Excerpt 1:
Drew let me be until
snowflakes began to drift down from the sky. “Come on, Chloe. We have to go
now.”
With tears still
staining my cheeks, I gave my mother‟s grave one last caress and then stood.
“All right, I‟m ready.”
Drew took my hand
again and led me between the plots as best as we could manage. The air outside
had chilled even more than when we arrived. It was cold. Really cold. When we
approached the gates, warmth suddenly filled my stomach and spread through my
body.
“Oh, my… what the
heck?” I clutched my stomach as the tingling spread all the way into my
fingertips.
“Are you okay?” Drew
asked. “What‟s wrong?”
“I don‟t know.” I
shook my head. Tears threatened to surface again. “I don‟t know.”
“It‟s your senses,
Chloe, telling you something is off.”
Drew and I both spun
around and Drew whipped his gun out from underneath his jacket.
“Who are you?” Drew
yelled.
There, sitting atop
one of the gravestones, bathed in the green glow of florescent lights, was a
woman. Even though it was freezing, she barely wore anything, and what she did
have on looked like leather wrapped around her body and a halter top with crude
lacing holding it together. Snowflakes drifted down and passed through her
tanned skin, dissolving into nowhere.
“How do you know
me?” I shouted. “Who are you?”
My stomach was still
flooded with warmth, and it made me feel like I had to pee. I wished I had
brought my gun.
She clicked her
tongue and tossed a wave of dark brown hair over her shoulder. “You do not need
your weapons, my children. I do not come to harm.”
She slid off the
gravestone, and I watched her bare feet sink into the snow. They left no
footprints.
“Who are you?” Drew
demanded again.
She moved forward
slowly. “I am your mother, many times over.”
This chick scared
me. Was she a ghost? I moved backward a few steps as she approached, using Drew
as a shield, since he had the gun.
She smiled, her dark
eyes intently focusing on Drew. “Andrew, lower your weapon. You cannot harm
me.”
As if under a spell,
Drew lowered his arms and his gun came to rest by his side. “What do you want?”
“I am here to help,
Chloe.” She nodded at me and smiled. “You need the help of your ancestors. Your
mother cannot help you, so I have come to give you guidance.”
The warmth in my
stomach turned into fire in my heart. I can‟t explain it, but I felt the
connection with this apparition. I moved out from behind Drew.
“Who are you?” I
whispered.
She lifted her chin
arrogantly. “I am Sostrate, the daughter of Artemis, and as I have told you
already, your mother, many times over.”
“Why are you here?”
“I have come to give
you the guidance your mother cannot give you. It is my duty.”
“Are you a ghost?”
She only shook her
head and gave me a crooked grin. “I am a demi-goddess. I gained immortality
from my mother. I do not come as an apparition, because I cannot die.”
“Holy shit.” Drew
actually dropped his gun in the snow.
I moved forward, not
afraid anymore. I knew she was who she said she was. As we approached each
other, I stretched out my hand, wanting to touch her. She also extended her
hand and as my gloved fingers connected with the solid fingertips of hers, I
gasped. “You‟re real.”
She nodded. “Of
course.”
“Sostrate,” I pulled
my hand from hers, “How can you help me?”
“Chloe, it is time
that you think with a clear head. Revenge has taken over your heart and your
soul, taken over so much of you that you cannot possibly win this battle. It
takes more than thinking with your brain. You must fight with love,” she
pressed her fist against her heart “not only hatred.”
“I don‟t
understand,” I told her.
“Wars
are not won because of hatred for the enemy; they are won because of
love for what is being defended.”
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