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The Strings of the Violin
(Hadariah Chronicles)
Author: Alisse Lee Goldenberg
Release Date: June 26, 2013
Publisher: Prizm
Books
Pages: 212
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Summary
Seventeen-year-old Carrie is lying in her backyard ignoring
all the looming responsibilities in her life, when a fox makes a mad dash
across the grass in front of her. After she manages to keep her dog from
attacking the frightened animal, the fox turns to Carrie and seems to bow in
gratitude before he disappears into the bushes. All Carrie knows in that moment
is that something has unexpectedly changed in her life.
Carrie has been
best friends with Lindsay Smith and Rebecca Campbell for years. During a summer
when they should focus on choosing colleges, the girls suddenly find themselves
swept away on the adventure of their lives.
The fox reappears
three days later and reveals to Carrie that he is Adom, emissary to the king of
Hadariah. With his land of music and magic in peril, Adom has been sent to seek
help from Carrie and her friends. In the blink of an eye, the three teenage
girls go from living an average suburban life to being the champions of a world
where they must contend with giants, witches, and magical beings. Will they
ever make it home once more?
Short Excerpt
Carrie
Eisen lay in the grass, knees bent, a sweatshirt pillowed under her head. The
sun felt warm on her body as she drifted off to sleep. She had gone outside
intending to read the new fantasy novel she had bought. She had read a few
chapters and put it aside, just soaking up the sun. In the backyard, her cocker
spaniel, Finnigan, was hunting flies. So far, he had caught none. But he
refused to give up, leaping about in the grass and futilely pouncing on the
buzzing insects.
There was
one month left in summer vacation, and come September, Carrie would start the
twelfth grade. This was something she did not want to think about until it was
absolutely necessary. To her, her final year of high school meant she would
ultimately have to make decisions about her future, decide a path, and begin to
grow up -- something she dreaded with all her heart and soul. She wished she
could just run away and have an adventure like the characters in the books she
loved.
Already
her parents were on her case, encouraging her to research universities and pick
out programs she liked. She was finding the entire thing overwhelming. At the
age of seventeen, how was she supposed to decide these things? It was hard
enough some days to figure out what she wanted to eat for breakfast. But they
were pressuring her to start now. She would have to do her applications this
year. Her mind swam with choices and questions. What if she was rejected from
the programs she wanted? What if a school looked good on paper but was horrible
when she actually got there? She knew she could always change her mind, but it
might mean a wasted year. And what were her friends doing? She knew they were
as confused as she was, and Carrie was thankful she was not alone. She dreaded
going to a large university and knowing no one. She had this vision in her head
of being a lost first-year student dwarfed by a cold and massive campus. She
did not want this but feared it was inevitable.
Carrie
was a tiny girl in all respects, except her eyes. She had huge green-blue eyes
that seemed to take up a full third of her heart-shaped face. They peered out
from behind a sandy fringe of bangs, always drinking in every aspect of her
surroundings. She wore her hair in a shaggy pixie cut that she never let get
any longer than chin length, but it was constantly out of control.
She had
been lying in her backyard for over an hour. The idea of just being lazy and
ignoring all responsibility had appealed to her, and she had indulged this whim
with a vengeance. Barefoot, in a pair of raggedy cutoff jean shorts and an old
T-shirt, Carrie had run outside and flung herself out onto the grass, prepared
not to move until she absolutely had to. Finnigan had followed, leaping at her
ankles, begging to play, but Carrie had turned away, resolving not to use a
single ounce of energy on anything other than soaking up the sun on that hot
summer’s day.
Now,
after some time had passed, Carrie lay contented, her mind deliciously blank.
She heard, as if through a fog, the barking of her dog and the buzzing of the
flies. She could hear the happy panting as Finnigan occasionally walked up to
her and left a present of an unfortunate insect. Silently, a new sensation
crept over her body. Her blue eyes flew open, and she glanced around. Despite
the sun’s warmth, Carrie felt goose bumps prickling up and down her skin. She
felt a distinct feeling that someone, somewhere, was watching her. She sat up
and quickly spotted Finnigan. She opened her mouth to call to her dog but could
not find the voice to do it. The words caught in her throat. Finnigan was
standing and staring at a small bush that grew in a corner of the yard. He was
growling, a low rumble that Carrie could feel vibrating in the air around her.
The guttural sound caused the hairs to stand up along the nape of her neck.
“Finn?”
Carrie managed to get out. She could not believe how hoarse her voice sounded.
Her pet’s behavior was giving her the creeps. “Finn, what is it?”
Upon
hearing his name, Finnigan turned to Carrie and cocked his head to the side, as
if asking if she saw what he did in the bush. When he got no answer, he turned
back and continued to stare fixedly.
Carrie
squinted at the leaves, wondering what it was that had so enthralled him and so
spooked her. She peered intently and let out a small gasp when she spotted two
coal-black eyes staring right back at her.
Carrie
scrambled to her feet, never taking her eyes off the bush. A black, button nose
appeared below the eyes. A long red snout. Two large ears, a face, a small
body. Carrie made a grab for Finnigan as the fox sauntered out from within the
branches.
“Oh no,”
Carrie breathed. She knew not to make any sudden movements around a wild
animal. Unfortunately, Finnigan did not seem aware of this bit of advice, and
he lunged at the fox. He snarled, gnashing his teeth at this creature who dared
to invade his yard.
Carrie
let out a cry of alarm as her dog escaped her. “Finnigan!” she yelled and
propelled herself forward as dog and fox made a mad dash across the lawn. Carrie
ran, her bare feet skidding across the ground, arms reaching, desperate to get
a hold of her pet. Finnigan leapt ahead, just out of reach.
The fox
ran at the head of the chaseeither bolder than Carrie had first thought or
spurred on by fear. Finnigan was merely a few steps behind him. Carrie made a
leap for the spaniel and just missed him, falling face-first on the grass,
staining her shirt and chin green. She quickly picked herself back up and tried
to cut the animals off from a different angle, but again she was unsuccessful.
Her mind filled with frightening ideas about what would happen if the fox
turned on her dog. What if it was rabid? What if it bit Finnigan? A whole list
of horrible scenarios filled her mind. She was panicking, not just for her dog
but for the fox as well. She did not know what would happen if Finnigan got a
hold of the animal. There was always a chance that he was not chasing it to
play, but to hunt and hurt.
Carrie
tried again to make a grab for Finnigan. This time she managed to get a hold of
him, eliciting a yelp of surprise. He tried to bolt out of her arms, upset at
the indignity of being kept from his prey. She held on for dear life as he
squirmed and struggled to get back to the chase. She held tighter, and he
finally gave up, panting against her chest.
Carrie
stood and surveyed the yard, trying to see where the fox had gone. She finally
spotted him sitting calmly by the same bush from which he had first emerged. He
peered back at her with intelligent, thoughtful, almost curious black eyes, his
red fur stark against the green of the bush. Carrie could not understand how he
could have hidden so successfully inside it. The fox looked directly at her,
bowed his head low in what seemed a gesture of gratitude, and disappeared the
same way he had come.
Carrie
sat down on the grass and stared long and hard at the bush. Had that fox
somehow thanked her? What had just happened? All she knew was that something
had changed. The air around her was uncommonly still. She stood up on legs that
seemed to be made of jelly, hugged Finnigan to her, and was rewarded with a
lick. Then she turned and entered the house, her day of laziness forgotten.
About the
Author:
Alisse Lee Goldenberg is an
author of Horror and Young Adult fantasy fiction. She has her Bachelors of
Education and a Fine Arts degree, and has studied fantasy and folk lore since
she was a child. Alisse lives in Toronto with her husband Brian, their triplets
Joseph, Phillip, and Hailey, and their rambunctious Goldendoodle Sebastian.
@AliLGoldenberg
