Chapter 1

It's a typical Saturday in Florida. The temperature was in the high eighties but the humidity made it feel like it was one-hundred degrees or so. On the wooden porch of a custom home sat three teenagers. The only male had dull red hair that hung just down to his blue eyes. Anyone passing by could tell he was the tallest and the oldest of the three.

Across from where he sat on the floor sat two girls huddled on a bench swing. The one closest to the house sat taller and looked older than the other girl. She had dirty blonde curly hair that fell to her shoulders. Unlike her brother she had brown eyes. The last girl on the porch was the youngest. She had brown hair that hung to the middle of her back. She had blue eyes that made the raging ocean seem clam.

"Sam ... Sam ... SAM!" yelled a tall boy racing up the driveway.

"Uhhh..." Sam said as he woke. "What do you want?" the kid in front of Sam was a tall lean six foot teen. He had blue eyes and short brown hair.

"You'll never guess what I got!" the tall kid said with excitement. "Samantha, Amber come on over." The two girls got off the porch swing and slowly walked to the new guy.

"Ok, ok, ok so Cody what is it?" asked Amber, the youngest.

Cody took out what looked like and old battered book that smelled strongly of medicine and deodorizer. He laid it down on the porch in between all of them. "I got it from my grandpa, he lived in a retirement home," Cody explained.

"Ok that explains the smell but, what is it?" Sam asked. Having a love for books Sam wanted to know if it was worth reading.

"No clue."

Showing almost no interest in the book the two girls return to the porch swing and continue their whispering. Sam quickly snatched up the book and started to finger through the yellow musty pages.

"I can't read any of it. It seems to be some weird language," Cody said when he saw the look of excitement on Sam's face.

"You have to be kidding me. What do you mean you can't read this? It is in perfect English. Well ok not perfect but I feel like I know what the words mean," Sam exclaimed. Sam held the book up to reveal to Cody a picture with some lines representing wind blowing. "Right here it says 'To grant the power of anika' I think that means air," Sam said reading from the book.

"It looks like gibberish to me," Cody said defiantly.

Suddenly taking an interest in the book the two girls come over to look at the book. The girls picked up the book and looked at it blankly. "Cody is right, it does look like gibberish," Samantha explained. Flipping through the book Samantha suddenly stops on a different page. Setting the book down she pointed at the page. It had the picture of a big rocky boulder on the opposite side of the page she was pointing at. "Now that is something I understand!" Samantha stated.

"No that is gibberish too," Cody defiantly said again.

"No it says here in the title 'To grant the power of shanikua' which probably means earth if the picture is of any help," Samantha explains.

Amber picks the book up, looks at it all confused, then flips a few pages. The page she stopped on had the picture of a wave opposite to a page of writhing. " ' To grant the power of rashinaka' which I know means water," Amber whispered in a voice they almost couldn't hear.

Cody snatched the book out of her hand. Being to rough with the book causes several pages to fall out. A few pages open to the picture of a great fire. " 'To grant the power of firkanaka' which means fire," Cody read off the pages. He stooped down and picked up the pages. He put them back in the book where they were apparently torn out from. Before he closed the book a small folded yellow piece of paper fell out.

"Open it up," Amber said quietly. When Cody opened it up they could all read the small note:

To whom it may concern,

The spells in this book are horrifyingly real. I should burn this book but I can't

because if I do my life will cease to exist. Please do not provoke my fate upon

whomever receives this book. Please BURN THIS BOOK. The Shadow Forces

are at the door. I have to go...