Alia Rashad

At 6-years-old, Sela and her family were struck by a tragedy when her older brother went missing, and was said to have died in combat. Seven years later, Sela begins to suspect that not everything was as perfect as it seemed, and that something foul was at play. Sela, along with her loyal companions, decides to leave the village and embark on a long, perilous journey to find out what really happened to her brother all those years ago, with the use of a power she'd kept secret from all but her family her whole life: telepathic abilities, or as she calls them, her Mind Games.  On this journey, Sela faces terrible dangers and dark magic as she prepares to battle an enemy she did not expect, and uncovers a secret she did not foresee.

MIND GAMES

Quietly, I crept into the darkness of the path ahead of me, down at the base of the keep. I made my way along a cold, dark corridor, my fingers running along the lines of the bricks in the wall. Soon, my eyes began to adjust, and I could see the faint shape of a doorway and an unlit candle ahead of me. I picked up the candle and let a single thought into my head: LIGHT. 


Just then, I felt a warm gust of wind, and when I opened my eyes, a tiny orange flame had formed on the tip of the candle, slowly growing, and licking the air. I peered into the doorway and saw that there was now light in the room ahead as well as in the corridor behind me. My command must have lit up every candle in the keep! 


As I stepped through the doorway, I realized that the room I’d stepped into was not at all a room but a massive, seemingly endless, swirling stairway. 


‘The jewel must be at the very top,’ I thought to myself, staring up at the hopelessly long flight of stairs. 


CHAPTER 16: THE SWIRLING STAIRS