PROLOGUE
Jeremiah Blackford was an ordinary teenager. In fact, his entire was ordinary. He had ordinary parents, ordinary friends, and an ordinary school. But soon, that would all change. Jeremy will uncover a secret so unordinary that the life that Jeremy had once known would change forever.
Jeremiah wasn't the sharpest beak in the flock. And he wasn't the dullest either. Aforementioned, Jeremiah was ordinary. That is, until the earth man came.
The "earth man" was a legend, a myth. Legend had it, that the earth man had invulnerable skin. He could lift an entire building and fit into the smallest of cracks. Nobody knew why the earth man had decided to come to Jeremy's school. But it was certain. This man's arrival changed Jerry's life forever.
It was warm, autumn day. Ordinary weather. And the type of weather that made you want to go outside. And for Jerry, that's what he did. He and his friends were playing soccer in their school's courtyard. Wilson Middle School was neither good nor bad. It was ordinary. And ordinary was good. Well, at least for Jeremiah it was.
One of his friends had kicked the ball too far, and Jeremiah had run after it. But the ball never stopped. Even after it rolled down to the bottom of a hill, the ball still didn't stop. And neither did Jerry. The ball rolled and rolled until it rolled past a clump of trees, lichen, and thick shrubbery. Jeremy leapt over them with ease. He was still running until the ball stopped…at the foot of a mysterious person.
The man had the tip of his shoe on the ball. He was tall and lean, like a professional wrestler. But his eyes showed more. They gleamed like platinum that left a steely gaze on Jerry, as if the man were examining him. Jerry didn't know what to do, so he tried looking casual as he walked up to the man, and said, "May I have my ball…?"
The man seemed to grin. He tugged on the collar of his blazer, then bent down, and made it look like he was handing the ball nicely to Jeremy, but when Jeremy reached out to grab the ball, the man did as well. He grabbed a hold of Jerry's throat, and squeezed. His grin grew wider as he squeezed harder each second.
Jeremy looked the man in the eyes, and then felt something whiz past his head. The man yelped in pain and let go of Jeremiah. More things darted across his line of vision and hit the man. The man tried swatting them away, but it was useless, because more just kept coming.
Jeremy realized that the things were rocks. He followed the direction that they were being flung, and saw his friends at the top of the hill, each holding a handful of rocks that they kept flinging at the man.
"Jerry!" one of them yelled, and waved to signal his location.
Jeremy already knew where they were, but how to get to them was the problem, because, just as Jerry was about heading to his friends, the man seized him from behind. His friends noticed and began sprinting down the hill, but, of course, they wouldn't make it in time, because, just then, a black Ferrari appeared before them. Then Jerry knew that he was about to get kidnapped.
Jerry tried screaming for help, but the man clamped his hand over Jerry's mouth, and began dragging him to the sports car.
Jeremiah tried to wriggle away, but the man was strong. His arms felt like boulders, rough and rigid. Then Jerry looked down at the man's arms, and realized that they were boulders. The man's arms were gray and had cracks and spores like concrete. But how was that possible?
Was it the rocks that had been thrown at him earlier? Maybe, just by a single touch, the man could turn his skin into any solid. If that was so, then Jeremy was completely helpless.
What would happen to his parents? How would react if they found out about this? Their poor, ordinary boy captured by a man made of concrete. It seemed a little farfetched, but it could send anyone worried.
Jerry wished he were a bird, flapping its wings, and flying anywhere but here.
His wish must've come true, because, the next he knew, Jerry was in the air, looking down at the man pumping his fist irately at the air. When Jerry tried to talk, it came out in a high-pitched squawk! He could feel the air blowing through his feathers, and hear the rhythm of his heart as he flapped his wings.
He was a bird!
But how? Like the man, did he have special abilities as well? If so, what else could he turn into to?
SMACK!
The man had thrown a pebble at Jerry. The throw had been precise, and then subsequently, Jerry was falling. But he had to think quickly. As a bird, Jeremy had delicate ears. He could hear the sound of the man's footsteps as he ran after the crippled animal (Jeremiah).
Jerry had to hide. He had to become small, like a bug. And then he transformed into that too—a rhinoceros beetle. The man would've grabbed Jeremy if he hadn't transformed into a beetle.
There was a little gap in the man's cupped hands, and Jerry slipped through, and fell into the shrubbery.
"Earth Man!" someone called. From the voice's direction, it seemed to be coming from the Ferrari. Jerry could barely see the driver roll down the side window, and scream, "Hurry up! Get the boy! We are on a tight schedule!"