🏰Read the First Chapter of A Nick of Time by Mike DiCerto #FirstChapter


Title: A Nick of Time
Author: Mike DiCerto
Publisher: Zumaya Publications
Pages: 295
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy

BOOK BLURB:

It’s New Year’s Eve in Graysland, but when the final second fails to come Rupert Starbright finds his entire town frozen in time. Rupert and his school crush Rainn Evertree must travel to the Land of Annum to retrieve the stolen second from the nasty and evil Epoch. They will explore a wild, imaginative, and musical world where all the characters of the Zodiac join Rainn in helping Rupert in his most colorful and challenging adventure yet!

A Nick of Time is thoroughly entertaining and a fun read, this should be made into a Pixar animation!” – Amazon

“All kids should be encouraged to read this unique series and use their imaginings as well! It’s the power of positive thinking for the young adult set. Highly recommend!” – Amazon

Book Information

Release Date: August 16, 2021

Publisher:  Zumaya Publications

Soft Cover: ISBN: 978-1612710990; 295 pages; $11.70; eBook $4.99

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3vSNQ1x 




CHAPTER ONE


Chapter 1

A Split Second

“Ten…nine…eight…!”

Old Year Square shivered along with the folks of Graysland

as they counted down the final seconds of the fading

year. Frigid winds swirled and swished around the

heads and legs of the dozens and dozens who had arrived

in the square to greet the newest year. On that wind raced

herds of dead leaves that crunched and scraped along

the stones. It was Graysland, after all, and here the leaves

fell across all the months.

Rupert Dullz stood, his gaze fixed on the giant metal

bellberry leaf that sat atop the tall silver Yearling pole,

waiting for the countdown to finish. Around him stood

his parents, Polgus and Olga, and his grandma Folka,

who was bundled up in a brown coat and hat so thick

she looked like a bear.

“Seven…six…!”

The numbers shouted by the crowd sent clouds of

steam into the chill night air.

1

Folka leaned close to Rupert and whispered, “Did you

make a wish for the New Year, sweetie?”

Rupert nodded and felt his face grow warm with a

blush. A very specific wish had been floating around his

head for the last few months. Ever since school began in

September, he had noticed a new girl in his sixth-grade

class. He wondered if she had noticed him.

It felt like an eternity since he had shared a first kiss

with Mynerla in the wondrous land of Far-Myst. He remembered

her often, and had wished he could meet another

girl who made him feel as special as she had.

This new girl in his class had a very unboring name

—Rainn, with two Ns and not just one old boring one.

Rainn Evertree. Rupert found it hard to put two words

together when she was close by. Even saying hello was

harder than reading an entire page from The History of Leaf

Cutters. Backwards!

If only she liked him as well. That was his wish.

He kept this wish tightly wrapped in his thoughts.

He gazed at the sky, patched with clouds and dabs of glistening

stars.

“Five….four…!”

Rupert had experienced great adventure in the wondrous

lands of Far-Myst and My-Myst. He had even had

the chance to see what his boring town of Graysland had

been like in the old days when it was not so boring. That

was six months ago, when he’d stepped through Pie O’Sky’s

door from old Grayslandville then returned home and

celebrated the Winter Joy holiday with his family for the

first time.

“The Big Leaf Countdown”, as it was called, was one

of the few unboring things that happened in Graysland.

He didn’t think his best friend Squeem was boring, either,

and sent a friendly wave to him across the square, where

he stood with his mom and dad.

2

“Three…!”

Rupert’s heart raced as pulleys creaked on thick ropes

and the leaf, cut from a large sheet of green metal, began

to lower. The squeaky wheels sent a flock of pigeons into

the air, their fluttering wings making fwap! fwap! sounds.

Across the square, Rupert spotted Rainn, in a black

capelike coat, a gray woolen hat pulled down low to cover

half of her eyes, and a black scarf wrapped tightly around

her mouth. Strands of her hair, which shimmered with

streaks of brilliant electric blue, hung from beneath her

cap.

Rupert thought her hair was so unboring. He had never

seen anyone in Graysland with hair of such color. Everyone

else’s was the usual, boring old hair colors. He repeated

his wish to himself. Then, he noticed she was looking

at the sky, and glanced up.

A pitch-black shadow, like that of a giant bird, pushed

the clouds aside like a rude man through a crowd. Oddly,

stars were not revealed. Instead, strange swirling colors,

like motor oil on the surface of a puddle, shimmered.

What the heck is that? Rupert wondered. He turned to

ask his father, who was cuddling close to Olga to keep

warm.

“Two….O—!” cried the excited crowd.

Something very unexpected happened.

Everything stopped. The metal leaf froze in place less

than a foot from the ground. The clouds of visible breath

from the gathered residents no longer floated and vanished

like ghostly vapor. Instead, it became like a solid

mass of thin milk. The pigeons hung in the air like ornaments

strung across a line.

All sounds froze, a silence so deep it hurt Rupert’s

ears like an explosion of quiet. Only one thing moved—

the colors in the sky began swirling like living rainbows

all over the square. In that tornado of color, there was a

rush of brilliant light and sound.

3

Then, with a swoosh that vibrated his body, the multicolored

winds vanished back into the sky. Silence returned.

Rupert tried to look up to see if it was truly all over

but discovered he couldn’t. He could not move his head,

or his arms and legs. He could not even shift his eyes about

the square. The dozens and dozens of townsfolk were like

frozen mannequins. As were the pigeons.

The only thing that was moving and spinning freely

were his thoughts. His mind still worked.

This was good.

Rupert tried to think what could have possibly caused

this situation. Had a really super-duper cold wind blown

through and freeze everyone?

Nah.

Or maybe his thoughts had been so focused on Rainn

that it affected how he was seeing the real world. Maybe

it was like time was standing still.

No. That didn’t seem like the answer, either.

What is going on?

In his field of vision, the sight of the pigeons floating

in the air, wings spread, filled him with wonder.

I can’t imagine how birds could just hang in the air without

flapping their wings.

Imagine! That was the answer.

Rupert’s mind sizzled with sudden excitement. If I can’t

imagine why this happened maybe I can Imagine a way to stop

it.

It had been some time since he used his Imagining

abilities, but he knew the first step was to make his mind

as quiet as a library. He needed to shush out all the negative

and scary thoughts. He thought about how peaceful

the Garden of Dreams was during his journey to the

wondrous land of Far-Myst. He recalled the feeling of

the warm campfire, and the still night air, and the comforting

songs of night birds, and funny, glowing insects.

4

He felt a smile form. Maybe not on his lips, but in

his brain.

Then, Rupert had the image of a clock in his head, like

the one over Mrs. Stonelaughter’s desk at school. The clock

that seemed to take forever and a day to reach 2:57—the

greatest time, when school was over. Sometimes he thought

the clock was broken, stuck, its gear gunked up by dust

and grease.

Maybe that was what had happened in Graysland. Perhaps

there’s some giant, unseen clock that makes days become

nights and nights turn into mornings. Maybe, just maybe,

that clock was gunked up.

How could it be ungunked?

Anyway, Rupert thought. Where is it? How can I clean

the gears of a clock I can’t see?

He would need a special viewing glass to see it.

He figured if he could Imagine that special clock then

why not Imagine a way to see it? The glass must be able

to move on its own, since his arms were frozen at his sides.

It would have little wings, and fly across the square, and

settle on the bridge of his nose like his dad’s reading glasses.

It would have feathers. Purple feathers on a golden

frame.

Yes! Rupert could see such a pair of eyeglasses.

A sound whispered in the solid silence. Tiny pops of

cracking air. And there, across the cobblestone road, was

an object hovering in the air like a purple bird. Flecks of

light struck off gold and glass.

It worked!

The object of his Imagining was approaching, and as

it drew closer and clearer, Rupert felt hope in his heart.

The flying glasses settled on his nose, and through the two

crystal-clear lenses, he was able to see the ghostly shapes

of gears, a multitude of toothy wheels, hanging in the air

5

before him. One of the gears had a gap, just as Rupert had

when he’d lost his first baby tooth.

A missing tooth! I just need to imagine a new one.

He brought into his Imagining a seed. A gear-tooth

seed. He Imagined planting the seed in the empty slot.

With a little splash of Imaginary water it would grow a

new tooth, and the gears would move again.

A little sprout of silver popped up; and in seconds,

the missing tooth was back, and the gear wheels began

to turn, and…

Everything went dark. The gears, the glass lenses, the

golden frame, and the purple wings all vanished. The entire

town square was nothing but black.

Then, Rupert realized his eyelids were closed, and

he gave them the command to open. And they did. And

the town was back.

But everyone was still stuck in place like statues. Even

the flock of pigeons.

Rupert turned his head and saw his grandma, her

smiling face, with its busy roadmap of wrinkles, fixed and

frozen.

Wait! He had moved his head! He tried his hands, and

soon had his fingers flexing before his face. He took a

step. Then another. He had freed himself!

His stomach sank as he looked at his parents, Squeem,

and the gathered crowd. The town square was still as motionless

as a frozen river. He stepped up to the New Year’s

Leaf and brushed its cold, smooth surface with his fingers.

It was a mere foot off the ground. A single second from

bringing in a new year.

“Weird,” Rupert whispered.

Really weird,” someone said.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Since his childhood Mike Di Certo has always harvested his work from the abundant crop of his imagination. From the wild and hilarious Rock and Roll space adventure Milky Way Marmalade, to the child-like wonder of his middle grade series, The Adventures of Rupert Starbright (The Door to Far-Myst, The Secret of My-Myst and The Ghosts of Winter Joy) Michael's passions play out on the pages. His love of animals, his family, gardening, travel, movies, VR, history, Yoga, reading and music guide and influence his life and his writing.

His latest book is the middle grade fantasy novel, A Nick of Time.

Visit his website at www.ruperstarbright.com or connect with him on Twitter and Facebook.



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