Title: The After Effect
Series: Renegade Heroes
Author: Rose Shababy
Cover Artist: Regina Wamba
Release Date: 19th July 2016
BLURB supplied by Bewitching Blog Tours
Maximum Ride meets Sin City in the Renegade Heroes series!
Kasey and his friends are fringe heroes. They use their
abilities to protect society, until their last battle leaves Kasey almost dead.
Disillusioned, they leave the city in search of peace.
But peace is the last thing they’ll find. Ever since Kasey
escaped the cold fingers of death, his powers have been running wild. It
doesn’t take long for his girlfriend, Blue, and the others to notice.
In the lush forests of northern Idaho they meet a brand new
hero whose shocking revelation sheds new light on Kasey’s strange behavior.
And with her revelation comes a terrible solution none of
them can accept.
Worse still, Kasey soon comes face to face with the
nightmares of his past.
Will the heroes find the strength to face the consequences
of their mistakes? Or will Kasey be forced to make the ultimate sacrifice?
EXCERPT
After the events of the morning,
everyone seemed to need some private time, especially Blue. She went to our
room and crawled back into bed, claiming to still be tired from the night
before. Esme and Avery retreated outside, while Val and Ash went to town to go
bowling with the couple they met the night before.
I sat by myself in the living room,
remote in hand and flipping mindlessly through channels. With no one in close
vicinity, I didn’t have to work to block out random thoughts and impressions. I
stretched out on the couch and let myself relax completely, a rarity for me. No
walls in my mind, no struggle for control, no confusion as I tried to sort out
all the voices.
I came across the movie Casablanca as I
scrolled through channels, and stopped. Something about the movie spoke to me,
reminded me of me and Blue. I wondered if it was the depth of Rick and Ilsa’s
love for each other that mirrored mine and Blue’s.
Maybe it’s the hopelessness of it, the
voice inside me mocked. She has to give him up to do the right thing, and he
has to push her to do it. Just as you’ll have to push Blue. There’s nothing you
can do to change it. At least she’ll have Avery to comfort her after you’re gone.
Once again, the foreign anger inside me
growled to life.
In defiance I pushed the channel up
button on the remote, flipping through channels until I found one playing music
videos and a close up of a woman’s face filled the screen.
Zelda, I thought as I studied her
features. Despite Blue’s denial, I could still see a resemblance between the
two of them. Zelda wore heavy makeup so it was hard to tell, and she seemed
taller, leaner, and had longer features, but the similarities were there.
Her brow wrinkled as she sang, and the
sadness in her eyes seemed to seep through the screen.
Stuck inside a life of maybe
Finding bliss in erratic shifts
I watch you avoiding me
Sin-free and quietly
Keep your hands clean
Keep your mind free
Never touch me
Forget to love me
We can be pure
so we can be godly
We can be meek
so we can be lonely
Open your eyes
Free from the guise
No longer hypnotized
Breaking out
Searching for a beautiful life
Somebody else’s life
Can I start over this life?
Breaking out
Something about her singing made me
uneasy as I stared at her. The song was a kind of ballad, but still possessed
an edge, an undeniable hardness. The mournful expression of earlier now seemed
like a persona, fake sorrow. I turned the television off and laid back, closing
my eyes, trying to quell the uneasiness.
I pushed the song from my mind, thinking
about the events of the previous night, as well as this morning. I wondered if
Rayne’s solution was truly the only way to fix things, but it was the image of
Blue’s tear-stained face that haunted me as I fell asleep.
Home,
I realized. I was home. I looked around the small room as I pulled the
nightshirt in my hands over my head. The water closet, the old bed with the
rusted frame, the bare wooden floor slats. I looked down at my hands and
realized they were those of a child.
Suddenly,
a gunshot rang out from the other room, and I dropped to the floor behind the
bed as angry voices barked orders through the wall.
The
door burst open and I scurried under the bed as a man dressed in camouflage and
carrying a rifle marched in, dragging my sister Zoya by her hair. She screamed
and I clamped a hand over my mouth to keep from screaming as well.
My
father rushed into the room, yelling at the man until another soldier came up
from behind and struck him on the back of the head with the butt of his own
rifle.
Zoya
screamed as our father crumpled to the ground, blood gushing from the wound at
the back of his head. From under the bed, I watched it pool beneath him before
one of the soldier’s dragged him from the room, the blood streaking across the
floor in a gruesome smear. The first soldier shut the door behind him.
I
watched as Zoya twisted herself around the soldier’s leg, biting him hard on
the calf. The man backhanded her with a force that knocked her to the floor.
She
lay still for a moment, facing the bed, until her eyes landed on me. Her voice
filled my mind. Do not move, brother. Do not make a sound.
The
soldier heaved her off the floor and threw her on the bed. The bedsprings
flexed above me, and I flattened myself against the wooden slats of the floor
to avoid being crushed.
The
sound of Zoya crying filled my ears, and I squeezed my eyes shut as if I doing
so could block out the noise. A wave of nausea hit me and suddenly, I found
myself staring up at the soldier as he ripped the clothes off my body. In the
same moment, I realized I was also staring down at Zoya as I shredded her
clothes with strong, unfamiliar hands.
I
felt the screams tearing out of my throat as mad panic overwhelmed my senses,
barely able to separate the image of the soldier above me and Zoya below.
A
second later, the maniacal glee of the soldier ripped through me, and I
couldn’t hold back my screams any longer.
I
screamed until my throat was hoarse, until the screams turned to great heaving
sobs. Only then did I hear the voice calling my name.
“Kasimir,”
the voice soothed. “Shh. Open your eyes, little one.”
Peeking
through my eyelids, I saw Zoya’s face peering at me under the bed. She reached
out a hand.
“Come,
little one, you are safe.”
“But
you’re dead,” I breathed as I put my hand in hers and she helped me from under
the bed. I looked around in wonder.
The
walls had fallen away, and the bedroom sat in the middle of a clearing, a lush
forest surrounding it on all sides as the sun shone down on us.
I
looked at our joined hands and realized the hand that held hers belonged to an
adult. The childish persona I had adopted in the dream had disappeared.
“That’s
right,” I said aloud. “This is a dream.”
“Are
you certain?” Zoya asked with a smile. “Just because you are not awake does not
mean you are dreaming. I have been trying to communicate with you for a long
time, but it was not until you understood what was happening that I was able to
break through.”
“If
this isn’t a dream, then what is it?”
“You
are between,” she said.
“Between
what?”
“Between
spaces. Between worlds.” She pointed toward the woods. “Look, there. Do you see
it?”
I
stared in the direction she pointed, and as my eyes adjusted to the darkness of
the woods, I began to see a black void deep in the trees. At first I thought it
was just the darkness of the woods itself, but after a moment I could see the
outline of the void. The edges writhed and seethed as if alive, and the entire
void blurred and shimmered like a puddle of oil.
“What
is it?” I asked.
“It
is the other side.” She lifted her hand again, this time pointing in the
opposite direction. “And there. That is the world you know.”
I
looked, this time shocked to see a ghost image of me sleeping on the couch
projected against the trees.
Zoya
continued, pointed at the ground beneath us. “This space is the crack between
worlds. This is what you created when you died and went back. This is you.”
I
nodded. “I understand. I just don’t know how to fix it.”
Zoya
gave me a sad smile. “Yes, you do. Look again,” she said as she pointed back to
the void.
I
looked again, and suddenly I could see long, tentacle-like strands from the
void snaking across the clearing, their thin fingers wrapped around me.
I
cried out and tried to shake them off, but they moved and slid over my skin
like oily, black mercury.
“Just as you are attached to the world you
know, you are now attached to the other side,” Zoya told me. “As long as you
are attached to both worlds, they will continue to merge.”
“What
will happen if the worlds merge?” I asked.
Her
smiled disappeared. “Ultimate chaos. Both worlds will be lost.” Her voice took
on a tone of urgency. “You must seal the rift before it is too late. If you do
not, everything you love will be destroyed.”
I
thought of Blue and realized that if I had to die, I couldn’t think of a better
reason.
I
looked at Zoya. “How do I fix it?”
“You must go back. The pieces of that world
you see attached to you will follow you back in, and the rift will seal
itself.”
“Is
there any way I can seal it and stay with Blue?” I asked.
Zoya
frowned. “As long as you are attached to the other side, you cannot stay with
her.”
“She
won’t let go easily,” I told her.
“No,”
my sister agreed. “She loves you as deeply as any person has ever loved
another. I am glad you found such a love, little one, even if only for a short
while.”
I
stared at her, as if realizing for the first time who I was talking to, and I
reached for her hand again. “I wish you could meet her. I miss you, sister.”
She
pulled me into an embrace. “I have been with you since the rift was opened,”
she whispered against my ear. “Fighting to protect you. I will stay with you as
long as I can.”
I
pulled away and looked at her worried face. “What do you mean?”
She
glanced toward the void. “There are others who are not so benevolent. I fight
them as much as I can, but I cannot fight them all. Your mind is too open. The
barriers are down, and the others are trying to use you to gain access to the
other side. If they overwhelm you, you will be lost forever and the side you
know, her world,” she said pointedly, and I knew she meant Blue, “will be lost
along with you.”
I
nodded, tears filling my eyes as I looked at my sister. “Is it terrible, Zoya?
The other side?”
“No,”
she smiled. “Those of the light, stay within the light, and those of the dark,
stay within the dark. I existed in place of pure joy. The two sides have begun
to merge only since the rift was created. If you repair it, all will be as it
was.”
Zoya
glanced at the void again, before looking back at me with fearful eyes. “It is
time for you to wake up, little one, but before I go, one last warning. The
past may be gone, but it is not dead. Very soon you will come face to face with
your nightmares.”
“What
do you mean?” I asked.
The
void emitted a strange mix of moaning and hissing, and Zoya’s frantic eyes
darted to the abyss. “No time,” she whispered. “Wake up!”
***
I gasped for air as I woke, rolling off
the couch in my panic. I hit the floor with a heavy thud.
As my breathing calmed, I replayed the
dream in my mind. Not a dream, I reminded myself. It may have started out just
like my nightmares, but it definitely hadn’t ended like one.
I warmed as I thought of Zoya. Ever
since I lost my family, I’d tried to put it in the past and forget what
happened. I’d told myself to look to the future and focus on becoming the
person I wanted to be.
Now I realized the past stayed with us
no matter how much we tried to ignore it. By trying to ignore it, I had
dishonored the memory of my family. I had dishonored Zoya.
“I will do better,” I said aloud. “I
promise you, Zoya, I will make things right.”
Title: The Blue Effect
Series: Renegade Heroes
Author: Rose Shababy
Cover Artist: Regina Wamba
Release Date:
BLURB supplied by Bewitching Blog Tours
Blue Brennan is jaded and bitter despite
her pinup girl looks and quick wit. Night after night, she scours the Seattle
club scene looking for someone or something to fill the emptiness inside.
When she meets the mysterious Kasey, her
world stops… literally. He claims she has the ability to control time and stuns
her even further when he reveals his own gifts.
Blue is inexplicably drawn to Kasey and
reluctantly enters his world filled with a new breed of humanity. They’re
misfits like her, blessed or cursed with powerful abilities, struggling to hide
their differences from the rest of society.
Then the group discovers a nameless,
faceless sociopath with nightmarish powers; and he’s coming for Blue. She’s
left reeling when they discover her gifts are the key to defeating his terrible
evil and saving them all.
Now she must race against the clock to
harness her own powers and save her new friends. Can she be more than a
renegade? Can she be a hero too?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rose Shababy and her family reside in eastern Washington
State. Rose grew up in the Northwest but swears she’s going to move to warmer
climates someday. She’s claimed this for over 20 years, however, and has yet to
move more than 75 miles away from her mother.
Rose has a deep love of all things Star Trek and yearns to
travel the heavens, as well as an intense desire to be bitten by a radioactive
spider. Unfortunately she sucks at science and math so she hasn’t been able
bring her dreams to life, instead living vicariously through books, comics,
television and film. She hopes to someday make a million dollars so she can
afford to buy her way to the international space station, but she’d settle for
being able to fly around the world and leap tall buildings in a single bound.
Rose also loves to cook and worked for years in a gourmet
Italian grocery and deli where she learned to hone her skills. She prepares
culinary masterpieces for her family, but fervently wishes the dishes would
wash themselves. Especially now that her dishwashers/children are nearly grown
and only one still lives at home.
Rose likes to use her free time wisely. For instance, she
likes to daydream, will often read for hours until she falls asleep on the
couch with an electric blanket and a warm tabby cat curled up on her hip, as
well as spending cozy weekend days watching Syfy movies like Sharknado and Mega
Piranha with her husband.
If Rose were a cartoon animal, she’d prefer to be a wise old
owl or a sleek and sexy jaguar, but in reality she’d probably be a myopic mole
with coke-bottle glasses.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rose.shababy
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RoseShababy
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/roseshababy/
***GIVEAWAY***
This is a Tour Wide Giveaway
5 - ebooks of The
Blue Effect AND The After Effect
1 - $10 gift card (Amazon or B&N, winner's choice)
1 - Signed hard copy of The Blue Effect and The After Effect
Thank you for hosting today!
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