The Fallen Stars (A Star Child Novel)

The Fallen Stars

A Star Child Novel

Stephanie Keyes

The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, places, or events is coincidental and not intended by the author.

If you purchase this book without a cover you should be aware that this book may have been stolen property and reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher. In such case the author has not received any payment for this “stripped book.”

The Fallen Stars

Copyright © 2013 Stephanie Keyes

All rights reserved.

Paperback  ISBN: 978-1-939590-02-2

ePub ISBN: 978-1-939590-01-5

Inkspell Publishing

5764 Woodbine Av

Pinckney, MI 48169

Edited By Deb Anderson.

Cover art By Najla Qamber

You can visit us at www.inkspellpublishing.com

This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission. The copying, scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law.  Please purchase only authorized electronic or print editions, and do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

Library of Congress Control Number:  2013902794

PRAISE FOR STEPHANIE KEYES AND THE STAR CHILD:

“Stephanie Keyes is a wonderful voice for a new generation of YA readers. She has skilfully blended mythology and faerie-tale into an original and enthralling story. Pure magick! I’m looking forward to more.”-Helen Hart, author, The Black Banner

"The main characters were wonderfully created, enchanting and loveable. I became submerged in a whole other world, a world of make believe and fantasy, a place where the outside world didn't exist. I found myself thinking about the story and the characters when I was away from the book, which I always think is the sign of a cracking book."-Kim Nash, reviewer, Stafford FM Book Club

"This well-written and intriguing fantasy was a delight to read. It will appeal to all ages if you enjoy escaping into a land where anything can, and does, happen. At each twist and turn the plot carries you along, as Kellen discovers the truth about his past, present AND future. I can't wait to read the second novel in this series!"-Linn B. Halton, author, Touched By the Light and The Restaurant @ The Mill

DEDICATION

To my boys, you are my reason for everything good in my life.

To Aaron, thanks for helping me create a real-life love story every day.

PROLOGUE

THE POWERFUL ONE

Dusk crept up on the Irish countryside. Despite Cana’s anger at her brother, Lugh—anger over his inability to save herself and the rest of the Children of Danu from their imprisoned fate—the pristine beauty of the lush green hills, even as day faded into night, was not lost on her.

Cana had once been a goddess, with extraordinary powers that could bring any man, mortal or immortal, to his feet. Arawn stole them from her. The bastard had sucked out of her body the only thing that had ever mattered to her, the one thing that Cana prized above all else: her beauty. When she and her brothers and sisters had been captured, they’d lost everything.

When the St. James boy destroyed Arawn, the very lord that had forced all of them underground after a lost battle, Cana had expected both she and her family freed and her beauty restored. For a time, she’d actually championed St. James in her mind, though she’d never have admitted it. Cana didn’t believe in standing up for anyone other than herself.

Still, when Arawn fell under the hand of Kellen St. James, the American teenager destined to save the world from darkness, she’d done little to conceal her joy. Perhaps now, the spell that Arawn had placed upon all of the Children of Danu would lift. Cana would like nothing more than to see the dreadful single eye in the center of her forehead disappear. Each of the Children of Danu had been cursed with a similar physical characteristic, a reminder of a weakness that he or she had demonstrated in his or her former life—though it seemed to Cana that hers was the worst.

Why should she not have suffered from vanity? After all, she’d been hailed as the most beautiful immortal ever to roam Heaven or Earth. She should not be punished for supporting fact.

Cana sighed. She wanted nothing more than to look into the mirror and see again two blue eyes resting on porcelain skin, not a single eye on the frog-like green skin that currently covered her body.

But alas, when she peeked in the mirror, she still looked the same.

She and The Children of Danu were enjoying their newfound freedom. Under the cloak of darkness, they had snuck out the past two nights and played all sorts of vile tricks on the mortals. It had been amusing, but in the back of Cana’s mind, she wondered when things would return to normal. Would she ever be able to go home? Would she ever look like herself again?

Cana had come out this morning to hunt for the very herbs that she hoped would change her back, help her regain her splendor. Coming aboveground during the daytime had become a luxury that she couldn’t have indulged in freely under Arawn’s rule.

Now that Arawn had been destroyed, his curse no longer forced her below the earth when the mortals were out of bed. Still, she wore a thick cloak that was effective at hiding her eye. She refused to tolerate humiliation resulting from any unwelcome stares by passing mortals.

Movement in the road ahead made her halt. She pulled her cloak hood tighter around the sides of her face. In front of her, a man stepped out onto the path.

Cana placed a hand to her throat. “You startled me, Wil’k.”

“I don’t believe that for a minute,” the man called Wil’k said.

Huffing, Cana continued then, passing him, unwilling to be deterred by his arrival. He had surprised her, and this unnerved Cana.

“What brings you here?” she asked as she continued on, though truth be told she didn’t care.

“I know why you have not yet seen your loveliness return.” Wil’k stayed in one spot, as though willing Cana to stop walking and return to him. She did just that.

“What do you know?” Cana stared hard at him.

“That we are still prisoners. Kellen St. James has the amulet that controls us all. He is closer than you think.”

“I am listening, Wil’k,” Cana assured him, her interest piqued, all plans to dismiss him immediately brushed aside.

“If we work together, we can bring him down, but it has to be done in a certain way. No random killing.” Wil’k sounded adamant.

Cana drew back. “Random killing? Wil’k, how can you even suggest—”

“I do not need to suggest anything, Cana. Your exploits from last night are proof enough,” Wil’k said, his voice managing to sound accusatory despite its even tenor.

Cana sighed. How was she to know that the livestock would crush the men? “It was an accident.”

“You do not care about anyone but yourself, Cana. Everyone knows that.”

She raised an eyebrow, saying nothing. Cana had never particularly taken to Wil’k. He had developed an attitude while she, Cana, had retained her perfectly pleasant personality without fail.

“Besides, if you kill the St. James boy, you’ll lose any chance at regaining your looks forever,” Wil’k said.

“What is in it for you, anyway? Why would you care about my existence?”

Wil’k glanced around, as if checking to make sure they weren’t being overheard. “Let us just say that I have a vested interest in what happens to the boy. But you…you could have your legendary beauty back. We just need to get to Kellen St. James.”

Cana sucked in a breath. “Keep talking.”

CHAPTER ONE

KELLEN—
THE WEDDING

The sun shone brightly on my Gran’s lawn in County Clare, Ireland. The combination of the sea air and the rain that had come down in a fine mist, even as recently as this morning, had washed everything clean. The purity of it burned my lungs with each breath, making me lightheaded.

I’d dreamed about this day only last night. Imagining how it would be, how she would look. However, no dream could have prepared me for the day as it played out in real life.

Calienta, my bride, walked down the hill toward me. Her gown flapped behind her in the breeze on the glorious October day. Despite the sun, the classic Irish chill to the air made me feel for Calienta in her sleeveless dress, its shimmering skirt covered in a million tiny gemstones.

The wind tugged playfully at my longish brown hair that just reached over the collar of my suit jacket. It had grown during the months that we’d been gone. Yesterday, Calienta had insisted that I have it cut, so that everyone would see what a “cute guy” I was. At least that’s what she’d said.

My best man and best buddy, Gabe, stood alongside me as Cali approached. “Kellen, I can’t believe you’re getting married. You’re like, only seventeen.”

True
. Most seventeen-year-olds wouldn’t have been getting married, but things with Calienta and me had never been normal.

“She’s the one,” I said, sounding like a cliché from every cheesy romance novel ever written. Not that I read them. I was just guessing.

However, my answer couldn’t have been more appropriate. There’d been little point in pretending that Calienta and I weren’t going to end up together. Especially when a prophecy that involved the pair of us decreed otherwise. Though I would have proposed to her without it.

I’d gotten down on one knee, taken her hand, and asked her to marry me. It didn’t matter that I’d only reached my seventeenth birthday and she’d just turned four hundred and fifty last year. Truthfully, she didn’t look a day over eighteen. We were right for each other. We fit.

Calienta could never have been described as the average girl. She was a goddess, a title that she’d been born into. Calienta planned to give up her immortality to be with me. She had voluntarily chosen to relinquish a shot at never-ending life for just a short blip of time.
With me
.
Her father would be performing the ceremony that would change her into a mortal immediately after our wedding.

Gabe whispered in my ear. “What’s up with her having only one name? That’s like…”

Watching Calienta, I couldn’t speak as I half-listened to Gabe’s verbal vomit.

“…Beyoncé.” He made this wondrous proclamation in his usual surfer-style vocal cadence. Although I would normally have laughed at the delivery of his words, he’d picked a terrible time and place.

Trying for a measure of nonchalance, I inclined my head backwards and to my right slightly, rather than turning around to talk to him. The late afternoon sun temporarily blinded me. “Gabe, do you mind? I’m kinda in the middle of my wedding.”

Even from my peripheral vision, I could tell that Gabe appeared contrite, lowering his head slightly as if in prayer. “Sorry, man. That was way uncool.”

Moving back to my original position, I watched Calienta, who walked alone down the aisle. Her father didn’t accompany her, perhaps because they hadn’t attended many mortal weddings. She would have a last name soon enough. Before the day ended, she would be my wife. Calienta St. James.

Calienta beamed at me. Her delicate veil, thin and made of lace, whipped around her thick locks. Braids ran through her hair in all directions, culminating in some sort of fancy creation with a poufy clasp in the back holding it all together. Calienta took my breath away.

She reached the end of the aisle and came to stand directly in front of me. An involuntary smile lifted up the corners of my mouth as it shoved its way onto my face. Before she existed, I’d had nothing. Now I had everything.

The vicar intoned the ceremony, giving a brief lesson before directing his attention to me. We’d opted for the shortest version of the ceremony. Only one part mattered to the two of us.