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  Copyright © 2020 Bronwyn Leroux

  All the characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, contact the author at [email protected]

  https://bronwynleroux.com/

  Cover designs by Lena Yang Designs

  ISBN-13: 978-1-953107-04-6

  Destiny Series Boxed Set

  Books 1-4

  Bronwyn Leroux

  Chapter One

  Jaden realized he’d spent his entire life waiting to hear the sound: eerie, ancient, an otherworldly screech clawing through time and drilling agony into his skull. He stumbled, clutching his ears as he looked to his friends. But they hiked on, oblivious, even when the hoarse squealing became a more nerve-wracking shrieking. Unrelenting, the racket continued, overwhelming his senses, melting his bones.

  Just when Jaden thought he’d explode, the screaming ceased. He drooped, his hands falling from his ears. Legs weak from the assault, he wanted to collapse onto the snow. But that would’ve alerted the others to his distress. Despite the absurdity, Jaden sensed the cacophony was for him alone.

  His battered ears sought more soothing sounds. Snow crunching softly as their snowshoes crushed its crystalline surface. His friends’ fatigued panting. The reverberating crack as a branch broke under the burden of bulky spring snow. Each sound was accentuated by the abnormal absence of the drone of air traffic. 2073 it might be, but some places still barred the passage of overhead traffic. And the Shadow Mountains were one.

  Shivering against the chill, Jaden studied his friends through his locks of dark blonde hair, badly in need of a trim, that had fallen over his tilted cobalt eyes. Why hadn’t they heard it?

  The six of them had hiked these mountains with their families since they were kids. But today was the first time they were hiking without parental oversight, and they reveled in exploring the heights alone.

  Although the mountain’s lofty peaks doomed their community to extended afternoon shadows and isolated them from the rest of the Meridian complex, the raw beauty surrounding them more than compensated. Today was no exception. Majestically tall, spectacularly decked with emerald forests below, and capped by a mantle of blazing white, the Shadow Mountains commanded attention.

  But Jaden’s attention was elsewhere: the screaming had started anew, worse than before. The torture was back. What was it? Why couldn’t his friends hear it? Peering into the trees up ahead, he tried pinpointing the source. But the shadows were deep and the sun obnoxiously bright. Raising his hand to shade his eyes, he scanned the gloomy depths.

  Without warning, a gigantic shape lifted off a tree up ahead.

  Jaden fell backward into Tarise with a strangled yelp. The others stopped and turned inquiring gazes on him.

  Tarise frowned. “You okay?”

  The solemn, studious type and the youngest of their group, Tarise was quiet but eerily observant. Those who didn’t know her could be forgiven for wondering whether she ever laughed or if she simply stared at the world with her huge, soulful, blue eyes.

  Jaden stared into those eyes as he shook his head and struggled up. He pointed at the monstrous silhouette, its disproportionately long neck covered in scaly armor, sticking out at odd angles. And the tail… the tail was not the tail of a bird, but the hard-shelled stinger of a scorpion! It had to be a trick of the light. His eyes were deceiving him!

  His friends peered in the direction marked by his shaky index finger. Then, without exception, they turned bland faces his way.

  “What?” Markov wheezed, his handsome face red with cold.

  It would’ve surprised Jaden that Markov was struggling for air, considering he was a rising star on the gridpost team, if he wasn’t so engrossed in the monster.

  “You don’t see that?” Jaden croaked. The gargantuan outline shrank as the creature flailed awkward wings and streaked away.

  For the second time, his friends turned and studied the designated area.

  The apparition was now only a dark spot on the otherwise shining horizon, a black blemish marring the beauty. It was an imperceptible point in the sky when his friends rounded on him, shaking their heads.

  “Maybe we should take a break,” Stovan muttered, dropping his pack, and then himself, onto the hard-packed snow.

  “Excellent idea,” Markov said, following suit.

  Thankful sighs sounded as the rest of the group relieved themselves of their hefty packs and took a few minutes to catch their breath. Although they could’ve opted for more modern, trendier and lighter anti-gravity sacks for carting their supplies, the group remained attached to their old-fashioned backpacks, touting the benefits of the strenuous exercise but regretting their choice later.

  “Seriously, none of you saw that?” Jaden asked.

  “Bro, I think the altitude’s getting to you. Chill. Grab some rays. Refuel,” Markov said, his voice mild.

  Jaden fumed, fighting his outrage. But studying the others, he concluded pressing the point would be futile. They were all as calm as sheep before the slaughter, oblivious to how close they’d been to danger. He shook his head. How could they all have missed it? He heard it. He saw it.

  Frustrated, Jaden dipped into his pack and retrieved his water bottle, crushing it to his lips and tipping his head back. Cool water trickled down his throat. Light-headedness smashed into him. Reeling, Jaden slowly lowered the water bottle and then his head, waiting for the world to equalize. Okay, maybe I am tired.

  Reaching into his pack again, Jaden grabbed a bag of trail mix. Flopping onto the snow to give his wobbly legs a break, he chewed through the contents. When the bag was empty, he sighed and flipped onto his back. Emptying his mind, he closed his eyes, allowing the warm sun to shine red through his eyelids. The babble of his friends’ conversations washed over him, a soothing lullaby. His tense muscles unwound, but relaxation was short-lived.

  Stovan hoisted his pack. “Time to press on.”

  Bree groaned. “Already? Five more minutes . . . please?”

  Grinning, Stovan pulled Bree to her feet. “No such luck. I’m on a mission to get to the top so I can eat the awesome lunch I packed.”

  “We could just eat here,” Bree offered, a hopeful smile on her face. Nicely rounded Briley (or Bree as they affectionately called her) was prone to falling behind and ending up in second-to-last position, huffing and puffing along. If it weren’t for stocky Stovan bringing up the rear and easing his own pace as he good-naturedly pushing her along, they might’ve lost Bree after the first few turns on the trail.

  Stovan laughed. “And miss the great views up there? I think not!” Rebuking the others still lounging on the trail, he said, “Come on, up you get!”

  With grunts and groans, they complied. Soon, the trail’s compacted foundation gave way to the powder of less-traveled paths. Nearing the end of the trail and the lake that marked their lunch site, Jaden grew edgy. It was as though something—or someone—was watching him. Darting a glance backward, he caught Tarise staring.

  She flushed, color rising along her neck and suffusing her cheeks. “Sorry,” she stammered, “you don�
�t look so hot.”

  “I’m okay,” he snapped, returning his attention to his feet. It hadn’t escaped his notice that Tarise’s offer to bring up the rear when they resumed the hike was a relief to the others. His little . . . episode concerned them. Maybe he was paranoid. Forcing slow, deep breaths, he berated himself. Calm down, stop panicking. There’s nothing here. Loosen up. Enjoy this time with your friends.

  Markov strode on, leading the silent group. The oldest by a few months, he had the enviable build of a gridpost player. Jaden sighed, glancing down at his own gangly frame and wondering whether he would ever fill out and look more normal. With long arms and long legs, his body betrayed him at every turn, making it more difficult to move without being clumsy and seemingly weaker than he had been before the growth spurt. His mother kept assuring him he would grow into his limbs—only that required him to stop growing.

  “Almost there,” Shianna called out, bounding over the snow pack like a mountain goats she adored. Being the nature-lover, she was way out in front, as usual, rushing around looking at everything as though it might become extinct before she studied it.

  “Thank goodness!” Bree exclaimed, looking as though she might pass out at any second.

  Stovan grinned, giving her a gentle shove.

  “Looking forward to the cookies I baked?” she asked.

  “Can’t wait,” Stovan replied and then added, “Maybe we should test them before lunch if they’re as fabulous as the last ones you made.”

  Bree chuckled. “Aren’t you sorry now you made me walk all this way? You could’ve already been sampling them!”

  “Quit the food talk. I’m already hungry enough to eat two meals,” Jaden said, and the group sniggered. Although perpetually hungry, food never filled him for long. Only an hour after leveling a huge breakfast, he was hungry again. Sometimes, Jaden felt like he spent his entire day eating.

  “Don’t know how you stay so thin, dude,” Markov quipped.

  More jibes followed about the vast quantities Jaden consumed. He took the teasing in stride, knowing it was true. He wished they were there already. Food might help him get past whatever he had seen—or thought he saw.

  Chapter Two

  They rounded the last turn on the trail. Sapphire Pool appeared, gleaming with blue ice and breathtakingly beautiful. The overhanging glacier, feeding the waters lurking beneath, glittered in the sunlight and bounced gleeful rays of sunshine over them in welcome.

  The six of them jockeyed for better positions on flatter rocks and places with less snow to rest their weary bones as they spread out along the pool’s edge. Then they opened their packs and shared food whilst chattering about their upcoming summer vacation plans.

  Jaden leaned against a boulder as he listened. He had scarcely relaxed when he felt it: an evil presence, skulking on the periphery. His danger level spiked to DEFCON ONE, and he jerked upright. A claustrophobic cloak of imminent doom descended, suffocating him, a weighty warning of something terrible to come. Jaden sat, poised for flight, every muscle tense. But nothing happened. Sheesh, I have to get over this ridiculous obsession.

  Leaning back again, he sipped his energy drink. He forced himself to concentrate on the group’s conversation. But his mind wandered.

  Their group had been together since entering Life Training, a much-needed revision of the old education system. Under that antiquated approach, every kid had to suffer through every subject, regardless of interest or ability. In Life Training, the system zeroed in on each child’s natural talents, gauging their abilities from a young age and then placing them into the ideal life stream. It was a sweet system; you loved everything you learned.

  Regrettably, the old system’s cliques persisted in the learning centers (or LCs), circumventing a total educational evolution. Social groups still revolved around the sports stars, the academics, the cheerleaders, and the “popular” kids, with the majority still not fitting into a set niche. And the groups still sparred with one another.

  But even these tensions hadn’t torn their friendships apart. Instead, their little group had banded together, stepping out of their naturally assigned cliques and supporting one another against the inevitable ragging that went on, forging unbreakable bonds between them.

  Jaden’s mind registered the conversation, now a lively debate about whether the LC’s cafeteria food would improve after several students had done a nutritional analysis and proven that they were eating cardboard. The educational system may have changed, but some things never would.

  “Well, it’s good-tasting cardboard,” Stovan said, in a misguided attempt at placating Shianna.

  “Yeah,—and doing nothing for you or your body. In fact, all those things that make it so tasty are what make it worse for you!”

  “Do you think they’ll ever change the food they dish out?” Jaden interrupted, getting an accusing glare from Shianna.

  She tossed her head. “Haven’t you been listening at all?”

  “Nope, sorry, tuned out to take in the view.” Jaden grinned.

  Shianna’s tirade stalled as she took a few seconds to process his tone. Then she reached over and slapped his arm. Tension easing, everyone chuckled.

  “I guess we should admire the view and forget about the cardboard,” Stovan said, and the conversation veered towards lattes versus frappuccinos when Bree produced a flask of coffee.

  Who would have thought there were so many things to say about coffee? Jaden’s eyes closed again as his friends’ voices buzzed like merry bees.

  The pain slammed into him. Sharp and insistent, it pierced his closed eyelids. He bolted up, eyes flying open. Blinded by the hot light searing his retinas, he almost toppled from the rock he had been so precariously balanced upon. Jaden averted his eyes, but the pain squeezed him tighter, driving him to face it.

  Desperate, Jaden looked up. The light dimmed. As his eyes adjusted, he focused on the dark shape. Lacking any discernible color, it dwarfed the branches over the rocks near the water’s sheet-ice edge. The wings were tatty things, hardly strong enough to support a sparrow’s weight, let alone this massive specimen. And that beak! Vicious, sharp, and curved like a scimitar, it glinted in the limited sunlight filtering through. The beak’s menacing length ran to almost midway down the creature’s elongated neck.

  Jaden had never seen anything more hideous. It was like something out of a horror movie, like some animal experiment gone wrong. If he were into classifying living things like Shianna, he wouldn’t even know where to begin.

  Thinking she might help, he eased over to her, hoping the brute wouldn’t disappear again. Tapping Shianna on the shoulder, he whispered, “Do you see that thing in the trees over there, about two o’clock?”

  She squinted, examining the trees. “No. Unless you mean the darker patches?”

  Exasperated, Jaden hissed more precise directions. When this didn’t produce results, he appealed to Stovan. To his disgust, Stovan concurred with Shianna.

  “What’s all the whispering about?” Markov interrupted.

  “Jaden thinks there’s something in the trees, over there,” Shianna replied, indicating the general area of the search.

  Markov swiveled, craning his neck as he probed the murky shadows. Finding nothing unusual, he rocked onto his feet and picked over the rocks to get a better view. After several seconds, he still hadn’t said a word.

  “Well?” Jaden demanded.

  “Dude, I don’t know what you’re seeing, but I can’t find a thing.”

  Adamant they should acknowledge the apparition’s existence, Jaden leaped up and crashed over the boulders toward it, shouting and waving his hands in the air. If he could scare the thing, it would launch itself, and they would believe.

  Aware of his friends’ snorts of amusement, Jaden continued regardless. Almost to the base of the tree, he felt the animal’s wrathful eyes and began to doubt it would do what he wanted. It seemed capable of reading his mind, knowing what he was after, but like a belligerent child,
it was determined to do the opposite. Stopping just short of crashing into the tree, Jaden was losing hope and breathing hard. He and the beast glared at one another.

  Close enough now to smell the fetid air rolling off it, Jaden comprehended how immense it was. And for the first time since his irrational decision to charge, he realized how foolish he’d been. This thing was beyond dangerous. And he was less than thirty feet away!

  Before he could consider his options, the monstrosity stretched out its scraggly wings. Colossal, they measured roughly twelve feet on each side and were even blacker than the rest of its body. As the wings clicked open, Jaden perceived each wing wasn’t a whole piece, but four fingers of countless metallic feathers, each finger separate and distinct. No wonder they looked strange. How on earth could it fly with wings like that?

  The beast leaned forward. Jaden took an involuntary step back when it glowered at him through enormous, luminescent amber eyes. For an instant, Jaden feared attack as it fell off the branches toward him. But with powerful strokes, the fingers on its wings each rotated up and then down, lifting the creature away from him.

  Jaden took another precautionary step backward, his eyes never leaving the aberration as it ascended into the cloudless azure sky. He only relaxed when he was certain the beast wouldn’t come crashing back down again.

  Delighted it had taken flight, he yelled, “Look, look!” He faced his friends, enthusiasm brightening his face. But it vanished when he noted their expressions.

  “Dude, are you sure you’re not feeling the altitude today?” Stovan’s concern was obvious.

  Shianna bounced the few steps to reach him and stretched out a hand to his forehead. Realizing she intended checking for a fever, Jaden smacked her hand away.