Excerpt!
Quinn awoke to find himself bound to the oak he’d been using as shelter by some sort of invisible force. Lyra appeared to be unconscious still and was being kept under a small cage that looked like it was made entirely of branches. Almost like the trees themselves had turned on him and Lyra and were holding them prisoner. “Lyra,” he hissed as he tried to wriggle free from his invisible binds. “Lyra, wake up! What the hells happened? We need to get out of here.”
“She can’t hear you, and the more you struggle, the tighter the binds will get.” It was a girl. A GIRL!?! How the hells had that girl gotten the drop on him and Lyra like that? What was that shock? She was hiding close, by the sound of it, but it was too dark to see anything.
“Who the mux are you? Why are you holding us? What the hells did you do?!” He was scared, but more importantly, he was livid. This should never have happened to him. He was better than this, dammit.
“Why were you sneaking up on us? What do you want?” Her voice was shaky and coming from behind him now, to the left, but there was something else, an animal by the sound of its light steps, closer to Lyra. He could almost make out the shape of it. Whatever it was, it was small and nimble.
“We thought you might be dead. We were checking to see if you needed help. Can you let us go now?” He kept fidgeting with his binds but she was telling the truth, the more he moved, the tighter they became. When he started losing feeling in his fingers, he finally gave up on freeing himself.
“Liar! You wanted to hurt me, rape me, kill us, and steal what little we have!”
Q heard the charge before he saw the flash of blue light or felt the shock.
“Muuuuuuuux! Stop doing that! Fine, we were going to rob you, but only because we thought you were already dead. We’re not killers.” He must’ve been seeing things, or maybe he hurt his head with all the electrocution, but it looked like the shocks were actually lightning bolts coming off that small creature over by Lyra. But that was impossible, right? There was no such thing as an electric animal. Everyone knew that magical animals died out eons ago. Although, Lyra’s fire-starting would probably be considered magic…
“You were going to rob my corpse?” Her question interrupted his thoughts. “And you think that’s somehow supposed to make me comfortable enough to let you go?” She had moved again. Closer still, but now she was more to the right, like she was trying to get a better look at him without letting him do the same.
“Listen, lady, we aren’t going to hurt you. We’re just trying to make a living here. What are you doing sleeping on the side of the road like that anyway? You could get hurt or killed.” He left the idiot implied since she clearly already knew she’d screwed up. Only a complete moron slept on the side of the road. If you must camp out while traveling, you do it further into the woods for protection from the elements and shady people looking for trouble.
“Trust me,” she replied, “this wasn’t my first choice. This wasn’t my choice at all.” The sadness and despair in her voice were palpable. He was starting to feel sorry for her until he remembered that she was currently holding them prisoner.
Elena has always been a disappointment. Her magic is practically non-existent and now, on her sixteenth birthday, she is expelled from magic school by the strict headmistress–also known as her mother. Cast out into the world of the magically inept with only her familiar for company, Elena feels lost and alone until she meets a strange boy in the woods.
Quinn is a thief, a hunter, and a hothead. His unexpected friendship with Elena awakens a fiery side in him–quite literally– and uncovers new and surprising magical abilities. Except men aren’t supposed to be capable of magic.
With Quinn’s help, Elena carves a safe new life as a barmaid, but when she is attacked, her powers awaken with shocking ferocity. Elena’s explosion of magic creates a power surge that attracts the attention of magical investigators, sent to uncover and contain the source of the power surge.
But the awakening of their powers kickstarts an ancient prophecy. Will they be able to escape those that hunt them? Can they fulfill the prophecy, destroy the turmio and save magic from being destroyed once and for all?
Author bio:
Mallory lives in Texas with her husband and their two young boys. She spends her days homeschooling and full-time parenting. Her nights, and any free time she manages to carve out during the day, are devoted to reading and writing.
