Stormfront (Undertow Book 2) (36 page)

I watched as the piece
s
of literary confetti floated down around us, and cringed. I had correctly thrown the Light for the first time in my life, and had a pretty solid command of the energy.

Unfortunately,
Rillin underestimated the damage I was capable of, and Christian’s wall of books paid the ultimate price. I had called the Light, remembering the feeling of the Katana sword in my hand from the day before and how I saw without really seeing. I felt the energy travel through my body and thunder to my palms as I swung my hands as if I was slicing the air with the sword.

The Light had exploded from my hands, like a curved blade, and
Rillin dove for the floor when it flew past him, smashing into the bookcase, causing the classics to explode. The ornate bookshelf had groaned as it leaned, and the entire top section tipped over and crashed to the ground.

Rillin
was getting to his feet just as Raef and my friends burst through the library doors. They had all been waiting outside at my request, and now they took in the destruction of the room, with Rillin and I standing in the center. “What in the heck happened?” demanded MJ, picking up a torn page that had fluttered to the ground near him.

Ana slid some of the broken books aside with her bare foot, “Jeez
, Eila! You just murdered Steinbeck!”

“Hey! I didn’t know I could do that!” I said defensively, pointing to the now obliterated bookshelf. I turned to
Rillin, “Did YOU know I could do that?”

Rillin
shook his head as he dusted more paper shreds from his shoulder. “No. That was, well, unexpected.”

“Unexpected? UNEXPECTED! I just destroyed Christian’s
friggin’ library! Mae will be here in a few hours and look at this place!” I yelled. Raef came up next to me and seemed to be looking me over for any damage. He placed his hand to my neck, checking my pulse. “I just burned books,” I mumbled and Raef smiled.

“We will replace them and I can fix the bookshelf. Were you able to control it?” he asked, somewhat dubious given the room’s current state of destruction.

“I was able to form it and throw it, if that’s what you mean. I just didn’t think it would wreck the house.” I turned to Rillin, who was inspecting the broken bookshelf. “How did I do this type of damage? I thought my ability was limited to damaging soul thieves, not demolition work.”

Rillin
turned back to me, “You took out a sizable portion of the Breakers.”

“Yeah, but that was a Core Collapse. Isn’t that standard when that happens?” I asked.

Rillin shook his head. “No, but I wasn’t sure what exactly went down in the Breakers – if there was another aspect to your light show that I didn’t quite understand. But this . . . ,” he gestured to the destruction. “This is a different kind of power and it has to be related to what you are as a hybrid. I suspect you channel more than the Web of Souls. More than simply the energy living souls give off to one another. Like your scar, however, I suspect Light casting might be a bit more complicated for you. As both a Mortis and a Lunaterra, you basically damage yourself when you correctly wield the Light.  My guess is that is why your hands are now bleeding.”

I took a startled step back and Raef grabbed my hands, “Eila! You
are
bleeding!”

He uncurled my fingers to reveal a knife-like slash across the palm of each hand. Raef yanked his shirt over his head and pressed the fabric into my palms to stop the bleeding and I winced.

“Sorry,” he said to me, quietly, then turned angrily at Rillin. “Did you know this would happen?”

“I wasn’t sure. It was a possibility. It should heal quickly, but I need to figure out if there is a way to keep her power from rebounding on her,” replied
Rillin, pushing aside a tattered book with his foot.

“Damaging my granddaughter was not part of the training deal, Mr. Blackwood,” said Christian from the library entrance. I didn’t even realize he had come back from Freeport.

“Uh, sorry about your books. Did you get your guy?” I asked him.

“I did, but we have a problem. The FBI is in Freeport investigating the beheading of Mr. Garrett, who they had been watching for his drug-trafficking connections. Howe is with them, which is not a good sign. If he has been reinstated, and he i
s part of the investigation, then there must be a connection back to you two! Which one of you two saw fit to rip the man’s head off?” demanded Christian, glaring at Kian and Raef.

My stomach sank at the thought of either of
them leveling such violence against anyone, even a drug dealer.

Rillin
stepped forward, clearly angry. “You guys ripped the man’s head off? Are you out of your minds? We can’t afford attention like that!”

“It was a momentary lack of solid judgment,” said Kian. “He was bragging about hijacking Cerberus and taking the girls and well . . . I
may have lost it. It won’t ever happen again.” Raef was listening to Kian with a somewhat stunned expression on his face.

“We have another problem,” said Christian. “Before I took out the nephew, he had been meeting with a slim, dark haired man that had a shamrock on his neck. Does he sound familiar, Eila? MJ?”

I stiffened.

MJ’s mouth dropped open, “Are you kidding me? Nikki’s robber is in Freeport and he was talking with the same idiot who had his men try to hijack Cerberus?”

Rillin swore, “They have to be human hitmen. Bounty hunters. It isn’t unusual to have Mortis run human organized crime rings, I just didn’t think that is who was aiming for Eila and the rest of us. They are self-serving, so unless there was a financial gain to killing us, they wouldn’t. If Shamrock Man is here, then we are being followed, and it means they are after something they intend to profit off of – something of great value.”

“Do you think the Mortis who attacked us on Sandy Neck are also part of this crime group?” I asked, now wishing I too had trained with the handguns.

Rillin was quiet, thinking and looking tense. “I’m not sure,” he replied.

 
“Mae is due to arrive this evening,” said Christian. “Eila’s ability to practice will be seriously curtailed once she is here. By the fact that I no longer have a library, I am thinking training still has a ways to go however.”

Rillin
shook his head. “Eila throws with great control, but she channels a different kind of Light. There was no way for me to know that, but I will figure out how to have her safely throw, and quickly. If we are being followed, time is of the essence. It’s unfortunate that the Feon training equipment was destroyed in the palace. I suspect such items would have been useful with Eila.”

Christian became very quiet for a moment, and when he spoke his voice seemed to be darker than I had ever heard before. “What if you did have the equipment? Would she be able to throw safely?”

“Possibly,” said Rillin suspiciously. “Why?”

Christian didn’t answer, instead walking over to the remaining piece of the bookshelf. He pressed his hand to the wall directly next to the shelf and a single square of light formed around his hand. It beeped a few times and with a hiss, the wall slid sideways, revealing a dark stairwell that trailed down under us.

“Holy flippin’ Hogwarts!” gasped Ana, who had laced her hand with Kian’s. After last night’s revelation about her father’s stone, I had barely seen Ana. She had been with Kian all day . . . and all last night.

One could only wonder if Kian had finally put Mary behind him with Ana’s help. We needed a girl
pow-wow really soon.

“What’s down there?” I asked, still clutching Raef’s shirt in my hands.

“Everything,” replied Christian, and he started down the dark stairwell.

We looked at each other, and headed into the
unknown behind my grandfather.

Once in the stairwell
,
I switched places with Eila, putting myself ahead of her as protection.

The fact that Christian had a hidden stairwell and possibly items from the Lunaterra made me uneasy. He could have told us before.

Why wait until now?

The bottom of the staircase ended in a small, round room with a black pool and nothing else – as if we were at the bottom of a massive well.

Christian began unbuttoning his shirt and kicking off his shoes.

“Is this a joke?” asked MJ, looking at the water. It was so dark inside the turret-like space that the edges of the pool
seemed to disappeared into inky oblivion.

“My vault is accessible only through an underwater tunnel. It is a security precaution, to keep humans away. The entire house is built over a limestone cave, where I keep everything of value to me.”

MJ looked at the water in the darkened room. “I, uh, think the invisible hand-pad on the wall pretty much covers your securities needs.”

“One can never be to
o careful when protecting that which is priceless,” offered Christian. “We need to go swimming, so I suggest you lose the shoes and whatever else might weigh you down.”

I glanced at Eila, who shook her head as she wiggled out of her yoga pants and shirt, leaving on just her
boyshorts and exercise bra. I wanted to drape something over her, but she just looked at me and shrugged. “Technically Collette’s bikini was far more revealing than what I’m wearing now, don’t you think?” I sighed and kicked off my shoes, the other guys following suit.

Ana looked at Kian, and he pulled off his shirt, handing it to her as he smiled. She then ducked behind him and switched into his shirt, which hung to her mid thigh. When she reappeared, she saw that everyone was giving her a curious glance.

“What?” she demanded, her face flushing. “My undies were a bit skimpier than Eila’s, okay? Sheesh.”

Kian’s
smile grew.

Eila stepped over to the edge of the black water, looking at its smooth surface when we all heard a splash. Everyone froze except Christian, and I studied the water as a small ripple made it to the lip of the pool.

Then, to my absolute shock, a smooth, gray triangle coasted by, followed by a smaller one.

“SHARKS? I’m not going in with sharks!” yelled Ana. Eila nodded rapidly.

What in the world could be valuable enough to call for hidden doors, underwater tunnels, and sharks? I stepped up to Christian, who had pulled three air tanks from a small alcove under the stairs.

“What’s in the vault, Christian?” I asked, darkness threading my words. I didn’t trust this man entirely. This seemed like too great a risk.

He ignored my question and handed Rillin and MJ the tanks – one for each of our human counterparts, since we soul thieves could hold our breath for hours.

I grabbed Christian’s shirt
, pinning him against the wall. “What’s in the vault?” I growled.

He yanked my hand away. “Like I said, everything is in there. I thought the diary would be enough. I thought her book would have all the answers, but it doesn’t. And now we have
Ana. We might be able to fill in the blanks, including why Eila’s throwing ability is different.”

“What are you talking about?” I demanded, angry.

With the mention of Ana, Kian switched to high alert as did Rillin, and they stepped in next to me while MJ placed himself in front of the girls.

“Tell me what’s in the vault! Why would you build a vault this deep under ground? This wel
l protected? What could possibly be worth all this?”

But then I heard Ana’s small voice behind me.
“Oh my god. She’s here, isn’t she?” she asked, stepping past MJ to Christian. “You need me because I’m a Reloader. I can read the dead.”

I glanced at Eila and her mouth dropped open in shock.

No. It couldn’t be. He didn’t . . .

Christian took a deep breath, his eyes filled with pain as he nodded, “Elizabeth is in the vault.”

Did you know that this is an

indie published book?

Did you know that you – the fans – are the ones who control how many other readers will find

Eila’s
story?

I write for my fans and could use your help. If you loved this story, please tell your friends, your local bookseller, your library, Your school – HECK, EVERYONE!

If you can, please review us on
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Reviews help the book Find a wider audience.

Give us a shout-out on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram and we will shout back! The more you talk about the book, the more Eila and her crew will find new readers!

THANK YOU!

COMING IN 2015:

Kian & Ana’s novella

Cruel Summer

The Rebels Will Rise

TRUE NORTH

History
Will not be denied.

R U Brave?

Dying
for some Soul Shark clothing?

O
Ur Custom line of sweats and t-shirts is available through:

http://www.BLeachersCustomClothing.Com

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I can honestly say that UNDERTOW and STORMFRONT would have never existed had it not been for my family, especially my mom, and a gaggle of crazy friends. They were the original
cheerleaders who forced me to pursue my imagination into a world of unlikely alliances, warring families, twisted histories, passions, and lies. Many thanks to them all, for they deserve far more than a page at the back of a novel.

To those people who nagged, prodded, and occasionally shouted “WHERE THE HECK ARE THE NEW PAGES?” I cannot thank you all enough. Without you, there would have never been Eila, Raef, Kian, Ana, and MJ.
These fabulous people include: my parents, my brother, my kids and husband, Charlotte the Spiderwoman, Kim of the South, Kim of the North, Bethany the Bold, Layla who has everyone begging for more, Crafty Carrie with her nine-thousand origami pieces, Sabine the Saavy, and so many, many other brilliant friends.

As always, many thanks to my
“cast” of the UNDERTOW series (those teens from Cape Cod that were brave enough to be photographed for book covers, blogs, character cards, etc.). I will always see you as the original characters. A huge high-five to Leslie McKinnon (Eila), Colby McWilliams (Raef), Christa Mullaly (Ana), Justin Blaze (Kian), Sean Potter (MJ), Megan Jones (Nikki), and Emily Penn (Elizabeth).

Endless thanks to my super talented photographer
, Alex Daunais, who never sleeps and must run on gallons of caffeine. And a huge thank you to Cape Cod photographer Carole Corcoran and the stunning landscape shots that she captures through the lens of her camera. Her photographs grace the back cover of the UNDERTOW books. Mad skills, woman!

Many thanks to
the local Cape Cod businesses and places that sparked my imagination, including
Four Seas Ice Cream
,
Craigville Pizza, The Chocolate Sparrow, Sandwich Town Neck Beach, Sandy Neck beach, and Barnstable High School.

A shout out as well to the
Mercandetti Family, who owned a certain Sea Captain home a long time ago, and which I always found 100% magical.

Many thanks to my fellow writers
, including Trisha Leaver, Dean Coe, and many others who would happily shake some sense into me when I got a bit hysterical after rewriting a scene for the twentieth time.

A
gold medal must be given to fan Bobbie Jo who convinced me to start a street team (which I refer to as the “pimp-my-novel” project), and librarian Lindsey Hughes who thought up Fallen tattoos for kids, though sadly not real ones. Bummer.

Huge thanks to YA librarian Kathy Johnson as well, who was the first to ever ask me to teach a class for teenage writers. I love doing it
.

Lastly, a massive hug to my fans
and Cape Cod – this series will always be for you. You are the reason why I work tirelessly to perfect the characters, and I hope they haunt your dreams . . . and maybe your nightmares.