Blurb:
Sometimes soul mates find each other in unlikely places. But is love worth it if it risks your life?
Seventeen-year-old
Noah is startled when he awakes one day to find that dangerous, irrational,
self-serving, and destructive visitors called “humans” are coming to visit his
beautiful, perfect society. All citizens are ordered to have limited contact
and share minimal information with these visitors.
Sixteen-year-old Jady
is thrilled to accompany her father and his crew on a trip to a
recently-discovered planet, Verdant. The United States’ crew is hopeful that
they can learn from this advanced yet similar species.
Despite their greatest
efforts to fight it, it doesn’t take long for Jady and Noah to fall in love and
begin a secret affair. But when their relationship is revealed, danger is
created for everyone involved...
Author:
I graduated from
Southern Illinois University-Carbondale with a bachelor’s degree in English
Education and a master’s degree in Reading and Language Studies. I currently
teach high school English in southern Illinois. In my free time, I enjoy
spending time with my family, including my young son, Aven, and my four-legged
sons, Shakespeare and Poe.
Excerpt:
Chapter One: Noah
The overwhelming
sensation that invaded my body when I awoke was so unfamiliar that it took a
while to register in my brain – fear. Something was happening, and whatever it
was, the society was afraid. After quietly pulling on the tan coverings I laid
out the night before, I walked out of the male sleeping chamber. Once inside
the solid white eating quarters, I found Lucy sitting motionlessly at the
table. She stared ahead at the blank walls without acknowledging my presence.
The look on her face only supported my thoughts.
“Lucy, what’s
happening?” I focused my attention on her response, trying to read her
emotions.
She shook her head. “I
don’t know yet. I was ordered to come here and wait for further instructions.”
Anxiety was rolling off of her body in rapid waves as she responded.
Before I could
question her further, Sir Andrew walked through the door. We automatically
stood up in respect at the sight of him. He nodded slightly to both of us, and
without a word, motioned for us to follow him out the door. We trailed just
behind him, quietly stepping out into the thick, humid atmosphere. Once inside
his transportation means, we strapped ourselves in. The waves of anxiety coming
off of Lucy’s body were only growing larger with every minute of silence. Her
large brown eyes were wide and alert as she looked out the window. I watched
over her shoulder as we passed the massive gray stone and brick buildings in
the town’s center. The towering trees stood stiffly over our heads while the
smaller plants and bushes swayed gently in the breeze our vehicle created. We
were moving away from the heart of the community toward an unfamiliar area.
I considered the
situation carefully. Something was definitely wrong. The lack of communication
was extremely unusual. The fact that Sir Andrew, one of the most highly
respected leaders of society, was taking us somewhere was strange in itself.
His gift of intelligence kept him incredibly busy and made his appearance in
our society rare. I watched him closely, trying to get a feel for his emotions,
but as usual, he radiated nothing. He appeared to have no feelings. I guessed
that he was somehow shielding himself, as he was aware of my gift, so that I
could not read him. I knew better than to question him, though.
After what seemed like
an eternity, we arrived at a large, gray, castle-like building. Its structure
was made entirely of stone, with small, intricate swirling patterns surrounding
the doors and windows. A locked gate blocked the entrance, but it opened
automatically as we pulled up close to it. We moved quickly to the main door of
the building, still maintaining the silence. Sir Andrew put his hand on a small
computerized gray box beside the heavy door so that it opened for us. Lucy and
I stayed close as we followed Sir Andrew’s long, quick strides through a dark,
damp corridor.
Finally, we arrived in
a small room, where several men sat waiting. I glanced over them all to get a
quick read – fear, anger, nervousness, irritation. Each man tried to appear
serious and intelligent as they sat around a round table in tall, cushioned
chairs, but I could see that they were as unsure and scared as Lucy and I were.
Sir Andrew motioned towards three empty chairs at the table, and Lucy and I
hesitantly took a place with the others.
It was Sir Andrew who
finally spoke. “Noah and Lucy, we have brought the two of you here today for a
very special reason. You are in a place that most members of the society will
never enter, particularly those of your young age and position. This is a
building where new technology is developed and tested. It is also the location
where security for our society is monitored. It is for the second purpose that
we have brought the two of you here.”
Lucy and I exchanged
glances. Security monitoring? What could we possibly have to do with that? And
from what did our society need security?
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