The Dryad’s Kiss 102
The Dryad’s Kiss
The Chronicles of the Mighty Finn Book #1
By R. Scott VanKirk
Copyright 2011 R. Scott VanKirk
Cover Art by R. Scott VanKirk
Inaccuracies by R. Scott VanKirk
ISBN: 978-1-62154-520-0
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please g to Amazon.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Other titles by R. Scott VanKirk
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/rscottvankirk
The Chronicles of the Mighty Finn
Magical Urban Fantasy
#1 – The Dryad’s Kiss
#2 – The Shadow’s Touch (mid 2012)
Maxwell Faust
Weird and twisted tales of damnation and redemption
#1 – The Devil Made Me Do It. (mid 2012)
Loser’s Paradise (With Randall Armour)
Space Opera
#1 – Loser’s Legacy (fall 2012)
#2 – Loser’s Retreat (fall 2012)
#3 – Loser’s Paradise (fall 2012)
Princess Courtney
Magical Stories for children 5-12
Princess Courtney’s Bad Day (short)
Princess Courtney and the Treasure Room (novella)
Princess Courtney and the Dark Simmons (novella)
Princess Courtney and the Niggles (2013)
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Dream Trees, Real Jerks
Chapter 2 Save A Tree
Chapter 3 Dream Weaver
Chapter 4 Back In The World
Chapter 5 Expedition
Chapter 6 Showdown at Frankies
Chapter 7 Black and Wight
Chapter 8 Mounds of Fun
Chapter 9 Welcome Back
Chapter 10 Be the Bear
Chapter 11 Hangover
Chapter 12 The Dream Police
Chapter 13 Mounds again
Chapter 14 Mounds of Messiness
Chapter 15 Devil’s Mound
Chapter 16 Waiting for Justice
Chapter 17 The Warrior’s Apprentice
Chapter 18 Reality Check
Chapter 19 Getting to Know Her
Chapter 20 Finals Week, Monday, Tuesday
Chapter 21 Final’s Week - Wednesday
Chapter 22 Finals Week – Thursday and Done.
Chapter 23 Finals Week - TGIF
Chapter 24 Weekend Pass
Chapter 25 Troubled Teens
Chapter 26 The Eyes that Bind
Chapter 27 Drain
Chapter 28 Rude Awakening
Chapter 29 Little Soldier
Chapter 30 Home Again
Chapter 31 Distress Call
Chapter 32 Distressed Damsel
Chapter 33 Mission Impossible
Chapter 34 Crystal Clarity
Chapter 35 Gone With the Wind
Chapter 36 If a tree falls…
Chapter 37 Once More, Out of the Darkness …
Chapter 38 Inquiring minds want to know…
Chapter 39 Broken Home
Chapter 40 Final Fantasy
Dedication
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Other titles by R. Scott VanKirk
Dedication
To my wife Maria who stands by me through thick and thin and doesn’t realize how beautiful she really is, inside and out.
Special Thanks (in no particular order)
Beverly VanKirk, my mother who is my cheerleader, Jonna Rathburn and Kimberly Kinrade for their editing skills, Jennifer Adkisson for encouragement and input, Mike McGee and Randy Armour and Peter Frost for their feedback and brainstorming and all my friends who let me browbeat them into reading my first drafts. It turns out that most of my friends don’t have any free time to read. Who knew?
Special Note
While I have taken every effort to write this book in grammatically correct English, if you find an error in the book, please let me know so I can fix it for others. I welcome all comments and suggestions. You can visit me at my web page to see what I am up to at http://www.scottvankirk.com
Chapter Dream Trees, Real Jerks
The night I saved my beloved oak tree from my dad’s chainsaw, she thanked me.
In my dream, I sat contentedly on my branch. My oak had many branches and I sat on each of them at one time or another, but this branch was mine. Here, the bole at its base cradled and protected me from falling. The bark of the trunk had split to make room for my spine so I could lean back comfortably and bask in the peace of many perfect moments.
Together, the gentle breeze, the bright sun, and the canopy of leaves created dancing motes of light all around me. My tree separated me from the world, but didn’t isolate me from it. The solidity of the living tree beneath me connected me to the earth and through the rustling leaves, I could see an achingly deep and beautiful blue sky - the kind we don't often get in Ohio. I basked in the familiar idyllic peace surrounding me.
My hand caressed the ridges and whorls of the bole beneath me, polished smooth from years of my attentions. As usual, my fondness for my tree reflected back to me. This time, though, felt different. The tree’s warm presence not only flowed up beneath me and behind me, but beside me as well.
I turned to look and joy filled me when I recognized her. It seemed I had known her long before we met. Her emerald eyes grabbed my attention. I felt like I could fall forever into their deep green depths as endless as the blue sky above me.
Unlike the sky, these eyes existed just for me. An exotic pixy-like face framed those impossibly large eyes and set the stage for her full, smiling lips. In turn, waves of luxurious spring green hair framed her face, hair that evoked the color of new leaves limned by the sun. Her beauty made me catch my breath, and when she saw my reaction, her face lit with mischievous promise.
That's all that I remember of the dream, but it’s promise carried me lightly through the day. Unfortunately, reality has a gleeful way of wrenching you back to the mud.
The next morning I found myself floating contentedly through the high school's hallways in my balloon of memory. I came around a corner and ran right into the pin of reality. I landed hard when I saw our local skinhead wanna-be, Erik Parmely, and two of his goon-squad, Chester and Ricky, circling someone out for their own special brand of entertainment.
Erik had moved into the area about a year earlier, and he already led what we called the Quartet of Evil, even though five of them ran in the pack if you counted Erik. Pentete or Pentagon of Evil just didn’t carry the same ‘je ne sais quoi.’ Anyway, Erik must have been charismatic to attract a following while looking like a short, bald ape. He just terrified me and I made it a point to stay away from him.
This time, they had singled out Jen, my best friend Gregg’s little sister. Erik puckered his lips as he leaned towards Jen and crooned, “Come on little monkey girl, let me show you what it’s like to kiss a man!” As soon as my stomach figured out what my brain was planning to do, it threatened to pack up and leave through whatever orifice presented itself.
Acting before my stomach or prudence could catch up, I stepped between Erik and Jen and pushed him back. “Leave her alone Erik, you’re being a jerk!”
Erik’s eyes went wide in surprise. His head came up to about my nose, and I found myself looking down on his shiny bald pate, his heavy brow overhanging his glaring, fierce blue eyes. The malice in those eyes told me that perhaps I had been a bit hasty with my shove. Unfortunately, I instinctively dropped my gaze, and it landed on his mountain-gorilla-sized arms. The thought of the damage those arms could do started me sweating.
Erik stepped up to me, and somehow, the fact that he had to look up at me didn’t seem to intimidate him at all. His face changed from happy malice to scowling anger. “What the fuck is it to you, Morgenstern?”
I swallowed hard as I realized I had just painted a big target on my forehead. I tried to backpedal. “Uh… Look, Erik, she’s not doing anything to you, she’s just a kid.”
My fear chummed the waters of Erik’s inner shark and he stepped into me with a hard shove. “I said, what the fuck is it to you, fat boy? Huh?” He shoved me again. I tried to back away but one of his goons slipped behind me and stopped me before I could make my getaway. This suited Erik just fine. “Are you gonna do something about it Morgenstern?” Shove. “Huh?” Shove. The goon behind me mimicked his hero’s words, and slapped me on the side of the head at the same time.
The stinging slap emphasized painfully where this was going. More like hyenas than sharks, the pack had found better prey—me. Fear clenched my gut, but I did the only thing that popped into my head - take out the leader, and the rest would run away.
Yeah, right.
I charged Erik. His surprised look must have been comical, but then so was my fighting style. Fear of pain and confrontation had always kept me from getting into a fight, so I just tried to grab him, and ram him backward into the lockers. I really had no idea what else to do.
Of course, Erik loved to fight and wasn’t taken by surprise long enough to do me any good. He punched me in the side of my head but running into the lockers spoiled his aim, and it didn’t connect well enough to register through my terror. I stepped back and took a wild swing at him. Amazingly, my lame punch landed right on his nose! I don’t know whom it surprised more, him or me.
Mr. Schneider, my first year biology teacher, and now my favorite teacher, chose that moment to save me.
“OK, break it up!” he shouted grabbing me and pulling me away. He pulled too slowly, and Erik swung a punch that hit me right in the eye. I staggered back into Schneider’s arms.
I could hear the anger and exasperation in Schneider’s voice. “Erik, I said that’s enough!”
At that moment, Chester yowled in pain and Erik scowled. “Yeah, well he started it!”
I didn’t answer right away. The stars floating around my head occupied all my attention.
Schneider pushed me upright and looked over at Chester. Apparently, Chester had grabbed Jen when the fight started and released her as soon as Schneider showed up. Jen had used that time productively to stomp on his foot. She was wearing her favorite black leather boots, so it must have hurt.
Erik used the distraction as well. He stepped into me and punched me in the gut. The new pain took my mind off my eye as I doubled over and tried to draw a breath.
Schneider yelled, “I said, that’s enough!” He pulled me away from Erik. “Parmely, back off! That goes for you too, Miss Washington.”
While I struggled with my uncooperative diaphragm I heard Jen yell, “Parmely and his dickwads started it!”
“That’s a lie! He hit me first! It’s not my fault!”
I finally managed to draw a shuddering breath and Mr. Schneider put his hand on my back and said, “You going to be okay, Morgenstern?
I struggled upright and mutely nodded my head. Erik’s face had turned blotchy red with anger. “He hit me first!”
Schneider locked eyes with me, “Is that true Morgenstern?”
I didn’t trust myself to speak yet so I just shook my head no. I shrank back when it looked like Erik was going to hit me again.
Mr. Schneider saw it too and had no problem meeting Erik in the eyes. “Enough, Erik! What have you been told about fighting?”
Erik looked down at his shoes, suddenly submissive. “I’m sorry, Mr. Schneider, but it wasn’t my fault”
He didn't fool Schneider for a minute. “I don’t think that’s good enough this time, Mr. Parmely.” Then he turned around at the growing crowd of onlookers and asked loudly, “Who here saw what happened?”
The only person who stepped up was Jen. Her eyes were red with unshed tears. “These fuckheads started it. Finn was just trying to help me.
Schneider raised his eyebrow at Jen’s command of the seamier side of the English language, and then he rounded us all up and marched us to the principal’s office.
Our school considered fighting a serious offense, especially after the Chardon and other school shootings. We sat in the waiting room for what seemed like forever. Erik sat glaring at me, his eyes promising bad things. Jen sat still and withdrawn, and me, I battled with my need to cry. I’m proud to say success was mine; nary a tear flowed down my cheek. It’s the little victories that really mean the most. Of course, the aftermath of the adrenalin rush continued to make me feel spaghetti legged. On top of that, the smacks to the head had given me a roaring headache and my stomach still churned, so the victory over my tears struck me as sort of pyrrhic.
After an interminable wait while Schneider talked behind a closed door with the principle, the principle's terrifying secretary told Jen to go on in. An agonizing, but short, interval later, she came out of the room of doom, closed the door behind her, and fled the office without meeting anyone's eyes.
The secretary just looked at me and nodded her head toward the principal’s door.
I tried (probably unsuccessfully) not to let my fear show as I walked in. The principal sat behind his large, ornate wooden desk as if royalty. The principle might have examined a bug with more enthusiasm, but thankfully, Mr. Schneider, standing with arms crossed in the far corner, gave me an encouraging smile. The principle granted me a terrifying, but short audience. He let me give my version of the story, nodded to me, and said, “Thank you, Mr. Morgenstern, you may go.”
“That’s it?” I asked surprised.
“Yes, your story checks out with Miss Washington. This is not the first time Mr. Parmely has been in this kind of trouble. You may go.”
I blurted out a thank-you and fled. When I got into the hall, Jen was there waiting for me. She she cradled her books to her chest with both arms.