Seeker (Shadows)
Page 21
“But look.” He points to the long, out-stretched bow where Landon’s reading, absently playing with Micah’s hair as she uses his chest for a pillow. I love them together.
“So?” I slide the boxes out that have our new communication devices. They’re just high-tech cell phones this time. Not stupid watches.
“Oh, no.” He takes my hands and pulls me toward him. “You are not starting a new project.”
His lips find mine and I’m almost lost in him before I push away. “And what are you besides a new project?” I tease.
“Your man? The guy of your dreams? Your other half?” He starts to pepper kisses all over my face. “Come play.”
Just then the phone we’re all sharing rings, and I snatch it up giving Ocean a face. “Moonshadow Two, this is Kara.”
“Kara. Kent.”
“Hi, Mr. Prince.” I’m wondering if he has an idea for us yet.
“Gather everyone around, I think I have it figured out.”
My heart starts jumping just like it did when I got a new assignment from The Middle Men as Ocean calls the group up. And in this second I get that I have it all. I’m with Ocean, with friends, I have something like the job I loved. It just didn’t come to me in the way I expected, but the happiness and excitement over being part of this tingles through me and I scoot closer to Ocean to make room for the group. For the people who want me here. Because we’re tight. Closer than friends and better than any family I’ve ever had.
“You excited?” Ocean whispers as we assemble ourselves around the phone.
“Very.” And excited doesn’t even begin to cover it.
THE END
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Ending a series is a strange feeling. No one’s story actually just stops. These six characters will have many more adventures – I’m just not sure that I’ll write them.
To Nyrae and her support of Insight, and to Wendy Higgins and her incredible notes on all three books, and Allie Brennan and Morgan Shamy and Kyra Lennon who all helped more than I can express. Thank you girls.
For my husband who listened to me work through the plot of this book about a dozen times. And to my children who put up with a lot of Mommy asking for five more minutes…
A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE SHADOW SERIES
INSIGHT was “born” when I was helping my good friend, Nyrae Dawn, brainstorm on a contemporary idea she was playing around with. I ended up with this idea of a girl who was afraid to touch people because she got “visions” when she did. She saw and felt things she couldn’t control, and that’s how Insight started. Nyrae told me to have fun with it, but she needed a contemp, not a paranormal. I planned for it to be a stand-alone, and didn’t know it wasn’t until I got to mid-point of my first draft of …
MANIPULATION, which took a rather dramatic turn when Dean and Addison go “on the run.” This was the moment I knew I wanted Micah and Landon, and Dean and Addie to meet up. At first, I simply wanted to write stories of people with different odd “talents.” The Middle Men and the legend from The Bahamas came later, and had to be threaded through the two stories. The reason I did it this way is that I wanted to see the back-story of how a group like the Cullens began. Or the movie, Unbreakable, where the MC slowly discovers his “superhero” ablities. The shadow series hopefully shows how a powerful group like that comes into their own. OR… since this is book two and not book three… how a group might fail to come together. Or how two opposing sides have the ability to ruin each other. Which brought me to…
SEEKER. Oh, to be in the head of the “bad guys” is a very, very fun thing. Once I knew I wanted each book to have a predominantly different MC, I knew exactly how I wanted to do the last book, and that’s from the eyes of a girl named Kara, who prides herself in being a fabulous Seeker of new talent for The Middle Men. I will also say that I planned the way this series ended from the moment I knew it would be a series. You can blame Michael Crichton’s Sphere for the end of this book if you’re not satisfied—I nearly left it even more open than it is now.
ABOUT the AUTHOR
Jolene grew up in South-central Alaska. She’s lived in Anchorage, near the Alyeska ski resort, on a cabin on an island on a lake, and then in a boring old house.
Jolene kissed a boy on her high school graduation night. One she’d wanted to kiss for a long time. They got married two years later, have built two homes together, survived military deployments, law school, student loan debt, and two children.
Jolene plays the guitar, takes pictures, and loves to hike. She doesn’t like rivers, but loves the ocean. She loves to fly, but gets motion sick. Her ultimate vacation would be to sail through the deserted islands in The Bahamas. Two years ago, she got that wish when her parents retired on a sailboat.
She taught high school French when she was only a few years older than her students, and then taught middle school math with her degree in political science and French.
She spends grocery money on designer fabric, shoes, and books.
Jolene cannot express how many times she wished she could write a whole novel. And now she has. Several times. Life is good.
I’VE WRITTEN LOTS OF BOOKS and plan to write lots more. My already released titles are:
LDS FICTION: The Next Door Boys, Left to Love, My Forever.
YA CONTEMPORARY: Night Sky, Knee Deep, Spill Over, My Heart for Yours (co-authored with Steph Campbell), Dizzy (Co-authored with Nyrae Dawn).
NEW ADULT CONTEMPORARY: A collection of short stories – 10 Weeks (Co-authored with Janna Watts), and Falling, which takes place in my backyard, and uses a lot of people I know in real life. Look for 3 Sides to a Circle (Co-authored with Janna Watts).
IN BOOKSTORES:
Look for Out of Play (co-authored with Nyrae Dawn) to be released Fall 2013 with Entangled Publishing, and Used To Be, (though I’m predicting a title change) to be released Spring 2014 by Albert Whitman Teen Publishing as well as The Happiness of Joy, also from Albert Whitman Teen.