What if you had one wish?
For Sonja Drommer, the answer to that question is easy: Escape. Instead of the tedious drudgery of alternating between school and home, she wants magic and wonder to fill her days. She wants to be the hero of her own narrative, rather than feel like a minor character trapped in someone else’s story.
So, when Sonja meets Rith, a garrulous hippoganth, and the impossible little creature offers to grant her fondest desire, she knows immediately what she is going to wish for. Sonja wants a life of adventure.
One moment, Sonja is alone in her room with nothing more to look forward to than failing another math test in the morning, and the next she is shouting orders aboard a pirate ship, lost in the wilderness, and battling dragons. She has everything she had hoped for and more. Perhaps too much more…
Sonja had no idea there were so many things out there just waiting for a chance to try and kill her.
So, who is Rith? What is a hippoganth? This is Rith, and he wants to be your best friend. What’s the best part about being Rith’s friend? Well, the fact he can grant you one wish is a pretty good start, but there is a lot more to this flighty little guy. You’ll have to read the book to find out what that is.
For anyone interested in a small sample of what is to come, here is a glimpse of page one:
CHAPTER 1
Sonja Drommer perched on the corner of her bed, legs folded under her, glaring at the clock on her dresser. With elbows propped against her knees and her chin resting in her hands, she tried to force the time to change through sheer will and the intensity of her unblinking gaze. The blue, digital display staring back at her read: 3:52 PM.
Outside, the sun seemed frozen in place, refusing to budge any further across the cloudless, blue, March sky and reinforcing the impression that time had suddenly ceased to function properly. It would be easy to believe the whole world was stuck in amber or had somehow slipped into Limbo, if not for the harsh, cold wind whipping at the bushes and trees and reminding everyone that winter had not yet fully released its icy grip on the weather.
“Fifty-eight. Fifty-nine. Sixty,” Sonja whispered, then snorted a soft breath of impatience. The clock refused to corroborate her timing. “Sixty-one. Sixty-two…” she continued reluctantly. At “sixty-eight,” the lighted numbers at last flickered and changed to 3:53.
Sonja dropped her hands into her lap and picked up the small, wrapped box she had placed there earlier. Only three inches across on any side, the tiny package barely covered her open palm as she held it up to examine it for perhaps the one thousandth time since receiving it a few days ago. Green and blue tissue paper covered the box, tied neatly with a slender, white string; hardly an elaborate decoration but still tidy and obviously put together with great care and effort at presentation.
It weighed very little as it sat in her open hand, and she briefly wondered if there was actually anything inside. Either way, she would find out soon enough.
“Fifty-nine. Sixty. Shit! Still too fast.”
To be continued…