Chapter 1
The sky wasn't just grey, it was bruised.
Kovu pulled his bright red hoodie tighter, his sneakers skidding on the wet asphalt as the first Crack of thunder shook the ground.
This wasn't a normal summer rain.
The wind felt sharp, like it was trying to peel the skin off his face, the clouds were swirling into a tight, unnatural funnel right above the old construction site at the end of the street.
"Just a little further." Kovu muttered to himself, his breath hitching.
He lunged toward the only shelter he could see:
A rusted corrugated metal shed tucked behind a pile of lumber.
The air behind him hissed.
When he glanced back, the streetlights weren't flickering.
They were extinguishing, one by one, as if something was eating the light.
He dived into the shed, slamming the heavy wooden door shut.
He braced his back against it, heart hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird.
Outside, the world roared.
The metal walls groaned under the pressure of the wind, for a second, Kovu felt weightless, as if the entire shed were being lifted into the sky.
Then, total silence.
The roaring stopped.
The vibration in his spine vanished. But it wasn't the silence of a storm passing, it was the silence of a graveyard.
Kovu turned around slowly.
The door was gone. In its place was a high, arching gateway of white stone, tangled in vines that glowed with a faint, pulse-like blue light.
"What the..."
The air hit him like a physical blow.
It was bracingly cold and smelled of pine needles and ozone.
High above, the sky was a deep, impossible blue, dusted with stars that seemed too large to be real and two moons hanging almost side-by-side.
This was not his neighborhood. This was a forest of crystal-white trees, their branches heavy with silver leaves.
"Stop right there!"
The voice was sharp and commanding.
Kovu spun around. A few yards away, a group of figures emerged from the mist.
All exept one wore armor that looked like it had been forged from polished ice, glinting blue and white.
In the center stood a boy who looked to be about 14 years old.
He wore a simple black sweater and faded blue jeans, an outfit that belonged in a classroom.
His brown hair was windswept, revealing a jagged scar that ran like a lightning bolt across the side of his head. Dispite his casual clothes, his brown eyes held a cold, royal authority that made Kovu's knees feel weak.
"Identify yourself," The boy demanded. "You're not from Frostfire Glade, are you?"
"I'm... I'm Kovu," he stammered, raising his hands.
"I don't know what 'Frostfire Glade' is. I was just trying to get out of the rain."
"Rain? It hasn't rained since earlier this month."
The boy stepped closer, studying Kovu with a mix of suspicion and a strange, hidden weariness.
"I am Adam, the adopted son of Queen Melody. And you, Kovu... you shouldn't be here. My mother is going to have a lot of questions for you."
The guards shifted, the ice of their spears, tipped with glowing shards of frozen glass, remained leveled at Kovu's chest.
"He's a trespasser, your highness," the lead guard rumbled.
Adam didn't move. He kept his eyes locked on Kovu, his gaze drifting from the bright red fabric of the hoodie to the salt-stained rubber of his sneakers.
For a split second, the cold authority in Adam's eyes flickered.
It was replaced by a look Kovu recognized:
The look of someone who had seen a ghost.
"Lower your weapons." Adam commanded.
"But prince Adam-"
"I said lower them," Adam snapped.
"He's not a trespasser. He's... he's a scout for Leo. checking on the kingdom since he can't leave the village."
The guards hesitated, the glow of their spears dimming.
They knew Leo.
Adam's older brother, though since Adam was adopted, Leo wasn't a prince.
If the boy was working with Leo, he was off-limits to the palace guard.
Adam stepped forward, grabbing Kovu by the arm.
"Follow me or you might end up in worse places then that 'storm'." he hissed under his breath.
He pulled Kovu away from the stone gateway, leading him toward a cluster of white-barked trees that wept silver sap.
Once they were out of earshot of the guards, Adam spun around.
"Where did you get that?" He said, looking at the small, faded "NYC" logo on Kovu's chest.
"It's... it's just a hoodie," Kovu stammered.
"Look, I don't know who Leo is, or who you are but I just want to go home. I ran into that shed to hide from a storm and-"
Adam cut him off. He reached up, his fingers brushing the jagged lightning-bolt scar on his temple.
"The Queen... my mother... she doesn't like strangers because of the war. If she thinks you're from Mistwood Grove, she'll lock you in the dungeon until you forget your own name."
"Then why did you help me?"
Adam looked away, his expression hardening into to that mask of "royal" weariness again."
"Because you reminded me of someone I used to know. Someone I haven't seen in a long time."
A small, quiet voice broke the tension.
"Adam? Who's that?"
A young girl, no older then thirteen, emerged from the brush.
She didn't walk as much as she drifted, her footsteps making no sound on the frost-dusted ground.
She wore a gown of spun silver that seemed to catch the blue light of the moons, shimmering like a spiderweb after a freeze.
She had long, red hair, braided with small, glowing blue crystals that hummed with the same pulse as the gateway.
Her eyes weren't brown like her brother's, they were a piercing, translucent amber.
While Adam looked out of place, Keira looked like the forest itself had given her form:
Beautiful, cold, and slightly haunting.
