falling the wrong way
Author's note: this story takes place 100 years after the Protector of the Small series. Things have changed somewhat. The prince in line for the crown goes away to the new found "otherworld," or our world untill the age of seventeen. This is sort of a reverse earth-to-tortall, it's tortall-to-earth. New magics have been added, such as flight, mindreading, and other cool little effects.
Disclaimer: Actually, most of the characters are of my own making. The places in Tortall are not mine (most of them) but made by Tamora Pierce. There are referance to Pierce-made characters and "immortals", but that's about it.
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Chapter One
Kevin looked at the clock above the teacher's desk and sighed, wishing that he could just get out of school forever. Around him the classroom was silent except for the occasional murmer and the sounds of chemistry, unwelcome to most in Mr. Sahrun's class. Bald, mousy Mr. Sahrun was bent over Rhyan Dewbuckle's desk, explaining why something works the way it does. Kevin usually enjoy chemistry, but with spring break on the way he was excited as ever. Kevin was one of those boys pictured in magazines and on tv, he was popular, funny, and into school. He had a loving, caring girlfriend and a future career in soccer. Kevin glanced over the shiny black top of the lab desk and the various beakers and bottles to where his chemistry partner was busy drawing away some graph or another. Occasionally she turned around to talk to an overweight girl who sat next to him in Honor Society, Kevin was pretty sure her name was Darla, though he couldn't be sure. His lab partner had just moved here at the beginning of March. Her name was Ayanna, kind of funky name for a girl. She probably would be a classic beauty if she put on some form fitting clothes and make-up, but she always came to school dressed in easy worn tee shirts and cut off shorts. Her feet were shoved into sneakers that were built for comfort and support rather than looks, her dark locks held up in a ponytail. Her eyes were interesting, they changed often from green to brown, and were fringed with thick, long eyelashes.
Kevin glanced over at the table next to him, where another one of Honor Society's less-than-socialites was busily working on the after-experiment questionare. Her partner was Kevin's close friend Josh, who was drawing crude pictures below the desk. Kevin leaned over and punched his arm playfully, Josh barely glanced up untill his drawing was done, then he looked up with his wicked grin. "Going to come over my place after we get out, Kevin?" He asked, placing the drawing just so that his partner would be able to see it. A little glance up and the girl blushed all the way to the roots of her mousy brown hair.
Kevin leaned back, or as far back as he could go in the backless lab stool. "Uhm, yeah, sure." He said, not particularly caring either way. Sometimes Josh annoyed him, always being reckless and foolish and twisted. Josh gave him another impish grin and leaned over to tease his lab partner into a blush several shades deeper than before. Kevin turned around with a slight roll of his eyes to face Ayanna, busily drawing the different lines on the graph in multiple shades of highlighters. Darla leaned over and presented Ayanna with four more colors, of which she excepted with a relish and handed Darla some of her own four. Hopeless, those two.
The bell rung for the end of the day, and up and down the halls of Midlan Highschool students were rushing to get to lockers and first to their cars and buses. Kevin sauntered along the hallways, joining up with Bryanna Tolk, an airhead who was cute but...brainless. Bryanna gibbered excitedly about the upcoming football game at the start of school after spring break, and Kevin listened carefully but with the air of some one who'd rather be listening to something else. Kevin hugged Bry good-bye at her locker and slapped high five to a couple of friends, then made his way to his own locker.
As he twirled his combination in, Ayanna rushed up to the locker beside his and busily started on her combination. Around her a flurry of girls Kevin did not recognize were talking excitedly, hugging Ayanna around the shoulders. "We'll miss you so much, it was so fun to have you in this wo-school for a while." Said one very pretty brunette as she patted Ayanna's arm fretfully. Kevin wondered what "wo" was that was so very quickly cut off, but the conversation went away quickly. "Write me the rest of the chemistry, and maybe send me some homework assignments? The stuff here is so much more intelectual then back home." She said hopefully, opening her locker and dumping her books into the overly accomodated knapsack. Kevin scrunched up his brow; all of her own stuff was going into the bag, even stuff she did not need. The school property was gone, and her locker stripped of all the ornaments she had prieviously hung there.
A chorus of "we will!"s and "good bye!"s and even a few tears were made as she boarded her bus, the one right before his own, and waved sadly from the window. Kevin was getting even more agitated; where was she going? And why did she want homework from Midlan? Wasn't wherever she was going have a school? Or maybe where she is going isn't a great school, and she wants a challenge. That's all Kevin could think of as he sat back in his seat and watched the cherry blossoms on the trees. Soon however Chet, Rylie, Mark, Dean and Tom got on, plus a couple of girls and at least half the cheer-leading squad, and a heated discussion, jokes, laughs and all around High School chat broke out. Kevin's mind was directed away from the mysterious Ayanna, her group of unknown cronnies, and the like.
* * *
Kevin was the last person off his bus, and he was thoroughly fed up with it by the time he reached home. Kevin strolled up the cobblestone path and onto the shaded front porch, where his Australian sheep dog named Dee lay asleep in the shade. Kevin plopped down on the stair next to the old dog and took off his backpack, streaching as the cool shade enveloped his slightly over hot body. Well, it was spring break. What did he expect? Cancun? His parents would never let him do that untill he could pay himself. And Kevin was so underpayed right now. His fingers ran through the curly, tumbling mass of charcol black hair, his blue eyes squinted against the lancing sun outside. When he finally mustered up the stregnth to pull himself up and fumble in his bag for the key, it was nearly four o clock. Had he really just lazed there for that long? Man, I'm turning into Dee, and Josh'll wanna know where I've been. As he threw open the door, Kevin bellowed "Mom? Dad? Tom?" But no one was home. Odd, on fridays Kevin's mom and his toddler brother usually were home baking something. Kevin threw his bag at the stairs to be carried up to his room next time he felt like going up there. The house felt strangely alone without his family, without little Tom banging around on the pots and bans and his mother singing along to Cat Country.
Kevin went into the Pantry and flung around for some food, coming up with a fistfull of SmartPop and a Diet Coke. He went through the second set of double doors into the kitchen and stopped dead. The color drained out of his face, the popcorn and coke fell out of his hands. Kevin blinked, squinted, and swiped the air in front of him. Ayanna was sitting at the kitchen table, staring directly at him a with a slight grin on her face.
"Wha-what are you doing here? In my...house. In my kitchen?" Kevin was tounge-tied. Right now he was wondering if Ayanna was some sort of lunatic. It wasn't just that she was sitting at his kitchen table with a peanut butter and fluff sandwitch and a cup of lemonade, it was the way she was dressed. Like some midevil princess, she was decked in petticoats and a burgundy over dress. The front was slashed to reveal the lacy underskirt, and since she was sitting down her burgundy silk slippers were revieled. Her bodice was cut low to show her creamy skin, her dark hair held up in pins. It nearly took his breath away, for, she was breathtaking.
Ayanna stood gracefully and sunk into a low curtsy, her voice was odd when she next spoke, sort of genteel and trilly. "My lord, I have come to take you back to the realm of Tortall. There is much to explain my lord, if you come with me I will take you to Tortall, it will take many days to reach the portal, and another noontime to reach the palace." Yep, definantly crazy. Ayanna picked up a bundle of clothing beside her, and Kevin realized it was her cut off jeans and tee shirt, one of the corny ones Honor Society hands out. This one read "I Joined And I Have Honor [Society]" She gathered them up along with her worn sneakers and went into the bathroom to change.
Kevin thought it kind of pointless to get all dressed up to just say a few sentances, but he did not press the matter. When Ayanna came out of the bathroom, everything gone except her hairstyle, Kevin walked over and grabbed her elbow. "Tell me what the hell is going on, and tell me now. Where are my parents? What have you done? Where is Tortall?"
Ayanna seemed entranced with his hand on her elbow, and a slight blush crept up her cheeks. She brushed his hand from her elbow and sighed, placing one hand on her forehead. Ayanna guided herself to a seat and rubbed the rim of her empty lemonade glass. "Sit, Your Magesty, this may take a time to tell." She murmered, and Kevin sat heavily in a chair, feeling almost as strange as Ayanna had looked when he walked in on her in his kitchen. "Um, Kevin. There is another land...called Tortall. It is parellel to this world, but completely different. There are gods, Mithros and the Goddess...there are many. It takes place in what you might call mideavil times. Ladies wear skirts and jewels, lords hunt. There are a few lady knights, but many don't try to be. There is also...magic. Mages, m'lord. I am a mage, with the power of flight. You are a mage, but you wont figure your power untill you enter Tortall."
Kevin didn't want to believe it, but the look of sincerity on her face made him. "So, I'm from this Tortall? Then why am I not there? Why have you let me grow up here? I have a girlfriend, Ayanna! A life! Where are my parents?" Keven felt like he was breaking down.
"My lord! Please, do not rage! It is customary that all princes to inherit the throne of Tortall visit any one of the mirror lands picked by his parents. He stays there untill a certain time, in your case Spring Break of your Junior Year. Then a-" She blushed at this "-famous person of sorts, most often a girl, will come and lead the Prince back to his homeland. I will teach you about your home and etiquiet, m'lord. But we must prepare to leave-"
"Where are my parents?" Kevin asked forcefully, his hands clenching into fists. They would not let this happen.
"They have gone back to Tortall, m'lord. They are really your aunt and uncle, and little cousin. Thom, not Tom. And Alisna, not Alissa. And Bartholeum, not Bart. There you will see them...and your real parents, my lord. But come, we must pack and begone to catch the train at seven."
"Train?...to, where?"
"The coast, my lord." Ayanna replied primly, folding her hands neatly in her lap.
Kevin rolled his eyes and motioned out the window, where in sight the California beach lay sparkling. "If you haven't noticed....?"
"The east coast, my lord. Boston Harbor. To a dock, under the dock to the sea cost, and a cave...there is the portal."
Kevin put his head in his hands and tried to hold back the burning tears...but they came, fast, furious, and unstoppable. His quiet sobs was all that could be heard in the room, everything seemed to have lost itself. Ayanna hesitated, then got up and placed her arms around him, rocking quietly and murmering "shhh, shhhh."
Author's note: this story takes place 100 years after the Protector of the Small series. Things have changed somewhat. The prince in line for the crown goes away to the new found "otherworld," or our world untill the age of seventeen. This is sort of a reverse earth-to-tortall, it's tortall-to-earth. New magics have been added, such as flight, mindreading, and other cool little effects.
Disclaimer: Actually, most of the characters are of my own making. The places in Tortall are not mine (most of them) but made by Tamora Pierce. There are referance to Pierce-made characters and "immortals", but that's about it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter One
Kevin looked at the clock above the teacher's desk and sighed, wishing that he could just get out of school forever. Around him the classroom was silent except for the occasional murmer and the sounds of chemistry, unwelcome to most in Mr. Sahrun's class. Bald, mousy Mr. Sahrun was bent over Rhyan Dewbuckle's desk, explaining why something works the way it does. Kevin usually enjoy chemistry, but with spring break on the way he was excited as ever. Kevin was one of those boys pictured in magazines and on tv, he was popular, funny, and into school. He had a loving, caring girlfriend and a future career in soccer. Kevin glanced over the shiny black top of the lab desk and the various beakers and bottles to where his chemistry partner was busy drawing away some graph or another. Occasionally she turned around to talk to an overweight girl who sat next to him in Honor Society, Kevin was pretty sure her name was Darla, though he couldn't be sure. His lab partner had just moved here at the beginning of March. Her name was Ayanna, kind of funky name for a girl. She probably would be a classic beauty if she put on some form fitting clothes and make-up, but she always came to school dressed in easy worn tee shirts and cut off shorts. Her feet were shoved into sneakers that were built for comfort and support rather than looks, her dark locks held up in a ponytail. Her eyes were interesting, they changed often from green to brown, and were fringed with thick, long eyelashes.
Kevin glanced over at the table next to him, where another one of Honor Society's less-than-socialites was busily working on the after-experiment questionare. Her partner was Kevin's close friend Josh, who was drawing crude pictures below the desk. Kevin leaned over and punched his arm playfully, Josh barely glanced up untill his drawing was done, then he looked up with his wicked grin. "Going to come over my place after we get out, Kevin?" He asked, placing the drawing just so that his partner would be able to see it. A little glance up and the girl blushed all the way to the roots of her mousy brown hair.
Kevin leaned back, or as far back as he could go in the backless lab stool. "Uhm, yeah, sure." He said, not particularly caring either way. Sometimes Josh annoyed him, always being reckless and foolish and twisted. Josh gave him another impish grin and leaned over to tease his lab partner into a blush several shades deeper than before. Kevin turned around with a slight roll of his eyes to face Ayanna, busily drawing the different lines on the graph in multiple shades of highlighters. Darla leaned over and presented Ayanna with four more colors, of which she excepted with a relish and handed Darla some of her own four. Hopeless, those two.
The bell rung for the end of the day, and up and down the halls of Midlan Highschool students were rushing to get to lockers and first to their cars and buses. Kevin sauntered along the hallways, joining up with Bryanna Tolk, an airhead who was cute but...brainless. Bryanna gibbered excitedly about the upcoming football game at the start of school after spring break, and Kevin listened carefully but with the air of some one who'd rather be listening to something else. Kevin hugged Bry good-bye at her locker and slapped high five to a couple of friends, then made his way to his own locker.
As he twirled his combination in, Ayanna rushed up to the locker beside his and busily started on her combination. Around her a flurry of girls Kevin did not recognize were talking excitedly, hugging Ayanna around the shoulders. "We'll miss you so much, it was so fun to have you in this wo-school for a while." Said one very pretty brunette as she patted Ayanna's arm fretfully. Kevin wondered what "wo" was that was so very quickly cut off, but the conversation went away quickly. "Write me the rest of the chemistry, and maybe send me some homework assignments? The stuff here is so much more intelectual then back home." She said hopefully, opening her locker and dumping her books into the overly accomodated knapsack. Kevin scrunched up his brow; all of her own stuff was going into the bag, even stuff she did not need. The school property was gone, and her locker stripped of all the ornaments she had prieviously hung there.
A chorus of "we will!"s and "good bye!"s and even a few tears were made as she boarded her bus, the one right before his own, and waved sadly from the window. Kevin was getting even more agitated; where was she going? And why did she want homework from Midlan? Wasn't wherever she was going have a school? Or maybe where she is going isn't a great school, and she wants a challenge. That's all Kevin could think of as he sat back in his seat and watched the cherry blossoms on the trees. Soon however Chet, Rylie, Mark, Dean and Tom got on, plus a couple of girls and at least half the cheer-leading squad, and a heated discussion, jokes, laughs and all around High School chat broke out. Kevin's mind was directed away from the mysterious Ayanna, her group of unknown cronnies, and the like.
* * *
Kevin was the last person off his bus, and he was thoroughly fed up with it by the time he reached home. Kevin strolled up the cobblestone path and onto the shaded front porch, where his Australian sheep dog named Dee lay asleep in the shade. Kevin plopped down on the stair next to the old dog and took off his backpack, streaching as the cool shade enveloped his slightly over hot body. Well, it was spring break. What did he expect? Cancun? His parents would never let him do that untill he could pay himself. And Kevin was so underpayed right now. His fingers ran through the curly, tumbling mass of charcol black hair, his blue eyes squinted against the lancing sun outside. When he finally mustered up the stregnth to pull himself up and fumble in his bag for the key, it was nearly four o clock. Had he really just lazed there for that long? Man, I'm turning into Dee, and Josh'll wanna know where I've been. As he threw open the door, Kevin bellowed "Mom? Dad? Tom?" But no one was home. Odd, on fridays Kevin's mom and his toddler brother usually were home baking something. Kevin threw his bag at the stairs to be carried up to his room next time he felt like going up there. The house felt strangely alone without his family, without little Tom banging around on the pots and bans and his mother singing along to Cat Country.
Kevin went into the Pantry and flung around for some food, coming up with a fistfull of SmartPop and a Diet Coke. He went through the second set of double doors into the kitchen and stopped dead. The color drained out of his face, the popcorn and coke fell out of his hands. Kevin blinked, squinted, and swiped the air in front of him. Ayanna was sitting at the kitchen table, staring directly at him a with a slight grin on her face.
"Wha-what are you doing here? In my...house. In my kitchen?" Kevin was tounge-tied. Right now he was wondering if Ayanna was some sort of lunatic. It wasn't just that she was sitting at his kitchen table with a peanut butter and fluff sandwitch and a cup of lemonade, it was the way she was dressed. Like some midevil princess, she was decked in petticoats and a burgundy over dress. The front was slashed to reveal the lacy underskirt, and since she was sitting down her burgundy silk slippers were revieled. Her bodice was cut low to show her creamy skin, her dark hair held up in pins. It nearly took his breath away, for, she was breathtaking.
Ayanna stood gracefully and sunk into a low curtsy, her voice was odd when she next spoke, sort of genteel and trilly. "My lord, I have come to take you back to the realm of Tortall. There is much to explain my lord, if you come with me I will take you to Tortall, it will take many days to reach the portal, and another noontime to reach the palace." Yep, definantly crazy. Ayanna picked up a bundle of clothing beside her, and Kevin realized it was her cut off jeans and tee shirt, one of the corny ones Honor Society hands out. This one read "I Joined And I Have Honor [Society]" She gathered them up along with her worn sneakers and went into the bathroom to change.
Kevin thought it kind of pointless to get all dressed up to just say a few sentances, but he did not press the matter. When Ayanna came out of the bathroom, everything gone except her hairstyle, Kevin walked over and grabbed her elbow. "Tell me what the hell is going on, and tell me now. Where are my parents? What have you done? Where is Tortall?"
Ayanna seemed entranced with his hand on her elbow, and a slight blush crept up her cheeks. She brushed his hand from her elbow and sighed, placing one hand on her forehead. Ayanna guided herself to a seat and rubbed the rim of her empty lemonade glass. "Sit, Your Magesty, this may take a time to tell." She murmered, and Kevin sat heavily in a chair, feeling almost as strange as Ayanna had looked when he walked in on her in his kitchen. "Um, Kevin. There is another land...called Tortall. It is parellel to this world, but completely different. There are gods, Mithros and the Goddess...there are many. It takes place in what you might call mideavil times. Ladies wear skirts and jewels, lords hunt. There are a few lady knights, but many don't try to be. There is also...magic. Mages, m'lord. I am a mage, with the power of flight. You are a mage, but you wont figure your power untill you enter Tortall."
Kevin didn't want to believe it, but the look of sincerity on her face made him. "So, I'm from this Tortall? Then why am I not there? Why have you let me grow up here? I have a girlfriend, Ayanna! A life! Where are my parents?" Keven felt like he was breaking down.
"My lord! Please, do not rage! It is customary that all princes to inherit the throne of Tortall visit any one of the mirror lands picked by his parents. He stays there untill a certain time, in your case Spring Break of your Junior Year. Then a-" She blushed at this "-famous person of sorts, most often a girl, will come and lead the Prince back to his homeland. I will teach you about your home and etiquiet, m'lord. But we must prepare to leave-"
"Where are my parents?" Kevin asked forcefully, his hands clenching into fists. They would not let this happen.
"They have gone back to Tortall, m'lord. They are really your aunt and uncle, and little cousin. Thom, not Tom. And Alisna, not Alissa. And Bartholeum, not Bart. There you will see them...and your real parents, my lord. But come, we must pack and begone to catch the train at seven."
"Train?...to, where?"
"The coast, my lord." Ayanna replied primly, folding her hands neatly in her lap.
Kevin rolled his eyes and motioned out the window, where in sight the California beach lay sparkling. "If you haven't noticed....?"
"The east coast, my lord. Boston Harbor. To a dock, under the dock to the sea cost, and a cave...there is the portal."
Kevin put his head in his hands and tried to hold back the burning tears...but they came, fast, furious, and unstoppable. His quiet sobs was all that could be heard in the room, everything seemed to have lost itself. Ayanna hesitated, then got up and placed her arms around him, rocking quietly and murmering "shhh, shhhh."