Free Chapter Inside 😍
May 13, 2022 4:31 pm
Hello wonderful readers!
To gear up for the release of Forsaken next week, I've included the first chapter for you to preview below!
Chapter One
A chill breeze stirred around me, rustling my curls out of place and sending hair flying into my eyes. I huffed and brushed away the unruly locks hurriedly, unwilling to be distracted from my task. Next to me, Giselle stood watching my hand movements with curiosity.
“Now, what exactly are you trying to accomplish?” She changed her focus to the empty area in front of me that was lightly shimmering with magic. Through the iridescent glimmer in the air, I could see Yulian’s brothers standing on the other side of the clearing, their appearances in the midday sun distorted as my magic flickered in and out.
“I’ve told you already, I want a bed to sleep on,” I grumbled back at her, annoyed at the questions.
I’d been hiding out in the woods behind the Thorne and Rose campus for several weeks now and sleeping on stolen blankets that barely offered protection from the cold ground. The fugitive lifestyle was really starting to get to me, and even though the snow that was coating the ground when I arrived back from the daemon realm was finally melting, I wanted somewhere cozier to hide out.
Nicolette suggested several times that we attempt to sneak me back into the school, but Ciro and I both determined that was a bad idea. Everyone currently thought I was dead after they witnessed Isla and I both being transported to the daemon realm in a dramatic flash of green fire, and, honestly, it was better it stayed that way. If Isla knew I had made my way back, I’m sure she would be hunting me down in no time. And I’m not fool enough to think I would get lucky and escape a tragic ending twice.
I let out another frustrated sigh as a drop of melted snow landed directly on my forehead. Giselle let out a sympathetic chuckle and reached out to brush it off of me. Ever since my father, Sariel, had unlocked what I supposed was my true magical potential early, it was much easier for me to keep Giselle fully corporeal around me while still using my magic to do other things. As much as I had protested this initially, the extra power was actually pretty useful.
Planting my feet and shifting my concentration back to the matter at hand, I envisioned a small bed in my mind, preferably surrounded by some kind of welcoming cabin. The kind you might stay in on a well-deserved wilderness retreat in simpler times. Of course, I hadn’t learned any kind of spell for this during my time at the academy, so I was really free-forming it right now and hoping for the best. That wasn’t much different than usual though.
Across from me, Yulian’s brothers watched my actions, their expressions curious but reserved. They hadn’t gained back much of their human-interaction skills after leaving the daemon realm, and I wasn’t sure if they ever would. However, they were pretty good at picking up context clues and always ready to help out, which I was appreciative of.
Sending another wave of the wild, burning energy that I now recognized as my magic into the clearing, a hut began to materialize. It had a quaint thatched roof and didn’t appear to be much bigger than the size of a large walk-in closet. The wood paneling on the outside was dark brown and sturdy, and as soon as the building was fully materialized, the door swung open to reveal a paneled floor and three cots squished side by side.
“Wow.” Giselle let out a low whistle of approval. “That was surprisingly effective.” She took a few steps forward and peered in through the door.
“There’s just enough room for the three of you. It’ll be warm at least.”
“You know, you don’t always have to act so impressed when something I do works.” I rolled my eyes at her before joining her at the door. “But I will say, this is better than what I was expecting.”
Yulian’s brothers moved around the side of the hut and politely slipped in between the two of us, eagerly laying themselves down on two of the cots. Eitan, the older brother, turned to me and gave me a wide smile before focusing back on Luka. They continued communicating in their strange, almost-silent way, but it appeared to be a peaceful, happy conversation from their expressions.
A sudden thought occurring to me, I pulled the door of the hut closed and took a few steps back, frowning at its general appearance.
“What’s wrong? Color not suited to your taste?” Giselle let out another chuckle at her own humor. Again, I rolled my eyes.
“No, I’m wondering how to hide the place. If a student or a teacher happens to walk this far back in the woods, they’re definitely going to raise questions about a random, unmarked hut on academy property.”
Giselle shrugged, giving me an easy answer. “Just make the place invisible.”
“You can do that?” I didn’t bother to hide the incredulity in my voice.
Previously, the invisibility spell Giselle introduced me to had only been used on people – living creatures – not an inanimate object like the hut.
“You can make anything invisible if you try hard enough.” She gave me a mischievous grin and I shook my head. My troublemaking attitude and disregard for the rules were clearly starting to rub off on Giselle the rule-follower.
Another concern came to mind. “Ok, but what about us when we’re inside the cabin? Will we be invisible too?”
“I think so.” Giselle put her hands on her hips and examined the hut. “I mean, I’ve never tried the spell on an entire building before, but it should hide you when you’re inside.”
“Ok, then. Let’s do it.”
Giselle had taught me the invisibility spell to a level of precision as soon as I got back from the daemon realm – it had been the best way to keep the three of us safe as we virtually camped out in the woods those first few days.
I channeled more of my overflowing magic into Giselle so that she could work on casting the spell at the same speed I was. Together, we created a ball of pink, gently throbbing energy that grew bigger and bigger the longer we concentrated on the spell.
“What now?” Concern caused Giselle’s well-defined brunette eyebrows to drop slightly.
I glanced between her and our magic ball – she had a point. Usually, we tapped the top of whatever we wanted to turn invisible with the magic and allowed the pink light to wash over it, taking all trace of visibility as it went. With the cabin, it was slightly too tall for us to reach the top and there was no way I was attempting any kind of spell to get us up there. Not with my magic already being pulled in two directions and no experience.
“I guess we’re throwing it.” I shrugged, not too sure of the suggestion myself.
Giselle pursed her lips, obviously wanting to say something about the reliability of my plan, but I cut her off. “Can you think of something better?”
A beat passed before she muttered out an answer. “No. But we better not miss, ok? It’s not going to be a good look if we turn half the trees around here invisible.”
I snorted, imagining a wandering Thorne and Rose student trying to hide out in the woods for whatever reason and walking straight into an invisible tree instead. As entertaining as that might be in a slapstick kind of way, Giselle was right. It wasn’t the best situation to be in.
“Alright. It’s a cabin. A whole building. It can be that hard to hit.”
“Aim for as high as possible.” Giselle raised her arms up while she spoke, increasing the height of the pink light. I followed suit and took a deep breath, pouring a little bit more magic into the spell, just enough to make it glow brighter. It was almost cheery against the backdrop of barren trees and melting snow puddles.
“Ok, on the count of three. One…two…” I swung my arms back in preparation to lob the ball. “Three!”
We hurled the magic as hard as we could and it thankfully hit the cabin right on top of the wooden door frame. For one long moment, we watched it linger there as if it couldn’t decide whether to spread up or down. Then, the pink light started creeping across the wood, turning everything it touched invisible, and eventually fading itself.
“Wow!” Giselle nodded at our work, impressed. “That was efficient.”
“Yeah, now for one more test.” I raised my voice a little and called out towards the cabin. “Eitan! Luka! Can you come here please?”
Even though Yulian’s brothers couldn’t communicate with me in English, they still seemed to understand their names when I called. They were out of the cabin almost immediately, appearing as if they had hopped off their cots the moment I spoke.
The second the two Fallen stepped out the door of the cabin, the invisibility spell wore off. It was like they simply snapped into existence, fully visible. The effect wasn’t lost on them, and they took turns jumping in and out of the doorway, seemingly having the time of their lives with the effect.
Happy to know that the spell had worked and that we would be relatively safe, and maybe even relatively comfortable in the cabin, I watched them joke around allowing myself to relax a bit. However, a footstep sounded in the distance, immediately sending my guard shooting back up.
I shushed Yulian’s brothers and hurried them inside the cabin while simultaneously drawing magic away from Giselle so that she returned to her full ghostly state. I darted inside the small building while Giselle hung around outside, her muscles visibly tensed. Not a lot of people came this far out into the Thorne and Rose woods, so every hint of an approaching visitor could also be approaching danger.
We all waited, holding our breaths with anticipation until the owner of the footsteps emerged into the clearing. It was Nicolette – she looked around with confusion, unsure of where to go. Typically, I would be camping out in the clearing, invisible of course, and speak the second I noticed her to give her a sense of my general whereabouts.
Deciding to scare her a little bit for my own entertainment, I opened the door to the cabin just a hint and called out to her. “Nicolette! Over here!”
“Where? I don’t like you being invisible most of the time, it’s starting to get creepy.” She started trudging in the direction of my voice, her expression wary.
As soon as she was somewhat close to the entrance of the cabin, I pushed out Luka. The action caused him to pop into existence right in front of Nicolette; she let out a scream at the sudden appearance and tripped backward, landing firmly on her backside.
“Not cool, Jenna!” Nicolette grumbled as Eitan and I emerged from the hut. I gave Luka a reassuring pat on the arm when he turned to me with a confused look. The action made his face break into a wide, mischievous smile. I could see his similarity to Yulian double with the expression.
“How’d you do that anyway?” She looked up at me, her annoyance replaced by curiosity. Usually, it took a while for any invisibility spell cast to wear off.
“Invisible cabin.” I grinned at her. “Pretty cool, right?”
“Yeah, I guess.” Her response was casual, but I could see the glimmer of excitement in her eyes at my makeshift camping solution. It was quickly
replaced by urgency though. “I take it you haven’t heard it from Ciro then?”
“Heard what?” My stomach immediately leaped into my throat at her words, my hair standing on edge. Most news was bad news these days, and I was always prepared for the worst.
“It’s Isla. She’s visiting Thorne and Rose. She’ll be here within a day or two.”
Yup. I confirmed with myself internally. This was definitely the worst.
