The Ever Part of Always: Keely Tucker's First Adventure - Softcover

Davis, Toby K.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1469745917 ISBN 13: 9781469745916

Verlag: iUniverse, 2012

Inhaltsangabe

Ten-year-old Keely Rosalie Tucker is a modern-day knight with no armor. Constantly bullied by a neighbor boy, Keely struggles to find her place in the world in which she is comforted only by the stories her Gramms has told her about enchanted, faraway places, where unicorns, fairies, and angels protect children from life's everyday pains and dangers. Now all Keely has to do is figure out how to call them to help her. Everything changes when her beloved Gramms suddenly dies and gifts Keely with her aging horse, Mariah-setting the stage for an adventure. Keely discovers that Mariah can talk, and she soon finds her way to a hidden valley over the moon and beyond rainbows where monsters and dragons disturb and invade the peace of mind. Now she must learn to believe in herself and develop her secret powers in order to deliver a miracle before it is too late. In this delightful and charming fantasy tale, a little girl learns to summon her courage and rely on her imagination as she opens her heart and mind to the sounds of the possible in a last-ditch effort to save a friend.

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The Ever Part of Always

Keely Tucker's First AdventureBy Toby K. Davis

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2012 Toby K. Davis
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4697-4591-6

Contents

Illustrations...............................................................ixForeword....................................................................xiPreface.....................................................................xiiiChapter 1. Sticks..........................................................1Chapter 2. Gramms's Mantra.................................................7Chapter 3. The Will........................................................14Chapter 4. Meet Mariah.....................................................21Chapter 5. Miracles........................................................28Chapter 6. Time Suckers....................................................33Chapter 7. Believe.........................................................38Chapter 8. Ðoosie Surprise............................................48Chapter 9. Flying Lessons..................................................54Chapter 10. Uh-Oh...........................................................59Chapter 11. Night of Lesses: Windless-Moonless-Starless.....................68Chapter 12. Midnight Brew...................................................78Chapter 13. First Clues.....................................................82Chapter 14. River of Rainbows...............................................88Chapter 15. Ðreamwisher................................................95Chapter 16. Magic Carpet....................................................107Chapter 17. Battle Under the Rainbow........................................116Chapter 18. Trapped.........................................................124Chapter 19. Unicorn Rescue..................................................133Chapter 20. Sands of Time...................................................142Chapter 21. Ðreamcatchers..............................................144Chapter 22. Wishes Ðo Come True........................................156Chapter 23. The Ever Part of Always.........................................160Chapter 24. Pool of Hopes and Ðreams...................................166Chapter 25. Forgotten Flute—Lost Notes Found..........................177Chapter 26. Journey Home....................................................179Chapter 27. Reunion.........................................................183Chapter 28. Mail............................................................192

Chapter One

Sticks

The gold dust trickled in a slow, steady stream through the cupped, gritty palm of Keely Rosalie Tucker. Little globs stuck in the corners of her bent knuckles as she tried to slip the precious glitter into the silver mesh bag, a retired purse of her grandmother's, which Keely had unretired from the Goodwill sack. Keely's forehead was streaked with sweat and yellow-flecked sand. Gathering gold dust was serious business that demanded total concentration, and timing was crucial. It had to be completed before the sun reached the highest point in the sky. She must remember and utter the words exactly as her grandmother taught her nearly five years ago, on her fifth birthday. Only the wind could catch the whispers of the sounds and whistle them far away to that place no one has ever been, where mists are hung with rainbows and trees are ribboned with stars. There, unicorns breathe purple air, nibble gently on the glittery fruit, and line clouds with slivers of their laughter—awaiting the distant call of a child.

"What on earth do you think you're doing? If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times: change your clothes before you start playing out here in this dirt pile. Get in the house and do it right now. One! Two!" Keely didn't want her mom to get to three, which meant automatic grounding and even louder yelling.

"I'm going. I'm going." The tears slipped silently inside Keely's eyes. The moment was gone again. Would it ever be right? Her mom would never understand. How could she when Keely was not sure she understood it herself?

Keely stood and brushed off the precious sand from her favorite outfit—dark indigo, boot-cut jeans, and a stripy red and white T-shirt, layered with last year's faded blue, double-pocketed, western shirt—sleeves rolled up. Her gray and white skinny striped socks, reserved for good days, peeked out at the ankles from deep purple, laceless, "look-alike" Converse sneakers. All of the pieces, past birthday gifts from her grandmother, were bought on final clearance at Wal-Mart or Target stores in Memphis. However, Keely was the one who put the outfits together to match her mood. Her bangs nearly covered her brows, and she took a moment to flip back her self-made, slightly lopsided, double ponytails—the one on the left side riding higher above her ear than the right—unveiling the deep emerald eyes flashing with resignation. Small clumps of mahogany hair escaped the red scrunchies, scrunched too tightly against her head.

As she turned to walk toward her house, she realized she had forgotten her gold dust bag and returned to fetch it from the other side of the dirt pile. A loud, familiar voice challenged her, "Hey, dimwit! Yeah, I'm talkin' to you. Get over here and scrape the mud off my bike. You know what I'll do if you don't do it now. Gads, I can hardly believe that I'm allowing such a loser like you to touch my bike. You're too stupid to realize the special honor I'm giving you, but my daddy always told me to be kind to dumb animals, and that's what I'm doing. You know, they should call you Dum-dum Tucker, or better yet, Dumbo, cause you're so slow and so dumb. Dumbo, Dumbo, D-u-m-b-o, Dumbo is your name-o," sang Darrell. "Don't try to use grass either. Polish the fenders with your shirt."

Darrell was the biggest kid in the fourth grade and Bully was his middle name. He teased kids, trying to make them cry; stole cookies and puddings from lunch boxes; and twisted arms, giving out "rope burns" as presents if any kid told the teachers. Darrell preyed on the weaker ones, those who were afraid of him and never fought back. Unfortunately, he was Keely's neighbor and lived four houses down the alley from her. Harassing and teasing her were Darrell's main hobbies, and he was constantly following her so he could yell mean things and try to make her cry.

At the moment, Keely stood in no man's land, as Gramps used to call that space where you never wanted to be—too far from the house to make it, even in a dead run, and out of earshot to call for her mom's help. She turned toward Darrell, a few steps away. There was no escape.

Keely's inaudible sigh joined the tears within the secret pool in her heart, where she tried to store all of the bad things. She heard her own heart pounding with fear. "I'll do it, Darrell." She slowly approached the big, black bike with a bolted-on metal strip to replace a broken pedal and fading decals of flames curling across the fenders. She longed to tell him to take back the words, but Darrell had threatened her before, and she knew he would do it again if he were disobeyed. Her grandmother, Gramms to Keely, taught her this trick of sliding bad words into a bottomless pool deep within herself, drowning their pain, but it didn't always work, and this was one of those times when she wasn't succeeding. The pain kept rippling, boiling on top of the bubbles, refusing to sink, like other times when...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: iUniverse
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2012
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1469745917
• ISBN 13: 9781469745916
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 208
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: gpsr@libri.de; gpsr@libri.de; ; Friedensallee 273; Hamburg; 22763; Deutschland