Average Joe and the Extraordinaires (24 page)
Read Average Joe and the Extraordinaires Online
Authors: Belart Wright
She
picked a cool dark night like tonight to make her task less strenuous. Plus,
she hated to sweat, and that’s all she seemed to be doing in Orangetown as of
late. Tonight she had ditched the bright colors, which she’d lately used on her
bike, for deep shades of black. She accomplished this change with a mere
thought. Her clothes matched her bike and the night sky. The deep blacks were
accented with dark purples. She’d tied her hair into a long braid earlier to
make it less unruly, even though she could’ve just made it shorter with no
effort at all. She hated to use craftes when she didn’t absolutely need to
anyway. She still wasn’t as good at them as she wanted to be.
She snuck
into the penthouse apartment complex easily enough. She was trained to move
through the shadows effortlessly, but it was her own natural grace and ease of
movement that gave her such an advantage moving in absolute silence. The
security had no idea that she was there, even when she literally stood only a
few steps behind them.
Her
destination was on the uppermost, the fifth floor. That’s where her target
was. After four floors of stealthy evasion, she only had one more floor to
go. She continued to avoid the stairs. She didn’t want to make it too easy
for herself. She chose to use the apartment below her target to infiltrate his
penthouse. She snuck into the apartment, taking care to avoid possible creaky
parts of the floor. She made it to the door of the balcony and opened it
slowly, and once outside closed the door behind her.
She
climbed up to a window above, and from there climbed up again to the larger
balcony of the penthouse suite. She whipped out her lock-picks, but put them
away when she saw that his door was already unlocked.
He always spoils the
fun
, she thought.
She
walked into the lavish apartment and found her mark sitting comfortably near
his fireplace sipping a glass of wine and reading some old tome similar to the
ones she used to read long ago before she came to America.
Robert
Grabas: “Welcome. Come on in. Rest your feet, my little night owl. I’ve been
expecting you.”
He
pointed to a chair at the side of the table that was next to him. He did so
without looking up from his text.
Robert
Grabas: “Go on, have a seat. We have much to discuss.”
She did
as he had bid. She did so wordlessly but slowly, out of a natural sense of
rebellion.
Robert
Grabas: “So … it seems you’ve managed to rough up a few of my pawns, and now it
looks like they may even be facing jail time.”
Liandra:
“Yes, but knowing you it’s only a minor setback for your operations.”
Robert
Grabas: “And a very temporary measure I assure you. Patrias is already free,
as a matter of fact. Good effort anyway. But I’m curious, why waste such
effort into spoiling my plans? Was it really all for that girl?”
She
stared at him, at his gray hair. She still wasn’t used to seeing him with it,
though his face was still the exact same from all those years ago. His question
was disingenuous. He knew that she knew that he was digging for something
under the surface, both figuratively and literally.
Liandra:
“No, but I did have my reasons. I know what you’re after.”
Grabas
laughed brazenly.
Robert
Grabas: “You only know part of what I want. Did it ever occur to you that what
I’m looking for may actually help us both? Our paths are not so different.”
That was
a start, but she needed more.
Liandra:
“My teachers died before I could figure out what my purpose really was. I
don’t know where my path will take me or even if whatever those monks saw in me
is still there. I have a hunch that you’ve found some piece of the past and a
purpose for your dreams.”
He
laughed again, this time longer and heartier.
Robert
Grabas: “So you’ll use me to get something that you don’t even understand?
You’re just filled with surprises. I can’t say that I approve of that foolish
course of action. You’re useless to me like this, but you’re more useless to
yourself. You won’t get anywhere until you figure out just who and what you
are. Your dreams and nightmares mean nothing until you do.”
So,
somehow her history had played a part in all of this, but she had no clue how.
Before the Order of the Owl was decimated, they’d told her as much. She
thought about what Grabas said. He was right, she couldn’t argue it. She had
collected clues, but they were only pieces of whatever he was planning, she
knew that. It was his history that she was now following and she hoped that
led to more answers for her own. She needed to get more from him before she
left tonight. She needed him to let slip just a tiny bit more.
Liandra:
“I’ve seen what you’re digging up under that stadium.”
He
laughed derisively at her.
Robert
Grabas: “So what? Do you want to blackmail me?”
Liandra:
“I know that there is a small cache of a certain rare mineral hidden under that
stadium. You’re mining it and testing it.”
Robert
Grabas: “Is that all?”
She was
on thin ice now, she knew. There was no way she would play her one trump card
on this encounter. She had seen what the man was so desperately trying to hide
under the stadium, or rather she had seen the gigantic lock that hid his
secret. There was some sort of vault, she knew, in the deepest layer of the
place. It was surprisingly unguarded but impenetrable all the same. She didn’t
think it suited her purpose for Grabas to know what she had seen. She didn’t
have the key needed to open it anyway. She instead played it cool by getting a
little hot.
Liandra:
“You’re doing more than mining. You’re also testing on humans. I’m going to
stop you. Whatever it takes.”
He slowly
shook his head while he shrugged his shoulders.
Robert
Grabas: “You need to figure out just what it is you're stopping first. Once
you learn a thing or two you might even decide to join me. It’s not my place
to teach you these things, however.”
She
realized that he wouldn’t be fooled into revealing any more of his plan, not
tonight.
Liandra:
“Funny, because you take the liberty to teach me at every turn. Maybe it’s
because you’re getting old.”
He
subconsciously rubbed his gray hair.
Robert
Grabas: “Well, I’ve laid out the path for you to follow, but I cannot make you
become enlightened.”
Liandra:
“I’ve had better teachers.”
He
laughed as she rose from her seat.
Robert
Grabas: “And they’ve done a wonderful job.”
She
sauntered over to the window, leaving him behind to his book.
Liandra:
“I’ll be in touch.”
Robert:
“You always are, when you want to be. But hey—my security is lax on the nights
when I'm expecting you. So please, use the front door next time.”
Liandra
grinned and turned to face him one final time.
Liandra:
“Where’s the fun in that?”
I must thank you all for purchasing, downloading, and reading
my book. I love to write and the ultimate validation for that seems to be when
others can get lost in and enjoy what I’ve created. Well I hope you enjoyed it
anyway. There is no way that I, a starving artist, can achieve my goals
without you glorious readers so please continue to check out my work and root
for me. I am ridiculously grateful for your precious time.
This is my first official novel and so I really need to kick
up some dust and bring attention to my work. To that end I’d humbly like to
ask you to please review my book at the websites below. Just give your
honest-to-goodness opinion, good or bad. Make it long, make it short –I don’t
care – just make it. Without those reviews it’s very tough to make a splash in
the indie book scene.
I’d also like to extend an offer to you all to be a part of my
ARC group and receive copies of my future books before they are released to the
public. To do this you just have to review this book then send me a link or
screen capture of your review to
[email protected]
along
with a request to receive an ARC of my next book, which will be
Average
Joe and the Beauty
.
Again, thank you and many blessings to you my glorious reader.
No man is an island and so I'd
like to thank a lot of people for being involved in my life. I'd like to thank
my whole pantheon of family and friends. Though I consider myself a loner,
these folks have proved me wrong time and time again with so much support and
understanding. None of the folks in my sphere were naysayers and most supported
me and my ambitions through and through.
I want to thank my friends,
mainly my brothers at
FlubberKnuckle
Studios
. My core group of "brothers" has mainly consisted
of Mark our ifso-facto leader, Ryan the brains of the outfit, and Alex the
heart of it all. Our friendship has continued strongly since those days
eagerly debating and swapping videogame and anime knowledge at our 9th grade
4th hour lunch table. We've since become best friends, business partners,
co-creators, and mainly brothers. Beyond these four are the solid additions of
Lloyd who is working on a special novel of his own, Will who like Alex is also
the heart of our little group, Gabby who is forever the troll and also the
first reader of my novel Hell Warriors, and Sophie who is for all intents and
purposes FlubberKnuckle's first lady but beyond that an incredibly big hearted
person and gifted smartass.
I want to thank my family the
Blacks from whom Average Joe gets his surname. The talent of my siblings
bolstered my own confidence in myself. Seeing that they all held so much
talent in some way, shape, or form over the English language helped me search
inside of myself for a greatness that could match theirs. To all of my wise
beyond their years brothers: Shannon, Billy, and Anthony. To my beautiful and
gifted sisters: Ari and Bridgitt. To my cousin Maurice and my nephew Aric who
are both so close to my age and heart that they are like brothers. To all my
lovely young nieces and nephews: Alyssia the brainiac, Ayanna the troublemaker,
Jovantae the gentleman, Auji the genius, and Jovae the little powerhouse. To
my gracious mother Regina, my loving aunt Elaine, and my wise and powerful
granny...umm granny. Thank you all! This book is dedicated to you and your
struggles. Thank you all for being there for me and with me!
I also want to thank Michael
Holladay the man behind this very cover design. He was so nice to not charge
me anything but the cover was so good that I felt compelled to pay him, even
when he objected, multiple times. I can be surprisingly persuasive when it
comes to blowing my own money.
Special thanks also to my friends
and extended family Al, Pete, Mike, Tamara, Dalia, Christy, Deanthony, Jason,
Amir, Brittney, Krystal, Greg, Joe, Justin, Willis, Michelle, Mo, Thony, Solomon,
Sydni, Twuana, Shacola, Heather, Renae, Earl, Earl Jr., Jasmine, and Zaynab.
All of you have inspired me at some point throughout the years (and probably
distracted me from writing at the same damn time.) Without you characters in
my life I don't think the heart and soul of these books would be the same. To
quote a great T.V. theme song, “thank you for being a friend.”
Fun Facts
and Story Changes
-Average Joe and the
Extraordinaires was originally going to deal with Joe, a normal kid taking on
an evil corporation that wanted to bulldoze his neighborhood and take over the
land. Joe was originally going to have to rally his neighborhood together and
convince them all that this conspiracy was going on. After I added more
supernatural elements, the plot changed slightly to accommodate that and
expanded beyond the initial concept but it still was nowhere near the plot of
what this book turned into. For plot reasons (because some of these elements
are still in the sequel) I can't really reveal what the second
"draft" of AJ turned into but for the planned sequel I may reveal
more of that draft but at this point it's not all that important.
-Fleez and Dozz were not
originally planned to be in the story until the very chapter I wrote them in.
After that, they took on a life of their own and were so Badd Azz that I was
forced to write more of them.
-Joe purposely has no physical
description. I originally wanted him to look like me (though I'm in no way
average) then I wanted him to be a typical brown haired kid until I realized
that average is mostly affected by our own perceptions. My average is not your
average. So Joe's canon appearance is that of the reader, since a lot of
people may identify with Joe’s values. Or Joe may look like whatever the
reader considers average. I’m curious as to how you imagined Joe.
-Joe was originally going to be
older along with Kate. Both were going to be roughly 19 – 20 and in college.
Even when I de-aged Joe and Kate I was going to keep Dahlila in her twenties
but decided instead to put her closer to Joe's age. She's still older though.
-Some elements that appear in
this story come from my first (yet to be released) novel Hell Warriors. The
term for magic (craftes) as well as how it is implemented comes from that
story. The use of an arcade/children's entertainment center in one of the
action scenes also appears in both.
-Dahlila was originally to be
kidnapped with Melissa towards the end of the novel. She’s too tough for that
Damsel act though.
-Average Joe is an experiment for
me. None of my other stories have featured a main character so physically weak
and uninformed. It was a challenge writing that and keeping him relatively
capable even amidst all these extraordinary people. I still don't fully know
if I fully struck that balance but I feel I did a good job overall.
-If you didn't know, Orangetown
is based on an archetypal small town in Florida. It is entirely fictional.
-I first added the clock tower in
the scene where Joe first finds Mod there. Initially Joe found Mod at the
Malington's house where Mod was wallowing in self-pity. The rest of the scene
is virtually unchanged except for the lyrics of the song the boys sing. Like
Fleez and Dozz, the clock tower was so awesome that it took on a life and
mystique of its own and became an integral part of the story.
-Originally the rap song Joe and
Mod sang was Scarface's "Damn it Feels Good to be a Gangsta." I
changed it because I didn't want to put in any explicit lyrics and there was no
way I was going to water down the lyrics just to fit my story. Great song btw!
-Average Joe originally had a
comedic narrator telling the story because I thought a story with a main
character that I considered "boring" would need sprucing up. Joe
eventually grew into someone that I found interesting and thus the need for
that obtrusive narrator became unnecessary. I stuck with the comedic narrator
idea until chapter 8. The narrator had some funny bits and I planned to
include some chapters with his thoughts on the story as far as he had read it but
the idea was creatively taxing and began to feel like I was writing two
separate stories. I'm not the most confident in my comedic writing either so
all in all I had enough ammo to scrap that whole idea. Though in the future
(in another story) I may use it again, who knows?
-I found out that mannerable
wasn't a real word as I was writing a few of the Villain View interludes. I
decided to use it anyway because I don't feel like using "well
mannered" to describe someone I consider mannerable. I've gone my whole
life believing mannerable to be a real word and I will continue that delusion
stubbornly.
-We've only scratched the surface
of this crazy story called Average Joe. There's much more on the way. This
tale goes far deeper!