Knowhere, p.1
Knowhere, page 1
KNOWHERE
Paper Robin
Knowhere by Paper Robin
Published by Paper Robin
Copyright © 2022 Paper Robin
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. For permissions contact: PaperRobinHood@Gmail.com
Cover by Paper Robin.
Artwork by Paper Robin.
DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to all you lovely readers.
Stay brave, magical, and weird
CONTENTS
Prologue
CHAPTER ONE That’s Life
CHAPTER TWO Popped Out of Knowhere
CHAPTER THREE The Meet
CHAPTER FOUR Trees and Dreams
CHAPTER FIVE Questions and Prisons
CHAPTER SIX Don’t Put Words in My Mouth
CHAPTER SEVEN Annabelle
CHAPTER EIGHT Manticores Don’t Like Hair
CHAPTER NINE Chariot’s Forest
CHAPTER TEN The Ruins Of Guard
CHAPTER ELEVEN The Curse
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN Cliff Climbing
CHAPTER FOURTEEN Into The Castle
CHAPTER FIFTEEN Thousands to Three
CHAPTER SIXTEEN The Battle
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN The Cliffs of Manti
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN A cold Summer
CHAPTER NINETEEN She’s Coming Too
CHAPTER TWENTY Lea and David
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE Cow-O-Loaf
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO In The Past…
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE Lost Wings and Cities
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR The most powerful sorcerer
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE The Great War
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX It’s Going to Rain
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN Shadows
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT Forgotten
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE Notepads and Thomas
CHAPTER THIRTY Summer’s Escape
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE The Centaur
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO Two-Headed Snakes
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE Golden Spear
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR The Lake
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE The Sirens
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX Reunite
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN I’m Going After Her
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT The Shadowman
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE The Five-Hundred
CHAPTER FORTY Tree Hydra
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE Disguises
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO Coins Float Trees Climb People Lie
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE The Fall of Edmund
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR Last Stand
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE The End
KNOWHERE fun facts
Prologue
Coins float.
Trees climb.
People lie.
Have you ever wondered what happened?
To the giants, wizards, dragons, griffons, the magic? Some people think they all died after the sixteenth century somehow killed off over time, lost in history and never to return.
Others have never even thought of this, just accepted that they were once here and are no longer, that they had no discernible effect on the world and never will, and some small minded people don’t even believe that magic ever existed, let alone exists now.
That somehow all the legends and stories are just that, but, the rest of us, we know better, we know what really happened to them.
CHAPTER ONE
That’s Life
Alexander was as ordinary as a fifteen-year-old boy could be, or so he thought.
Al had dark brown hair, dark tan skin, and vibrant blue eyes. He lived in a small, light gray trailer house with dry gravel landscaping next to many other trailer houses that were the exact same in a dry town that no one has ever heard of. Obviously, he did not live alone; he had a sister named Summer and an uncle named Edmund.
His eighteen-year-old sister had blond hair, light tan skin, and brown eyes and was about as normal as her brother except she was oddly tall for her age. Edmund had raised them and was honestly not the best fatherly figure in the world, not that he was mean or anything he was . . .well, the shady type that stands in the corner of the room at a party that no one invited him to, but he somehow knew there was a party and found the address?
That's him.
He looked kind of like an older version of Al, except he was muscular, had brown eyes, walked around with a slight limp, and had a few terribly huge and mysterious scars on his left arm and a few on his face.
However, right now, Al wasn't at his house with his average family; no, right now, he was at his boring school waiting for the bell to call his freedom. Al looked at the clock.
Five minutes.
He sighed. It was always the last five minutes he couldn't stand. Al shifted in his seat and gazed down at his finished school paper. He would have turned it in by now, of course, but the girl with freckles and a bowtie took it as a declaration of war if anyone else turned their papers in before her.
Four minutes.
He tapped his pencil on the desk, but the teacher glared at him through her square glasses, so he stopped.
Three minutes.
He listened to every slow second tick and began doodling on his paper.
Two minutes . . . one minute. . .
"Three, two, one," Al mumbled. Then the glorious sound of the bell chimed off. The class all stood up. Al flipped his red hood on, shoved his school page on his teacher’s desk, and grabbed his homework. He forced his way to the door and exposed himself to fresh air.
This was Al's life, which he thought was just awful. It wasn’t the worse life ever, he could have had it much worse. Al figured at least he didn't have to walk through a den of hungry lions or anything of the sort. Al was just trapped in a boring life, where the only enjoyment he had was listening to the alley cats meowing at him on the way home.
. . .
Al was lost.
Well actually, he knew where he was; he was just stuck. This wasn't an exception to his regular routine, though. He always forgot which of the splitting dirt streets guided him the two blocks towards home. He sighed and looked around, hoping Summer hadn't gotten home yet. Oh, who was he kidding? She was a champion in track and was always home before sunset.
"Wait," Al shivered. The sun was setting, and panic struck him. He tried to remember something about the roads—anything.
"Where are you going?" a voice asked.
Al jumped. Behind him stood a girl that looked about his age or older. She had bright red hair, white skin, and green eyes. "Somewhere," Al mumbled, not comfortable with talking to strangers. "Well, that's that way,” she said with disinterest and pointed right. "But it's your choice," she shrugged. Al stepped back. "Would you—" he began, but she was gone. The cold wind blew some silver leaves towards Al. He shivered and walked left. He didn't know why he chose this direction, maybe because he didn't feel comfortable going the way she had pointed, afraid it was some sort of trap, or maybe this way was—
A soft cling hit off his shoe, pulling him out of his thoughts. A small, golden-colored coin twirled on the road glimmering in the late sunset. Al watched it settle. "Never touch anything you find on the street," Al mumbled, repeating what Edmund had told him a million times. His uncle would kill him if he found out that he had picked this up, but what if he didn't find out?
Al snatched it up.
He traced his fingers over the strange design of a golden flower, replicated on both sides. He quickly stuck the coin in his pocket as if he had found a diamond that someone was looking high and low for, instead of a small, ordinary metal coin, and he continued walking down the street.
This would be the biggest mistake of his life.
CHAPTER TWO
Popped Out of Knowhere
David was running for his life.
Though he didn't know exactly what he was running from.
He forced his eleven-foot-tall body's legs to pick up speed while dragging along his torn and broken hundred-pound dragon wings that attached to his back. The breath of . . . whatever it was chasing him, blew his red hair into his face, which was very annoying.
The black ring tattoos around his arms were covered in mud and dirt and his chest burned, but he had to ignore this. He had to stay focused, his sister was waiting for him. He just had to. . . "There!" he cheered, as he jumped over some rubble and almost hit a crumbling wall. He ducked under a rotten wood frame with no door and grabbed a glowing neon-blue stone. "Earth!" he yelled in excitement. He then vanished from the giant monster's view.
. . .
David reappeared at a split road and smiled.
He had prepared for this. David even wore earth clothes, a white shirt that said something about peanuts, and gray jeans. He had bright red hair with small red tufts for a beard that wouldn't be noticeable if they weren't so vibrant, with bright green eyes and red wings.
"You're late! Alexander already passed through!" his sister snapped at him.
"I was being chased," he reasoned, then gazed at the area and sighed. "It's beautiful here," he smiled.
"What was chasing you?" his sister asked before he trailed off too far.
He shrugged, "Something with bad breath."
"What?"
"Long story,” he said simply, then looked at his clothes. "Do I look okay?" he asked.
"Uh, well . . . you look as normal as a wonder can look," she admitted.
"Thanks." He laughed. "So which way did he go?"
"Left," she replied, pointing down a dirt road.
Alexander thankfully saw his house in the distance shortly after his choice to follow the left road.
Even though all the houses looked the same on this block, he could tell which one was his by its red doorknob.
Edmund had installed this after Al had accidentally walked through the neighbor's unlocked door, and a five-year-old girl threw a priceless vase at Al's face, but thankfully missed. Then a big gray dog chased him out, but that was the most exciting thing that had ever happened to him, so he wasn't as mad or haunted by the experience as he should have been.
Summer was sitting on the wooden doorsteps, drinking a bottle of water. Edmund always kept a case of water under the steps, though they weren't allowed to bring any of them inside. Al assumed it was about keeping the house clean.
Summer looked at him with a sad expression. "Are you okay?" Al asked as he grabbed a water bottle and sat next to her.
"Fine." She sighed and took a sip.
"Then what are you thinking about?"
"Nothing, it's just . . . have you ever felt like you are made for more?"
"Not really," he mumbled and swallowed some water.
"Are you serious?" she yelled. "Never once?"
He smiled.
She sighed. "Whatever, Al," she mumbled and swallowed the last of her water. Summer threw the plastic bottle into the steel trashcan with a loud bang.
"Well, do you?" Al asked defensively.
"Well, I wouldn't be asking if I didn't." She looked at him.
"Finish your water. There's something I want to show you."
"What is it?" he asked.
"Something interesting," she said allusively.
Al sighed. He hated when she did this. He stood up and drank the rest of the water in two swallows. "Ready!" He gasped. She smiled and knocked on the door. Several clicks sounded as the door unlocked. It creaked open, sounding like a sick moose. Edmund looked out. "Come in," Edmund ordered. They stood up and walked in. He quickly locked the door.
They entered a living room with brown carpet, white walls, a TV, and a gray couch. The living room morphed into a cream-colored kitchen, with a small wood table and no fridge; they didn't need one since all the food they had was dried.
"Did you . . . find anything?" Edmund asked.
Al turned his head away.
"No," Summer said as she eyed him suspiciously.
"Good." He sighed, sat on the couch, and ran his fingers through his dark brown hair.
"Are you alright?" Summer asked him. He nodded.
Al opened the kitchen cupboard. Inside were cans of freeze-dried peaches, apples, raspberries, and cucumbers. He pushed them aside to grab the box of salted crackers.
Edmund sighed. "I will be in my room," he mumbled, then stood up and walked away.
"What's up with him?" Al asked once he had heard Edmund's door shut.
Summer looked at Al. "I think it's my fault," she mumbled.
"Like you've ever done anything wrong." Al laughed, but she didn't.
"Summer, what's going on?"
"Have you noticed how much taller I've been getting?" Summer asked.
"Well, everyone grows," he shrugged.
"Al," Summer said and gestured toward herself. "I was two inches shorter when I woke this morning."
"Well, that isn't natural, but what's the harm?" Al argued.
She huffed and fell on the couch. "Look." She pulled up her long sleeve to reveal a black ring tattoo around her arm. "It just appeared out of nowhere yesterday, it seemed to freak Edmund out, and he's been acting weird ever since," she mumbled.
Al sat down next to her. "What is it?" he asked.
She looked at him. "Well, logically, I don't know, but. . ."
"But what?"
"Come with me." She smiled and walked towards her room. Al followed.
Summer lay on her stomach and reached under the bed. She pulled out a large blue book. The title was a different language that Al didn't recognize, written in gold like the dragon symbol below it. She sat on the floor, and Al sat beside her. "W-where did you find this?" he stammered.
"Under the loose floorboard in Edmund's room." She flipped it open to a page bookmarked with a brown napkin. The words on the page were still a different language, but there was a picture of several tall men and women with different colored, scaly wings with three black rings circling each arm.
"You're joking, right?" Al asked.
"You have no imagination." She slammed the book so fast that she almost got Al's nose.
"You seriously think your growing faster because of what some fake book in some fake language says?"
"Magic is real, Al. Have you noticed how Edmund has looked twenty-five for our entire lives?!" Summer exclaimed.
"Some people age really well," he shrugged.
"Al, no one can age that well. You wouldn't believe in magic if it slapped you across the face." She huffed.
"She's right, you know," the book said.
They slowly turned their heads. "Al, the book is talking," Summer mumbled.
"Well, obviously," the book said, the pages flipping as if they were caught in the wind. It glowed blue, and a tiny blue fairy emerged right before the book closed. Al screamed.
"I'm Nel,” she said kindly.
"Y-you see it too, right?" Al asked Summer.
"What happened to manners?" Nel snapped.
"You are a fairy!" Summer gasped in excitement.
"Still no hello, name, or anything? No matter, I know who you are anyway," Nel said, but then, out of nowhere, Al began to feel his pocket heat up.
"What?" he whispered and pulled the coin out of his pocket. It felt like fire; he instantly dropped it. It blasted open, shooting a green beacon through the air and burning a hole in the roof.
It was so memorizing that Al and Summer couldn't look away. Nel fell back into the book with a hard thump. Edmund, hearing the explosion, swung the door open. He quickly stomped the coin to pieces. They snapped out of it.
Edmund grabbed the front of Al's red jacket so he would look up at him. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" he yelled.
CHAPTER THREE
The Meet
It took Alexander a second to realize what was happening. "What happened?" he asked.
Edmund let go, causing Al to fall backward, which seemed to wake him up. "We need to go," Edmund ordered.
"What? Why?" Summer asked, snapping out of it also. Edmund didn't reply; he just picked up the book on the floor and left the room. Summer and Al had the sense to follow. "Edmund, what was that thing?" Summer asked.
Again he didn't reply.
They ran into Edmund's room as he pulled up the loose floorboard and grabbed the bag off his bed. He began stuffing the bag with the things contained in the hidden compartment, such as some books, a glowing blue jewel, a rolled-up parchment, and a strange marble arrowhead. He then threw it on his shoulder.
"Are you going to answer us?" Al asked. Edmund just walked back through the door and they followed.
"Grab anything you want," he ordered, "We need—" but before Edmund could finish, someone began to bang on the door.
"Go hide," he whispered fiercely. They hesitated. "Go!" he ordered and pointed to the rooms. Al and Summer ran into one and locked it. Edmund turned his head back to the door, the knob shook and twisted, and then it melted along with the locks. Edmund snapped his fingers, and a ball of fire appeared in his hand. The door creaked open. An eleven-foot-tall man stood extremely hunched over in the six-foot-tall doorway, next to a girl that looked a little older than Al. Edmund threw the flames at them.
"Wait!" Nel yelled as she flew out of the bag and hovered between them. Edmund quickly clapped twice, and the fireball disintegrated.
"Get out of the way, Nel!" he ordered.
"No, Edmund! They are okay," she assured him. He glared at her. "Trust me, Edmund," she begged.
His face calmed, and he stood stiffly. "Who are you?" Edmund asked.
"I'm David, and this is my sister, Lauren," David introduced.
"Why are you here?" Edmund ordered.
"We need your help," Lauren continued, "Annabelle. She has done something to Knowhere."
Edmund raised his eyebrows.
"Alexander. Summer," Edmund said, well aware that Al's bedroom door was ajar. They stepped out. "Come here," he ordered.
"What are you?" Al gasped as his and Summer's eyes widened at the sight of David. David looked confused.
