Date Published: 06-08-2021
Immortal Trickster, Luke, is starting a fresh life in a new-to-him seventeen-year-old body. With yet another lifespan stretched out in front of him, he’s questioning what purpose his endless compulsion to play tricks serves.
Agnar, a Thor look-alike claiming to be his adoptive brother from the planet Asperian, appears to declare Luke has been away from home too long. One problem. Luke doesn’t remember Agnar or living on another planet.
With more questions than answers, Luke cautiously agrees to accompany his “brother” back to Asperian, but the travel portal rejects him, leaving him behind to continue his mundane life of trickery. When interplanetary soldiers show up intent on killing him, he’s forced into hiding and his list of unanswered questions grows.
Will Luke remain trapped on Earth forever, pulling meaningless pranks? Or will he finally figure out his true purpose?
Luke pulled up to
avoid running into the guy, barely stopping in time.
“Excuse me.” He
stepped around the impossibly large man to continue walking.
“Ludo,” the guy
said, his tone filled with exasperation.
Luke stopped and
turned back to him. “Are you talking to me?”
The guy stepped
forward, a sad expression on his face. Luke backed away. The stranger was huge.
In no situation could Luke take this behemoth so he didn’t want to let him get
too close.
“You have let
yourself get so far away you do not even remember me? Your own brother?”
Luke took another
step backward. Brother? He scanned the Adonis, easily six foot five inches tall
and probably able to bench press a Mini Cooper. His shoulder-length blond hair
shone even under the dark cover of trees—at night—for Loki’s sake. The guy
looked like he belonged on the cover of a romance novel. They couldn’t be
brothers.
Though,
admittedly, Luke didn’t remember what he originally looked like. He didn’t
remember family or a childhood or anything as normal as that. He could only
remember three lifetimes back—maybe—but even that got confused in his head
sometimes.
The guy’s
shoulders fell. “You do not. Do you even know you are an immortal?”
Luke narrowed his
eyes. Of course he knew that. Hell, living forever isn’t something you forget
easily, no matter how hard you try. “Who are you?”
“Ludvik, it is me,
Agnar.” He pounded his own chest as if to underscore the point. “Your brother.”
“I don’t have a
brother.”
“Well, we are not
brothers of flesh and blood, no. But we are like brothers in spirit.”
This was getting
really weird. “Listen, Thor.”
“Agnar. Thor is
only a cousin.”
“Your cousin or my
cousin?” Luke shook his head. “Never mind. I don’t know who you are, but I find
it strange that you chose to enlighten me in a secluded spot in the middle of
the night. Since I’m a little creeped out now, I’m gonna leave.” He turned to
stalk away, but found Agnar standing in front of him. As he watched, a
silhouette of the man tracked from the original location to the new one.
“Whoa.” Luke blinked, certain his tired mind was playing tricks on him.
“Ludvik, you don’t
even know who you are.”
The guy knew he
was an immortal, so what more did he have to lose? “Sorry to disappoint, but
I’m very aware of who I am. I’m a trickster. A charlatan. My purpose in life is
to stir up trouble.” He shrugged. “See. I’m fine. Now, leave.”
About the Author
Award winning Kai Strand, author of the action packed Super Villain Academy series, is often found exploring hiking trails and snapping pictures of waterfalls in her Oregon hometown. Mother of four, Kai uses her life experiences to connect with young readers. With middle grade works such as Save the Lemmings, The Weaver Tale series, and The Concord Chronicles series, and emotional YA adventures like Finding Thor, I Am Me, and Worth the Effort, Kai has written compelling stories that tweens, teens, and their parents love.
Kai has given numerous presentations in classrooms, to writer groups, and at workshops about her work and the writing process. She loves interacting with teens and gaining their insight on their latest reads as well as what they would like to see in future stories.
To find out more about Kai, please visit Kaistrand.com.
Contact Links
Twitter: @KaiStrand
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