Note The Prologue doesn't contain any spoilers. I think I might write the next chapters after I finish with My Version of Inkdeath, since they'll have spoilers. Please review the Prologue, though, I'd like some feedback.
Prologue
It was nearly nine o'clock in the Orphanage for Troubled Young People, or the OTYP for short.
Of course that wasn't the orphanage's real name, but no one called it anything else. For that was exactly what the place was - a "shelter" for young orphans.
Liz taylor had been living in the OTYP for as long as she could remember. According to sixteen-year-old twins Wilbur and Jacob, the longest-residing orphans of the OTYP, Liz had been brought here when she was two. That was nine years ago. Liz would have thought she was born her if no one had told her otherwise.
There was a garden in the orphanage. It was more like a dusty courtyard with a few stunted shrubs planted along the sides. Nevertheless the children of the OTYP found it an important place to spend their precious free time. Liz thought so, as well.
This evening Liz was hiding behind a bush, trying to calm her racing heart. Her eleven-year-old body was easy to hide; her brown hair didn't show in the darkness. But the matrons were clever. Although most of them would be tucking in the children, there was always one on duty, ready to catch any children that were sneaking around in the night. If she found Liz she would beat the girl again. Liz shivered, trying to warm her skinny arms.
Liz had spent weeks carefully digging under the steel gates that blocked out the orphanage from the outside world. Liz had only finished yesterday; the ditch was just big enough for her to squeeze through. The escape wouldn't be difficult - just Liz was taking part in it. Her and no one else. Liz had no friends to take with her. She had been a loner and outcast for all her life. Liz had no idea why.
The girl glanced around. The coast was clear. Holding her breath, she kept in the shadows, and crept around to the gates. The ditch had been covered with a flat stone. Liz removed the stone, wincing as it made a grinding noise in the night. How loud insignificent sounds were in silence.
Liz was just about to crawl through the ditch when she heard a voice - "Hey! You!" It was Madame Sylvia, the matron Liz happened to dread most. She glanced back to see the matron running towards her, shouting out curses at her. Liz began to scramble through the ditch. Her head and shoulders were through. But then Sylvia had grabbed her foot and was pulling her back. Crying out, Liz managed to wriggle out of her shoe and pull her legs through, feeling her knees being scraped against the rough stone. The matron gave a yell of fury.
"Come back, you little shrimp!"
Liz ignored both her and the stinging in her knees. She rann off into the night.
By the time the matrons got the gate open, Liz was long gone. And she wasn't coming back.
INKINKINKINK
Liz had thought anywhere would be better than the orphanage. But now she realized how foolish she had been. She was missing her shoe; her foot was already sore from walking. Liz didn't have any food. It was so difficult to steal from the orphanage kitchens that she hadn't even tried to. And the night was cold; Liz's thin jacket barely kept her warm. Liz wandered for ages through the now-deserted streets, searching for some shelter. She would have slept in a tree, like she had done so back in the OTYP. But there weren't any trees in the middle of town, and the only ones that Liz could see were far to short and stunted. Anyone would be able to see her. Then it would all be over quite quick.
At last Liz had a stroke of luck. She had come to a park. The damp grass felt wonderful under her tired feet. Liz stumbled towards a large and very inviting tree. Before she climbed she took a quick look around. Apparently the park was being prepared for some sort of event. There were tables in the grass; stacks of something were piled high on them. Liz found a sign that read : "Annual Book Fair". She didn't have much interest in books. The orphanage barely gave children a chance to read anything.
Shrugging to herself, Liz began to climb the tree, like she had done with her best friend Derek back at the OTYP. The boy had been adopted by a kindly family two years ago. Liz still longed to play with him again, sometimes. Now he would be twelve - a year older than her.
As Liz found a comfortable place to sleep among the leafy branches, she wondered where she would go tomorrow. You couldn't live in a tree. Soon Liz would get hungry... Finding no answer to her questions Liz felt her eyes beginning to close.
Just as she was about to go to sleep something caught her eye. It was a tiny sparkling form that was hovering in the air above her head. Blinking, Liz stared. It was like a small bug, except that the glow it gave off was far brighter than those of fireflies or glow worms. Liz knew insects. She had spent ages observing bugs flying around outside her window in the summer. This thing was no insect.
The creature was flying around drunkenly, as if it were confused or lost. Hesitantly, Liz reached out to touch the creature, well aware of the danger. It could sting or bite. Fortunately it did neither. Nevertheless it was gone after uttering an odd chattering noise. But not before Liz got a better look at it.
She doubted her eyes, for the creature seemed to be a tiny human form with wings. Liz could only think of one word. Fairy.
Fairies don't exist, Liz thought. Only in stories... But the weariness got to her, and Liz felt herself drifting off to sleep. She was completly unaware that, in the very next day, she would be thrust into an adventure beyond imagining...
