The Crimson Prince： Awakening 1 Prologue

Another move, another city to start a new life. Though none of this was new to William Carter. It seemed all he was used to these days. Moving three times a year, sometimes another city, more often another state. This time it was Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Will stopped caring as much after the fifth move. No real time to make any friends, no time to plant roots, so what was really there to miss?

Seeing a water tower in the distance, the name of his new home town easily discernible, Will knew he would arrive at his new home in a matter of minutes.

"You're going to like this place a lot better than the last Will," his dad called from the front seat, "There's a lot of history here."

Will rolled his eyes. 'He only said that because of the hot springs,' he thought as he stared out at the solitary tower as it disappeared in the distance.

Jonathan Carter, an aspiring author in need of a new place for inspiration for his novel. Always moving, finding the materials he needed and then departing, never staying longer than a few months between moves. Will didn't need any connections to the new city, he knew that it wouldn't last long either way. He was home schooled and in his second semester of his senior year. Soon he would have a say in where he wished to live.

"I promise Will, this is our last move." Jonathan said as if he sensed the mood his son in. "If you wish to go to college here, or possibly get a girlfriend, I don't know what kids your age nowadays wish for." He continued to fumble for words in which would lift his sons spirit. "What I'm trying to say is you can actually have a normal life here if you'd like."

Will sighed. With all the moving that they had been doing, the thought of college was always a second to the next town. And as for a girlfriend, Will only had a heart for one. It was a girl he had loved since before he really knew what the word meant. Bianca Jean from Saint Cloud, Minnesota, the town he actually grew up in. The town his heart ached to get back to every day.

Will had been a Soph.o.m.ore football quarterback at Tech High back in Minnesota. With his above average build, his long brown hair, decent tan and deep hazel eyes, Will stood out from the rest of his peers. Girls dreamed of being able to say they were his girlfriend, though there was only one for him. He had met Bianca in middle school when she and her dad moved from Connecticut to the house next door. They had already been really good friends growing up, though when Will went to junior high school, they truly connected. Will and Bianca had always been inseparable. They had always walked to school together, did homework at Will's house and went out on the town.

Bianca wasn't the only one he left behind. Will thought of his best friend Leo. He was practically the brother he never had. In third grade, Will had been practically an outcast. He either played on the swings or sat on the soccer hill at his school watching the clouds pa.s.s. He had always been drawn in himself, finding solace only through his isolation. Leo had changed all of that one day when he saw Will sitting on his hill and dragged him over to the rocking truck to play s.p.a.ce s.h.i.+p.

Will smiled at the thought of how much he'd been through back in Saint Cloud. All of the isolation, then to be saved by Leo and ultimately leading up to Bianca. Though Leo had always been an odd one, Bianca warmed up to him through their times hanging out. Their favorite place in the world was Java Joint, all of the concerts at night as well as the decent coffee during the daytime.

The two friends of his were never without trouble though. Will remembered the times they'd broken into newly built houses, looking around as if they were planning on purchasing. Leo had always just liked breaking into places, but Bianca, Will knew she was actually looking.

Will sighed with disappointment. Everything seemed as though it was so long ago. Both of his true friends were still in contact with him, even after two years of being away. Bianca treated her phone as if it was her boyfriend, never really giving up on them. Leo however had grown distant, though that wasn't truly a surprise. He had always been electronically savvy. If there were any information on the net worth knowing, you could trust him to look it up, though his people skills were somewhat lacking. Every now and then he would message Will out of the blue asking how burger king was, or if he had fun at Walmart. So Will always knew that 'big brother Leo' was watching.

Even with so much attention from his friends over the years, Will always felt as if he suffered a great loss when he left. All of the plans he made with his friends, the school he was meant to graduate from, and the fun times that were meant to be had all disappeared along with his mother two years ago.

"Hey dad, if you want to offer me something, maybe try food that's not McDonald's when we get home?" Will asked in a hopeful tone. He was sick to his stomach of all the fast food from their road trip to Colorado.

"No can do kid, it's way too late to be cooking and I think it would be better to just eat out one more time." his dad said with a small chuckle. "Think of it as a celebratory number two for reaching the house."

Will groaned. McDonald's was all they had for the past week of travel, he didn't know how many more cheeseburgers his stomach could handle.

What Will truly wanted was his mom's famous spaghetti she made from scratch, or her chicken ala' king. There were a lot of things he'd wish to have from his mom, but most of all it'd be to ask her where she'd been for these few years.

Isabella Carter was the most kind and caring mother on the face of the planet. Everything she did whether it be her smile or frown had always been out of love. She cleaned, packed foods, made an amazing dinner. Though she would also ensure Will sat at the table after those amazing dinners until all of his homework was taken care of. If his room was a mess, he'd hear about it from her. She was very caring and concerned. Anything anyone would expect from a model mother. Though not all of what he missed was cuisine or her concern for his well being, but also her movie nights on Fridays or anything else they did together as a family.

Two years ago, Isabella left Will at the house to go shopping. Usually she asked if he'd like to come with, but that time she wanted to go alone. If that wasn't strange enough, she usually was back within an hour at most. When Jonathan returned home from work and saw she was gone, he did nothing. No phone calls, no missing persons reports, he just packed up the house and they had left the next day without looking back. They had been moving ever since.

Will supposed he should have felt resentment towards his father. He had done absolutely nothing to try to find her. Though the look in Jonathan's eyes that day told him that there was a reason, that maybe there was more to the story. Will left the thought alone, knowing his father would tell him one day, or maybe he even knew where she was and when she was returning. The look in Jonathan's eyes that day had warned Will not to ask questions.

Taking his minds off of such depressing thoughts, Will turned his gaze to the window. What greeted him was the usual convenient stores one would find in a decent sized city; a ma.s.sive amount of fast food joints, a few high end grocery stores, a few book stores and surprisingly a few video store outlets. Will rolled his eyes, 'It's like we never left,' he thought as he remembered the last few places they moved to. It was always the same sized city, never bigger, never smaller and almost exactly the same in the layout. Will was about to return his gaze to his kindle when something caught his attention.

An odd group of men walking in what looked like a formation. What made them stand out was not the fact of their organization, but rather what they were wearing. There were five of them in the group, each one had a pitch black cloak on hiding any identifying features. It was somewhat a windy night as they drove past and Will was able to see one of the cloaks swaying in the wind. Underneath the cloak was a black hilted sword. Not at all adorned, but still unusual to see in this day in age.

"They must be having a renaissance festival or something around this area," Will muttered to himself. Who knows, maybe he might check it out if he got bored enough. Will and Bianca had always wanted to check out a festival one day. Maybe he would go and take a selfie with a knight to make her jealous. He chuckled at the thought.

Lost in thought, Will hadn't noticed that the car had cone to a stop at a light. While they were waiting, he could have sworn one of the cloaked figures was staring at him. It was pretty late at night though and any traffic could be subject to speculation, though what happened next raised Will's warning light in his head.

As one cloaked figure looked at Will, they all turned to face him. Though they were thirty or so feet away, he could feel a slight chill enter their heated car. Watching the figures watching him, Will was slightly disturbed when they started walking towards the car.

'They could just be crossing the street,' Will thought as he tried to rationalize the situation. 'Maybe the festival just got over and they're going home.' Satisfied with his explanation, Will returned his gaze to his Kindle.

The light seemed to have been taking forever as Will tried to focus on his book. The longer it took, the colder the car became. Feeling goose b.u.mps raise on his arm, Will instinctively looked out the window, All five of the black cloaks were almost to the car. Now he knew there was no mistake. These people were heading straight for him, bringing the eerie chill ever closer.

Finally the light turned green and Jonathan hit the gas hard. "We're skipping dinner tonight," he said to Will's surprise. "I think it would be best just to get indoors and hit the sack." Will noticed his dad tried to put on a cheerful voice, though when he looked in the rear view mirror, he noticed the seriousness in his eyes.

Will looked in the back window, just fast enough to make out the cloaked figures before Jonathan turned the corner. As they got further away, Will's chill went down a little.

He would have thought the cloaked figures were just his imagination from all of the traveling, though he couldn't get the look in Jonathan's eyes out of his mind. That and the fact that they were going forty five in a thirty. Will kept his eyes glued to the window out of paranoia. He saw fewer businesses now, and it seemed like they were getting closer to the housing district. To distract himself from everything going on in his mind, Will decided it would be best if he just counted down the street signs until they finally reached theirs. He couldn't wait to finally be out of the car for the first time in a week.