The Sapphire Key

By Tara Rack-Amber

Friends of Alice in wonderland kidnapped.

Peter Pan's mates - abducted.

And an evil sorceress bent on destroying them all.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tara Rack-Amber
• Release date: Nov 23, 2021
• ISBN: 9781087996646

Book preview

Chapter One

It seemed like a normal day until everything went wrong.

Last night’s storm of tornado-like wind and torrential rain had given way to a more pleasant day of sun.

Debris of scattered leaves and sticks lay strewn about, while the facades of storefronts were a little worse for the wear. Awnings were tattered and even a few windows were shattered.

The Story Weavers, a unique race of spiders, were busily wandering in and out of the city of burrows they had crafted in the outskirts of The Kingdom of Camelot.

For centuries, this race of spiders had joined together to create a community where they not only thrived, but also lived in harmony together.

This ability to depend on one another was invaluable when situations like recovering from a storm happened.

Some were preparing for the upcoming winter season, while others were clearing away debris from last night’s destructive weather. Members of Queen Charlotte’s army were working with the other citizens helping them make repairs to their homes and businesses. Even the queen was giving assistance by donating food and water from the royal food stores.

But the majority of the spiders were doing what they were destined to do: creating the world’s stories.

They had been blessed by The Wise Old One with the ability to create tales of wonder, adventure, romance, and even mystery by weaving together the words to inspire the world’s greatest authors.

The Story Weavers lived in peace in their kingdom.

It wasn’t always such a peaceful place. About twenty years ago a war was fought that changed the realm in ways that were never thought possible. But after the war, it had taken many years to recover, but it seems like The Story Weavers have finally arrived back to a peaceful existence.

The morning’s peace was suddenly broken when there was a loud rumble that continued for several minutes.

The Story Weavers looked toward the sky thinking it was a repeat of last night’s weather but couldn’t see anything. They looked left into the forest with horror and discovered the source of the noise.

Several large wagons lead by black stallions were coming toward them at a great speed. Their mighty hooves were thundering on the forest floor causing the ground to quake with fear.

Visions of what had transpired twenty years ago began to flood some of the elder Story Weaver’s minds. They ran inside their homes and started to prepare for the worst. They hid their children and grabbed weapons to prepare for what they thought would be an upcoming onslaught.

Not recognizing the caravan as one of King Arthur’s, who usually passed through their community, the spiders did their best to hide before the ominous party could reach them. Some ran to alert their queen of the impending danger.

When they reached Queen Charlotte, she told them to steal themselves away and that she would see what was going on. The spiders obeyed and made themselves scarce.

When the wagons arrived, about a hundred men wearing all black and the crest of a raven with two swords in its claws jumped off their horses and out of the wagons and began approaching the Story Weavers.

They were led by a tall man wearing all black with shoulder length black hair that looked like it was slicked with oil, and a dark beard that seemed to frame a menacing mouth.

What is the meaning of this, said Charlotte as she angrily approached the man with several of her guards in tow behind her.

Well, your highness, you have two options, he said, approaching her while urging his men to stand back with a wave of his hand. You and your subjects can climb into my wagons under your own freewill, or we can do this the hard way and we drag you into our wagons. Either way, you all are coming with me.

The man continued to approach Queen Charlotte, meeting her eyes in an attempt to bore holes into her soul.

Charlotte looked at the man and scoffed, Whose orders are you acting under?

Your presence is requested by the powerful sorceress, Serevinia, he said as he got closer to the large spider. She wants you and The Story Weavers to do her a little favor.

Charlotte had heard about Serevinia and her wicked ways. She wanted no parts of dealing with this evil woman.

Please tell your patron that we have no interest in anything that she is involved in, said Charlotte.

The man looked down at the ground and kicked a rock with his foot out of the way. He waved his hands to his men, encouraging them to approach. He then said to Charlotte, Fine. I see you went with option two. In my opinion, this is more fun.

The man waved again more aggressively and the guards rushed toward the kingdom and began attacking.

Spiders came out of homes and businesses brandishing weapons to protect themselves. They fought and held their own for a while against the formidable army. The two forces battled awhile, risking lives on both sides. But, in the end, The Story Weavers succumbed.

The guards were grabbing the spiders and putting them into chains before they were pushed into wagons.

Families were separated and homes were destroyed in the chaos.

Thatched roofs had holes blown into them, tables and chairs outside of a cafe were broken into splinters. The damage was all encompassing.

Charlotte was still fighting with the man when she looked around and saw what was happening. Her kingdom was being destroyed and all her subjects were endangering themselves, while others were being placed into restraints and thrown into the prison wagons.

Halt, her voice boomed over the chaos. Everyone stopped and looked at the source of the noise.

Let my people go. You have no right to imprison them.

The man looked at her and laughed. We have been over this, and your side is losing poorly. Why don’t you just give in and come with me before more creatures get hurt, or worse.

Queen Charlotte paused a moment to consider what she wanted to do to minimize any more damage, injury, or death.

Let them go, and I will go in their place, she offered to the man.

It looked like the man had stopped for a moment to consider the queen’s offer. A smile grew across his sinister face.

Sorry your highness, my orders were to get every Story Weaver in the kingdom. That means you and everyone else will be making their way to Munnievia courtesy of our luxurious transportation accommodations, he said with a deep bow, mocking the royalty before him.

He reached for the queen and her army stepped in to try and protect her.

Charlotte told them to stand down. She realized that there was no way they could win, and she didn’t want anyone to suffer any more than they already had.

There has been enough bloodshed today, she said to her guards. Lower your weapons.

They obeyed and the queen looked at the man with the dark, long hair, with nothing but pure hatred.

He held out his hand to her and said to follow him. Charlotte ignored his outstretched hand and walked past into the opening of the wagon. He loaded her into a wagon with a handful of other Story Weavers and locked the door behind them.

Right when the wagons were almost out of sight, the man who had approached the queen looked back, uttered something under his breath which caused a fireball to form on each of his hands. With one smooth move he shot the two fireballs into The Kingdom of The Story Weavers causing everything in sight to burn.

Charlotte saw what had happened. She bowed her head and vowed to return to her kingdom stronger than ever.

This once happy and prosperous community, in under a few hours, became a fiery ghost town.

Eighth-grader, Lily Buchjager shut the book and placed it on her lap. Twelve pairs of eyes stared back at her. One girl, with dark matching pigtails, raised her hand. Lily nodded at her to share what was on her mind.

Do you think that really happened? she asked.

Well, Chloe, this is a fairytale, a type of story that is made up to entertain people. It’s just like ‘Alice in Wonderland’ or ‘Peter Pan.’ They aren’t real. They just came from someone’s imagination, she responded.

Chloe lowered her hand and looked disappointed for a moment before she began to say something again.

My grandmother said that some stories that are in books are true. That people would sit around the campfire and share stories that were told to them from their grandparents, who heard it from their grandparents, and it kept going like that. She said sometimes these stories made it into books.

Before Lily could explain what folktales were and how they were used to explain scientific processes like the weather and the formation of the mountains, the head children’s librarian came over.

Alright kids, who wants to do a craft? she said as the children jumped up and ran over to the small rounded tables that were covered with various construction papery, glue sticks, and metallic glitter.

Thank you so much for reading at after school story time, Lily. I really appreciate it, and I know the kids enjoy having you read to them.

Lily smiled. She remembered how much she loved going to the different reading programs at the library when she was in elementary school. She always looked up to the teens who would volunteer to read and she couldn’t wait to do it, too.

No problem, she said. I’ll be back next week.

The librarian smiled and thanked her before turning back to the kids who were ready to create a dragon craft.

As Lily walked home from the library, she thought a lot about what Chloe had said. Sure the stories were made up, but they had to come from somewhere, right? What happened to the characters once they were created? Did they live on between the pages of the book or were they frozen in time to only come alive when their stories were read from the pages?

The leaves crunched under Lily’s feet as she wondered more about the lives of stories. Little did she know, she would soon get answers to all of her questions.

Chapter Two

It was a warm autumn Thursday. School had started last month and summer was trying its best to hang on desperately to the leaves that were just beginning to change. Thoughts turned toward pumpkin spice everything and the upcoming Halloween season.

The Eagles girls’ soccer team at the Pine Crest Middle School was having one of their first practices of the season.

Lily was nervously approaching the soccer field. She was tucking her chin-length blond hair behind her ears and looking anxiously at the ground in front of her as she walked.

It was the first time she was on a school team like this. Sure, she had played what she thought of as kiddie soccer through the town’s soccer team, but this was the first time she was playing on a school team. The big leagues.

When she reached the team’s bench, Lily set down her duffel bag and found a place on the ground to begin stretching. She looked out over the sea of girls that were running drills, practicing their dribbling, and stretching just like her.

That is when she spotted them.

The Trio.

The three girls, that comprised the coveted social group, were considered to be the most popular of the popular.

Jessica Miller, Savannah Garcia, and CiCi Williams were considered Pine Crest royalty. All the boys wanted to be around them and all the girls wanted to be like them. In short, they were the type of girls that made Lily nervous.

Jessica was tall, thin and had long, dark hair. She always walked with an air of confidence; like she was gliding on a cloud. This could be due to the fact that not only was she amazing in soccer, she was also in several dance classes that must have attributed to her confidence and poise.

Lily looked down at her long, but awkward legs. She could never imagine being able to walk around like her.

Always never far behind Jessica were her two sidekicks, CiCi and Savannah.

CiCi had blond hair that was shoulder length and was worn in tight curls. She almost always had it swept up into a messy bun that seemed to take little to no effort, but in actuality probably took a long time to cultivate.

Lily and CiCi used to be best friends in elementary school. Their moms worked together and their shared love of art became a common bond between them.

But, when they started middle school, everything changed. CiCi went to follow Jessica, and ditched Lily. Lily was heartbroken and, for a while, she thought that she did something wrong to lose CiCi’s friendship. But, eventually Lily began to understand that CiCi was just trying to fit in with the popular girls.

As nice as CiCi could be, that is how mean Savannah was. Lily never got along with the girl who seemed to have an attitude. Her long, dark hair hung around her face like a bad attitude.

Just as Lily was beginning to stand up from stretching, she heard a whistle on the field and saw that the coach was yelling at Savannah because she had pushed a girl down on the field.

Although she was a little rough on the team, there was no doubt that Savannah was the best soccer player in the county. She had the MVP awards to prove it.

Even though the girls were popular, it didn’t necessarily mean that they were the nicest girls in the school. They didn’t rise to the top of the school’s social hierarchy by being sugar and spice.

Savannah wasn’t the only one with a mean streak. Jessica was known to also be a difficult person. One time, when a girl was getting attention from a boy that Jessica liked, she spread a rumor about the girl saying that she ate dog food. Of course this wasn’t true, but once Jessica said it, people were too afraid to not agree with her. It got so bad that this girl quit soccer and dance just to avoid the humiliation.

Everyone quickly learned if someone challenged The Trio, they were in big trouble.

Despite this, just being talked to by the three of them was considered an amazing gift.

Deep down, Lily knew that she wanted to be a popular girl, just like them. She wasn’t immune to the spell that the three of these girls cast over the whole school.

It isn’t like she didn’t have her own friends.

Ever since preschool, even before her friendship with CiCi, she was friends with Marcus Albright and Angie Emmerson. The three of them have been inseparable. What started out as bonding over fairy tales in preschool turned into attending the same drama camp each summer.

They spent a lot of time going to the movies, hanging out at the library, and their annual trip to the Renaissance Fair was the highlight of their year.

Lily felt she could be herself when she was around them. They were a family.

Marcus was the only boy of the group, but he didn’t seem to mind. He never looked at Lily and Angie as two girls, but two friends that were great video game competitors, fellow actors, and two people who could make him laugh when he was having a bad day.

He especially needed that after his grandfather, who he was really close to, had a stroke and moved in with his family. Marcus had a hard time seeing one of his idols having to start over and learn everything new again. The constant care and uplifting of his friends kept him going on the worst days.

Angie Emmerson was the quiet bookworm of the group. She was really smart and knew a little about almost everything. While she was often criticized for being the teacher’s pet, Lily knew that things just came easily to Angie and she was eager to share her knowledge.

Angie lived with just her dad since her