The Ether: Vero Rising (An Ether Novel, Band 1) - Softcover

Molinari, Laurice Elehwany

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0310735610 ISBN 13: 9780310735618

Verlag: Zonderkidz, 2015

Inhaltsangabe

Lately strange happenings begin to plague the everyday suburban life of 12-year-old Vero Leland. To the surprise of his classmates and himself, while running track and field, Vero effortlessly clears two hurdles in one leap. He sees hideous frightening creatures that no one else can see. But it’s when he views his imprint after making a snow angel that he can no longer deny he’s different. Because after sweeping his limbs across the fresh snow, there in the snowy depression lays the impression of two massive wings so beautiful Michelangelo could have fashioned them himself!

Only when a stranger takes him to the “Ether,” does Vero finally understand whom he is. The Ether is the spiritual realm that surrounds the earth. It is there that Vero learns he is, indeed, a budding guardian angel―the fiercest of all warriors.

Under the tutelage of the mighty archangels, Vero, along with several other young angels, begins his training. He must learn to use his new wings, flying and battling mythological Biblical creatures from the leviathan to golems―all while maintaining his regular down on Earth. If he survives training and accepts his destiny―a destiny he did not choose―he must leave everything behind, including his family and the life he loves. Meanwhile, an evil is growing, and Vero appears to be the target.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Laurice Elehwany Molinari, a veteran film and TV writer in Hollywood for over two decades, has penned over thirty scripts for various studios and networks. Her very first feature script, written while a fellow at the American Film Institute, became Columbia Picture’s critically acclaimed children’s classic, My Girl. She went on to pen The Brady Bunch Movie and The Amazing Panda Adventure. Laurice lives with her husband and two children in Los Angeles, the City of Angels, where her lifelong love for our heavenly guardians inspired her to write a book about them.

 

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The Ether

By Laurice E. Molinari, Kim Childress

ZONDERKIDZ

Copyright © 2014 Laurice E. Molinari
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-310-73561-8

Contents

1. The Leap of Faith, 11, 
2. Birds of Flight, 19, 
3. Lousy Birthday, 25, 
4. Baby Doe, 35, 
5. Backseat Driver, 45, 
6. The Snow Angel, 63, 
7. The Fall, 73, 
8. Home, 83, 
9. The Ether and Back, 91, 
10. The Bullies, 101, 
11. Failed Flight, 107, 
12. The Prayer Grid, 115, 
13. A Cab in Rush Hour, 129, 
14. The Track Star, 141, 
15. C.A.N.D.L.E., 157, 
16. Behemoth, 173, 
17. The Book of Raziel, 193, 
18. The Pit of Acid, 199, 
19. The Narrow Path, 213, 
20. Golems, 223, 
21. The Black Mist, 235, 
22. The King of the Bottomless Pit, 241, 
23. Philly, 259, 
24. The Red Marble, 267, 
25. The Dance, 281, 
26. Five Answers to a Prayer, 289, 
27. Catching a Wave, 303, 
28. Chasing Maltures, 311, 
29. The White Light, 331, 
30. A Sister's Confession, 343, 
Acknowledgments, 347, 

CHAPTER 1

THE LEAP OF FAITH

Vero Leland had been trying to fly ever since he was old enough to stand. His earliest memory was standing on the rail of his crib, perfectly balanced like an Olympic gymnast on a balance beam. He fully expected his mother to clap when she turned around and saw him. Vero remembers stretching out his arms, intending to fly into his mother's outstretched hands. But instead of clapping, she turned and let out a heartrending shriek. Startled, Vero hit the floor with a thud and cried hard as his mother cradled him.

But what Vero's mother, Nora, didn't realize was that Vero wasn't crying in pain. He was crying tears of frustration from failing to get airborne.

After the crib incident, Vero didn't stop trying to fly. Instead, he became quite the climber. He'd climb and throw himself off the kitchen table, his parents' bed, the piano, and pretty much anything with a few feet of air below it ... until the winter of his fourth year. That's when his flying attempts reached a new and dangerous high.

It happened late one afternoon when Dennis Leland, Vero's father, was standing on a ladder and stringing hundreds of Christmas lights across the front of their two-story suburban house. Dennis was very particular about his holiday light display. Each bulb needed to hang exactly two inches away from the next, and they all had to extend fully, to just beneath the gutter. Christmas displays were taken very seriously in their suburban neighborhood of Attleboro, Maryland.

The men who lived on Vero's block had an ongoing competition, and each December the holiday displays grew more and more elaborate. Front yards were cluttered with inflatable Santas, seven-foot tall snowmen, and animatronic reindeer. One dad even convinced his wife and young children to perform a live nativity each night, complete with a real donkey and goat. However, the goat was quickly sent back to the petting zoo after it ate the plastic sprinkler heads, causing impressive geysers that drenched his family and ruined the nativity.

It was a clear but chilly December day when Vero's father climbed down the ladder to test the magnificent light show. Wearing his one-piece brown coveralls and his checkered hat with earflaps, he rubbed his hands together and said, "This is it, Vero."

With great pomp and ceremony, Dennis dramatically picked up the plug of the extension cord ... all of his hard work was about to come to fruition. But when he finally took a deep breath and plugged the extension cord into the outlet, nothing happened. The lights failed to illuminate. Vero heard him use a word he'd never heard before, followed by, "I'm gonna have to check every stinkin' light bulb one at a time."

A few minutes later, Dennis grumbled miserably as he started to climb the ladder with some extra bulbs in hand.

Vero called down to his father and said, "It's okay, Daddy. I can help." While his dad had been inside the house getting some fresh bulbs, Vero had climbed the ladder and now stood proudly on the roof. Being small and nimble, Vero thought he could walk along the steep roof and check each one of the bulbs for his dad, saving him numerous trips up and down the ladder.

Vero could tell his dad was thrilled with the idea because Dennis was standing completely still on the ladder and looking at Vero with huge eyes. But when Vero caught sight of the surrounding neighborhood below, his penchant for flying took hold of him again.

"Daddy! I could fly from up here!" Vero shouted, grinning wildly.

"No, Vero! No!" his father shouted. "Don't move! I'm coming to get you!" He took two more steps up the ladder before his boot slipped, and he fell smack on his back. Luckily, a small bush broke his fall.

"Daddy, are you okay?"

Then piercing shrieks were heard as Vero's mother ran out of the house wearing an apron splattered with powdered sugar. Her cries alerted the curious neighbors.

Mr. Atwood from next door was the first one on the scene, since he was already outside admiring his "It's a Small World" display. He didn't notice Vero up on the roof at first.

"For Pete's sake," he said. "Calm down the both of you. It's probably just a bum light bulb." Then he glanced up and saw Vero peering down at them. "Holy cow!" he yelled. "That kid's crazy!"

When Mrs. Atwood arrived moments later, Mr. Atwood wagged his stubby finger in his wife's stunned face and said, "I told you that kid was off, but you never believed me! Remember that time I found him in our tree trying to jump off a branch that was as high as the house? I almost broke my neck climbing up after him!"

"Quiet, Albert! I'm calling 9–1–1!" Mrs. Atwood yelled, cell phone in hand.

"Maybe it's all a big stunt to draw attention to his Christmas display?" Mr. Atwood muttered to himself as he watched more and more neighbors gather. "I wouldn't put it past Leland."

Vero's father, meanwhile, had regained his footing and was attempting to climb the ladder once again.

"Yes, hurry!" Mrs. Atwood shouted into the phone. "The wind is gusting. It could knock the boy clear off the roof!"

Mrs. Atwood ended the call and then turned to help Vero's mother, who looked to be in a state of shock. She took off her coat and wrapped it around Nora's shoulders. "The dispatcher promised the fire truck would be here any minute."

"Vero, please don't move ..." his mother said weakly. Vero saw she had flour on her cheek, streaked with a teardrop.

"Don't cry, Mommy," Vero told her. "I know I can do it this time."

Vero's five-year-old sister, Clover, joined them outside. She'd been baking cookies with her mother, and she had flour in her blonde hair and down the front of her shirt. She opened her arms wide and called up to her little brother, "Jump, Vero! I'll catch you!"

Nora quickly clasped a hand over her daughter's mouth.

By now Vero's father had reached the top of the ladder. He tried to grab his son, but Vero was beyond arm's reach; so he only managed to graze Vero's foot with his fingertips.

As Vero inched away from his dad, he became unsteady on his feet, and a collective gasp rippled over the gathering below. Yet somehow Vero regained his balance, and the watching crowd breathed a sigh of relief.

It was all too much for Vero's mother who fainted. Luckily she landed in the lap of the inflatable Mrs. Claus.

Mrs. Claus is cradling Mommy like a baby, Vero thought. And that's when a shiny red hook and ladder fire truck pulled...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Zonderkidz
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2015
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0310735610
• ISBN 13: 9780310735618
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 368
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: ?????????; https://europe.yamaha.com/index.html; ; Siemensstrasse 22-34; Rellingen; Schleswig-Holstein; 25462; Deutschland