Chaos

By Katie Holland

After returning from London Alix struggles to balance being the Chosen One, a member of the Almati Council and a high school senior. How is she supposed to write her finals and fight the Grynn at the same time? 

She would be lost without her best friend Shay, who keeps her grounded and Ben, who is becoming increasingly important to he

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kingston Publishing Company
• Release date: Jan 17, 2019
• ISBN: 9781645330042

Book preview

Copyright

Chaos is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

CHAOS: A NOVEL

Copyright © 2019 by Katie Holland

All rights reserved.

Editing by KP Editing

Cover design by KP Designs

Published by Kingston Publishing Company

The uploading, scanning, and distribution of this book in any form or by any means—including but not limited to electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the permission of the copyright holder is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized editions of this work, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

Table of Contents

Copyright

Table of Contents

Dedication

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Author’s Note

Dedication

To my husband who knows what it’s

like to live with the chaos life can throw at you.

I love you honey!

Chapter 1

Alix opened her eyes and saw everyone she cared about on the floor. She tried to run to them but found she couldn’t move. François’s evil laugh seemed to surround her. She blinked her eyes and was in the cell underneath the warehouse in Paris, tied to a chair. She tried to use her magic to loosen the ties on her wrists but discovered that her magic was gone. François walked around to face her.

You are no match for me little girl. Your magic had deserted you and you can’t save your friends. I’m going to kill them just because I can.

The wall in front of her disappeared and she saw everyone still on the floor. François snapped his fingers and Shay started convulsing. Alix yelled at him to stop and he only laughed at her. He snapped his fingers again and Ben started convulsing as well.

STOP! she yelled.

Join us and I will, he said.

I can’t.

He snapped his fingers a few more times and soon everyone she cared about was writhing on the floor. Alix knew they were in pain. Then suddenly they all stopped, and she felt like her heart had stopped them. They were all dead.

Alix woke up breathing hard. She’d had several dreams about François and the being captured since returning home. Each one of them making her hate the Grynn a little bit more.

Returning to real life was a little difficult at first. It had been two weeks since they returned from their trip to London. She’d become a member of the Almati Council, went sightseeing all over London, rescued her family and friends, was captured by the Grynn, and then successfully escaped. And on top of all that, when they got back to Sunset Creek, she and her parents moved to the Nykara safe house, otherwise known as Ben’s house. It had been a crazy few weeks.

Alix eventually settled into a new routine. It took a while to get used to living at the Nykara house with Ben and his family, but after a couple of weeks, it was her new normal. She’d even gotten used to the Warriors that discreetly followed her everywhere she went.

Since returning from London it had been quiet around Sunset Creek. That was exactly what Alix was hoping for as that meant no Grynn activity. The other members of the Almati Council were keeping her updated on the situation in Paris. After being captured, Alix had basically blown up a building to escape. She didn’t know what had happened to François, who appeared to be a leader among the Grynn. He was also the father of Victor, the Grynn who’d kidnapped some hikers to get her attention. She’d imprisoned Victor in a cave wall and saved the hikers. She’d become friends with Sara, Samantha, and Jack after the incident.

As a result of the Grynn taking Alix to Paris, they were a week late getting back from London, which just happened to be the same week as Thanksgiving. Alix, Ben, and Shay only had to go back to school for two days and then it was Thanksgiving break. They had a huge dinner at the Nykara house. Everyone was invited, and they’d had a great time. The rest of the break consisted of Alix, Ben, and Shay catching up on the work they’d missed after being gone from school for three weeks.

It was the first Friday in December and Alix was sitting in English thinking about her time in London. She was supposed to be reading the novel they were working on but she couldn’t focus on that right now. It was hard for her to go from the Chosen One, a member of the Almati Council and being held prisoner by the Grynn to Alix the high school senior. Her English teacher noticed and called her out in the hallway to talk. There were a few snickers from the other students thinking she was getting in trouble for something.

Alix, is everything okay? Miss Fay asked her when they got out of the classroom.

Yes, Karin, I mean Miss Fay. I’m just having trouble adjusting again. Just like that, calling you Karin at school. I’ve been so busy catching up on homework that I didn’t have a lot of time to think. But now that everything has settled down again it’s just kind of hard to go from The Chosen One to just me. I know I’m not saying this right either because that makes me sound conceited or something.

I get it, Alix. And I understand what you’re trying to say. Since you came into your abilities you’ve already had to deal with more Grynn than most of us do in a lifetime. It makes sense that it can be hard to switch back and forth between being the Kaelneth and just Alix. But remember, you’re never ‘just’ Alix or the Kaelneth, you’ll always be both. Sometimes you’ll be one or the other more strongly, but both parts of you will always be present.

Alix thought about that for a minute before speaking. Thanks, Miss Fay. I know I’ll be okay but for some reason, it’s just getting to me this morning.

I’m here anytime you need me, Alix. Now let’s get back to class and maybe you can concentrate on the novel.

Alix smiled at her. It felt good to get a little bit off her chest. She went back to her desk and participated in the rest of the class.

After school, Alix shared some cookies they’d made in Culinary Arts with Shay and then they dropped her off at home and went to their house. It was still weird for Alix to call Ben’s house home. But living there was the only way to get the Council to agree to let her go back to Sunset Creek. She understood that her safety was extremely important, but she wasn’t giving up her life just because she was the Chosen One.

This weekend was a perfect example of that. Tomorrow they were going to Bozeman to buy Christmas decorations and on Sunday they were going to decorate the house. She was really looking forward to that. There was no way she would have missed it for the world and would have if she’d stayed in London.

When they got home, they each went to their rooms and put their school bags away. As had become a habit they met in the kitchen and made a snack. Today they had milk with the cookies they’d just made. Ben’s parents, Natalie and Rick, came into the kitchen.

Hi kids, how was school? Natalie asked.

Okay, Ben said, It was just school.

Are those cookies you guys made today? Rick asked.

Alix had to smile at that. Rick liked cookies almost as much as Shay did. Yes Rick, oatmeal raisin. Help yourself but please leave at least one for my dad.

I will, he said with a smile as he took two cookies out of the bag.

After having their snack Alix and Ben decided to work on their homework. They had an essay to write for English, so they went to Ben’s room to work on it. They were supposed to take a section of the novel and write it from one of the other characters points of view. Alix was looking forward to it, but Ben hated writing, so he was dreading it.

Let’s just get this over with, Ben said picking up the novel. How long does this have to be anyway?

Only a thousand words, that’s like two pages on the computer.

That’s nine hundred too many, Ben complained.

Oh, stop it. I’ll help you if you need it. Did you pick what part you wanted to work on?

I think so.

Well that’s the hardest part, Alix told him.

They got out their laptops and the novel and started working. About ten minutes later Alix’s phone dinged. It was a text from Sara.

Sara: I’ve got great news.

Alix: And … what is it?

Sara: I’m moving to Sunset Creek!!!!

Alix: That’s awesome! When?

Sara: After Christmas. And I’ll be going to school in Bozeman. I got a scholarship to the Culinary Arts program at the University starting in January!

Alix: YAY! I’m so happy for you. Can’t wait until you’re here.

Sara: I have a feeling you had something to do with this.

Alix: Maybe … I might have talked to someone about it.

Sara: You’re the best!!! Thank you!

Alix: You’re welcome. I’m just happy you’ll be following your dreams and that you’ll be close to us. Keep me updated on your move.

Sara: I will!

What are you smiling about? Ben asked Alix.

Sara’s going to be moving here after Christmas and go to college.

That’s great. How did she manage to get into school on such short notice? he asked.

I may have talked to James to see if there was anything we could do to help her, she said smiling.

That was really nice of you, Alix.

And the best part is that she’ll be living in my house since we’ve moved in here.

Cool.

I’m going to call Shay and tell her. She’ll be excited too.

Ben nodded and went back to writing his essay. Alix called Shay and told her what she’d found out from Sara. Shay was thrilled. The three girls had become quite good friends since Alix had rescued Sara from the Grynn.

After talking to Shay for a few minutes, Alix went back to working on her essay. She liked the assignment but then again, she liked most things about English. When they were about halfway done, she heard her dad yelling to her that he was home. That was good because she was starting to get hungry.

Enough homework for tonight, Ben declared. We can finish it later. It’s not due until Monday.

Sounds good to me, Alix said. She saved her work and went to her room to put her laptop away.

They ran into her dad on their way downstairs.

Hey dad, how was work today?

About the same as usual. How was your day honey?

It was okay. We made some oatmeal raisin cookies today and I told Rick to save you some.

My favorite. Sounds like that’ll be dessert.

The three of them walked into the kitchen. Natalie and Rick were already there putting the finishing touches on dinner. Each of them dished up some chili, grabbed some bread and sat at the table. They talked about random things while they ate. When everyone was finished Natalie and Rick started to clean up.

Why don’t you kids go get the room ready for movie night, Natalie said. Alix, isn’t it your turn to pick out the movies?

Yep, I already know what I want to watch. Are you sure we can’t help you?

We’re good here. We’ll see you two in a little bit.

Okay, mom, Ben said.

Alix and Ben went to the den. Alix picked out her two movies and put one in the DVD player.

Did I just see you put in a Christmas movie? Ben asked.

Yep, it’s tradition to start watching Christmas movies as soon as it’s December. So, don’t go messing with tradition, she said shaking her finger at Ben.

He put his hands up in surrender. I wouldn’t dream of it, he said holding back a laugh.

Good.

They turned on the TV and flipped through channels. They eventually settled on the news. They watched it most nights to see if they heard anything that would be related to Grynn activity. But since her escape in Paris, the news had been rather mundane. There’d been no bombings, terrorist activity, or shootings. In fact, the violence around the world had almost come to a halt.

You must have hurt the Grynn more than we realized, Ben told her after the world news was over.

I think so. There were a lot of Grynn in that building. Once they get organized again, I’m sure we’ll see the violence around the world increase dramatically. And I know they’ll be after me even more than they were before.

They have to find you first and since we moved Victor there’s been nothing happening around here at all. Speaking of Victor, do you know if the Grynn found him yet?

No, he’s still lost in the Everglades. James is keeping an eye on him. It’ll just be a matter of time until they find him.

At least he has no memory of you or Sunset Creek, Ben said.

Yep, that’s a very good thing. Have you heard from Logan at all? Alix asked.

Not since last week. Do you think he’s okay?

I talked to Gordon yesterday and asked about Logan, Alix told him. He started his online schooling and physically he’s fine. But I think he’s still having a hard time dealing with the fact that the Grynn used him to get to me and what he did to Shay. I think that’s what’s bothering him the most. He can’t get over the fact that he put her in the Sleep of Death and locked her in a box. Even though he doesn’t remember it, he still knows he did it."

Yeah, that would really suck. At least he’s safe at Fox Hollow and the Grynn can’t get him there. I’m glad you told me to give him a chance. He turned out to be a pretty good guy.

Natalie, Rick, and Ted came into the den.

Have you got the movie all ready to go? her dad asked.

Yep. We’re starting off with The Polar Express. Is mom home yet?

She’s on her way. Give her about another fifteen minutes and she should be here.

Is it okay with everyone that we wait for her? It's our tradition to start Christmas movies tonight and I don’t want her to miss out.

Of course, it’s okay Alix, Natalie said. We won’t start until she’s here and ready.

They waited until Heather got home and started the movie. Alix pushed play and sat back to enjoy it. She’d always loved movie night with her parents, but it was even better with Ben, Natalie, and Rick. When the first movie was done, they went to the kitchen and made popcorn for the second one. Now that she could use her magic to pop the kernels it was ten times faster than using the hot air popper. She still giggled every time she made popcorn with magic.

When the second movie was over Alix went upstairs to her room. She was still getting used to having her own bathroom. That had been the best part of moving into the Nykara house. Tonight, she felt like a hot bubble bath. While she ran the water, she got her phone and picked her relaxation playlist. She set the phone on the counter and climbed in the tub. It felt like heaven. She soaked in the tub until the water was getting cold. When she was done, she put on her comfy pajama pants and shirt and climbed into bed. She took her eReader off her nightstand and started reading. She could sleep in tomorrow, so she wasn’t worried about staying up late. It didn’t take her long to get into her book. Eventually, she put it down and fell asleep.

Chapter 2

Alix woke up excited. Today they were heading into Bozeman to go Christmas shopping. She already knew that her favorite part was going to be picking out the decorations. Since no one had used that house in a long time, and never as a permanent residence, there were no Christmas decorations to put up. Alix couldn’t stand a house with no Christmas in it, so she was taking responsibility for decorating.

Her dad and Rick were staying home so everyone else got ready and left. They picked up Shay on the way and headed to Bozeman. Alix noticed the Warriors in the vehicle behind them but did her best to ignore them. Nothing was going to bring her down this weekend.

Their first stop in Bozeman was the mall. Her mom and Natalie went one direction while Alix, Shay, and Ben went another. They all had more people to shop for this year, but no one had any clue what they wanted to get anyone.

I have an idea, Shay said, as they were looking around the mall. I think we should all go together and get something for Logan. I mean, he’s away from his family, spending Christmas alone, that would suck and he’s already been through a lot this year. I think it might help cheer him up.

That’s a great idea, Shay, Alix said. Any ideas?

Both of the girls looked at Ben.

Why are you looking at me like that? he asked them.

Well, Shay said, you’re a seventeen-year-old guy just like Logan, so … that means you’d be the one here that would have the best idea of what he would like.

Exactly what she said, Alix added.

Ben just smiled at them. In that case, if I was Logan, I’d be missing my video games and I didn’t notice any there.

Okay, Alix said. So maybe we can find a way to make that happen. I’ll call Gordon and see if he can help us out.

They spent the next couple of hours shopping then it was time to get the decorations. Alix was having a blast in the store. It was a good thing they had a big SUV with them because she filled the back with all sorts of things including a tree.

When they got back home it took several trips to get everything in. Alix brought the last bag in and told everyone to be ready to start decorating in the morning.

Shay was spending the night, so she could help as well. They had pizza for dinner then Alix, Ben, and Shay went to Ben’s room and watched a movie. When it was over the girls went downstairs and grabbed a bunch of junk food from the kitchen. They went back to Alix’s room and had a junk food fest and painted their nails red, green and white. Eventually, they got tired and went to bed.

*  *  *

Alix and her mom made a big breakfast for everyone the next morning, then it was time for decorating. Ben, Rick, and her dad were in charge of the outside while the ladies took the inside. By mid-afternoon, they were almost done. The only thing they had left to do was decorate the tree. Alix had left that until last because she wanted everyone to help. They drank hot apple cider and listened to Christmas music while they decorated. By the time they were done everyone was exhausted but happy. It had been a big place to decorate.

After dinner, they took Shay home and Alix went to her room to finish her essay for English. She was close to finishing it when someone knocked on her door.

Come in, she called.

It was her mom. Hey honey, just thought I’d check on you. We haven’t had much time to talk lately, she said sitting on Alix’s bed.

I know. Everything kind of happened fast after we got back from London. I’m okay. At first, it was hard to move here, deal with what happened with the Grynn, and go back to school but I’m fine now. I actually had a talk with Karin on Friday about it. Even after everything that’s happened since my birthday, I still sometimes forget that I don’t have to do this on my own.

You’ve always been a rather independent person, even as a little girl, her mom said smiling.

I think you mean stubborn, mom, Alix said with a smile of her own.

Yes, that too, but it’s just part of who you are and every part of you is needed, even the stubborn part. I know it’s hard for you to go back and forth between the Chosen One and Alix the high school senior. But I also know that no one else would be able to handle it as well as you can. Oh, Alix, you have no idea how worried I was when I woke up in Fox Hollow and they told me that you’d been taken by the Grynn. I was terrified that I’d never see you again. After the initial shock wore off, I started thinking about you as a little girl and then as the young woman you’ve become. I realized that if anyone could get themselves out of that situation it would be you. Honey, I’m so proud of you and I know that Sharon and Sean would be as well.

Thanks, mom. I still think I have the greatest parents in the world you know, Alix said hugging her.

And we have the greatest daughter anyone could ask for.

Thanks, mom. I love you.

I love you too honey, her mom told her. Are you doing homework? she asked as she looked around.

Yep, I have an English essay that needs to be handed in tomorrow.

How’s it going?

Pretty good. I’m almost finished, but I expect Ben to ask for help tonight. He was struggling with his on Friday.

That’s nice that you can help each other. Are you really okay living here?

Yes, I really am. And besides, we can’t go back home now, at least for a while. I forgot to tell you that I heard from Sara on Friday and she was able to get into the Culinary Arts program at the University in Bozeman. She’s going to be coming here after Christmas and staying at our house.

That’s wonderful. I’m really happy for her. But what happens if we plan to move back home? her mom asked.

Then she can live here. She could have lived here anyway, but I think she wants to see if she can make it on her own.

I understand that. Well, the more people here that love you the happier I’ll be. I’ll let you get back to your essay. See you in the morning kiddo.

Okay, mom.

Her mom opened the door to leave and gave a yelp of surprise. Ben, you scared me half to death, she told him.

Sorry Heather, Ben said. I was coming to see if Alix could help me with my English essay.

Alix heard her mom laugh a little and say, Go on in, I think she’s been waiting for you.

Ben walked in with his laptop and the novel. Help me please, he begged. I just can’t make this work.

Alix laughed at him a little, but agreed to help him.

Give me your laptop and I’ll read what you have so far. You read mine and maybe that will help too.

They exchanged laptops and read each other’s essays. Alix was able to see where Ben was struggling and helped him make the changes. By 8:00 they were finished.

Thanks, Alix, I don’t think I’d have done very well on this without you. You’re a lifesaver, he said with a smile that made Alix blush.

Don’t worry about it. You do the same for me in Biology.

Alix was willing her blush to go away. Over the last month she started to blush less around Ben but obviously, it hadn’t gone away completely. He just grinned at her and she was sure that made her blush harder.

Good night Alix. See you in the morning, he said still grinning.

Good night.

Ben left, and Alix cleaned up her homework and ran a bath. She needed to think about things and relax. After her bath, she got out her journal. She had way too many things in her head and needed to get them out.

Dec 4

Wow! It’s been almost a month since I’ve written in here and a lot has happened in that time. I figured out that Logan was being influenced by the Grynn and that he was controlling Shay. I had a vision dream that Shay was in trouble and had Ben wake everyone up and meet by the fireplace. Just like in my vision of Stonehenge I channeled everyone’s energy and created a barrier around the castle, so Logan couldn’t escape. That was an interesting experience. The amount of energy that flowed through me was incredible. And it was good to know that I could actually do it. Anyway, after I created the barrier we went in search of Shay. I used my magic to locate her and found her in a dungeon, locked in a box. I was able to free her then Ben and I confronted Logan. Instead of surrendering he tried to jump off the top of the castle, but my barrier prevented that, and he was knocked unconscious. I bound him then went back to Shay. I released her from the Sleep of Death and told her what happened. Luckily, she didn’t have any memory of it. The next morning, we dealt with Logan. I did a magical search of him and found the Grynn essence that was making him act that way. It took the energy of James, Ruth, Shelley, and Gordon flowing into me in order to remove it. I couldn’t destroy it, so we locked it in a box sealed with magic and it was going in the vault. When Logan came to, he was really confused since the last memory he had was when his uncle Jack was still missing. He’d lost six weeks of his life. He was devastated when I told him what he’d done. I knew from that he wasn’t a bad guy and asked everyone to give him a chance.

Now for London. We got private tours of Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London. We got to go on the London Eye at sunset, Trafalgar Square and got to do more shopping. I got my wish of visiting the Natural History Museum and finally, we went to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. That’s where everything went wrong, and I mean really wrong. The Grynn kidnapped everyone but Ben, Shay and me. When we noticed that everyone was gone, we called Gordon. He got us back to Fox Hollow and we went to the Map room, which just happens to be at the end of the secret passage behind the fireplace. Super cool. We found the correct number of red and yellow dots mixed with blue ones (red for Nykara, blue for Grynn and yellow for mom, dad and Shay). We discovered that they were in a warehouse in the heart of London. We mounted a rescue operation and left for London. We met up with some Warriors and attacked the Grynn guarding the building. We got in and found the others. Unfortunately, Ben and I got caught in one of their barriers and we had to face the Grynn alone. When we found them, they used energy balls on us and Ben was knocked out. I started to fight back but then they started to hurt Ben and threatened my other friends and family. They said if I went with them, they would let everyone go. I agreed and made sure they got out of there safe. One problem was that the Grynn didn’t know that my parents weren’t Nykara and used the Sleep of Death on them. It’s not meant to be used on humans and they didn’t wake up like everyone else, but I was confident in Shelley and Mike’s ability to be able to heal them. Once they were all safely out