Banished: Book 1 of The Grimm Laws (35 page)
Read Banished: Book 1 of The Grimm Laws Online
Authors: Jennifer Youngblood,Sandra Poole
H
untsden relaxed into the sofa
. He grabbed the TV remote and began flipping through channels. A sense of euphoria floated over him as he thought about all that had taken place the night before. For the first time, his dad seemed truly proud of him. He’d done it! He was now a legitimate candidate for the throne. There would still be other battles to fight before he won the prize, but it felt good to be victorious this once. And he’d done it without shedding any blood. He didn’t dare tell his dad that he was relieved that he’d not had to kill anyone. He’d succeeded in keeping the darkness at bay … for now.
Even though Huntsden didn’t know what the plan was from here, his dad assured him that everything was on track. He wondered what Edward and Rush would do when they saw him at school on Monday. His thoughts went to Elle, and he felt his blood quicken. She was really something! No wonder Edward and Rush wanted her. Who wouldn’t? Her perfect features, that lustrous hair, and that bite! He chuckled inwardly. Just as surely as a knight needed a trusty steed, if he were going to be king, then he would need a queen at his side. She was indeed a prize worth winning. The trophy of all trophies! One way or another, he would have her as his own.
The doorbell rang, and he rose to answer it.
“I have a delivery for Huntsden Forrester.”
“I’m Huntsden.”
“These are for you.”
He reached for the box and frowned as he thanked the woman and closed the door. He sat back down on the couch and opened the box. Chocolate. He felt a stab of fear. Was this from The Chocolate Fountain? A warning of some sort?
There was a note that read: From your secret admirer.
He turned the box over and saw that it was from some company he’d not heard of. A sense of relief flooded him. It wasn’t from The Chocolate Fountain. He looked at the box with renewed interest. A sense of pleasure covered him as he wondered who it was that sent him the chocolate.
He held it up to his nose and inhaled the scent. They were all milk chocolate truffles. He plopped one in his mouth and chewed. It was the most delicious thing he’d ever tasted. Eagerly, he began eating the rest.
E
lle’s palms
were sweaty as she knocked on the door. She’d lain awake the night before, thinking about Rush and how empty she felt when he stormed out of The Chocolate Fountain. Her heart about jumped in her throat when he opened the door. She gave him a tentative smile. “Hey.”
He gave her the nod. “Hey. What’s up?”
Her smile fell a notch. This was harder than she thought. He wasn’t making it easy with those hooded eyes and closed expression. She’d known he would be mad, but she hadn’t expected him to be this cold. She wet her lips. “Can we talk?”
He shoved his hands into his pockets. “About what?”
“About us.” She sought for the right words. “Look, the other night, when you saw Edward and me … it wasn’t what you thought.” She swallowed hard and began again. “I feel things for you.” Her eyes met his, and she silently pled with him to give her another chance. “I know I’ve made my share of mistakes, but if you could only—”
She nearly choked on her words when Lynessa sauntered up beside Rush and draped a manicured hand around his shoulder. Her smoldering eyes scoured Elle up and down as her lips turned down into a petulant frown. “What’s she doing here?” She gave Elle a snide smile. “Where’s Edward? Still playing both sides?”
Rush just stood there, looking at her, as her heart turned to ice. The world started to spin, and she began backing away. “This was a mistake!”
Somehow, she managed to make it back to her room before the tears started. She went to her dressing table, picked up a hairbrush, and slung it at the mirror as hard as she could. The mirror cracked, sending a web of shattered glass trickling out from the point of impact. She sat down in the chair and stared at the broken mirror. Then she propped her elbows on the table, buried her head in her hands, and let the tears fall.
When no more tears would come, she rose up and gulped in a ragged breath. Her eyes went wide. The cracks in the mirror were gone! A sense of wonderment filled her as she touched it. Adele’s words came rushing back.
“You need to stop ignoring her. She’s trying to tell you something important.”
She leaned forward, studying her reflection. It occurred to her then that she felt no fear. She was no longer afraid of the girl in the mirror. “Who are you?” she whispered. “What are you trying to tell me?”
A flash of gold caught her attention. She blinked and then looked again. This time, more intently. Before her mind could register what her eyes were seeing the gold vanished, leaving only her reflection. A rush of wind circled around the room, even though the window was closed. A sense of familiarity quietly rippled through her—a familiarity of something that had been there before. Excitement seized her. She’d had a flutter of a memory! And then she realized what it was she had seen in the mirror—a key. For a split second, she had seen a gold key!
H
ey there
, thanks for taking the time to read
Banished
the first book in
The Grimm Laws Series.
If you enjoyed it, please take a minute to give us a review on Amazon. We really appreciate your feedback as we depend largely on word of mouth to promote our books.
We have always loved fairy tales! There’s something magical and comforting about reading a fanciful book where everyone lives happily ever after. Of course, things don’t always turn out so perfect in the real world. We wanted to write an in-depth fairy tale where the characters become real and where things don’t always work out so perfectly. The challenging part about
Banished
is that the action goes back and forth between two very different worlds. We wanted to add a touch of the formal language into the dialogue without it seeming forced or stilted. Eventually, we came up with our own language—a hybrid between the modern and the present.
We became immersed in the lives of these characters and enjoyed every minute of writing it!
A funny side note that happened to Jennifer: When Mom and I were about halfway finished writing the novel, I decided that it would give me a clearer perspective if I were to stop writing and read it from start to finish. I became so engrossed in the story that I forgot that I had written it, and when I reached the end (as far as we had written thus far), I had this burning desire to know what was going to happen next. Then I caught myself and thought:
You moron, you have to finish writing it before you can read the rest of it!
We hope you’ll feel the same way about book II—that you just can’t wait to see what will happen next!
Love Spell: Book II of The Grimm Laws
is coming soon …
J
ennifer’s love
for writing began as a young teenager when she wrote stories for her high school English teacher to critique. She feels that it’s a great privilege to be able to write with her mother, Sandra Poole. “Writing together adds a depth and spice to our work that neither of us could get independently,” she says.
Jennifer has BA in English and Social Sciences from Brigham Young University where she served as Miss BYU Hawaii in 1989. Before becoming an author, she worked as the owner and editor of a monthly newspaper named
The Senior Times
. In addition to her love for writing, Jennifer works in the home design industry. She and her husband owned an interior design gallery where she specialized in custom window treatments and floral arrangements. Jennifer continues to do interior design for select clients.
She now lives in the Rocky Mountains with her family and spends her time writing, carpooling, attending basketball games, and doing all of the wonderful things that make up the life of a busy wife and mother.
S
andra grew
up in a small community in northeast Alabama called Alder Springs, the setting of Sandra and Jennifer's first novel, Livin' in High Cotton. It was there that she developed a deep love for literature in a two-classroom country school. She recalls that every afternoon the teachers would bring their classes together and read such classics as
Rip Van Winkle, Moby Dick, The Headless Horsemen
, and The
Taming of the Shrew
while all their students sat on the floor.
Sandra has worked in the administrative field for over twenty-five years. She worked her way through college while her daughters were very young and completed a four-year degree in three years. Later, she earned a Masters in Business Administration. Her experience has ranged from being an executive secretary and human resource manager for Fortune 500 companies to being an assistant to one of the vice presidents at the university where she eventually retired. She now works in the education field.
For Sandra, writing is a continual journey of discovery. She has so many ideas for other books running through her mind that it's hard to focus on one at a time.
