ENCHANTAILS: Grileglas Realm Book 1

LUCIENNE AND THE LEOPARD BOY

 

EXCERPT

CHAPTER 1: My Friend Prince

 

          Her eyes flew open. Princess Lucienne looked over at her bedroom window, a flower carved beautifully into the thick ice of the castle walls. She could see a school of silvery fish swimming by just outside the window. Lucienne enjoyed looking out her window whenever she had a bad dream.

 But this wasn’t like any of the dreams she had before. This one involved her swimming with some mermaids who turned into sharks and attacked her. She felt goosebumps spread up her arm as she recalled the details of the dream. The chilly water seemed to turn colder.

 She needed to forget. Lucienne looked around the room to check if the coast was clear. It was. She swam through the tiny window and out into the open dark waters of the Atlantic ocean.

 Lucienne was never allowed to leave the castle without a guard. Her father would be very disappointed if he discovered she was exploring the icy expanse of her home realm of Grileglas alone. She was extra cautious as she swam up to the surface.

 She soon broke through a cluster of ice flowers that had formulated above her. She found one stuck in her long platinum blonde hair and decided to leave it. She could see a flat iceberg in the distance. It was perfect for star gazing. Lucienne swam over to the giant piece of floating ice and hopped onto it.

          Stretched out across the night sky above her was a breathtaking expanse of twinkling stars and galaxies. The scene made her wonder with amazement what it might be like in space. The princess assumed it must be similar to the dark ocean below, full of strange and beautiful things. She pictured herself swimming from planet to planet. She wanted to be anywhere but here.

 The other mermaids in her realm did not like Lucienne because she was different from them. They found her strange for loving the surface. They didn't like that she had a guard follow her wherever she went.
The mermaids of her realm assumed because she was a princess, Lucienne shouldn't associate with the regular merfolk. They isolated her, no matter how hard she tried to be friends with them.

          Lucienne’s attention was diverted to a tiny penguin head peering down at her. She sat up and giggled at the penguin walking along the ledge of the glacier behind her.

 "Prince! What are you doing up there?"