Peekaboo: Adventures In Avondale

By Kattina Starifilia

What do you get when a hockey league goes fantasy?

One day, Kade Kane finds a magical portal in the locker room and is sucked into an alternate universe. He learns that he is in the land of fairy tales and cannot leave until he completes his quest.

Along the way, he finds a few sidekicks, including some friends, who have been sucked coming in as well. They divert disasters as they all attempt to get out and reach the real world to be with their teams once more.

But as he uncovers the secrets of the mystery world, he discovers that people aren't always who they are meant to be. Can he escape the mystical world or will he lose to its false charm forever?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kattina Starifilia
• Release date: May 6, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386811602

Book preview

Ariel notices his look and smiles at him. Welcome to Avondale, Prince Kade Kane!

Kade shakes his head and snaps out of his disbelief and turns to her at once. Uh, I’m not a prince...I’m just a hockey player!

Ariel touches his nose with her finger and giggles. Then she grabs his hands and pulls him onto the brick road.

About halfway to the bridge, Kade turns to Ariel. If you don’t know about hockey, why do you have Ice Hawk symbols with our blue hawk bird back in the tower, painted all over the walls?

It’s the Prophecy, Kade, she speaks, shocked at his new ignorance. It’ll all make sense in a little bit!

I’m starting to get freaked out here! Now there’s a prophecy? Kade raises an eyebrow up.  

Ariel pauses before the end of the bridge and spins around, halting Kade. She grabs his head in her hands and holds it still, so she can gaze into his eyes. Don’t be scared, Kade. We aren’t going to hurt you. Trust me, I’m a princess! Everyone can trust a princess, right?

Adventures In Avondale

Book One:

Peekaboo

Kattina

Starifilia

Acknowledgements

Head Author: Evelyna Starikova (AKA: Stephi Miles)

Special thanks to my amazing mother and father who put up with me doing this on the side of what I am really doing and pushed me to pursue my dreams in their own unique way. I don’t want to say, don’t listen to your parents but sometimes you just have to go for it. You’re born with a gift from God and you’ve got to use it for Him. This has been a dream of mine since middle school that has only grown over time. Though I’ve switched between wanting to publish a screenplay, stage play and novel, I’ve never once lost the desire to have my name out there. And now it is with the wonderful aid of three of my closest friends that I present to you one of my favorite fanfiction-turned-original stories.

There’s no sport quite like the one with sweaty dudes on skates checking one another into the boards! It’s time to get hockey popular and noticed. It’s time to be the Lightning and bring the electricity!

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Author and Illustrator: Christina Chaiban

Wow, I never knew this day would actually come, especially in this style. But nevertheless, God works in His ways and lead me to meet these wonderful women to write this story!

First I would like to thank God for everything, literally. Thank you for my imagination, talent, skill, resources, and encouraging people He brought into my life.

Also, I would like to thank my family, who have encouraged me to write since the start in 2012!

How could I forget my coauthors? Without Stephi, Tina, and Shannon, this book would not be in front of your eyes! Thank you for putting up with me and my stern comments for the sake of this story!

Last, but not least, I would like to thank YOU! Yes, you, the reader who gave this book a chance! Thank you so much for doing so, you are amazing!

I shall write to you all later, but for now, strive for the unthinkable!

-Christina

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Author and Website Designer: Kristina Tina Sullivan

See Mom, I made it finally!  Just kidding, but you are one of my biggest supporters (even if you don’t know what I’m doing until it is too late).  I love you and Dad to the moon and back, and I hope I continue to make you proud as the years pass by. 

To John, I know you probably won’t read this at all, but know that I love you as well and miss messing with you every day.  I’m so proud of where you have come today. 

To the other three authors, you all are one of the best support systems I could ask for.  Whether we rant and rave about life or weird dreams or our goals, it has been a long, loving journey and I can’t believe this is happening!  Thank you for believing in this project, and I can’t wait to see where it goes next. 

Finally, to everyone else, thanks for reading this little tale of ours.  I hope you find as much wonder as we did while writing this story.  Thanks for finding our little world and we hope it becomes a part of yours. 

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Author and Editor: Shannon Sullivan

If anyone would have told me a few years ago that I would be doing something like writing a book with some of my favorite all time authors, I would have thought they were crazy. But, here I am now, getting ready to start this journey with three of my best friends.  I would just like to thank my parents for dealing with me being on technology a lot (you now know why though) and always encouraging me to follow my dreams.  Mom, thank you for inspiring me to always keep learning and listening to whatever story that I was writing about at the time.  Dad, thank you for showing me that a reader lives a thousand lives and for teaching me that writing is fun.  Without these two people, I would have never been here today.

A few more quick shoutouts to my siblings, John, and Kristina.  John, even though you can be somewhat of a pest, you somehow always make me smile and laugh.  I’ll beat you one day at video games!  And for my older sister, Kristina, well, she’s been through everything with me.  I could never thank her enough for all that she has done.  But I will say this: I will catch up to you one day in video games. 

I would love to thank my family at school for showing me ideas and supporting me throughout the way!

Finally, I wanted to thank everyone who has been involved with this story!  These people are amazing and they inspire me each and every day to not only become a better writer, but a better person.  Thank you for reading this and I hope you enjoy this story as much as I did!

Prologue

The ice of the Articuno Ice Palace is freshly resurfaced as Kade Kane of the Indianapolis Ice Hawks launches onto it for the mundane morning skate before the game that night. A lot of his teammates, dressed in the black home jerseys with the team’s logo, are already there, warming up by skating around or stretching.

Tomorrow, the regular season is beginning and the Ice Hawks are hosting one of their divisional rivals, the Texas Comets. Normally, this isn’t much of a matchup, but the Comets have Taylor Sagan and Jamison Abbott, one of the newest, emerging talented Dynamic Duos in the ACHL. They can play and score! And of course they have a third linemate in a talented Russian kid.

Kade begins to take two laps around the rink, focusing in on his speed. He flies by his friends, high-fiving and fist bumping them as he goes.  

At the end of his second lap, he spins around to a halt, spraying Jonothon Blaise with ice, much to the captain’s dismay. He removes his helmet quickly and tosses his head, shaking his brunette hair. He grins largely, as Jonothon folds his arms and gives him a look, shaking his head. His deep brown eyes seem to scold Kade.

What are we doing, Jonny? the shaggy-haired forward asks, as he runs his fingers through his curly blonde locks.

You’re not going to grow that thing out to a mullet, are you, Peekaboo? the brunette man questions, with concern as he uses his given nickname for his teammate, like hockey players often do to aid in making communication on the ice easier.

Since first meeting Kade, he’d always appeared to Jonothon as small, therefore, in a jokingly belittling friend way, had nicknamed Kade Peekaboo for his apparent childish appearance.

No, Blazer. My mullet days are over. It was good four years ago and that’s all. Trust me, I’m not getting another one!

Oh, thank goodness. That thing looked awful on you.

Thanks, buddy.

Anyway, I thought we’d all warm up a little first, by shooting at the goal. Jonothon raises his head up proudly as he speaks with authority.

Kade looks around, his blue eyes sparkling under the arena lights. They glow a light blue in color, almost faded in appearance. Who’s the lucky goalie who gets to receive my backhands?

That would be Crow! Jonothon nods in the direction of the main goaltender, who was just finishing his normal stretching routine, sprawled out near the middle of the ice.

But shouldn’t we be letting Wilson take some. After all, he is the backup goalie! Kade suggests.

He will, but Crow’s got this one! Jonothon winks at Kade and pats his shoulder. Hey, I noticed the other day that you were having shooting issues. What was going on?

Nothing went in. I had SO many opportunities, but nothing clicked. It just wasn’t my day.

Oh really? The Indianapolis captain seems to be pressing for more information. He knows something that Kade did not, but the younger winger was clueless to his thought process. Are you sure there wasn’t something going on?

I’m sure. I feel anew and confident! Let’s play!

Alright. Kaner, you know you can tell me if anything it wrong. I’m here for you, buddy!

I know, Blazer!

Kade launches off, scooping a puck into his stick at the blue line. He stick-handles it masterfully around, zig-zagging around the ice as a part of his warm-up. His eyes remain down, locked on the sight of the disk, before he makes his way back to the blue line and thinks, ‘shoot-out.’

He skillfully skates forward, pulls sick deking moves, before he draws Crowford, the goalie, out of his crease and easily darts around the ice and taps the object into the back of the net.

Ha-ha, Crow, you should be sharper than that man! Kade whips around on his skates, wearing a massive smirk on his face and points at the star goalie of his team with a gloved hand while his other grips his stick.

You got lucky! LUCKY! Crowford shouts back, slamming the blade of his goalie stick against the ice.

Later on, Kade and his fellow Ice Hawk teammates run through their drills and practice. He has to make sure that he could score and that he is mentally ready and focused on tonight. He didn’t want to disappoint his fans and he wants to best Kasey Cosby in the leaderboard this year.

When the morning skate is over to the whistle of the coach, everyone, sore from the hard work and efforts, head back to the locker room after the practice at the Articuno Ice Palace and get ready to head home for the day.

In the locker room, Kade finishes stuffing his bag with all of his equipment that he usually carries with him. He is the last one out of the morning skate today and so he is alone in the room. He snatches up the strap and hoists it over his head and shoulder.

Then he brushes his sweat soaked locks on top of his head in the process and then grabs his water bottle. He squirts his face and instinctively shakes his head to the side, feeling some drops of his perspiration and the water fly off to the side and land on Jonothon Blaise’s locker stall.

Sorry, buddy, he whispers, grinning to himself.

He grabs his two hockey sticks and heads for the door. He pauses and turns off the light, as he stands in the doorway and looks back at the eerily, empty locker room.

As soon as blackness engulfs the room, he spots the Ice Hawk symbol in the middle of the floor glowing a brilliant yellow light. Rays exude from the luminescence being produced.

Kade cocks his head. What the—hell?

He walks back into the room towards the logo, mesmerized by the intense glow that highlighted the colors of an Ice Hawks’ logo that looks similar to a large blue bird. He halts, staring down at it, as it continues to glow brightly in the darkness.

The hockey player looks around the room, wondering if one of his teammates could be messing with him. One name comes to mind, the name of a certain prankster on the team. Sharpie! This better not be your doing. Knock it off and go home! We all need to get some rest before tomorrow!

The locker room offers no response.

Suddenly, the light glows brighter. Kade turns back and painfully squints his eyes. He lifts his arm up, to aid in shielding the bright light. A crackling noise sounds, before the wind picks up around him.

Wind?

It howls and swirls around like a hurricane and sweeps him up, dragging him forward. It propels him down towards the symbol.

Kade screams, as he is rapidly sucked into the light and through the ground through the Ice Hawks’ symbol.

As soon as he disappears, with gear in tow, the light shuts off and the room was once more bathed in total darkness.

Chapter 1 - A Strange New World and The Tower

Kade struggles at first to open his bright blue eyes. As he gazes around, he finds himself in a strange, animated forest. He sits upright and gazes around the eerily tranquil forest. There are no animals around that he can see and the trees look like they are in full bloom. It isn’t real he knows for sure. As he takes it all in, he realizes that he is in the middle of a clearing.

On a tree ahead of him, is a wanted poster for some guy with the name of Taylor Sagan. His nose appears blown out of proportion. Had he taken a puck to the face? Kade wrinkles his own nose up at the sight.

He peers down at the grass and sees his legs. He was wearing black pants that cut off at the top of a pair of tall brown boots. Okay, maybe they were capris or long shorts. As his gaze wanders up his body, he found out that he wore an animated version of his favorite blue shirt. It cuts off at the elbows and buttons down the middle, ideal for maximum comfort. Around his neck is a red cape, clasped together by some kind of belt buckle medal. It is gold and has the emblem of the Indianapolis Ice Hawks, the bird etched into the circular brass connector.

His eyes fly wide open as he yelps and throws himself backwards. He catches the cape with his hands and falls backward, narrowly missing a massive boulder. Instead he gazes up at the sky and sees a green kudzu curtain. He pushes himself up and turns so that he can view it better.

The curtain seems to be concealing an entrance of some kind. Curiously, he lifts one of his hands and sticks it through the foliage. He reaches through to the other side. So it must be a tunnel! Maybe it is his way out of this strange place and back to the locker room in the Articuno Ice Palace.

He gets to his feet, feeling slightly awkward at the new feeling of boots. What the heck am I wearing? He didn’t exactly want to know.

As he brushes himself off, he spots his bag and hockey sticks, lying untouched at the foot of one of the trees on the edge of the clearing he’s in. One of the sticks has broken in the travel, but the other has turned a brilliant silver color under the sun.

What the—? Kade thought to himself, as he snatches the stick up. He eyes it, flipping it over in his hands. I hope I can still play with this?

He grabs his bag by the strap and hauls it over his shoulder. Then he ducks into the unusual plant curtain and emerges on the other side. He gasps, throwing his hands over his mouth.

In front of him lays a stretch of land, in a valley-type setting. Walls of mountains rise on either side and a waterfall cascades down into a river, then the water flows and loops around and through the land. At the far end of the valley place, across a short bridge, was a tall stone tower. It is massive and spectacular piece of architecture.

Kade grips his silver stick in his hands and gazes around. Hello? he calls out. Is anyone here? His question echoes around the valley, bouncing off the mountain edges.

The Ice Hawk wanders forward, trotting across the bridge. He glances towards the water and sees colorful fish jumping in the water. To the left side of the tower, the water from the giant falls creates a thick mist, which cooled the temperature and air down. It is actually quite pleasant and beautiful.

The hockey player wanders up to the white-stoned pillar tower. He rounds the place once, looking for an entrance but there is only solid stone.

He stops and looks upward and spots a small window, where a brownish-red colored rope dangles down. He reaches out and touches it. It didn’t feel like a rope, but instead feels silky and smooth and almost like...hair!

With one eyebrow raised and his curiosity at the highest point, he tangles the hair rope around his hand and shrugs, then begins to climb up. What is going on up there?!

He finally pulls himself over a ledge, which is decorated with flowers and plants, and crawls into its interior. He scrambles to his feet and places his bag down on the ground, in front of him. He keeps his stick, in case he needs a weapon of some kind.

Hello? he calls out again, stepping carefully and cautiously around.

He gazes around his surroundings, realizing that he is in a small room, and spots a huge blue wardrobe to the side. A bed juts out from across the room. A bedding veil covers it to conceal the person it belongs to, which is the obvious silhouette of a woman. As he continues to look around, he spots paintings, pictures of stars and suns and lanterns...and the Indianapolis Ice Hawks’ symbol.

Kade cocks his head in wonder and amazement at the penmanship of the painter who brought to life all the images on the roof and walls.

His eyes stare back at the window behind him, where the hair rope ventures over the edge and into the room, in fact it was everywhere.

Kade freaks out, raising