Edge, Episode Two: Season One (Edge, A Serial Series Book 2)

by Jamie Magee

  The collision was so loud that it nearly made Reveca jump before she smirked then sat astride her bike and followed their path. By the time she passed them a fire had broken out.

  She could see the men in the truck slouched over. The van was what was on fire, the back half of it anyway. There was a man outside of it yelling into a phone.

  Reveca made her way down the highway, to her Boneyard, parked her bike, and strolled in. Those at the club, outside, were all looking down the highway, all hearing distant sounds of sirens marching their way.

  When she reached the front porch of her house, King was leaning there. “That truck looks familiar.”

  “You think?” she asked trying not to grin. “I have a girl’s life to save. If you think you can not kill Cashton, and want to use that healing power, for the karma of it at least, then follow.”

  When she reached the top of the stairs, he was there. King, leaning against the wall. “I’m not a healer.”

  Reveca sucked in a deep breath. “What are you?” He said nothing. “What did that power do to you?” Silence accompanied by a cold stare. Reveca stepped closer, angled her neck back to meet that gaze. “When they took you from the dead clutches of my hands, what did they do to you?”

  His eyes narrowed; anger engulfed them.

  “Didn’t know that part? Wondering how a dead woman, or rather a woman turned immortal, had the child you think I did?” She stepped closer. Only let an inch separate them. “I didn’t. That was Saige. Saige carrying her lover’s, Lorecan’s, child. I was in a fucking prison called The Edge.”

  The fury stayed in his eyes, maybe even grew.

  “Right,” she said as she passed him by. When she opened the door mystery girl was just about to start one of her reenactments, was moaning and thrashing about. Reveca reached her side right as her stomach jutted forward.

  “Hold her!” she said to Shade and Cashton.

  Each took an arm. Reveca sat astride her chest and took the leaves Jamison had given her and packed them in the girl’s mouth, forced her to swallow as she whispered sacred words across her lips.

  The girl started to shake violently, so much so that Shade tried to pull Reveca off her, but Cashton tackled him, having to use all his force to slam Shade against the wall. He managed to hold him there until reinforcements came. Talon and Echo both charged into the room.

  Shade was cussing, they all were. The girl was bucking. It was all Reveca could do to keep her energy where it needed to be.

  Finally, all at once, she felt this girl claim life. Immortality. Her body settled. Almost exactly at the same time Shade shut up, ceased fighting.

  “You all right?” Talon asked Reveca. She was still astride the girl but daring to ease back.

  “Yeah.”

  “We rode like hell all the way here. You scared the fuck out of me.”

  “It was a set up,” she said still keeping her eyes on the girl. “They have more than a few girls—more like fifty. The dime store witches they’ve taken are with them, and so are whatever mad scientist they have mixing blood back and forth. They’re not around Fly, they’re at Gaither. The plan was to lure you to Fly then -boom.”

  “How do you know that?” Talon asked in his deep voice which was a mix of anger and fear, a fear only she would recognize. The only fear she had ever known Talon to have was existing in a world she wasn’t in. Which is where his protective side came from.

  Reveca reached for the water on the nightstand and tried to coax the girl into swallowing a bit.

  “The truck from last night came back. We had a chat.”

  Echo busted out laughing. “You? I knew it! You flung that truck at the lawmen, didn’t you!”

  Reveca lifted a shoulder. “I was told to shoot first,” she said with wink aimed at Talon.

  Right then the girl started to come around.

  Talon, Echo, and Reveca were to the right of the bed, Shade and Cashton to the left. When mystery girl’s eyes fluttered open they went to the foot of the bed. “King,” she rasped.

  Everyone looked to the doorway; there King was staring curiously into the room at this girl that was doing her best to smile. “You’re real. I knew you were…” And with that she drifted into a sleep.

  “She’s fine,” Reveca said to the room. “Before dawn she’ll be out of this bed, fully immortal.”

  Shade wasn’t fine, not at all. He charged out of the room, ensuring he slammed into King as he did so.

  “You know her?” Talon asked King.

  King met Reveca’s stare then turned to leave without a word.

  Talon looked down at Reveca. “I thought you said Jamison gave you swipe.”

  “I did. It doesn’t take it all, just takes her back before whatever trauma she endured.”

  “How in the hell does she know King?”

  “I don’t know,” Reveca said under breath, feeling that burn of jealously rise in her.

  “You fuck this girl?” Echo asked Cashton.

  Cashton made a face clearly saying Echo had lost it.

  Echo shrugged. “You fucked somebody that boy’s into. Both of you were dead and nobody knows where the fuck this girl came from. Just sayin.” Echo patted Cashton on the shoulder. “It’s all good now, though. Shade and King will fight for a bit, give you time to figure out when you pissed in his cheerios.” He lifted his brow. “Bonus. King won’t hit you and I win the bet!” And with that he left, laughing. Cashton followed, looking for air no doubt.

  “That’s all we need,” Talon said. “Shade is too young to be looking at this girl like this.”

  “Age doesn’t have damn thing to do with it,” Reveca said as she busied herself cleaning the girl up.

  Her priority right then was to get into this girl’s mind. Find out what GranDee was doing with her, and how in the hell she knew King. Right then though, even with the jealousy, with the pending wars and unanswered questions, she felt gratitude.

  She’d brought this girl back. She should be long gone ten times over and Reveca had brought her back. That was a gift. One the universe let her deliver. That and of course her night was made the second she saw that truck crash.

  “Even if you only have a second to be happy each day, one second to feel a rush, you take it, because it’s not promised to come again. That’s where the power is, love. It’s in exalting moments, no doubt there.”

  The words from her past echoed in her mind as she let herself bask in the victory she had.

  Whatever battles tomorrow brought, she’d be ready for them.

  End of Episode TWO - roll credits!

  Are you ready for the next? Well, guess what you have control over when it will be published. Follow this link to find out how!

  authorjamiemagee.com

  Where To Find Jamie Online:

  http://authorjamiemagee.blogspot.com

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  News Letter

  Other Books by Jamie Magee

  “Web of Hearts and Souls”

  Insight (Book 1)

  Embody (Book 2)

  Image (Book 3)

  Vital (Book 4)

  Vindicate (Book 5)

  Enflame (Book 6)

  Blakeshire

  See (Book 1)

  Witness (Book 2)

  Synergy (Book 3)

  Redefined (Book 4)

  Rivulet (Book 1)

  Imperial (Book 1)

  Impulsion – Contemporary New Adult Love Story

  Acknowledgements

  Over the past four years I have published sixteen novels and each of the acknowledgements are moved from one novel to the next. That wasn’t done to take short cuts, but because on this journey I have been blessed enough to keep the same souls at my side. I wanted to take the time with this acknowledgement to state how precious they are to me.

  My husband, no doubt, deserves some kind of medal! The man is there from the first instant the idea is thought to life, through the long days of wr
iting where I slip into another world. He manages the blessed life we have built, taking care of our little ones, making sure that there is some kind of substantial meal on the table for each of us. He’s a saint when it comes to telling me what day of the week it is, and letting me know that dawn is approaching and it might be a good idea to get some sleep. He understands that music drives me and is just fine with the same song playing on repeat for days until I have the scene trapped in words. He’s use to having a conversation with me and in mid-sentence I stop and rush to write a line down. There is no doubt that he didn’t sign up to share his wife with the fictional family that always dances in my mind, but he rocks it all the same. I can’t tell you how amazing it is to have someone want your dreams as much as you do, someone that never lets doubt creep into your mindset.

  My children, they make me smile every day. They are now to the point where they’re all for naming characters, dancing to that same song that plays over and over. They love to joke about ‘moms bubble’ they know that mom dreams wide awake and tease me when they have to pop that bubble to tell me something.

  I always tend to write the first draft of any story with the ‘door closed’ not telling anyone but my family what I’m working on, yet there are a few that are there the second I open the door and walk with me through all the drafts of the story.

  This massive story, that grows each day, was a different experience for me. I’d ‘open the door’ after each episode and pass the story off to two beta readers that have always been at my side. Steffini Walker was there, at a book conference, when the idea to write this story that I had been putting off for a better part of a year, in this fashion came to me. It was her excitement for serials that encourage me to explore this classic style. Sabrina Wells was side by side with Steffini encouraging this adventure. Each of these ladies read the harshest of drafts, gave honest feedback and emotion, and each word drove me forward all the faster. The Pentacle Sons became an addiction, people we knew, a world we all visited often. The spontaneous chats at odd hours, the music and images that we passed between the three of us made the story so tangible. It was a rush, no doubt, and though I have enjoyed working with Steffini and Sabrina on each of my novels, some how this story was different, they walked with me as I went down a path that is so drastically different from the ones I had traveled before. I couldn’t have asked for better friends in this world, finding people that get you, that you can still manage to surprise once in awhile, that is priceless. I love you girls!!

  Editors, they come in all shapes and sizes, each with their very own style and outlook on the words they’re reviewing. I struck gold with mine, and I mean that. It is hard to find someone who can not only edit the horrid mess I leave behind in my creative rushes, but to also find someone that can strengthen your story and not alter your voice. Someone who is not afraid to tell you exactly what you need to hear good or bad, to fortify your daydreams into words. Todd Barselow is a saint and I count my lucky stars each day that I found him in this crazy publishing world.

  Graphic designers are one of the unsung hero’s of the publishing world. Which is sad because they’re the ones that give your daydreams a face, they bring the emotion and definition to your work that readers new and old will recognize over time. Emma Michaels is another gift; she not only helped me find the image for my debut novel, Insight, but also has been through each of my covers since. She has a way of understanding exactly what I envision and does not rest until that vision is there before us both. This cover was far different from the others, it had to be more than an image that may or not change over the course of time, it had to be a logo, a brand, something that could be identified with this story for seasons to come. Emma rose to that challenged and I have to say this is one of my favorite covers, it’s almost as if she saw the emblem in my mind clear as day and worked until it was created. Emma you are amazing!

  Beyond my first draft betas I have others that are just as amazing. It’s their truth that makes them that way, how they are not afraid to tell me what they like and don’t, how they don’t bat an eye when I hand them a contemporary story, a YA story, or this story, they read each with an open mind and their feedback is priceless, and there is not a doubt that it always mirrors the feedback my readers will give me once the story is published to the world at large. I can’t thank Jamie Love, Michelle Dain, Crystal Meyer, Jennylynne D’Andrea, and Alysia Kurtz enough for walking through the final stages of publishing with me each and every time. Thank you girls for sharing my daydreams with me!

  Readers. I swear to you, to this day it blows my mind that there are people on this earth that I will never have the chance to meet that have shared these stories with me, people who get it, who leave reality and step into my daydreams with me if only for a moment. You humble me. I can’t stress that enough. Thank you so much for taking a chance, giving up your time, to read my work.

  Writer buddies are amazing and I can honestly say that the inspiration to write this story in this fashion would not have come unless I was blessed enough to meet an remarkable group of authors. Lila Felix had tried to sway me into this style for some time, she told me and I quote “this style puts the fun back in writing,” what she meant was that it was a rush, a challenge. The challenge of writing a novel, beginning, middle, and end had been met more than once, this was a new level, and it would be a blast to conquer it.

  It wasn’t until I went to a book conference and watched Lila on a panel with Rachel Higginson speaking of serials that I really got it, I understood it wasn’t a small short story, it was massive. Rachel Higginson, after the conference, spent long hours on the phone with me explaining the arc, how you needed more than one for this story. Her support didn’t stop there, at least once a week she would check in to see what episode I was on, and always encouraged me forward – she understood the addiction I was in the middle of.

  Shelly Crane, the text messages that came to check on the story was priceless, and her feedback after the first episode made my day.

  As you can clearly see, people often think that writers have solitary lives, and in some real fashion we do, but more so than not, the story you are reading was impacted by not only those that walked the publishing line with the writer, but the world at large. Inspiration is everywhere, in every dark and positive moment, in every song, drive, commercial, everything is inspiration, life is beautiful, even the dark stressful moments are. You just have to find that beauty and thankfully I have outstanding people in my life that ensure that I notice each of them.

  About the Author

  Jamie Magee has always believed that each of us have a defining gift that sets us apart from the rest of the world, she has always envied those who have known from their first breath what their gift was. Not knowing hers, she began a career in the fast paced world of business. Raising a young family, and competing to rise higher in that field would drive some to the point of insanity, but she always found a moment of escape in a passing daydream. Her imagination would take her to places she’d never been, introduce her to people she’s never known. Insight, her debuting novel, is a result of that powerful imagination. Today, she is grateful that not knowing what defined her, led her on a path of discovery that would always be a part of her.

  The fun Bio: I’m an obsessive daydreamer. Lover of loud alternative music. Addicted to Red Bull. I love to laugh until it hurts. Fall is my favorite season. Black is my favorite ‘shade.’ Strong believer in the saying: there is a reason for everything, therefore I search for ‘marked moments’ every moment of every day...and I find them. Life is beau

 

 

 
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