Knight’s Inferno and the Fragarian Moon

By Kearney Woodson

Most people have upwards of a million dreams throughout their lifetimes. Those dreams often consist of a variety of different events that represent something that has happened to them before. Yet, this is not the case with Salvatore.

Sal and his brother Vinnie are close but on different life trajectories—one going to work and the other prepping for college—when Sal’s dreams become an issue. He doesn’t dream every night, but when he does, it’s the same dream every time of a girl he’s never met.

That girl turns out to be Lucy, the devil’s daughter. It seems fate has chosen Sal and Vinnie to be her protector, whether they’re ready or not. They are thrust into a world of danger and adventure, and they must quickly prepare for the supernatural battles in store.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Dec 18, 2022
• ISBN: 9781663245311

Kearney Woodson

Former Hollywood stuntman. Study English/Creative writing at UNR. Knew when he was seven that he wanted to be a writer. Love watching movies and their stories, especially in similar genres. Love for fantasy and adventure films inspired him to write his own fantasy.

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Knight’s Inferno

AND THE

Fragarian Moon

KEARNEY WOODSON

KNIGHT’S INFERNO AND THE

FRAGARIAN MOON

Copyright © 2022 Kearney Woodson.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by

any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying,

recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system

without the written permission of the author except in the case of

brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents,

organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products

of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

iUniverse

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or

links contained in this book may have changed since publication and

may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those

of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher,

and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are

models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-6632-4532-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6632-4531-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022916610

iUniverse rev. date: 12/15/2022

Thank you to my Nonna and my

Nonno for everything they’ve done

and for always believing in me.

To my big ol’ tuchus boy,

I love you now and forever.

Requiescat in pace.

03.30.2014-09.12.2022

CONTENTS

Chapter 1    The Dream Girl

Chapter 2    The Last Pool Party

Chapter 3    Down the Drain

Chapter 4    The Way Back Up

Chapter 5    Heartlocke

Chapter 6    The Dark Knights

Chapter 7    Cheers to New Friends and Enemies

Chapter 8    The Dark Forest

Chapter 9    The Last Goodknight

CHAPTER ONE

The Dream Girl

M ost people have millions of dreams throughout their lives, and they usually are about a variety of events that happened to them. Yet this was not the case with Salvatore. He did not dream every night, but when he did, it was the same dream. No matter what he did, he could not dream anything else. The one thing that Sal always dreamed of was a girl.

Salvatore has never been able to make sense of his dream. While some parts frightened him, other parts were so amazing that he always wished it were real, but then he would wake up. He couldn’t remember the first time he had the dream; just one day, he dreamed it, and he never dreamed of anything else after that.

The dream always started the same—Sal and his brother, Vincenzo, are driving, and they end up at a Red Palm Burger restaurant. Ever since, Sal and Vinnie had been going to every Red Palm Burger in the city, marking off each one as they go. Sal thought that maybe if he reenacted the dream, he might meet the girl of his dreams.

In time, the trips had gotten longer and the restaurants they went to were becoming fewer. Vinnie had given up on this idea a long time ago. At first, it was fun for him to tag along with his brother on his quest, but it seemed hopeless, and seeing his brother so obsessed with the dream saddened him. Sal was starting to feel the same hopelessness, but deep down, he thought that if he could find the girl, maybe he could dream like normal people and live a normal life.

Sal and Vinnie lived alone in their mom’s house. Their father had left soon after Vinnie was born, and their mother died just before Sal was about to go to college. Everything changed after that. Sal stayed home to help take care of Vinnie, who had a few years of high school left. But at that point, Vinnie was the one about to go to college. Sal could not have been happier for his brother, but he knew that their time together was coming to an end as his brother started his new life.

The only thing on Sal’s mind at the moment was the dream. Sal and Vinnie were Italian Americans as their parents had been, though the family had lived in the US for so long that neither their father nor their mother had ever spoken Italian. The only thing Italian about the brothers was their names.

Sal, who was about three when Vinnie was born, could not remember what their father looked like, and their mother had not kept pictures of him around the house.

Though Vinnie was younger than Sal, he was slightly taller than him and was lanky; his metabolism was just too fast, and he was always moving. No matter what he ate, he was always just skin and bone. Sal was always moving as well, but he had more meat on his bones. Sal also liked to work out as much as he could in the gym they had set up in their garage.

The brothers looked alike. Both had blues eyes though Vinnie’s had hints of green in his and especially in the sun. Both had dark hair, but Vinnie’s was slightly lighter, and he kept it shaggy while Sal kept his short. Vinnie was the more extroverted of the two. When Vinnie turned eighteen, both brothers got tattoos in honor of their mother. Vinnie had planned on going to go to college right after high school, but he had skipped the first two semesters and was going to college in the fall.

The brothers were on their way to the Red Palm Burger in Baldwin Park off Francisquito Avenue. It was the first Red Palm Burger ever, but surprisingly, Sal and Vinnie had never been to that one before. Typically, Sal could tell just from the outside whether a Red Palm Burger they visited was the right one. As they neared the place, Sal started to get a good feeling; a sense of déjà vu began to creep up his spine. He knew how crazy he might seem to people searching for this girl, but his dream was always so real and vivid compared to the dreams he used to have.

In the dream, Sal and Vinnie walk into the restaurant and get in line to place their orders, and Sal just happens to look over his shoulder and sees a girl by herself at a table who is looking right at him. So that is what Sal and Vinnie did every time they visited a Red Palm Burger; Sal was always eager to look over his shoulder right as he walked in, but he would just look ahead and get in line before he looked over his shoulder.

Once they were in line at the Red Palm Burger in Baldwin Park, Sal looked over at the table where a red-headed girl should have been seated, but no one was there. He felt all his muscles relax as the familiar sense of failure and defeat coursed through his body.

She should be here, Sal said as he looked around the restaurant. I felt for sure this time.

It’s cool. Let’s just get some food and then we’ll head home, Vinnie said.

Naw, Sal said, looking around again. I’m not even that hungry anymore. He was actually incredibly hungry, but the feeling of defeat filled his stomach.

I mean, we did it exactly how we should have, right? Vinnie asked as they left.

Maybe it really is just a dream, Sal said, looking down as they made their way to the car.

Sal could not stay too mad though. On the drive home, Vinnie reminded him that they were going to the first game of the Freeway Series between the Dodgers and the Angels that night. Their mom had been a huge Angels fan; she used to take them to all the games, so they tried to go to games when they could. However, it had been a while since they had gone to one; Vinnie had been busy with studying for school and college prep, and Sal had been busy at work, so they looked forward to taking a break for a couple of hours to watch the Angels smash on the Dodgers. Plus, it would help make Sal forget about another failure in his search for his dream girl.

The drive was just a quick trip down the 5 into Anaheim. The traffic wasn’t that bad that day, which for LA was quite nice. It started to get backed up only as they neared the stadium. Fans were flooding toward the stadium from all over town. The Angels had lost the previous year’s series and they were really hoping they could win this year. The energy spread from outside the stadium and into the parking lot. As Sal and Vinnie searched for a