Magic Unbound: Fae Unbound Teen Young Adult Fantasy Series, #1

By Jill Nojack

Not-quite-sixteen year old Lizbet Moore expects a boring last month of summer vacation--and she gets what she's expecting until a fifteen hundred year old Fae named Eamon shows up in her backyard disguised as a down-on-his-luck garden gnome. When Eamon slips an ancient amulet around her neck, the memories of Lizbet's many past lives, including her first life as Morgan Le Fae, come slamming back to her to change her summer plans in a way she could never have expected.

Forced to go on the run when murderous monks show up at the back door, Lizbet hops a plane to Scotland accompanied by Eamon, the whispering voices of her past lives, and geekily cute James, the college boy from next door. Not only does she have to dodge the monks, but she's racing against time and greedy land developers to prevent the entire race of the Fae from being destroyed.

The only thing Lizbet knows for sure is that if she fails and can't produce a few live fairies at the end of her journey, she is going to be grounded for life...and probably for her next life, too.

ABOUT THE SERIES:

Readers of the Fae Unbound Series can expect a contemporary Fantasy / Adventure for tween, teen, and adult readers ages 12+. The main characters are modern teenagers who have to learn how to cope with becoming wizards, sorcerers, healers, and leaders. They also will get to know the faeries: elves, gnomes, dryads, and other fairy races. The stories will always be full of adventure, magic, fun, and just a touch of myth (well, what else would a wizard, elf, or fairy get up to?). Morgan Le Fae and Merlin play a big part in the stories.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IndieHeart Press
• Release date: Nov 18, 2013
• ISBN: 9780991123421

Book preview

Magic Unbound

Book One in the Fae Unbound Series

Jill Nojack

Indieheart Press

KENT, OHIO

Copyright © 2013 by Jill Nojack.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, 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, write to the author at [e-mail].

Cover designed by Peter Dahl-Collins.

Visit the series website for series related content:

www.faeunbound.com

Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

Magic Unbound / Jill Nojack. -- 1st ed. | V-Am10252014

Acknowledgements

Readers familiar with the Arthurian myths will generally suppose that Arthur and his court were Welsh or British. In this novel, the Arthurian characters originate in Scotland instead. I owe the inspiration for this book to the non-fiction source Finding Merlin by Adam Ardrey, in which he goes so far as to suggest that he has found the location of Merlin's grave. That idea got my creative juices going, and my fictional novel about the fae was initially inspired by his serious research into the historical reality of Arthur and Merlin. If you are someone who enjoys reading factual research into the Arthurian myths, I recommend the book.

CHAPTER ONE

Me And Your Garden Gnome

Lizbet looked up from her book with a case of the shivers. She’d been feeling those icy fingers at the base of her spine for days now. She squinted against the sun and looked down the long backyard where the lawn ended and the woods began. She didn’t see anything threatening down there unless she counted the creeps-worthy new addition to Mom's garden gnome collection. With its shabby brown coat and flat black cap, it definitely wasn't designed to cheer you up like its red and green-suited buddies. It was pathetic—like some junkie gnome had moved into the neighborhood when the downtown gnome shelter closed. Plus, it freaked her out. Those big, unblinking, golden eyes were way too real looking.

She needed to banish the freak-outs, so she gathered up her book, glass, and sunscreen to go inside and hang with her brother. Although Bobby was only ten, he was usually pretty good company, and anything would be better than the eerie feeling that the garden gnome was watching her every move. She snapped a quick shot of it with her phone and texted it to Tanji with the tagline mom goes nuts with the gnomes again. Then she made a face and stuck her tongue out at the ugly thing at the end of the yard before turning toward the house,

As she slipped in through the sliding doors, Lizbet didn't hear the quietly muttered, Och, very classy. If she had, she'd have pelted through the door, screaming at top volume, and been out the front door with her brother in tow before he even had time to blink.

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Eamon watched the girl walk into the house and allowed himself to relax with only a bit of a complaint as the patio doors closed. A blink of the eyes was also in order after so long without one. Not that it was absolutely necessary yet. He'd once gone two weeks without even a flicker of his eyelids because the quest called for it. Still, it felt better to blink than not to blink.

He turned his golden eyes up to the window next door where the boy was just disappearing from view. What would the girl think if she knew how often the lad happened by the window to glance out into her backyard? Eamon didn't understand human mating rituals, but he knew them when he saw them. These two had already begun the dance. Given the circumstances, how could they not?

Before these two children were to move further down their path, Eamon had to wrestle with their fates and point them in an unexpected direction. One way or another, his own role in the larger dance of more than a thousand years was coming to an end. He looked forward to returning to a life of simple creature comforts, assuming his mistress kept her promise…assuming both he and his mistress survived.

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Bobby was in the family room, engrossed in a multiplayer game on his XBox, joking and laughing with his friends through the Internet. Lizbet thought about sneaking up on him and letting him have it with a righteous round of noogies, but she knew big-sister noogies weren't going to be enough to tear him away from the battle. From the sound of his excited taunts to his buddies, he was doing well. She stood in the doorway and watched him shooting up an alien landscape until her case of the creeps subsided.

She wished she could be better at stirring up fun so she didn't spend her whole summer vacation with her nose in a book or taking long bike rides alone, but she almost missed school now that she was a couple of weeks out from the end of her sophomore year. Even though she made as big a show of avoiding her homework as Bobby did his, she had actually kind of looked forward to her chemistry homework. She thought it was interesting how things worked together, and being good at it would help her out if she managed to do well enough to get the medical degree she hoped to have some day. 

There was also a good chance she'd make track team captain next year. She found that kind of scary and kind of exciting at the same time—coach had told her a couple of times that although she wasn't the fastest on the team she worked out hard and smart and had a way of knowing what to say to bring out the best in her team-mates. It gave her a warm feeling to know that her coach saw her as a leader. She looked forward to trying to be one if she got the chance. She wasn't sure her coach was right, though. She'd never done any leading to this point. She liked staying in the background. Her friend Tanji was much more the out-in-front kind.

She thought about going back outside, but she really was tired of reading now, and, although it was a beautiful day, the last thing she needed was a whole new crop of unwanted freckles from being out in the sun too long. With her fair complexion, she didn't have much of a chance of avoiding them even with constant applications of sunscreen, but she didn't need to tempt fate, either. When her phone played the opening chords of Walking on the Sun, she snatched it out of her back pocket hopefully.

Tanj? Are you home?

For now. They're packing me off to Gran's in a couple of days.

I'm sure it'll be awful having to sit around in the sun in Jamaica.

Yeah, it'll be alright to see Gran. I'd rather be here, though. But with mi madre still in New York for work, and mi padre at work all the time even though he's here, they would rather set me up for the out of town option.

Can I cruise by when I'm released from the Bobby-watching duties?

Yeah. You're about the only person Dad trusts me to have in the house when he's gone. You can help me pack. Oh, and I need my bikini back.

The one my mom took one look at and ordered me back into the house, telling me to never come outside naked again? Yep, no problem. I'll bring it. Be there in an hour or so.

She grabbed a sandwich and an apple for dinner while she waited for her mother to get home. She was moving even before the garage door finished closing, signaling her mother's arrival. As Mrs. Moore came into the hall from the garage, Lizbet buzzed by on her way out.

Bobby's on the XBox. Hasn't eaten. I have. Off to Tanji's…

Mrs. Moore barely had time to nod an okay before her daughter disappeared through the front doorway.

Tanji lived across town, and it would take Lizbet at least half an hour to get there on her bike. The bike path skirted the edge of town, bypassing most of the populated areas. While it could get crowded on the paved sections, she would usually be alone for the last two miles of the ride when the path turned from asphalt to cinder.

She liked being alone with her thoughts, accompanied by the steady, pumping rhythm of her legs as she rode along. It gave her time to think and dream. It gave her time to lose herself for just a little while.

Then came the best part—The Hill. Bobby called it The Hill from Hockey Sticks because he was still young enough to believe that Mom really would wash his mouth out with soap if he said the other thing. And it was definitely a hell hill—her legs burned every time she finally made it all the way up. At the top, where the hawks rode the air currents high above, you had to listen and look sharp to make sure no cars were barreling down the road before you crossed, but once you did…on the other side…

There are no words for it. When she was standing on the pedals and coasting down that hill, that freedom…

It must be what the hawks feel, because it feels like flying.

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Tanji handed Lizbet a bowl of vanilla ice cream slathered in strawberry preserves. So, has that geeky hottie from next door been around?

James? Nah. Not for a couple of days. I think he just gets revved talking about video games with the little brother.

Oh, right. And he happens to be driving down the street whenever you and Bobby are walking home from the pool so that he can offer you a ride. And just happened to be heading out of the house with a baseball bat in his hand the time that jerk from school walked you home and tried throw you up against your gate and stick his tongue down your throat? No, girl, he knows your schedule. Geek boy likes you.

Yeah, that was kind of scary. I'm glad he was there. Lotta good it does me. He's nineteen. He's in college. No way Mom would let me go out with him even if he asked. I'm not even sixteen for another month.

Tanji gave her friend a grin as she looked up from the ice cream she had been busily mushing into soft pink mounds. I say go for it. With me gone, what are you going to do otherwise? Take up Xbox gaming with Bobby and his friends? Oh yeah, that'll be a laugh and a half.

Seriously…shut up. I have other friends! Lizbet gave her friend's leg a gentle kick with the tip of her shoe under the table.

Sure, yeah, you do. But nobody comes close to your fierce, awesome BFF. So, you might as well spend a couple weeks working on the cute guy next door who thinks you're cute, too. Girl, a little flirt never hurt. I want the full report when I get home since my parents will kill me if they see international texts flying back and forth from my phone. And hey…what is up with that garden gnome pic you sent me? Try to get that guy out somewhere other than your backyard 'cause that could definitely be a romance killer.

It's vile, isn't it? Yu-u-uck. With a capital ‘Yuh’. Lizbet raised her shoulders and shook her head from side to side in a drawn out shudder. I don't know what's up with my Mom on that one.

I'd say trash it, but what it really needs is an exorcism. Do you think she'd notice if you pitched it?

She'd notice. Gnomes are like her obsession.

"Yeah, well, at least your mother doesn't spend all of her time at work. I guess I'd put up with a butt ugly gnome or two if I saw my maternal unit for more than five minutes a week…are you done