The World Within

By M.C. Olmo

A kid gets kidnapped by a strange creature in a forest. His sister sets out to find him, but on the way there, she meets fantastic creatures and discovers something special. Some of these creatures might help her, others won't. Will she find her brother before it's too late?
A fantasy and adventure novel set in the mountains and caves of Naguabo, Puerto Rico, at El Yunque's rainforest backside. The story is full of twists and unexpected turns that will keep the reader engaged in a labyrinth of thrills. Excellent for youngsters aged 9 to 13 or for the child within you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: M.C. Olmo
• Release date: Nov 19, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465883698

M.C. Olmo

Marielba Cancel Olmo was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico and grew up in the town of Río Piedras. She has taught English, Science and Spanish, and has worked as writer and translator. She lived in England for three years while pursuing a PhD in English Literature, where she received an ORS (Overseas Research Student Award), and then moved to Barcelona for a year. She returned to Puerto Rico in 1999, where she currently resides. She has written many poems and short stories for several publications. The World Within (2011) is her first novel. The book has won three Honorable Mentions: the Green Book Festival in San Francisco (May 2012), the Halloween Book Festival (October 2012), and the New England Book Festival (December 2012). Philomena Sparks and The Curse of the Big Ben is her second novel. It won a Honorable Mention at the London Book Festival (2013) and a Runner-Up place in the Sci-Fi / Fantasy category at the Sharp Writ Book Awards (2013). Email: [e-mail]

Book preview

The World Within

By

M.C. Olmo

© 2011 Marielba Cancel Olmo

Smashwords Edition

© 2011 Marielba Cancel Olmo.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information address 304 Interamericana St. University Gardens, San Juan Puerto Rico 00927.

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For my nephew Gabriel and my niece Daniela,

for we may be miles apart, but in my heart, you are always near.

And in loving memory of my father, Ramón Cancel Negrón,

a wise, stern and intuitive man

who believed I would publish my stories one day.

Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge several people who have helped me through the complicated process of writing this book. First of all, I would like to thank my dear friend Ligia Hernández. I am indebted to you for taking the time to read, re-read, edit and proofread this novelette. Thank you for your endless support, your keen eye and for being there for me, even late at night. Thanks to my mother for listening and for her heavenly patience at all times. Thanks to my friends, Gabriela, Viviana, Brenda, Finees, Diana, Carmen, José L., Ruth, Vincent, Samuel, Lillian, and my godsons José and Luis for believing in me, for your encouragement, help and motivation. Thanks to my brother and sister, (Ramón and Rosalba), for being so inspiring and caring. You are the best siblings anyone can ever have. Also, I wish to thank the Internet for keeping everybody I know connected, in one way or another. And finally, I thank you, dear reader, for downloading and reading my book. I hope you enjoy it.

It was the Summer Solstice in June 21, 1982.

Chapter 1

Are you ready? I asked Rick, my brother, while we sat in the back seat of our mother’s station wagon, on our way to our farmhouse in the countryside, in Naguabo. She was driving through the highway at quite a speed and my baby sister was sitting in the front seat with her. We had the radio on, and I can still remember it was playing one of Iron Maiden’s best songs. Since the loudspeakers were set at the back, and they were quite loud, our mother could not hear what my brother and I were plotting in the back seat.

"White man came, across the sea, he brought us pain and misery.

He killed our tribes, he killed our creed. He took our game for his own need..."

Yes, I’m ready, let’s jump back. Rick said. He was eleven years old and he was a skinny kid with bright brown eyes and always managed to wear a disheveled mane of brown curls that fit perfectly with his mischievous outgoing expression. I, on the other hand, was strongly built, yet lean and tall for being fourteen years old. My hair was long and wavy, and its color ranged in between some sort of auburn and brownish red. Although we both shared the same eyes, I often had a distracted look in my face, which went along fine with my dreamy and introverted ways.

"We fought him hard, we fought him well. Out on the plains, we gave him hell.

But many came too much for Cree.

Oh will we ever be set free?"

Come on, help me out with the cord here. Rick said as he jumped to the back of the station wagon with a plastic kite in his hands. This area had been laid all flat, since underneath it was usually being used as a trunk; and, during these trips to the farmhouse, we usually took many things with us, like a Frisbee or two, horse’s saddles, a cooler with plenty of water and juice, food, and extra clothes. They were all neatly placed in there and the flat surface above provided an excellent playground where you could sit and slide with the car’s movements. Coming. I said to Rick as I jumped to the back to join him.

I was supposed to tie the cord to the kite as strongly as I could, so he could let it fly out through the back window, while the car sped up down the highway. It sounded like an exceptionally great idea to both of us. And so, with the car’s speed and the wind’s help, the kite would be flying high in seconds. We only had to make sure the cord wouldn’t snap or that the kite wouldn’t get damaged during the experiment.

Ok, one, two, three! We both counted aloud as we set the kite flying through the back window. For a few seconds, it stayed directly in front of us and it wouldn’t gain height, but as we loosened up the cord, the kite seemed to gain some altitude and then it went down a couple of feet, staying directly right in front of us, only a good eighteen feet away from the window.

"Riding through dust clouds and barren wastes, galloping hard on the plains..."

Of course, we were not the only ones on the highway, there were a few cars passing us by and some others behind us as well, only that when they came closer to our station wagon, they were forced to change lanes, unless they wanted to collide with a plastic black and blue kite, that appeared to be suspended in mid air, right in front of them. It must have been quite a sight for those coming straight at us from behind!

But, the problem did not lay in the fact that by passers were honking at Mom and making hand gestures at her or even shouting at us from their windows. The problem was that we were quickly approaching the toll area and we had to pull the kite back inside before then, or most probably, it would be inevitably squashed by anyone who happened to be following us, or worse, the kite could end up crashing on someone else’s car, right on their windshield.

"Run to the hills, run for your lives..."

Since the danger of an imminent calamity seemed to overpower us, I started to roll up the cord as fast as I could, while Rick kept on pulling the kite’s cord. The wind current felt strong and he could only pull a few feet at a time. By now, a third car had already honked and waved at Mom, so she decided to look through the rearview mirror while shouting above the loud rock music: Juniper, Frederick, what are you two doing back there?

Nothing Mom. Rick said as he managed to finally get the kite inside and hide it from Mom’s sight. Juniper, why are you two in the back? You’re supposed to be sitting right here! She said as she pointed to our empty places on the back seat.

It’s ok Mom, I’m just tying the horse’s saddle, seems it was kind of lose and bumping all over the place. I lied nervously as I finished rolling up the last bit of the cord while my brother folded the kite back and hid it.

We were now at the toll area, so we took advantage of the car’s full stop to jump back into our seats and buckle up.

Just as Mom was about to throw the coins into the toll basket, the driver from the car right behind us stepped out and walked quickly towards us. He was a slender tall man, probably around forty, and he had an annoyed look on his face. Mom saw him and stepped out of the car as well. Our mother was also strongly built, but thin, around five feet tall with short straight light brown hair and almond shaped brown eyes.

I could not hear very well what they were talking about, but most probably it had to do with our kiting adventure.

"Soldier blue in the barren wastes,

hunting and killing their

Reviews for The World Within

[marielba5 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This short novel takes place in the mountains of my home country where my parents used to own a farm when I was a young girl. I have always imagined there was a hidden world within this forest and so, this is what this story is about. A boy gets lost in the forest and her sister sets out to find him, but she encounters many creatures and ends up bargaining more than what she expected. They must escape this hidden world before it's too late. The story is full of surprises and thrills and has had good reviews so far.