But Stephan rushes forward, seizes my arm and throws me down on the ground and I land in a pile of wood that used to be the coffee table. The prickle spears at the back of my neck, liberating a feeling of irreversible hate. I never loved Alex—I understand that now—but I cared for him deeply. I trusted him against my innermost warnings; let him do things to me that no one ever had. It’s my own fault for trusting him, though, and I make a vow right there that if I make it out of this, I’ll never trust him again. I’ll never trust anyone again.
I pull my knees to my chest and shut my eyes as the Death Walkers close in on me and build a wall of ice around us, trapping us in brick of ice. Stephan squats down in front of me, he eyes me over and then darkness possesses his pupils as he holds the rock up above his head.
“Alex, I’m going to let you do the honors,” he says with a grin.
Alex’s jaw twitches as he refuses to look at me. “I’d rather not.”
“I don’t give a shit what you’d rather do,” he snaps. “I’m telling you, you’ll do it or go with her.”
Alex’s fist shakes as he unhurriedly makes his way over to his father and snatches the rock from his fingers. Stephan stands up while Alex lowers himself in front of me. He struggles to look at me and I make it harder on him, not blinking or moving as I stare into his eyes, forcing him to see me the entire time.
“Please.” I try one last time.
He doesn’t answer and his hand wobbles as he places the rock in front of my face, right between my eyes. Up close, there are swirls of black that entwine at the roundest side. Those lines begin to pirouette, spin and cycle like writing a song of death and soon I can hear the lyrics.
This is it. This is the end of my short-lived life. It seems like I’ve done everything, yet, I’ve done nothing. Every moment, every emotion has been acted out on a stage made of imaginary wood that only I could see. It has never existed, not really, and now it’s gone.
My head fills with static. I see my life. I see my death. I finally see my future.
Laughing. The sun shining as we run through the field, chasing each other.
Happy. He smiles. I smile and everything makes sense.
Smiling. We stand up in front of a thousand people, but the only one that matters is him. His green eyes are on me as he whispers that he loves me and I reply that I love him.
Love. I wish it were real.
The cabin begins to diminish into contorted objects as my skin glows beneath the locket. The electricity drifts from my body and one word comes to mind as I fall toward the floor.
Silence.
The last thing I see is Alex’s green eyes, then my legs and arms go inert and my heart dies with them. I gasp my last breath of air as my life leaves my body, leaving behind nothing more than a spirit. I see my mom’s bright blue irises, her warm smile; I see the life I’ll never have. The humming in my head grows louder until I can’t think anymore; can’t feel. My eyelids fall shut and only one feeling remains.
Hollow.
***
The black water crashes against the sandy shore and ash rains down from the clouds and floats across the land. Alex pulls me against him, so tightly we are almost one soul. I breathe in his scent of cologne, wanting to stay in his arms forever.
“Don’t worry, Gemma,” he whispers against my cheek. “I’ll always save you. No matter what, I’ll always save you.”
I nod. “I know.”
He moves back and flattens our palms together forming a temple. “Ego promitto ad protegendum tibi in perpetuum.”
I don’t understand the language, but I know that he means what he says from the bottom of his heart and I hold onto that.
“Now close your eyes and trust me,” he says softly but with strength.
As I submit and close my eyes, a bright orange flame erupts across the land and burns down on the trees. Then silence sets in with the smoke circling around us and suffocating us into the darkness. I want to run, but I cling onto him for dear life, knowing he’ll save me somehow.
Epilogue
My head is buzzing, like a Goddamn bug trapped in a light, over and over again. It just about drives me crazy. My skin is warm, my body relaxed and the air smells like lilacs and rain. The ground below my body is soft. I feel content.
Feel? But I’m supposed to be dead, or at least locked in a coffin in my own head.
I shoot upright, but as the blood rushes from my head, I fall back onto the mattress. I can’t believe what I’m seeing. I’m lying in a bed in a room with pale purple walls and a small window that lets in the sunlight. The view outside is filled with colorful lights and flamboyant buildings that reach toward the skyline.
“I know this place…” I mutter. “Vegas.”
“It was the safest place I could think of.” His voice not only sends a chill down my spine, but it also makes my body tingle with heat and my heart wake up from its very deep sleep.
Alex walks through the doorway, taking tentative steps as he inches himself toward the bed—toward me—and every image of the last time we were in bed together flashes through my head. The way I felt, the way he made me finally breathe and then minutes later, he stole it all away from me by betraying me, ripping out my heart and shredding it to pieces; he probably still has my blood on his hands.
He’s wearing a black t-shirt and a pair of jeans and his hair is damp and sticking up all over. He looks like a normal guy, completely harmless, but it’s just an illusion.
I throw the blanket off me and swing my legs over the side of the bed, noting I’m no longer wearing my clothes, but a pair of boxer shorts and a t-shirt that doesn’t belong to me. “Stay away from me.”
“Gemma, I’m not going to hurt you.” His voice is soft as he continues to step toward me; his bright green eyes are fixed on mine. “I promise I won’t hurt you.”
I laugh sharply as I put weight on my weak knees. “That’s the biggest lie I’ve ever heard come out of your mouth.”
Alex stops dead in his tracks, his expression filling with infuriation. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
My knees shake as I stand up and find my stability. “It means your promises are worthless. At least, the ones you make to me.”
He raises his eyebrows. “My promises got you to Adessa’s, safe and sound.”
“Safe and sound doesn’t exist.”
“It does for the moment, Gemma, and you’ll understand why, if you just let me explain.”
I shake my head and take a step forward, wanting to get out of the room and away from him. “I’m leaving. I don’t know why I’m walking around alive and normal, but I’m not going to waste my time listening to your bullshit.”
“You’re walking around normal because of me—because of how I feel about you.” He moves to the side, obstructing my path. “Just let me explain.”
I shake my head and dodge to the right, but I’m like a newborn deer and my knees give out on me. His arms encircle my waist and he catches me before I crash against the hardwood floor. He picks me up, carries me over to the bed, and sets me back down. I start to get back up, but he puts his hands down on the bed, one on each side of me, and lowers his face toward mine.
“I just need five minutes to explain,” he almost begs. “Five minutes for me to tell you what happened and then, if you don’t like it, I’ll leave.”
I search his eyes for the person that lay with me in the bed. “Five minutes,” I say. “But that’s all you have and if one single thing sounds like bullshit, then you leave, not just the house, but my life.”
He nods without hesitation. As his lips part, I’m not sure if he will help me understand, or crash my world again.
COMING JUNE 2013
Fractured Souls (Shattered Promises, Book 2)
The New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, Jessica Sorensen, lives in the snowy mountains of Wyoming. When she's not writing, she spends her time reading and hanging out with her family.
Other books by Jessic
a Sorensen:
The Secret of Ella and Micha (The Secret, #1)
The Fallen Star (Fallen Star Series, Book 1)
The Underworld (Fallen Star Series, Book 2)
The Vision (Fallen Star Series, Book 3)
The Promise (Fallen Star Series, Book 4)
The Lost Soul (Fallen Souls Series, Book 1)
Darkness Falls (Darkness Falls Series, Book 1)
Darkness Breaks (Darkness Falls Series, Book 2)
Ember (Death Collectors, Book 1)
Connect with me online:
http://jessicasorensensblog.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/#!/JessicaSorensensAdultContemporaryNovels?notif_t=page_new_likes
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jessica-Sorensen/165335743524509
https://twitter.com/#!/jessFallenStar
Shattered Promises Playlist
“Wonderwall” by Oasis
“Stellar” by Incubus
“Icky Thump” by The White Stripes
“Wicked Game by Three Days Grace
“Save Me” by Unwritten Law
“All the Same” by Sick Puppies
“Meant to Live” by Swtichfoot
“Play Crack the Sky” by Brand New
“Change” by Deftones
“The Hand that Feeds” by Nine Inch Nails
“Into the Ocean” by Blue October
“So Cold” by Breaking Benjamin
A teaser from The Secret of Ella and Micha
Prologue
Ella
I wonder if I can fly? With the wind and rain in my hair and my arms out to the side of me, it feels like it might be possible. Perhaps if I can get enough courage to jump off the thin ledge, I’ll soar away into the night, like a bird with powerful wings.
Maybe then I could reunite with her.
“What are you doing?” Micha says, his voice higher than normal. “Get down from there. You’re going to hurt yourself.” His aqua eyes pierce me through the rain and his hands are on the beams above his head, hesitant to climb out onto the ledge.
“I don’t think I will,” I say. “I think I might be able to fly… just like her.”
“Your mom couldn’t fly.” He balances onto the railing and glances down at the murky water far below our feet. “What are you on?”
“I took one of her old pills.” I tip my head back and bask my face in the rain. “I just wanted to see what it was like for her. Why she thought she was invincible.”
He steps down on the beam with his arms spanned out to the side and his clunky boots slip on the wet metal. The lightning flashes above our heads and collides with the earth.
“Your mother didn’t know better, but you do.” Bracing one hand on the metal wire above our heads, he extends his other hand toward me. “Now come over here. You’re scaring the shit out of me.”
“I don’t know if I can,” I say softly, raising my head back up as I rotate to face him. “I’m not sure if I want to.”
He dares a step closer and his thick eyelashes blink fiercely against the down pour. “Yes, you do. You’re stronger than that.” His hand begs me closer. “Please, just get over here.”
Staring down at the black water, my body starts to drift.
“I swear to God, Ella!” Micha shouts, his tone sharp, his muscles tense. “Give me your hand!”
I snap out of my daze and tangle my fingers with his. His other hand captures my waist and he leads us swiftly back to the railing, lifting me over it. My feet settle onto the concrete of the bridge that is pooled with puddles. Lights on the beams illuminate the night and Micha’s car is parked in the middle of the bridge with the driver’s door open and the engine and headlights on.
He hops over the railing and then his arms are around me, embracing me securely, like he’s afraid to let go. For a second, it feels okay, weightless and uncontrolled. I tuck my face into his chest, the wet fabric damp against my chilled skin. The scent of him takes me to a place I wish I could go back to—my childhood. Back when things weren’t as heavy because I was too immature to grasp the full reality of life.
Micha pulls back and smoothes my wet hair out of my eyes. “Don’t you ever do that to me again. I can’t do this without you.”
But he needs to figure out life without this perception of me, because I don’t know how long I can keep doing it without drowning.
“Micha, I…” The look on his face silences my lips.
He knows what I’m about to say—he always does. He is my best friend, my soul mate. In a perfect world, full of roses and sunshine we’d be together, but this world is full of broken homes, drunken fathers, and mothers who give up easily.
“I’m sorry.” I cling to him as I say my final good-bye. “I didn’t want to think anymore. It was just too much and my mind wouldn’t slow down. But it’s alright now. I can think clearly again.”
He cups my cheek, his thumb searing hot as he traces the pad lightly across my cheekbone. “Next time come to me—don’t just run. Please. I know things are hard right now, but it’ll get better. We’ve always made it through every single bad thing thrown at us.” Beads of water trickle in his eyelashes, along his cheeks, over his full lips. There’s a shift in the air, one I’ve felt coming for a long time.
His lips part. “Ella, I love—”
I crush my lips against his, hushing him and melting our bodies together. I allow his tongue to caress mine, letting him suck the rain from my bottom lip and savor the taste of me. We arc into each other, like we can’t get enough and heat flows through our drenched clothes, warming my skin. I could let it go on forever, but that would be wrong.
The girl he thinks he loves needs to disappear. I don’t want tonight to be irreversible, so I pull away, breathing him in one last time. Then I walk away, leaving him on the bridge in the rain, along with the old Ella.
A Teaser from The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden
Prologue
Callie
Life is full of luck, like getting dealt a good hand, or simply by being in the right place at the right time. Some people get luck handed to them, a second chance, a save. It can happen heroically, or by a simple coincidence, but there are those who don’t get luck on a shiny platter, who end up in the wrong place at the wrong time, who don’t get saved.
“Callie, are you listening to me?” My mom asks as she parks the car in the driveway.
I don’t answer, watching the leaves twirl in the wind across the yard, the hood of the car, wherever the breeze forces them to go. They have no control over their path in life. I have a desire to jump out, grab them all, and clutch them in my hand, but that would mean getting out of the car.
“What is wrong with you tonight?” my mom snaps as she checks her phone messages. “Just go in and get your brother.”
I tear my gaze off the leaves and focus on her. “Please don’t make me do this, Mom.” My sweaty hand grips the metal door handle and a massive lump lodges in my throat. “Can’t you just go in and get him?”
“I have no desire to go into a party with a bunch of high school kids and I’m really not in the mood to chat it up with Maci right now, so she can brag about Kayden getting a scholarship,” my mother replies, motioning her manicured hand at me to get a move on. “Now go get your brother and tell him he needs to come home.”
My shoulders hunch as I push the door open and hike up the gravel driveway toward the two-story mansion with green shutters and a steep roof. “Two more days, two more days,” I chant under my breath with my hands clenched into fists as I squeeze between the vehicles. “Only two more days and I’ll be in college and none of this will matter.”
The lights through the windows illuminate against the grey sky and a “Congratulations” banner hangs above the entrance to the porch, decorated with balloons. The Owens always like to put on a show, for any reason they can think of; birthdays, holidays, graduations. They seem like the perfect family but I don’t believe in perfection.
This party is to c
elebrate their youngest son Kayden’s graduation and his football scholarship to the University of Wyoming. I have nothing against the Owens. My family has dinner over at their house occasionally and they attend barbeques at our place. I just don’t like parties, nor have I been welcomed at one, at least since sixth grade.
When I approach the wrap-around porch, Daisy Miller waltzes out with a glass in her hand. Her curly blond hair shines in the porch light as her eyes aim at me and a malicious grin curls at her lips.
I dodge to the right of the stairs and swerve around the side of the house before she can insult me. The sun is lowering below the lines of the mountains that encase the town and stars sparkle across the sky like dragonflies. It’s hard to see once the lights of the front porch fade away and my shoe catches something sharp. I fall down and my palms split open against the gravel. Injuries on the outside are easy to endure and I get up without hesitation.
I dust the pebbles from my hands, wincing from the burn of the scratches as I round the corner into the backyard.
“I don’t give a shit what the hell you were trying to do,” a male voice cuts through the darkness. “You’re such a fuck up. A fucking disappointment.”
I halt by the edge of the grass. Near the back fence is a brick pool house where two figures stand below a dim light. One is taller, with their head hanging low and their broad shoulders are stooped over. The shorter one has a beer gut, a bald spot on the back of his head, and is standing in the other’s face with their fists out in front of them. Squinting through the dark, I make out that the shorter one is Mr. Owens and the taller one is Kayden Owens. The situation is surprising since Kayden is very confident at school and has never been much of a target for violence.
“I’m sorry,” Kayden mutters with a tremor in his voice as he hugs his hand against his chest. “It was an accident, sir. I won’t do it again.”
Shattered Promises (Shattered Promises, #1) Page 27
