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    Nightfall in the Kingdom of Winter
    Nightfall in the Kingdom of Winter
    Nightfall in the Kingdom of Winter
    Ebook78 pages1 hour

    Nightfall in the Kingdom of Winter

    By Andy Young

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    About this ebook

    Natalie had been twelve for seven days when the dreams began...if she is dreaming. Each night she is supposed to open another door, and each door offers a challenge, and a gift.
    But is she dreaming? Should she be opening the doors? Things in her world- the real world- are getting stranger and stranger, and there are consequences to opening the doors. Her guide insists that she must open all of them, but there are others telling her not to, and willing to fight to stop her.
    What should Natalie do? Should she open the last door?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAndy Young
    Release dateJan 5, 2013
    ISBN9781301545551
    Nightfall in the Kingdom of Winter
    Author

    Andy Young

    Andy is a husband, father, writer, teacher, hiker, cyclist, artist, gardener, and musician. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with his wife, two kids, dog, cat, snake, chickens, and fish.

    Read more from Andy Young

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      Book preview

      Nightfall in the Kingdom of Winter - Andy Young

      Nightfall in the Kingdom of Winter

      by Andy Young

      Smashwords Edition

      Copyright 2013 Andy Young

      For more by this author visit http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/240511

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes:

      Thank you for downloading this free ebook. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form. If you enjoyed this book, please return to Smashwords.com to discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support.

      ***

      Natalie had been twelve for seven days when the dream happened the first time.

      You’re Nightfall, said the boy.

      Nightfall? she asked.

      Your name, he said. You’re Nightfall.

      But I’m Natalie, said Natalie. The boy looked odd: shortish, and thinnish, with a green pointy cap on his head.

      Who are you? asked Natalie, but he just shrugged.

      Natalie looked...different, here in the dream. She was wearing a dress, for one thing, which she almost never did, and it was no ordinary dress. It was fancy and old fashioned. It had poofy long sleeves with frilly edges. The top surrounded her neck, and the bottom went all the way down to her ankles. She wasn’t wearing shoes, which was fine, except in the dream she was surrounded by snow, so she should be freezing.

      But she wasn’t.

      And her skin...well, it was not easy to describe. It wasn’t any color a person’s skin should be, not brown or peach, rust or olive. Instead it was indigo blue, deep as night; she looked at her hand, and it didn’t resemble a real hand at all. It was a hand-shaped hole in the sky. And there were stars, but they were strangely unreal. They had five points, like stars a child would draw, and were sparkly and gold.

      She was covered with them.

      This isn’t really me, she said to the boy, who shrugged.

      It sure looks like you, he replied. We should go.

      Go? asked Natalie.

      Follow me, said the boy. You have a job to do.

      The boy started walking. Natalie followed, down a snowy path between thousands of trees. It was the oddest sort of forest; each tree seemed a different species from its neighbor. Some were evergreens, with needles large or needles small, bits of snow clinging to their boughs, but the great majority were leafless, fractal silhouettes against the sky. Even without leaves she could see how each was unique: gray bark or brown, or nearly black. Thin trees and fat ones, thick ones and thin, tall ones and short ones.

      The snow crunched under her toes, which were not cold. No other part of her was cold, either, though she could see her breath. Where are we? she asked.

      Ha! laughed the boy. Where? That’s daytime thinking, you know.

      The path turned one way, then another, but the trees were a constant, marching off into the distance as far as Natalie could see.

      This place is weird, she said. The boy just shrugged.

      But soon enough they came to a different place. The path through the snow ended at a kind of building. It was four stories tall, with a balcony on each level, and four doors along each balcony. There were stairs on both sides. It looked very old; maybe a long time ago it had been fancy but now nobody was taking care of it. The doors were wood, and looked heavy. Each door was a different color, but the colors were ancient and faded. The walls, steps and balconies were all made of gray stone.

      This is the Kingdom, said the boy.

      What is? asked Natalie. This building?

      This is the Kingdom of Winter.

      Natalie nodded. You mean the whole place, right? Is there a king?

      You have a job to do, said the boy. Follow me, Nightfall.

      My name is Natalie.

      The boy walked to the first flight of stairs, which was only a few feet high, leading up to the first balcony. Natalie followed him up the steps to the first door.

      That was when she noticed the...something. It was like a statue, but it wasn’t made of stone. It was of a girl, but not a normal one. Her head was oval shaped, her hair thin and wiry. She had eyes, which were closed, but no nose and no mouth. Her neck was thin. From her neck down she wore a strange sort of dress, bright pink except for a symbol like a snowflake on the front. The dress was a perfect shape, like an upside down ice-cream cone: no wrinkles or folds, no arms or legs sticking out anywhere. That’s all she was: head, neck, and dress down to the ground.

      What’s this? asked Natalie.

      She is the doorkeeper, said the boy.

      What does she do?

      The boy rolled his eyes. She keeps the door.

      They have those in China, said Natalie. They’d been studying countries at school. They paint these guardians by the doors of old houses, to protect them.

      The boy just shrugged.

      You do that a lot, said Natalie.

      The boy shrugged again. You have to open the door, he said.

      What? asked Natalie. Why?

      You are Nightfall. You have to open the door.

      I’m Natalie. What if I don’t want to?

      You must. It is what you have to do.

      Whatever, said Natalie. She walked forward, grabbed the handle, and pulled open the door. It was heavy, but moved easily enough. It didn’t go inside anywhere; the door opened to the outside, to a forest in winter, though the trees weren’t the same. They were

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