M.I.A. and the Book of Damien

By Shawnee Morris

Alex, now reunited with Blu and Christian, begs to go home, but something bigger is afoot here and Blu just can't help but stay. The Queen reluctantly accepts Blu's foolish offer to help, tasking them to steal the Book of Damien from the Priest's mansion with the help of one of her generals. So off they go, adventuring and bonding together with their new friend. But, as they venture further into the Damien region than they ever have before, something just doesn't seem right. Upon opening the Book of Damien and witnessing its secrets, they're met with a dilemma. Not everything is as simple as it seems. Important people have been keeping secrets, and the decision they've made weighs heavy on their shoulders. With their plan now muddied... what can they do to help? Join Alex, Christian, and Blu on this fantasy adventure as they find out things aren't always as they seem.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Oct 31, 2020
• ISBN: 9781098336318

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M.I.A. and the Book of Damien

Copyright © 2020 by Shawnee Morris

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the author.

ISBN 9781098336318

Printed in USA by

Dedication

This book is dedicated to quite a few people this time. Mainly my family again. My amazing mom, Sherri, and my awesome nana, Nora. With all the words I’ve written and twisted into such emotion, you would think I would have the ability to express how grateful I am to my family for being so supportive, but I can’t find the right words. Maybe some time soon.

I also would like to dedicate this book to a family friend, De Ann Bliss. Writing books is a lot more complicated than I ever thought, and I’d like to thank you for your help, and your continuous opening of opportunities to me.

As a final note, I would also like to thank my close friends, like Nathan and Thim, for continuing to cheer me on from the sidelines. I love you all.

A rough map of the regions and places inside of The Forest…

Top:  The Castle    Bottom:  The Manor

The Hotel

Table of Contents

Words from the Author

Chapter 1: Three Friends Walk into a Tar Pit

Chapter 2: Road Trip

Chapter 3: Blu Starts a Fight

Chapter 4: What Did the Cat Drag In? Homesickness!

Chapter 5: Don’t Wear Crop Tops in Autumn. Seriously

Chapter 6: I Had a Mental Conversation with a Plate of Fries

Chapter 7: Enter the Dark

Chapter 8: Blu’s Obsession with Small Cakes Scares Me

Chapter 9: Blu Serves the Locals a Knuckle Sandwich

Chapter 10: A Deal with a Damien named Keith

Chapter 11: A Rose by Any Name Would Hurt the Same

Chapter 12: Is it Blood or Red Wine?

Chapter 13: Very Professional

Chapter 14: Jack of All Trades

Chapter 15: On the Run

Chapter 16: The Jack Shack is Full of Dino Nuggies

Chapter 17: Humanity

Chapter 18: Escaping Our Rescuers

Chapter 19: Coincidence

Chapter 20: Healing

Chapter 21: I Have Another Crisis

Chapter 22: The Plan

Words from the Author

Hello again! It greatly pleases me that we are here again for the second book in the series M.I.A! I never would have dreamed I could do something like this, and it makes me happy every day knowing that you all loved book one. The purpose of this book stays the same: To bring joy to those who read it, and to share with them the stories and characters that I have created and learned to love. I hope you learn to love these characters, too. I also would like to mention that I only recently realized that what I said about Alex’s hometown- my hometown- could be taken the wrong way. Jasper is actually a wonderful small town with gorgeous views and clean air, and I love living here. Other than that, I’d like to thank you for picking up this book, and I hope you enjoy.

About the Author

My name is Shawnee Morris. I was born in 2003, which means that I was pretty young when I started writing this series. I mention this only to inspire the young people like me. I’m a normal person who does normal things and geeks out over the shows and books I like. I’m just like anyone else, except for the fact that I have found what makes me happy and stuck by it. Sometimes it takes a long time for people to find their passion, but know that once you do, anything is possible.

My Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch usernames are all shawneemorrisart and my website is www.morrisminifarmcreations.com.

If you would like to hang out with me or share your art, or even talk about the lore of M.I.A, you can also join my discord server:  https://discord.gg/wJBSjns

Chapter One: Three Friends Walk into a Tar Pit

GETTING ARRESTED BY MAGICAL CREATURES CAN REALLY RUIN YOUR APPETITE. That said, it’s also a wonderful journey of self-discovery. For one, I now know I’m not into being tied up. Another thing to note is how much danger we were in. Here we were, three friends (one I thought I would never see again) all tied up in front of a magical Queen in a room full of guards who think you’re a threat. Comfy, right? The pressure was intense. One wrong move while trying to convince them that we were harmless, and we would probably be thrown in the dungeon. If they had a dungeon. They could technically just give us some nice acupuncture therapy with those long spears of theirs. Or they could use us as target practice … yep, I was panicking.

Queen, these art thy two suspicious entities we captured in Damien. Art thine majesty done evaluating thy first? Echoe glared at us as she spoke. Ah, yes. The First. They were referring to Christian, weren’t they? Speaking of Christian, he hadn’t stopped staring at us since we were dragged into the room. On the same note, Blu hadn’t stopped staring either. I was particularly dumbfounded by the situation. Even my brain didn’t know how to feel. I was scared of the willow-wysps. I was worried about what might happen to us here. I was angry that Christian had entered the forest at all.

The Queen’s silky but commanding voice cut through the silence like a knife, Yes, I believe so. It appears thee art a foolish human who hath entered in order to find the others. Away with it. She made a shooing motion with her hand. For some reason that motion and her tone made me angry. It made me angrier when the guards beside Christian roughly grabbed his arms, ready to escort him out.

Christian! I yelled. My hoarse voice echoed in the large room. The desperation that had creeped into my tone was sour tasting. I thrashed against the crappy restraints, catching the attention of everyone in the room. No, not again! They weren’t going to take away the only perfect things in my life. I could barely hear Blu trying to calm me down as nearby guards raised their spears at me.

Halt! The Queen’s voice boomed once more. Everything seemed to stop at once. Even I hesitated at her command. Doth thee fools knowest each other? There was something unnervingly casual in her voice, as if she hadn’t just insulted us.

Yes. I stated coldly. It seemed as if I had a sudden burst of confidence, but inside I was yelling at myself for speaking so harshly to someone who could kill us at any moment.

That’s our friend, Christian. Blu added.

And … thou art … humans? All of thee? The Queen’s three eyes were focused intently on us.

Yes. I came here to try and investigate the disappearances and hopefully stop them. My friend, Alex, got worried and came to find me. Blu paused her explanation to glare at Christian. Christian is our friend. I guess he entered the forest after us. Blu continued.

Outsiders, the Queen mumbled with exasperation evident in her voice. Doth thou even knowest how dangerous thy forest is? The Queen’s judging gaze was beginning to unnerve me.

I had to. I need to stop the disappearances. Blu quickly defended herself. There was something so determined in her voice that gave me a little hope.

I highly doubt thou hath the power to completely stop anything happening here, for it hath happened all these years and even I cannot stop it. There was a subtle sadness to the Queen’s voice. One that seemed to make me shiver. Thou doth knowest that thy disappearances art mostly Damien’s doings. We hath not devised a way to stop it. There was a small pause, leaving an itchy uncomfortable tension. We needeth more knowledge. The Queen mumbled.

I can help. Blu boldly stated.

And how doth thou intend to help? The Queen was quick to retort.

You tell me. Blu snaps back.

This caused the Queen to snort, leaving yet another static silence. These Willow-wyps’ way of talking was beginning to get on my nerves. The silence continued only to be broken moments later by Christian’s stomach growling.

In less than a second, all eyes were on him. Sorry. This whole time I have been too terrified to say anything, but can I mention that I am starving? Christian finally spoke with a small tremor in his voice. I opened my mouth to speak but was quickly cut off by the Queen.

We require knowledge from thy Book of Damien. Other captured entities mentioned thy book held all known information of thy Damien. ‘Tis hidden within thy Priest’s manor, deep in thy heart of Damien. Although, I wouldst not trust all that thy Damien speak. She completely ignored Christian, who seemed to grow increasingly uncomfortable.

I would have given him my last energy bar, if I hadn’t been … Y’know, tied