Torn from everything they know in the middle of their chess game, two sisters find themselves in grave peril. Equipped with only a gun and their wits, Ann and Irene Parker find themselves in another world, with dangerous beings and a dictating monarchy, against their will. 'It' has been terrorizing the lands for centuries, and though all they want to do is find their way back home, the girls' presence is being looked on as a prophetic sign by the inhabitants of the strange new world they have entered. Unbeknownst to the two girls, 'It' is lying in wait to destroy this new hope of Galaxia's inhabitants and when one of the girls is kidnapped, the other will stop at nothing to save her. If they are to get home, Ann and Irene have to figure out what 'It' is, how to defeat 'It', and each new discovery...has them thinking they're never getting home alive...
Danger's Dance
By Kyla PrellAuthorHouse
Copyright © 2010 Kyla Prell
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-1-4520-1592-7Chapter One
Outside the rain was beating loudly against the windowpanes, the wind howling through the cracks in the wood of the old house as Ann and Irene Parker looked at the chessboard in front of them. The lights flickered every once in a while, but the lantern on the table was lit, so if the power
did go out, they could still see the chessboard—besides, that was really all that mattered to them. Irene was concentrated on the chessboard, her hand on her Bishop, and her younger sister, Ann, lay there on her stomach, her head in her hands on the other end of the board staring at her. They were both rather comfortable on the floor, across from each other, but Ann's eyes betrayed relief when Irene moved her hand a little, her piece in it.
"It's been thirty minutes and you still haven't taken your hand off of your Bishop." Ann told Irene suddenly.
Irene's eyes left the board and she looked directly at her younger sister, making a rather annoyed face. She was going to move her piece when she felt like she was making the right move and that was that. Ann sighed loudly, but smiled a little when Irene did, setting her Bishop in front of her sister's Queen and finally ending her turn—it had taken her long enough as far as Ann was concerned.
"Attack if you dare." Irene told her.
It was then that the lights suddenly went out, and everything was basked in the glow of the lantern, soft gasps coming from the two girls. Their deep brown hair looked shinier in the lantern's glow, and the light was reflecting in their brown eyes as they stared each other down. Then Ann broke the eye contact and she smirked, Irene pretty sure that wasn't the look she wanted her sister to have on her face right then.
"I shall dare." She said, and took the Bishop with her Knight, a smug smile on her face.
"Damn." Irene told her, the happy look on her face completely gone and then she looked at her sister and sighed. "I set it in the wrong square."
Ann rolled her eyes. "That happens a lot with you—you should come up with better excuses ... but still for some reason you always effing win."
Irene flipped her hair playfully and gave a giggle, Ann rolling her eyes but laughing with her sister before making a face. Ann watched as Irene stood up and grasped the lantern, and began to move towards the large staircase. Quick footsteps sounded, and Irene smiled, knowing her sister was right behind her, waiting for her to make the next move and Irene knew it was time to be vocal.
"I'm going down to the cellar to check the fuse box." Irene said softly.
"This whole thing screams 'Slasher' movie to me." Ann whispered harshly. "1) The power goes out, 2) its stormy, and 3) we're alone in the house wandering down to the cellar. Nothing good can come of this, Irene."
Irene smiled and rolled her eyes. "Show some backbone, Ann."
"You know better than I do that the cellar is haunted." Ann protested, keeping close to Irene. "Mr. Poltergeist spends happy times down there, and he loves to scare us."
Irene smiled at her sister's whispering rant as they descended the creaky stairs of the old house slowly. They were both actually quite scared, but Irene was trying to suck it up so she'd look like the brave one, and Ann just wanted to rant. She was pretty close to losing the chess game, so she wanted as much attention away from that as possible—even if it meant talking about Mr. Poltergeist.
"Mr. Poltergeist is just as afraid of us as we are of him." Irene answered her sister with a small shrug. "I'm sure he's afraid every time we go down into the cellar and show our faces, Ann."
"Whatever you say, Irene." She said rolling her eyes.
Irene grasped her hand even though she had been determined not to be in the least bit afraid, and Ann smiled a little—Irene was just as scared of the old house in the dark as she was. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, they jumped slightly as an ominous shadow went past them quickly, and something creaked in the distance. Ann was pretty certain that they weren't alone in the cellar, and Irene just swallowed and tried to ignore it.
"'Slasher' movie." Ann repeated in a whisper Irene almost couldn't make out.
Irene made a face. "I heard you the first time, I agree with you, now shut-up."
Ann clamped her mouth shut, and held onto her sister for support as they reached the door to the basement, both of them pausing for a moment. They knew that they would have to go through the basement in order to get to the cellar—it would be even more dark and scary in there, and they didn't like it one bit. The house was scary enough without the power going out and cutting them off from the rest of the world forcing them to venture into the utter darkness.
"Must we check the fuse box?" Ann asked suddenly.
The minute her sister's words sank in, Irene realized that she wasn't so sure anymore. She wanted light more than Ann did right then, but she didn't really want to go down into the dark scary basement, and then venture through it to the even darker, scarier cellar, with nothing but a lantern as a weapon. The only good news that was keeping Irene even partially sane was that they weren't blonde ... and Ann was the funny one so she'd die first.
"Maybe we should head back." Irene told her sister with a small shrug like it was nothing. "This just doesn't seem right."
"I agree." Ann said quickly, nodding her head vigorously.
Just as they turned to go back towards the stairs, another shadow went past them, causing them to jump backwards yet again ... only this time into something warm ... and tall. It was definitely a human being and had it been one of their parents, they would have said something, so the girls were pretty positive that there was an intruder. If there was one thing that the two of them were certain of right then, it was that they were not alone, and they were definitely not safe.
They were grasping each other's hands so tightly that they were cutting off each other's circulation, and their breaths were caught in their throats. All they could do was think, "we had thought we were alone in the house and we were terribly mistaken". Suddenly, their senses kicked in, and Irene realized that no matter what, she had to save Ann from her inevitable first death.
Though Irene was the first to scream, Ann was the first to move, and took off towards the stairs and dragged Irene with her—that self-preservation kicked in and she was trying to save herself. Then Irene's legs caught up with her, and Ann screamed when her vocal chords caught up, and the two ran all the way up the old creaky stairs where Irene ended up dropping the lantern once they got to the top. It thudded on each step, and then the two were in complete and total darkness as the flame was extinguished—so much for trying to stay out of utter darkness.
There was no time to dwell on their lack of light, so the two continued down the long hall, and each took in a sharp inhale of breath as they heard the fading sound of the lantern scraping across the floor. Places to hide in their large, old house were vast, but the closest room was their parents' bedroom, so they hurried in and went straight for the closet. It seemed like the most logical place to hide, even though it might be the intruder's first guess if they actually made it up the stairs after them—still it was a place to collect their thoughts and figure out their next move.
"Someone's here." Irene told Ann as they huddled together under their father's tux shirts, knowing how stupid she had sounded stating the obvious like that.
"No effing duh." Ann replied in an annoyed whisper, wondering how her sister even functioned this way.
Irene sighed and nodded. "Let's just be quiet, and search for Dad's gun."
"He wouldn't leave it in the same place as the bullets." Ann reminded her, trying to think on her feet.
"The bullets ... the bullets are in the drawer under their bed." Irene recollected and then glanced at her sister.
Ann's eyes widened. "I'm not going out there."
"One of us has too." Irene protested, even though she knew it was going to have to be her ... she just had to make her legs move first.
"Not me—you've lived longer! You go out there, and I'll get the gun." Ann told her older sister firmly.
Irene nodded slowly, took a deep breath, and then crept out of the closet and made her way over to her parents' king-sized bed. She groped in the dark for the drawers, and found them right as the two heard the first creak. That could only mean one thing, and Ann and Irene were then both fully alert when their hearts leapt into their chests and their brains clicked. Whoever was in the house was definitely after something and neither Ann nor Irene wanted to find out what it was that the intruder was looking for.
"Crap!" Ann cried in a shouted whisper. "They're actually coming up the stairs!"
"I'm going as fast as I can!" Irene shot back hurriedly, feeling a little rushed.
She opened the drawer and felt around, the creaking of the stairs making her heart beat faster, and faster, Ann closing her eyes for a moment and praying it was all just a nightmare. Was it really too much to ask in a life or death situation, for things to actually come easily? Was it too much to ask for, for Irene to just find the bullets since Ann had already found the gun?
After a couple moments of groping for the bullets, Irene found them and shut the drawers quickly, scurrying over to the closet and shutting the door swiftly and softly behind her. She was a little worried that she had shut the drawers under the bed a little too loudly, but so far so good. The intruder was still climbing up the stairs, and all Ann and Irene had was a gun and a large Ziploc bag full of ammo—good thing their father had taken them both to the shooting range before so they knew what they were doing.
"They just hit 23 ... only four stairs left." Ann said, her voice betraying the fear that Irene was feeling all over.
Irene nodded at her. "I know—just hand me the gun and I'll load it and turn off the safety."
Ann thrust the gun at her, and Irene loaded it just as the creaking stopped—why had the creaking stopped? Both of their heads turned in the direction of the noise and they found themselves holding our breaths, frozen in fear of what the intruder was going to decide to do. Either they had given up the chase, or they had finally made it all the way up the stairs and were now at the end of the hall, nearing the two as they were frozen there.
"They're going to head down the hall soon." Ann said, her voice cracking, even though it was a whisper.
"Once they hit the creak in the middle of the hall, we'll know they're close then." Irene told her, returning to what she was doing because she knew that the gun was their only hope now.
Irene had just finished loading the gun and was in the middle of turning off the safety when the creak in the middle of the hallway sounded, causing the girls' heads to snap in the direction of the sound. At first they felt their hearts pounding in their chests, but then they both turned to each other and planted themselves against the back wall of the closet as hard as they could, and they heard a click. Neither of them had been expecting it, and yet something about the fact that it was coming from the wall behind them made them actually feel a little calm—like they had a way out.
Still, Irene had to bite her tongue to keep from screaming, and Ann made a slight squeak as Irene breathed out loudly even though she really hadn't wanted to be loud in the slightest. Irene felt the wall behind her and found a latch that she was pretty sure hadn't ever been there before. When she unlocked it, Ann grasped her hand and Irene pushed the door down as they heard the stairs creak again, but the door in the closet creaked loudly and it thudded on the carpeted floor of the closet.
Ann clambered in and Irene followed her, as they heard a scatter of feet pounding down the hall—whoever had decided to break in, had definitely decided to give up, until Irene had made far too much noise with the door in the closet. They really had to save themselves now with the footsteps getting closer and closer, so Irene put the door back up and it was just as noisy going up as it was coming down. Ann nudged her sister and Irene nodded hastily, fumbling around with her hands, finding a latch and latching it from the inside so that they were safe from the intruder.
"I never knew this was here." Ann said aloud softly.
Irene turned back to her and shook her head. "Neither did I ... what is 'this' exactly?"
Ann bit her lip. "I'm not sure. Should we continue down it?"
"Yeah." Irene said slowly, trying to nod affirmatively. "Why are we still whispering, by the way?"
"Because they're still on the other side, smart one." Ann replied, raising the volume of her whisper ever so slightly to show Irene that she was annoying her with her stupid questions.
"Right." Irene agreed with a small nod.
The two of them both nodded slowly, and with Ann leading the way, they crawled through the space because they honestly wanted to be as far away from whomever was in their parents' bedroom now as they could. The crawl space was wooden and sturdy, and incredibly dark, making Irene feel a little more uncomfortable knowing they had to grope around in the dark yet again just to find an exit. They went on for what seemed like hours which was making them both rather cranky before Ann stopped suddenly and Irene ran into her—the least she could have done was warned her sister before she stopped and made her run into her and hurt herself!
"There's another latch." Ann swallowed as Irene ran her fingers through her bangs. "Should I open it?"
Irene nodded hastily. "Please do, I'm feeling claustrophobic in here actually."
"What if it leads to where we don't want to go?" Ann asked suddenly, unsure of whether she could push this door open or not.
"I don't think we really have a choice now, Ann. On the bright side I still have the gun, so we'll have to take the chance and go out there ... it's probably just another room in the house." Irene told her, puffing out some air and trying to remain calm. "Just, stay in front of me where I can see you at all times, all right?"
"All right." Ann promised her, hoping that when they got into the other room, they'd be able to get out and get help.
Irene listened closely as Ann unlatched the latch, and then she swung the door down with purpose, cringing at the sound that it made. It was just as creaky as the other one, but it landed on grass, and the sun was shining, and birds were chirping ... that was definitely not supposed to be the case here. How could they go from a closet in their parents' room to outside in the sunlight? It had been raining and thundering and it was nighttime!
"Are we dreaming?" Ann asked suddenly, not wanting to actually climb out until she knew where they were.
"Why would we be having the same dream?" Irene asked her sister with an annoyed tone.
"Good point." Ann agreed, climbing out into the open.
Irene followed right behind her and then turned around and latched the door again, closing it tightly to keep whoever was following them far away from them. It was well hidden by bushes, and so the two made their way out of them, but were a little noisier than they had hoped to be. When they had made it out in the open, the two of them opened their mouths in awe.
They were definitely outside, surrounded by trees with a slight breeze blowing across their skin. It was bright and warm, the sun just beating down on their faces and warming every nerve in their bodies, making them feel rather pleasant. For a moment, the two had completely forgotten that they were escaping for their lives, and they simply took in the melody of the birds, and looked up at the sun.
"This is something I never would have guessed we'd find in a million years." Irene told Ann as she looked around. "It's like ... a completely different world."
Ann nodded slowly. "Almost like Narnia, only ... you know ... it's not winter all the time here ..."
Irene smiled a little and then she and Ann began to pick branches out of each others' hair, brushing themselves off since they felt safe. They needed to find help, so when they were a little more adjusted they began to trek through the forest, the gun still firmly in Irene's right hand even though she was no longer tense or scared. She and Ann were feeling pretty good about their luck, even though Ann groaned, causing Irene to look at her and raise her eyebrows in confusion.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Danger's Danceby Kyla Prell Copyright © 2010 by Kyla Prell. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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