Title: Shadows Deep (Shadows, Part II)
Author: Cege
Smith
Publisher: Self
Length: 70,000
words
Genres: Horror,
Paranormal (Non-Romance)
Available
at:
Blurb:
Ellie
Coulter made a deal with the devil, and now it’s time to pay the price. Little
did she know, the shadows that have swirled around her life since her parents’
death were not a coincidence. As Ellie's destiny is revealed, it comes with the
knowledge that her fate is the lynchpin in a far larger, and more dangerous
game. And the one who found her has no intention of ever letting her go.
Ellie walks
a fine line between keeping up the appearance of acceptance while gathering the
information she needs to escape. Along the way, she has to decide who to trust
and that includes the man she loves. As facts give way to lies, Ellie
begins to question everything.
With her
true intentions on the verge of being discovered, Ellie must find a way to
defeat her captor before she becomes a shadow herself.
Excerpt:
Letting go was one of the hardest things a person could ever
do. Ellie knew that. What happened when she let go of the idea that reality as
she knew it was merely a cover on a rabbit hole? She had willingly taken the
cover off and fallen down into the unknown darkness. She’d surrendered. Somehow
it felt easier that way. But the Voice kept picking at her even though she was
deep in her hidey hole. It wouldn’t leave her alone.
“What was it like for you when your parents died?”
Ellie had answered some variation of that question what
seemed like a million times over the years, but her response always paled in
comparison to the effect of that one event on the rest of her life. How could
she explain the depth of pain she felt when the two people who she loved most
were ripped out of her life? Or the excruciating, almost debilitating sense of
loneliness that followed when she finally comprehended that she was completely
alone in the world?
“I was eight,” Ellie replied. “I had no other family. One
minute I was surrounded by love. In the blink of an eye I was an orphan. What
do you think it was like?” No one could understand what she had been through,
and eventually she gave up trying to explain. Her parents’ death was just
something that happened to her a long time ago. Ellie preferred to leave that
buried there.
“I am sure it was difficult. But you obviously learned to
cope, even thrive.”
“Thrive isn’t the word I’d choose,” Ellie said. “I learned
how to survive. Eventually I learned ways to be happy again, but I did that on
my own. I never felt like I belonged anywhere again.”
The Voice was silent for a while and Ellie was relieved.
When it wasn’t poking at her, the darkness was peaceful. Ellie was used to
being alone.
“Tell me about your ability. You’ve linked that to your
parents’ death.”
Ellie was tired of the questions. They had covered the same
ground over and over again. But it was like the Voice was missing some nuance,
and so it all started again. Combing through her life. Looking for clues. “I
noticed it the first time at the funeral. I was standing there in the cemetery,
looking at their caskets, with the social worker beside me. I kept looking
around for more people, but it was just the three of us: me, the social worker,
and the minister. And then I noticed that the longer the minister spoke, the
more these colors seemed to grow out of him. It didn’t make any sense at the
time. The colors were deep purple and blue and they got more vivid every time
he made eye contact with me. It scared the hell out of me. I didn’t know what
to do.”
A familiar cloud of sadness fell over her thoughts as she
remembered that lost little girl. “When the service was over, I wanted to kick
and scream and lash out. I wanted to push over those caskets because I
convinced myself they were empty and it was some elaborate hoax. Any minute
they would appear to take me home. But it wasn’t a hoax. My parents raised me
to think that showing emotion in public wasn’t ladylike, so as desperately as I
wanted to throw a tantrum, I knew they wouldn’t approve. I looked at the social
worker and she had a glow of white tinged with yellow around her. Even though I
didn’t know what it meant, the colors were soothing. I had to accept that I was
left with nothing but this woman to take care of me. I was naive and
automatically assumed that she was kind and that she’d be good to me.”
“She wasn’t?”
Ellie sighed. “After twenty-five years of reading auras, I
know now that she was indifferent. She probably saw a dozen kids just like me
every week. Her aura meant that she was at peace and even slightly happy, but
it had nothing to do with me. I was part of her job, and while I was watching
my parents be buried, she was probably thinking about getting a manicure or
going home and having a glass of wine. Me, I had no home left.”
“You went into foster care.”
“Yes, and in foster care I stayed until I applied for
emancipation when I was sixteen.” She remembered the day that the court
approved her request. It had been bittersweet.
“Your ability must have been advantageous in that kind of
hostile environment.”
“If you mean it helped keep me out of trouble, then probably
it did. But I was always a good kid. I studied hard, got decent grades, and
generally stayed out of everyone’s way.
I never gave my foster families any reason to really concern themselves
with me. I wanted to be invisible. I was pretty good at it,” Ellie said. She
had closed herself off from anyone who tried to reach her. It was a defense
mechanism that worked well. Perhaps too well.
“Until you met Veronica.”
A face flashed in Ellie’s mind. A pretty blond with
infectious laughter. Whereas her parents’ faces had faded over time, Roni’s was
vivid and seemed so real that Ellie almost thought her friend was there with
her in the darkness.
“Roni just wouldn’t take no for an answer,” Ellie said. “She
saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself. And for some reason she wanted
to be my friend. I owe her a lot.” It was strange talking about Veronica. Those
memories were under strict lock and key for a reason.
About
the Author:
Cege Smith is a Minnesota based writer who
is addicted to lattes and B-rated horror films. She had been crafting spooky
stories since she was twelve years old. She lives with her husband, two
adorable stepsons, and mini long-hair dachshund, Juliet in the suburbs of
Minneapolis.
Blog: http://www.cegesmith.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cegesmith
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/cegesmith
1 comment:
Thank you for featuring Shadows Deep today!
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