Lizzy Ford (42 page)

Excerpt from “Dark Summer” (#1, Witchling Series)

Available from:
Amazon
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Amazon UK

A school for Witchlings...

The ultimate choice between Light and Dark...

Where the price of a mistake...is your soul.

Sixteen-year-old Summer doesn’t expect her new boarding school to be any different than the rest: a temporary stay, until her uncontrollable magic gets her thrown out again.   In her mind, there’s no point in getting too friendly with anyone. That is, until she notices Decker, the boy who will become the Master of Night and Fire on his eighteenth birthday.

When she learns that this special school has attracted others with magic in their blood, she is hopeful that this time around, things may be different. Besides, she can’t deny her interest in Decker, and when he rescues her one night from the dark forests of the Rocky Mountains, their connection is instant.

Yet a relationship with Decker may prove to be Summer’s downfall, forcing her to choose between Light and Dark, life and death, love – and their souls.

One choice. One soul. One price.

Chapter One

Summer stepped off the stuffy bus, at once struck by the smog-free air and towering pine trees of the northern Idaho town. The sun shone gentler here than in her native Los Angeles, and the heat of noon was pleasant.

The bus driver pulled her bags from the storage compartment under the bus and left them beside her. She didn’t meet his eyes, not wanting to tell him she had no tip money. The orphanage had paid for her trip via Greyhound and given her a meager ten dollars a day for food.

“My sister lives up here. She tells everyone to avoid the forest after dark,” the bus driver said cheerfully.

Summer sneaked a look at him. He didn’t look upset at her for not tipping, and he said nothing else about his odd warning. He boarded the bus with a smile, and the lumbering vehicle merged back onto the single, two lane road hedged by pine trees running through Priest Lake, Idaho. She looked at the run down school in whose parking lot she stood. It was closed down for the summer, the cement of the parking lot cracked and the field behind overgrown with grass.

A warm breeze swept by her. It smelled of trees and burning wood. Something else was in the air, something that tickled her body from the inside out. The breeze seemed to return and swirl around her, lifting the hem of her shirt and jeans. She pushed her top down self-consciously.

“Ignore that.”

She looked up into the most beautiful eyes she’d ever seen. The teen walking towards her from the street was around seventeen with breeze-ruffled brown hair and eyes as clear and teal as footage of the Caribbean she’d seen on TV. His smile was bright and friendly, his skin and facial features indicating he was of Native American heritage. Around six feet tall, he’d begun to fill out, and his arms were muscular in the snug T-shirt he wore.

“You’ll understand in a few days. This isn’t a normal town.”

She couldn’t find her voice. Aware of how hard she was staring at him, she looked away as heat spread across her face.

“I’m Beck, the good half of the Turner twins. You’ll hear about us, I’m sure. You have a name?” he asked.

She nodded.

“Well, what is it?” he asked with another of his infectious smiles.

“Summer,” she whispered.

“Welcome, Summer.” He extended his hand.

She hesitated then shook her head, withdrawing.

“No worries,” he said. “But, just so you know, whatever your gift is, it’s okay here. We all have them.”

Summer looked up at him again, surprised.

“Come on. I was supposed to get my driver’s license last spring, but, well, stuff happens. If I had known I’d be stuck walking to and from here picking up new people all summer long, I would’ve gotten it,” he said with a sigh. He reached forward to take her suitcase and began walking towards the road.

She followed, curious about his statement about a town of gifted people.

“We all live at the boarding school,” Beck continued. He grunted as he lifted her suitcase from the parking lot onto the road. “Do you play any sports?”

“No.”

“Cheerleader?”

“No.”

“Band?”

“No.”

“What do you do?”

“Nothing really.” Except get ridiculed and kicked out of school after school for being different. She hadn’t had time to learn a sport, not when she switched schools every other month. The orphanage had run out of schools to send her to in Los Angeles and Orange County and banished her here. Beck wouldn’t call her magick a gift when he saw what it did and how little she could control it. It acted out everywhere she went, sometimes knocking over full rooms of people as if they were shoved by an invisible hand and sometimes doing much more damage, like the fire two schools ago.

Summer looked straight up at the sky, marveling at the tall trees lining the road. The road itself looked worn and run down like the school, with faded lane lines and potholes filled with grass. The forest seemed to be trying to reclaim the human invasion. It had swallowed what might’ve one time been a sidewalk alongside the road and replaced it with orange, waist high tiger lilies and white daisies. Birds were loud without the constant drone of the Los Angeles traffic.

She liked the feel of nature. Its subtle magick hummed in the air around her. Her eyes went to the forest again. She caught the movement of grasses and branches as someone with bright auburn hair darted from the gutter into the forest. Summer squinted, trying to see into the woods. She sensed someone there, but saw no one.

Beck’s soft laughter drew her attention. He was a good twenty feet ahead of her. She’d stopped in place and gotten lost in her head.

“Come on!” he said and began walking again.

Summer hurried to catch up, embarrassed at what the handsome boy might think of her after just five minutes with her. She always made the worst impressions. Staring at the ground, she focused on ignoring the woody magick and just walking. Like a normal person. Like someone who wasn’t cursed with magick in her blood.

They walked farther than she expected, past a small string of ranch style houses, driveways to hidden homes, and a tiny strip mall with a convenience market, gas station and realtor’s office. They kept walking until the road forked and the forest closed in on either side once again.

At last, they reached a dirt road leading off the paved street into the forest. Beck said a few curse words that made her blush as he struggled to roll her suitcase on the dirt road. Summer watched, amused, before her eyes went to the trees. They were so tall, their tops almost met in the middle of the sky above her.

Beck’s loudest curse yet drew her eyes to him again. He shoved the suitcase onto its side, his earlier good humor turned into frustration.

“I’ll bring one of the guys back to help me,” he said. “I’ll take you there first.”

Summer drew near her suitcase, not wanting to leave the few things she did have. Mementos from her mother and father were in there, along with the pictures of the very few friends she’d made over the past sixteen years. Clothing, trinkets, an amulet from the only teacher who didn’t turn on her …

“I’ll help you,” she said and bent to grab the bar at the bottom of the suitcase.

“This isn’t L.A. No one will take your stuff,” he said.

“I don’t want to leave it.”

“Are you sure?” He looked her over. “You’re kinda small.”

She flushed as his eyes lingered on her breasts. She was small – in every way except that one.

“I can do it,” she said.

“Well, it’s my fault anyway for not getting a driver’s license,” he said with a frown. “Fine. I’ll use my ESP to call my brother.”

She waited to see him reach for a cell phone. He closed his eyes, held out his arms and went perfectly still for a few seconds.

“Just kidding. I don’t have ESP,” he said with another grin. “He was supposed to meet me at the school. He should be here soon. Don’t be surprised. Decker’s a little – “

“A little what, Beck?”

Summer turned to see the second Turner twin stepping out of the forest. Decker looked identical to Beck, except his eyes were as black as his clothing. Forest shadows seemed to cling to him, and she stepped back as he approached. Decker didn’t smile like Beck did.