Avalon: The Magical Kingdom Begins

Book One: The Nocturnalist

Emily has a secret. Adriane discovers a gift. Kara holds the key to something she never even believed possible.

A/N: This story starts when Kara, Emily, and Adriane are seventeen years old. I'm setting it close to present date, but it may work its way farther into the future. And it's part of a series.

Note: I don't own the Characters, etc.

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Prologue

12 am. Zach, seated in his other-world tree house, sips a glass of wine with Marlin, who looks tired. Neither speaks.

1 am. Fifteen miles away, a five-year-old little girl leans back against a tree, clutches the jewel in her hand tightly, and fights to keep back tears. She hears someone come up behind her. Everything goes black. A fairy in the tree watches a shadow stoop, pick up the girl, and carry her away.

2 am. Kara and Lyra finally stop discussing ideas for the new Ravenswood fundraiser. Both drift into an uneasy sleep. Kara has a nightmare.

3 am. Emily Fletcher gets up, looks in her bathroom mirror, and stares at her stomach. Her reflection swirls before her eyes and a pair of bright red silted eyes are staring at her. She gasps, screams, and falls to the floor. Her mother hears the scream, sees her lying there, and rushes her to the doctor. When the doctors run tests and tell her that her daughter is pregnant, she stares at them in shock and says, "No, that's impossible. Emily's never even had a boyfriend!" Just shows what she knows about her daughter's magical life.

4 am. Tanya wakes from a troubled slumber. She grabs her fortune-cards from her bedside drawer and lights a candle. She shuffles the deck three times and arranges the cards thinking, past, present, future, hopes and fears. She turns the cards over. The Lovers. The Devil. The Wheel of Fortune. The Magician, reversed. She stares at the cards and runs to the speaking mirrors. Cards never lie.

5 am. Adriane gets up and makes herself a cup of hot chocolate. She can't sleep, she feels like crying. She hates the weakness. She turns on the TV and falls asleep watching some show. Can't even remember what it is.

6 am. Dreamer, lying in the glade, sees the porthole open. A shadow shoots out and vanishes among the shadows. He growls deep in his throat.

7 am. Dawn.

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A/N: That is the merprince's name, right?