The Butterfly Set Free: A Whimsical YA Fantasy Mystery

By C.L. Van Liew

They were backwards, clumsy, and cowards. It just goes to show that anyone can do magic with the right tools for the job.

Today could not get much worse. Amma's parents have all but abandoned her, she's been caught running away by a talking chipmunk, and now someone is trying to set her on fire.

As the young heiress to the most wealthy family in the land, Amma is pampered, sheltered, and totally lacking in friends. All that changes when her family estate comes under attack by a ragged bunch of children. They are poorly organized, distractable, and worst of all, unwittingly sentencing themselves to a long, slow famine. Nothing about it makes sense. Can Amma discover the truth behind the attack before her family loses everything?

With a cast of lively characters, a load of mystery, and a dash of magic, The Butterfly Set Free is the prequel to a thrilling new young adult fantasy series, Easterwood Unfolding, from the soon to be bestselling author C.L. Van Liew.

• Language: English
• Publisher: C.L. Van Liew
• Release date: Jul 13, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005336011

Book preview

The

Butterfly Set Free

An Easterwood Unfolding Prequel

By

C.L. Van Liew

Published by Lost Art Lettering, LLC

www.LostArtLettering.com

The Butterfly Set Free Copyright © 2020

by C. L. Van Liew

This is a work of fiction. All characters, locations, events, ect portrayed in this novel are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Though this is a copyrighted work, feel free to share with those around you in both digital and print formats. Purchase of authorized copies is appreciated but not necessary. Please do not copy portions of this work and claim them as your own.

Summary: "Angered by her negligent parents, Amma Paulownia leaves home, only to find herself in a fight for the survival of her family and friends.

—Provided by author.

ISBN: (paperback)

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

A Note to Readers

Hi! Thanks so much for grabbing a copy of The Butterfly Set Free.

I wanted to write a fast, punchy prequel that filled out some background to a very specific event mentioned a couple of times in passing in The Split Path Spark. However, don't take this novella as a one off explanation to some of Amma and Grace's conversations. This novella is full of foreshadowing and hints about what will happen throughout the first few books of the Easterwood Unfolding Series.

I hope it sparks your interest in the series and gives you a great reason to pick up the first book. If you've already read the first book and you're working back, I hope this helps to build out some new dimensions to old characters.

If you'd like to receive updates on new releases of the Easterwood Unfolding Series and a map of Easterwood, go to https://mailchi.mp/0b8a9a861a79/spsnews

Enjoy!

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

About the Author

Connect with the Author

Chapter One

The apple was firm and juicy, but as the little girl bit into it, all she could taste was the bitter taint of regret. Though eight year old Amma Paulownia was the young mistress of the domain, she knew that she had made a terrible mistake in going to the orchard that day.

The chipmunk that sat on her shoulder reminded her.

I told you that your mother was sick, Kerry said in her heavy Sapphirelands accent. You shouldn’t have left when you did.

Amma took another bite of the apple, ignoring the lump that formed around it in her throat.

She spoke in a crisp, aristocratic voice, perfectly manicured by the tutors and governesses who had overseen her since she could walk. I do not care. They have not spoken to me in months. And mother has not been ill for ages. I do not know why she would be again now. All they care about is getting the harvest and who is winning the silly war.

It’s been closer to two weeks, and I wouldn’t call the war silly, Kerry said, scampering down the length of Amma’s body to the ground. She began to draw a rough map in the dirt. You see here are the normal borders between Easterwood, the Waste, and Iron–

Amma sighed loudly, interrupting the speech she had heard Kerry make a hundred times over.

The little chipmunk stopped drawing and looked up at her, furry brown face quizzical. Well if you don’t feel like learning a thing or three at the moment, you might as well make yourself useful and start picking apples.

She pointed towards a large oaken barrel sitting at the end of the row of trees and Amma sighed again.

I am not picking apples. We have townsfolk for that. And the servants. Some of them did it last year.

I think you’ll find a lot has changed in the world since last year, something you’d understand if you listened to my lessons once in a dark moon. You’re worse than rotten goose egg.

Father will– Amma began but Kerry cut her off.

Gabriel will not. He’s too busy shoveling food onto everyone's plates to deal with a misbehaving daughter who wouldn’t know she was sitting on a snake hole until there was something firmly clamped to her bum. You need to go home and apologize.

Amma tightened her lips in defiance and stared the little chipmunk down, hoping that the black, beady eyes would blink first.

They did not.

What was worse was that she knew Kerry was right. Her mother had become sick the afternoon before and had been confined to her suites. Amma’s father had only appeared twice since then, first to order the head of the Paulownia household to call for the doctor, Magister Sterling, and a second time to tell Uncle Kirke to greet a mysterious visitor, someone named Baron Hawthorn, from the far edges of Easterwood who had arrived early that morning in a majestic coach. Though Amma had been sitting just feet away from her mother’s door, her father had scarcely acknowledged that she was there.