Title: Soul Control
Author: C. Elizabeth
Publisher: Wings ePress
Pages: 454
Genre: YA Paranormal
Format: Paperback, Kindle
Purchase at AMAZONPublisher: Wings ePress
Pages: 454
Genre: YA Paranormal
Format: Paperback, Kindle
“Lead us not into temptation, deliver us from evil.”
Words that ring true for seventeen-year-old Saydi Gardiner upon
discovering her ancestry. But if she has doubts, further confirmation is
forthcoming and it comes in the form of a wickedly gorgeous Nathanael Braxton,
when he steals her heart and cuddles into her sole – the last place the boy
should be.
Nineteen-year-old Nathanael’s unrelenting
good looks aren’t the only thing that make him dangerous – and he
knows it! However, his caring human side struggles with a loyalty –
a loyalty that binds him to the hunt for the soul that will give his family the
power they seek. There’s only one problem: When he finds her, Nathanael falls
in love with his prey – Saydi.
Preface
I’ve always believed the soul
connects us together. Being able to feel emotion, love one another, hurt one
another, laugh, cry... all the things that make us human. Did I believe my soul
was an actual physicality of my human make-up? That it could be whisked off
into the darkness by a demon? No. To me, life held enough hurt and pain without
having to worry that there were forces of evil crouched in the shadows--waiting
for me to swear, or something along those lines.
There was nothing more
humbling than to be wrong.
As the warmth of the morning
sun brushed against my face, I heard the cries and whimpers of the ones I
loved. Truth be told... dying would be better than the alternative.
One
When the summer was over, my
friends and I settled into our last year of high school. All of us were looking
forward to graduating and going to university. I wanted to be a teacher, but
they still weren’t sure.
We lived in the small town of
Duck Lake, Saskatchewan where time stood still and nothing changed. Every year
it was the same--no new faces, no one ever moved to God forsaken Duck Lake, and
anyone who started grade one on any given year would eventually graduate with
the same classmates. If anything, it made the teachers happy, for there weren’t
too many of us that didn’t have good grades. We had to... if we were ever going
to escape.
Being a snore-fest, my small
home town offered only three entertainment options. We could hang out at home,
hang out at the local restaurant/billiards room (Sloppy Joe’s), or, last but
not least, party every night with the beer heads. Our little group of four
pretty much stuck with the first two, only because the last time we drank, it
took me four days to recover! It also brought about other crappy
consequences--I endured two weeks of no friends when my mom found out and
grounded me. Of course, she cited my age of seventeen and, not to mention, what
drinking did to the soul.
That was one of my mom’s
little quirks. She was always adamant that I was special and needed to be extra
careful. Yes, she believed there were people out there who would be
particularly interested in me, working very hard to ruin the good I had.
She always talked like it was someone she knew, when in fact, she meant the
general population.
~ * ~
“Saydi,” Angie called,
hurrying down the hall toward my locker. She was one of my three best friends,
a trio that included Angie Kathers, Becky Meyers, and Norma Pasely.
Angie was the one who we liked
to call the computer geek--all in fun, of course. She was the epitome of “don’t
judge a book by its cover”. Five-seven, blonde and blue-eyed, she always turned
heads wherever we went. She was also the only one of us who had a car.
Closing my locker door, I
waved back. “Hi!”
We walked to social studies
with her arm wrapped in mine. “Did you hear there was a moving van in front of
the old Winslow house? Someone’s finally moving in there.”
That surprised me, because
that house had been targeted for demolition. “Really? Are you sure?”
She nodded fiercely. “I heard
it right from Pat.” Pat was the town pharmacist and the biggest gossip ever.
“Hmm, that’s strange. No one’s
lived in that place for years.” I stopped and looked at her. “Weren’t they
going to tear it down?”
Angie shook my arm. “Don’t you
remember? A few months back someone bought the place to save it.” She rolled
her eyes dramatically, throwing her other arm up in a flourish. “They’ve
completely renovated or restored it, whatever it is. Remember?”
How could I forget the biggest
news to hit Duck Lake in years?
“Um... not sure how that
slipped my mind,” I admitted.
In typical Angie style, she
rolled her eyes again. “Really, Saydi, how could you forget? It was only the biggest
news all summer! Where’s your head?”
“Ladies, get to class,” Mrs.
Jensen ordered, coming from around the corner.
“Yes ma’am,” I responded,
tugging on Angie’s arm to move faster. Apparently, the quickness of our steps
was a direct correlation to the speed of her words.
“Anyway, let’s go by there
after school before we go to Sloppy’s, okay?”
There was never any reason for
me to go near that old stinky house. It was on the other side of town, and
besides, it gave me the creeps.
“Angie, it’s completely in the
opposite direction.”
Just before entering class
Angie managed, as usual, to get the last word in. “Come on, it’s Friday! We got
nothing better to do.” She grinned a mischievous grin. The ulterior motive
dancing in her eyes jogged my memory. Other news came along with the
renovation--it wasn’t just the house she wanted to see, Angie was dying to see
if the rumors were true... Supposedly, boys our age were going to move in.
“You love me,” she quietly
proclaimed, sitting at her desk beside me.
Yes, yes I did...but how much?
The day wasn’t over.
~ * ~
Lunch time was our first
opportunity to meet up with Norma and Becky, our other two groupies.
Norma was about an inch
shorter than me, which would put her at about five four. She had dark black
hair cut really short, so it framed her face and made her hazel eyes shine. Her
cheeks were always rosy and she had an exceptionally small nose, but it suited
her. She was also the one that struggled with everything, including boys.
Becky, on the other hand, was
five six and had the same blonde hair as Angie, but it was always tied up in a
ponytail. Becky hated hair in her face and she wore glasses over her dark blue
eyes that rested on her little flat nose. Becky could be categorized as not the
sharpest tool in the box, but she was fun.
Angie filled Becky and Norma
in on her plan. Norma was on my side, arguing our case that the old house was
out of the way. Becky was on Angie’s side. That was a no brainer... Becky was
just as boy crazy as Angie.
Unfortunately for them, my
logical side kicked in. “If they’re just moving in, we’re probably not going to
see anybody, anyway.”
Becky stuffed a potato chip in
her mouth. “Of course we will. They gotta come in and out to unpack the truck.”
“Duh!” I jeered playfully. “By
time schools out, the moving part will be done.”
She hovered a chip close to
her mouth looking off to the side, in her own world. “Oh, never thought of
that.”
“Don’t look now, but we’re not
going to be the only ones who’ll be doing a drive by.” Angie directed a nod
behind me. “Look who’s planning.”
Turning around, I took a bite
of my apple and grunted. “Of course,” I drawled with my mouth full.
Segra, Jocelyn, and Mattie
were all wide eyed and talking with their hands. Segra Tittle had long curly
brown hair, brown seductive eyes (I heard boys say that), was about my height,
and had a body that made movie stars look saggy.
Jocelyn Adams was the one I
kind of felt sorry for. They only allowed her in their group because she let
them push her around. She had mousy brown shoulder length hair that always
looked messy, blue eyes, stood about five nine, and was a little chunky around
the edges. Unfortunately for her, she hadn’t mastered how to be graceful with
her height and always seemed clumsy.
Then there was Mattie Drunes.
She’d fit in anywhere with her long auburn hair, freckles and green eyes. She
was about five seven and slim, and I never understood why she wanted to hang
out with Segra. Mattie always had a smile, even with braces.
Those three were the most
popular girls in school and had been since, well... forever, and only because
boys liked the type of girl Segra was, for a short while anyway.
Angie moved in closer. “So...
let’s skip last period.”
“No,” I argued. “I have an
English test then. I can’t skip it.”
Angie turned her attention to
the other two. “Well?”
Becky nodded with excitement.
Norma declined. “No thanks,
we’ll know soon enough who lives there. What’s the big deal about today?”
Becky gave Norma a crooked
smile. “Because if there’s boys and they see us first, we’ll be the first on
their minds and they’ll remember us!” It was a warped logic, but a Becky logic
nonetheless.
Norma flirted with the idea
Becky presented. “Oh, maybe that is a good idea.” And as if someone hit her in
the head, she snapped it toward me. “Are you sure you don’t want to come?”
It wasn’t something I could
even consider, and they knew it. “No, I can’t. I’ll meet you guys at Sloppy’s
after I drop off my Sunday School lesson. Father Lacombe wants to take a look
at it to make sure it’s okay for me to teach the kids.”
Being our resident, not so
bright, drama queen, Becky threw her hand over her mouth. “Oh! I forgot! Darn
it! I’m teaching next Sunday, aren’t I?” She looked at all three of us, wanting
an answer.
Angie dug in her purse. “Hang
on, let me get my calendar,” she said as she pulled out her cell phone. All of
our schedules were meticulously imbedded into that little electronic calendar
of hers, not that we had any kind of elaborate agendas, but it pleased her to
feel important.
After some furious button
pushing, Angie had Becky’s answer. “Yup, sure are, Becks.” Then she tucked it
away and looked at her. “Have you even got an idea what to teach?”
“Not a clue.” Becky slouched
down in her seat.
The bell rang.
When I stood to leave, I patted
Becky’s shoulder. “You’ll think of something, hopefully soon. It usually takes
you two weeks to prepare a lesson.”
She ignored the bell and
rested her chin in the palm of her hand, sulking. “I know.”
~ * ~
My spare class on Friday
afternoons usually found me in the library studying, and that particular day
was no different. I laid out all my materials and methodically began reading
the first chapter of five we were being tested on in English.
“Hey, Saydi,” Todd said, as he
sat down across from me.
I peeked up. “Hi, Todd.”
Todd Lethars, eighteen, had
been my boyfriend off and on since sixth grade and completely off since grade
nine. It was never anything serious; we’d never even kissed, so I guess you
could say he was one of my best friends, too. But a couple months prior he’d
started acting weird, following me around, and even went as far as to corner me
and ask me out on a real date.
I told my Mom about it and she
laughed, saying he was finally a young man and was showing interest in me.
“That’s what boys do,” she informed me. Well, though he was tall, maybe six
foot, with blonde curly hair, perfect skin and beautiful brown eyes and... get
a grip! Something just didn’t feel right when he asked me. It felt like my
brother was asking me out, and ever since then I stayed away from any
boyfriend/girlfriend talk whenever he was around. I also tried to avoid him.
“What can I do for you, Todd?”
He folded his arms on the
table and rested his chin on them, grinning.
“Todd, I’m trying to study.”
Continuing to grin, he nodded.
“That’s okay, you study, I’ll watch.”
My mouth turned up in a soft
smile. “You’re making me lose my concentration.”
“No! I’m sorry!” he goofed.
I giggled. “Todd!”
He pushed his chair back.
“Okay, I’ll let you get back to it.” Then he pointed at me. “You heading over
to Sloppy’s after school?”
“Yeah, right after I drop my
lesson off with Father Lacombe.”
“Kay, we’ll see you there.”
“Bye.”
Across the room, two girls
were whispering and gawking at him as he walked away. Todd could probably have
any girl he wanted. He was pretty cute.
~ * ~
With another exam under my
belt I scanned the extra noisy hallway for my friends, then remembered they
skipped last period. It would be interesting to see what they discovered, and
as I stepped out the doors it did make me a bit curious as to who moved in to
the old house. I had to admit a little jolt of excitement came along with that
curiousness. What if there were some new boys? That would be the
highlight of the year for all the girls no matter what the boys looked like. It
was appealing just to have new faces in town.
The rumbling of an engine
crawled up behind me.
“Hey, get in,” Todd called,
from his car.
“Thanks, but I’d rather walk,”
I responded, forcing a smile.
“Come on, Saydi,” he begged.
I stopped to study him,
debating whether it was a good idea or not.
His hands slapped together in
prayer fashion. “Please, with sugar on top.”
“Oh Fine!” I grumbled and got
in. “The least you could’ve done is be a gentleman and open the door for me.”
The tires squealed against the
pavement as he pulled away from the curb. “I’m not that desperate.” He laughed.
When Todd rounded the first
corner he slowed down to the speed limit, not wanting to alert the Father to
his erratic driving ability. Once parked, he insisted I stay put. Then he
opened my door for me and bowed, holding his hand out. “Me lady.”
Taking his hand, I stepped
out. “I thought you weren’t that desperate?”
“Well... maybe a little bit.”
“Hmm.”
It felt uneasy how closely
Todd walked beside me, giving me the impression that he wanted to reach for my
hand and in turn made me shudder. A quick interception was warranted.
“You don’t have to come in,”
blurted out.
Smiling, he responded, “I
know, but I need to talk to Father Lacombe too.”
“Oh.”
There was a sly look on his face.
“Don’t you want to know why?”
There really wasn’t any
interest on my part, because I knew what he was doing, but I humored him
anyway. “Okay, why?”
“I wanted to see if he’d let
me attend Sunday School,” he said, being a rascal.
And there it was...letting me
know, in a roundabout way, he wanted to spend time with me. “You’re a little
old, don’t you think?”
“Well...” He ran his fingers
through his hair. “That might be a problem.”
“You think?”
He laughed, finding the small
of my back with his hand.
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About the Author
For the majority of her life she dabbled in many things, such as drawing, photography, sewing, only to find that after a while, she would lose interest, but writing is a different story — it found her and continues to be an addiction, as well as a most wonderful, incredible passion.
Not only does she write novels, but she does whatever she can to hone her craft. Such as attending the New York Pitch Conference, seminars and the like, as well, she writes for online magazines on the topic of… you guessed it, writing.
Her latest book is the YA paranormal romance, Soul Control.
Visit her website at http://www.celizabeth.ca/.
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