The Other Side Of Gravity (Oxygen, #1) (34 page)

Home II : Dotan

Work Song : Hozier

Gravity : Jamie Woon

Oblivion : M83

Thousand Eyes : Of Monsters and Men

Gold Dust : Banners

Perfect Machine : Sounds Under Radio

Someone To Someone : Ross Copperman

The Weight of Us : Sanders Bohlke

Red Dust : James Vincent McMorrow

I Found : Amber Run

Pieces : Andrew Belle

The World You Want : Switchfoot

Fall Asleep : Jars of Clay

Who I Am (What’s My Name) : Snoop Dog

Hot Gates : Mumford & Sons

I Am : Awolnation

Need The Sun To Break : James bay

Falling : Haim

What Time Do You Call This : Elbow

All I See : Mutemath

Whirring : The Joy Formidable

Shelly is a
New York Times
&
USA Today
bestselling author from a small town in Georgia and loves everything about the south. She is wife to a fantastical husband and stay at home mom to two boisterous and mischievous boys who keep her on her toes. They currently reside in scorching North Florida. She loves to spend time with her family, binge on candy corn, go out to eat at new restaurants, buy paperbacks at little bookstores, sight-see in the new areas they travel to, listen to new music everywhere, and LOVES to read.

              Her own books happen by accident and she revels in the writing and imagination process. She doesn't go anywhere without her notepad for fear of an idea creeping up and not being able to write it down immediately, even in the middle of the night, when her best ideas are born.

Find Shelly here:

www.shellycrane.blogspot.com

https://www.facebook.com/shellycranefanpage

https://twitter.com/AuthShellyCrane

And now, enjoy a preview of a Soul Savers Series - Book One,

A Demon’s Promise

By
Kristie Cook

The sensation of being watched clung to me like a spider web, invisible threads bristling the back of my neck and down my spine. I brushed my fingers across my shoulders, as if I could drag the feeling off and flick it away.

It was ridiculous, of course. Not just ridiculous to think I could pull the sensation off so easily, as if it really was the strand of a web, but it was even more absurd to feel it in the first place. Except when accidents launched my freak-flag high, there was nothing stare-worthy about me. And right now, said flag was tucked safely out of sight.

Yet the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end at the feeling as I visited my favorite Washington, D.C., monument for likely the last time. I sat on the stone steps with the stately Thomas Jefferson behind me and gazed over the Potomac River tidal basin, enjoying the peace just before sunset. Well, trying to enjoy it anyway.

I blamed the ominous feeling on my unruly imagination, with it being twilight and the sky looking so foreboding. It provided the perfect backdrop for one of my stories. The sun hung low—an eerie, orange ball glowing behind a shroud of haze, a column of steel-blue cloud rising around it, threatening to snuff it out. I envisioned something not-quite-human watching the sky from the shadows, waiting to begin its hunt under the cover of darkness, and I imagined the kickass heroine who also watched, ready to protect the human population.

That’s all it is, my fascination with mythical creatures getting the best of me
, I told myself.
Uh-huh. Right
.

Surrendering hope for a peaceful farewell, I hurried to the closest Metro station. The feeling of being followed stuck with me on the train ride home, but at my stop in Arlington, I forgot the sinister sensation. A group of teens a few years younger than me and dressed in all black stood near the top of the escalator as I stepped off. I’d witnessed before their favorite summer activity: harassing people exiting the Metro station. I usually took the elevator to circumvent them, but had been too distracted tonight. When I saw the elderly couple they heckled now, I purposely walked right by them, distracting them, as expected.

“Hey, there’s the freak who heals,” one of them said loudly to the others. “It’s s’posed to be really sick to watch.”

“Hey, freak, got any tricks to show us?” another called.

I gave them a sideways glance, acknowledging the boys and diverting their attention completely from the senior citizens. They were so predictable. Focused all on me, they continued their jeers, and although I’d asked for them, they still stung. But I’d brought this on myself—I’d been a klutz with the Bunsen burner in Chemistry, and my lab partner saw my skin heal almost instantly. One of those times the freak-flag came out. Being able to heal might have been cool if it weren’t for the way people reacted. Kids hassled me about it every day the last two months before graduation, but if I didn’t let them get to me, they were usually just annoying. Usually.

I hadn’t expected these guys to follow me.

My pace picked up as I walked through the bright commercial district and turned down the street for home four blocks away. Night had crept its way in during my ride from downtown to the suburbs, and except for a few streetlights, darkness blanketed the residential area. Footsteps behind me echoed my own. I quickened my steps, hoping they’d give up.
Two more days. That’s all. Just two more days, and we’re out of here
.

“C’mon, we just wanna know if it’s true.” The boy’s pubescent voice cracked twice as he spoke.

“Yeah, just show us. It doesn’t hurt, right?”

I glanced over my shoulder. Three boys followed me, and I caught the glint of a blade in one of their hands. Their plan to satisfy their curiosity—slice me open and watch the wound heal—made my stomach clench.
What is
wrong
with people? Of course, it hurts!
Bungalow-style homes lined the street, each with an empty front porch. Not a single person sat outside on this summer’s evening. No one to witness whatever was about to go down. My heartbeat notched up, pumping adrenaline through my veins.

Pop!

Crack!

Blackness engulfed the street. The streetlights along the entire block had blacked out at the sounds. I inhaled sharply while halting mid-stride, and the footsteps behind me ceased, too.

“What the
hell
?” Surprise and fear filled the boy’s question.

A couple had appeared out of nowhere, three houses down, standing in the middle of the street. The cloudy night made it too dark to see their features, and I could only tell their genders by their shapes. The woman’s high-heeled shoes clicked on the pavement as they walked toward me. The man, big and burly, pulled his shirt over his head and handed it to the woman. Without breaking stride, he took off one shoe and then the other, leaving him with only pants.
What the . . . ?

I considered my options. The woman and her half-naked companion blocked my way home, but I couldn’t just raise my chin and hustle past them, pretending they meant no harm. Because I knew they did, and instinct told me the self-defense moves I knew would do little good against them, especially him. Which meant I stood trapped between the boys with the knife and the bizarre couple. My gut told me the knife was less threatening.

“Boo!” The woman cackled as the boys took off running. As she and the man closed in on me, the alarms screamed in my head.

Evil! Bad! Run! Go!

My sixth sense had never been so frightened, but I couldn’t move. Dread, and morbid curiosity, paralyzed my body. My heart hammered against my ribs.

The couple stopped their advance several yards away. The woman studied me as if assessing a rare animal, while the man lifted his face to the sky, his whole body trembling. My gaze darted upward to follow his to the thin, gauzy clouds sliding across a full moon. The woman cackled again, the sound of pure evil. Real fear sucked the air from my lungs.

“Alexis, at last,” the woman said, her voice raspy, like a pack-a-day smoker’s. “We’ll get such a nice reward for you.”

My ears pricked. “Do I know you?”

She grinned, a wicked glint in her eyes. “Not yet.”

Or ever, if I can help it.

I turned and ran. My pulse throbbed in my head as breaths tore through my chest. My mind couldn’t focus, couldn’t make sense of this strange couple and what they wanted with me, but my body kept moving. The bright lights of the commercial area I’d left minutes ago beaconed me to their safety.

The woman abruptly appeared in front of me before I was halfway down the street. The shock sent me hurling to the ground, and my head smacked hard against the pavement. Stars shot across my eyes. My hands burned from asphalt scrapes. Fighting the blackness trying to swallow my vision, I rolled onto my side, gasping for breath. A sticky wetness pooled under my temple.
Why is this happening?

My eyes rolled up to the woman, who now pointed what looked like a stick at me. Her lips moved silently as she waved a pattern in the air, and I suddenly felt pinned to the ground, my muscles unable to move though nothing visible restrained me. Panic flailed below the surface of my paralyzed body, making my breaths quick and shallow. I was done for. They could do anything they wanted with me now. There was no escape.

My vision faltered. Now two women stood over me, two sticks pointed at me. Two moons wavered behind them. I didn’t know if fear or the head injury caused everything to slide apart and together again, but I squeezed my eyes shut to make it stop.