Excerpt: The Book To Atlantis

Gran was waiting outside of the house for him- Dad had been right, she was expecting him there first thing that morning. Tobey didn't really need to know too much more about her to know that he wasn't going to like her, or staying at her house. For a start, he hadn't noticed her outside initially because, she was so much like the house she just seemed to be another part of the stone work. She was dressed in a drab black dress, her hair was pulled back into a tight bun- the type that school marms in old movies wore, and worst of all, she had the nerve to look at the cab pulling up as if they were atrociously late. She just looked mean, in fact, she looked like she belonged playing an evil witch or step mother in a movie. Real people weren't supposed to have scowls that severe or hair done up so tight that it looked like it was holding up her whole body. Tobey had been expecting a nice, round little old lady. One who would let him have cookies for supper and stay up late to watch all of those shows that his parents always made him go to bed for. He had been dying to see what was on The Late Show. Gran looked like one of those people that would make him go to bed at the early hour of 7:30pm, and would serve things like brussel sprouts, lima beans and liver for dinner. Definitely no cookies and even more definitively no Late Show.
It was not going to be a fun summer at all. Tobey sighed, grabbed his bag from the floor of the cab (Gran had insisted on sending a cab to collect him at the train station) and stepped out, ready for what he was sure would be the worst summer of his whole life. At least her house looked interesting enough that he could spend lots of time exploring. He was missing his friends from home already- they could have had some great adventures in an old house like that. Something told Tobey that Gran was not going to want to spend any time at all having adventures of any sort.
“You must be Hatohobei.” Gran said from the top of the grand entry stairs. “You should have come to visit sooner.” There was no welcome hug, no look how much you've grown, and (thankfully) no pinching cheeks. Tobey had heard horror stories about lipstick-y grandma kisses, and pinched cheeks. Tommy swore that the scar on his cheek was from his grandmother pinching him too hard, and not the chicken pox. Tobey wasn't happy however that Gran had used his full name. No one ever used his full name unless they didn't know him.
“Everyone calls me Tobey” He said once he had caught his breath. The stairs were a lot longer then they seemed and Tobey was never great at anything physical anyway. He always thought it was because he had short, stubby legs unlike all the other boys in his class who seemed to have legs that were formerly property of cheetahs.
“You name is not Tobey. Your name is Hatohobei, and that is what I will call you and you will answer to.” Gran made no move to help Tobey with his bag, she just stood there looking down at him.
He stopped again three stairs from the top and pushed his now sweaty blond hair back from his face. “I'd prefer it if you called me Tobey though.” He was already not liking Gran. He did not like his real name, and the only time that anyone used it was when he had a substitute teacher in school. Then, they usually thought someone had changed the name on the roster as a joke. Tobey had never met another Hatohobei and he was certain that he never would.