Sneak Peek: The Prologue

Here is the first look at the prologue of my manuscript, The Gift of the Greenstone. I hope you enjoy it and, who knows, maybe another sneak peek will find its way onto the site if you all want to know the next step in the story.

Prologue

William interlocked his fidgeting fingers atop the polished cherry table while others around him tapped their feet without mercy, gulping down unsteady breaths. No one dared break the silence. William stared at the antique bronze door knob, waiting for the polished metal to turn.

He had always loved the traditional touches of the mansion, like the antique bronze door knob. From the Victorian sconces and polished bronze accents to the gold and scarlet wallpaper that lined the large hall where they all sat, the century’s old manor had always felt warm and historic to William like what a home should really be, especially in these modern times. The antique woodwork reminded him of days gone by, when times were simpler and everyone had their place.

But now the walls of his home felt like a prison.

He should have run when he first found out. Maybe they would have never caught him. He was good at masking his presence, skilled at blending in and disappearing, like he had been trained so well to do. But William knew better.

Click.

The bronze knob turned, catching flickers of light from the sinewy chandelier overhead. A tall thin man with fierce green eyes and dark black hair strode through the door. His charcoal colored suit and vivid emerald tie seemed streamlined, clean and absent of any wasted fabric. He moved to the front of the table as though movement itself was effortless, as if everything he did came easy.

William shifted in his chair; Lamont Kendrick often had that effect on him.


“Welcome, Sovereign,” said a deep, booming voice behind William, “it has been too long.”

The thin man beamed a wide toothy smile at everyone. He patted the shoulder of the very large and stocky man on his right who had welcomed him, Diederik Drake.

“My friends,” Kendrick said, continuing towards the head of the long cherry table, “the time has finally arrived. I took the red eye from Cairo this evening so I could share the good news with all of you as soon as I could, so that we could all celebrate together on this remarkable night.”

He stopped at the head of the table and his smile seemed to somehow widen, his Cheshire grin so contagious and electric that everyone could not help but smile along with him despite the charged tension in the air, the almost tangible atmosphere of apprehension that accompanied any visit from Kendrick and now pervaded the large hall.

Yet William could not smile; Kendrick now blocked his path to the door.

“My friends,” Kendrick said, a slight glint in his eye, “why does everyone seem so tense? Believe me when I tell you that tonight is a time for jubilation. The pieces are all in place, our decade and a half of preparation and planning and maneuvering have all brought us to the very pinnacle, to the moment that we have all waited so patiently to seize. The last piece was set in motion this very morning. It is now just a matter of time before the first domino falls and we can set right the many wrongs that plague this world.”

With a wave of his hand each of the halogen light bulbs adorning the walls of the vast room seemed to brighten and then grow dark, like a long line of dimming dominoes circling the large room before returning to Kendrick, his beaming smile still radiant. William couldn’t be sure if the light had actually oscillated in brightness or if his own senses had just been tampered with to make them appear to do so. He could never be sure with Kendrick.

The fair-skinned and dark haired woman on Williams left, Melina, coughed, her trembling hand trying to smother the sound to no avail. Beads of perspiration on her forehead glinted in the low-lit room. Kendrick eyed her for a few moments too long and William feared the worst. Melina had been the one with him when he first heard that awful knock on the manor’s front door, the one who was the first to find out the horrible truth. Kendrick’s focused stare lingered on Melina despite her downcast eyes.

Would she be the one who let it out, who turned the spotlight onto William? Is that how it would start? Melina was always looking for a way to move up in Kendrick’s good graces, to slither to his side any way she could, to be his confidante—if not something more.

William’s tongue felt too large for his mouth. He felt the undeniable urge to speak, to tell. William shook his head and licked his lips to keep his tongue at bay; there was no way Kendrick could have known yet. No one in the room would have dared tell him news like that over the phone.

No, surely Kendrick was still in the dark.

Kendrick paused, filling his lungs with a deep breath before starting a slow walk around the large table, his welcoming smile still etched in place. “Three months is too long, Melina,” he said, glancing over to the pale but beautiful raven-haired woman he still eyed. Kendrick continued circling the long table and by doing so, William could now see a straight line to the door. “In fact, Melina, after such a short time away it appears as though I have missed out on something.”

So she hadn’t told him after all.

William’s eyes fixed on the door again, his feet feeling pulled to it by some feverish magnetic force. Kendrick’s last excursion to Africa had only lasted three months, far shorter than any of the others in recent years and William assumed that the short trip meant that everything had come together, which meant the timing of this unfortunate revelation could not have been worse.

An odd current of energy, almost heat, permeated the room when William tore his gaze away from the door and back over to the circling Kendrick, whose wing-tips had fallen silent as he suddenly stood between William and Melina. Kendrick’s green eyes remained on her, his stare staying fixed on her for a few more moments and William knew it was only a matter of time. In a quick shift, Kendrick’s eyes widened and turned to William, engulfing him in his gaze like a bonfire blaze grown wild, all-encompassing.

William scrambled to wipe the fear and look of guilt off of his face, prepare his mind for what he knew was next. One hundred minus forty-nine is fifty-one. Sally sells sea-shells down by the sea shore. Red, orange, yellow, green—it was too late.

“Ah,” Kendrick said, a new kind of grin covering his face, one that made William shiver despite feeling quite warm, “William, I find myself vastly disappointed; you’re terrified right now, scrambling to clear your thoughts. What could possibly force you to feel such a terrible emotion? Especially when all you would have to do is tell me what you’re hiding and why you’re so disturbed by this little secret. You’ve never been particularly skilled at masking your emotions, old friend.”

William could not keep his right leg from twitching.

“I,” he said, “I did not wish to upset you, Sovereign.”

An even more forceful heat radiated throughout the room, each light glowing brighter as Kendrick kept his gaze upon William.

“Look at me, William,” Kendrick said.

William had no choice. He had to look Kendrick in the eye. Perhaps he could keep him out. Maybe the long trip and probable jetlag had dulled Kendrick’s focus and maybe that would be enough.

He raised his gaze and met Kendrick’s piercing green eyes. For a moment William’s mind felt clear and at peace. Maybe William was wrong and all Kendrick wanted to do was look him in the eye because he was worried about one of his closest supporters, one who Kendrick had always had extra time for and one who had always been unwaveringly loyal to him.

And then the haze set in. The room somehow seemed to dim and grow cloudy, as if William’s eyes suddenly developed cataracts. He felt a horrible pull on his mind for information, an encapsulating tug to turn his focus onto the secret because he must not keep anything from Lamont Kendrick. No one can. All must yield to him because he is—

William couldn’t concentrate; every image around him shifted into obscurity. He blinked a few times and the fuzzy outlines of the people sitting next to him sharpened. But they were all looking past him. His head had cleared but he couldn’t remember...

Oh, no. It was already done.

Kendrick walked towards the back of the room triumphantly and stopped in front of a figure shadowed by one of the overhead awnings. William could only see Kendrick’s back but he knew who Kendrick was standing in front of. How fast could William move for the door with Kendrick’s back turned? Would he even reach the doorknob?

“So it’s you then, stranger,” Kendrick said to the shadowed figure, “the source of all this fuss.”

Heads turned to look at the person who Kendrick had fixed his stare upon. William inched backwards away from the table while numerous figures around him lowered their eyes in expectation of what seemed inevitable.

“I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced,” Kendrick said, extending his hand to the stranger, “but even being unacquainted does not mean that I can’t sense that you are carrying a heavy burden. One that I’m sure I can help you unload. Doesn’t that sound like a good idea?”

The stranger nodded, chin held high and eyes resolute. Kendrick laughed an unsettling laugh, one devoid of the sounds of joy. A cackle that seemed almost feral.

“Of course it does! Only a fool would disagree with me. So why don’t you just go ahead and tell me, get it off your shoulders and let all of this unnecessary fear and tension subside? Don’t you want to do that? Will you let me help you?”

“How do you know that I’m afraid?” the stranger said.

Kendrick paused.

“You already know the answer to that or else you would have no reason to fear telling me something.” Kendrick circled the person, his back still to William.

This might be William’s chance. Ignoring the small shiver crawling at the base of his neck, he lifted his foot up off of the lush carpet and took a small step towards the door, inching undetected away from Kendrick and the stranger as everyone’s attention remained transfixed onto Kendrick.

“Well,” the stranger said, the words fading the moment they were uttered as if they were caught in a brisk wind, “well, I don’t know how to start.”

The desire to talk erupted within William’s throat. The urge to unveil what he was hiding felt like an obsessive compulsion that he must succumb to so he side-stepped faster towards the door. William cleared his throat against his will; his eyes darted from one end of the room to another. No one was looking at him, not even Kendrick. He could do it.

“Then why don’t I help you out a little,” Kendrick said to the stranger.

William’s sweaty palm closed around the bronze door knob and turned it, careful to keep the metal spring from squeaking and drawing attention. Labored breathing and the quick click of the uncoiling spring followed as his fidgeting fingers pulled the door open enough to see the scarlet fourth-story walkway that led down the maple stairs. The marble tiles of the manor’s foyer were in view. He could see the front door.

He was going to make it.

“William,” Kendrick said, “why on earth would you want to leave when we’re all about to find out what all the fuss is over? Stop.”

No one could see William's eyes with his back still to the room but if eyes could have screamed, everyone within earshot of William would have gone deaf. Like a stone puppet, William stood motionless. He could not move. And would have remained that way had Kendrick not had other plans.

“Close the door and turn around,” Kendrick said.

William, his eyes still wide and darting, shut the door, put his hands at his sides and turned around.

“William,” Kendrick said, “would you like to tell me something?”

William’s eyes darted faster and faster, his pounding heartbeat almost visible against his chest. William nodded slowly against his will. “Yes,” his hollow, monotone voice said.

“Then tell me,” Kendrick said, his green eyes piercing William.

“I made a mistake.”

It was getting harder to breathe.

“And what might that have been, old friend?”

A few heads turned away from William, casting their eyes downward at the cherry table or to the shimmering sconces lining the walls. Anywhere but at William.

“They—survived,” William said, “the Assembly survived.”

Despite the calm clarity in his voice, William’s face felt flushed and his chest heaved in huge gulps of air. Kendrick’s right eye twitched and William found that he could move again.

“I’m sorry, Sovereign,” William said, free to move and speak on his own. “The Assembly lives. But I swear I watched them drown, I was certain that Merrick and every remnant of the old Assembly were all killed fifteen years ago. But, I mean, I don’t see how but, but—”

William’s cheeks burned white hot and he stammered his way over to Kendrick, falling to his knees on the velvet carpet, begging for forgiveness and mercy. Kendrick looked unmoved, studying William for a moment before turning back to the stranger. “And this, this is why you’re here. So tell me, is this all true?”

“Yes,” the stranger said.

Kendrick glanced back to the pale skinned Melina for confirmation. “Melina?”

She nodded.

“And how,” Kendrick said, eyeing the individuals around the room, “would you know this, stranger?”

William closed his eyes, shaking his head.

“I am a member of the Assembly,” the stranger said.

William lifted his head to find Kendrick’s eyes widened and his fist clenched.

“Is that so,” Kendrick said, hands loosening at his sides again. “Then that explains your ability to resist my less forceful efforts to detect your thoughts. After all Merrick was, forgive me, is, a brilliant instructor. That was never the issue.”

One word filled William’s frantic and racing mind and he had to speak it before it was too late, before anything else came to light. “Mercy,” he said, his forehead at the ground next to Kendrick’s gleaming wing-tips, “mercy, please. Forgive me.”

Kendrick knelt down and helped raise William to his feet, patting him on the back and nodding deep in thought. “Curious news,” Kendrick repeated to himself a few times as he continued to rest his hand on William’s shoulder. “Ultimately it changes nothing, we will move forward as planned but it is indeed an important revelation and I thank you for that, William. And you as well, stranger.”

The stranger nodded, letting out a deep sigh of relief.

“Do the members of the Assembly know you’re here?” Kendrick said.

“No, Sovereign.”

“And how many of them are there?”

“Eleven, including myself.”

Pockets of snickering and arrogant laughter erupted around the room. Murmurs of “only eleven,” could be heard throughout the room but every mouth fell silent when Kendrick failed to find the humor in the stranger’s assessment.

“Merrick has added to his number then,” Kendrick said, walking back to the head of the table. “And that means he intends to—actually, could you excuse me for a moment?”

The stranger nodded despite a confused look.

“William,” Kendrick said, “forgive me for not answering you immediately, I fear I allowed my thoughts to wander for a moment. I will grant you your request for mercy despite your failure.”

William’s shoulders relaxed and the dim hall seemed to brighten. He exhaled gushes of, “Thank you, thank you,” in between bursts of spontaneous laughter.

“Yes, old friend,” Kendrick said, “mercy it is. So it will be quick.”

William’s laughter wedged itself in his throat and he struggled to swallow, his lungs unable to find air. “Quick? But, but, Sovereign—”

“Stop.”

Kendrick held up his hand to William, who fell silent and rigid, his eyes wide with panic again.

“Walk to the window, William,” Kendrick said, “open it. And wait for my word.”

On cue, William turned and put one foot in front of the other on his way to the far window of the fourth floor’s east end. He unlocked the two bronze handles on both sides of the ceiling-high panes of glass. His palms were dry and his fingers were fluid throughout his task, never the slightest hint of resistance. In fact, if you didn’t know better, you would have thought that this was his idea and that he felt quite calm about the entire process.

William flung the windows open and stepped onto the window sill. The crisp breeze brushed against his face as his shoulders remained steady and relaxed, waiting, yet his eyes darted from side to side in obvious panic.

“Now then,” Kendrick said to the stranger, without missing a beat, “I suspect that you are here because you want to join my Legion, yes?”

The stranger nodded but could not stop glancing over to William.

“Then welcome,” Kendrick said, pausing for a moment, “but I regret to tell you that you will have to prove your sincerity. So I will be sending you back to Merrick and his Assembly once Melina here has had a chance to spend some time with you and…verify your intentions. I want you to return to the Assembly and keep an eye on them, divide them from within and keep me informed as to their plans on a bi-weekly basis. You’ll be much more valuable to me there than here. This unfortunate revelation of yours may yet prove to have been a blessing in disguise."

A sick smile crept across the stranger’s face, who seemed to revel in Kendrick’s orders to return and divide.

This shared satisfaction with the plan also seemed to sit well with Kendrick when he turned his attention back to William.

Maybe this is all it would be. Maybe Kendrick just wanted to embarrass William, flaunt his power for this stranger and all of the Legion to see.

“There’s one last thing, Sovereign,” the stranger said, struggling to get the words out.

“Yes?”

“Jaden Scott is alive.”

Lamont Kendrick did not move. No one did. It was as if all of the air had been instantaneously sucked out of the room as looks of complete and utter shock littered the large hall. A brief sliver of concern, of uncertainty, flashed across Lamont Kendrick’s face and rested for a moment, before he blinked it away.

“Well then,” Kendrick said, clearing his throat and cracking his knuckles, “William?”

“Yes, Sovereign?”

“Jump.”

And without even a grunt of disapproval, William leapt out of the window and fell four stories to his death.