RELEASE DAY: "Celeste" by Ann Evans

 

Blurb:

Megan Miller doesn't believe in ghosts or in reincarnation. But that soon changes after moving to a new city and a new school. It starts with feelings of déjà vu. Vague feelings at first that remain annoyingly just out of reach. Then the flashbacks start – memories of ancient times and fragmented dreams of when she had been called Celeste.

Then comes the haunting. After visiting the old bombed out cathedral, Megan believes some dark ominous presence is haunting her, following her, whispering in her ear. And always the same question, where did you hide it?

Megan becomes entwined in a frightening and heartbreaking world as she slips uncontrollable between her present life and her medieval past. But the links are fiercely strong and she fears that a new friend is actually a past enemy – and evil has followed her through the centuries.

 

About the Author:

Ann Evans is an English writer with almost 20 books to her name. Most are books for young people but there have been a few romance novels too.  Ann also writes non-fiction and was a feature writer for her local newspaper the Coventry Telegraph for 13 years. She also regularly writes magazine articles on all kinds of topics from animals to antiques. It was while researching an ancient church for an article that the idea for this book began to germinate in her head!

 Ann began writing as a hobby when her three children were little. They are now all grown up with children of their own.  Two of her five grandchildren are avid readers of her books – the other three are still too young.

 

 

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Excerpt:

Chapter One

Déjà Vu

 

MESSAGE > Create

Me again. Thnk goin mad. Mum wants me 2 c doc. (sad smiley) > Send

 

Megan Miller clutched her mobile phone like it was a lifeline to sanity. Texting Katie, wishing she were back with her mates, where life was normal. Where she wasn't hearing things and seeing things.

Where she wasn't being haunted.

She lay on the sofa staring blindly at the TV, insane thoughts running through her head. Trying to make sense of what had happened to her over this last week.

Was it only a week? It seemed a lifetime.

Her mobile tinkled out its familiar little tune and the line 1 new message appeared on the screen. She pressed View.

 

Mayb u shud. Poss u r stressed coz of movin hse & sch.

Miss u Katie xxxx (big smiley)

 

Megan closed her eyes. That wasn't what she wanted to hear. She wanted someone to understand and believe her. Now even Katie, who had been her best friend, thought she was crazy — and she didn't even know the half of it.

Looking back to the day she and her parents arrived here in the city should have warned her. She'd been positive she had been here before, despite her mum saying she hadn't. Of course then, those feelings of déjà vu hadn't seemed particularly important — odd yes, but not important. Everybody experienced déjà vu at some time or other. It didn't necessarily mean they had lived before, did it?

 She'd never believed in reincarnation — only now she wasn't sure. Everything was confusing and frightening.

****

 A week earlier, M6 southbound.

 

Megan's mobile buzzed and the words 1 new message appeared across the little screen.

"You're very popular today, Megan," her mum remarked, glancing back over her shoulder. Dad was at the wheel, humming along to some rock song on the car's CD player.

Megan took one earplug out of her MP3 player where she'd been listening to some real music. "I can't help it if my friends are missing me already."

"Who's this one from?" asked her mum.

Megan pressed View. "It's from Katie. She says she's looked on the Internet at my new school and it looks a dump." She groaned at her mum's horrified expression. "Chill! I'm only joking. She says it looks like my old school…" Her voice trailed away as the horrible homesick feeling came back into her throat.

Yesterday had been awful, saying goodbye to all her mates, making promises to text and email each other every single day, but it wasn't going to be the same now. How could it be?

Her mum smiled sympathetically. "It'll be alright, Megan. You'll soon make new friends. If it's any consolation, it's the same for your dad and me. He's starting his new job and I won't know a soul. And it's a lot harder to make new friends when you're our age, believe me."

"Why?" asked Megan. "Don't friendships mean as much if you're only fourteen?"

"That's not what I meant and you know it."

Sighing, Megan tucked her corn-coloured hair behind her ear as she plugged her music back in, missing her friends more than she ever thought possible.

She closed her eyes as her music ran through her head — it was a song about lost love. That was something to be grateful for, she supposed. Leaving a boyfriend behind would have been a killer, bad enough leaving all her mates.

As the car journeyed on she must have slept, because she awoke with a jolt as her mum tapped her knee. "What?" she asked, puzzled.

"I said, we're nearly there." Mrs. Miller looked anxious. "I do hope you're going to like the house we're renting for the time being. It's just until we get a feel of the city, then we can buy a place that we all like."

"It's not home, so it's going to feel weird whatever it's like," Megan murmured feeling utterly miserable, thinking how sad and empty their house had felt as they'd finally closed the front door for the last time.

She bit her lip, staring blindly through the car window, trying hard not to cry. Her dad had done all the house hunting, travelling up and down the motorway for weeks on end, sorting everything out for them to re-locate from the North East to the Midlands.

She pressed Create Message, her fingers tapping out her thoughts to Katie.

 

Feelin sooo homesck. Missin u. (crying smiley) > Send