Heera Watson and the Rise of the Dark King , livre ebook

The Conrad Press - Kam Verdee

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159 pages

English

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Heera Watson is like any ordinary fifteen-year-old girl... not! Torn between the British way of life and her Indian heritage, she's the target of catty comments at school in Birmingham from Laura Foster, the 'It' girl at St Claire's, and her gang. Heera is constantly pressured at school to look and dress in certain ways, but all she has ever wanted is to be herself. Her journey to becoming the person she really wants to be starts when she finds three sacred crystals in a safe at home. This discovery puts thousands of lives in danger, and catapults Heera into a mind-blowing quest through the magical kingdom of Fallowmere. There, forging new friendships with people and creatures she never imagined could exist, Heera bravely confronts deadly challenges to save her loved ones from the devious Dark King, who will stop at nothing to carry out his evil schemes. Heera Watson and the Rise of the Dark King is a wonderfully imaginative tale of courage, friendship, battle and what it means to face your true destiny.

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Fantasy (canción de Mariah Carey)

Fantasy

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Publié par	The Conrad Press
Date de parution	21 décembre 2016
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781912022953
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0300€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Heera Watson and the Rise of the Dark King

Heera Watson and the Rise of the Dark King
Published by The Conrad Press in the United Kingdom 2016
Tel: +44(0)1227 472 874 www.theconradpress.com info@theconradpress.com
ISBN 978-1-912022-95-3
Copyright © Kam Verdee 2016
The moral right of Kam Verdee to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. This book is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publisher, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
Typesetting and Cover Design by: Charlotte Mouncey, www.bookstyle.co.uk
The Conrad Press logo was designed by Maria Priestley.

Heera Watson and the Rise of the Dark King
Kam Verdee

I dedicate this book to my family, especially my mum, Manjeet, who has truly been my rock.

Chapter 1
Behind the Locked Door
I wandered into my bedroom while I went on listening to Emma Grove, my best friend, telling me what Laura Foster had said about me at school earlier that day.
My mobile had been glued to my ear for half an hour already, and my arm was beginning to ache. I shut the bedroom door behind me and leant up against the radiator by the window. Mum had only just turned the heating on, and my legs and lower back only now began to feel the welcome warmth.
I lifted the curtain and peeked outside. With the help of the street lamps, I could see frost starting to cover the pavement on its way to the cars down the street. It was another freezing Monday evening in Birmingham, in the English Midlands. The weather was typical for the first week of December, and it was only going to get colder.
As Emma revealed the horrible details, I could feel my cheeks growing warm just as my legs and back were. I couldn’t help but feel embarrassed about myself. How could Laura be so cruel? I tried my best to brush aside the comments Laura had made about me by shaking my head, as if I was trying to empty it of the cruel words she’d used to describe me.
‘Honestly,’ I said to Emma, ‘I really don’t care what Laura Foster and her sidekicks said about me. Nothing they say is going to make me change who I am.’
‘What? Are you serious?’ Emma asked. ‘Laura called you a pathetic geek, and she’s been telling everyone she’s going to drop you like a lead balloon as soon as the Chemistry project’s over. Are you honestly telling me you don’t care she said all this about you?’
‘I couldn’t care less, Emma. Laura isn’t worth my time.’
I walked across the room and stood in front of my memo board on the wall covered with photos of my family. Seeing myself in the pictures made me wonder why I was so weak. Why didn’t I stick up for myself? I never really remembered a time when I’d been confident in social situations. Instead, I let people walk all over me.
In nearly every photo, my long, straight, black hair partially covered my blue eyes. My usual olive complexion had given way to a pale grey colour, complete with blushing pink cheeks and an awkward smile. I always ended up looking like this when I felt uncomfortable or vulnerable. I wanted to hide and protect myself from the outside world.
Being regarded as a ‘high achiever’, whatever that was supposed to mean exactly, by my parents, classmates and my teachers did nothing for my social life. I was fifteen years old, and my classmates’ perception of me hadn’t changed since I’d joined St Claire’s school four years ago. They still openly called me a nerd, a bookworm, and the most hurtful of all, a loser.
I was basically a normal teenager, who enjoyed music, films and even a little Reality TV on a Saturday night, yet I was still treated differently and constantly bullied. Laura Foster was the main bully. She was the most popular girl at St Claire’s, and if she didn’t like you, she’d let you and everyone else know about it.
Laura prided herself on having the perfect figure, and she was very quick to judge you on what you ate during break or lunch. She would always make sarky comments about how much weight someone had gained. I certainly didn’t have the perfect figure and neither did I want to take her advice and try the latest fad diets. I was comfortable with the way I carried myself, and I tried not to feel insecure about my appearance.
Laura and her friends were always making comments about how I should wear makeup to ‘glam up’, as they called it. They recommended I use a particular lip gloss brand to make my lips appear fuller and to use eye shadow to make my blue eyes ‘pop’ against my olive skin. There was nothing unique about Laura’s or her friends’ style or appearance. They all looked about the same and I didn’t want to be like them, not one bit.
‘That’s not it though, Heera, there’s more, and as your friend, I have to tell you what else Laura said about you,’ Emma continued.
‘Go on then, tell me.’ I knew Laura would have plenty of mean comments to make about me. Whether it be to my face, behind my back or even through social media, she was clearly on a mission to slate me as best as she could.
I wasn’t completely alone because I always had Emma to talk to and confide in. We were inseparable. She always stood up for me, and even though she was considerably shorter than me and others in our year, she was able to boss everyone around without any problem. Although we were best friends, we were so different. Emma was outgoing, sporty and sociable, whereas I was reserved, quiet and took pleasure in learning.
‘Basically, Heera, she said you’re the only one not going to the school Christmas party, and even if you were, you wouldn’t have anything nice or special to wear. She laughed because you don’t wear makeup and at your owl earrings. She even called the necklace your grandmother gave you, plain and ugly. Can you believe that, Heera? Now, don’t you think you need to put her in her place?’
‘No, there’s no need. Her words don’t have any influence on me,’ I replied, knowing I was lying to both Emma and myself. The truth was, I didn’t have the courage to stand up to Laura, and I was deeply hurt at what she’d said about me.
Thinking about what Laura had said about my necklace and earrings made me angry. Using my right hand, I began to fiddle with my owl-shaped earrings to make sure they were firmly in place, and then I clutched the necklace my grandmother had given me. I loved the owl earrings my parents had bought me and I adored my necklace; I couldn’t care less if Laura had laughed at my jewellery. Who did Laura think she was to say this about me? I never said anything about what she wore? Then again, I didn’t judge anyone on what they wore or didn’t wear.
‘WHAT? ARE YOU COMPLETELY INSANE?’ Emma shouted. ‘If you don’t say anything, I will. I was about to have a right go at her until Mr Ford began to hand out detentions left, right and centre in class, and as soon as the bell rang, Laura was straight out the door. Heera, you need to stick up for yourself. I know you pretend people’s opinions of you don’t matter when I know they do. I can tell when your feelings are hurt.’
I was glad I wasn’t in Maths today when Laura had said this; I was picked up early from school by my mum to go to a dentist appointment. Even if I had been present, I probably would’ve kept quiet and listened to her bitter words and tried to block them out.
‘What exactly do you want me to do?’ I asked. ‘No matter what I do or say at school, everyone will still see me as me.’
‘Come with me to the school Christmas party.’
‘I don’t want to go to the party, Emma… you know it’s not my kind of thing.’
‘Heera, you need to step out of your comfort zone and show everyone at school you can have fun and let your hair down instead of studying all the time. Heera, I’m your best friend and I’m just trying to help you.’
‘Why should I have to show them anything?’ I asked her.
‘Just to get them off your back. Don’t you think it hurts me when I have to hear them slagging you off? There’s only so much I can say to stick up for you. Heera, you need to stand up to them too and it seems like I’m fighting your battles.’
‘Emma, I don’t expect you to do or say anything to them. I’ll handle it myself,’ knowing I’d let Laura get away with it.
‘Heera, I didn’t mean it like that… of course, I’m going to stick up for you because that’s what friends do. Please just come to the party… do it for me. It can be my Christmas present.’
There was a moment’s silence. I used the time to gather my thoughts.
Why couldn’t people see the real me? I was a good person and so what if I liked to learn and do well at school. Why did I have to conform to their ideals to be noticed and to be liked?
‘Ems, I really don’t want to go,’ I said.
‘Oh come on! It’s going to be so much fun,’ Emma continued. ‘I can do your hair, makeup and I have the perfect dress for you. All you need to do is get the accessories. You will look like a whole new person… they won’t even recognise it’s you.’
‘I really don’t know, Ems.’
Dressing up, doing hair and makeup were of no interest to me. I laughed to myself at the way Emma was selling the idea to me. It was as if she was describing an ideal scene from an American teen flick, where the nerdy bookworm transforms into a gorgeous girl, and the whole school stands and stares at her beauty. Finally, the girl is seen as an equal and becomes the ‘It’ girl. I couldn’t think of anything worse than being the centre of anyo