Rebirth
The Sacred Isle Series
K.E. Miller
Copyright © 2020 Kayla Miller
All rights reserved
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
ISBN-13: 9781234567890
ISBN-10: 1477123456
Cover design by: Art Painter
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018675309
Printed in the United States of America
To Megan,
because I promised.
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Afterword
Acknowledgements
Prologue
Sophia
My life was about to end. As I stood, gazing out the window, I knew it was possible I would never see my beloved home again. The mist-covered mountains and the green seas called to me as the sun set over the land. This would be my last memory. I’d planned it that way.
The future terrified me. The darkness was so close to destroying everything. Even if my death protected my people, there was no guarantee that good would prevail. Evil could still win.
A familiar presence entered the room. I took a deep breath to steady myself before turning to face one of my dearest friends, the long gown I wore swirling around my feet. Nolen looked at me with deep sadness and resignation. I trusted him to keep my people safe. He trusted the future I had seen.
Opening the hidden door in my bookcase, Nolen and I entered a dark spiral stairwell. The stone steps comforted me as we made our way down to the depths of the ancient castle that had been my home my entire life. I could sense Nolen’s fear, but my resolve held. Together he and I would save two worlds. At least, I hoped we would.
Chapter 1
Shaylee
Walking through the halls of Ardara Prep was like walking through a battlefield. Every step brings a different danger. In some ways, I was a lone soldier facing an army of enemies. In other ways, I was just on a different battlefield than everyone else.
There were plenty of times that I saw other students being bullied by the popular crowd. In particular, the instigators and ones to watch out for were always a scary group of Seniors. The group changed every year of course as the students graduated, but every fall there was a new group ruling the school like royalty. When I had transferred to the school as a freshman, I’d thought they didn’t like me because I hadn’t grown up at the school with everyone else. Since then, I’d seen several other students transfer in from all over the world, but no one ever seemed to get the amount of disdain and attention that I did. It didn’t matter how well I kept my head down and avoided eye contact. It was inevitable that I would catch someone’s attention.
On this particular day, I had seen Madalynn Calder, a beautiful senior with platinum blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, shove a junior into the wall and scream at a freshman for walking too close to her. Since I was her favorite person to torture, avoiding her seemed to be my best chance at escaping her current foul mood.
Keeping my head down, I watched the grains of the polished hard wood floors. Letting the other students dart around me on their way to dinner. I was going against traffic on my way towards the Student Dormitory. The other students complained as they went around me since I was hindering their progress towards the Dining Hall. It would have been much smarter for me to blend into the mass of people all moving in the same direction, but I knew Jaden was waiting for me in our room and I didn’t want to brave the Dining Hall without her.
Keeping my head down was usually a safe policy, but it did have its drawbacks and as I walked around a corner, Kenneth Fairman slammed into me. My books flew out of my hands, scattering across the floor.
“Oh, sorry,” he said without missing a step.
He continued on his way, as though he hadn’t just knocked the wind out of me. I bent down and picked up my books, grateful that was the extent of our interaction. My face reddened as onlookers openly laughed at me. As I ignored the laughter, I wondered briefly what had Kenneth so distracted that he had actually apologized for running into me, instead of blaming me for it.
I practically ran from the Academic Wing over to the Student Dorm, trying to limit my exposure to the cold December air. Ardara was a large school, considering how few students actually attended. Buildings were scattered across the campus, with the younger students in their own buildings. The imposing structures were all gothic revival and reminiscent of another time. The dark stone and tall arched windows created sinister looking buildings that seemed to have eyes of their own. They were always watching, judging my every step, just like everyone who lived within those walls.
I trudged up the stairs to the third floor, where my room was located. I walked into my room and tossed my books on my desk. My roommate, Jaden, flipped through a magazine on her bed. Her dark purple comforter was pulled up to her pillow, giving the impression that she’d made her bed. Her black and purple side of the room was a huge contrast to my pastel pink and lime green. The only item in the room that looked like it didn’t belong was the navy-blue futon.
Jaden threw her magazine on the nightstand that stood between our two twin beds. Why she read so many beauty magazines was a
