Book Info
Title - Hearken
Series - Daughters of the Sea Series # 4
By - Kristen Day
Publication Date - November 5th, 2013
Blurb
Sometimes our souls hear what our minds and
hearts refuse to accept. It will whisper its continuous cadence until we're
strong enough to glimpse the truth. When the soul's whispers morph into
screams, we're forced to gaze into the mirrors of time and see ourselves for
who we really are. Would you be able to handle what gazes back?
EXCERPT
Stasia
The
sound of crashing waves lightly stirred me from my sleep and I stretched my
arms over my head with a happy yawn. I
shook out my hair and scratched an itchy spot on my cheek lazily. Just as I was about to peek out of my eyelids
to see why waves were crashing into Finn’s underwater chamber, I realized I
wasn’t lying on his bed anymore.
Something
prickly snagged against my left thigh and my eyes flew open. The first thing they focused in on was the
silver moon above. The second thing they
found was the light fog rolling in off the ocean that stretched out before
me. The last thing they noticed was my
very naked body with the exception of a thin strip of silk I liked to call
underwear. I quickly scurried into a sitting
position in an attempt to cover myself with my legs and arms. The grass beneath me was poking up through a
thick mass of heavy sand and swaying gently in the breeze coming off the water. When I leaned forward onto the balls of my
feet I began to fall forward, so in an attempt to correct my balance, I
overcompensated and tumbled backwards instead.
Even though my arms shot back to catch me like my reflexes had intended,
the rugged white cliff behind me did the job instead. I cringed as several fresh scrapes were
etched into my bare skin.
I
really had to remember to wear pajama pants to bed. And a bra.
And a shirt. The only thing worse
than waking up half-naked on the beach at Lorelei, was waking up half-naked in
a reverie in the middle of nowhere.
There were no convenient cottages or dorm rooms with extra clothes for
me to shrug on. I was stranded.
My
only reprieve was the knowledge that if anyone happened upon me, the chances of
them being able to see me were slim to none.
That ability was reserved for a select few individuals who were related
to me, like my father, or those I had a close connection with, like Finn. And considering I was lying in bed with Finn
and most of my family was already dead, I considered myself relatively safe.
A
chiming, melodic crooning stole my attention away from my bare skin to a spot
farther down on the beach near the crashing waves. She was perched on the wet sand with her back
to me; both legs curled beneath her.
Long, thick waves of pale blonde hair cascaded down her back and brushed
across the sand below as she swayed back and forth as if in a trance. Her essence settled over me like a fresh
ocean mist of dewy hibiscus and sparkling water lilies.
With
the grace of a wounded elephant, I crept closer to get a better view of the
mystery girl. Making my way toward the
surf, the soft sand I’d woken up on abruptly switched over to small
cobblestones that stuck to my feet and poked into my heel. Where was I?
Each step took a great deal of concentration, because the last thing I
needed was a twisted ankle. I glanced up
at the moon that still hung high in the sky and guessed it was early morning.
The
pale moonlight gave my surroundings a black and white photo appearance,
altering any colors to various shades of silver. The waves beyond danced black and gray as the
moon rays reflected over its rolling surface.
The sparkling white stones at my feet shone a bright sterling, and
created a direct contrast with my skin that now appeared more tungsten than
tan. The sky above was black as coal
with blinking platinum stars.
Amidst
the dark and light contrasts, the girl’s presence shimmered and brightened with
each note she sang. I became enchanted
by the lustrous light that danced across her skin and gave her body a ghostly
transparent quality. My heart began to
pound in my chest and I felt an unsettling dread wash over me. I’d had my fill
of ghosts, and I wasn’t looking for any other dead spirits to make friends with.
The
breeze from the ocean ruffled the white sundress she wore and tousled her
already messy hair. I could just make
out her mouth moving ever so slightly, however the enchanting song wafting over
the beach didn’t match up. I watched her
and listened in an effort to reconcile the two, but to no avail. She couldn’t be singing. The other oddity was that the language of the
unearthly song was completely foreign to me.
I didn’t understand. We were
completely alone from what I could tell, so I began to wonder if maybe the
singing was only in my head. It wouldn’t
be the first time.
Giving
up on the mystery song, I crept even closer; curiosity getting the better of
me. I carefully rounded the spot where
she sat; keeping my eyes on her and deciding to kneel in the surf where I would
have a direct line of sight.
Unfortunately, my mind refused to accept what my eyes were seeing.
Her
heart-shaped face, thin lips and high cheekbones gave away her youth, and I
guesstimated that she was about my age, if not a year or two younger. Her most stunning feature had to be her
eyes. Their severe tilt gave them a
feline quality that matched her keen movements, but it was their light purple
color that took my breath away and seemed to transcend this world. I didn’t know if angels existed, but I
remember thinking that if they did she would definitely be one. The ethereal glow she exuded complemented the
stars above, and her essence calmed my nerves like a midsummer night’s
dream. Her slight hands waved slowly in
front of her; diffusing what looked like a white puff of smoke.
A
delighted grin lit up her already glowing features and she rested her hands on
the cobblestones, palm up. She slowly
closed her eyes and titled her face toward the sky. When she reopened them moments later, I
gasped and nearly fell backwards. They
now blazed a breathtaking violet hue that illuminated her face, and reminded me
of the Auras Selene had brought with her to the beach that fateful night only a
few months ago. The only difference was
that their eyes had gleamed a bright silver, not violet. But the damage they had done was
unforgettable. My defenses immediately
went up and I crouched down with suspicion.
She
glanced back skyward as several individual moon rays lit the area where she sat
and appeared to empower the orb dangling from her neck. It began to pulse the same violet of her
eyes, and that was when I witnessed something I would never forget. She began mouthing words I couldn’t hear and
the moon rays that shone down on her split down the middle and detached from
the moon. As I looked on in sheer
disbelief, the two strips of light descended from the sky like two silk ribbons
cut from a spool. After gathering into
her upturned palms, they melted into two gleaming puddles of swirling
moonlight.
Apparently
satisfied with the moonlight’s reaction to her silent request, she began
flipping and clapping her hands together over and over, as if patting a piece
of dough into a ball. The malleable
moonlight easily rolled into a compact ball, and she held it up at eye level
for further inspection. Her mouth began
to move once more as she pinched the top of the ball. In one slow, deliberate exercise, her pinched
fingers rose higher and higher with steady concentration. A single strand of light was pulled upwards,
lighting the smile on her lips. Without
warning, the hand holding the ball retracted and the orb unraveled like a ball
of yarn onto the stones in front of her.
With
renewed concentration, she picked up the ribbon of light at both ends and
pulled in opposite directions; stretching it taut. She snapped the fingers of both hands, and
the ribbon burst into hundreds of twinkling lights that flickered momentarily
before flitting back up toward the moon and leaving me spellbound.
She
wiped her hands of something I couldn’t see, glanced around with what resembled
mild paranoia, and produced a sparkling ring from her pocket. She carefully slid it on to the middle finger
of her left hand and ran a loving finger over its stone. From where I crouched, it was difficult to
tell exactly what kind of stone it was, but I could tell it was clear, oblong
in shape, and at least three inches in length.
The moonlight shone off its surface like the sun glinting off
metal. The longer it remained on her
finger, the brighter it became. Her
violet eyes began searching for something on the beach and I followed her line
of sight, which now rested on a small ghost crab several yards away.
She
resumed her silent speaking and the crab actually began to scurry towards
her. I could feel his excitement at
being noticed. She held out her left
hand and it eagerly crawled up into her palm and sat down obediently. With apprehension, I watched as she stroked
its shell with a single finger and then lifted it into the air. A flash of light knocked me off balance and I
fell into the water with a splash. Once
I regained my composure, I gasped when I noticed that not only was the crab
gone, but the ring was glowing an eerie, bright purple. Unfortunately, her now predatory violet eyes
were fixed on me.
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About The Author
I am a southern belle at heart with a crazy streak that
desperately tries to escape at every opportunity. I love all things nostalgic,
rustic, and quirky. I've been told I see the world through rose-colored
glasses, but I prefer to think of them as kaleidoscope glasses - swirling and
morphing reality into something I can digest (who hasn't pretended those pasty
lima beans were really kiwi strawberry jelly beans?).
I am the author of the DAUGHTERS OF THE SEA trilogy, which
includes FORSAKEN, AWAKEN, and CHOSEN (Winter 2012). I love all books, but
really enjoy writing young adult, paranormal romances. I've loved to write for
as long as I can remember. My first published work was my poem RED in second
grade (you guessed it - it was a poem about the color red - life altering, I
know) that won me 5 gold stars and a spot in my elementary school's poetry
book. That's when my addiction to the written word officially began. I was the
only kid in fifth grade that actually enjoyed diagramming sentences. Go ahead
and laugh – it’s okay.
When I'm not writing I'm making jewelry, painting, drinking
sweet tea, watching the discovery channel, or going on random adventures in the
mountains of North Carolina with my amazing husband. I graduated from Appalachian
State University and dream of becoming a full time novelist.
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