Fractured Truth
(Fractured Light #3)
Llona is determined to end the fight with the Vykens once and for all. All she
needs is to find and destroy the Shadow–the ultimate source of dark power. But when she makes a startling discovery about someone she loves, Llona has to fight the toughest battle yet in this exciting conclusion to the Fractured Light series.
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About Fractured Light (Book #1)
Llona Reese is used to living on the run. After the Vykens killed her parents, she knew they would eventually come for her too. She can’t take any chances. But when she starts to make friends for the first time in her life, she gets careless and lets her guard down. Big mistake.
As an Aura, Llona can manipulate light and harness its energy. But if she wants to survive, Llona will have to defy the Auran Council and learn to use her power as a weapon against the Vyken whose sole desire is to take her light. Now she’s caught in something even bigger than she can understand, with a power she can’t wield, and no one she can trust, except, just maybe, a mysterious stranger.
About Fractured Soul (Book #2)
Llona will do whatever it takes to protect her new found friends and home, but the dark plot threatening Lucent Academy, a school that’s supposed to be a safe place for Auras, may be too powerful for even Llona to defeat.
This fast-paced tale of love, loyalty, and overcoming the darkness will keep you on the edge of your seat until the last page!
Rachel McClellan
Rachel McClellan
Rachel McClellan was born and raised in Idaho, a place secretly known for its supernatural creatures. When she’s not in her writing lair, she’s partying with her husband and four crazy, yet lovable, children. Rachel’s love for storytelling began as a child when the moon first possessed the night. For when the lights went out, her imagination painted a whole new world. And what a scary world it was…
Stay tuned for the giveaway after the excerpt…
Chapter
One
“You have four minutes, Llona,” Liam said through a
microphone in my ear. His voice, like the ringing of a great bell, pounded my
already aching head.
The small plane’s engine shrieked, a high-pitched
sound different from the steady hum of the last twenty minutes. Everyone had
boarded a while ago. It was a silent crowd, not one likely to converse with
each other.
I shifted my weight in the plane’s cramped closet.
I could’ve come out as I’d just turned invisible, but I wanted to wait until
the speed of the plane increased, covering any sounds the closet door might
make when opened.
It was shortly after Cyrus kidnapped my aunt Sophie
from Lucent academy that I taught myself to turn invisible. I’d practiced every
day, sometimes for hours, until I could do it without the accompanying
paralyzing weakness. And although the pain hadn’t gotten any better, I was able
to increase the time I could maintain invisibility to several minutes. I’d
accomplished all this in just the few short months since Christian’s death.
Just then the plane lurched forward, picking up
speed on the runway. I opened the door and peered into the plane’s small
kitchen. Empty. Perfect. I quietly slipped out and closed the door
behind me.
The front wheels of the plane bounced. The cabin,
as I suspected, was full of Vykens sitting in their seats, their backs to me,
as if they were regular passengers. Most of them looked like normal humans,
which meant they’d fed on Auran blood recently, but a few were in their purest
form— facial features deformed and gray with moldy skin peeling back from their
faces.
There was only one different from the rest.
Jackson. He sat three rows up to the right of the center aisle.
With the Deific’s help, Liam had finally received a
tip on Jackson’s whereabouts. It was the closest we’d come to finding out where
Cyrus was keeping Sophie. I glanced to my left, to the emergency exit. By the
way the plane was vibrating, it was close to taking off.
A Vyken stood and slid into the aisle. I pressed
myself against a seat to keep him from bumping into me. I had yet to learn how
to let matter pass through me. That may be a trick only my mother knew.
After the Vyken passed by, I went to Jackson. He
was looking down at his bloodied knuckles. How did that happen? Jackson used to
be a guardian. He (and a bunch of others who had followed him) had joined the
Vykens against the Auras months ago. I’d been training harder than ever to stop
them all and restore the Auras to their former strength. The strength only a
few knew about.
The plane lifted. Still plenty of time to make my
move.
I
reached down, careful to avoid touching Jackson, and undid his seat belt. He
glanced to his lap, brow twisted together. I smacked the back of his head,
hard. He turned around and stared at the Vyken behind him.
“What’s your problem?” Jackson asked.
The Vyken ignored him.
Jackson stood and confronted the Vyken again. “Hey,
I’m talking to you!”
The Vyken lifted his gaze from the sports magazine
in his hand. “I know Cyrus said we can’t kill you, but he didn’t say we
couldn’t hurt you. Sit down, guardian.”
Liam’s voice spoke again in my ear. “Hurry up.”
Several Vykens looked around. His voice, this close
to so many of them, must have drawn attention.
Time to pay for your crimes, Jackson.
I drew my fist back and punched Jackson in the
face. His hand came up to his bloodied nose. “What the . . . ?”
A few Vykens stood up.
I punched him again. He stumbled back toward the
exit, arms outstretched as though to steady himself. Blood ran onto his chin.
“What’s going on?” he yelled.
I
answered with a swift kick to his chest. It took just a second for him to
recover before he started blindly throwing punches. “Someone help me!”
Vykens looked around as if they didn’t know what to
do.
I dodged Jackson’s fist and punched him again. He
was in position. I took hold of the emergency latch and pulled it as hard as I
could. The door flew open, sucking air from the cabin.
Papers and all kinds of debris flew past me.
Jackson scrambled backward, his eyes darting around until he was pressed
against the wall separating the kitchen from the cabin.
The others stood alert, some in a fight-ready stance.
But who were they going to fight? They couldn’t see me. No one could.
Grabbing Jackson, I spun him around until he was
facing the open door; his clothes and hair whipped around violently. He
stuttered.
His fear excited me, sending a wave of adrenaline
through my blood stream.
I was about to reveal myself to him, just so I
could see the surprise in his eyes, but Liam’s voice sounded in my ear. “Get
out of there—now!”
Jerking into action, I wrapped my arms around
Jackson’s chest and jumped from the plane, spiraling into a black abyss.
Chapter
Two
I fell through the darkness, slicing through it
like a knife in water. Cold air burned my face, and the force of it made it
difficult to breathe.
Jackson’s body was torn from my grip, and he was
twisting and writhing as if he could somehow climb his way back into the
airplane. He was probably screaming too, but I couldn’t hear over the deafening
sound of the wind rushing over me.
I glanced around, my eyes wet from the air. What
appeared to be streetlights were growing closer. I’d never done this before,
jumped from an airplane, but I wasn’t nervous, although I should be. I wasn’t
wearing a parachute.
I squinted my eyes to try to see Jackson, but he wasn’t
spread eagle like me so was probably falling faster. The tree line of the
forest came into view against the night sky. I was really close now. Maybe
fifteen seconds before impact. I began to count.
At twelve, my body jerked as if I had been sucked into
a tornado, and I had a difficult time controlling which way my body was
twisting. It was like no other sensation I’d ever experienced before, and my
lungs tightened and pressure built up in my ear- drums until I thought they
might burst. But in no time at all, I was on the ground, my legs unsteady from
the whirlwind.
Liam appeared next to me, having shifted back to
his human form. It still amazed me whenever he did that.
“You okay?” he asked.
I inhaled deeply. “I think so. What a rush.”
“Sorry it took me longer than usual to catch you,
but Jackson was fighting against me so I had to knock him out. I hope you
weren’t scared.”
Jackson was nearby, lying on the ground, his brown
hair drenched in sweat. “I wasn’t worried at all.”
“You weren’t?”
“I knew you would catch me.” I went to Jackson and
nudged him. “Let’s get him back before he wakes up.”
When Liam didn’t answer, I looked back at him. He
was staring at me, his green eyes illuminated by the moonlight. For just a
moment I was reminded of his age, over two centuries old. I often forgot this
because on the outside he didn’t look much older than me, but in the right
light his eyes would betray him, revealing years of inner torment.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“You shouldn’t put so much trust in me.”
“Why? You’ve never let me down.”
He walked over to Jackson, picked him up, and threw
him over his shoulder. “Because one day I may not be there for you.”
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