Magysque

By Nazima Kathiria

In an exciting world full of enchantment and adventure, follow Kim, a young high school girl, as she teaches us that persistence is the key to achieving one's goals. Her ultimate dream is to be on her high school swim team. However, she has issues with self-esteem, as she is teased by many of her classmates. Kim has to teach herself to look beyond the people around her, and must overcome her intense fear of swimming under water before she can ever dream of making the team.

Watch the mystery unfold as she journeys through the Glass Doors into the mysterious and enchanted land of Magysque, a magical world where the senses come alive. With the help of the beautiful, shape shifting Hummingbird people and the elegant, horse-riding Serres, Kim must save Magysque from the corruption that threatens to ruin its delicate balance of peace. But escaping wolves and the snares of the Yoles are just a few of the many hurdles Kim will face before she can reopen the Glass Doors and return home. Through this adventure, Kim grows into a strong and independent young woman as she overcomes numerous physical struggles as well as challenges within. She shows us that if we really want something, no matter how difficult the obstacles or impossible the end goal may seem, true effort will ultimately bring success.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Nov 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483510651

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

Nerd! Haa haa haa.

James laughed as he threw paper wads at the back of Kim’s head in the middle of class. A few of the other kids in class joined in and began to laugh at her. The teacher ignored them, as he often did.

Kim buried her head in her arms to try and avoid being hit, as well as to hide her embarrassment. She couldn’t understand why she was always picked-on, she thought to herself. I know that I’m nowhere near as pretty as the popular girls, but I don’t have a sign on my head that says, Pick on Me, either. I wish my best friend Alyssa hadn’t moved away. She was the only person who understood me, and was my only true friend. Kim took a deep breath.

As usual, after class finished she waited for everyone to leave, then left by herself to avoid harassment from the other kids. She was deep in thought as she walked through campus carrying her books, and didn’t notice that a few of the girls in her class were waiting for her around the corner. One girl stuck her leg out just as Kim came around and tripped her. Kim fell to the ground, bruising her knees and elbow, and dropped her books. The girls laughed and pointed at her.

Good job, Kim. You should really learn how to walk straight. You could hurt someone if you’re not careful. Marissa, the most popular girl in school, mocked Kim more than anyone.

Another girl in the bunch, Sara, added, Look what Kim’s wearing! Her jeans are way too big and her sweatshirt almost goes down to her knees! All of the girls started laughing. Then they walked away and left her lying on the floor.

Kim picked herself up and ran back to the girl’s bathroom. She had to pull herself together because today was the first day of swim tryouts. She took about ten minutes to wipe and dry the tears from her face and then ran to the school’s gym. She changed into her bathing suit and walked-out to the pool. About sixty to seventy other girls stood at the pool’s edge for a team that held only twenty. She instantly became nervous.

What am I doing to myself? she thought. I can’t even remember why I wanted to do this. Plus, I hate swimming with my head underwater. I’m good otherwise but-

Before she could finish her thought, the coach blew a whistle and had the girls count-off into fives.

Each group of five is going to compete against each other using free-style. We don’t have time to teach everyone strokes, so this will be the way to begin weeding you out. Tomorrow we will gather the girls we are unsure about and then create the team the day after. For this first heat, you will swim two lengths starting in the water. Good luck to all of you. She gathered the first group of five and had them jump in the pool. She didn’t want anyone to jump from the walls until the team was officially formed.

The whistle blew many times as girls swam their heats. Each time the coach kept the top two girls in the heat and sent home the rest.

Finally, it was time for Kim’s group. She was placed on the farthest left lane. All of the girls were lined-up against the wall, and prepared to push-off as soon as the whistle blew. Ready, set, whrrrrrrrrrr! The whistle blew annoyingly loud and long.

Swimming came pretty easy to Kim. The part that hurt her was when she had to turn and glide under the water, and she simply hated that. When she was about 6 years old, she was playing in the public pool near her house. She was playing the pick up the colored rings from the bottom of the pool game. She would swim down, pick up a ring and bring it to the surface, catch her breath and go again. However, she decided it would be much faster if she were to pick-up a few rings at a time. So, she started with two rings, then three rings until she was finally up to the whole set of ten. The rings were rather spread apart on the floor of the pool, so she lost quite a bit of energy between each ring. By the time she came to her seventh ring, she had almost hit her limit, but she was determined to gather all ten before coming up for air. The eighth ring was now in her hands, and then the ninth. The tenth was in her view, but she was fighting with herself to stay under water. Then, unexpectedly, someone else jumped into the pool. It was a child, younger than her, probably two or three years old. The child dropped to the bottom of the pool and could not swim up. Kim immediately dropped her rings and swam toward the child. She managed to lift the child up and swim almost to the surface, but her lungs needed air. Kim pushed herself upward one more time, but then her body forced her to gasp for air while she was still under water. The child made it far enough to the surface for his parent to safely grab him, but Kim almost drowned that day. After that, all she could remember was her father holding her as she sobbed at the side of the pool. Since that day she had always been scared of staying under water for too long.

Kim didn’t realize it, but she started the first length far ahead of everyone in her group. When they hit the wall her turn was smooth, but as soon as she was done turning she popped out of the water and began her stroke again. The other girls were still under the water. Her lead quickly fell from extreme first to barely second, and by the time she hit the wall to end her second length she was in third. The coach pulled the first and second place contestants out, patted them on the back and told the rest to go home. Before Kim could figure-out what had happened, the coach pulled her aside.

You have an amazing stroke and you’re really fast. You just need some work on that turn. I want you to come back tomorrow, because I think you belong on this team.

Kim almost didn’t know what to say, but blurted, I will. Thanks.

The coach was already next to the pool and had the whistle in her mouth in preparation for the next group of girls to compete. Kim suddenly felt exhausted. She didn’t know why, but she wanted to cry. She ran into the girl’s locker room, quickly dried off and changed her clothes. She shook her head in shame and disbelief. How could I tell her that I would come back? What was I thinking? I can’t do this! Kim said aloud. She shook her head again picked up her bag, and glanced around the locker room to ensure no one saw her as she left.

Kim ran all the way home with tears in her eyes. She ran into her house, ran up the stairs to her room and slammed the door behind her. Usually Kim would at least greet her parents when returning home and spend a moment with them in the kitchen talking about their day. She was close to her parents. But her father hated to see her unhappy and she didn’t want him to see her crying.

However, her parents noticed that she ran up the stairs without a word. Her father walked up the stairs and stood outside her door to her room.

Honey, is everything all right? he asked.

Yes, dad, I’m fine. I just had a long day, she replied with a congested nose.

Your mother and I will be leaving for the gym soon. Would you like to come along?

Not today, dad. I’ll go with you guys tomorrow, she said.

All right, sweetheart. Kim’s dad slowly turned away and walked back downstairs with a worried look on his face. He knew that his daughter loved going for a swim in the evenings and that something must be wrong for Kim to lock herself in her bedroom.

Kim laid on her bed for a few hours thinking about the girls in school and swim tryouts. She thought to herself, What’s the point in even going to tryouts again tomorrow? It was nice for the coach to offer her an additional day, but would it even make a difference? Kim knew that when it came to the turn and glide under water, she would fail. Why does everything have to be so difficult? she said out loud.

Finally, at about midnight, Kim forced herself to turn off the lights and slid under the cool, clean, sheets on her bed. She didn’t feel quite ready to sleep, but she yawned. Where had the day gone? She thought to herself, and yawned again. Kim stared at the ceiling for some time and then let out a sigh as she finally began to relax.

CHAPTER 2: THE GLASS DOORS

There were glass doors in front of Kim. She didn’t know if she should keep going or turn around and find her way back to her house. She was scared but she found the courage to open the doors and step through.

The sky was the deepest blue. She had never seen that shade before; it was so pure. A huge, green, flower-filled mountain consumed the background. In the foreground, where Kim was walking, was a street with what seemed to be abandoned shops. They were built in a line along both sides of the road. This road was made with obviously well kept, black marble.

Kim stepped cautiously near a store window and peered inside. It seemed to be a toy store. It was a small shop, but it was filled with hundreds and hundreds of colorful toys. But no one was inside. It was the middle of the day. Kim thought to herself, Where could the owners of this shop have gone? She jiggled the doorknob with her hand and attempted to open the door, but it was locked. Curiosity urged Kim to continue looking, but uncertainty forced her to keep moving. She stood there for a moment looking inside the shop window. Since there were so many other bright, colorful, and new things to see outside, it wasn’t long before she was walking on the black, marble road again. It surprised Kim every time she looked down, because the marble maintained an amazingly smooth sheen.

It felt strange for her to see no one else around. Kim was all alone walking in the streets. Not a single person was seen outside or inside any of the shops. She wondered where all the people who worked and lived here were? A chill ran up her spine, and she then wondered how exactly she got here, and where exactly here is? Kim had thought she had just put herself into bed, but her bed and house were nowhere in sight. This street, this place, was unfamiliar. She couldn’t remember ever being here before.

Kim walked and walked and walked, bewildered by the unfamiliar surroundings. She was confused, but then she thought to herself, this must be a dream. Kim pinched herself twice, and then one more time, but nothing happened. She pouted as she walked, because she couldn’t figure out what had happened and where she was. It was beautiful, but unlike anything else she had ever seen. She was scared and yet, at the same time, full of curiosity.

Before Kim realized it, she reached a fork in the road. She could have followed the black marble road to the right or began a journey on a road to the left covered with a gold, powdery substance that almost resembled dirt. Kim decided to take the gold road. As she walked, she couldn’t help but stare at the ground. The gold, powdery, dirt like substance sprinkled over her shoes as she stepped. She bent down to touch it. It was extremely soft and smooth. She squatted and picked some up between her index finger and thumb. It felt really good to rub between her fingers. The substance lightly and easily fell to the ground and sparkled with gold specks as she slowly let go of the dirt. She stood up and looked back. The houses were all behind her now, and trees, flowers and a large mountain lay before her.

Invigorated is the best way to describe how Kim felt as she walked along the dirt, gold road. Everything around seemed to have some mystery, some treasure within, and some secret yet to be unleashed. Chills continuously ran up Kim’s spine. She didn’t know if she should be scared and run back or if she should laugh out loud and run forward. Kim wasn’t sure exactly what to think or do, but she continued her slow pace forward, along the road.

Unfortunately, after walking for at least thirty minutes on the dirt road, Kim started to get hungry. Her eyes were quite content looking at all the surrounding beautiful scenery, but her stomach was quite unhappy. She hadn’t brought anything with her. Kim checked her pockets. She found a piece of gum, but no food. She looked around but didn’t know if she could eat anything in this mysterious world. She hoped that she would find something soon that looked edible.

She could now see that there were some small cottages scattered along to the side of the golden road. She slowly walked up to one, hoping that someone or something would be there. In front of the house were some vividly colored flowers growing within plant boxes that lined the windows. Additionally, there were numerous berries on a deep green colored bushes growing along the walls of the house. The berries looked very similar to strawberries, except for their bright, medium, pink color. They were all the same size, about the size of a dime, and perfectly round in shape. Kim was so hungry, but she had no way of knowing if they were edible.

Oh, how hungry Kim was. She couldn’t hold on any longer. She was so hungry! She decided to pick up a berry to see what it smelled like. She lightly plucked one from the bush, held it near her nose, and took a deep breath. It had an extremely sweet scent, like the first drops of rain. Kim’s stomach growled. She told herself that it would be alright if she took just one, quick lick. Wow! she said out loud. The sweet juices from the berry emanated through its skin onto her tongue. It just had to be edible, she thought to herself. She quickly