The Noricin Chronicles: The Lost Boy

By Mark Sheldon

Dan Regal has always been alone, having been left on the steps of an orphanage when he was only a baby. He has never had any visitors, nor made any true friendships with the other children at the orphanage. Aside from this utter, inescapable aloneness, Dan Regal is an entirely normal, unremarkable young boy.

But all of that is about to change...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mark Sheldon
• Release date: Jan 10, 2011
• ISBN: 9781458110619

Mark Sheldon

Mark Sheldon is the author of the upcoming series, "The Noricin Chronicles." The first installment, "The Lost Boy," is due to be released on January 11th, 2011. Visit http://noricin.webs.com for more information!

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Praise For The Noricin Chronicles

A story that draws the reader in from the very first line…The story of the Noricin legacy is compelling and magical. Mark Sheldon has created a masterpiece.

~Mark Miner

A House Divided; The Bed and Breakfast; The Spell of Deception; and Willamette Werewolves.

http://www.markminerwrites.weebly.com

"[Mark Sheldon] easily moves this complex story with ease… I for one can’t wait to see Part 2 and what Dan and his friends learn in the next year at the Steven Noricin School for the New Race."

~Dr. Patricia Petty – author, speaker, writer

http://www.cellophaneministries.weebly.com

http://www.antebellumproductions.weebly.com

"A real page-turner, easy to read, easy to follow and I want to read more…[Mark Sheldon’s] words flow as smooth as a Stephen King novel."

~Bill Rosen, Author

"[The Lost Boy] is a tale of riddles, lineage and super humans, and will have you turning every page rapidly…I for one have a keen interest to discover just who is the lost boy Dan Regal and what is his destiny?"

~Kyra Dawson, Brighter Scribe

http://www.thescribesdesk.com/

"Rife with fantastical action and adventure, The Lost Boy is a magical read…[Dan’s] struggle along the road to ultimate enlightenment is one with which readers young and old alike are sure to identify."

~Chelsea Perry, Apex Reviews

http://www.apexreviews.net

The Noricin Chronicles

Chronicle the First:

The Steven Noricin School for the New Race

Part 1: The Lost Boy

By Mark Sheldon

The Noricin Chronicles: The Lost Boy Copyright 2011 by Mark Sheldon

Cover artwork Copyright 2010 by Gothicmama

http://gothicmama.deviantart.com

Smashwords Edition

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Visit The Noricin Chronicles homepage at http://noricin.webs.com

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Obviously, Logically, and Clearly

Chapter 2: Friends and Foes

Chapter 3: First Night

Chapter 4: Histories, Atoms and Shields

Chapter 5: Virgus and Podmore

Chapter 6: Enlivenment

Chapter 7: Dreams, Reality and Scorpions

Chapter 8: A Family Tree

Chapter 9: All Things Return

Chapter 10: Puzzles, Riddles and Vegetables

Chapter 11: Attempted Murder and Pancakes

Chapter 12: Josh Reyshell

Chapter 13: Descent into the Labyrinth

Chapter 14: Answers, More Questions and Stacks of Pancakes

"And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it."

Roald Dahl, The Minpin

Chapter 1

Obviously, Logically And Clearly

Daniel Lendell Regal was an altogether uninteresting child. He had no special skills or talents. He had no quirky characteristic traits that made him different from other children. He was in every sense just a typical, pre-teenage boy with dark blond hair and blue eyes. There were only two things that made him stand out from average children, neither of which was anything that most children would be inclined to boast about. The first was a pale birthmark on his right palm, shaped like a crescent moon. The second was that he had no family.

Dan had spent his entire life in a Boston orphanage, and as far as he or anyone else could tell, he was completely and utterly alone in the world. The only visitors he’d ever had were the annual CASAC (Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children) volunteers that came to check on the well-being of the orphans and offer a friendly face.

He had never even made any friends with the other children at the orphanage (especially not Tommy Tuttle). His lack of friendship wasn’t for want of effort or desire – he was just always aware on some deep, subconscious level that he did not fit in with anyone in his life. He couldn’t explain it; he just knew that he did not belong, and not a day went by when he didn’t wonder if he was the loneliest soul on the planet.

But, as is often remarked, no one is truly alone. We may get lost from time to time, but we are never alone. Dan might have been about as lost as anyone could possibly be, but nonetheless – though he did not know it yet – he was not alone.

It was on his twelfth birthday – May 10th, 1991 – that the events began which would reveal to Dan just how un-alone he was; and there certainly could not have been a more traumatizing way to open a young boy’s eyes.

Dan was celebrating his birthday by sitting – alone – on the orphanage common room sofa, watching Back to the Future on the television. Doc Brown was in the midst of warning Marty McFly about the dangers of interfering with the past when –

BAM!

A pair of meaty hands reached over the couch and shoved Dan to the floor.

Move it, Regal, an all-too-familiar bullish voice barked, I ain’t watchin’ this crap.

Dan hadn’t needed to hear the voice to know that the meaty hands belonged to Tommy Tuttle. Just as every schoolyard has a bully, so does every orphanage, and Tommy Tuttle was the bully of Dan’s little world.

Tommy clumsily climbed over the top of the sofa, plopped his not insubstantial rump into the complaining cushion, grabbed the remote from the sofa’s armrest, and began flipping through the channels.

Normally, Dan would have gone off to sulk, rather than invoke the wrath of Tommy Tuttle, but this was his birthday, dammit!

He stood up, his pulse pounding with anger, grabbed the remote from a startled Tommy Tuttle’s sausage-like fingers and said, I was watching that, jackass.

The look on Tommy’s face immediately made Dan regret the outburst. Imagine the look of a bull that’s just had a tennis ball thrown at its groin. That would not be far off from Tommy Tuttle’s expression.

Tommy rose menacingly from the couch, casting a dark shadow over Dan; for not only was Tommy Tuttle wide, but he was tall as well. Those two traits, combined with his short temper, made for a very unpleasant combination.

What did you say to me, shit-face? the towering Tuttle demanded.

I-I said, I w-was w-watching th-that… Dan said, omitting the closing epithet that had undoubtedly sealed his fate.

Dan watched, as if in slow motion, as the bully’s fist balled up and reared back, aiming for a perfect hit. It would not have been the first time he had received a beating from Tommy Tuttle – but he had no way of knowing right then that it would be the last.

As Tommy’s fist collided with Dan’s jaw, the world spun and Dan went flying backwards. He collided with the wall beside the television set, and fell to the floor in a stunned lump.

But Tommy was not done with him yet.

As the bully charged his prey, aiming for a kick to Dan’s ribs, Dan had a momentary fantasy of how nice it would be if he could just set Tommy Tuttle on fire and be rid of the bully once and for all.

The transition from fantasy to reality was so seamless that it took several seconds for Dan to realize that something was wrong. It wasn’t the image of Tommy bursting spontaneously into flame that had clued him in, for the imagined vision had been very vivid. It wasn’t even the screams of Tommy Tuttle, for Dan had certainly imagined the screams.

It was the smell. The smell of burning flesh and hair suddenly permeated the room in a way that Dan, even with his vivid imagination, could not possibly have conjured in his mind.

It was over in a matter of minutes, for Tommy’s screams had alerted the orphanage staff who rushed to the scene of the crime and quickly doused the flames. Dan was dragged roughly from the common room and marched to his room as one of the volunteers called 9-1-1.

Dan sat in shocked silence on his bed, violent tremors shaking his body as the terrible scene replayed itself in his memory on an endless loop. Even the sound of the ambulance departing for Mass. General couldn’t drown out the sound of Tommy’s screams ringing in Dan’s memory.

Mrs. Potts – the administrator of the orphanage, a stern, portly woman – came to his room and questioned him about what had happened. The social workers came and questioned him. The police came and questioned him. To all of them he told the same story – the truth – and every time he could see the disbelief in their eyes. But the only alternative would have been to tell them that he had actually set Tommy Tuttle on fire, and somehow he didn’t think that would have boded any better for him.

Word came from the hospital shortly thereafter that Tommy’s condition had been stabilized and that he would live. Although a relief for sure, it was by no means a complete reprieve for poor Dan’s guilt.

Naturally, Dan did not sleep very well that night as his dreams were haunted by the images and sounds of Tommy’s torment.

In the morning, when Mrs. Potts coldly announced that he had another visitor, Dan logically assumed that now it would be the psychologist, come to lock him away in a padded room in a straightjacket. Despite the severity of the situation, he couldn’t help but think that at least in a padded room he’d be able to have fun bouncing off the walls.

Following the administrator into Dan’s room was the most peculiar man Dan had ever seen. His peculiarity was not in his dark skin color, for Dan had met many volunteers at the orphanage of varying complexions and had not developed any racial biases. His peculiarity was not in his height, for he was tall, but certainly not abnormally so. He was old, but not too old for a freshly-turned twelve-year-old to comprehend – surely no older than sixty-five.

His white hair was neatly cut and his equally white beard was neatly trimmed – against his dark complexion the white hair gave him a very wise, dignified look. He wore a perfectly acceptable light-blue dress shirt with black slacks. His choice of a bright orange and yellow checkered tie was a little unusual, but even the wisest and greatest of men are allowed the occasional fashion faux pas.

No, what made this individual so peculiar – such that even the orange and yellow tie seemed perfectly normal in comparison – were his eyes. They were purple – a deep violet purple reminiscent of an amethyst. Dan had never met anyone with purple eyes before, and he was quite certain he had never heard of anyone having such an unusual optical pigmentation.

Although Dan might have found this abnormality disturbing, there was something about the gentleman’s demeanor that made him feel at ease. He emitted a grandfatherly warmth that Dan had rarely experienced in his brief twelve years of life, and there was an unmistakable twinkle in his interesting eyes that recalled to Dan a long-suppressed desire for the family he never had. Even with the slight uneasy feeling in his stomach – a result of his nervousness, he guessed – he could not help but feel comfortable in the presence of this stranger, as if he had known him his entire life.

"This is Mr…Laurent is it?" said Mrs. Potts, introducing Dan to the stranger.

Loeren, actually, corrected the stranger, offering his hand to Dan, Nevar Loeren.

Oh, I’m sorry, I’m just terrible with names, blushed Mrs. Potts.

Think nothing of it. It is admittedly not the commonest of names, so I’ve grown quite accustomed to being called by many appellations, several of which are probably best not repeated in polite company. He smiled ever so subtly and winked at Dan, who couldn’t help but grin.

Mrs. Potts, on the other hand, did not seem to know quite how to take this comment. Well…yes, I guess I’ll just leave the two of you to talk then… And with that, she fumblingly backed out and closed the door.

Mr. Loeren beamed at Dan as the door closed behind the administrator.

So, as we have established, I am Nevar Loeren, and as we have not yet established but we are both aware, you are Daniel Regal.

I prefer Dan… Dan mumbled meekly.

Ah yes, that’s nothing to be ashamed of, Dan. It’s quite proper to inform people at a first meeting of your name preference. My friends, quite naturally, call me Nevar, but as you most likely shall be attending my school, it will of course be more appropriate for you to address me as Mr. Loeren.

School?

"Ah yes, of course. I do apologize for

Reviews for The Noricin Chronicles

[mlh2 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Paperback (edit)review I finished reading the book early this morning and I've been thinking about how to review it for most of the day. Where to start...I liked the premise behind the book, I liked the concept, and I think that this could be a very interesting series. But, I think that it seemed more like a rough draft than a completed novel. By that I mean that the characters needed more development. Why were Mike, Dan, and Shelly such good friends? I wish I could have read more instances of their interactions to give me a sense of why they trust each other and why their such good friends. Did they all have an interest in playing frisbee between classes? Did they all play chess together? Something. I had a better grasp of Dan and who he was than I did of Mike, Shelly, or Mr. Podmore, but I still needed more. Also, I think I agree with a previous review in that the pace of the novel was a bit fast. I dislike books that are stuffed with "filler", but sometimes you need some to create a world that seems comfy and real. This book (as indicated by the author) is intended for adults, not children. But, why chose names like Tommy Tuttle and the use of the acronym Snisnar? I felt like I was reading a book to my 10 year old (who enjoys all of the Percy Jackson books and others similar to that). At times I felt like the book had a multiple personality disorder - at times, it was written like it was intended for young teens while at other times it was obviously not written for them. My only other concern for this series is that it is intended to have 12 books - that's a huge commitment for a reader, not to mention a lot of money to continue with the series. Just saying ...Okay, I know it sounds like this isn't a good book and that I didn't like it. I did like it and it is an interesting read. It kept my attention and I didn't get bored reading it - I never felt like I had to keep myself from simply not finishing it. All those are good signs that this can be a good book/series. I just think that it needs to be made more for the adult audience than a child - since that is its intended audience.

[cmiller86 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

First off I will state that I enjoyed reading this book. However, it felt a lot like reading a different version of Harry Potter. There were some slight differences and it was interesting enough to keep reading but I must say that if I am going to fisnish reading the series (all 11 of them) the author must veer off in a substantial way from being so Harry Potter-ish. Also, it was very shy on details, the characters and their relationships were underdeveloped and I didn't like the cursing. Hopefully the author is going to do things in reverse of other series authors and the books will improve, not get worse as the series goes on...