An Unlikely Friendship: Book 1 in The Fidori Trilogy

By Jasmine Fogwell

While living in the old inn of Nemesté, James discovers that he and his parents are not the only ones calling the inn home. On the third floor lives a mysterious old lady named Rionzi DuCrét. Though the villagers fear Rionzi and have confined her to her room, she and James strike up an unlikely friendship. They soon discover that they have both befriended leafy, mushroom-footed creatures in the woods called ‘Fidoris.’ But the friendship is threatened as Rionzi grows suspicious of James’s claim of a certain Fidori sighting. How could he have found out about her deepest secret? Have the villagers set a trap for her to finally prove that she is insane?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jasmine Fogwell
• Release date: Jul 14, 2016
• ISBN: 9781311190062

Jasmine Fogwell

Jasmine grew up in Norland, Ontario, Canada. She graduated from Heritage College and Seminary in Cambridge, Ontario with a Bachelor of Religious Education. One of her passions is skiing and she is a certified Level 2 ski instructor with the Canadian Ski Instructors' Alliance. Jasmine enjoys being in the mountains, reading, playing soccer, and traveling. When asked to pick one ideal day, she couldn't. Doing the same thing over and over again would get boring. So, three ideal days would be these: Waking up late, slowly sipping coffee all morning, while reading a great novel. Going for an afternoon walk, making up a song on the guitar, then curling up with that novel again in the evening. Teaching skiing all morning, then having a few runs to yourself. In the afternoon, heading to her favourite coffee shop to write that story that has kept her awake for nights on end. Being in the mountains, skiing or hiking. Coming home at the end of an adventurous day, and eating a meal with some great friends.

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An Unlikely Friendship

Book 1 of The Fidori Trilogy

An Unlikely Friendship

Book 1 of The Fidori Trilogy

Jasmine Fogwell

Copyright 2016 By Jasmine Fogwell

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without the prior written permission from the copyright owner, except in the case of a reviewer, who may quote brief passages embodied in critical articles or in a review. This is a work of fiction. All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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 your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Hard copy Published by Destinée Media: www.destineemedia.com

Written by Jasmine Fogwell: www.jasminefogwell.com

Illustrations and cover illustration by Amanda Kramer Kaczynski

Cover design by Devon Brown: www.oxburger.wix.com/oxburger

ISBN: 9781311190062

Dedication

This book is dedicated to Blake Allen. Together, we created the creatures called Fidoris and I could not have written this book without him.

~

Pronunciation Key

Some of the names in this book have been inspired by my time in a small village in the Swiss Alps. Pronounce them as you wish, but this is how they sound when I tell the story!

Rionzi: RYE-on-zee

DuCret: DEW-cray

Nemesté: NEM-es-tay

Fidoris: fi-door-ees

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: The Ghosts of Nemesté

Chapter 2: The Woman Upstairs

Chapter 3: James’s Friend

Chapter 4: Return to the Forest

Chapter 5: The First Meeting

Chapter 6: The Forbidden Word

Chapter 7: A Magical Story

Chapter 8: The Edge of the Hedge

Chapter 9: Rionzi Grows Suspicious

A Sneak Peak of Book 2: The Purple Flower

About the Author/Illustrator

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1: The Ghosts of Nemesté

The sign reading Nemesté reflected their headlights as they drove by. Bella looked out the window at the familiar old village blurred by the torrential downpour. As they crept up the narrow road, it felt as though they had never left. The houses looked the same, that one streetlight still flickered, and the old inn at the top of the hill still cast a shadow over the streets. It wasn’t exactly the peaceful homecoming she had hoped for. They had been gone a year and hadn’t really enjoyed living in the city. Bella hadn’t expected it, but the old mystery of the village suddenly resurfaced in her thoughts.

Do you think the old lady still lives in the inn? she whispered to her husband, David, as they pulled into the parking lot.

I think so, he responded, though he seemed less concerned than she. I’ll go in and talk to the innkeeper. As he opened the door, rain flooded in, and he was drenched before he even stood up.

Bella looked at James, their ten-year-old son, who was sleeping soundly in the back seat. She worried about him. He had a fantastic imagination, but sometimes she wondered whether he could tell the difference between the real world and the one he imagined.

She turned and looked up at the inn. A faint light glowed from the window on the third floor. Rionzi DuCrét, she thought. How can she still be living? It must have been nearly forty years ago that Bella, as a young child, had sat on the grass in the park and listened to the old woman’s stories. Mrs. DuCrét had been nearly one hundred years old then.

Bella’s mom once told her that the old lady hadn’t always been so strange and mysterious. Rionzi DuCrét had played an active part in the small mountain village of Nemesté. She was often seen walking through the village on her way to tea with someone. She knew all the village people by name, and they all knew her, as well. She lived in a beautiful log home that her husband had built for her, and she babysat all the children in the town and made ice cream for them. The children adored Mrs. DuCrét, and she adored them.

The children were adults now, with their own children. Many had left Nemesté to explore the world, though a handful had returned to live a quiet village life again. Rionzi DuCrét had since moved from her log home into the small apartment on the third floor of the rundown inn. She didn’t leave her apartment often, and only about once every two weeks was she allowed to go for a walk. She would wander slowly through the town and off into the forest. The village people would whisper about whether she would return this time—and, if she did return, they wondered what sort of crazy stories she might tell.

It had all