children in your House, attend Chapel regularly, and try not to stand out... blah, blah, blah.
She had been eligible for recruitment two years ago when she had turned fourteen, but had no interest in becoming a Watcher. They wore black clothing, walked with their heads down, and never spoke. They were the security of Lael and the most sought-after position. They protected the residents and reported which children might be eligible for the
next recruitment to the leader of the community. No one knew the Watchers’ identities. They gathered in secret at night, along Lael's boundary fence-line while everyone else slept, and watched Lael in shifts by day.
Shai leaned forward a little to steal a look at the other children sitting in her row. Who would be the next one chosen for recruitment? The air seemed to crackle with nervous energy. Even Sileas fidgeted.
One by one the children returned her stare, their grey eyes round with anticipation. A small smile tugged at the corners of Shai's mouth.
One of them will be chosen before me or even Aliah. We stand out too much
. She leaned back against the bench and glanced at his rigid back as he sat next to his friend Ellersly, listening intently to the speeches as though they mattered to him. They were the only two in the community who had colored eyes. Hers mirrored the color of the sky when the clouds parted, and Aliah's were bright green.
The Mother's eyes darted around the room, waiting for quiet before she continued. Her long grey skirt swished as she walked to a small table on the right side of the room. The table served one purpose: to display a thick
, brown book known simply as the Book.
The Mother placed one hand palm-down on the front cover of the Book and scanned the room again.
Shai twisted her pendant on its silver chain until it pinched her skin, then released it, watching the pale moonstone embedded on the front, twirl. Even if she could avoid being recruited, she couldn’t escape the Reading of the Book. She ticked off a mental list. Did she break any Laws or Rules during the past three days?
"And finally, before we get to the Reading, remember our number one rule: all pendants are to be worn inside your tunics. Never touch them, play with them or look at them. Ever."
Shai looked up, her cheeks hot. She'd never been called up for an infraction. Not that she didn't commit any, she was just never reported.
The Mother's steel grey eyes bored into her. Shai dropped her pendant back inside the neck of her tunic and clasped her hands in her lap. Aliah's shoulders straightened even more. She knew he'd disapprove. He always kept the Laws.
She cast a side-long glance at Sileas, who snickered beside her, but the girl's expression never changed. She watched the Mother intently, even leaning forward a little to catch every word. How did she do that, laugh under her breath without smiling? Not even her eyes showed any amusement.
The room grew heavy with silence. Everyone waited for Shai. She straightened her back like Aliah's and concentrated on making her face expressionless.
"Once again our Gracious Leader has written in the Book the names of those who have committed infractions during the last three days. But, as a nice surprise, he has written the name of someone who will receive a reward. They will be sent to live on the Hill."
A collective gasp echoed throughout the room. Shai pressed her lips together while keeping her eyes on the Mother. As much as she feared her name being called for an infraction, she feared receiving a “reward” even more. If she could melt into the hard wooden bench she would. Anything to keep from being noticed.
She clenched her hands tighter in her lap. Her pulse raced
. It's not me, it's not me.
It wouldn't be her, she knew. But she swallowed hard past the knot in her throat.
The house on the hill had been vacant for years. If someone was chosen to live there it meant they lived there alone, without being subject to Laelite Laws until the day the Leader came to give them the
ir “reward” on Recruitment Day.
Cold sweat broke out on Shai's forehead and trickled down her back
. It won't be me.
She breathed deeply in, then out, but the shaking in her legs and hands became worse
. Of course I won’t be chosen; I stand out too much.
Her hair was too light, her eyes too blue, not to mention her secret: the strange birthmark over her heart that often pulsed waves of heat through her like it did now.
Her fingertips tingled, and the edges of her vision suddenly darkened, as pink, blue, and green dots swam before her eyes
. Not now. Oh, please not now.
She stared at the back of Aliah's head trying to focus on the sound of the Mother's voice. The tingling lessoned. She pressed her lips harder into a thin line. She couldn't have a vision now. Bad timing.
The Mother picked the Book up from the table and cradled it in her arms like it was a small child. She opened it to the middle then turned back a few pages; her lips moved as she read. After a moment she lifted her eyes and cleared her throat.
"Shai. Would you come up here please?" The Mother's eyes held Shai's for a long moment and when Shai didn't move she repeated, ‘please.’ Bile rose in Shai's throat. She stood up from the bench and squeezed past the row of legs as she made her way to the center aisle. When she brushed by Sileas's knees, her friend grasped her hand and gave it a quick squeeze before letting it go. Shai kept her eyes forward, her head straight. If she looked at anyone she'd either cry or throw up.
She inhaled deeply. This was worse than being recruited as a Watcher.
She expelled her breath just as she tripped over a boot of the girl sitting at the end of the row.
"So much for not being eligible." The sneer in the girl's whisper mocked Shai's lifelong belief that being different was safer.
She recovered her footing and stepped into the aisle. She'd become good at hiding her emotions and did so now as she opened her fists and forced her hands to lay flat against her sides and her feet to walk up the narrow aisle to the front.
She locked eyes with the Mother who spoke in a solemn voice.
"Shai Eli of Lael. You've been rewarded by our Gracious Leader. He has chosen you to bear a child who will be become the next Leader of Lael. Hand me your pendant, you'll no longer be needing it." Another gasp rose from the teens followed by several whispers. One of the Mother's from the Boy's Houses silenced them with a hissed, "shhhhh!" as Shai fumbled with the clasp behind her neck.
She'd always hated that pendant, but handing it over made a sick feeling settle like ice in the pit of her stomach.
When at last the clasp sprung free she coiled the necklace into the Mother's outstretched hand and watched as the long fingers curled around it. The Mother’s fist remained suspended between them, and Shai noticed it trembled slightly. She looked up into the Mother's eyes, glistening and watery. She pushed her shoulders back and nodded slightly. The ice in her stomach settled deeper.
The Mother nodded back, cleared her throat again, then proceeded with the remainder of the Reading while Shai stood and watched.
"Sol Curtis, please stand. You are charged with breaking the Law of Equality. Punishable by spending one day and one night alone, outside the boundaries of Lael in the Borderless." A young boy with reddish-orange hair hung his head.
"Mayla Kelton, please stand. You are charged with breaking the Law of Liberty. Punishable by spending three days in stocks, fastened to your wrists and ankles."
Shai stood rigid, her hands behind her back, her eyes forward, and her lips pressed together. Five more names were called, followed by their crimes and punishments. Someone received two lashings, another received four days in isolation, and a girl who looked no more than twelve, received a snip off the tip of her tongue for speaking against their Leader. That punishment was promptly carried through
. While the children either turned away or watched, horrified, Shai stood staring, transfixed as the girl stood in front of the Mother. When she opened her mouth, Shai gasped at the misshapen, purplish-red mass inside. It hardly resembled a tongue. Shai turned away.
How many punishments like this has she already received?
After a moment, sniffling sounds filled the room as the girl walked back to her seat, with a dribble of blood running down her chin. Shai's palms grew sweaty and she wiped them on her grey trousers.
Finally the Mother said in an even voice, "Seven names have been read today. Seven crimes committed since the last Reading which means seven Laws or Rules were broken. This is intolerable." She blinked a few times and smiled. "However, let us celebrate Shai's reward today. May she be an example to all of you."
She turned to Shai. "Go straight to the Hill. Your belongings will be packed up and brought to you. After a mandatory twenty-four hours of solitude you may have visitors. You will be free to come down the hill to Lael...whenever you choose. Then, in twenty-one days, you will leave Lael to go live with our Gracious Leader." The last two words came out quiet and the Mother raised her hand over her head to signal dismissal.
Loud scuffling and a chorus of voices erupted as everyone left the Chapel, with heads bent together in groups of two or three, engrossed in their animated conversations. Shai remained frozen to her spot.
At last the Mother turned around and looked straight at Shai, her eyes swimming with tears.
"I know how badly you've wanted to avoid being recruited and now this. I'm so sorry. I...I didn't know. If I did..."
"You couldn't have done anything Eliana, you know that." Shai twisted the hem of her standard-issue, grey tunic and looked at the floor. "Maybe it will be ok. No one has ever seen our Gracious Leader. Maybe he's... nice." She raised her eyes to Eliana's who blinked several times as tears spilled onto her pale cheeks. She knew what the Mother was thinking. How could anyone who demanded such extreme punishment for children be nice?
"I've been assigned to care for you during your stay at the House... we will have three whole weeks together." The Mother's lower lip trembled until she caught it between her teeth.
Shai nodded then took a step back.
"I guess I'd better go. I should see where I'm living now." She turned and began walking back down the aisle past the rows of empty benches.
Eliana's voice echoed behind her, all business again. "Your twenty-four hours begins now. Don't let anyone detain you. I will see you after that."
Shai trailed her fingers along the backs of the benches then turned around again. She couldn't resist a sudden urge to be somewhere familiar yet private. "May I go to the garden first?"
Eliana looked up, surprise on her face. "Of course. It’s not your turn to do the holes though."
Shai shrugged. "It's okay. I just want to be somewhere quiet until I go to the Hill."
"Sure. I understand." Eliana's smile was soft yet sad. “Take all the time you need.”