Hello, everyone! Here is the start of my 'Amulet' fanfiction. I discovered this graphic novel series this past year and liked reading through it. To show my appreciation of the series, I have begun writing out this story. Enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: The 'Amulet' series is created and illustrated by Kazu Kibuishi, and published by 'Scholastic'. The author owns any original characters and custom elements included into the story.

Onward!


When Caleb Morris came downstairs on a Saturday morning in late summer, Miranda, his mother, was sitting on a stool in the kitchen and talking on the house phone with a worried look on her face. The moment she saw Caleb come in, she used her hand to cover her mouth and talked a bit quieter. This got a little bit of attention from Caleb, but he was too lethargic to really consider it. Miranda talking on the phone, even in a secretive way, was not a part of his morning routine. He felt he could ignore it, just like he didn't regard the fact Miranda was in an indigo bathrobe that Caleb didn't remember her ever wearing around the house.

Contrary to Miranda's usual short and sweet attitude when on the phone, she kept talking and covering her mouth as Caleb got his pre-run breakfast of apple slices and a glass of fruit juice ready from the kitchen. Caleb popped the slices into his mouth like popcorn as he sat at the tiny kitchen dining table, chewing them quickly before swallowing them down with juice.

As Caleb ate his eyes wandered over to his still-whispering mother, looking like how some gossipy girls in his 11th-Grade class shared secrets between themselves. Miranda brushed strands of her auburn hair from her face, the freckles on her cheeks growing redder whenever she blushed, which was every few sentences. This gave her a youthful appearance she usually did not exhibit for a woman over 50 years old.

Granted, understanding appearances was not something Caleb was smart in. He saw himself in the mirror each day and knew he had the clean Caucasian skin tone of his parents, a prominent jawline, sapphire-blue eyes, darker brown hair that stuck out a bit over his ears, and large nostrils that helped him take larger breaths when running. He chalked up his mother's appearance of caution to the fact she hadn't been able to shower yet; her hair looked more unkempt than usual and, once again, a bathrobe was not her usual morning attire.

As Caleb finished his meal and washed his dishes in the kitchen sink, he heard the click of Miranda putting the phone back into its cradle. He waited until his dishes were drying by the sink before he looked back at her. Miranda's sky-blue eyes glanced at him, quickly looked away, and then closed with obvious stress as she let out a heavy sigh. She then sat down at one of the other empty wooden chairs around the small table, still not looking at Caleb.

"That was Karen Hayes on the phone," Miranda suddenly said, putting weight on the caller's name. Caleb blinked a few times before the full meaning of that name came to him.

The Hayes were nearly neighbors to the Morris's, both families living a few houses from each other in the same California suburb community. The parents of both families have known each other for several years, or so Caleb figured, but he didn't really regard the Hayes until two winter holidays ago. That had been when the father of the Hayes family, David, had died in a car accident. Karen and her children had come back with stricken faces and downtrodden expressions, a sharp contrast to their previous friendly and talkative attitudes.

The community had paid proper respects to the Hayes at the time, not holding a burial because the body was never recovered. After the memorial service was over, people gave sympathetic words and comforting gestures before moving on with their own lives. Caleb had not moved on, at least not fully. Each school day he saw the children being dropped off or picked up from school by Karen; each weekend he passed by their house on his early morning runs. He felt hurt every time he remembered that family, despite his not being harmed by the tragedy at all.

Caleb bobbed back and forth on his feet before he sat down across the table from Miranda, his mind still focused on the Hayes. That family had tried to live life like they did before David's unexpected departure. That took a remarkable amount of inner strength, more so than Caleb felt he had. But they had never looked as happy as before, even when smiling. The stress was always there. Caleb knew how that felt; he would soon be graduating high school, and then going to college with the dreams of getting a job somewhere in the world. And like many burgeoning young adults, he had not given much thought about the future.

Now, with Karen Hayes calling his mother seemingly out of the blue, it looked like the future had grabbed Caleb by the shoulders and put him on a new path, whether he wanted it or not.

"What did Mrs. Hayes say?" Caleb asked, speaking his words carefully with his voice. Puberty had struck his voice with brutal force, hammering it down more than an octave and making all his words heavy without him intending to.

Miranda rolled her shoulders back and sat upright in her chair, placing her hands flat on the table with palms down. "She confirmed something she first told me about a month ago," she replied. She took a cautious breath, squeezed her fingers, and announced, "The Hayes are moving to a new town."

"Moving?" Caleb quickly started rattling off questions as they came to his mind. "Moving when? Where? Why now?"

Caleb could not remember the last time someone had moved out or into the community, it so rarely happened. People here formed tight bonds, often talking with each other like everyone was a close friend of everyone else. This had helped form several of the cliques and clubs at Caleb's high school, ranging in size from small groups to massive outreach projects. None of those groups, adults or teenagers, shared Caleb's lingering concern for the Hayes family. Sometimes that felt like a bad thing to Caleb.

"They leave in five days," Miranda answered, taking each question by itself. "They'll go to Norlen, near San Francisco. As for why now…" She gravely shook her head. "Karen said she felt they all need to start again. Away from all this."

"Couldn't they have done that earlier?" Caleb almost immediately realized how silly that question after he asked it. The strained look Miranda gave him only made him feel worse. This was another instance where his brain pushed out words faster than his common sense could filter through them. It had made for many an awkward conversation in the past, and this one would be added to that list.

"Karen had to make a difficult choice," Miranda slowly said, as if that was the only reason she needed to give. But she gave another reason few moments later: "The children, Emily and Navin, are still young. They have friends and lives here that they'll be leaving behind. You've seen those two in town, I'm sure, or maybe around school."

Caleb nodded again. He had clear pictures of those kids, especially the silence in their postures and motions. The narrowed eyes, sloped backs, their arms tucked into their pockets. They had looked old enough to be high schoolers sometimes, lost in the angst of teenage or adult issues. Death came for everyone in the end.

Caleb shook his head to clear the thought of dead parents from his mind and asked his mother, "Has Mrs. Hayes told anyone else about this?"

"I suspect she has," she answered, "but I didn't ask directly. People are bound to notice if she does so or not."

Caleb did not like that statement, realistic though it was. "Kids are going to talk about this anyway," he warned.

Miranda just smirked. Caleb figured she didn't fully understand the gossip of angsty teenagers in modern-day society; that stuff was far more impactful to Caleb than his parents because he had to hear the people talking about it in the packed classrooms and hallways. The closest Miranda might get to that kind of news would be when she shopped at a supermarket, and there were some within a short car drive. Caleb worked at one of them, and because of that Miranda never went there to shop.

"Kids talk about anything strange or different. Adults, too," Miranda admitted with a chuckle. Caleb did not laugh with her. Miranda kept her amused expression up as she added, "Karen asked about your training for the track team, of course. It's too bad she won't be at the sports meet this fall; she was a strong vocal supporter."

"She always made those nice brownies on Halloween, too," Caleb remarked, the texture of those treats a memorable and happy taste. Karen doled out holiday food like a doting grandmother to the community kids, and even after David's death she had made treats on special days in the community. That was something about Karen that hadn't changed from David's death.

Miranda chuckled again at Caleb's dreamy expression, and then sighed once again from her own disappointment. Caleb considered getting up and walking over to her, but instead stayed put.

"I'm fine, sweetie," Miranda said, either reading his thoughts or using her motherly intuition. "I'm just going to miss them when they're gone."

"Going to miss who, dear?" a croaking voice asked from the doorway. "Is it the person on the phone?"

Caleb looked to the new voice and saw his father, Stanley Davis, in his well-worn bathrobe that shrouded his body in deep layers of white and red fabric. One of Stanley's sunburned hands pressed against the frame of the doorway as the rest of his body leaned on bent legs. His green eyes were half-open, proving to Caleb he had just gotten up. Had Miranda or Caleb leaving the room earlier caused him to snap out of his sleep?

"That was the Hayes on the phone, Stanley," Miranda replied as she got up from her chair. "They're moving away in five days."

Stanley wiped his face with one hand, fingers passing over the two-day stubble on his chin. Understanding slowly dawned on his face until he grunted and ambled into the kitchen. "Really?" he asked while his legs brought him to the refrigerator put by the sink. "Karen finally made up her mind?"

"It was a hard decision!" Miranda emphatically said with the same strained look she had given Caleb. "Don't treat it so nonchalantly."

Stanley raised and lowered one shoulder, clearly indifferent to Miranda's irritated state. Caleb was not fazed by this act; he knew his parents, like just about every married couple, did not always agree with each other on simple issues.

"I care about this, baby," Stanley said while he blinked the last bits of sleep out of his eyes. "I know it's important. But still, two years is a long time to dwell on the past."

Miranda turned away from Stanley to face the wall. Caleb had to smirk at how Stanley was talking so much like his son without really knowing it. He then looked up to above the refrigerator and saw the small clock mounted on the high wall reading "06:00".

"Speaking of time," Caleb announced as he quickly slid out of his seat. "I'm going to go out for a run. I'll be back in about an hour." He figured an hour would be long enough for his parents to get out any bad feelings; Miranda looked like she was going to start an argument with her husband.

Getting some distance between himself and a bad situation was the way Caleb usually avoided conflicts. To that end he had joined the school track team and took a summer job, all so he wouldn't be stuck at home and forced to listen to other people's words for entertainment. He preferred to work with others on his own terms, which left him few friends even on the school teams. That might have been a problem if he wanted to have close friends to be worried about in addition to his personal stress.

"Have a good time!" Miranda called to Caleb as he headed back up to his bedroom to change into his workout clothes.

When Caleb left the house a few minutes later, dressed in his short shorts, school jersey, and tight running shoes, he heard his parents talking back and forth to each other like they were on opposite sides of a prison cell. He dashed out the door after he checked he had his portable music player and headphones in his pocket.


Caleb's feet pressed against the layered stone of the sidewalk as he ran, his body bent forward for extra momentum. A thin white cord connected two earbuds to the portable music player in his pants pocket, music from the small device going into his ears. He was not focused on the music's notes, or even the direction he was heading. His body moved on autopilot, one foot in front of the other on a well-known route, while his mind swam an entirely different sea, lost to its own joys and feelings.

Caleb did not fear straying from the path he ran each weekend morning. He ran it at least twice each weekend in the warmer months, weather permitting. This was his biggest way of exercising outside of the school gymnasium, and he preferred this way over any other. When he was running around the neighborhood, his heart pumping and blood flowing, he felt at peace. Running cleared his mind: there was just his body and the world around him, both moving at their own paces. The music just helped him get going and stay steady.

The Sun was already up, the sky filled with its light as the night's clouds fled from its gaze. Caleb saw sunbeams bounce off dew-covered grass, the metal of the streetlamps, and the windshields and windows of the cars that passed by on the adjacent street road. Already the neighborhood was getting up and moving, buzzing with activity that would only increase as the day trudged on.

Near the end of his long circling route around the collection of suburban houses he had seen many times before, Caleb approached the Hayes' two-story house with a slanted roof and curved windows on both floors. Like every other time he had passed it by, he slowed down a bit and looked at the place with a focused stare. It looked the same today as before. And then the front door opened, and Karen Hayes stepped out in a loose green long-sleeved shirt, faded jeans and gray slippers.

Caleb broke his pace as Karen moved down the house's short walkway to the front fence, a flimsy structure reaching just above Caleb's knees. He pulled his earbuds out and fumbled in his pocket to mute his music player as Karen reached the fence's gate, bending down to pick up the newspaper perched against it. He considered sprinting past the gate outright and avoiding any conversation, but his gut told him to stay. Perhaps today would be the day he did something more than look at these people and silently mourn them.

Karen stood back up, paper in hand, and Caleb felt the hairs on his back rise. How did he look right now to her, having just been running in the early morning? He had no time to fix his appearance before Karen's eyes met his. He felt like a drifter coming up to ask for some spare change in his current clothes, instead of the son of a friend.

"Good morning, Mrs. Hayes," Caleb greeted. His words sounded lukewarm in his ears, his formality lacking any real weight. He wanted to say more, but fear wedged his mouth shut like a clam as he quietly breathed through his nose.

"Hello, Caleb. Enjoying your run?" Karen asked with a brief smile, her voice unperturbed by Caleb's appearance. He shuffled a bit on his feet, uncertain on what to do beyond nodding.

"I, um, I hope you're doing well," Caleb managed to get out, and then added, "You aren't usually out when I take my runs." That was a fact; usually the Hayes house was dark when Caleb ran by it in the mornings. He had glanced at the windows before, but thankfully never saw any faces looking back. That would have scared him, for sure.

Karen hummed in agreement. "I got up early this morning to make some phone calls," she said. Caleb knew that was also true, and he subsequently felt a bit more confident as the two shared a few more questions about Caleb's summer job and how his parents were doing. Caleb then spontaneously decided to ask Karen, "Are your kids up as well?"

Karen turned towards the house as her smile grew a bit larger. "They're having breakfast now. We're going to be busy for most of the day, so I gave them a bit of relaxation time."

Caleb looked at the front door as well, trying to stare through it and possibly see the growing children for himself. He speculated on what exactly they would all be doing today – probably preparing for the big trip – but did not have enough courage to directly ask Karen. He did not want to upset her by revealing he knew that secret.

Caleb's watch beeped a warning about Caleb's heart rate, breaking his thoughts like ice beneath a hammer. "Shoot," he quickly said, "I've got to go. Have a good day, Mrs. Hayes."

Caleb grabbed his earbuds in one hand and began to fast walk away from the house. "Tell Miranda I said hi!" Karen said after him. He waved back as he put the earbuds back into their places and got his body back into the motions of running.

Caleb's mind took several seconds longer than his body to reach that relaxed state. Something about how Mrs. Hayes had acted told him she felt sad just from talking with him. He was not confident in his ability to read emotions, but he could tell things were worse with the Hayes than Karen had let on. Did he feel that way because he knew they were leaving soon, and probably never coming back?

Caleb stumbled slightly on the path, almost falling off the curb and into the road. He gritted his teeth as he righted himself, flailing his arms to regain balance while also not breaking his stride. He chalked his concerns for later consideration; right now, he had a run to finish.


Stanley was in the kitchen, dressed in a plaid collared shirt and baggy pants and looking more awake, when Caleb came back into the house. "Hey, kiddo," he said to Caleb. "Care for some catch later?"

"Maybe after my shower," Caleb answered, "I don't have work today, so we can throw the pigskin around. Unless you have work at the garage today, that is." Stanley snorted at Caleb's word choice, both for tossing a football around and for his father working at the car trading store two counties away.

"The garage doesn't need me today. Actually," Stanley suddenly asked Caleb as he started to move away, "how much homework have you got left from school?"

Caleb stopped short before the narrow spiral staircase that led to the upstairs floor of his home. His face paled as he admitted, "I forgot…" to Stanley. He knew he'd been given some summer homework before the break, but he had been completing that without a schedule in mind. His job at the store had also eaten up plenty of time he could have spent completing it.

"Business before pleasure, Caleb," Stanley reminded his son in a stern, this-is-your-father-talking manner.

"Yeah, yeah," Caleb moaned in irritation before he walked up the spiral staircase to his rectangular room on the second floor. A few minutes later he was in the adjacent shared bathroom, taking what he considered a well-earned shower. The water washed away his fatigue, and even his lingering thoughts about the Hayes. Once he was dried off and changed into a fresh T-shirt and jeans, he sat down at his bare-bones desk to the left of a circular window and pulled out his school notebook from a drawer in the desk.

Variations of, "Ah, geez!" came from Caleb's mouth as he worked on problem after problem, exclaiming whenever he came across a very difficult concept. When he saw the symbols and equations in front of him, he remembered why he did not like doing them. He toiled for what felt like hours, his cell phone not vibrating or ringing once from its place on his desk. A rough knock on his open door finally made him look up from the desk. Stanley stood in the doorway; his knuckles were pressed against the door's thin surface.

"Permission to enter?" Stanley asked with a cheeky grin. Caleb smiled back and beckoned him inside, telling him, "I'm just grinding through advanced algebra." Stanley came over and looked at the work he'd done so far, standing by Caleb's desk and bending slightly forward. "Story problems," he remarked once he read through some of them. "Oof."

"No kidding." Caleb huffed out an irritated breath and looked at the vast assemblage of words on the paper. "Who even designed all these complex scenarios, anyway?"

"Maybe a bunch of bored teachers. If they did these things in real life, they'd be nuts!" The pair shared a good-natured chuckle at that; they knew Miranda had connections with several teachers in the town and surrounding neighborhoods in California. If she heard any of this, she would be furious. Stanley did not seem to mind the risk, though.

Pleased with the chance to vent his frustrations, Caleb's mind shifted back to his earlier thoughts. "Dad?" he asked, to which Stanley hummed with mild interest. "Did Mom tell you anything more about the Hayes moving away this morning?"

Stanley's face shifted to an annoyed expression. "She mentioned they were going to Norden," he slowly stated. "That's a town out in the countryside, several hours journey from here. Apparently, Karen's family has a house out there that no one's been in for years." Stanley sounded surprised that such an option existed for them.

"I mean why they are moving," Caleb emphasized. "We've all known about their father dying for nearly two years. They could have left before now."

"It would have been more noticeable if they did it earlier. I think Karen wants to make a quiet departure and begin again somewhere new."

"But she's calling up people like us to announce her going," Caleb persisted despite the irritation he saw growing on Stanley's face. "That's the opposite of quiet, isn't it?"

Stanley sighed like Miranda had that morning. "Well, we may hear more about it all this coming week. It's not like they're going right now." He rubbed a thick hand on Stanley's shoulder. "Finish those problems, okay? If you're not done by lunchtime, we'll call you."

"Okay, Dad." Stanley closed the door behind him as he left Caleb to his work. Caleb stared at the door and felt guilty for upsetting his father like he had. But at least he was still alive, right? He didn't really hate him for his comments, right?

'It's not that simple, Caleb.' The inner voice in the growing teenager's head whispered the dark truth to him. 'You're getting obsessed about the Hayes family. That isn't normal, is it?'

Caleb did not come up with an answer. He turned back to his math problems instead of the intricacies of another family he knew almost nothing about. Sure, he had memories of time with the Hayes: talking with them at sports meets, eating the nice food Karen made, watching the two children stand by themselves at school. But they had chosen to move to a new town, without his opinion. Maybe that was what had him so upset by it.

'If that's true,' Caleb told himself as he set pencil back to notebook paper, 'then I have to do something. I have to get in the Hayes good graces before they leave.' How that was to be done, he could not begin to imagine, but he knew it must be done. He felt the Hayes needed some generosity in their lives.

By the time Caleb was called down to lunch by Miranda, he had only completed a few pages of work. He said nothing about it as he ate, keeping his problems close to his chest like he was told a growing adult should do.


Alright, that's all for now. What do you think about this first chapter?

This story will be focused on Book 1 of the 'Amulet' series, 'The Stonekeeper'. There is also no set update schedule for the story. I'll add new chapters when I get the chance.

Any feedback and constructive criticism you provide will be great to see. Thank you again for reading.

Draconos is taking off!