Earthborn

CHAPTER 1 The Bullying The Gwynns had lived just outside the city of York for the past fourteen years. Nesta, their only child, was born there. As far as the neighbors knew, Matthew and Alison Gwynn were a pleasant, young American couple who had settled and made their home in England. Only the faintest of accents and the odd phrase here and there made people remember that they were not British born and bred. They kept themselves to themselves, but so did everyone else in their leafy, comfortable suburb. Never in a million years would anyone have guessed their astonishing secret. In fact, the only difficulty they had experienced so far in their time here had been the bullying their daughter had suffered in her first years at Carrick Comprehensive. But that could have happened to any ordinary child, born of purely human parents. For a year and half, Nesta had been bullied and tormented at school. It was never clear why. She was shy and clever, never one of the crowd, but not friendless. Then one day another girl from the form above, with a long ginger ponytail and eyes like a cat, came up to Nesta in the playground and said, "Is your name really Nesta?" "Yes," said Nesta, not quite sure what this strange girl meant. She did not know her at all. The girl gave a feline smile, eyes closing almost to slits. "Where'd you get a name like that from?" she said. "My mom called me that. She chose it," said Nesta. "It's Welsh for Agnes, I think." "Mom!" said the girl, with a snigger in her voice. "Who's this Mom? Haven't you got a mam then, like the rest of us?" "I've always called her Mom. It's what she called herself, I suppose. My parents came from Boston two years before I was born. That's in America." "Oh dear and la-di-dah!" said the girl, tweaking a lock of Nesta's fine hair. Looking at the two of them, the ginger girl would definitely have been the one to stand out in the crowd. Nesta was pale but pretty with gray-blue eyes and soft, light brown hair. She was quite tall for her age but slightly built. The other girl, besides her very distinctive red hair, was large-boned and clumsy-looking. Her complexion was ruddy and she had a wide, toothy grin. Nesta made no reply and no protest. She felt nonplussed at such uncalled-for attention. She just walked away as quickly as she could. From such a small beginning, the bullying grew, pushing and shoving, mocking and calling names. The girl, who was known to everyone as Ginger, got a group round her for the wonderful break-time game of tormenting the first-former who never fought back. Nesta tried hard to stay out of their way, but she told no one, not even her parents. She had felt so ashamed of being singled out. She wept into her pillow at night and wondered, Why me? She couldn't understand what was so special about her. It couldn't just be the name. There were plenty of strange names in the school--a girl called Ethena in 1B, a spotty little boy called Godwin in her own class. No one picked on them. Her staunch friend in all her troubles was Amy Brown, a short, stocky girl, but very brave despite her lack of height. In the playground, Amy tried to defend Nesta from the bullies. But one against many, no matter how brave, is not always effectual. "Leave her alone, you lot," Amy said. "She's not doing you any harm." "Who's gonna make us? You?" said Ginger, putting her tongue out at Amy. "You're a shrimp! If you're not careful, we'll add you to the hit list, Goggles!" "Don't speak to them, Amy," said Nesta anxiously. "It will only make things worse." Amy tossed her head at the bullies and said, "Touch me and I'll yell so loud I'll be heard from here to thWaugh, Sylvia is the author of 'Earthborn' with ISBN 9780440418382 and ISBN 0440418380.