This story is also not posted on fanfiction.net yet, as I want to create enough of a backlog of chapters before I attempt that. I'm quite content writing and posting here for feedback. Let me know what you think!
Chapter 1 - Snatched Away
She stood upon the auction block, looking out over the massive crowd that had formed. She was only six years old, a mere child that had been snatched up by slave traders. She had strayed from her mother’s side during market day and been grabbed by strange hands near the toy stall. She didn’t remember much of anything beyond that; one of her capturers had put a smelly rag over her mouth. Everything had gone black after that. Fearfully she looked out over the crowd that had gathered; dozens of men and women stood on the ground below, shouting at each other, calling out prices. She covered her ears with her hands, trying not to listen to it all. She tried to think back to that fateful day, remember the smile upon her mother’s face.
~ Flashback ~
“Don’t go too far ahead of me, Stormy. You know that today is crowded,” warned her mother, a tall, lavender haired woman. She wore a bright peppermint green dress that came to her knees, but was slit up the sides. A pair of black leather boots that came up to her knees completed the outfit. Her hair was pulled back in a long braid that fell below her waist. Around her neck was a silver pendant, one of a lightning bolt. It had been passed down in her family for generations, symbolizing the control the wearer had over the weather, as did the namesake bestowed upon the wearer at birth. Stormy’s mother was known as Skye, and was a well respected, well known woman.
“I won’t, mama!” called Stormy from in front of her. Stormy had rarely been taken to market days, as her mother wanted to keep her safe from the child slave traders that roamed the marketplace, searching for a child that had strayed from its mother. She wore an outfit similar to her mother’s- bright peppermint green dress with the slits up the side, black boots, and a silver pendant around her neck, a smaller version of the lightning bolt that her mother wore. Her hair had been pulled into a ponytail and held in place by a yellow lightning bolt clip. Part of her hair had been braided into a small braid and hung near the right side of her face. Her bright green eyes searched the stalls, looking at all the interesting trinkets and foods being sold.
Stormy forgot all about her mother’s warning as she skipped from booth to booth, finally stopping at one where there were tiny handmade dolls being sold. Stormy looked over the multi-colored dolls in bright shiny outfits. She picked one up and fingered the fabric. Before she could call to her mother to look at the toy, a pair of rough hands covered her mouth and picked her up.
“Now, now, little Belle, that’s not for you to buy today. Daddy will get you something else,” said a rough voice. Stormy didn’t know that this was directed at the shopkeeper.
Daddy? That’s not my daddy thought Stormy frantically, trying to squirm away. However, the grip the stranger had on her was strong, and she couldn’t break free. Where’s mama? Mama will take care of this.
The next thing she knew, Stormy was being rushed past the many stalls. She lost track of the twists and turns the stranger took. Her eyes frantically kept searching the crowd for the tall lavender haired woman that she called her mama, but she couldn’t see her. She couldn’t see much of anything; the man was moving too fast for her to recognize anything. Eventually, they ended up in a dark alley on the outskirts of the marketplace. Stormy was placed on the ground and she frantically searched for a way past the man, running as fast as her little legs could carry her. She looked back, and didn’t watch where she was running. She ran into something hard and fell back onto the ground. Stormy looked up, into the face of another stranger, this one holding a piece of cloth in hand. “C’mere girly… this won’t hurt a bit…” he cackled as he put the rag over her nose and mouth.
Suddenly, Stormy felt woozy and her body began to sway back and forth. She slumped forward, unconscious. The larger of the two men picked up the lavender haired girl and shoved her into a brown sack. “Looks like an easy catch, Rad,” he commented. He wore a simple trader’s outfit – a tan tunic with black pants and dark brown boots.
Rad nodded his head in agreement. He was a lanky fellow, and wore the same trader’s outfit as his companion. A commotion was starting up in the marketplace. Rad looked out of the alley, only to see a lavender haired woman frantically calling for her lost child. “And that looks like the mother. Let’s move it, Volkov!” They both took off down the alley, the opposite of the direction of the marketplace. They made their way to their ship, just as distant peels of thunder could be heard. They tossed the sack to the back of the ship and took off without another thought. They’d accomplished their goal for that day.
~ End Flashback ~
Stormy had no idea how long it’d been since she’d been taken. They taken her necklace from her though. Everyone knew that the necklace identified her family. The traders had been quite happy when they’d discovered this gem on her and had danced about. Stormy had no idea that this meant they would be able to sell her for a higher price in the marketplace than the average child slave. Word would be passed along the black market grapevine, a hush-hush invitation that wouldn’t draw attention.
For days, the strange men had provoked her anger. They’d tugged at her hair, smacked her arms, anything that would elicit a response from her and make her angry enough to call upon her powers. Unlike her mother, Stormy’s powers were uncontrollable and once she became angry, she would call upon the weather to emote her anger, creating a large storm that couldn’t be controlled for hours. Once it was started, Stormy did not know how to stop it, and the storm would have to simply die out on its own.
She knew that she was being sold today. This was the day the men were excited for. She hoped that her mama would show up and fix everything. She missed her mama very much and wished she’d listened. If she’d have listened, she might not be in this mess. A lone tear slipped down her cheek and she sniffled. She wasn’t paying attention to the auction that was going on in front of her. She didn’t hear the excited cries of money amounts, didn’t hear the auctioneer talking about her as if she were some sort of animal being sold in a marketplace. She stood there, watching the crowd, looking for the familiar face that would take her home. She felt herself being poked and prodded, her hair being pulled in all directions. Her anger built, and a storm began to brew. As soon as the storm began to form, the poking and prodding stopped. The storm began to die down, but the demonstration had been successful. More money amounts were called out, hands greedily shot into the air to take a chance at bidding on this girl, the one being billed as a secret weapon to topple a nation by manipulating the weather to her will. No one cared that she had been taken from her home. No one cared that she cried during the auction. Each man and woman wanted a chance at the girl who could help them further their cause.
Stormy knew this wasn’t how she wanted to use her powers. Before she’d been taken, her mother had been giving her basic lessons on learning to control her powers and her temper. She’d never seen such a temper in a child when provoked. It was all the more reason to teach her daughter proper control at an early age before things got out of hand.
~ Flashback ~
Stormy sat beneath the large green tree outside her family home. Her mother stood not too far off, meditating. Stormy paid no attention to her mother and was instead crushing the tiny bugs that crawled upon the tree trunk with a stick. She was bored. Her mother had said she would teach her how to use her powers, but all she’d done so far was stand like a statue and make strange sounds.
“Stormy! Don’t do that to the ants!”
“Why not? There’s plenty of them,” retorted Stormy as she pushed her stick against yet another ant, creating another black speck on the tree bark.
“They’re living creatures too, Stormy. We don’t take away anyone’s life on purpose, even if they are tiny bugs,” explained her mother.
“They aren’t useful. They’re annoying. And they get in the food. You said you didn’t like them yesterday anyway,” replied Stormy, arms crossed. She gave her mother a look, the sort of look any child would give a parent in defiance because they feel they are right and the parent is wrong.
“All living things have their place, Stormy. Just as you and I do. You and I are given a gift that’s special and has been in our family for generations. The women can either use the gift wisely, or foolishly. We can bring the rains that can help fight droughts or we can bring the rains that would flood the land.” She picked up her only daughter, and kissed her forehead. Stormy squirmed to escape the kiss, but couldn’t slip away. Skye set her daughter down.
“I wanna make it rain, mama, really hard too,” stated Stormy, pointing to the sky.
“We don’t use our powers for evil, Stormy. However, before you can do anything, you have to learn to control your powers. If you can’t control your powers, you won’t be able to control the storms you create.”
“Why’s that bad?” asked Stormy.
“If you can’t control your powers, you can’t control what you make. You won’t be able to stop them or slow them down. You’ll have to let them stop on their own, and that could take awhile, especially if you make a really big storm.”
“It’d be really neat though!” answered Stormy, not paying attention to her mother’s words in the least.
Skye sighed. She knew Stormy would not listen to her logic, not at her age. “All right, Stormy. Let’s start with an easy exercise.”
Stormy’s ears perked up. Finally. She’d get to do something fun instead of standing around doing nothing. “What?” she asked eagerly.
“We’ll work on pulling the clouds toward you. Watch me first.” Skye demonstrated, holding out her hand, palm facing to the sky. She began making a “come hither” motion, and Stormy watched as the nearby puffy white clouds came closer to her mother, stopping just above her head. Stormy glanced wide-eyed above her. “Now, here’s what you need to do Stormy.” Skye took Stormy’s right hand in her own, and turned her palm upward. “Hold your palm up to the sky. Then you make a “come here” motion with your fingers.” Skye demonstrated the motion with Stormy’s fingers by bending them inward.
“I wanna try by myself now,” Stormy replied stubbornly. She pulled her hand away from her mother’s and tried to recreate the same motions. She held her palm up toward the sky. With pursed lips, she began to move her fingers in the same come hither motion that her mother had used, but the clouds wouldn’t budge. “What gives?!” she exclaimed.
Skye tried to hide the chuckle that wanted to cross her lips. “You have to want the clouds to come to you. Use your heart and mind, Stormy.”
Stormy tried again, but with no success. “I want them to come to me and they aren’t coming, mama!”
“You’re trying too hard, Stormy. You have to want it in both heart and mind. It’s up to you to figure out what that means.”
“It’s too hard. I can’t do it,” shouted Stormy after another unsuccessful try. She crossed her arms across her chest and began to pout.
Her mother merely smiled at her. “It takes time, Stormy. It took me weeks to learn how to do this when I was your age. I thought it was too hard too, but one day it just came to me and I knew what to do.”
“I wanna do it now!” replied Stormy in a loud voice.
“You will in time. Don’t be in such a rush. We have all the time in the world to work on your training. You’ll grow up to follow in your mama’s footsteps, you wait and see.” Skye smiled gently at her fuming daughter. Stormy had her father’s personality. Her father wasn’t often around, but to Skye it was as if he never left. Stormy always took his place, the same stubbornness and quick temper. Stormy could grow up to be a very dangerous weapon if she didn’t learn to control her powers and only let them be fueled by her anger. Skye was willing to train Stormy properly, with the hopes of calming her temper as she grew older.
Stormy plopped onto the ground, arms still crossed. “I wanna do it now,” she stated crossly.
Skye tapped her chin. “You know, I think there are still some of your favorite cookies in the kitchen. Why don’t we go see?” This was always a foolproof way to instantly calm Stormy’s nerves.
Quickly, Stormy leapt to her feet. “Really? I thought they were all gone?”
“Nope. I found two more left this morning. One for you and one for me. Let’s go enjoy a little snack for all your hard work today,” She took Stormy’s hand and together the two of them walked hand in hand back into their home.
~ End Flashback ~
Stormy wished that she were back at home now. She closed her eyes, wishing she were back outside with her mama. She wouldn’t even squash the ants this time. She’d sit beneath the tree and watch her mama stand like a statue. She’d practice harder with her powers. She knew she still couldn’t even pull the clouds like she was supposed to. She hadn’t really practiced as she should have. I promise that if I can just go back home, I’ll never squash the ants again. I’ll be good and do what mama says.
While Stormy was busy wishing for a miracle, the auctioneer was busily calling off prices, and the bidding war continued on, still going higher and higher. Finally, the auctioneer called a final price, the highest to be offered yet. No one called out to match the price, and the auctioneer began the count down before making the bid final. “Sold! To bidder 697!” cried the auctioneer. He continued speaking, but Stormy didn’t hear any words he said after “697”. She looked out at the crowd, wondering who would take her next. She didn’t have too long to wait. Bidder 697 was making his way toward the stage. In this case, it was two somebodies.
Stormy looked away as the short, pale green man in grey looked her over. He smelled funny and only grinned evilly at her. Beside him stood a tall fluffy monster, who wore red Converse shoes and had a long floppy nose. These were the people she was to go live with. Her mama had not come to save her. She kept hoping that her mama would come find her. There was still a tiny bit of hope in her heart that she’d still be rescued.
“Yes, she’ll be perfect,” called the man as he paid the auctioneer and looked at her once again. “Yes, brat, you’ll be the perfect weapon to destroy Rainbow Brite. With you, I’ll be able to take over Rainbow Land once again!”
Stormy had no idea what a “Rainbow Brite” was or where “Rainbow Land” was. She only wanted to go home. “My mama will find me. She’ll take me back home.
The strange man cackled in delight. “No, no I don’t think so. She won’t be able to find you in Rainbow Land.”
“Murky, how will we get Rainbow with her. She’s so little,” commented the big furry monster.
“Don’t worry about that now, Lurky,” replied the man now identified as Murky. “You’ll see, you’ll see.”
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I've got chapter 2 done and I'll post it soon... I haven't started chapter 3 yet because I need to write more of the synopsis so I have pieces to play over and over in my head. I have to be able to see it in my head to write it.