The Mark of Amulii - Prologue: A Life Upended
#1 of The Mark of Amulii
I am in the process of final revisions of MoA, and I'll be posting the progress here for a little while as I complete it. So those of you who haven't had a chance to read it that are interested can do so for now.
Blurb:
Young adulthood is all about change and self-discovery, but what if that takes a terrifying twist? Alex finds that out first-hand when he's forced to move from the city to the untamed wilds of Alberta his senior year of high school.
His life goes from mundane to strange when he meets a wild man named Amulii while out hiking along the lake near his new house. He's huge, unkempt, and doesn't speak much English, but he takes an immediate interest in the high schooler he'd been watching from afar.
What starts as an uneasy friendship quickly escalates the moment Amulii gives Alex a blood-colored necklace. The young man realizes he's in over his head as his new boyfriend becomes more dangerous and uncontrollable.
To make matters worse, a horrifying change takes hold and his life quickly spirals out of control. Amulii had been keeping something important a secret. Something that puts Alex's life and family in danger.
We're moving.
That was all there was to the text message my mother sent. For five agonizing minutes, my thumbs fumbled through a series of hasty responses, each getting more desperate as the moments passed.
"What's wrong?" Mike asked, trying to get a better view of the screen. The atmosphere of the room shifted darker with every tap of my thumbs.
"Hold on." My intense stare never left the phone as three more messages bubbles went unread. After trying unsuccessfully to call her phone, my shoulders slumped forward, and I glanced over at my best friend who was on the floor next to me, leaning against the bed.
Mike was one of those guys all the girls went crazy for and all the guys wanted to be. He was taller than me, a solid one hundred and eighty-three centimeters of toned muscle, hardened by years of sports, particularly football.
His skin was olive-toned with a slight patch of brown from a birthmark on his left cheek, and his eyes were the color of dark caramel. It was still weird to think the once lanky, awkward middle schooler who played Magic the Gathering would end up an Adonis his senior year.
Though he left me way behind physically, we never stopped being close. There were times I wanted to tell him my most guarded secret, but I didn't want things to get weird between us. Sports and clubs had already taken most of his free time, and I was only in the way at school--only popular by association with him.
"I don't know what's happening right now."
"Your parents talkin' about divorce again?" Mike sat the television remote on the floor and raised his eyebrows, his hands fidgeting. It was hard for him to understand what my family life was like considering how happy this place was.
"No," I responded, my tone wistful as the phone finally alerted me to another text.
Jasper.
"Damn it!" I shouted, tossing the phone at the wall. It bounced back, the rubber case protecting it before landing on the carpet. "They're doing this shit again." My eyes watered as I looked up at Mike. "We're moving."
"What? Where are you going?"
"Jasper, for some reason."
The room went silent as we sat there in shock.
"What the hell's in Jasper?"
"Not a Goddamn thing. She's being cryptic, which means they're probably fighting right now."
"It's your senior year! What the hell?" Mike became more distressed as the situation had time to sink in. "You know my folks would take you in, right? You wouldn't have to leave everyone, and I don't care if you share my room."
There was a heat that spread from my forehead to the base of my jaw as I thought about sharing such a small space with him on a more permanent basis. We were already joined at the hip as it was.
"Hello? Have you met my mother?"
We both let out heavy sighs.
"Damn," Mike muttered as the television went black. That evening started out light-hearted, us watching another hilariously awful horror film. It took three words to ruin everything. "I don't know what to say."
"After everything they've done, this crap sits in the top tier." I raised my knees and rested my head against them. "You're so lucky."
"At least your family's got money."
"Who cares? Money doesn't make things any less shitty."
A sinewy arm draped over my shoulders prodding a sad smile while calming me. He always had that effect on me.
"Hey," Mike said, giving me a slight shake. "You gotta promise to keep in touch, and I don't mean every once in a while."
I wiped my eyes as they began to water.
"You know I will."