Beginnings (The Trifectus Series - Book One) Read online

  The Trifectus Series

  Beginnings

  Logan Byrne

  All rights reserved

  Books two and three, the complete series, are now available!

  Copyright 2012 by Logan Byrne

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblances of characters to actual persons, living or dead, are purely coincidental. The author, Logan Byrne, holds exclusive rights to this work. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited.

  No part of this book can be reproduced in any form or by electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without the permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer who may quote short excerpts in a review.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter One

  Beginnings

  “JAMES!” I yelled frantically as I ran as fast as I could to his side.

  Bullets were flying everywhere as I ran towards the man I loved. He was hurt, but the soldiers didn’t care. They targeted his body as if they wanted to end his life just for being different from them. As I ran towards him, men grabbed me and held me back as my father passed me and approached James.

  “Stay away from him!” I screamed.

  “Honey, this is for your own good,” my father said.

  “You don’t know what’s good for me!” I screamed.

  “You don’t want to get mixed up with these people,” he said.

  As I closed my tear-filled eyes, I remembered what James had told me earlier. He said that no matter what happened to him, he would love me forever. As my father held up his pistol, something happened. Before I tell you, let me start from the beginning.

  My name is Juliet LaVoe. I’m a normal 17-year-old girl living in a not-so-normal world. Well, it was normal at one point, but ever since the revolution, things have changed. The government has decided that the people cannot take care of ourselves, and that they could take care of us better than we could. Some have called the government “tyrannical” or “oppressive,” a government that doesn’t want their people to have many freedoms. We are told when we can go out, what is and isn’t acceptable, and are fed propaganda of who is and isn’t our friend.

  I now go to what is known as an “elitist school.” My father, Colonel Arnold LaVoe, is the head of the M.A.D. unit, or the Mortals Against Destruction. M.A.D. is a new branch of the military that directly fights against the “others.” The “others” is the name the government uses for those beings who aren’t like us: the vampires, werewolves and androidians. You see, people are afraid of them. After all, wouldn’t you be afraid of spooky creatures from afar? Yeah, I thought so too.

  It was a balmy August afternoon when I started at The Jefferson School for the Elite. My father drove me to school that day. It was sort of a family tradition for him to take me to my first day of school. He was never around, so it gave him some sense of bonding and a way to tell himself he was around.

  “Are you excited to start at your new school?” he asked enthusiastically.

  “I guess,” I said.

  “You know I had to pull a lot of strings to get you here. They don’t just take anyone.”

  “Well, then I hope I don’t let you down,” I said sarcastically.

  “Me neither,” he said as we pulled up.

  My father was that type of man. The type who always had to get little digs on people to make himself feel better. Ever since his promotion, he has been on a really high horse. He thinks he is some super-powerful military man when in reality he is just a glorified babysitter. As I got out of the car, I saw a group of snotty girls standing there laughing and making fun of the unpopular kids that walked in.

  I’ve always had to deal with this, the bullying. Being a military kid isn’t easy. Moving around from school to school, making and losing friends from right to left. I have never found it easy, and there is always that group of people who try to make your life as difficult as possible until the new poor soul comes to town. I tried to avoid them as I walked up, but my presence soon was known.

  “Oooh, looks like Christmas came early,” said Brittany.

  “I asked for a new car, not a ratty dog!” exclaimed Ashley.

  As I put my head down, I got stopped.

  “Leave her alone. Don’t you two have anything better to do?” yelled Ariel.

  “Hi, my name’s Ariel,” she said. “Don’t worry about them, they hate everyone.”

  “Thank you,” I said confusedly. “My name is Juliet.”

  “Nice to meet you, Juliet. Do you know what your first class is?”

  “I have history with Mr. Quigley.”

  “Ouch. Quigley is a mean old man, but a great teacher. Let me show you to his room.”

  “Thank you so much.”

  As I walked with Ariel to see the famous Mr. Quigley, I saw the most breathtaking guy I had ever seen.

  “Who—who is that?” I whispered.

  “Oh, him? That’s James Sullivan,” said Ariel. “He and his sister Emma go here.”

  “He’s cute,” I said.

  “Yeah, he’s pretty cute. Brittany has been trying to get with him for the past year. If you are interested in him, I would suggest you get rid of that thought now.”

  Right as I was about to ask why, the bell rang with intensity.

  “Here you are,” said Ariel. “Mr. Quigley’s history class.”

  “Thank you,” I said with a smile.

  I walked in to his room swiftly. As I did, I noticed dozens of eyes staring at me. This is the new girl dilemma, as I like to call it. Everybody stares at you like you are some kind of twelve-armed freak walking in. I hurriedly walked to the back of the room and took the first seat I could find. Just as I put my bag down, all of my books fell out and covered the aisle. As I tried to hurry and pick them up, I heard a voice.

  “Do you need some help?”

  As I looked up, I saw him. James. I stared right into his deep hazel eyes as his amber hair draped over his head.

  “Hello?” he said. “Do you need any help?”

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” I said.

  He knelt down and started picking up my books. We reached for the history book at the same time, our hands meeting atop a picture of Napoleon Bonaparte. His pale skin was cool to the touch, almost as if he had been sitting outside in the snow. I got goose bumps on my body as I retracted my hand quickly. He looked at me almost as if he was sad I pulled away.

  “Take your seats, everyone,” Mr. Quigley said.

  The entire class groaned as Mr. Quigley pulled some papers out of his desk drawer.

  “Since it is the first day of classes, I will be giving a super-fun pop quiz to you all so I can gauge your understanding.”

  Great. Not only was I having a quiz in my very first class at my new school, but now I also lost a moment with James that I might never get back. As I took my quiz, I couldn’t help but look at James from the corner of my eye. He was everything I wanted, everything I needed. As I took my quiz, all I could think about was him.

  As the rest of the day went on, I tried looking for James everywhere. There was something about him: something fascinating. It was as if I couldn’t take my mind off his beautiful face.

  I didn’t eat lunch this day. When you are new, it isn’t easy even to go to lunch, let alone eat. I always saw lunch as a sort of popularity co
ntest anyway. You could be judged on the people you ate lunch with, and that terrified me. What if I made the wrong choice and the rest of the year was met with laughs and the all-too-fun status of being a loser?

  When school ended, I came home to arguing. My parents were at it again. Ever since my dad got his promotion, his hours have been longer and more frequent. All he and my mother do now is fight about the most trivial of things. They can turn a discussion about what’s for dinner into World War 3.

  “Oh, hi honey, how was your first day of school?” my mother said excitedly.

  “It was good. I made a new friend.”

  “Oh, really? Who is that?”

  “Her name is Ariel. She is really nice and showed me to my first class.”

  “Oh, dear, that is so good.”

  I really didn’t like talking to my parents that often. We were so disconnected that it felt like we had nothing at all in common. I grabbed my bag and went up to my room.

  Just as I was taking my things upstairs, my phone beeped. It was Marcus. Marcus is this guy I met online. I secretly play Bubble Power Pets online, and Marcus is a fellow bubblenaut that I met in the game. He lives twenty minutes away from me, but we were never able to meet up. I thought that since I was moving here maybe I would be lucky for once and have a friend right off the bat, but Marcus won’t even video chat with me. It is like he just wants to talk through texting or the game.

  “Hey, u getting on 2night?” Marcus said.

  “Not 2night. I have 2 much hw to do,” I said.

  “Alright well I’ll c u later.”

  I went into my room and threw my things down. Having homework on your first day of school should be outlawed. It was immoral to do that to students just coming off a long summer break.

  As the time passed, I couldn’t stop thinking of James. While I did my homework, all I could think about was his soft hand brushing against mine. Was he interested in me? Did he like me? I decided to take a break halfway through my homework to stand up and stretch. I got up and walked around my room and saw something out of my window. James was atop the roof of our neighbors’ house. As I rubbed my eyes, he was gone. Was he there or was I just imagining things? I had been up studying for hours; maybe it was all just my imagination. I tried not to think too much of it. After all, if he were there, he wouldn’t be gone after I rubbed my eyes for two seconds.

  I went over to my bed and snuggled under my covers. As I lay my head on my pillow, thoughts of James filled my head. My eyes slowly grew heavy as my mind started to drift off. I woke the next morning with a smile graced upon my face. I had vivid dreams of James. I had vivid dreams of a life with him, away from all of this. A life away from the violence, away from the fighting. Just us: together forever.

  I walked to school the next day and decided to take a longer route. I wanted to go around the school and see what everything looked like.

  While walking to a side entrance, I passed by the track field.

  “Good job, Derek!” Coach Dreaden yelled.

  “Run baby run!” shrieked a girl in the stands.

  As I was walking and staring at the girl, I heard a familiar voice.

  “Juliet! Wait up!”

  I turned around and saw Ariel running towards me. She had a giant camera in her hands.

  “Hey, Ariel, what’s with the camera?”

  “Oh, this? I am in the photography club. I take pictures of the sports practices and games.”

  “Who is that guy out there running?” I asked confusedly.

  “Oh, that’s Derek. He is the fastest guy on the team. I hope you’re not interested, though.”

  “Him? No! I was just asking.”

  “Good,” she said. “His girlfriend Cara would kill you if she saw you trying to get with him.”

  Just as Ariel said that, I looked up to see Cara giving me an intense look. It was almost as if she was trying to make my head explode just by giving me a dirty look. I looked away and started walking away with Ariel. Just as we were about to walk into school, my phone beeped.

  “Hey, wut u doin? Wanna play?” Marcus asked.

  “I’m at skool, I can’t,” I replied.

  “Who was that?” Ariel asked.

  “Oh, just this guy Marcus I met online.”

  “Is he cute?” she asked.

  “I’m not sure. I’ve never seen him.”

  Just as we walked in the door, we saw Brittany and Ashley Cornington standing there laughing. This time they made the switch from picking on me to picking on a student teacher. Nobody was off-limits to them. Their father, John Cornington, was a wealthy industrialist who made a fortune after the government turned. Nobody was about to try to take them on, not even the faculty.

  I made my way to my locker and got my books. As I closed the door, I saw a face and jumped back. James was standing there staring at me.

  “Hope I didn’t scare you too badly,” he said, smiling.

  “Oh—no—you didn’t. I was just a little startled.”

  Right as he was about to speak, the bell rang.

  “Well, I better get to class,” he said with a smile.

  I almost melted. His smile resonated through my entire body. What was it about him? Why did he have so much power over me? What made him different from all the other guys here?

  As he walked away, I felt weak. It was as if he had my soul by a thread. His energy was my energy and we were complete only when we were together. I wanted nothing more than to feel his soft, cool lips pressed against mine. I wanted to feel his hand run through my hair with passion. I walked to class wanting more. Wanting more of him.

  At lunch, I was still thinking of him. As I was standing there entranced, I felt a tap on my shoulder.

  “Hello? Juliet? Come sit with us.”

  It was Ariel. I walked with her over to a table filled with a hodgepodge of different people. Everyone from preppy, to nerdy, to jocks and artists sat at her table.

  “Everyone, this is Juliet. Juliet, this is Taylor, Steve, Ryan, Greg, Carrie and Melissa,” Ariel said.

  “Hi everyone, nice to meet you,” I said, still focused on James.

  As I sat down, I couldn’t stop looking for James. Was he here? Was he thinking of me? Just as I gave up hope looking, there he was. He was walking in with his sister, Emma. Emma was two years younger than James. She had pale skin and red hair, and seemed very chatty. Even though Emma was sort of an outcast at school, James always looked after her and made sure she was okay. He loved her, and it showed.

  Just as James and Emma sat down, Derek, Cara and a few others came in shouting and howling. They were amped up and yelling how they were going to win the meet this weekend. Just as fast as Derek and James locked eyes, the tension shifted. They stared at each other with intensity, almost as if they had known and hated each other for a while.

  “What’s up with them?” I asked.

  “Derek and James? They have been feuding for years. Nobody really knows why,” Taylor said.

  Just as fast as they locked eyes, they both looked away and went on with their lunch. I looked around the room and noticed Cara staring at me. She didn’t seem happy. As we finished lunch, I prayed that James would look at me once more so that I could get that rush again.

  After lunch, we had the pleasure of going to gym. It wasn’t smart, really. Put a bunch of teenagers in a room together to exercise right after lunch. We had the rope today. Everybody moaned when Mr. Callahan told us, but I was focused on something else. Ever since I was a kid, I have been terrified of heights. While everyone was moaning at the thought of doing physical activity, I was moaning at the thought of making a fool of myself to everyone.

  Cara was up first. She cracked her knuckles and then jumped higher than I had seen anyone jump before. She grabbed the rope and climbed it with ease. As she rang the bell above, everybody was cheering with awe at her ability. Next up was Ariel. Everyone cheered her on as she made her way up the rope. She was no Cara, but she did a great job. As Mr. Callahan
was going down the roster to pick who was next, he called my name. My happiness dropped and I felt like my heart was racing a mile a minute. As I made my way over to the rope, my friends from lunch made an effort to cheer for me and give me encouragement. I placed my clammy, blotchy hands on the rope as sweat raced down my body. I closed my eyes and started climbing. I was halfway up when I stupidly looked down. The length to the floor stretched and I felt as though I was one hundred feet in the air. I clung to the rope, but I couldn’t hold my body weight up any longer. I let go and fell.

  While I was falling, a million thoughts came into my head. I only dropped for a second or two, but it felt like an hour in my head. Suddenly, the fall was over. I wasn’t on the ground. I wasn’t even hurt. I opened my eyes and saw James. He was holding me. He caught me.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  “Yyy-yeah,” I said, embarrassed.

  As everyone rushed around me to see if I was hurt, I couldn’t stop staring into his eyes. He looked back into mine and I could feel his soul staring right back at me. I could feel his essence dancing with mine in perfect harmony, as if it was meant to be. I knew he was meant to be mine. I knew I was supposed to be with him.

  Going home was the worst part of my day. For most kids, going to school is dreadful and painful. For me, however, I would take sitting in a classroom for seven hours a day over being in this dysfunctional house any day. I came home to the typical situation. Mom and dad were fighting about pointless things. We used to be happy. We used to be a close family unit. Now, we are just three people living in a house together. Roommates at best: not a true family. We used to take vacations and trips all over. With my father being in the military, we got to travel the world. That was when I was five. Now, all we do is fight and see who can scream the loudest.

  That night I needed a change. School was stressing me out, and home life wasn’t helping much either. I decided to log on to Bubble Power Pets and relieve some stress by bashing some blompers. When I logged on, I was happy to see Marcus was online.