Girl Who Could Fly (eBook)

Geof Johnson (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025 | 1. Auflage
311 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
979-8-3178-2656-7 (ISBN)

Infos

Dane Gunderson has heard the rumors about a girl who can fly without wings. He's seen pictures of her on social media, her long blonde hair streaming behind her and wearing a dress like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, but he's sure it's all a hoax. He doesn't believe in magic. He's too practical. He comes from a practical family. Dane is also painfully shy. He has always kept his head down-quiet, invisible, forgettable. But when a stranger appears on the first day of school with a dire warning, Dane learns he's not as ordinary as he thought and magic is real. There's supernatural talent buried deep inside him, and someone wants him dead because of it. His world is further rocked on the same day when he's assigned a history project with the last person he expected to be paired with, the girl of his dreams, Haley Kovac. She's beautiful, smart, and popular, but guarded and mistrustful. Their uneasy partnership is tested when the danger and the mystery deepen. People begin to die, and Dane and Haley are increasingly forced to rely on each other to survive the storm that's coming, a storm driven by ancient magic and evil. The Girl Who Could Fly is a fantasy novel for young adults.

Geof Johnson is an author and musician who lives in Atlanta GA, and no, he doesn't want to sell you his house.

Textauszug

Chapter 1

 

The first time the Girl Who Could Fly actually flew, it was without wings. The second and third times were, too. In fact, all of her flights were like that. She wouldn’t learn until years later that this wasn’t technically possible, but as a young child, it seemed so natural, and she loved it more than anything.

And who wouldn’t? Flying. Everyone’s secret or not-so-secret dream, to streak through the air with no engine required, just pure, in-born ability. Talent of the ultimate kind.

Or more likely, magic.

Of course, this caused a slew of problems for her mother, who constantly tried to dissuade her from flying and worried about what the neighbors would say if they saw her zooming through the sky.

Things like:

That’s not normal, you know!

I’m sure our Homeowners’ Association has rules against that. What if she falls? She could hurt someone. Do I have to keep my children indoors now?

You should have a doctor see her about her condition. Maybe there’s a cure for it.

I have half a mind to report your daughter to the authorities.

The last potential threat was the most troubling. The authorities unquestionably could not find out about the special nature of the Girl Who Could Fly, or the mother’s problems would get much worse, so she and her daughter kept the secret to themselves. No one else knew, except for a trusted relative, who had her own special nature.

The father was never told. There was nothing special about him.

The stressed-out mother of the Girl Who Could Fly fought with her practically every day, trying to keep her grounded, but to no avail. She had to fly and that was that and her mother grudgingly let her go (as if she even had a choice), but under certain conditions. The Girl Who Could Fly had to follow a firm set of rules for her own good, and the good of her small family.

 

* * *

 

Dane closed the dishwasher and pressed the button to start the cleaning cycle, something he did every night and had been doing since the week of his sixth birthday, when he’d loaded the dishwasher under the supervision of his mother and father, put in a soap capsule, and pressed the start button. Then his parents clapped and cheered as if he’d done something marvelous, like winning a Presidential award.

Ten birthdays later, he was still doing it, but to no applause.

“I’m done,” he called toward the family room, where his parents were situated on the couch in front of the television. They didn’t answer. He didn’t expect them to. He only said it as a way of excusing himself. He was required to be polite and respectful at all times, even when no one was paying attention, which, according to his parents, was the most important time of all. “It shows what kind of person you are,” his father had said while his mother nodded her agreement.

Finished with his nightly task and display of good character, Dane went upstairs to his room, just as he always did in the early evenings, and he closed the door.

His grandfather was there, just as he always was at that time of night, Monday through Friday. He and Dane had a schedule. Grandpa was big on schedules. It must’ve been where Dane’s mother got her love for them, eventually developing them into an art form, or a military discipline. Major Mom.

Grandpa had already claimed his favorite spot in the only chair, at the desk between the two windows. He waited until Dane sat on the edge of the bed, facing him, before starting their evening chat. Grandpa said, “Your parents watching Jeopardy again?”

“Why do you even ask?”

“It was on my list of things to do today. Ask a silly question.” He made a check mark in the air with his finger. “Strike that one off.”

Dane almost smiled at that. “They wouldn’t miss that show for anything.”

“Part of the schedule, yeah?”

“With no deviation except for extenuating circumstances,” Dane said, quoting his father, who also liked strict schedules and multi-syllable words. “Such as being bedridden with a severe illness.”

“Or having a travel day,” Grandpa said. “That’s an extenuating circumstance. It’s hard to watch TV when you’re driving, though you haven’t been on any long trips lately.”

“We haven’t been on any short ones, either. We haven’t had a real vacation since…I don’t know. I can’t even remember.”

“You went to DC two years ago so you could tour the Smithsonian.”

“Not much of a vacation.”

“I thought you liked it.”

“It was okay, I guess, for a bunch of museums. I just wish we’d do something fun. I’ve never been anywhere cool, not even Disneyworld, and that’s within driving distance. Eight and a half hours. I checked. But Dad says it’s too crass and has no educational benefits.”

“Expensive, too.”

“I think every kid I know has been at least once. Miguel’s been twice.”

“You’re probably too old for that now.”

“I still want to do something fun.”

“Probably won’t happen. Your parents are as practical as they can be. Spending money on vacations like that isn’t part of The Plan.” He made air quotes with the first two fingers of both hands and waggled his bushy gray eyebrows in sync with them.

“Yes. The Plan. Can’t go to theme parks because they’re not edifying.” Dane made air quotes, too. “But watching Jeopardy five nights a week is totally okay with them.”

“I’ve always thought it was odd for a scientist and an academic to think that way.”

“Mom and Dad say that Jeopardy stimulates their minds.”

“And their competitive natures. They love to see who can shout out the correct answer first. Or technically, the question to the answer, the Jeopardy way.”

“I tried watching it with them one time, but I hardly ever got anything, and even when I thought I did, Mom or Dad beat me to it. They’re unbelievable. They should go on the show as contestants and win us some money. Then maybe they’d take me somewhere good for vacation, or better yet, buy me a car.”

“A car? You’re only sixteen years old.”

“I’ll be seventeen in December.”

“I know when your birthday is, but I didn’t get a car ’till I went away to college. It was a second-hand Ford Pinto, known as one of the worst vehicles ever made in America.”

“Why? Did they break down a lot?”

“They had a tendency to burst into flames during a rear-end collision.”

“I wouldn’t care. I’d take one right now if I could get it. Beats riding the bus to school.”

Thunder rumbled in the distance and Dane looked toward the window. “I thought that storm had passed.”

“Did you check the radar?”

“Right before I came up here. It’s supposed to clear up soon.”

“So it’ll be sunny for the first day of school. Doesn’t it start tomorrow?”

“Unfortunately.”

“Did you get your classes sorted out?”

“Mom did it.”

“She still doesn’t think you’re old enough to do it yourself?”

“I did it initially, but she doesn’t trust me, and she made a couple of changes. She wanted to make sure I’m signed up for as many AP classes as she could get me into.”

“And they are?”

“AP History, English, and Calculus. Those are my hardest classes.”

“No science?” Grandpa seemed disappointed. Dane expected him to be. He had been a scientist before he retired.

“The two AP Science classes were full, but I’ll take biology in the spring.”

“AP Biology?”

“Yes!” Dane said.

Grandpa flinched. “You don’t have to snap at me. It was a simple question.”

“You’re as bad as Mom. I can’t please everybody, and AP English was open, so I signed up for it to make Dad happy.”

“Did you finish that last essay for him?”

“Did it this morning. He hasn’t looked it over yet, but probably will tonight, after Jeopardy is over.”

“That was your tenth, wasn’t it?”

“One essay for every week of the summer, except for the first week. He gave me that one off. I hated it.”

“You hated the week off?”

“No, I hated doing the essays, and are you trying to be funny? Because you’re not.”

“Yeah, I know. But I’m sorry you didn’t get to goof off over the entire summer and let your brain turn into a vegetable.”

“It’s okay to relax once in a while, Grandpa. I need some down time. Everybody does.”

“You’ll appreciate the extra work your father gives you when you’re taking AP English. You’ll make an A in there for sure.”

“If I don’t, Dad will make me do a thousand essays and short stories.”

“You can bet the farm on that. But you’ll also appreciate it when you sit down to write your essay for your college application. You’ll probably write the best one.”

“Not according to Dad. He finds fault with everything I write. He really gets on my case about redundancies. Everybody says stuff like new beginning and end result. Even actual fact. Dad busted me for that one, on the essay that I wrote last week.”

“Those are definitely redundancies. Pretty bad ones, too.”

“But everybody says them.”

“Saying and writing are two different things.”

“Now you sound like Dad.”

...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 10.12.2025
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Fantasy / Science Fiction ► Fantasy
• ISBN-13: 979-8-3178-2656-7 / 9798317826567