The Queen

Jenna's small-town life had always been simple. She and her best friend, Hannah, were about to graduate high school and had plans to go to the same college the following fall. Life had always been simple, although a little strange for Jenna. She never quite felt like she fit in because she wasn't interested in the same things as other kids her age. When most of her classmates could be found at school dances and sporting events, she and Hannah were in the woods that separated their houses foraging for different plants and stones.

One day after a frightening encounter in the woods, everything changed. No longer the girl from small-town Rosemont, Maryland, Jenna was now a part of something bigger. Forced to stop thinking about what college she and Hannah would be going to later this year, Jenna is taught about her true purpose and her past by a boy named Ryder. He is strange and beautiful, and somehow very familiar. Ryder tells Jenna that she must return back to her true home to wage war against his, and now her, enemy to protect the human race she grew up a part of.

Will Jenna have the strength to leave everything she knows behind, or will she watch the impending evil strip away everyone and everything she loves?

The Queen - Sasha Sparks

This is a work in progress, so please be constructive in your comments! I'm in the final two chapters of the first (of hopefully two!) novels in this series. Let me know if you want to read more!

“I know you’re there,” she called out to the thick, velvety darkness, “whatever it is you want, you’ll have to show yourself to get.” She paused, listened, but heard nothing in return. “Maybe I shouldn’t have come out here alone.” Jenna muttered.

After a moment had passed, she decided to keep going. Whatever had been following her the past few weeks, was probably what was in the river, and she needed to know what it was. The river grew louder as the earth beneath her feet became softer. Jenna stopped and started looking around for any signs of disruption near the river. She saw a few sets of deer and raccoon tracks, nothing unusual. Suddenly, she heard the flow of the river change, as if someone was standing in the middle of it, blocking its path.

“Hello?” she said but got no response. “God, I feel like I’m losing my freaking mind!”

She knew there was something near her, she felt it, but couldn’t see anything.

Jenna decided to walk a little bit further downstream to where she was sure she heard the block of the water’s flow. She kept shifting her gaze from the ground to the water, looking for any signs of something large enough to cause a disturbance. As she looked, she saw some new prints on the ground… these looked human, but not exactly, the toes were longer than that of an average human’s, but they were definitely there, and definitely fresh. Jenna held her flashlight in her mouth, grabbed her phone from her pocket, and snapped a few pictures of the tracks. She tucked her phone back into her pocket and followed alongside the footprints, closer to the water’s edge. Within a few steps, the humanoid footprints shifted into hoof prints, like those of a horse. She snapped a few more pictures of these, from where they changed, to where the lead up to the water.

She stopped dead and started shaking, she couldn’t get any rational thoughts to come to her mind. The only thought she could form was holy shit, what is this!? Through her trembling breath and the rush of the water, she heard only one other sound, something large breathing a rattling breath. Still shaking, she lifted her flashlight’s beam from the ground to the river, and that’s when she saw it. A large, black horse stood in the river, it had thickly muscled legs that gave way to an even more robust body that was heaving with each gurgled breath it took. Billows of steam whirled out of its nostrils, as its eyes glowed a dark red. Where normal horse ears should have sat, twisted, gnarled ears replaced them. A dark mane and tail of seaweed adorned this creature. Jenna gasped as she noticed how its face changed from fully there to skeletal at the tip, where a full set of teeth bared themselves white in the moonlight. As soon as she was able to take all of this in, the horse sunk quickly under the water. She knew the water wasn’t that deep, so when the thing went under, she screamed and ran. Jenna didn’t look back until she was safely inside the door of her house.

She slumped to the floor right inside and exhaled deeply. Her relief was short-lived when she heard the floor creak and her mother’s feet appeared in front of her. She winced and sighed, then slowly allowed her gaze to follow the length of her mother’s long, silk robe up to her face. Lyvia was older than she looked. All of Jenna’s classmates always commented on how pretty Lyvia was, and they were right. Even when Lyvia was angry, she was still beautiful. Jenna looked nothing like either of her parents really, but definitely not like Lyv. Where Jenna sported dark locks of hair, Lyv’s was coppery auburn. Her eyes were hazel, though they changed depending on her mood, and right now they were almost brown.

“Where the hell did you go, Jenna? It’s almost 3 am, you have school tomorrow.” Lyvia scolded.

“I uh, I couldn’t sleep, Mom. It’s no big deal, I went for a quick walk around the field,” Jenna half-lied.

“What have I asked you, Jenna? It’s not safe for you to walk around near the woods at night! I don’t have many rules for you to, be smart, be safe, and no sneaking out. Are they that hard for you to follow?”

“Look, I’m sorry. It won’t happen again. I just… I needed to go for a walk. Clear my head. I’m exhausted though, may I please go to bed now? Like you said, I have school tomorrow.” Jenna looked smartly at Lyvia, waiting for her mother to give her the okay to go back up to her room.

“Yes," Lyv started and paused. She and Jenna rarely had arguments and she didn't want either of them to go to bed leaving the night as it was, "I’m sorry I got so angry, I just worry about you. I would never be able to forgive myself if anything bad happened to you. I love you.”

“Love you too.” replied Jenna.

She stood up from the floor and ran up to her room. This time sleep did not evade her, though she wished it had. Her dreams were full of the creature she saw in the river, chasing her, watching her every move.