The Histories of Earth, Books 1-4: In the Window Room, A Prince of Earth, All the Worlds of Men, and Worlds Unending Read online

  (The Histories of Earth series)

  Contents

  Book One: In the Window Room - Table of contents

  Book Two: A Prince of Earth - Table of contents

  Book Three: All the Worlds of Men - Table of contents

  Book Four: Worlds Unending - Table of contents

  Book One: In the Window Room

  Dedication

  Prologue

  Chapter One / The Governess

  Chapter Two / The Greyford House

  Chapter Three / Strange Discoveries

  Chapter Four / After Midnight

  Chapter Five / Secret Passages

  Chapter Six / A Late-night Story

  Chapter Seven / The Next Day

  Chapter Eight / Into the Window Room

  Chapter Nine / A New Journey

  Chapter Ten / A Morning in the Glade

  Chapter Eleven / Captured

  Chapter Twelve / Alone

  Chapter Thirteen / Back on Earth

  Chapter Fourteen / In the Moonlight

  Chapter Fifteen / Would-be Travelers

  Chapter Sixteen / How They Came to Gleomu

  Chapter Seventeen / To the City

  Chapter Eighteen / Of New Plans and Old Men

  Chapter Nineteen / Lost

  Chapter Twenty / Dark and Light

  Chapter Twenty-One / A Foul Game

  Chapter Twenty-Two / In the Deep Prison

  Chapter Twenty-Three / At the Gates

  Chapter Twenty-Four / The Trial

  Chapter Twenty-Five / Guilty

  Chapter Twenty-Six / After the Trial

  Chapter Twenty-Seven / A New Fight

  Chapter Twenty-Eight / A Deadly Peril

  Epilogue

  Copyright and Acknowledgments

  Book Two: A Prince of Earth

  Dedication

  Foreword

  Chapter One / The Countryside

  Chapter Two / Matilde Wolcott

  Chapter Three / The First-Yearer

  Chapter Four / Murder

  Chapter Five / The Burglar

  Chapter Six / Some Dangerous Secret

  Chapter Seven / The Hidden Room

  Chapter Eight / A Warning

  Chapter Nine / A Better Dress

  Chapter Ten / Something So Beautiful

  Chapter Eleven / The King’s Birthday

  Chapter Twelve / A Message

  Chapter Thirteen / The Truth

  Chapter Fourteen / The Council

  Chapter Fifteen / The Regiment

  Chapter Sixteen / Important Things

  Chapter Seventeen / A Decision

  Chapter Eighteen / The Journey Begins

  Chapter Nineteen / The Ruins

  Chapter Twenty / A Big Problem

  Chapter Twenty-One / A New Road

  Chapter Twenty-Two / The Mountains

  Chapter Twenty-Three / Beasts

  Chapter Twenty-Four / A Story

  Chapter Twenty-Five / Awaken

  Chapter Twenty-Six / The House

  Chapter Twenty-Seven / Making Amends

  Chapter Twenty-Eight / Downstairs

  Chapter Twenty-Nine / Finding Things

  Chapter Thirty / The Machine

  Chapter Thirty-One / Earth

  Chapter Thirty-Two / Threats and Promises

  Chapter Thirty-Three / Where They Went

  Chapter Thirty-Four / Distant Starlight

  Chapter Thirty-Five / The Gardens

  Chapter Thirty-Six / Of Kings

  Chapter Thirty-Seven / The Palace

  Chapter Thirty-Eight / The Challenge

  Chapter Thirty-Nine / Springtime

  Afterword

  Copyright and Acknowledgments

  Book Three: All the Worlds of Men

  Dedication

  Chapter One / The Marketplace

  Chapter Two / The Vanishing Boy

  Chapter Three / A Necessary Danger

  Chapter Four / The Alleyway

  Chapter Five / The Professor

  Chapter Six / A Deadly Story

  Chapter Seven / Alone

  Chapter Eight / A Phone Call

  Chapter Nine / The Museum

  Chapter Ten / Fleeing

  Chapter Eleven / A Cottage

  Chapter Twelve / Unlikely Visitors

  Chapter Thirteen / The Days of Waiting

  Chapter Fourteen / Escape Day

  Chapter Fifteen / A Darkened Cavern

  Chapter Sixteen / A Long Ago Story

  Chapter Seventeen / More Danger that Night

  Chapter Eighteen / Into the Sea

  Chapter Nineteen / A Rescue

  Chapter Twenty / The Captain and his Ship

  Chapter Twenty-One / A Newer Prison

  Chapter Twenty-Two / The Empire City

  Chapter Twenty-Three / The Empress and her Story

  Chapter Twenty-Four / The Grand Island

  Chapter Twenty-Five / Late in the Evening

  Chapter Twenty-Six / A Place for Criminals

  Chapter Twenty-Seven / Desertion

  Chapter Twenty-Eight / In Aden

  Chapter Twenty-Nine / Things that are Built

  Chapter Thirty / Returning to the Sea

  Chapter Thirty-One / A Valley of Black Shadows

  Chapter Thirty-Two / A Dangerous Cold

  Chapter Thirty-Three / The Belly of a Beast and the War

  Chapter Thirty-Four / The Queen’s Ship

  Chapter Thirty-Five / Fire the Cannons

  Chapter Thirty-Six / Of Guilt and Justice

  Chapter Thirty-Seven / Back in Gleomu

  Chapter Thirty-Eight / The Clan of Tigers

  Chapter Thirty-Nine / The Tower

  Conclusion

  Copyright and Acknowledgments

  Book Four: Worlds Unending

  Dedication

  Chapter One / Trinkets

  Chapter Two / To Istanbul

  Chapter Three / A Confession

  Chapter Four / A Gift

  Chapter Five / Nighttime in Gleomu

  Chapter Six / What was Read

  Chapter Seven / New Beginnings

  Chapter Eight / A Dishonest Mouse

  Chapter Nine / In The Cavern

  Chapter Ten / Things Forbidden

  Chapter Eleven / Strange Things in Ismere

  Chapter Twelve / Found & Lost

  Chapter Thirteen / Gone

  Chapter Fourteen / To the Stars

  Chapter Fifteen / Things Discovered

  Chapter Sixteen / Things Pursued

  Chapter Seventeen / The End of Summer

  Chapter Eighteen / Surprises

  Chapter Nineteen / Roaring

  Chapter Twenty / Snow

  Chapter Twenty-One / Danger in the Wings

  Chapter Twenty-Two / Strange Guests

  Chapter Twenty-Three / A Brief History

  Chapter Twenty-Four / A Change in the Wind

  Chapter Twenty-Five / Sending a Message

  Chapter Twenty-Six / Talk of Stars

  Chapter Twenty-Seven / The Desert City

  Chapter Twenty-Eight / In Wait

  Chapter Twenty-Nine / A Dark Palace

  Chapter Thirty / Daylight

  Chapter Thirty-One / Of Horses

  Chapter Thirty-Two / Different Worlds

  Chapter Thirty-Three / Circumstance

  Chapter Thirty-Four / Traveling by Night

  Chapter Thirty-Five / A City of Roots

 
Chapter Thirty-Six / Keeping Secrets

  Chapter Thirty-Seven / The Truth

  Chapter Thirty-Eight / A Year

  Chapter Thirty-Nine / An Unlikeable Prison

  Chapter Forty / Tomorrow Morning

  Chapter Forty-One / An Invincible Army

  Chapter Forty-Two / Battles of the Sky

  Chapter Forty-Three / One

  Chapter Forty-Four / Things that were Lost

  Chapter Forty-Five / Morning

  Chapter Forty-Six / Ends & Beginnings

  Conclusion: After a Decade

  Copyright and Acknowledgments

  (Book 1 of The Histories of Earth)

  For those who seek out true adventure, and wish to find it.

  Prologue

  There was once a war, the first of its kind, unprecedented in its scope and size. And it was during this war that a middle-aged corporal was killed while leading a charge against the enemies’ defenses.

  All that day, and into the night, artillery had fallen on the nearby city of Arras, France. And for this reason, he stood before his men, while they hid in a secluded forest grove: speaking about courage, and about orders that had not come, and would not come in time, and about difficult decisions of conscience. He said that their allies’ tunnels had been surrounded and compromised, and that he would be leading an assault that night in hopes to break the enemy line, and in order to save the lives of many men. And when he had concluded his speech he’d asked for volunteers, and there were only a few soldiers who’d stayed behind.

  Yet, their attack that night, across the open field and under heavy fire, while successful, was not without loss. And because of this, the following day an officially sealed letter was sent home to England, to a new widow, and her young daughter; A letter that they had hoped to never receive, one that had brought many tears, and much sadness.

  And as will sometimes happen, when faced with such circumstance as this, the young girl spent far too much time locked away in her room, staring out her window, hoping that a newer letter might arrive, to say that there had been a mistake and that everything would be alright. And the widow would spend all her time grieving, and was becoming of no good use as a mother, and would not allow herself to be happy again, although this was not her conscious choice.

  So that therefore, the girl’s aunt recommended a well-renowned school in Mayfield, where they were regarded for their discipline, insisting that the girl’s mother should ���think of what was best for the child.���

  However, this school could not be what that girl had needed. She was not in need of discipline, nor of a snobby boarding school where she would be away from her mother, and where she would find it difficult to make friends. What she had needed most of all was not a what at all, but a whom, and something that no school on earth could give to her.

  (Book 1 of The Histories of Earth)

  Chapter One

  The Governess

  Nothing could be said for Delany Calbefur. She was guilty. Guilty as sin and she knew it, and dreadfully that knowledge did not make her laborious steps to the governor’s office at all enjoyable. That is to say, a presumably guilty person has, at least, their half-believed excuses to help break the tension; being that, after all, blame in its own way can be nearly enjoyable. But a certainly guilty person, as was Miss Delany Calbefur, would most certainly be punished, and no amount of excuse making could deny that.

  Her grainy steps made echoes against the walls of the courtyard. And the day, not as cold as it should have been this late in the season, as grown-ups would often say, felt colder on her face because of the light wind, and because of a few pools of tears that began forming in her eyes as she skidded her feet across the cobble stone.

  (Here, if I may, I’d like to offer an aside note to the reader: As much as possible, within the pages of this book, I shall try to refrain from adding details or observations that only grown-ups would find interesting. This will not be that sort of book. And further, the adventures to be found within should not be cheapened by speaking of them in the ways that most older people speak of adventures.)

  So, as it was, she walked begrudgingly through the courtyard and up a narrow stairway, till she came face to face with fate: the large old wood door of the governor’s office. In truth, Lady Hanessy was a governess, although no living soul at the Mayfield house would dare call her that. In fact, some of the other girls at the house could be perfectly horrid with the names they’d fashioned for Hanessy. The worst offender being a rude girl by the name of Suzy Leeching, who had called her some unrepeatable name just last Thursday. And so, as Delany stood in awe of what she was about to do, firming her shaking hand into a sore fist and lifting it up to the weight of that immense door, and wondering why not one of the girls who had deserved this more than her shouldn’t be here instead, she heard just the voice she had least wished to hear.

  ���You’re late,��� came a shrill voice through the door, the sharpness of which nearly sent all the queasiness in her stomach shooting through her nose. With a determined sigh she twisted the icy handle, then stepped inside the cramped office.

  ���Yes, Governor Hanessy, but I was told to pack my things, and-��� she stammered.

  ���No. None of that. I’ve no time for excuses, and even less for the girls who make them,��� interrupted Lady Hanessy. ���What was this I heard today, about you and that Hardy girl? Your professor says you made quite a scene during recreation.���

  ���Yes, but…��� said Delany, about to muster up a protest, until her eyes caught the stern-faced glare of the Governess.

  ���Yes, Governor. I hit her,��� she said, lowering her head.

  ���So you did, and you will learn that violence will not be tolerated here at Mayfield,��� announced Hanessy, rather forcefully. ���Would you like to offer Hardy your apology?���

  Against bitten lip she managed to say, ���Yes, Governor������ But with no response, so she added, ���Will that lessen my punishment?���

  ���No. It won’t,��� said Hanessy abruptly. ���Your punishment should remain the same, no matter if you two came strolling in, hand in hand.���

  ���Then am I to be sent home?���

  ���Certainly not!��� issued the Governess. ���I will not have it out that Mayfield cannot control their pupils. You will learn to behave, and I will see to it. And furthermore, since you cannot be trusted to keep well enough alone… alone is where you will be kept,��� Hanessy said, shuffling the papers on her desk.

  And after what seemed a long silence, in which Delany kicked the back of her heels together to subside the rising queasiness she was beginning to feel again, the Governess continued, pursing her wrinkled lips together and looking up from her well papered desk, ���You, Miss Calbefur, will spend the rest of the quarter alone, in the old Greyford house, after which you may return to your dormitory, if I think it beneficial.���

  At those words, Delany felt her stomach sink almost to the floor. She knew that the rest of the quarter meant a full month to the day from today, and who could survive a month in the old Greyford house, alone?

  Chapter Two

  The Greyford House

  The next morning, she was led down the dirt pathway, away from the main house, to the front of the old white slatted Victorian home. That is to say, what was once a white house, but was now so chipped and cracked it looked more dusty gray than white.

  The fallen leaves in the yard blew up onto her shoes, as she stood gazing through the hazy windows. A look of shock was in Delany’s eyes, and all the strange stories she’d heard whispered about this old place came creeping back into her mind.

  ���Come on, dear. It’s not as bad as all that,��� said Maid Allen, the woman who had led Delany to the Greyford house that morning. Delany couldn’t speak enough to give protest, and so the maid continued, ���I remember when she
was rather nice. Used to be a holiday home for travelers, till Mr. Greyford died and it’d fallen into disrepair.���

  ���Was he… in the house when he died?��� Delany asked, horrified.

  ���Deary, no, no,��� she chuckled. ���He died in a hospital, and won’t be coming back here, I assure you.���

  The simple fact that most all places can be associated with some dead person or another did not seem to console her, but to Delany’s credit the front door creaked in just the right way as to make any place seem eerie.

  The house was large and empty, the sort of place with covered furniture, and rooms leading to other unexpected rooms. (Which may be exciting given the right company, but for Delany, alone in this strange house, it was looming and unsettling.)

  Clap. Clap.

  Up the stairs, Maid Allen led her. The maid’s hard soled shoes thudding atop each step. She led her through an angled hallway, and up one more large step to the brightest room she had seen yet, with wide windows.

  ���This’ll be your room,��� the old woman said. ���I set out a fresh set of sheets for you when I heard the news last ev’n.��� And leaning in she said, ���I also heard what that bitter girl said about your father, too. And although I’d be wrong for it, you can be sure I’d have swung at her as well.��� And there was a twinkle in the old woman’s eye, that Delany took for solidarity. Then she continued, ���After all, it’s not as if he’d started that war, himself… and I don’t think he should be blamed for fighting in it, either.���

  ���Thank you,��� Delany said, breathing a sigh of relief, and feeling the first bit of comfort she’d felt in weeks. She set her bag down on the linen bed sheets and began to fumble with the clasp.

  And calling behind her as she left, the maid exclaimed, ���If you hear any noises at night, it’s just these old pipes.���

  Chapter Three

  Strange Discoveries

  The next few days were surprisingly refreshing. To the rest of the girls at the main house, Delany appeared to be a conquering heroine with brave stories of illusive noises and intriguing discoveries. Even Mattie Hardy had come around to offer her own apologies for what she’d said to Delany just a few days prior, and less regretfully than one may have expected, Delany accepted them.