Today, I have the pleasure of sharing an excerpt from CRYSTAL FIRE, book 2 in the Hunted series by Jordan Dana. This excerpt was brought to you by my friends at YA Bound Book Tours.
Jordan Dana
YA Urban Fantasy
Published November 26, 2013
Because of what you are, the Believers will hunt you down.
A storm is brewing on the streets of LA, one that has intensified since a tragic and deadly confrontation claimed an innocent life.
While Gabriel Stewart trains his army of teen psychics to stop Alexander Reese--the obsessed leader of the Believers--the fanatical church becomes more bent on the annihilation of all Indigo and Crystal children. They're silencing the voices of the telepathic hive, one soul at a time, with frightening experiments cruelly executed on vulnerable minds.
When the Believers torture a mysterious homeless boy, Oliver Blue, they brainwash him into betraying his own. The boy becomes a deadly pawn to take Gabriel down. As the fires of chaos burn around him, Gabe is running out of time. He'll need to confront his past--and the man who made him--before the hope of peace for the future is silenced forever.
Excerpt
Ward 8
Dr. Fiona Haugstad stood outside Oliver Blue’s locked door, but she couldn’t go in. She stared through the small wire mesh window to look at him, reassuring her that he was still under her control. After she’d seen him in her bathroom that morning, it had been a very mixed blessing.
Had she manipulated Oliver into exhibiting the first signs of teleporting or had she triggered something darker in him? When she looked into the shadowy room, the boy’s legs and torso were strapped to the light table. His mouth gasped for air like a dying fish, and his body jerked as if the erratic twitching was beyond his power to control it. She forced her eyes away from the boy and shifted her focus to the machines that tracked his vitals and brain activity, something easier to watch.
What she’d done had been necessary, to advance science and sustain her faith. The church placed humanity above other creatures, including Oliver Blue and those like him. Seeing the boy and knowing what he’d done to haunt her in her home, she felt justified in her actions to safeguard mankind from a kid like Oliver. Even if she had a hand in making him a monster, the potential within him had given her plenty of reason to do what must be done to control his kind.
Fiona took a deep breath, unbuttoned her suit jacket and opened the door with her ID passkey. She didn’t have to be careful about not making a sound. Oliver couldn’t hear or see her.
The backlighting of the table cast an eerie glow onto his body, making his twitching more unsettling up close. Fiona couldn’t see his face. Only his gaping mouth struggled to breathe. He moaned with the effort, a sound that would only vibrate in his head and not be heard over the white noise she had programmed to play in his ears to control his sleep patterns. As she stood over him, her eyes trailed down his body toward his stomach. His muscles flinched and quivered as he gasped.
But something else caused her to bend closer to see a mark on his shuddering belly. A bruise. Fiona shouldn’t have done it, but she couldn’t stop her urge. She reached down and placed her hand over the mottled flesh of his stomach. His skin felt warm to her touch and she pressed down to hold him in place as he struggled under her hand.
The boy jerked and cried out, “Who’s th-there? H-help me.”
The bruise was in the shape of a small hand, smaller than hers. As Oliver called out to her in his delirium, begging for her help, Fiona stroked his belly to calm him, but she didn’t say a word.
He wouldn’t have heard her anyway.
Because of what you are, the Believers will hunt you down.
Voices told Lucas Darby to run. Voices no one else can hear. He’s warned his sister not to look for him, but Rayne refuses to let her troubled brother vanish on the streets of LA. In her desperate search, she meets Gabriel Stewart, a runaway with mysterious powers and far too many secrets. Rayne can’t explain her crazy need to trust the strange yet compelling boy—to touch him—to protect him even though he scares her.
A fanatical church secretly hunts psychic kids—gifted “Indigo” teens feared to be the next evolution of mankind—for reasons only “the Believers” know. Now Rayne’s only hope is Gabe, who is haunted by an awakening power—a force darker than either of them imagine—that could doom them all.
About the Author
Jordan Dana
Bestselling, critically-acclaimed author Jordan Dane’s gritty romantic thrillers are ripped from the headlines with vivid settings, intrigue, and dark humor. Publishers Weekly compared her intense novels to Lisa Jackson, Lisa Gardner, and Tami Hoag, naming her debut novel NO ONE HEARD HER SCREAM as Best Books of 2008. She also pens young-adult novels for Harlequin Teen. Formerly an energy sales manager, she now writes full time. Jordan and her husband share their Texas residence with two lucky rescue dogs.
***Giveaway***
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