Lunacy Read online

  Lunacy

  Book #1 of The Ragnarok Legacy

  R.A. Sears

  This is a work of fiction; everything in this text is a product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to people, living or dead, places, and events is completely coincidental.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  R.A. Sears

  Copyright © R.A. Sears 2012

  Smashwords Edition

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN-13: 9781301595891 (Darq Deviant Press)

  Published by Darq Deviant Press

  Edgewood, MD 21040

  http://www.darqdeviantpress.com

  DEDICATION

  For my parents, who told me never to give up. For all my English teachers along the way who encouraged me (especially Mrs. Canell and Mrs. Wichelns). For everyone on fictionpress.com who ever left me a review, good or bad. And most importantly, for you, the fans who’ve been with this for nearly a decade and more rewrites than I care to count. Thank you, and I hope that you’ll continue to join Kacea on her adventures after this book is done.

  Chapter 1

  “Kacea Marie! Get your skinny ass out of bed!” I groaned something unintelligible into my pillow in response, not even lifting my head to acknowledge my mother, the harpy of the morning. “DoitNOW!” Everything came out as one word that was a screech through my door, driving broken shards of glass into my ears.

  “Alright! I’m up!” I hollered back, throwing the blankets off and half falling out of bed onto the plush carpet. I caught myself with a hand on my night stand, glancing at the picture that sat there. From the days when I was younger and things were simpler; when mom and dad cared more about togetherness than maintaining their monetary status. We’d gone to the zoo when I was five and the three of us smiled together, the lines around mom’s eyes weren’t there yet, with me in the middle happily cuddling a tiger cub to my chest. It was small enough that its eyes were still blue, but it was the happiest memory I had of the days before the reality of life caught up with me.

  I’d slept like the dead the night before. The restless dead, that is. Insomnia and I had been in a love, hate relationship for a long time. Despite my mother’s urging, I resisted any medication for it. Dulling the senses might have worked for her, but it wasn’t something Dad and I could ever get behind. As I stumbled into my bathroom I took a cursory glance at my disheveled and displeased reflection. Red-rimmed greenish blue eyes with dark circles and black hair sticking up in directions that defied gravity…

  Oh yeah… I’d been tossing and turning worse than I thought. I turned on the stereo and spoke to it, “Simon. Play ‘Wake Up Playlist.”

  “Normal or random?” The computerized male voice queried.

  “Random,” I replied, tossing off my pajamas and turning on the water.

  The voice recognition software made a few beeping noises and some Japanese symphonic metal poured from the speakers set into the walls, heavy enough to shake the floorboards and send vibrations through every object in the bathroom.

  I stepped into the shower, now filling nicely with steam, and proceeded to quickly soap up and rinse off. The glance at the clock on my night stand told me I had half an hour to get ready and be on my way to school. Senior year. The last big hurrah before the veil of childhood was burned away to nothing and the real world could sneak up and bite a huge chunk out of your ass. Unless you grabbed it and got a bloody mouthful of flesh first, that is.

  I grinned at the thought, wringing water from my hair and climbing out. I dried off quickly, getting dressed in the typical attire that my mother loathed and dad thought was hilarious. A well-worn black tank top, as offensive as possible without breaking school rules, said “I’m just one big f#$%ing ray of sunshine, aren’t I?” That combined with a nearly knee-length asymmetrical black skirt, neon orange fishnet tights, and combat boots made up an outfit barely legal for school wear. I threw on some heavy black eyeliner and mascara, pulled my hair into two long braids that fell almost to my waist, and I was on my way down to breakfast.

  I skidded into the kitchen, almost falling over as the tread on my boots caught on the linoleum. Dad looked up from the paper and his coffee with a smirk at my usual clumsiness. “First day on your new feet?”

  I laughed and kissed his forehead as I went past. “I did get these clown feet from you, ya know.”

  Mom rolled her eyes with an exasperated sigh at us. “Two peas in a pod, ya pains in my ass.” I kissed her on the cheek and gave her a one-armed hug as she handed me my two pieces of cinnamon toast and I grabbed a single serve Sunny D from the fridge. “Do you ever wear any color other than black, Kacea?”

  I lifted my left leg and pointed to my electric orange stockings. “Yesh indeed I do. Just for you, Mom.” She just shook her head and laughed.

  Tossing my school bag over my shoulder and stuffing a piece of toast half in my mouth, I waved over my shoulder and said a muffled, “Bye! Love you both!” before sprinting out to my car in the driveway.

  The little black and red Dodge Stratus R/T waited there patiently for me. She’d been a project Dad and I started working on when I was fifteen. I bought it with money from my savings, stored up from years of Christmas and birthday cards and working nights and weekends at The Palace, our resident theme restaurant and bar.

  I hopped in and brought her to life with a very quiet roar. The music I turned up as I rolled down all the windows was far from quiet, and the bass set off the car alarm of our nearest neighbors, the Reece family. I snickered and gunned it before taking off, sliding my sunglasses on as I began the drive towards my school, Oberon High. The Reece’s son, Alain, and I had a bit of a history. A history that led to me not wanting to go to the highly esteemed private school nearby, Savage Academy. My parents had money now, but we were poor once, and I refused to show off our recently acquired wealth. Aside from that, all my friends went to Oberon. To hell with the other snotty rich kids and their uniforms. I might die if I had to wear the same clothes every single day.

  Pulling into the school parking lot, I grabbed a parking space near the back to minimize the abuse to my car while I was in school. The vertical lambo doors made it easier to get in and out in parking lots, and added a lot of flash to the car, but the last thing I wanted was some jerk that wasn’t paying attention slamming their doors into the side of my Baby.

  I half dashed across the parking lot, glancing at the time on my phone and setting it to silent before stuffing it back into my bag. I’d managed to get to school with five minutes to spare before the homeroom bell without speeding. “Will wonders never cease?” I asked the Universe with a sigh.

  Inside, I slowed my pace while I rifled through my bag for my class schedule, wanting to double check my homeroom number before rolling in. I raised it in my fist with a cry of triumph, accidentally slamming my fist into the very solid chest of the boy I’d been pining after since we were thirteen: Jynxx Davison. Stoic as always and used to my klutzy nature, he patted me on the head and walked on without a word or even a glance from his dark eyes. I narrowed my eyes at his retreating back due to his lack of acknowledgement, like I was an insect of no import.

  “Happy senior year to you too, ya jerk!” I called after him. He lifted his hand in a half-hearted “I hate mornings” wave and disappeared into the sea of other sleepy teenagers. If things went like they usually did, we’d have the same homeroom anyhow. I didn’t even bother with my locker yet. I could mess with that and the combination during lunch.

  Up the stairs I went to the senior wing, finally finding Room 404. I was met by two of my best guy friends at the door, Tarren and Raul, both of them s
haring similar geeky grins at the room number. “Ah, Room 404, the room that doesn’t exist.” Tarren drawled out in his cultured British accent, so out of place here in semi-rural New York.

  I rolled my eyes and threw my arms around their shoulders so we had to squeeze to fit through the door. “Yes, from the days when dial-up internet was all that existed and you’d get the error message when a site was under construction or if you were disconnected.”

  “And then you’d have to reconnect and the modem made this awful high-pitched squealing noise that let everyone know you were looking at porn at one in the morning.” My friend Taylea, as fair of features as I was dark, stood before us with her hands on her hips and we were all stunned silent at her response. She rolled her violet eyes. “Please,” she snorted. “As if that never happened to either of you.” Her gaze took in Tarren and Raul and the boys held their hands up in an almost defensive gesture.

  We hugged and laughed and I made a beeline for one of the seats by the window, taking one directly behind the dreamboat of darkness, Jynxx. He was wearing a simple black tee that clung to him in all the right places, fitting like a second skin so I could see his muscles underneath ripple as he leaned over slightly to search for something in his bag. I was almost disappointed when he finally emerged victorious, a pen clenched in his fist. He had a small notebook on his desk, one of those pads where the pages flipped vertically, but I couldn’t read a word of it from where I was, even as he scribbled furiously on it.

  It was like he was in his own little world, lost in whatever words he had to commit to the page. He was so caught up in it that the ringing noise over the P.A. system that preceded the Principal’s yearly introduction actually made him jump slightly. I couldn’t help a small smile at his back. We’d never really talked much, but there was something about him that I really liked. Something that had nothing whatsoever to do with his perfectly sculpted muscles that would have put Michelangelo’s David to shame, or his thick black hair that was as shiny as a Camaro with a fresh coat of wax. It was something about him that called to me. Not in a weirdo soul-mate way or anything; I don’t believe in that crap.

  As the Principal’s speech ended, I anticipated the bell by a few seconds to sneak a peek over Jynxx’s shoulder as I headed for the door. Chained and barred, Collared and fettered. I am a thing to be toyed with…

  It looked like… song lyrics? I was intrigued, but knew that prolonged snooping would definitely get me caught. I hurried past him to the door and was the first one out, heading to my Shakespearean Literature class. Best English elective available, worst possible time slot to have to wrap your brain around iambic pentameter.

  Chapter 2

  As I plodded through my first few classes, I was under the distinct impression that I must have been on crack when I was setting up my schedule at the end of the last school year. Shakespearean Lit was bad enough for the first class of the day. Then to add insult to injury, I threw Calculus on after that, followed by gym class.

  Aside from giving myself a migraine before eleven in the morning, the first two classes were fairly uneventful. Gym class threw a monkey wrench of weird into the day, though. Extreme volleyball was what the coaches, apparently wanting to see someone bleed before lunch, had decided on to keep us busy for today. They separated us by hair color, reds and blonds on one team, dark haired kids on the other. That meant Jynxx and I were on the same side of the net.

  How was I going to pull this off in a skirt and combat boots? Like a champ, obviously. A champ with the coordination of a three year old with a sippy cup full of Red Bull. Their third sippy cup of Red Bull, that is.

  For being as big as he was, easily six foot three and a little over two hundred pounds of solid muscle, Jynxx moved pretty quickly. I spaced for a second as the ball was headed right towards me and he dove in front of me to spike it back before it could take out my face.

  “Thanks!” I said, my voice a little shaky with a touch of fear and a healthy dose of embarrassment. I didn’t let my attention wander after that. I stayed on the back line to prevent anyone getting a potential up-skirt shot, and I was doing better than I would have expected. I chalked it up to my lucky combat boots.

  Our side of the net was silent, all of us focused on creaming the crap out of the lighter haired teens. Taunts came from the other side about how we were all freaks and losers and needed to just throw in the towel. Was this a social exercise in segregation and prejudice? Maybe. More importantly, we weren’t going to lose, and they were under the silly impression that they weren’t either. We were up by two points, and there were only ten minutes left before the bell would ring and send me to a study hall before lunch.

  Ideal conditions for a win and gloating rights, until all hell broke loose. Tommy Gunter, a blond boy on the other side of the net, spiked the ball when it came his way. It came hurtling back towards the corner Jynxx and I were holding down. We both dove for it at the same time, crashing into each other hard. I missed the ball entirely, but he nailed it and Mia spiked the ball back over. We scored that last point we needed to secure our victory before the teachers called it.

  Jynxx was still on his feet, but I’d been thrown to the waxed hardwood floor, sliding across it like I’d just bounced off a brick wall. Amidst the cheering of our team mates, he saw that I’d fallen and came to help me to my feet. My arm was aching like hell since it had taken the brunt of my weight when I fell, wanting to maintain my dignity by not showing the entire gym my panties as I toppled over. I felt strength in his hands that could have crushed iron, but he was gentle as he pulled me up. I steadied myself with a hand on his arm for a second, closing my eyes and breathing deeply through my mouth as the room swam around me.

  “Holy shit,” Jynxx said eloquently, the distress in his voice making me look down at my left triceps which was pulsating with pain.

  The whole world around me seemed to slow down as I saw the copious amount of red that was oozing from the wound in my arm. Apparently human flesh couldn’t hold up to the friction of a hardwood floor. It wasn’t huge or deep, but it was bleeding. And there was more blood on the floor. I bit back the bile that tried to force its way out of my stomach and swayed a bit. I never had been good with the sight of my own blood.

  Jynxx held the wound shut with one of his big, warm hands. It didn’t seem to bother him in the slightest. I saw the crimson fluid trickle over his fingers and I had to look away, almost revisiting my breakfast.

  One of the gym teachers, Miss Ring, noticed what was happening and ran over. She usually joked with me, picked on me in a way that was friendly, but now her face was wholly serious. “Get her to the nurse, Davison, before we have to take her to the hospital for blood loss.”

  He nodded and Mia was by my side before we even started moving. “Are you gonna be okay?” she asked. “Can I do anything?”

  I shook my head and leaned heavily on Jynxx. “We’re gonna get to the nurse and see if they can patch this up. If not, can you grab my homework for me for the rest of the day? I’ll text you to let you know how it goes.”

  “Sure thing, ya klutz.”

  Jynxx started walking with me, as fast as we could both manage, the long distance from the gymnasium wing to the nurse’s office. …All the way at the other end of the building. Halfway there, I was starting to slow down and Jynxx stopped dead in his tracks, dark eyes looking into mine for a second. “You’re not going to like this, but it’s necessary. Don’t fight me.”

  “What in the hell are you ta---“ I was interrupted by him leaning down and scooping an arm behind my knees, the other around the back of my shoulders, and he started carrying me. “Hey! Put me down!”

  He had the arm around my back pressing against the gash and just shook his head. “I can walk faster than you right now, and you need to be saving what little strength you’ve got. So shut it.”

  My jaw dropped and my mouth gaped like a fish before reason prevailed and I sighed, relaxing a bit. “Prick,” I said without malice.

&
nbsp; He scoffed. “You love it.” My cheeks burned at that, but I said nothing.

  We got to the nurse’s office much quicker than we would have if I’d been trying to walk on my own. Jynxx hip-checked the door open and we were met at the door by Miss Fawn, a mousy woman with light brown hair and startling violet eyes. “Kacea! What happened?”

  I was carried to one of the beds and the crinkle of paper was loud like the snapping of bones under my weight. I missed the feeling of being in Jynxx’s arms already, and the pain seemed intensely magnified now that he wasn’t holding on to me any longer. Through clenched teeth, I managed to explain the situation as quickly as possible. “Business as usual, Miss Fawn. The gym floor jumped up and bit me.”

  She was rushing about, grabbing antiseptics and gauze, mumbling to herself as she collected everything she needed to patch me up. Jynxx stepped out of the way and I slid back on the bed so I was sitting up. Miss Fawn tugged on a pair of latex gloves and lightly poked and prodded at the wound. I hissed lightly at the examination and she winced like she felt my pain.

  “Sorry, Kacea. Just checking to make sure it isn’t deep enough to need stitches.” Those violet eyes seemed to assess the damage silently before she nodded and poured some iodine onto a cotton ball. “This is going to sting…” With no more preambles, she set to cleaning the wound.

  Sting was an understatement. The salt content in the iodine made it feel like someone was holding a blow torch to my arm. It must have shown on my face, because I felt the warmth of Jynxx’s hand in mine and I squeezed it as hard as I could to keep from grinding my teeth together against the agony. I looked away from it and squeezed my eyes shut to hold back the tears that fought to escape me.

  After a few minutes that dragged on like eternity, I heard Miss Fawn’s voice like it was from a distance. Jynxx lightly shook my uninjured arm and the lights of the room were bright around me when I opened my eyes. “You’re all done now, Kacea.” I brushed back moisture on my cheeks with a shaky hand, nodding my thanks. She gave me instructions on how best to care for the wound and change the dressings and she asked me if I was ok to finish my classes for the day.