The Triplet's Curse - Hope's Story (Book One): The Triplet's Curse, #1

By Marsha Black

When the moon is full High above the Earth

Three daughters shall be born

On their 16th birthday, their destiny will begin

One daughter, born with the knowledge of the future, yet blind of those closest to her

Hope, your normal teenage girl, other than being one out of a set of triplets', dreams about the day she turns 16 and can get her license.

Unknowingly, as her 16th birthday draws closer, a curse that has been around for centuries will activate, causing her to have visions, giving her knowledge of the future. The things she sees, she hopes are just hallucinations.

New guy Bryce, comes to town, knowing of the curse. He's part of a group that prepares their whole lives to train the triplet sisters, who are unlucky enough to have it befall them. Hoping, the town he moves to doesn't have the sisters they are looking for, once his eyes rest upon Hope, he knows without a doubt that his life will be changed and with the spark at contact, he knows it will be changed forever.

With Bryce's help, Hope must accept these changes and train, learning how to control her ability and preventing more visions from becoming a reality. As the fight hits closer to home, will Hope be prepared to defeat the evil, making the world safer, for just a little bit longer?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Marsha Black
• Release date: Oct 27, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386996255

Book preview

The Triplet’s Curse

Hope’s Story

Marsha Black

Published by Marsha Black 2017

The Triplet’s Curse – Hope’s Story

Copyright © 2017 by Marsha Black

All rights reserved.

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or organizations are purely coincidental.

This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.

ISBN 9781386996255

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to everyone and anyone who loves the paranormal young adult genre.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank all of my friends and family for their support. The belief they all have in me and their good wishes and encouragement that has kept me going.

Thank you all!

Table of Contents

Prophecy

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Chapter Forty

Chapter Forty-One

Chapter Forty-Two

Chapter Forty-Three

Chapter Forty-Four

Chapter Forty-Five

Chapter Forty-Six

Chapter Forty-Seven

Chapter Forty-Eight

Chapter Forty-Nine

Chapter Fifty

Chapter Fifty-One

Poems by Annamarie

About the Author

Prologue of The Triplet’s Curse – Destiny’s Story

The Prophecy

When the moon is full

High above the Earth

Three daughters shall be born

On their 16th birthday, their destiny

will begin

One daughter, born with knowledge

of the future, yet blind of those

closest to her

One daughter born to endure pain

and heartache before being reborn

One daughter born to determine

the fate of the world

In order to survive, three must work

as one, or all is lost

This is the Triplet’s Curse

PROLOGUE

You’re doing great. Just one more push should do it. The doctor tells his patient.

She looks over at her husband, sweat dripping down her body as she grimaces in pain for the last push needed to bring her daughter into the world.

Aaahhhh! she screams.

We got her. Great job pushing, mom. The doctor grins.

All of a sudden, the need to push starts back up again.

Doctor, what’s going on? I feel like I need to push some more…

Let me look... He advises.

As he checks out her body, he realizes she isn’t done yet. There’s another baby ready to be born.

Nikki. You’ll need to push again. There’s another baby just waiting to come out.

What? That can’t be. We had a sonogram, and it showed only one baby. I don’t understand? She questions frantically.

She groans as she begins pushing again while glancing frantically at her husband. He stares back in shock.

Keep it going, almost there……and we got it. It’s another girl! The doctor grins at the new parents.

Ok, let’s get you cleaned up now so you can visit….

Aaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Nikki screams.

The doctor quickly looks up at Nikki and then glances to check to see if something happened while giving birth. As he checks, he sees another head crowning. He looks up at the couple and says, We have another one on the way…

Without being able to say anything more, the newest baby slides out into his waiting hands. Congratulations, it looks as though you have triplets...all girls. He looks at them in bewilderment.

As exhausted as Nikki is, she wants to see her babies, so as the nurse swaddles them in blankets and lays them next to one another, she sees a light glide along the walls moving to where the babies lie. Not thinking much of it until the light lands directly on top of her three little girls. She gasps as a glow surrounds each child. Glancing out of the window, she notices that there’s a full moon….

CHAPTER ONE

15 years and 29 days later

Girls! Time to get up! Mom hollers, after which, she bangs on the door to my room.

Ugh! Alright, alright, I’m up. I drag my body out of bed and slowly walk towards the bathroom when CRASH! I fall back onto my butt.

Oh, oops. Sorry Hope, I didn’t mean to run into you. My sister, Faith says pink-cheeked. I’m just in such a hurry as this is the first day of school. I’m so excited! Can’t wait to see all my friends and find out what’s been going on with everyone over the summer. See which boys have gotten even cuter!! EEEKKK!! She exclaims while hopping excitedly.

At her squeal, I cover my ears with both hands to try and prevent any permanent damage to my eardrums. Faith can squeal so high, she can probably break glass. It’s very irritating how perky she is all the time. Who in their right mind can be that perky at 5:30 in the morning and on the first day of school? Ugh, it disgusts me.

Before I can unplug my ears and get away from my sister, I hear the bathroom door shut and lock. Dang it, Faith! Now I have to wait longer since Destiny got to the bathroom first. As I hear the shower cut on, I shake my head and walk back to my room.

Peering into my closet for the first day of school attire, I decide to go with my black and red camo capris and black with red kisses all over it tank top. I decide that since it’ll be a bit longer before Destiny leaves the bathroom, I might as well gather up all of my school stuff and then if there is still time left over, maybe write in my journal. As I zip up my bag, I hear the bathroom door open. I make a run for it before Faith can try to get there before me. Just as I get ready to close the door I see Faith run up. Hah! Got here first! I grin at her.

I don’t take as long in the shower as my sisters do. I don’t worry as much about what makeup I should wear or how I should do my hair today. I basically do the necessities in the shower, you know like shave and wash. Once I get out of the shower, I dry off, get dressed and brush my hair into a ponytail even though it’s still damp. Done. Now the question is…. should I wait it out and see how crazy I can drive Faith by giving her a shorter time to make herself look pretty? I grin evilly, but then again, after giving it some thought, that just takes away time for me to eat breakfast. So, with a sigh, I open the door and leave the bathroom.

I walk downstairs to the kitchen to make myself a bowl of cereal. Yummy, Cookie Crisps. Got to start off with my morning dose of chocolate. Destiny is sitting across the table from me eating her Shredded Wheat cereal. I see that she is wearing a floral print shirt and jeans with her white Adidas shoes. Typical first-day attire for little miss perfect.

Suddenly it sounds like an earthquake hits our house, as Faith barrels down the stairway, somehow staying upright. Faith, of course, is wearing a white tank top and a flowing type of skirt. I can never remember what those things are called. Also, typical first-day attire for Ms. Perky.

Faith, you better hurry up and eat. Otherwise, you might be late for your first day of school. Out of the living room walks in our mother. She still looks good, even after having three kids and being in her late 30's. Your dad’s already gone to work and I’m heading out now, so you girls need to make sure you get to the bus stop on time. No excuses. She stares at me as she says that last statement.

I grin sheepishly and say, Ok.

She smiles at the three of us and walks out the door to her car. The clock on the wall by the door shows us that we only have five minutes before the bus arrives. Faith, we got five minutes. Hurry up and eat something. Destiny and I race to the bathroom to brush our teeth. When we get back downstairs, Faith is finishing off a Pop-Tart. While still chewing, she runs upstairs to the bathroom to brush her teeth. Destiny and I look at each other, laugh and say in unison, It never fails.

As I open the door to head out, Faith rushes down the stairs with her backpack and runs out to the bus stop with us. We make it with barely a minute to spare.

The bus pulls up and we climb aboard. The noises on the bus go silent and everyone stares as the three of us find a spot to sit. I roll my eyes as I look around. You would think, after living here all our lives, we wouldn’t be stared at as often. My sister’s and I are the only triplets in our town and as far as anyone knows, there has never been any triplets that have lived here, much less born here as we were.

Great start for the first day of school. Not!

As the bus pulls to a stop in front of the school, a feeling of dread spreads through my body. Well, that was odd, I think to myself. I grab my book bag and follow my sisters off the bus. Once I’m on the sidewalk, I check to make sure my sisters and I are alone asking them, Did yous guys get some sort of feeling when the bus pulled up? They both look at me like I’m crazy. Ok, never mind then. I guess it was just my imagination. I try to play it off. I still kind of have the heebee-jeebees going on, but it starts to lessen with each step towards the school.

Since the class schedules were mailed out a week before school started, my sisters and I go our separate ways to our classes. For some reason, the school doesn’t like us to be in the same classes, so we never get to hang out during school; we are even put on different lunch schedules. In a way, it’s nice because after all, who wants to spend all day at school with their siblings, when they do so at home? However, with that ominous feeling still stuck at the back of my mind, having my sister’s closer would’ve been comforting.

I get to my first class and notice that most of the seats are already filled up with my classmates. I manage to locate one in the back, I walk to it and sit down. Impatiently, I wait for the teacher to arrive and start class. I grab a pad of paper and a pencil from my backpack and start drawing. Midway through drawing a profile picture, I feel this tingling sensation go throughout my body. I lift my head and start looking around, and that’s when I see him. He’s probably a good 6'0 tall with dirty blond hair and the greenest of eyes.

I quickly glance down at my paper but am no longer interested in drawing as my thoughts are preoccupied with the new guy. Who is he? I wonder to myself. That tingling feeling became more persistent, so I glance around the room again, but other than the new guy nothing is any different from usual. When my eyes land on him, I notice that he is looking at me. I can’t determine the look I see in his eyes, maybe a mixture of annoyance and disbelief? Who does he think he is to look at me that way? I think in disgust. Ugh, I hate guys who think they are so much better than everyone else, he doesn’t even know me!

The teacher, Mr. Ferrero, walks in before I give in to my irritation and have a little sit down with the new kid. Class, I know most of you have already decided where you are going to sit, but I’m going to be mean and assign seats… at least for a few weeks. All depends on how well you get on within this class. He advises. All throughout the class you hear groaning and mumbling as he calls out each student’s name and where they are now assigned.

After my name is called, and I am shown my assigned seat, Mr. Ferrero then calls for, Bryce Straynor, who in fact turns out to be the new kid, and oh lucky me, he gets assigned right behind me. I groan inwardly, cross my arms on top of my desk and lay my head on them as I deal with my inner turmoil concerning the new guy.

Once all the students have been assigned their seats, Mr. Ferrero reviews the basic first day of school items, rules, requirements and the synopsis of what the expected outcome by the end of the school year is. By the time he finishes, the bell is about ready to ring to go to our next class. As I gather up my book bag and other items from my desk, I heard a psst behind me. I really want to ignore it, but something makes me turn my head behind me.

Hi, I’m Bryce, and you are? he asks me while holding out his hand.

I glance at his hand and decide what the heck, Hi Bryce, I’m Hope. I say as I reach to grasp his hand in a handshake. Before our hands fully connect, a blue and gold spark ignites between them. What the… I trail off as I notice Bryce pulling his hand quickly away and rushing to gather his items. The bell then rings to let us out of class and Bryce hightails it out of there like there’s a hellhound at his heels. I shake my head and decide to try to put the spark out of my mind as I have everything else odd this day so far.

I made it through the rest of the school day without any mishaps, and luckily, I had no other classes with Bryce. The downside to the day though, was that I didn’t get a chance to talk with my sisters prior to getting on the bus. Once again, the bus goes silent as my sisters and I ascend the steps and stride to our usual spots on the bus. I so dread these bus rides, however, thankfully my sisters and I will be turning 16 in a couple of days, and we can take our driver’s test to get our learners. T-2 days and counting to freedom from the awkwardness of the bus.

CHAPTER TWO

Slamming the front door shut as we walk through, I turn towards my sisters and ask them if they saw the new boy.

I heard about him throughout the school gossip chain, but I didn’t have him in any of my classes, Destiny answers. Straight and to the point, Destiny is thy name, I think to myself.

OMG, he is sooo hot! He’s in my Gym/Health class. I can’t wait to see him in our gym outfits. He’s gonna look SO fine! Faith exclaims, all in one breath.

I look at Faith and roll my eyes. Did you get an odd feeling when you saw him? I ask her.

Other than feeling awestruck, you mean? she asks.

I exhale a breath and slowly count to five. Yes, other than feeling awestruck, did you feel anything else? I say through clenched teeth. Guess the counting didn’t help after all.

Nope, that was all I felt. Hmm, I wonder if he’s single. Maybe tomorrow I’ll introduce myself. She grins widely.

I shake my head and walk upstairs to my room, leaving Faith and Destiny downstairs to do whatever they want. I sit down at my desk and pull out my homework.

3 hours later

Girls! Dad will be home late, so dinner will be a little later than usual. What do yous guys want? Mom hollers from the living room.

McDonald's, I say.

Pizza, Faith says.

Chinese, Destiny chimes in.

I can hear a groan come from moms’ direction just before she says, Why do I even ask? After a couple minutes, she hollers back, Pizza tonight, I don’t feel like going out and we can have it delivered.. Now it’s my turn to groan. I can only stand so much pizza, and I’ve about hit my quota for the month.

I’ve finished my homework by this point, so I pull out my journal and write. Obviously, I just have to write about Bryce, the new boy, and the other weird things I felt and saw today.

As I lose track of time, my vision begins to blur, and my head starts to pound. What in the….

Hope. Hope. HOPE! I open my eyes slowly while turning my head from side to side. I look to my left into the worried eyes of my sister.

What happened? I ask her.

I don’t know. I came in here to get you because Dad is home and dinner is ready. I saw you lying like this. I called your name a couple of times, but you didn’t respond. I was getting so worried. I was about to call Mom and Dad up here when you started to come around. Destiny says, worry coating her voice.

I don’t know what happened either. The last thing I remember was my vision going blurry and my head started to pound. Anything after that, I have no idea, I say knowing I sound confused.

Well, if it happens again, you need to let Mom and Dad know. They can get you a doctor’s appointment and make sure it’s nothing serious, she says.

Agreed. I stand up a little shakily at first, but once I get my balance back under control I look over at my sister and grin. Race you to the kitchen. Loser washes dishes! I say as I’m already running out the door of my room.

I make it to the kitchen in record time and see my mom looking disapprovingly in my direction. Uh-oh, I’m in trouble again.

While we are all sitting at the table eating dinner, Mom and Dad ask each of us how our first day of school went. My sisters and I glance back and forth between one another and in unison say, Just fine.

We never like going into the details of school with our parents, because we don’t want them to know how awkward it can be.

Don’t get me wrong, we do have friends and our own groups of classmates that we hang out with, but it’s not as easy as those who aren’t us make it seem. You would think we would be pretty popular as the only triplets EVER in our town, but nooo, we get treated oftentimes like pariahs.

We have the usual dinner conversation and then have family time watching a movie together in the living room. Once the movie finishes, I say goodnight to my family and head off to my room. For some reason, I feel exhausted like I hadn’t slept in days.

I throw myself onto my bed and as soon as my head hits the pillow I’m off in dreamland.

I wake up to my alarm going off and groan under my breath. I try lifting my head off of my pillow, but it feels like it weighs a ton. I try to put my hand under my body as if to do a push-up, and I can barely move them. What is wrong with me, I think to myself? Maybe I should talk to Mom and Dad about this and get me a doctor’s appointment. I finally manage to sit up on my bed and then push myself into a standing position.

I sluggishly walk to my bedroom door to head towards the bathroom when I’m almost run over by Faith. She glances back in my direction saying, Sorry. As she closes the bathroom door. I feel so bad I couldn’t care less that she almost ran me over AND beat me to the bathroom. I lean my back against the wall then slid down it until I’m sitting down, laying my arms across my knees and head resting on my arms.

I feel a tap on my shoulder and look up to see Destiny. I see she has a worried look in her eyes, so I try to console her, saying I’m fine. She crosses her arms over her chest and shakes her head disbelievingly at me. Un uh, girly, you are not fine. If you can get showered and ready in time to go to school, I won’t say anything to Mom and Dad just yet. But if you can’t finish getting ready, I will tell them, and we will go see if the doctor can figure out what’s wrong with you.

Thanks, sis, I say, appreciating the fact that Destiny knows I really don’t want to go to the doctor’s, much less worry Mom and Dad.

The bathroom door opens, and I go to stand up when Destiny puts her hand on my shoulder saying, I don’t think so. I’m up next. She shoots me a sly grin as she walks into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

Well, rats! I think. Now I have less time to get ready for school. I push myself off of the floor and head into my room. My body doesn’t feel as sluggish now, which I am eternally grateful for. I pack up all of my school books and homework I did yesterday and pick out another outfit in my closet to wear for school. By the time I have everything out and packed, ready to go, Destiny is finishing up in the bathroom. I hightail it through the door and shut it before taking any chances on either of my sisters needing it again.

I make record time showering, shaving and getting ready to go. I don’t want to take any chances on missing the bus and being late for school. I grab my book bag as I walk past my room to head downstairs to get breakfast.

I toss my book bag by the front door and smell the delicious scent of French Toast and Hashbrowns. I love it when Mom cooks breakfast for us. Don’t get me wrong, I love having my chocolate fix in the morning, but when you get an actual breakfast, it just can’t be beat.

Mom walks up and kisses me on the forehead. Good morning sweetie, how did you sleep?

I slept great Mom, how bout you? I