Excerpt: A Quest Unspoken

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11/08/09
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Lyanna and Corene took seats on an intricately carved stone bench by the door, but Erik remained on his feet, watching suspiciously as the stranger entered the house and closed the door.
“Something’s strange about all this,” Erik said. “I don’t know that we should trust him.”
“Trust the man with the crazy mother who trapped us in an invisible pit?” laughed Corene. “I didn’t plan on it, but we’re going to need some food if we plan on traveling any farther. Hopefully he can point us toward the next town even if it is several days’ travel from here, but no one said anything about trusting him.”
“Plus, he’s a vampire,” stated Lyanna simply.
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11/01/09
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The young man slid his chair away from the wall and leaned back, balancing precariously on the rear two legs of the chair. Teachers hated it when students sat like that – something about damage to the chairs, a likely cover for fear of skull fractures from falls – which is probably how, and why, he had perfected the balancing act. He adjusted his blue Cubs baseball cap – another broken school rule – rotating it brim backwards over his unruly curls and loudly snapped his chewing gum. Everything about his posture and attitude broadcast that he cared little to nothing about the school and its rules, but since the boy was seated outside the principal’s office, eavesdropping on the details of his expulsion from the school, rules were the last thing on his mind.