Treasured Secrets (The Coveted Saga 1)

Chapter 1

Away From Home

Home is where the heart is, but what happens to the heart when the home is gone?

"Aria Weislen, you'd better not still be in bed!" Ash, my sister, yelled at me before crashing through my bedroom door.

Her cheeks were puffed, her eyes were angry, and her irritation was quite comical. I laughed at her, which only infuriated her all the more.

"Chill," I grumbled while climbing out from under the covers. "I won't take long to get ready."

She rolled her eyes and released a breath of exasperation. Her bobbed black hair bristled softly as she silently cursed me with the simple shaking of her head.

I strolled past her, out of the room, and into the bathroom to start the shower.

"Aria, you have to start school tomorrow. You've yet to acquire ninety percent of your needs. Your procrastination is giving me an ulcer. There's no more delaying the inevitable."

I huffed as I finished stripping down and climbed into the shower. As I shut the curtain, I heard Ash plop down on the countertop of the vanity. She apparently had no intentions of letting me out of her sight today.

I'd managed to put off starting school for an extra month, though it was a painstakingly dramatic endeavor. My relentless parents finally forced me out here to Grayford, Massachusetts, and I had to leave behind the only home I'd ever known, just like all four of my siblings, while Mom and Dad stayed behind to finish up their research.

"How long did it take you to get used to... all this?" I asked while lathering my hair, holding back the tremble in my voice.

Ash sighed, her anger subsiding as the sweet sister within her came out of hiding.

"A while. It's not so bad though, Aria. It's different - very different - but it's really nice. At least there's electricity here." We both chuckled, though a slight sniffle marred my amusement. "Haluali will always be home, but soon this will feel like another home."

I doubted that. I felt like an imposition living with my estranged grandparents. It was an odd arrangement to say the least. After being here for five days, I still hadn't really bonded with Iris or George. They were lovely, don't get me wrong, but they were still strangers I barely knew.

For some bizarre reason, my mother - Jaslene - and my father - Alvin - found it necessary to send all of us off to live with Iris and George. They wanted us to have a senior year in the states - a real American school.

Yep. At the ripe old age of seventeen, I'd been booted out of the nest.

"The sun is different here. The sounds, the trees, the air... everything is different. I wish I had more time to adjust before getting tossed into a school full of people I don't care to meet."

Haluali was a small village which was kept secret from the world, or so it seemed. It was close to Brazil, but far enough away to keep anyone from finding it by accident. It was the hideaway most only ever dreamed about.

I spent so much time wandering through the rainforest that seemed to know me as well as I knew it. My sketchbooks were loaded with all the drawings the leafy giants and sparkling waterfalls had inspired. It was all I had left anymore - memories and drawings.

The trees... Oh, I missed the trees. The glorious giants back home did their best to touch the sky. They'd lace together, twist and turn, even grow into one another with their feral will. Here... The trees were militant and strategically planted in most places. The wild was lost, for these short little twigs had been domesticated.

Nothing felt the same, and I simply felt lost.

Ash held her tongue, cautiously planning her words out so as not to make me cry as I had for the past few days. I hated crying. Nothing infuriated me more, and until this ridiculous move, I'd rarely ever done such a thing.

As I climbed free from the shower and wrapped up in my towel, I met the softened eyes of my worried sister.