**HAPPY BIRTHDAY**
Everlasting
by Candace Knoebel
What if your destiny lay on
the other side of death?
The annual Culling ceremony is a day every coming-of-age novice
looks forward to within the Primeval Coven. It’s the start to being initiated
into the Night Watchmen, humankind’s protectors, and it’s the long-awaited day
when novices discover if they’re a Hunter or a Witch.
But this day is not a happy one for Faye Middleton. Not when
she’s known her whole life that she’s a Defect and is about to face banishment
in front of her fellow novices. She’s forced to attend the Culling with little
hope for her future, but what she discovers about herself is far worse than she
could’ve imagined. And far more dangerous.
Thrown into training and separated from her friends, Faye must
learn to adjust. She struggles to find her place within the Coven, and with
Jaxen Gramm, the darkly handsome and extremely unnerving man assigned to watch
and protect her. Emotions run high, and when she discovers a deadly secret
about him, her struggles deepen. As corruption within the Coven begins to
unravel, Faye pieces together her role in saving the future of her people, and
within Jaxen’s life...but will the truth save her, or be her undoing?
GENRE: Paranormal Romance
Available on Amazon & Barnes & Noble!
Excerpt:
“This way,” Nathaniel says from the side of the stage. We’re like cows being herded into individual pens to await sacrifice. There are closed-in cubicles constructed backstage, and each of us is placed in one without a word of guidance or encouragement.
“Wait a second,” I say as I try to scan down the row one last time for Katie, but I’m shoved into my cubicle and the door shuts, enclosing me in between four confining walls with only the light of a lamp. I drag my hands down the fabric of the walls until I fall down into my seat. I tug on my braid again and again and again. Calm down. Breathe. Calm down. I chant this over and over again, imagining that Katie’s the one who’s coaching me. I shut my eyes and am back in her room. The scent of her perfume overwhelms the small space, but instead of making me sneeze, it comforts me. It makes my imagined state more real.
I hear loud clapping coming from off the stage and know someone must’ve just gone. They obviously weren’t a Defect. No one wants a Defect at their ceremony. A voice shouts, “Let’s go, Todd Jenson. It’s time to meet your partner.” I wonder if it was Katie on stage. I wonder if he’s her partner. I wonder this through eighteen more times worth of clapping and cheering and name calling. Anytime now, they’ll open my door and force me to stand before the crowd, force me to touch the quartz, force me to face my peers in shame. If they deem me a Defect, I’ll be the first this Culling, and most likely the only.
I twist my hands into knots and think about my parents. They have to be out there by now. I’m going to walk out there and they’re going to be in the front row smiling. I open my eyes. Four walls. They’re closing in on me. They’re suffocating me. I have to get out.
“Faye Middleton?” The door opens and air rushes in. I draw sharply on it as the cheering continues. Another novice and her new partner walk off stage. It’s the girl with black hair. She’s coyly looking at him from under her lashes. He looks pissed.
Nathaniel guides me forward, and I want to yank my arm from him. I want to tell him I left my courage back in that cubicle, but I don’t. I can’t. My lips are glued shut by fear. My knees have turned into two extremities of doubt, and I know I’m going to fall. I’m going to forget how to speak.
Steel blue eyes find mine from across the stage. Elder Maddock. He bows ever so slightly in my direction, his eyes seeking past my outer appearance. I wonder if he knows who I am. He has to. I stop right before him and feel like a bird trapped in a cage. I can’t escape the thousands of eyes studying me. I can’t escape the hundreds of assumptions building me into something I’m not.
“Faye Middleton,” he says, his voice eager and curious. There’s a friendly lightness in his voice I don’t expect, a sound that makes me feel safe and comfortable under his gaze. He has thick, golden brown hair combed neatly over to the side and back, showing off the squared planes of his face. He looks much younger than he should, but older than my father. “Are you ready to begin?”
I turn to the crowd and scan desperately for my parents. Eyes. There are so many eyes. Too many. They form together, creating an awful monster that wants to swallow me whole. I can’t find them. The eyes have hidden them from me. I’m all alone. I try to swallow, but my mouth is so dry. I bite the inside of my cheek, curbing the need to release tears.
The Witch standing next to him says, “Faye, he asked you a question.”
I take in a tight breath and force myself to look away and back at Maddock. “I’m sorry,” I whisper, my stomach twisting a little tighter.
He pretends not to notice the panic I’m sure my face is masked in and offers me the kindest, most patient smile. “Everyone is nervous on the day of the Culling,” he says knowingly. “I was a wreck the day of mine.”
Polite laughter comes from the audience, and I feel myself relax just enough so that I can breathe again.
He offers me a small wink…a knowing sort of wink, and says, “Your parents will be proud.”
He says these words carefully, evenly, and I know he’s trying to tell me something. They’re okay? He’s aware of who I am. “So are you ready to begin?”
Everlasting
Playlist
"I have a huge playlist. I used
Spotify a lot while writing."~Candace
For the scene inspiration, I
used these songs:
- Wish by Still Corners
- Drive Darling by Boy
- Before I Ever Met You by Banks
- Ash Tree Lane by Ms Mr
- The Suburbs by Mr Little Jeans
For inspiration behind Faye and
how she felt, I used these songs:
- Run Cried the Crawling by Agnes Obel
- Boy by Emma Louise
- Breathe in Breathe out by Thelma Plum
- Navigate by Band of Skulls
- Siren Song by Bat for Lashes
For inspiration behind Jaxen
and how he felt, I used these songs:
- Something You Can’t Ignore by Josh Auer
- Volcano by Damien Rice
- Bloodstream by Stateless
- Be Here Now by Ray LaMontagne
- The Lightning Strike by Snow Patrol
For inspiration behind their
love scenes, I used these songs:
- Wasting My Young Years by London Grammar
- Distance by Christina Perri
- To Be Alone With You by Sufjan Stevens
- Letters From the Sky by Civil Twilight
About the Author
Candace Knoebel is the award-winning author of Born in Flames-a young adult fantasy trilogy.
Published by 48fourteen in 2012, Born in Flames went on to win Turning the Pages Book of the Year award in February of 2013. Embracing the Flames, the second in the trilogy, is scheduled for release in the summer of 2013.
Candace Knoebel discovered through lunch breaks and late nights after putting her kids to bed, a world where she could escape the ever-pressing days of an eight to five Purgatory. Since then, she crawled out of Purgatory and has devoted her time to writing and sometimes heelying.
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