by Amanda Churi
“WOOO!” Her fists hit the sky in victory before she was up and continuing her run. The short grass clipped her ankles as she ran, following the lines of reaching flowers and carefully placed stones.
“I’m here!” she announced with a joyous spin. The hair twirling over her face settled, and it yanked on her jaw, shocked. “Awww, what?!”
She was on her knees in a snap, irritably rebuilding the toppled figure of sand. Dang it! This Sandy had lasted the longest of them all! It didn’t look like it dried out; something had to have knocked it. She yelled again angrily. “BUTTS! Double butts! Triple—ow!”
She yanked her hand back, shocked to find blood pushing aside the grains of sand caught on her finger. She immediately took her mission slower; her hands sifted through the dirt until another finger was nicked. “Whaaa?” She cautiously grabbed the hidden item, retracting it from the sand.
What… Was it?
Loops, a short string of rings intertwined, hard and heavy… A brown, dirt-smelling grain crumbling off the surface.
A gripping cold squeezed her heart, and she dropped it with a squeal. A word she had never heard reverberated in her head, sneakily finding its way out of her lips. “C-chain…?”
This way.
Her neck spun, nearly taking her head off with the whiplash. Her eyes searched the low, empty meadow, but found nothing out of the ordinary. Their unseen words continued to loop.
This way… This way, Echo.
It knew her name?
A thin stream of white flakes began to fall before her eyes. They glistened in the sunlight and swirled in a chilly wind that brought bumps to her skin, but they stayed confined to a narrow path and unseen walls.
Echo stood, entranced. She had never seen anything like it.
The voice swirled tauntingly around her—and she accepted, putting a foot into the white gems. A nipping shock raced up her back; the bite enthralled her as much as it scared her, and soon she was running again, following its words. Each step she took, each footprint left vanished with the powder, leaving no trace.
It took her far away into the plains, all the way to a lone tree. Her pace slowed the closer she got; the mysterious flakes began to spread farther, no longer a narrow, confined strip but a sphere, a globe with an accumulated layer hugging the isolated tree.
“Wow…!” Her amazement left her chest in visible air, and step by step, she closed their distance. The tree was not that at all; it was a stack, an intricate arrangement of boulders and stones, perfectly balanced by the heavy flakes latching on. Spears of blue hung down, and at its base sat a creature.
Echo blinked, unsure if what her eyes showed her was real. It was so fluffy! It should have been cute, but there was something very unsettling about the tiny bear. A puffy brown face with a round, fluffy belly and curved ears—one that sat funny compared to other bears. Its head was slack against the base of the fake tree; two cracking holes of black took the place of eyes, and sharp blue flames rolled away from its matted fur in gentle waves.
She had never seen a bear do that. Or any animal. Or her.
Confusion tilted Echo’s head back, unveiling a single black ball that dangled from the petrified branches.
It is what she does not remember that haunts your mother, the voice bubbled. It is the unknown that inhibits you.
“What does that mean?” Echo blatantly asked.
The being laughed. The air surrounding the tree twinkled and rippled, and from it, a white owl appeared, settling on the branch above the black fruit. It tipped its head toward it. It means that you have things to learn, little one.
“Of course, I do! I’m not big yet!”
The beak curved into a tight smile. Its beady black eyes seemed to expand with hunger, cracking the surrounding feathers. God is hiding much. Doing much that we do not agree with. He threw us out shortly after He rebuilt your mother and father. The owl hooted a deep laugh. Time truly is cyclical…
Echo cocked her head. “I don’t get it.”
No, I know. But you can. Your mother can as well.
The owl lifted its wing, and with it, the limb of stone bent, lowering the rotten fruit into Echo’s hands. The brittle stem snapped, and then she held everything in her palms. In the cold, the mist that came from its warped skin emitted heat like no other. “You want me to eat this? It looks disgusting!”
Ignorance is what is disgusting. My dear Echo, think.
Her eyes rolled back down to the fruit sizzling in her palms. So this would make her bigger? Stronger? …It would fix her mother?
The owl leaned closer. Go on, it encouraged. Try it.
All it takes is one bite.
*The End*
Bonus content!
(Art and Fun Facts)
Just a few extras for you brave souls that have walked alongside this loon of an author for so long! Thank you again for all of your dedication and support! None of this would have been possible without you!
*Note: These hand/digital sketches range from good to cringeworthy. Some are complete, others only part way; some are new, others old—extremely so. Please be mindful that some (most) of the designs here are at least slightly different than how they appear in the trilogy simply due to the story’s evolution.
Fun Facts
This was originally supposed to be one book. My now fiancé (then boyfriend), Kevin, read the final chapter of A Lapse in Time and hated it. Crushed my heart in the middle of a school day. He said the story had so much potential and could be pushed so much farther—and, well, we see what happened. One book became two, and not long after, a trilogy.
The Essence is one of the story’s centerpieces. In the original draft, it did not exist, later inspired by the song “Demons” by Imagine Dragons.
The name Reina (Azuré’s angel/human name) means “Queen” in Spanish. Oddly enough, this was before I had gotten far in my Spanish studies, so it was entirely coincidental. But sure. Foreshadowing.
More coincidences? In 2016, when both A Lapse in Time and The Dark Materials were released, I had yet to play Assassin’s Creed or any The Legend of Zelda game. I’m sure you can guess how shocked (and slightly horrified I was) to learn that two of my main characters shared the same names—Desmond and Gannon.
Tah spoke throughout the entire first draft—and was more or less obsessed with Eero. (Yeah, story was crazy different.)
The series was first born in my 9th grade geography class while learning about the Roman Empire. Laelia was the first character that came into my head. That being said, the original Resistance only consisted of Eero, Mabel, Laelia, and Calla.
Yes, the character Kevin is 100% inspired by my fiancé. One of the first things he showed me when we started dating were the many card tricks he could do, and it went from there.
Chapter 2 of A Lapse in Time (aka the Raddison Massacre) is known for being a brutal introduction to the series. The chapter was written by hand and also while I was in ISS (in school suspension). I was in there for falsely being accused of cheating on my health/P.E. final (of all things), and I was so pissed that I killed an entire village.
Shamu is actually my dog in real life—and he looks exactly how he is described. Daisy is also one of my dogs, hence the adopted father-daughter situation. She is a beagle.
The first draft of A Lapse in Time was nearly 700 pages. You guys think I’m a bit of a slow story teller now? Should have seen it then.
A Lapse in Time was released and published as my senior project in high school. The Dark Materials was released my second semester of college, and In Eden’s Shadow debuted during my senior year of undergrad.
Justus’ “pride speech” in The Dark Materials (pp. 463-4) was actually my best friend’s coming out speech, slightly revised. (Don’t worry, I had permission.) He did this at an open mic poetry night.
In case you didn’t notice, the beginning of chapter 1 of A Lapse in Time was used, almost verbatim, as the ending of chapter 35 in In Eden’s Shadow.
Roughly a w
eek before In Eden’s Shadow was published, three of the final chapters (34, 35, and 36) got caught in a computer glitch and reverted back to old drafts. I spent the rest of the night crying, eating peanut butter, and watching Kevin play Assassin’s Creed III. The next few days were full of excessive sweat and me desperately trying to rewrite the chapters to their former glory. I hope it worked.
-Acknowledgements-
It’s over. Wow.
I’m having a tremendously hard time writing this… I was honestly afraid the last book would never get done.
And I am overjoyed that it is now in the hands of whoever you are.
From when the idea of this series spawned in 9th grade to now, a senior in college, there are just too many people to thank. Back then, it was a small group of friends and family pushing me to keep following my dreams; now, it is so much and so many more.
A million thanks, a million hugs to every face I meet at every comic-con. Eternal gratitude to every source of inspiration and word of encouragement. My love pours out to you all, and a few of you specifically…
Kevin, mi marido-to-be a year from now. I’m not surprised we’re still together, but it still feels surreal. I would have never moved past chapter 12 of the first book had you not pushed me to not give up on this story. Thank you for listening to my endless hours of bitching and moaning over the smallest things to you but detrimental roadblocks to me. Thank you for the brainstorming, the art, and the endless love you have given me. Thank you for helping me keep my sanity—just thank you. I still love you, now and forever, a waddle.
Mama, Daddy. I did it. Thank you for the claps and fist-pumps forward, and for helping mold me into the writer I am today with all of the money you spent on books. Thank you for always being there to listen, and most importantly, thank you for just being my parents. I love you both.
Jodi and Gary Thomas. Thank you for guiding me to God. I know this is anything but what you expected, but your teachings and His word gave my own words unstateable power and gave the story mountains of inspiration.
Casey Landolf. You get a specific thanks just because these last few months, when I was pushed to write more than I ever had under some of the heaviest stress I have ever felt, you kept me smiling. Every page you read and loved was an extra boost. It helped me tremendously.
Pamela Duncan. My amazing mentor for a year now. It was extremely hard to keep my writing style consistent throughout the series after all you taught me and how much you helped me grow as a writer. Expect me to still pop in from time to time! And expect my next book to reflect just how much you have taught me (:
Isabella Jacovino, who this book is dedicated to—you took so much time out of your life to help put my feet on the ground in this crazy world of publishing. Know that I, and so many others, love you and are wishing you well.
And to everyone else with a name as important as the rest…
THANK YOU! WE DID IT!
