by Katie Dunn
“Are you sure about this?” Liam asked against my hair.
I nodded against his chest. “You all did it. It’s my turn.”
A few minutes later, Kaden came waltzing down the stairs beaming at us with Shawna in tow. Shawna chuckled and patted me on the back when she reached us. “Girl, I told you Kaden and I were inevitable.”
“Inevitable, huh?” Kaden said with a sultry tone and wrapped his arms around her from behind.
I ignored her comment and glared at Kaden. “I will never go into your room again.” We both knew that was a lie. He had too many books for me to ignore. But it would be a long while before I went in there on my own.
“Alright, stop wasting time or she will miss her appointment,” Trevor reminded us.
We shuffled out of the house and to the motorcycles. Eventually I would get one of those too, but for now my pale bicycle with a basket was good enough. I tied my black hair with its two white streaks behind my head then climbed onto the back of Liam’s white motorcycle while Shawna rode on the red one with Kaden. Trevor put on his dark sunglasses and led us to my appointment with his black motorcycle.
We pulled up in front of the tattoo parlor and that’s when the nerves hit me. I fidgeted with my Hawaiian bracelet and let Liam guide me inside. My stomach twisted in knots and my legs shook. I heard getting a tattoo hurt and I wondered if the sight of the needle would make me turn tail and run. I scolded myself internally. I dealt with sword wielders, knife attacks, crazy cultists, and Kaden as my trainer. I think I could handle a needle.
Trevor checked me in, and I was led into a curtained off area where a man with a thousand tattoos resided. I nodded my head in greeting and he guided me to sit in the dentist-like chair in front of him.
“So, I remember you saying over the phone you wanted this right?” He showed me a hand drawn picture next to him.
I nodded, flurries of excitement driving away the nerves. “Right here,” I said pointing to the inside of my forearm. He took my arm and positioned it in front of him, palm facing up. Then he began cleaning the preferred area.
I looked around at all my friends lending me support but frowned. There was someone missing. As quietly as I could I summoned Owen and watched as his light materialized next to Liam. We were officially the start of a bad joke. Four Horsemen, a ghost, and a Templar walk into a bar. I chuckled at the thought.
Owen smiled and his quiet support nearly made me cry. All these people together were more than I could have ever asked for. Liam glanced at Owen with unseeing eyes then at me with raised eyebrows. He knew Owen was there but couldn’t see him. I nodded to let him know he was correct then focused back on the man with the needle.
I don’t know how long we all waited quietly and watched the artist do his work but eventually the man sat back and put the needle away. “There you go. Take your pictures if that’s what you want to do then I will bandage it.”
The others crowded around me to admire the tattoo. Liam raised his sleeve to show me his bow and arrow on his bicep. Kaden lifted his shirt to show me the image of a sword on his abs. Trevor revealed his bicep and the scales adorning it. I looked at Owen and we both put our forearms next to each other to show off our identical tattoos of a scythe. The differences were that mine had the date Owen died below it and his glowed with a ghostly light. He gave me a smile tinged with sadness. I reciprocated it then looked over all my friends with content. I was no longer frightened by our future. We embraced who we were but didn’t let it own us. Together we could get through anything.
Acknowledgements
Please give this book a review on Amazon.
These past few months have been difficult, but I did it. First acknowledgement is to me for completing yet another story despite everything that has been going on and for continuing this book even when other people told me to focus on a different one. This story was fun to write.
Thank you to Harrison Lambeth for keeping me motivated and taking my kindle until I finished the necessary chapters.
Thank you, Victoria Gillette as always for being the one person to be there at the end to read and review so that my books are not embarrassingly riddled with errors. Thank you for also willingly talking to me about the story and characters.
A huge thank you to Jervy Bonifacio of Phoenix Design Studio from 99Designs who designed Myth Blessed and now Four Horsemen.
About the Author
Katie Dunn grew up in the hot part of Arizona where she graduated NAU and became a teacher. She got a taste of the author life after her first YA contemporary fantasy novel Ancient Elements. Finding out she loved writing just as much as reading, teaching, and traveling, she sat down and wrote the first installment of the YA fantasy adventure Skor Stone trilogy: Pirates from Under and YA contemporary fantasy novel Myth Blessed. She has a notebook full of other ideas and will slowly be adding more stories to her author library.
You can check out more about Katie Dunn’s books and works in progress at Facebook.com/AuthorKatieDunn/ or Kdunnauthor.com