Saraphina

By Jaimie Landry

Up until her sixteenth birthday, Saraphina had a very normal life. That all changed the day after she received a peculiar gift from her aunt and uncle. From then on, Saraphina found herself raising something she had never dreamt that even existed: a golden-brown dragon. In order to understand more about the creature, she must travel across the country to her aunt's to get an explanation. But nothing goes as planned. As tragedy strikes close to home, Saraphina truly learns what it means to be brave. Now she must make the biggest decision of her lifewhether or not to grab her destiny.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 30, 2015
• ISBN: 9781503568648

Jaimie Landry

Jaimie Landry is twenty years old and living in Montreal, Quebec. She has three other siblings, one older and two younger ones. Her mother solely raised all of her children. Jaimie will be attending Champlain Saint-Lambert College in Montreal this fall. Saraphina is the first book that she has typed on the computer, sent to publishers, and has written an ending for. She has written stories here and there her entire teenage years and continues to do so as an adult. She was born in Jonquière, QC, lived in British-Columbia for ten years, and then returned to Quebec five years ago.

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Copyright © 2015 by Jaimie Landry.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 05/05/2015

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Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Glossary

CHAPTER 1

On my sixteenth birthday it all changed for me. It was soon after Aunt Agatha and Uncle Tarniss gave me my birthday present that my life completely changed. My mother wasn’t there when they gave me the gift. My entire family had gathered around to celebrate my birthday that day. This happens for every member’s birthday, so its not only mine, the family gathering to celebrate a birthday. My two older brothers, Karl and Takna, had brought their wives and own little families - only Karl has kids; two - Janieve and Oxird - Aunt Agatha and Uncle Tarniss didn’t have any kids so they came alone. Mother and Aunt Agatha are the only daughters of my – dead – grandparents. My father died shortly after my little sister Daniella’s first birthday, so he wasn’t present that day either.

Mother gave me some linen and a ‘new’ dress. It was worn by another but given to Mother for me. Daniella didn’t really like it. Mother believes if I get more dresses and feminine things that I will be more girly. I believe that her efforts are in vain. I will never change. I will always prefer wearing pants and a shirt than a dress. Although I don’t own a lot of pants or shirts so I’m forced to wear dresses more often.

Thank you Mother. Its very lovely. I said as I held the dress above the box it had been in so that everyone could see it. The dress was hideous.

It is very lovely, isn’t it? Mother said. Go put it on, Saraphina. I want to see how it looks on you!

Yes, Mother. I replaced the dress in the box and reluctantly went down the hall to my room.

My room is one of the smallest rooms in the house. My bed is along the wall next to the door frame on the right. Across from my bed are my dresser and closet. There is a window right on top of my dresser. The window itself faced the forest that separates our quaint little village from our neighbouring village. We are very secluded from it. However the forest protects our village from bandits and enemies because there are many predatory animals living there and many depressed villagers go there to hang themselves. I know, I’ve come across a few corpses and I hear the animal cries at night.

I took the dress out of the box and glared at it. With a heavy sigh I slipped out of the dress I was wearing and tried on my ‘new’ one. As I was slipping it on, my long brown hair got caught in it. I tugged at it as tears came to my eyes thanks to the pain the action brought. The battle with my hair lasted all of three minutes and I came out victorious. I pulled the dress down the rest of the way, straightened out the wrinkles, and then walked out of my room to the front room where everyone was.

All chattering stopped when I walked into the front room. The boys looked up at me as if I was walking around butt naked. Daniella had a look of horror on her face. Aunt Agatha tried to hide her giggles. Kassy, Takna’s wife, looked away quickly to hide her smile. Jenna, Karl’s wife, gave me a look of pity. Mother only beamed.

You look wonderful! Mother exclaimed as she stood.

Do I? I asked

Yes, come. Look in the mirror. Mother guided me to the floor to ceiling mirror that she kept in the entrance hall.

I stood in front of it. I don’t know what Mother saw, but it was clearly not what I or anyone else saw. I saw an ugly green dress worn by a very unhappy girl. My hair was no longer kept in the bun Mother had done for me that morning. My pale white skin was flushed. I looked like I had just ran for my life through the surrounding forest from an attacker. My brown eyes glared at my reflection.

So? I asked.

See, you look very lovely dear. Men will come after you in this dress. Mother said as she placed her hands on my shoulders.

I took that chance to see how we looked like when we stood next to one another. Whereas I looked like I hadn’t bathed in days, Mother looked well and clean. Her blond hair was kept from getting in her blue eyes by two hair pins. She wore a fitting pale blue dress and her dark skin looked healthy. I looked like my father and nothing like Mother. I didn’t mind that I looked like Father, but I did wish that I had darker skin.

Oh come on Clara. Can’t you see she’s not happy? Aunt Agatha said as she stood in the hallway with us. I noticed that she held a black box.

What do you mean? You like it, don’t you Saraphina? Mother looked at me in the mirror with such a hopeful look that I couldn’t bring myself to tell her the truth.

Of course I do, Mother. I answered.

See. Saraphina likes it. And maybe this dress will help you find a husband.

Mother! I exclaimed.

If you want guys to go after Saraphina then you’d better look outside. Men keep stopping to look at the house. She doesn’t need help in that department. Her looks ring them in. Aunt Agatha said.

Hmph. Mother stood straighter then walked into the front room without saying another word. This made Aunt Agatha and I laugh.

She is so easy to tease. I just can’t help myself! Aunt Agatha said.

Yes, but please refrain from making her any angrier. I said as I fully faced her.

I didn’t like to look at myself in a mirror, because it reminded me of why men approached me. Or well why they want to be near me. They like me because I’m beautiful. Or so I’ve been told. All they see are my looks not my personality or my brains, they could care less about those. I wanted my future husband to see beyond my looks and notice my other qualities, like my intelligence.

Come on, let’s get you out of that.

Please.

Aunt Agatha accompanied me to my room where she sat on my bed as I undressed.

You having fun? She asked.

Of course I am! I said as I put on the dress I wore before. It was a beautiful red dress. It fit me perfectly, it was also a gift from Karl and his family. I got it for my fifteenth birthday.

I wanted to get you alone to give you your gift. Please sit. Aunt Agatha said.

Um, alright. I turned around and saw that the black box she held now lay on her lap.

This box and what’s in it has been passed down from eldest child to eldest child in Tarniss’ family at the age of sixteen. Since we cannot have any children we have decided to give this to you.

Why me? Karl is the eldest, not me. Why didn’t you give it to him? I asked as Aunt Agatha passed the box to me. It wasn’t as heavy as I had thought it’d be, so it surprised me.

"Because it’s the eldest daughter that receives it. However, both in Tarniss’ family and his grandparents’ family there are no daughters. And we trust you more than those boys. They stick to every word your mother says and you don’t."

True. So, what’s in the box?

Open it and find out.

Excitement filled me as I lifted the lid of the box. I knew that Aunt Agatha was watching me. On the inside of the box there was some red silk and it was very cushion-y. And what was in the box utterly disappointed me. It was a golden-brown stone. It was oval and the size of a small ball. It seemed like whoever carved the stone took extra care. There was delicate vines all over the stone. It was beautiful but not what I had expected. I had expected to find something with a huge amount of worth or value.

A stone? That’s it?

It’s more then just a stone. Hopefully you’ll find out soon. Keep it a secret from your friends and family and protect it with your life. Aunt Agatha got up and left my room.

It puzzled me as to why Aunt Agatha wanted me to keep the stone a secret. Hearing Mother calling me, I replaced the stone in the box, put the box in my underwear drawer and joined my family in the kitchen for diner. Uncle Tarniss smiled at me and I knew that Aunt Agatha had told him that had given me their ‘gift’. That night I went to bed thinking about the day I had, and felt disappointed. Karl and Jenna gave me a sewing kit and I got a cook book from Takna and his family. I looked at my dresser and thought of the stone. I got up. Opened the drawer, lifted the box’s lid and lifted the stone.

‘What is so important about this stone that Aunt Agatha doesn’t want me to tell anyone I have it?’ I mentally asked it.

When I didn’t get an answer I put it back in the box and closed the drawer. That night I dreamt about rocks and stones of all colours. The next morning I did my chores and errands all the while thinking about that golden-brown stone. It bothered me so much that I decided to take another look at it and if I didn’t like it I’d get rid of it, heirloom of Uncle Tarniss’ or not. I marched to my room with determination. I got in, closed the door, got the box out, took out the stone and placed it on my bed. Then I paced the length of my room with my hands on my hips.

Why can’t I get you out of my head? I asked the stone.

As if it heard me it moved. I backed up. I stood totally speechless as the stone rocked back and forth on my bed. If it hadn’t started moving I could have dismissed the whole thing. In fact I started to do so, until a crack appeared on it. Then another, and another. More and more cracks were being created until something crawled through the stone.

‘Not a stone, an egg.’ I thought as the baby creature turned to face me. I backed up and hit my dresser as I realized what I was looking at.

That’s not possible. I whispered. Dragons are just a myth. They don’t exist.

But I was staring right at one. Its scales were the colour of the egg. None of its teeth were showing. It had spikes along its neck, back and tail. Only where its neck met its shoulders there were no spikes. The tip of its tail reminded me of a trident because it had two spikes carving outwards on each side of the one in the middle. All its scales were golden-brown. There was one spike on each wing at the same place that bats’ claws on their own wings are. Surprisingly the dragon wasn’t too wobbly when it moved to one end of my bed. Its claws made no wholes in my bedding which I was thankful for. When the baby looked at me its gaze held me in place. It had beautiful gold eyes. Then it looked away and the trans broke.

You won’t hurt me, will you? I asked it. It looked at me and squawked. The squawk was very cute.

I slowly approached it. I held out my hand once I got close to my bed. It sniffed my right hand then stretched out. I touched its head with my right hand and searing hot pain shot through it. My cry of pain was short lived as the skin around my wrist and lower arm became red. As red as when someone gets a terrible sunburn. Then suddenly the pain and the redness just disappeared altogether. In its place was this gorgeous birthmark looking thing. Spiral vines went around my wrist and stretched along the inside of my upper arm to the inside of my elbow. As I stared in disbelief at my arm and the golden-brown mark I noticed two things. One: the colour of the gorgeous mark was the exact same colour as the baby dragon and the spiral vines were exactly identical. And two: smoke was coming out of the dragon’s nostrils.

A knock at my bedroom door made me jump.

Y-yes? I squeaked out.

Is everything alright Sara? Daniella asked.

Yup. Everything’s fine! I said as I looked around. I knew that Daniella would come in anyway to see that I was alright. My voice being a little high probably helped in her decision to go in my room. I saw the ugly green dress and threw it over the baby dragon who protested and I sat in front of it.

Hush. I told it.

Sure enough Daniella came in, and as she did I hid my right arm behind my back. I didn’t want to explain to her my new mark especially when I couldn’t even explain its appearance to myself. As she entered my room she looked around with a critical eye, trying to see something out of the ordinary. The baby dragon tried to get the dress off of it and I tried to keep it from being spotted by Daniella. She and everyone else called me ‘Sara’, the only person that I knew that called me by my full name was Mother. Karl had said it was simpler to yell then ‘Saraphina’. I sort of agried with him. Everyone, including me, called Daniella ‘Ella’. Well everyone except Mother. She looked at me quizzicly.

Is something wrong Ella? I asked her.

No its just I heard noises coming from your room and you cry out, and I thought something upset or scared you. Like a weird guy coming to your window or something. Daniella said.

Nope, n-nothing of the sort. The dragon moved again then stayed still. I certainly didn’t want Daniella to see it. She’d freakout, scream and that scream would bring on everyone in the village running to my room, and then it would be hunted and killed. Even if it was a dragon, it was just a baby. An innocent baby. And Daniella’s scream is really that loud.

Alright, if you say so. Oh, that’s right! Jugar is waiting for you in the front room. Daniella teasingly said.

‘Oh great.’

I’ll be there in a minute. I said.

I’ll let him know. I smiled at her, she smiled back then left my room. Jugar was one of the stubborn men in the village who would not take ‘no’ as a hint to leave me alone. He also was one of the men from the village that chased me for my looks, he wanted gorgeous kids. He told me so himself when I began to have a woman’s figure.

I got up and removed the dress from the dragon. The baby looked up at me, and it didn’t look too happy. Which made me nervous, but when I put the dress in a drawer it seemed to become happier. I turned around, looked at the dragon and sighed. The more I looked at it the more I found it cute and not so menacing towards me. I took the remains of its egg, put them in the box and grabbed the baby. When it started to growl I began to panic. I realized that the growling sounded more like the purring of a happy cat and I sighed of relief. It was happy, which was why I felt like crap when I pushed it under my bed.

Stay here, okay? I’ll be back soon, I promise. Don’t move. I wasn’t certain it understood but I prayed to God that it did. I got up, pulled a bit on my grey dress to make sure it had no ripples, grabbed the matching shawl, put it on around my arms to hide my new strange mark, and made sure that the window was closed, then left my room. I closed the door, took a deep breath, rearranged the shawl to make sure the mark was truly hidden, then walked down the hall to the front room. As soon as Jugar saw me, he stood up. I