Strangers In The Fireplace by L. Maxwell (books to read for 13 year olds .txt) 📕

was in pain too as they charged each other.

Christina readied herself for another impact. Pain shot through her face from his jaw numbing hit, and blood splattered across the floor. She looked at K to find the left side of his mouth hanging from his face. Part of his jaw was completely severed from the impact of her knuckles. She momentarily shook her fist, trying to ward off numbness, as the two of them moved to strike again.

Christina stopped in mid attack. Her neck warmed as she felt a towering figure creeping up behind her. The heat of a huge claw sped toward her throat, ripping at it. Her hair brushed across her face as she dodged, glancing to the right to glimpse the creature. Nothing was there.

She braced herself for K’s attack, having taken her eyes off him for a second. But he had stopped too. He and his army were scanning the room, striking at invisible enemies that tore at them one moment, but were gone the next. She'd never felt anything this wrong before, and by the looks of everyone else, they hadn't either.

“Hide and seek is getting boring, so why don’t we end this?” she asked, as her eyes followed the group of them now circling her.

Out of the corner of her eye, she glimpsed K striking at an invisible creature. His urgent stare met the full attention of his skeletal army. “They're distractions; we’re leaving now!” he yelled, but too late.


Christina stumbled, struggling to keep her balance, as a huge explosion rocked the entire dungeon. She quickly covered her ears, trying to block out the echoing sound of the blast. With a prolonged wince from the intense ringing in her ears, she peered through the airborne debris. K hadn't moved, but his army raced to reach the far right corner of the room. They searched for solid ground amid the pieces that tumbled from the broken ceiling. Their lower body bones were seared black from the fire blazing through the cracked floor, and there weren't any signs of the invisible creatures.

Christina blocked K’s path as he began to move. She griped the dry bones that were his left arm, and restricted his movement. “Tell me what I need to know, or we both die here.”

His eyes narrowed with malice as he looked down at her. “Their boss, is about to destroy this entire dimension,” he said, gripping her wrist until she released him, “and everything in it.”

Surprise fell across her face as she shook the numbness from her wrist. “But it can’t introduce its-” She stopped herself as a thought occurred to her. “Dimension?” she said, turning to find the entire room was now empty.

Christina’s arm fell from the sudden pressure of K’s grip. Her body jerked as he pulled her to the front of him. “I’ll be back to take what’s mine.”

K’s arm bones began to crack in her hand. She inched the bones closer, threatening to break them. The blood rushed back to her arm as he released it. “Then I suggest you make peace with your God.”

K's loose jaw produced an odd look on his face as he smiled at her. Christina just waved at him. She followed his pace as they backed away from each other. A couple of feet later, he ceased his withdrawal and extended his palm. His sword returned to his hand in an instant. The dirt at his feet scattered from the immediate thrust of his sword through it, and he disappeared.


Christina flinched as a burning pain shot through her shoulder. She raced toward the entrance, patting her purple, sleeveless shirt until the fire was out. Her feet slid aimlessly in the wet dirt of the tunnel floor, as she scaled the steep, rainy pathway. The corner of her eye caught the wall lighting up behind her. She glanced to her right, then quickened her pace. The blaze from the dungeon had burned its way to the tunnel and it was now closing in on her.

Exhausted, she stopped at the tunnel’s end. Dirt sprinkled from the wall as she moved her hands across, feeling for any openings. There weren’t any, and the sweat beading down her face told her the fire was catching up to her. “Well,” she joked, backing to the opposite wall, “the left side of me is already broken.”

With the little speed she gained, she rammed her shoulder toward the wall. She stumbled into her bedroom as her body met with no resistance. A run-through of her moonlit condo for any adversaries revealed nobody. She slid her hand across the white marble of the fireplace with a curious stare. The odd feeling she'd felt ever since the day she walked in was gone.

Christina inched herself into the white, designer chair that sat next to the glass window. She looked at her minor shoulder burn and gently rubbed the broken side of her abdomen.“Nothing that can’t wait till later.”

She dropped her head against the soft cushion of the chair as her breathing began to slow with the easing of the pain. The rain blurred her usual view of the downtown city as she stared at the window. “A really weird dream?” she thought, pushing all the unanswered questions aside, “Yeah, that’s what I’ll go with for now.”

Her eyes glimpsed the oak grandfather clock in the corner, just as she closed them. The 2:15 a.m. reading it showed immediately jogged her memory. “Oh my God, today’s my first day as a Rev. Corp. bodyguard! . . . Figures,” she continued, drifting off to the sound of the rain, “the one time something does happen, I have an early day.”

To be continued..... Imprint

Text: This Book Is Solely Owned And Created By The Author Of The Book, Lydia Maxwell.
Publication Date: 09-25-2009

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