FINDING THE JEWEL

A Kindred Tales Novel Coming soon from Evangeline Anderson

A warrior has a choice to make:

Rescue the woman he has come to love

Or complete a quest to heal himself

Which will he choice?

You’ll have to read Finding the Jewel to find out

Prologue

“Let me out! Let me out, damn it!” Chloe pounded on the door and shouted at the top of her lungs—not that it would do any good. Not that anyone would let her out. They never did.

Still, she couldn’t stop trying. She had been stuck in this hell-hole for almost a month and it was driving her crazy.

“Let me out!” she shouted again, knowing it was useless. When she’d first been kidnapped she had spent a whole day and night screaming and pounding on the door and it had done her no good at all. But Chloe wasn’t a quitter so every once in a while she tried again.

With an angry sigh, she slumped to the floor with the unbreakable wooden door at her back and surveyed her prison.

It certainly was a far cry from the holding cell where she’d once spent the night after a peaceful protest she’d joined in college had turned into a riot. There were no bars, no bare floor, no lidless toilet streaked with unmentionable substances in one dirty corner. In fact, quite the opposite.

Her jail was a freaking mansion. Or more accurately—a Smart House dressed up like a mansion.

It had glossy hardwood bamboo floors, sleek modern furniture in shades of black, white and taupe, an oval fire pit in the middle of the living room, an infinity pool to swim in, a vast king-sized bed with five thousand thread count sheets, a soaking tub with massage jets, and a state of the art, surround sound entertainment theater.

But none of those things mattered to Chloe. None of them made the house any less than what it was—a prison.

A prison that was slowly starving her to death.

As if in answer to her morbid thoughts, a square of light suddenly began to grow in front of her, about three feet above her head. It was an empty cube for a moment, then, suddenly a blue worm-like creature appeared, framed by the golden light. It had long eyes on stalks and multiple arms and legs sticking out from its wormy body. All of it was dark, indigo blue.

The first time Chloe had seen this, she freaked out. Now it was almost normal—if anything in her new life could be considered normal.

“What do you want?” she snapped at the creature who was staring at her with disapproval on its wormy-face—although how she could tell the worm was disapproving of her, Chloe would have had a hard time explaining. It was more a feeling the worm radiated than an actual expression.

“Chloe Deems,” it said in a high, squeaky voice. “You are in violation of your scheduled routine. Why have you not weighed in yet? Your body-fat measurement system is calling for you, yet you ignore it!”

Sure enough, from somewhere upstairs in the luxurious bathroom, Chloe could hear a plaintive voice calling her name. The sound was somewhat muffled because she had tiptoed in that morning and piled the puffy goose down pillows from the vast king-sized bed onto the scale, hoping to shut the damn thing up. But still she could hear it…

“Chloe, it’s time for your morning measurement. Chloe…come to be weighed…”

Chloe sighed and pressed her fingers to her eyes, fighting back the urge to shout at her worm-like captor. It didn’t do any good to shout—they didn’t care if you shouted at them. It just got her all worked up for nothing and made her feel worse.

“I don’t want to be weighed today,” she said in a low, mutinous tone. I don’t need to be weighed. I’m very healthy—I’m in good shape. That’s all that should matter.”

“You are in quite good physical condition,” the worm acknowledged grudgingly. “But you do not appear as the sexual ideal for your planet. This is what we require you to look like.”

For a moment his wormy face disappeared and another image took its place—a stick-thin model with glossy blonde hair, a pouty mouth, and about 2% body fat. It looked like a picture clipped from a magazine and Chloe wondered savagely if the Commercians—as the wormy captors called themselves—got all their fashion and health advice from Cosmo. Did they also think she needed to have her 10 most embarrassing beauty questions answered or know 101 tricks to keep her man happy in bed?

“That’s been photo-shopped,” she snapped, pointing at the picture. “No real woman has a shape like that—you’d have to remove your last three pairs of ribs to get a waist that skinny. She’s like a skeleton with makeup on!”

The picture of the glamorous model disappeared and her captor popped up again.

“This removal of ribs—is it a medical procedure many Earth women undergo?” he inquired.

Chloe swallowed hard. As bad as things were, they could always get worse. She didn’t need her wormy captors putting her under the knife to make her the perfect girl they wanted so badly.

“Uh, no,” she said quickly. “No, I was just kidding. I was trying to tell you that the picture you showed me has been altered to show a woman who can’t really exist.”

“If such a female cannot exist than why is she your planet’s ideal standard of beauty?” the worm demanded in his high, squeaky voice. “You must strive harder to reach this standard, Chloe. We have potential buyers coming and they expect only the best from Dimensional Doors Discount Females.”

Chloe made a face. “Yes, because putting the word ‘Discount’ in your company name is a sure way to make people think they’re getting the best of the best.”

“Assuredly it is,” the worm said confidently. Apparently his species didn’t get sarcasm. “Which is why we need you to look your best. Also,” he added. “You know you will not be allowed access to any food until you weigh in.”

“Like the food you let me have is any good,” Chloe muttered, dragging herself to her feet. Nutrition pellets and celery—that’s what she’d been living on for weeks now. Like a freaking guinea pig in a cage. It was enough to make her want to give up.

“If you have lost weight instead of gaining it, you may be allowed a treat,” the blue worm said enticingly. “You know there are many treats in the food-prep area—you just have to earn them Chloe.”

“Shut up with your damn ‘treats’. I am not a dog you can train,” Chloe snapped, but nonetheless, she dragged herself to her feet. Upstairs in the bathroom she could still hear the scale calling her name… “Chloe…Chloe…”

“Coming,” she shouted irritably as she made her way up the long, elegantly curved front staircase. “I’m, coming—just hold your damn horses!”

As she trudged up the stairs, the fitness monitoring bracelet strapped to her wrist counted them off with breathless excitement.

“Oh goody—stairs!” it exclaimed. “Two, three, four—look at you go, Chloe! You’re going to be in perfect shape before you know it. six, seven eight—Yay!”

“Shut…up,” Chloe grated at it, knowing it would do no good. Every damn appliance in this horrible house talked to her about her weight and fitness and she wished she could break every one of them with a hammer. It was like living in an apartment full of personal trainers who had only one client—her.

This really is a hell hole, she thought to herself as she trudged and tried to block out the chirpy voice coming from her wrist. How did I get into this mess in the first place?

Oh right, she had been helping her friend, Amanda, take the perfect picture for that new dating app, Naughty-but-Nice…

Chapter One

One Month Ago

“I’m telling you, Chloe, you ought to join. Are you getting my good side there?”

Amanda flipped her long blonde hair to one side and looked over one slim shoulder, a pouty, flirty look on her pretty face.

“I’m doing my best if you’d stop moving.” Chloe gave an exasperated laugh as she pressed the button, capturing her best friend’s pose. They were standing in front of her bathroom mirror—a wide pane of glass that covered most of one wall—and trying to get just the right shot. Both of them were reflected in the shiny surface but they could scarcely have been more different.

Amanda was tall and lean—like a greyhound, Chloe always thought—with long blonde hair and big brown eyes like melted chocolate. Men regularly fell into and drowned in those eyes and Amanda knew it—she liked to flirt.

Chloe, on the other hand, was 5’3” and round and plump where her friend was long and lean. She also had long blonde hair but she dyed it cotton candy pink because she liked pink, damn it. Her eyes were dark blue and fringed thickly with dark lashes, her nose was small, and her mouth was shaped like a cupid’s kiss. In fact, her face was prettier than her friend’s—not that it seemed to matter.

Amanda was the ideal shape and Chloe…was not, at least according to the world’s standards. Which was one reason she wasn’t eager to join the new dating app her friend liked so much.

Despite their physical differences, the two girls were best friends and had been since they were paired as roommates at USF in college. Amanda had gone into Clinical Social Work while Chloe had gotten a Masters degree in Speech Language Pathology. Though their fields differed, they were both committed to helping their patients—it was one thing that drew them together. Well, that and the fact that Amanda wouldn’t stop pestering Chloe to get out there and date.

“I’m telling you, it’s awesome,” Amada said, moving again as Chloe snapped another picture on her cell phone. “I’ve had six matches already. I just have to decide which ones to take.”

Chloe sighed. “Well that’s because you’re shaped like a ballet dancer and you look gorgeous.”

“You’re gorgeous too,” her friend said, frowning for once. Chloe caught the expression with a click but she knew Amanda wouldn’t want to use it for the app. “You’re just gorgeous in an unconventional way. If you would just post some head shots and close ups…”

“No.” Chloe cut her off. “Screw that. I post pictures of the real me—all of me. The time I let you talk me into just posting head shots on that one site I had that horrible date with that jerk who kept telling me how pretty I’d be if I would just ‘drop a few pounds’ and who ‘forgot’ his wallet so I had to pay. But of course, he acted like he was doing me a favor even going out with me, the asshole.”

“There are jerks on every site,” Amanda said gently. “I’ve dated a lot of toads too—still looking for Prince Charming.”

“Well, Prince Charming is going to have to accept me for who I am,” Chloe declared. “I’m a little weird and not at all thin—a curvy girl closer to a size twenty than a size two who likes Steampunk cos-play, anime, cheesy romance, baking cookies and then eating them, damn it!”

Amanda laughed delightedly. “You should put all that as your dating profile!”

“And then put, ‘curvy girl seeks guy who is actually into curvy girls—not just a wanna-be personal trainer looking to prey on her insecurities,’” Chloe said.

“What?” Amanda frowned. “You mean you wound up with a guy like that?”

Chloe nodded and grimaced.

“Unfortunately. After I posted some pictures of the real me, not just my ‘pretty face’ I ended up on a date with some guy who was just trying to sell me on the idea of taking classes with him at the gym. He negged me all night—kept saying how he could ‘whip me into shape.’ I don’t want to be whipped into shape, damn it! I’m not out of shape. Just because I’m plus-sized doesn’t mean I’m unfit.”

“I know that’s true.” Amanda nodded. “You do fine when we do a spinning class together. Ugh—my legs are killing me after the first fifteen minutes but you just keep going and going!”

“Exactly.” Chloe sighed. “I’m just never going to be stick thin. Because while I don’t hate exercise, I do love chocolate and baking and eating what I bake. Because let’s be real—I’m an awesome baker.” She made a face at herself in the mirror and laughed—a laugh which turned into another sigh.

“You’re going to find a guy who loves you for you,” Amanda assured her. “You just can’t give up trying.” She shook her head. “It’s too bad the Kindred don’t have a dating site. But they match up with their women some other way, I guess.”

Chloe gave her friend a surprised look.

“Would you go on a date with one of them if they did? I thought you said they’re too big and scary.”

“Well, for me they are.” Her friend laughed. “But you’re fearless, Chloe! And I’ve heard that the Twin Kindred especially love curvy girls.”

Chloe made a face. “Sorry, girlfriend—that’s too many dicks on the dance floor for me. One man at a time please.”

Amanda laughed. “Blood Kindred then—they have the sexy vampire thing going on.”

“Oh Amanda…” Chloe shook her head in mock disappointment. “After all these years you’re still Team Edward? No thanks, I don’t like getting holes poked in me while my other hole gets poked.”

“Beast Kindred then.” Amanda gave a shiver of delight. “They’re so big and shaggy and scary and sexy with those golden eyes like an animal’s.”

For a moment Chloe felt an odd dropping sensation in the pit of her stomach, as though she’d just gone down a roller coaster. A picture flashed across her mind’s eyes—golden eyes, just like Amanda had described them—eyes that were looking at her hungrily… She pushed the strange image away quickly. What was it anyway—some half remembered dream? It made her feel strange and unsure of herself which she didn’t like a bit. She was a girl who knew her own mind and she didn’t like feeling uncertain.

“So?” Amanda said. “Beast Kindred?”

“The worst of all,” Chloe said decisively. “Haven’t you heard they have some kind of extra man-meat around the base of their…you know.” She mimed pointing to her crotch and Amanda giggled.

“You’re kidding!”

“Nope.” Chloe shook her head solemnly. “Afraid not. Think how stretched out you’d be! And once they get that in you, I’ve heard there’s no getting it out again for hours. Ouch! Huh-uh…definitely not for me.”

“Well, if you’re not interested in Kindred and you’re not interested in human guys, where does that leave you?” her friend demanded.

“I didn’t say I wasn’t interested,” Chloe defended herself. “I just said I can’t find the right one. And lately it seems like it’s too much trouble to try.”

“Oh come on—try one more time. Please, for me?” Amanda begged. “Just try this app and put exactly what you just told me, okay? You can even use regular pictures. No false advertising—just you.”

“Well…” Chloe could feel herself weakening. She was about to turn thirty and she wanted to find someone as much as Amanda did. All their friends had paired off by now and plenty of them were filling her Facebook feed with baby pictures. Why did finding the right guy have to be so hard?

Why can’t I find a guy who wants me for who I am and doesn’t think he’s God’s gift to women? she wondered. Someone who isn’t constantly trying to change me or make me thinner?

“I can see you’re about to give in,” Amanda said, grinning. “Hold that thought—I just want to change my top for one more shot and then we’ll start working on your profile.”

She ran into other room, presumably to change her clothes, before Chloe could protest. Chloe opened her mouth to call after her friend…but that was when things got weird.

First of all there was a blaring noise from somewhere—the glass maybe? Chloe stared at the mirror, frowning. What the hell? From the other room, Amanda yelled,

“What was that? Someone blowing their horn outside? Is there a car out there?”

“Don’t know. Don’t think so.” Chloe didn’t bother to look out the small bathroom window though—her eyes were glued to the mirror which was shimmering and swirling in a strange way. It looked almost like someone had melted it and it was beginning to run like silver paint. Chloe leaned closer. What was going on?

“Well, don’t—” Amanda’s voice started but Chloe never heard what else her friend said. Because at that moment she found herself being sucked into the swirling, melting silver mass where the mirror had been…

Sucked out of her world and into a different life forever.

* * * * *

“This is not the right one.” The blue worm staring down at her seemed very upset as it spoke to another blue worm, also staring down at her. Both of them were about three feet tall and had multiple arms. “You were meant to bring the other female—she is closer to the ideal.”

“It cannot be helped—we can only afford to bring one,” the other worm said. “And do not blame me—it was your shoddy second-hand equipment which caused this error—not mine.”

“I could not afford any better and buy a dimensional shift stabilizer,” the first worm snapped back. “If only Char’noth and his band had not monopolized the Earth in our own dimension such expenses would not have been necessary. But we must harvest the Earth females of this dimension and so our resources are necessarily limited. We must make do with this one.”

“Put her in the construct then,” the other worm advised. “By the time the first buyers arrive to bid on her, she may be altered enough to attract a good price. Then we can afford the energy necessary to bring another female—one closer to the ideal.”

Finally, Chloe found her voice.

“Who are you?” she demanded, wishing her words didn’t shake so much. “And what do you want with me?” She looked down at herself and gasped. “And why am I naked?”

“None of these questions are of any concern,” the first worm said to her. “You are our first product and we intend to sell you for a good price—though first you must be closer to the Earth ideal of beauty.”

It snapped the fingers on two of its skinny, knobby blue hands and suddenly a door appeared in the air between them.

“What the…how did you do that?” Chloe demanded. She could feel her eyes getting wider and wider—she must look like something out of a cartoon. But this felt like more of a nightmare.

“This is a construct drawn from your own mind which will help you to achieve the ideal,” the head worm told her—which made absolutely no sense. “Now, in you go,” it said.

The door in the air opened smoothly, revealing what looked like the entryway of a richly appointed mansion. Chloe was pulled to her feet and what felt like hundreds of scratchy claws—the alien worms’s fingers she supposed—were pushing her roughly through the doorway.

Later she wished she had done anything at that moment—fought and screamed and kicked and pushed—anything but let the blue worms push her through the doorway in the air. But she was still in shock—everything was all so unreal it was hard to believe it was happening at all.

And so she stumbled through and the door slapped shut behind her, trapping her in her own private hell.