There were a few moments of tense silence between us. I became uncomfortable under her gaze, wondering what she was seeing in me, she who can see everything. There is no hiding from Mollis’s sight, the power she inherited upon her father’s death. She can see everything a being has ever done. The good, the bad, bravery, cowardice, lies. She sees all.
“This is not all there is for you, E,” Mollis finally said, her voice soft. “You are so much more than you realize.”
It was like a punch to the gut, hearing her say it. Hearing her address the fear I have had since the day my role in our world became less clear.
It was the worry that I have no purpose at all. That I am a fluke. That my kind should have been wiped out the day my sisters betrayed what we are. Why hadn’t I been part of it? Not that I wanted to be, of course, but why? And why was I still here when my skills, my reason for existing at all, were totally unnecessary?
Mollis was about to go on when her phone rang. She held up a finger, gave me an apologetic look. From her end of the conversation, it sounded as if she was needed.
She hung up and sighed. “That was my aunt. There’s a soul being uncooperative,” she said in irritation. “Do you want to come with me?”
For some reason, I was not interested in feeling or seeing the Nether just yet. I shook my head. “I think I will get settled in here. Is my old room still available?”
“Of course,” she said. Then she hugged me, and, within moments she was gone.
I sat in the empty loft, feeling at home and yet even more lost than before.
Read more in
Guardian
by Colleen Vanderlinden
Available Now!
* * *
The Hidden Series
Book One: Lost Girl
Book Two: Broken
Book Three: Home
Book Four: Strife
Book Five: Nether
Hidden Novellas
Forever Night
Earth Bound
The Hidden: Soulhunter Series
Book One: Guardian
Letter from the Author
So, we've reached the end! This has been a long, crazy journey, and I have many people to thank. I am very blessed to have so many supportive people in my life.
Thanks and hugs and kisses to my wonderful family. To my kids for forcing me to get out of my own head and for making me laugh on a daily basis. I love you guys. Thank you to my mother-in-law, Peggy, for being wonderfully supportive and badass and talking my books up to everyone she knows. Thank you to my brother-in-law, Will, for proofreading and childcare help. And thanks, especially, to my amazing husband, Roger, for being everything and anything I've needed him to be, from therapist to tech help to layout and design guru. I love you so much, and all of this was possible because of you.
Hugs and thanks to the phenomenal Elizabeth Hunter for encouragement and advice and for fangirling over the Avengers with me.
Thank you to my amazing beta readers for being both encouraging and honest. These books are stronger because of you, and you have all been tremendous fun to work with. Hugs to Susan Cambra, Shawna Cerda, Jennifer G., Amber Hegarty, Sarah Leenart, Kathie Littlemore, Jayna Longstreet, Katherine Helen Peters, Rachel Scott, and Sarah Wicks.
Thank you to my lovely editor, Carol Davis, for her amazing attention to detail and her attempts to get me to stop falling back on certain phrases.
And, finally: thanks to everyone who has taken a chance on the Hidden series. It has been a crazy, amazing experience. Thank you for loving Molly. Thank you for caring about her story. Thank you for the emails, tweets, Facebook updates, and reviews. Thank you for letting this story into your lives. There are no words to express how much that has meant to me.
If you're wondering what's next, you'll find an excerpt from the first book in my Copper Falls paranormal romance series in the next section of this book. I'll also be giving the vampires from Hidden their own series in 2015! There will be superhero romance, too.
And… what about Molly? This part of her story is done. She may well show up in other books, and, who knows? Maybe someday I'll tell the next part of her story, because her life as a hero is far from over. If you'd like updates about my upcoming releases, please sign up for my newsletter at colleenvanderlinden.com, or follow me on Twitter and Facebook.
Thank you again.
Colleen Vanderlinden
Detroit
November 24, 2014
* * *
Keep reading for a sneak peek at the
Copper Falls series
Shadow Witch Rising: Chapter One
Sophie unlocked her front door with a sigh of relief. Long day. A busy day, which was always good, but she was more than ready to take a cup of tea out to her garden and lose track of everything other than the perfume of herbs and the trilling melodies of the birds in the woods that bordered her cottage.
As she turned and grabbed her mail out of the box, she noticed a rumbling motorcycle turn into the driveway down the road. The farm had been empty for nearly a year. She grimaced. The idea of hearing a motorcycle all the time wasn't exactly appealing. She shook her head and went into the house.
The second she walked in, everything just felt right. She breathed in the clean, natural scents of the herbs drying from the beams above, beeswax. The soaps she'd made the day before were curing on wooden racks in the next room, and they perfumed the entire house. She flipped on the radio, started bobbing her head immediately as Rihanna wafted from the speakers.
She shrugged out of the white button-down top she wore to work, shimmied out of the crisp khakis. She pulled on a pair of well-worn jeans and a faded Detroit Red Wings t-shirt.
She was in the kitchen, debating over whether she wanted a salad or scrambled eggs for dinner, when there was a knock at the door. She glanced in that direction, then at the clock. She never got visitors out here. That was the entire reason she'd been so thrilled to have inherited this in the first place.
She sighed and glanced out the round window in the door. There was a man standing on her porch, clad in denim and a t-shirt. He was facing away from her, looking across the road. Longish, wavy, dark blond hair. Very, very broad shoulders.
Sophie opened the door a little, kept it braced with her leg. "Yes?"
The man turned around, and Sophie's mouth went dry.
His hair was a little unruly, and he had a short, neat beard. Long black lashes. Icy blue eyes.
Eyes she'd dreamed, not knowing what it meant. Visions that spoke of danger and heartbreak, and always, those eyes. Sophie tried to force herself to remember to breathe.
"Hi," he said, and his voice was deep. Low. Almost a growl. "I just moved in across the road. There's a goat in my yard. Wondering if it's yours."
She blushed. "Oh, shit. That would be Merlin. Sorry." Sophie slid her feet into the sandals she kept by the door and stepped out onto the porch. Beside him, she felt tiny. He was easily over six feet tall, and her five-five put her roughly at chest level.
And what a chest it was, she thought to herself. Holy broad-and-muscled, Batman.
"I'll get him. I'm so sorry about that. I just got off work and haven't even checked on them yet." Stop babbling, she told herself, and clamped her mouth shut.
"It's not a problem."
"It will be if you plan on having livestock. I've been putting off reinforcing the fencing. I'll have to get on that."
"Not planning on any livestock," he said as he followed her across the road.
"No? You've got over sixty acres, right?" she asked.
"Yeah. Mostly, I just wanted somewhere quiet and where I could spread out a little. No neighbors on top of me."
She smiled to herself. He sounded like her. "And your first day in, you have a neighbor's goat in your yard."
"Well, goats I don't mind so much," he answered, and she could hear the smile in his voice.
They crossed the two-lane road side by side, and it occurred to her that she was walking
away from her home, her sanctuary, her safe haven, with a man she'd (maybe?) seen in frightening visions.
If she was one of those witches who could summon fire or wind or something, she'd have less to worry about it.
She cursed her stupidity, but walked with him nonetheless. It was entirely possible this was not the man from her dreams. And, anyway, she was new at this witch stuff. What the hell did she know about visions?
She followed him around the side of the house, up a long gravel driveway, and there was Merlin, standing there, calmly chewing at some grass near one of the fence posts.
"Merlin, you devil," Sophie muttered under her breath. She clicked her tongue at him, and he raised his chocolate-brown head and studied her. She walked toward him calmly, nonchalantly. As if she had no intention whatsoever of grabbing the blue nylon collar he was wearing and leading him home. She was aware of tall, muscled, and gorgeous watching her, and felt even stupider for the ploy she was making.
Sophie sprung at the goat and he tried to buck away, but she grabbed his collar and held tight when he tried to fight his way away. He pulled, and tried to pivot, and she planted her heels in the soft soil and tried to hold him fast. After a few attempts of breaking free, he just gave her a bored look and bent to chew at the grass near their feet.
That settled, Sophie chanced a glance toward her new neighbor. He was watching her, an unreadable expression in his eyes.
Sophie gathered as much dignity as she could and led Merlin back toward the driveway.
"Sorry about that," she muttered, well aware that her face was burning with embarrassment.
"No problem," he answered. "Does he get out a lot?"
She was walking down the driveway, and the fact that he joined her only made her nervous. "Yes. I'll fix the fencing. I just need to get the replacement fence." And the money to pay for it, she thought to herself. "Goats are a major pain. Wish I'd known that before I bought them," she said aloud.
"Why do you have them, then?" he asked, putting his hands in his jeans pockets as they crossed the street again.
"For their milk. I make soaps," she said, shrugging. "Made more sense to have them around for that. I was stupid to accept a male, though, since I could just borrow a male when I need one for the girls. I felt sorry for him," she finished, feeling like a babbling idiot.
She glanced toward him, noticed a blank expression on his face.
"Anyway. It won't happen again," she said, looking with hope toward her door. Something in her told her to run from him, to get away and stay away. She'd be setting wards tonight, she thought. Weak as hers were, they were better than nothing.
"If it does, at least I know who he belongs to," he answered. "I'm Calder, by the way."
"Sophie," she said, glancing toward him again, feeling relief once they stepped into her yard. She could feel the energies of her own magic, that of her ancestors, there. It was the only place she felt safe.
"Well, Sophie—" Calder began, when a delivery van pulled up. The driver jumped out and passed a clipboard to Sophie. She knew what it was already, tried not to show her panic. She signed, and the driver handed her the thin brown envelope, departed without another word. She looked down at it, hating that her hands were shaking.
She'd failed.
She took a breath. "Sorry again about the goat. Welcome to the neighborhood," she said absentmindedly. "Excuse me."
Read more in the first book of the Copper Falls Series
Shadow Witch Rising
by Colleen Vanderlinden
Available Now!
* * *
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Sign Up for the Hidden Newsletter.
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For backstory material, news, and upcoming events be sure to check out http://www.colleenvanderlinden.com/hidden
About the Author
Colleen Vanderlinden is the author and publisher of the Hidden series, which currently includes Lost Girl, Broken, Home, Strife, and Nether. She lives in the Detroit area with her husband, children, and two lazy cats. She enjoys reading, obsessing over comic book characters, gardening, and playing World of Warcraft.
Learn more about Colleen at her website, colleenvanderlinden.com, contact her via email at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
* * *
The Hidden Series
Book One: Lost Girl
Book Two: Broken
Book Three: Home
Book Four: Strife
Book Five: Nether
Hidden Novellas
Forever Night
Earth Bound
The Hidden: Soulhunter Series
Book One: Guardian
The Copper Falls Series
Book One: Shadow Witch Rising
* * *
Never Miss an Update!
Sign Up for the Hidden Newsletter.
http://bit.ly/hiddennewsletter
♦ ♦ ♦
Nether: Hidden Book Five Page 24
