Rites of Passage

By JP Lantern

Amos, a young Martian native, is about to become an adult in the eyes of his people, but first must take part in a dangerous ceremony. He is joined by his friend Obediah, who he has nursed an attraction toward for some time, and also by Enoch and Bart: two rivals who each long to hurt the other. To become adults, they must travel through an ancient forest where the fiend awaits them—a dangerous, merciless being whose only goal is to end the lives of the boys.

Greater than the danger posed by the fiend, though, is the danger the boys pose to each other. Enoch and Bart each try to use the isolation of the forest as a staging ground for their aggression toward each other. Obediah and Amos can only watch in terror as their mutual hatred escalates into violence.

These four boys must find whether they are able to put the past aside and work together to stay alive, or face a horrid death at the hands of the fiend.

• Language: English
• Publisher: JP Lantern
• Release date: Nov 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781311826879

JP Lantern

J.P. Lantern lives in the Midwestern US, though his heart and probably some essential parts of his liver and pancreas and whatnot live metaphorically in Texas. He writes speculative science fiction short stories, novellas, and novels which he has deemed "rugged," though he would also be fine with "roughhewn" because that is a terrific and wonderfully apt word.Full of adventure and discovery, these stories examine complex people in situations fraught with conflict as they search for truth in increasingly violent and complicated worlds.

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Rites of Passage

by J.P. Lantern

Copyright © 2013 by J.P. Lantern

Smashwords Edition

This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed herein are entirely fictitious. Any resemblance to any real person, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the express written consent of the author.

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The fiend is loose now. You will see him out there, in the wild, waiting and hunting. Do you understand?

The boys all nodded at Padre Elijah, looming above them in his deep brown cloak and rocky mask. Amos and the other three—his friend Obediah and the two quarrelers Enoch and Bart—were lined up before the Padre in front of the large fire the four boys had spent all day constructing from the dead branches found in the large passage forest. The boys wore nothing but thin, dense loincloths, their legs and shoulders and chests all bare. It was mid-afternoon now, the sun preparing in the iron sky to make its passage downward for the night.

The air was thick, humid, as if the trees themselves were pushing out hot moisture to sink into their skin. All the boys were about the age of twelve, their legs still fused. Before them, Padre Elijah walked on his hinged calves, his body bobbing just slightly with each step.

If you find him, you must strike. If he finds you, you must run. There is no in-between. He will not reason. Think of him as a force of nature, a storm, or better still, as a kind of poison running through these woods. To live until the end, you must avoid it, or cure it. Do you understand?

They did, of course, and nodded once more. Older boys, boys