Hi everyone! To celebrate the impending release of The Powers of Callaire, I'm releasing 500 words of the book per day. Come back to Words From Saruuh each day to read the first 2 chapters!
First 500:
A rope of
Akasha lashes out and binds my arms and legs.
Fray
falls to the ground as soon as the gateway spits us out. She hits the floor of
Almery Wood with a terrifying thud. No cry. No reaction.
I twist my body, trying to free
myself, snapping my teeth. I was calm while we walked from Almery to the
Academy, all the way through our explanation of what we found in the Legend
Mirror and what happened after. But now, held back from crossing the boundary
of the Ward, unable to take a step without crashing to the ground—I’m seething.
This is my decision. It’s my life to
risk. Nobody can stop me.
Except, evidently, my brother.
Amity
kneels beside me, her fingers on Fray’s neck. She looks at me with dismay.
“Don’t say it,” I choke. “I don’t need to hear it.”
The ropes tighten. I scowl at the
trees lining the courtyard as if they themselves are responsible for my
restraints. My skin chafes and burns as I struggle against their hold, but even
with the beast in me roaring and talons at the ends of my fingers, I can’t beat
Guy’s Akasha—a combination of all four elements and the fifth element, Spirit,
all merging into a unpredictable substance that’s massively powerful. After a
while, I feel the Akasha straining, becoming the slightest bit heavier than the
fire-mist substance it usually is. I think maybe Guy is losing his grip so I
redouble my efforts. I overbalance. Unable to break my fall, I crash to the
gravel floor of the courtyard, the impact vibrating up my left shoulder. The
stones bite into my chin. Pain slices into my face, my arm. I bite my lip so
hard the metal tang of blood fills my mouth but I refuse to make a single sound
of pain, of surrender.
“Shit.” Guy crouches beside me and
the Akasha around my arms fizzles away, releasing me far too late. His worried
frown fills my vision, his eyebrows a contrite V.
“Shoulder,” I say through clenched
teeth. “Heal.”
He passes his palm over my shoulder,
close enough for the healing wind of Akasha to prick goose-bumps on my skin.
Majick fixes the messed up thing that happened with my bones—I’m sure it was my
bones, not that I can feel anything but screaming pain. Tears prick my eyes. I
clench my teeth. Slowly, my brain realises the source of pain is fixed and the
stabbing agony disappears.
For a long moment I lay on the
ground, gulping pine-scented air, ignoring the torrent of apologies and
swearing coming from my brother. This is, possibly, the worst thing that could
have happened after telling my family that I planned to go to Pluto, ruler of
the Otherland and all souls, and do whatever they told me in return for Fray’s
life.
I stand, struggling to support Fray’s weight, and I
cross the clearing until I reach a familiar, sprawling oak.
Come back tomorrow for the next 500 words of The Powers of Callaire!!
Yasmin’s girlfriend is dead, but she will stop at nothing to bring Fray back. Even if that means going to the Otherland and making a bargain with the Ruler of All Souls. If Yasmin finds Pluto’s lost power, they’ll return Fray’s soul to her body.
Yasmin’s search takes her, and two of her friends, from Bucharest to France to Wales, and exposes a horrifying secret with Venus, Yasmin’s mother, at the heart of it. With a murderous, fiery god and the incarnation of death in her way, Yasmin will have to compromise her morals and harness the Legendary power in her veins. If she fails, Fray’s soul will be lost forever.
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