Lauren (Keegan's Chronicles Spin Off)

Lauren

Copyright 2012 by Julia Crane

Published by Valknut Press

Kindle edition

All rights reserved.

This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or other unauthorized use of the material or artwork herein is prohibited. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without prior written permission of the author.

This novel is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events; to real people, living or dead; or to real locales are intended only to give the fiction a sense of reality and authenticity. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author?s imagination or are used fictitiously, and their resemblance, if any, to real-life counterparts is entirely coincidental.

“Lauren” edited by Rosanne Catalano and Claire Teter

Cover art by Stephanie Mooney|Mooney Designs

Formatted by Heather Adkins|CyberWitch Press, LLC

To the fans of
Keegan’s Chronicles

Thank you for your support!

Chapter 1

C
ould this day get any worse?

Lauren glanced down at her favorite white blouse—soaked with orange juice. The little pearl buttons dripped with liquid. At least the way the glass had tipped kept her short, floral skirt dry, even if it had left a puddle on the floor.

I don’t have time for this.

First, the shower head spitting brown gunk, then the thing with the sink faucet, plus she was out of mascara… It was official. She had woken up cursed.

She would have thrown the glass on the floor, but she didn’t want to clean up the pieces. Lauren heaved a sigh and put the cup in the sink before she did something she would regret.

The sun shone through her kitchen window, illuminating the large space that she loved with rosy light. She didn’t want to leave; it’d be easier just to stand over the sink and stare out the window as the sun rose.

She sighed again, then crossed the dim, narrow hallway—almost tripping on the throw rug her mother had insisted she buy—and pushed her bedroom door open.

Lauren hurried over to the closet, already going over her wardrobe in her mind. She shoved the hangers to the side and grabbed the first white blouse she found. She switched shirts, tossing the sticky one toward the hamper. It should have sailed high across the bed and into the wicker basket, but it veered way off course and knocked her favorite lamp over. The glass crashed on the hardwood floor.

Lauren groaned inwardly.
Maybe I should have thrown the glass in the kitchen—then I’d have matching piles.
She shook her head with a sigh and rushed for the door. The mess would have to wait.

She passed through the front door of her building and into a beautiful morning. In a cloudless blue sky, the sun peeked over the apartment building across the street, reflecting off the glass windows. A warm breeze had started to dissipate the cool, early morning air. Lauren jingled her car keys in her hand as she walked down the sidewalk to where her coupe waited. The sun beating down on her shoulders made her feel a little better.

Maybe the rest of the day will be all right.

Midmorning traffic on the expressway was maddening. Why did she insist on living so far away from campus? She really couldn’t afford to miss any more classes, especially not her first.

Lauren drummed her fingers on the steering wheel, frowning, and inched forward behind the line of cars. She growled as a banged-up SUV with a dangling back bumper angled its way into her lane, then slammed on its brakes. Its license plate read “8MYDUST.” Lauren rolled her eyes. Some people were so lame.

An obnoxious song came on the radio, and her hand shot out to change the station. The opening chords of her favorite Rolling Stones song came through the speakers.
That’s more like it.
Lauren sang along, ignoring the stares of the drivers on either side of her.

Ignore the crazy girl with the wild, dark curls singing and dancing all alone.

Twenty minutes later, she eased her car into one of the campus’s main parking lots. Of course, she couldn’t find an empty space anywhere. She drove in circles, willing a spot to open as she got more frustrated by the second. Just when she was about to give up and try another lot further away, she saw the red taillights of a white sedan backing up.

Lauren let out a breath.
Thank the gods.

She swung into the spot and put the car in park, then grabbed her books from the passenger seat and jumped out, making her way towards her class across the sprawling campus.

She hadn’t made it very far from her vehicle when some jerk slammed into her, knocking one of her books out of her grip. He just laughed and kept walking with his friends as her book hit the sidewalk and its contents spilled from the pages.

Lauren swore under her breath as she chased the papers that scattered across the parking lot, willing herself not to cry. On top of running late, she hadn’t completed her assignment or studied for her exam. If she kept this up she wouldn’t pass this semester, let alone keep her scholarship.

Lauren’s thoughts drifted to Tristen. Ever since she had started dating Tristen, her days revolved around him. It was getting harder and harder to focus on her own goals. Somehow, she had to find a balance, because there was no way she was giving him up. But flunking wasn’t an option either. She bent down to swipe up one of the stray papers, then hurried after the next before the wind took it past the point of no return.

Tristen’s words echoed in her mind.
Just use your magick. There’s no harm in using it for self-preservation.

She had laughed and brushed it off, sure that he had only been teasing. As if she would break fairy laws to pass a test! That was beyond ridiculous.

Unfortunately, she would just have to make more time to study. If her GPA dropped too low, she would have to pay back the cost of her classes. She didn’t want to get a part time job, but she couldn’t bother her parents for more money. They were already stretched thin, sending her to an out of state college, plus covering her rent and other expenses. Plus they had to take care of all of her brothers and sisters.

Lauren cringed. If she couldn’t pull herself together, her mother would be so disappointed. Her parents had high hopes that she would become a lawyer. If she didn’t even pass her freshman year, law school would be out of the question.

Shoving the last loose paper into her book, Lauren hurried up the concrete staircase that led from the parking lot to the lawn. A warm breeze ruffled her skirt against her legs as she quickened her step. The sun shone brightly, the smell of cherry blossoms filled the air, and the weather was a perfect seventy-seven degrees. California was amazing.

She glanced at her watch; she only had ten minutes to make it across campus. Lauren hated to be late for anything. She knew a short cut she could take that would put her there just in time. She kicked off her ballet flats, shoved them in her purse, and ran up the hill. The grass felt wonderful between her toes. She skirted around a group of students lying on blankets, laughing and enjoying the day.

“Where’s the fire?” one of the girls on the cheer squad yelled out as Lauren sprinted by.

“Late for class! See you at practice!” Lauren yelled and kept going without waiting for her reply.

Lauren groaned when she thought of cheer practice. She loved it, but now it seemed like such an inconvenience. Either way, she had to suffer through it, because, without cheering, she’d have to pay full tuition. And her coach had already given her a warning about her grades.

Once she made it to the top of the hill, the backs of her legs aching and burning from yesterday’s workout, her shoulders relaxed. The building where she had class was just a few strides away, and she had minutes to spare. She dropped her shoes to the ground and slid her feet into the soft black leather.

An unspectacular three-story building, made of sand-colored brick, housed the anthropology department. The narrow windows, widely spaced, let very little natural light filter inside. Sitting in there for an hour and a half every day gave her a headache.

Lauren hastened her step; she didn’t want another lecture from her teacher. Most of the professors had no tolerance for lateness. Grasping the large brass door handle, she pushed through.

The dim hallway smelled faintly of lacquer. She let out a sigh of relief as she looked at the clock on the wall—she still had four minutes. She would make it. At least one thing had gone right today. Lauren fell in line with the rest of the students rushing to their classrooms.

Slightly out of breath, Lauren stepped through the open door to the lecture auditorium and climbed the steps to her usual seat. She smiled at Calvron as she lowered herself into the cold plastic chair. “Hey.”

“I see you decided to come to class today,” Calvron remarked in a bored tone. His brilliant blue eyes didn’t even look up as he swiped the screen of his phone. His tall, lanky body never seemed to fit in the seat right, with his knees cocked out so they didn’t slam into the fold-away desk. His dirty blond hair was mussed; Lauren figured it was either hair product or ambivalence.

Lauren rolled her eyes and pulled out her anthropology book, setting it on the small desk by her arm with her notebook and pen. She dropped her other books on the floor and pushed them under her seat with her foot, then kicked off her shoes and wiggled her toes.
Much better.

Calvron finally looked up from his phone and stared at her. “Why didn’t you show up last night? We waited for you for like thirty minutes.”

“I was busy.” Lauren shrugged and didn’t meet his eyes.

“AKA Tristen didn’t want to go?” Calvron said, his brow wrinkling in disgust.

She would never admit it to Calvron, but Tristen wanted to hang out with his friends instead of hers. That seemed to be a pattern with him lately.

She missed hanging out with the other creatures of light. Calvron, a powerful wizard, used magick to make up alternate dimensions for them to hang out in. It was fun to use magick and not worry about anyone seeing them. She’d have to convince Tristen somehow.

“I’ll be there next time,” Lauren said softly.

“Yeah, I’ll believe that when I see it.” Calvron flipped his book open and turned to face the front as the professor walked in.

Lauren furiously scribbled in her notebook as the teacher went on in his monotonous voice for the next hour. She couldn’t afford to miss anything else. She reminded herself to ask Calvron if he would give her the notes from last week.

Class seemed to drag on forever, but on the bright side, there wasn’t a pop quiz. After the morning she’d had, that would have been too much for her to handle.

An audible sigh passed through the class when the instructor finally said, “Class dismissed.”

The usual hustle and bustle of dismissal filled the room, and the thunderous steps of a hundred students walking down the hollow theater stairs echoed off the tall ceilings. Lauren slid her feet back into her shoes and gathered her belongings, then headed for the door.