Trial by Heist (Daizlei Academy) by Kel Carpenter & Carrie Whitethorne

Author:Kel Carpenter & Carrie Whitethorne [Carpenter, Kel]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 2017-05-01T04:00:00+00:00

Eleven years ago…

When I awoke in the monastery, it was light outside. The people who lived here didn’t have golden eyes like my Papa did; theirs were a warm brown like Mama’s. Their skin was like mine—tanned, almost brown, but not as dark as Papa’s. Unlike mine, their hair was raven black, long, and straight. It reminded me of my mother’s hair, and brought me comfort in the coming weeks. I adjusted quickly, falling into everyday life. My ability to mimic what I saw was my greatest asset. Within weeks, I could speak fluently, and even donned a set of white robes before my ninth birthday.

While the people at the monastery were kind, they were distant, and it never quite felt like home. In the months that followed, they taught me their ways in return for the favours I did. Many preferred not to venture beyond the protective walls of the monastery, but I was different. I sought the world around us, and sensed a connection with every being that came across my path, apart from Baba Yaga. I became the courier between the city that cloaked us and the temple secluded within. While I enjoyed my teachings well enough, I heard the dragon’s call to do more, but it wasn’t until six years had passed that I realised what more meant.

During my time in the East, I came to recognise those who dwelled in the city and the ones who were only passing through, and I befriended an alley boy by the name of Xun.

Quick as a viper, Xun grew up in one of the roughest parts of the desert city. Beggar by day and thief by night, he lived with the other homeless children in a crumbling den beneath the cantina. Unlike my robes, which changed colour as I advanced through the ranks, for all the time I knew him, he only ever wore rags and a vulpine grin. His hard exterior didn’t fool me, though; Xun was one of the kindest people I’d ever known. It was because of him and his skill at thieving that the orphaned kids didn’t go without. Sometimes, I wondered if the Mother guided him, so certain were his steps. How well he evaded capture, till the very end.

Gradually, I became known as Johanna the Gold, for the kindness I tried to show them all—no matter the species or race. After all, my own father was a mix of African and European, the Witches and the Supernaturals. My mother was of the East, though, and everywhere I turned, there were women who reminded me of her. I saw her in the shopkeepers. I heard her voice in the women at the monastery. It was always the children, though, the little girls with eyes just like hers, that I couldn’t resist. When I was a child, the respect I showed beguiled them. Why would someone from the monastery be anything but ambivalent to their suffering? I knew better, though, even then. I remembered what my parents had taught me, and what the humans called me made no difference to me.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.