“I think I found it,” she said, her voice low.
She led me closer. Hidden just beyond some of the dwellings was a crack in the cliff just large enough for a person of decent size to squeeze there. I had to wonder if people actually used this entrance all the time. There was no way. There had to be an official entrance. For now, though, it seemed that this would be the way we go. Right above the entrance, two large circles were carved, intertwining, almost like a Venn diagram.
“I’ll go first,” I heard myself saying. I took the pack off my shoulder and handed it back to her. She had her arms folded tightly across her chest as she watched me. My body was pressed tight against the stone as I turned sideways and pushed my way through. I was grateful, for the first time, for all the weight I had lost in the past months. I blinked a few times, trying to adjust myself to the darkness that was on the other side. I didn’t hear anything, but this had to be the right way. No more than a hundred yards away was a light.
“Well, I think I just lost about twenty pounds squeezing through there.” I heard a light laugh coming from the other side. “But it’s safe.”
Zoey came squeezing after me, a look of panic on her face as she took in the darkness around us. She steeled herself, her hand reaching for mine. I thought for a moment that she might falter, but instead, she pushed her shoulders back and started walking toward the light.
When we reached it, we realized it was just the first in a series of overhead lights, lighting the way down a tunnel. We continued to follow them, like a trail of lit up crumbs, leading back home from the witch’s house. Soon, the dark crumbly cliff walls disappeared, and we found ourselves in a hallway, not unlike the one at Sekhmet. I felt my heart slam into my chest as I began to spot the cameras dotting the hallway, every few yards or so.
“I’m scared,” Zoey said, her voice so soft that I was unsure if I had even heard her correctly. I wanted to pull her toward me, wrap her in my arms and never let her go. I knew what it meant for her to admit that.
There was a loud bang, and the sound of a door opening. It echoed down the hallway toward us, overwhelmingly. We both stepped closer to each other, stopping in our tracks, afraid to move.
It had been no longer than a minute or two when I heard it: footsteps, light and unhurried, heading down the hallway toward us. I took a step forward, subtly placing myself between Zoey and whoever was coming toward us. She didn’t notice. Her eyes were focused on the space in front of us, waiting to see who would appear.
Eventually someone came within our eyesight, and we both looked at each other quickly before turning our eyes back to the figure. It was a woman, I noticed as she came closer. She was small, almost as small as Zoey, dressed impeccably in a blazer and skirt, reminding me of the women I sometimes saw on political shows. She had dark black hair streaked with gray, and I placed her around my parents’ age, forties, maybe fifties. She had a pleasant look on her face, not quite a smile but still welcoming. She stopped about six feet in front of us.
“Hello,” she said, her voice strong and deep in the cavernous hallway.
I went to speak, but the words were stuck, and I was grateful when Zoey spoke. “Hello,” she said. I felt her nervousness in the shaking of her palm against mine, but her voice was clear and steady. “I’m Zoey, and this is Ash.”
The woman smiled wide and swept her arms out in greeting. “Zoey. Ash. Welcome to Sanctuary.”
SHE HAD WATCHED THEM FROM the moment they had left the old man’s house. Bert Washington, she didn’t know him well; in fact, she barely recognized him from the files she had managed to glean from Sanctuary years before. He had aged quite a bit since then, more than she would have expected. They felt safe and hadn’t noticed that she had been following them for miles, staying far enough away that they wouldn’t notice her car in the distance.
The car hit a rough patch on the windy road as it went over a rock. She winced as the jolt sent a wave of pain through her body. Her driver looked over at her, concern on his face, but he knew better than to say anything to her. She was the leader. She was strong.
She had let them escape, and now they were soon to be in the safety of Sanctuary.
“Did you want me to continue following them, ma’am?” the driver spoke, his voice full of unwavering devotion. He would do anything for her, anything she asked of him.
“No.” She watched as the two climbed down a steep hill, just visible from the window of her car. She was obsessed with them, and she wanted them, needed them. She would get them.
She turned away from the window, her eyes shining with purpose. “No, I think not. We can leave.”
The driver looked taken aback and began to sputter his next words. “But ma’am…don’t you…don’t you want to bring them in?”
A smile spread across the face of Razi Cylon, her first smile in days. She glanced back one more time as the two teenagers made their way toward Sanctuary. “No,” she answered. “I don’t need to bring them in. They will return to me, all on their own.” She sighed, pressing her fingertips lightly to the bandage that was wrapped around her throat. “Let’s go.”
Back when being an author was just a crazy dream of mine, I said…one day when I finally got to do this, I wouldn’t make them the longest acknowledgments ever. I obviously broke that promise.
First, I have to give a major shout out to my family. My mom, for giving me my insane love of reading and writing. My dad, for…well, everything, including, but not limited to: buying me food, fixing my car, helping me pick out my prom dress and picking me up at Six Flags when I was sick even though you told me not to go because, duh, I was sick. Love you! My siblings, Robby, Jess, Dink, Joey and Stevey…you guys are insane but I wouldn’t trade you for anything else. You guys would be my Awakened fighting team. My dog Scout because she always seems to know when I need her.
To my best friend Allison Lane, who is not a book nerd but always reads my books and thinks it’s badass that I can write. That’s true friendship. Thanks for always loving me and being there and for having an alcoholic beverage of some sort ready for me, always. And random pictures of Robert Downey Jr…
To the girls that literally make every single day amazing: Sylvia Torres, Alexandra Campos and Cassandra Gomez. We are the fearsome foursome, and I would not be able to get through each day without the three of you. Thanks for the adventures, the shoulders to cry on, the millions of laughs, the craziness, always the FOOD, the everything. You guys are my parabatai, my wifey and my little sister. In that order. Those golden chairs are waiting for you always. #NoEasyDays
Thank you Kim G Designs to for designing an AWESOME cover and to Nadege Richards for the equally awesome interior of the novel as well. Casey Ann Books…thanks for that trailer! You guys make my book look infinitely cooler than it actually is.
HUGE thanks to Gina Elliott and Logan Gulley for editing this thing. Seriously. It’s a wonder that I know how to spell. Or grammar. Can I grammar? I don’t think so…
To every amazing person in the LADA: you rock. Jonathan Lesso, thank you for so many years of love and support. Isabel Naquin, thank you for being one of my biggest fans right from the beginning.
Thank you a million times to the beta readers: Alexandra Campos, Ashley Smith, Jackie Connet, Jackie Zwirn, Krystal Maestas, Lindsey Berg, Marlee McMahan and Taylor Helm. Thank you for loving The Awakened when it was just a first draft and helping me make it what it is now!
A major, huge shout out to the band, Set It Off. When I first started writing this book, I was feeling major down in the dumps. I couldn’t get the words on paper and I felt like I just wasn’t on the right path in my life for me. I went to go see one of my favorite bands, Story of the Year, when I discovered Set It Off, who opened for them. There were two songs that just STUCK to me: “Nightmare,” which eventually became the unofficial theme song for this novel, and “Dreamcatcher.” Cody, the lead singer, kept talking about living your dreams, and working hard, and not listening to what everyone says abo
ut going down the “right” path and not listening to your own dreams…and it just really resonated with me. Their album, Cinematics, stayed on repeat in the entirety of this novel. This novel would NOT exist without them.
To all the bloggers and readers and fangirls and boys that I’ve met through all these years of blogging and reading: you guys are rock stars. Thanks for always reading and believing. You’re such a huge part of this. Thanks for fangirling with me, and just being my friend, whether you’re someone I see all the time, or whether you’re someone I’ve never met before. My book friends are the best! This book is yours too!
Courtney Saldana and Allison Tran: for being the BEST librarians in the entire world, for always giving me a chance as a blogger, and for never ever giving up on me. Lita Weissman at Barnes and Noble…you are the best ever, and don’t ever stop being the awesome, passionate, fantastic person that you are!
All the authors that I’ve had the pleasure and HONOR of becoming friends with over the past three and a half years…there’s just so many: Jessica Brody, Leigh Bardugo, Andrew Smith, Aaron Hartzler, Tonya Kuper, Morgan Matson, Cassandra Clare, Robin Benway, Valerie Tejeda, Catherine Linka, Lauren Miller, Michelle Levy, Cinda Williams Chima, Cora Carmack, Gretchen McNeil, Josephine Angelini, Marie Lu, Carrie Arcos, James Dashner, Tammara Webber…I literally could go on for ages. Thank you for being my friend, for always encouraging me, telling me to NEVER give up, and for giving the best advice.
Thank you to baseball and books and cupcakes and Asian food for keeping me sane. Writing is hard!
To all the aspiring writers out there: DON’T. GIVE. UP. Don’t do it. Ever. It may seem easy to, or it may seem like it’s never going to happen, but it is. Don’t ever give up. Write, write, write. Never stop.
A HUGE, GINORMOUS, MASSIVE thank you to Benjamin Alderson, aka BenjaminOfTomes, aka the founder and brains of OfTomes Publishing. Thank you so much for loving this book and for giving it the chance that I’ve always thought it deserved. Thank you for making this real!
Lastly, thank you to YOU, the reader, the person holding this book, in whatever format you chose…you are the literal best. Even if only one person (besides my dad) buys this book, you’re making my dream come true. Hugs and kisses!
Sara Elizabeth Santana is a young adult and new adult fiction writer. She has worked as a smoothie artist, Disneyland cast member, restaurant supervisor, nanny, photographer, pizza delivery driver and barista but writing is what she loves most. She runs her own nerd girl/book review blog, What A Nerd Girl Says. She lives in Southern California with her dad, five siblings and two dogs. Her debut novel is The Awakened. Visit her at sesantanawrites.com for more!
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