Summer Teen Reading Party Guest: Rebecca Ryals Russell
Today I'm happy to have YA author Rebecca Ryals Russell visit my blog!
Harpies,
Book Two of Seraphym Wars series by Rebecca Ryals Russell comes out soon. But
you might wish to read the Book One, Odessa first. Here is Chapter One of Odessa:
BLURB
17-year-old Myrna is drawn into the middle of an epic battle
between Seraphym and Demons. An average High School student from Florida,
struggling with inner demons resulting from an attack when she was 15, she
wakes one morning on the Steampunk planet of Dracwald, home of the
demon-dragons responsible for her brother’s recent murder as well as many other
atrocities in the news. She meets sweet and sensitive Michael, who explains
that according to prophecy, Myrna must gather the remaining six Vigorios (teen warriors
with special talents) then train with the Majikals on an enchanted island. He
accompanies her on the quest, but harbors a secret past that ironically would
destroy all the faith she has placed in him. A handsomely roguish Scientist
with suspect motives haunts her dreams and makes sudden appearances in unlikely
places, while a sensual dragon warrior defends her against her will.
Will love and lust, jealousy, greed, deceit and distrust
break the delicate tie that binds these teen warriors called The Vigorios? Can
a troupe of teens help the Seraphym finally defeat the massive empire of evil
dominated for eons by the demon-dragons of Dracwald?
Chapter One
I floated on wings of silence like a piece of driftwood at sea.
Colored gases swirled around me like silk scarves, brushing against my bare
arms and legs. They delighted my senses and tingled nerve endings. For as far
as I could see, a myriad of colors swam and twirled, dipping and rolling around
particles of dark matter and glittering specks of sunbeams in a miniature
cosmos.
Was this a dream? I didn’t remember
falling asleep. In fact, I didn’t remember
anything at all. Soft singing and the sharp but pleasant ringing of bells
echoed around me. I opened my eyes—had
they been shut? Thousands of glimmering, radiant beings hovered in the rainbow
cosmic cloud. So beautiful. So peaceful. My eyes drifted shut.
“Mind
the signs, Myrna,” echoed in my skull and repeated over and over in
millions of separate voices in unison. “Mind
the signs…Mind the signs…”
I shoved the covers off with my feet and stood, stretching. The house
was unusually quiet. Must be the first up. After showering I listened while getting dressed. Still
no sounds. I went to the kitchen. No one. It was not like my parents to sleep in, especially later
than me. I made my way toward
their room.
“Mom.” Softly I pushed on the door, which was slightly ajar.
“Dad? Anyone up? Hey, sleepy heads…” The room was empty. The bed was made. My stomach flip-flopped. Marcy’s room was next. I padded down the hall, then pushed on the
half-open door.
“You’ll be late…” I didn’t finish because no one was there to hear
me. Her room was immaculate—which never happened—and empty. Panic pricked my
brain like a nest of wasps. My mind was a jumble of anger and fear. People
don’t just disappear. Where are they? What happened to them? I ran to Jarrod’s room and found the same thing. I was alone. Sliding down the wall, I crumpled in a heap on the carpet.
“Where did you all go without me?” I shrieked at the ceiling, tears burning my
eyes. “Where is everyone?” Running to the foyer, I slid in my socks across the
white tiles. Swiping at my wet face with the back of my hand, I gasped a shuddering breath…
And flung open the front door,
daring to look outside.
The slam rattled the dishes in the
kitchen cabinets like bones in a closet as I threw it shut. My heart pounded against my ribs. This isn’t possible. I’m still dreaming. The deadbolt lock thudded
with a satisfying crunch as I twisted the key. My breath came in short gasps.
My mind reeled with the impossible unreality of what I had seen. Who were these people? They were people, weren’t they? Then why had
I seen horns and tails? I ran back to my room.
Crouching in the corner behind
my bed, my head ached from crying and fear. My room was still dark and shadows
wavered and squirmed across the walls like living shades. I shut my eyes and slid my hands across my ears
to shut out the world. I had to shut out this
world that was not mine.
* * * *
I must have fallen asleep again,
because I woke to a dark room
and knew the sun had gone down. I searched each bedroom along the hallway—not
surprised this time to find them empty, but still disappointed. I was alone. Even when alone at home before, I’d known I was not alone.
This was different. This was scary.
My stomach rumbled audibly and I jumped at the sound. In the kitchen, I
luckily found peanut butter and bread and made a sandwich. The peanut butter
stuck to my dry mouth. I drank some milk, diluted with salty tears as I tried
to swallow. My eyes wandered across the spotless, silent kitchen until landing
on the phone. I picked up the receiver. No sound. Cords and plugs seemed fine.
I clicked the receiver button up and down. I always wondered why people in
movies did that, but still, I did it again. No sound. I couldn’t even call the cops.
Tomorrow I would have to find help. Find out what happened to my family. An
unnatural, sudden drowsiness overcame me and I stumbled sleepily back to bed.
Why was I so tired? How could I sleep when my entire family was missing? And
what about what I’d seen outside earlier? I’d slept nearly all day, so there’s
no way I should be sleepy. Yet my eyes shut, almost on their own, and I fell
into a fitful sleep.
Tossing and turning like a
storm-tossed ship at sea, my bed was soon sweat-damp and rumpled. Dreams which
morphed into nightmares writhed through my confused brain. Blackness that felt alive as it wove around me like an anaconda,
squeezing out my breath, was filled with screeches and banshee wails of pain
and suffering. All around, shapes moved in the darkness. Amorphous, slithering,
scales on dry stone, sometimes as high as my ceiling, others low on the
ground—shapes without shape. Voices that growled like the notes of a tiger
beside my ear, whispering words I couldn’t understand. Running. Running. Through
trees stacked so closely together I had to inhale to squeeze through them.
Water, slimy and brown with more amorphous shapes wriggling through it and
around my thighs as I walked through. Skies heavy and dark, oppressive in their
grayness, sucking all joy, pleasure, even satisfaction from my soul.
My eyes flew open and I sat up. In my bed. In my room. In my house.
Deep breaths of fresh air filled my lungs, restoring my brain’s oxygen. Then I
heard movement in the shadows. Saw the shadows slide across my wall in the
vague moonlight that managed to streak through the closed blind. I stared hard,
trying to see for certain, unwilling to believe my senses anymore. The dry
scraping sound echoed around the room, followed by a hiss. More shadows, black
as a moonless midnight, wove across the floor and walls. My throat, already dry
from screaming in my nightmares, constricted—useless. Who would hear me anyway?
Then the atmosphere in my room changed. The hair on my neck and arms
stood up. My skin prickled as though with a soft electric shock. My breathing
became ragged and my heart thumped so loudly in my chest I could hear it in the silence of the room. I
hadn’t prayed since I was a very little girl, but something in me said to pray
hard right now, so I said the only bits I could remember from the days when, as
a toddler, Mom insisted I go to Bible
School
“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…” My brain screamed for the
next words. I repeated the phrase over and over trying to recall them, but they
wouldn’t come. The shadows no longer clung to the edges of the room but slid
across the floor, around the corners of the walls, directly toward me.
“The Lord is my shepherd, I
shall not want…” I screamed as loudly as I could, emphasizing the word Lord. “He maketh me to lie down in still
pastures, He restoreth my soul. Yea, though I walk through the valley of death
I shall fear no evil for thou art
with me. Thy rod and thy staff protect me. My cup runneth over. Surely goodness
and mercy shall follow me all my life, and I will dwell in the house of the
Lord forever.” I knew there were parts left out, but it was the best I could
do. I repeated it over and over, getting louder and more confident each time.
The room filled with the brilliance of a noonday sun. I screamed,
shading my burning eyes with a hand. Other screeching and scrambling sounds
filled the room for several moments until there was compete silence. The
brilliance faded and I dropped my hand to see what had happened. I expected to
see a gaping hole in my wall, or maybe half the house missing with starlight
streaming in.
Nothing. There was nothing. My room was empty. I could feel its
emptiness. Total and complete silence. But I also felt better. I wasn’t scared. I knew there would be no more
nightmares for the rest of this night.
When I woke again, that
same gray light as yesterday pushed past the edges of my window blinds,
spitting its dullness into the room.
After several hours of fruitlessly contemplating
last night’s events, and finding no food in the kitchen to sate my
ever-grumbling stomach, I managed to work up the courage to go for help. After
dressing I took several deep breaths before opening the door again. I thought I was prepared.
The murky gray light that filled the
sky seemed watery and weak. Although there was no cloud cover, there was no
sunlight. Several brown dragons swooped through the grayness, casually flying
above the buildings of this strange city. I stared wide-eyed, heart pounding.
Dragons? On Earth? Had I been taken backward in time somehow? Was this the
Middle Ages and was I in a fairy tale? I glanced up again as one swooped
directly overhead, its beady red eyes watching me.
I have to leave the house. If
I ignore them, perhaps they won’t notice me. Heart beating a mad tattoo, I stepped onto the stoop. Dad’s pride and joy
green grass was gone.
My heart pounded and lungs burned like I’d just finished a marathon. I
twitched and jumped at every sound, spinning from side to side. Squeezing my
eyes shut tightly, I inhaled deeply several times, trying to calm down. The air
stank of sulphur and coal dust. I opened my eyes. Standing at the end of the
yard, a loud chug and zip followed by a puff of steam enveloped me. I leaped backward,
nearly falling into the dirt. A triangular car with a glass top sped down the
road. Another headed my direction on the opposite side. The driver sat in the
front of the triangle, managing the car with a joystick while two passengers
sat side-by-side on the rear seat. It manoeuvred surprisingly well and was
quite fast. Then I realized it was not on
the road, but hovered just slightly above it. There were no wheels.
Leading east and west at the end of
the walkway, a crushed stone path lined a packed dirt road that ran in front of
the house. To the left and right of the house stood tall and short buildings of
every description. Some seemed to be stores, others apartment buildings or
individual homes like mine. Tall brass street lights stood sentinel at each
intersection.
“Toto, we’re not in Kansas
A rumble overhead pulled my attention to the murky sky as a
glass-enclosed egg with the silhouettes of seated people lining its interior
floated by. At the rear spun a huge brass propeller. Occasional clouds of steam
escaped into the atmosphere. I grabbed my chest and inhaled deeply several
times, settling my nerves. I turned right and, with eyes lowered to avoid making
eye contact, began walking down the path.
A layer of black soot coated the buildings and walkways, reminding me
of photos of Victorian London when chimneys belched black coal dust. Many of the grimy windows displayed new
handbills showing a child with the question “Have You Seen This Child?”
underneath. It shocked me to realize each face was that of a different child.
How many children had disappeared from this city, and where did they go?
Glancing forward occasionally, I was surprised to see the odd assortment of
costumes on the people who passed me. While some men wore bowler hats, others
had formal top hats and long-tailed coats. Women wore long dresses with
pinafores and bloomers. Most wore wide-brimmed hats mounted with feathers and
other doodads or jaunty, small headdresses angled over impressive updos. Many
of these strange characters stared openly at me as they passed. Goosebumps
rolled up my arms and neck. I caught my reflection in a wavy window and
realized why they were all staring. My jeans and Pink Floyd T-shirt definitely
stood out. I smoothed back my long, black hair and wrapped the ponytail band
around it, happy I’d thought to grab one on my way out the door and toss it
onto my wrist. My younger sister Marcy showed me that trick. Thinking about her
now made my eyes burn, blurring my surroundings. I swiped the back of a hand
across my eyes.
“Watch where you’re going,
lunchmeat,” a low, menacing voice growled next to my ear. I turned my head to apologize. There was no
one beside me. I fell against a building, scraping my arm on the rough siding.
Someone had deliberately shoved me. But who?
“Imbecile,” the voice continued.
I spun in search of the owner of the voice. I was alone on the walk path. People across the
street stared in passing. One last time, I looked back the way I’d come. I
could still hear him like he was next to my ear.
“Mother’v pearl!” I muttered, eyes
roving from feet to hat of a giant man who was walking away. He was easily over
eight feet tall—not fat, just...big. A black
top hat and full-length black cape added to the effect. I wondered for a split instant how he found
clothes big enough. He spun a black cane with gold, dragon-shaped handle and
glittering diamond eyes. He must have realized I was staring, because just his head spun backward. He grinned
maliciously at me with a flick of red eyes before his head swiveled back
around.
Here are the links and topics detailing where I’ll
be all month. Check them out and win PRIZES.
EXCERPTS
AVAILABLE TO READ:
GIVEAWAY:
Comment
on EACH of my postings (listed above with links) showing
you read the posting. Commenters will acquire ONE point per comment. At the
end, fill out the form on my blog, Under the Hat.
The
prize? This lovely Phoenix medallion and a bag of swag
including Odessa notepad, Seraphym Wars pen, Mind the Signs bookmark, coverart
Postcards for each book in both series AND an eBook copy of my newest release:
Harpies, Book Two Seraphym Wars Series.
Catch
Rebecca at any of these links:
Barnes and Noble http://tinyurl.com/rebeccaryalsrussell-B-N
BIO:
Rebecca Ryals Russell writes MG and YA
Dark Fantasy while living with her family in a Victorian house on five acres of
North Florida countryside. She also runs a Vacation Rental Log House on the
property: Florida Black Bear Cabin.
She is a fourth generation Floridian
having lived all over the state. The daughter of an Elementary-school principal
and school secretary, she always knew she was bound for the classroom and for
fourteen years she taught Middle Grades, preferring English and Creative
Writing. She had several students’ works published in anthologies as well as
her own poetry, photography and stories.
Her main interests are her four teenaged
and young adult children and Irish hubby of many years. She enjoys spending her
time writing, drawing, going to movies, reading, discussing philosophy and
politics with her college-aged son.
Be sure to check out the special
interactive Middle Grade Reader website Tween Word Quest for tons of information about
Stardust Warriors as well as the other projects Rebecca has in the works and Under
the Hat
for all of her other works.
TAGS: Rebecca Ryals
Russell, Seraphym Wars Series, YA books, YA Fiction Books, YA series, demons,
Seraphym, dragons, Dracwald, Vigorios, Prophecy, Odessa, Harpies
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