Insight: Web of Hearts and Souls #1 (Insight series 1)

by Jamie Magee

A sickening sensation slowly crept through my body.

  The room spun.

  Impossible— isn’t it? How can this be possible?

  Drake and me in a black and white photo...from centuries ago... no, that was not me.

  I ran my fingertips across the singed, tattered edges and trembled as the memory of the first time Drake was alone with me crashed into my mind. He said he’d seen me love him. I thought he meant in his mind, not in real life.

  Not a day went by that I hadn’t thought of the supernatural power he had. What kind of magic could cause Drake’s touch to have such a pull? How could any magic break into my dreams?

  A chill trickled down my spine. It happened every time I thought of the scenes Drake put before me when he gave me my ‘choice.’ He’d threatened my entire family if I didn’t submit to him. He’d promised they’d be safe, that my friend Monica would be raised from the dead, if I did.

  Choosing who I felt my soul burn for wasn’t hard. Choosing to take the easy or hard way was. I was positive even though I was treading through a steady flow of days without earth shattering revelations, I’d chosen the hard way. I’d given the Blakeshire empire reason to hunt me. I’d think this, then my thoughts would turn. I’d tell myself it would’ve been stupid to trust that Drake’s promises would’ve been upheld.

  “Willow, calm down. Landen will come in here,” Olivia warned.

  I glanced to the window. Landen and Chrispin were playing football with little Preston in the side field. Libby was cheering them on from our porch.

  Revelations do not have to be earth shattering to make an impact on my emotional state. The steady days had strengthened Landen’s insights, and mine. I was sure even if he wasn’t sporting my ‘empath on steroids’ insight one hundred percent he would’ve sensed my intent to run the second I laid eyes on this photo.

  I’d have to give the boy credit—he didn’t hover. He didn’t run to my side the first instant he felt my emotions quake, or saw the fear of what was to come in my eyes. He gave me the time I needed to work through it.

  I was in a new world. The stable reality my life in Franklin had given me was a fantasy. Even without the trauma and ache of losing a friend, I had every right to be overwhelmed.

  Landen was peering toward our home as he retrieved the ball from Preston’s valiant attempt to throw it to him, but I knew his intent: let me be. It was something he chose to do often when I was with Olivia.

  Time with Olivia and Dane helped me find balance. They were who they’d always been, and treated me as they always had. I couldn’t say the same for my parents. On my bad days I could blame them for Monica. I could blame them for letting me endure nightmares, for all of it. Olivia and Dane never let me go too far down that path.

  I wasn’t over how I ended up here, but I was on my way. Blessings and curses, life was a series of both. I had to focus on the wins. I knew this. I could preach it to anyone, but I’m human, my dark moments are going to surface no matter what I think. I just gotta keep working on how to defeat them when they do show their ugly head.

  Five minutes ago I was fine. Now I’ve let one picture thrust me back into a hell I’d been crawling out of. It was that easy to flip my day. Wishing to go back to five minutes ago would only waste my time—it also promised this dark revelation was inches away, waiting for me to face it. No, I wasn’t going to wish for five minutes ago. I was going to focus on getting to a moment when I’d convinced myself this was nothing more than a coincidence. Even if it wasn’t, I’m not whoever this chick is in this photo is. I’m Willow Haywood. Eighteen years of life and only one love. I dig sketching and I have kick ass friends who get my crazy.

  Olivia studied my shaking hand as my mental battle went on. “Willow, breathe a little—it’ll help.”

  Was I holding my breath? Most likely.

  She didn’t crowd me with words; she let the silence take over and the minutes tick by.

  “Right here with me, in Chara. Happy,” she said just as I went to set the photo down.

  I sensed Clarissa, I glanced to the front door, a second later her dead set intent on seeing me rang in my thoughts. I was working on getting closer to her, but right now she was still a stranger who happened to be my guys sister and best friends girl. Above all—she was a Chara native.

  Not ready to let this photo leave my inner circle, I grabbed it and ran to the stairs. I wanted to destroy the picture at the same time I wasn’t ready to; I needed more time to disprove it. Hiding it was my only choice.

  Stunned by my sudden outburst, Olivia chased after me.

  “Where are you going?” she yelled.

  “Clarissa is coming,” I whispered harshly halfway up the stairs. I regretted it as soon as I said it. Clarissa wasn’t known to have an ‘insight’ but I was pretty positive if she could hear the tone of voices through the string then, at the very least, her hearing was extraordinary.

  “Wait,” Olivia said with a hint of dread as she chased me. “Clarissa was with me when I found the photo. She already knows.”

  I was already at the top of the stairs.

  “Just us,” Olivia swore.

  ‘Just us’ was something we’d always said when we needed things to stay between us. We’d said it more over the last weeks than we had in our entire life. I didn’t doubt Olivia would keep it to herself. I did doubt that Clarissa would. She didn’t deserve my doubt, I knew that, but like I said, she’s from Chara. She knows lore I don’t. If she thought something was a threat she’d be obligated to say something.

  I wasn’t trying to be a thrill seeker. I wasn’t looking to hide from apparent danger—I just needed more than five minutes before everyone was alerted to a crisis mode.

  If this photo had any degree of truth, it would be a crisis. Chara believes in past lives. They strongly believe in their first couple. In their minds Landen and I have been drifting through lives together, learning needed lessons that would empower us as we brought the salvation of Chara to the darkest dimension in the universe.

  I literally could feel the ‘scarlet letter’ burning on my chest. I could feel the blame and shame that would come my way. Powerful imaginations have their curses, this is one of them—creating and living inside of a hell in the time span of one second. I was so engrossed in how twisted things could get that I had no idea how badly I was overreacting, or if I was dead on with my fears.

  Clarissa knocked on the door as she opened it. Knocking was new. Walking into your families house unannounced normal here. I never told Landen that I wasn’t a fan of the custom. I think he just noticed how I never really relaxed, or that Olivia, Dane, and my parents’ knock. Now they all knock—as they open the door. Small wins.

  Clarissa looked up at me the same way she always did, like I was a living mystery. Her gifted brothers soul mate, the only source that made him pause and think through his steps before he took them. She told me a hundred times I didn’t know the Landen they did. I’d changed him. I gave him something to lose. A reason to pay attention to the lessons his grandfather August had been teaching him since birth.

  I didn’t know what to say or which expression to plaster on my face, so I kept to my path, one leading me to the sanctuary of my studio.

  Two of the walls in my studio were all windows, large doorways led to the second story porch. Blank canvases lined the white walls. Even though I had an array of paints waiting for me on the workbench, I’d only sketched. Each sketch was dark and painful, something I created only so I could destroy it. It was an exercise that was helping, even if Dane swore it seemed destructive.

  I stood in the path of the breeze coming in from the open doors, and drew in one deep breath after another as I stared at the fields highlighted by the aging sun.

  “Where did you find it?” I asked under my breath when I sensed Clarissa and Olivia looming in the threshold.

  I hated it when people looked at me like I was a bomb ready to go off.

  Clarissa took a
few steps forward. “Mostly your room was destroyed in the fire, water hurt the lower levels and roof, but there was a lot to salvage. I’ve been sending emails for you parents from Europe to the people they have restoring it, then showing up to gather things your mom has asked for.”

  “Where in the house?” I asked. I knew every inch of my home. I was fascinated with the heirlooms and the stories they had. Not just my house but also all the historical ones.

  “It was in a box that was packed for me. I only saw it because I dropped it and it was one of the things that fell out.”

  “Did Dane see it? Any of my friends?” I asked.

  Dane went with Clarissa on her trips, Olivia didn’t like the trip or being back in a town where she had haunting memories of parents. She went on this last one to check on our friends who were still shaken up by Monica’s death.

  “Just me and Olivia,” Clarissa said.

  I glanced back when I felt her intent to protect me swell. The light of the room was hitting her pale green eyes making them seem all the more mysterious. Her short dark hair had new layers, the cut along with her ‘I’m with the band’ shirt, announced what dimension she’d been in. Dane told me after their last trip that he saw more of our home in Clarissa than Chara. I wanted to believe it, not because I favored one over the other, but because I needed all the people I could gather to understand what my perspective was like.

  “And what do you think of it?” I asked Clarissa.

  She tilted her head. “I think it could mess with your head if you let it.”

  “That’s all? No lore I need to know? Is this a mystical sign? An omen?”

  “It’s what you make it,” she said chucking her chin up. “I don’t know where that photo came from. But I know what Photoshop is. I know that illusion is a powerful magic. I brought this back so you would know.”

  “Me and who else?” I asked glancing to Olivia who was leaning in the doorway.

  “That’s up to you,” Clarissa said.

  “Is it?” There was a tad bit too much sarcasm in my tone. It was my defense. I couldn’t help it.

  “Do you think I’d want to hurt Chrispin?” Olivia asked. “You don’t throw fire on a fire to put it out. Chrispin needs to look forward, not find more blame.” She bit her lip. “But if you plan on saying somethin’, I want a heads up. I want to tell him.”

  Chrispin had lost his father, Livingston, by Drake’s hand. The salt in the wound was when we all learned that Drake was one of Livingston’s sons, binding Drake by blood to Landen’s family.

  “What would I say? Hey guess what—I cheated, Drake was telling the truth?” Disdain morphed in my expression.

  “Did you snatch a new insight I don’t know about?” Clarissa asked as she canted her head, not completely doubting that I hadn’t. I narrowed my stare on her in question. “Did you see yourself cheat? Did you leave Landen’s soul for the sake of Drake’s a few centuries back?”

  I didn’t answer her. It was a stupid question.

  “Even if you did,” Clarissa said. “That’s your business. Your karma.”

  I nodded toward her. “And if it breaks your fairytale? What if your precious first couple has skeletons in their closet? ”

  “It proves it,” she countered with a raised brow as she stepped forward. “There are all kinds of soul mates. Love isn’t perfect. It’s perfectly messy. It has the right to be flawed. The young gods who made this world knew so. We’re on a journey to enlightenment. Every life is meant to be different.” She eyed me up and down. “You have billions of skeletons in your closet. So does Landen. What matters now is how you deal with it. Are you going to make the same mistakes of your past or learn from them?”

  “I don’t know what mistakes I made,” I said with quiver in my voice.

  “Inside you do,” Clarissa said quietly. “You’re the only one who has the power to call any action you make a mistake.”

  “I’m doing my best,” I swore.

  “That’s all you can do,” Clarissa glanced to the photo. “Fake or real, you have to be ready for things like this. You have to know who you are today. Yesterday was a thread in the tapestry that is still being woven by the Creator.”

  Olivia reached for the photo; once I gave it to her she tore it into pieces and shoved it in her pocket. “I brought some stuff from my house, too. There are some photos of Monica. Do you want any?”

  “Yeah,” I said quietly feeling better but not cured from my last mental hiccup.

  Downstairs, through the window I could see the guys still playing a demanding game of touch football. Olivia opened the box she had brought with her then handed me a photo of Monica and me at the lake last summer. She was so full of life then. Olivia laid out a few other photos from our senior year, then walked over and hugged me. “I have to go. I promised your mom I would drop these boxes by before dinner,” she said.

  “Wait, I’ll help you,” Clarissa said. Before she left, she looked at me, “Willow, really, forget the past. Don’t let it hurt your present.”

  As they left I slid further down into the chair I was standing in front of.

  The walls seemed to close in around me.

  I needed to get away.

  I abruptly sat up in my seat and pushed back from the table, then went to the hall closet and pulled out Landen and my travel bags, which carried four changes of clothes and currency for different dimensions. I was setting them by the front door when I felt Landen walking in the back door. I glanced down the hall and saw him hesitating at the table as he looked over the photos. His remorse highlighted his relaxed vibe as he saw Monica’s face. He glanced my way before he started to come closer, tossing the football casually from hand to hand. His intense blue eyes landed on the travel bags at my feet. I knew he could feel my intent to run. Seeing how certain my resolve was he tucked the ball under his arm. He forced a calm smile, bringing his perfect dimples to life.

  “Are we going somewhere?” he asked playfully.

  I broke eye contact knowing that if I looked into his eyes long enough his calm would hit home. I’d convince myself I was overreacting.

  I wanted to run.

  To run away with him.

  “I don’t care where. I just need to get away. Me and you.”

  He stepped closer and leaned his forehead to mine. He carefully reached for my wrist and traced my Ankh tattoo—avoiding the brand of the star. We had not been anywhere alone since we had learned that this star was a marker placed on me by Drake. Chara was the only dimension I was safe.

  “Landen, we don’t even know if he’s alive. We can’t be prisoners here,” I pleaded as tears came to the corners of my eyes.

  He let my hand fall then reached for my face and wiped away the tears before they had a chance to escape.

  “I would hardly call this a prison,” he whispered, trying to make me smile.

  “You know what I mean,” I said, trying to remain serious.

  Landen tilted his head toward the phone in the kitchen. “Can I at least call someone and tell them that we’re leaving so they don’t think we’ve been kidnapped by scary monkeys?” he asked light-heartedly.

  I held up one finger. We would be here all night if he called everyone in our family and all of them would either tell us not to go or find a way to follow us. He smiled then walked to the phone. I ran upstairs to close the balcony doors and all the windows. When I came back downstairs Landen was closing up the last window. When he saw me, he walked over to the bags, picked them up, and opened the door.

  “How long do we have before the Calvary comes?” I asked.

  “Not long,” he said with a wink.

  I grinned then took off in a sprint. We raced through the field of flowers to the large windmill that led to an opening in the string. Breathless, I stepped in. As the hum of energy pushed through me I felt renewed. The white light gently lined in colors was so beautiful to me. When I was in the string I felt like I melted into the energy of the univ
erse.

  Landen took my hand and began to lead us away from Chara.

  “So who did you call?” I thought.

  “Brady. Just so you know, I had to promise him we’d be home the day the baby is due,” he thought.

  I immediately felt guilty. I’d promised Felicity that I’d help her. That I would calm her through the pain.

  Landen wrapped his arm around me. “They think we deserve the time alone, too,” he thought.

  I leaned into him so thankful that he was real, that I had found him. He was worth any mental battle I have to deal with. Worth the physical ones, too.

  A few feet later he stopped at a bright yellow light. We then stepped through, out onto the summit of a large mountain. Behind us a home was built into the peak. It was made of a deep red wood. The entire front of the house was glass, which mirrored the sunset back at us as we looked into it.

  “I think this will do for tonight,” Landen said, guiding me up the stone steps. He moved a piece of wood from the front steps, reached in, and retrieved a key. “Wait here. I need to go turn on the generator,” he said, setting the bags down on the steps.

  I watched him walk around the side of the house, then slowly sat down and gazed at the last moments of the sunset. Behind me, lights came on and shined through the glass front of the house. Landen then casually walked around the house.

  “Who does this house belong to?” I asked him when he got closer.

  “All of us. When we take people to different dimensions it’s just easier to have a place that you can call home while you teach them,” Landen said, picking up our bags, climbing the stairs, and unlocking the front door.

  “I bet Clarissa has some clothes in here that would fit you,” he said with a bit of a laugh.

  “I have clothes,” I protested.

  “Yeah, but if we leave here and go into town you’re going to have to wear clothes that match this dimension,” Landen said, raising his brow.

  “And what might they be here?”

  “They only wear yellow. They see the sun as a god and honor him by wearing only a very bright yellow,” he explained, holding his hand out for me to go in.

  The house was beautiful, wide open. The ceiling arched into a frame, the living room had over-sized leather couches centering it, a fireplace was in the center of the couches, and there was a bar that separated the living room and the kitchen. I walked slowly to the couch and collapsed. It was so soft, framing me as I rested there. I heard Landen going through the kitchen looking in all the cabinets. I knew he was looking for food.

  “I’m not hungry,” I thought.

  I closed my eyes and saw the photo of Drake and me again. I debated on just telling Landen. The last thing I wanted to do was stir up a conflict that had barely rested. Neither of us understood why we, of all people, were tossed into a conflict that began over four million years ago. It didn’t matter that we supposedly chose this or that we were the ones who lived four million years ago.

  I ultimately decided that I’d be protecting Landen from unnecessary pain if I just forgot, like Olivia had told me.

  “Are you sure you’re not hungry? Marc was just here. The entire house is stocked,” Landen said as he made himself a bowl of cereal.

  I turned my head from side to side against the couch. Marc had traveled relentlessly since the day we laid his father, Livingston, in the ground. He used the excuse that Landen needed to spend time with me, and people still needed to find their soul mates. Landen and I knew it was his way to grieve.

  My father had started to travel again, too. It was easy to see that he loved it more than he ever loved being a doctor in Franklin.

  I moved my legs to the couch and stretched out and closed my eyes. A few moments later I felt Landen crawl next to me.

  “Wait for me,” he thought. I sleepily opened my eye to see that he had turned off the lights and was covering us with a blanket. As I felt him nestle against me I let my heavy eyelids fall.

  When my eyes opened I realized that I didn’t focus on anywhere the way Landen and I always did as we fell asleep. It was our way of assuring ourselves that we’d be in the same place.

  I was standing in the center of a gray street with gray buildings. I took in a deep breath realizing that this was Esterious. The weight that was always on my chest when I came here in my nightmares was absent. I could feel almost everyone around me, whereas in the past I could only feel the one that had called me here and after that I would always face Drake. Panic seized me. I could hear my heart thundering.

  Landen placed his hands on my shoulders destroying the majority of my freak out. I turned to look up at him. He was taken off guard too.

  “Are you in pain? Is this a nightmare?” Landen thought.

  I swayed my head no. “I can feel all of them,” I thought, watching the people in long black coats go about their mundane day. Their faces were as solemn as they felt.

  “I can, too.”

  At that moment, a small child was walking at her mother’s side down the street. Landen was in their path, but before he could move, the little girl passed through him. A tantalizing rush soared through the two of us. I could feel his emotion intensify. For a moment, he was just as sad as the little girl. After she passed through him, shock came over him, yet the little girl was filled with peace and love.

  Landen’s eyes widened, then he hastily ushered me out of the street. There was a small opening between the buildings we slid inside it and gazed out at the passing people.

  “How did you do that?” I thought.

  “Me? How did she do that?”

  A man leaned against the wall next to us. Landen glanced at me, then cautiously raised his hand and placed it on the man’s shoulder. He was solid. I felt Landen give the man the same peace he had unknowingly given the girl. A rush came through us again. The man stood up straighter. You could tell he wanted to smile, but he hid it as others walked by.

  “That doesn’t make any sense,” Landen thought.

  “I think we should help them all,” I thought, looking at the river of people walking by.

  “Willow, we have to be careful. They’re not supposed to smile or act different. I don’t want them to be executed because we made them feel better. I don’t even know where we are in Esterious.”

  I nodded, smiling at the chance to help more than one person.

  Landen and I took each other’s hand and stepped out of the alley. As the people walked by, we touched them lightly. With each touch the rush we felt intensified. It was mind numbing, blissful. The emotions around us shifted immediately to peace. At the end of the street we stopped and looked back. The people were glancing at each other curiously. Some of them were whispering to one another as they looked back to where we had walked. This was the first time I really appreciated my gift of emotion.

  Two men with hoods—whom I could not feel—walked out of the gray building we were standing next to. Landen pulled me back before they could pass through me. The people on the street noticed them immediately. Fear came through them all. Only a few of them were strong enough to hold on to the peace we had given them. We leaned against the wall and watched as the dark men walked through the center of the street.

  Once we were sure that none of the people were in danger, we looked at each other and nodded.

  We opened our eyes. Daylight was peering in through the front of the house. Landen sat up and rubbed his face, trying to wake up. I pulled myself up slowly.

  Landen stared into nothing. “I feel trapped,” he breathed. “What is the purpose of giving them any peace if they lose it as soon as one of the priests comes around?”

  “Maybe we’re supposed to find the strong ones. Help them so they can help the others,” I offered, urging him to lie back down.

  He refused to comply. Instead, he moved his from head side to side as he stared into the thin air. He was clearly arguing with himself, or at least an idea he had.

  “August tried to help a man in Esterio
us. The man and his family plotted underground to cause people to rise together against the priests, against Donalt. Someone betrayed them…they lost their lives. They left behind two young girls. August has never forgiven himself for encouraging the man.”

  “When?” I asked feeling even more disgusted with Esterious.

  “I don’t know...at least ten years ago. That’s why I think we need to be careful. I don’t want anyone’s blood on our hands,” Landen said, pulling me closer to him.

  “I don’t think we hurt anyone last night. We could do the same again tonight,” I said.

  “I thought the reason we left our home without warning was to spend time alone, away from what Esterious has done to us, to our family and friends. We stumbled last night. I think we should be more careful and focus tonight. We need a break. We can go back when we understand it more,” he said in a final tone.

  I wasn’t fond of being told what to do. I never have been. I sat up quickly and went to find a shower. He knew I was furious.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, grabbing my bag and following me to the bathroom down the hall.

  “What’s wrong?” I repeated sarcastically. “You want to go home and get everybody’s opinion on last night. You know what will happen—we’ll be pulled in every direction, only to find out that no one even knows one way or the other. All the while, people in Esterious are going to be living in their own personal hell. It’s not fair.” I pulled my things out of my bag and began throwing them on the counter in the bathroom.

  Landen caught my hands before I could toss my brush. He gently pinned my arms behind my back and pulled my body against his. He dipped his head slightly so I would I have no choice but to look him in the eye.

  God those eyes of his were lethal. It didn’t matter if I was in a foul mood, terrified, or basked in his bliss they would seize me. Right now his stare was telling me to take a breath. To stop and listen to the reasons he had.

  “Now, you know that’s not my intent,” he said, tilting his head a little, while letting his eyes carefully glide down my body.

  I wanted to stay mad at him. But he had me under the spell. The boy could make my heart race with nothing less than a glance. When I felt his vibe, how the love was raw and had no boundaries—how on fire it felt, my crazy broke away, under it I saw my way to compromise.

  Landen’s intent was to protect me; to help me become what fate had asked of me. His intent was for us to become more powerful as one. Silently he was telling me that had to occur before we could help the souls that I yearned to save.

  “I just want it to be over with. I don’t have the patience for all of this to unfold. Why can’t we just help and move on with our life?” I asked.

  Landen kissed my forehead then let his lips gently slide down to my cheekbone before they finally found my waiting lips. He teased me at first, kissing my bottom lip, then my top before melding our lips together. When he deepened our kiss to a level that invited passion I felt my soul pulse, wanting to be as close to him as I possibly could be.

  He reached down and picked me up, wrapping my legs around him and leaning me against the sink.

  “You’re distracting me Chambers.”

  “Not well enough.” He thought as I felt his hands move around my waist.

  I signed feeling the warmth of his touch against my flesh.

  I slowly opened my eyes to see him staring at me as if I were the most precious soul he had ever laid eyes on.

  “We’ll figure this out. Our insights are already colliding. We have to be in sync before we can help others.”

  My hands moved across his shoulders. “So your theory is that we take off alone,” I let my lips barely graze against his. “Let our gifts strengthen, and then go back and get everyone all rallied up again?”

  “Go back and help,” Landen corrected as he leaned in and stole a kiss.

  “Everybody wins my way,” Landen said under his breath, as his grin spread.

  Landen Chambers had to be the most addictive soul in this universe. And he was all mine.

  Acknowledgements

  Over the past four years I have published twenty novels, Insight is my debut into the writing world, and each of the acknowledgements are moved from one novel to the next. That wasn’t done to take short cuts, but because on this journey I have been blessed enough to keep the same souls at my side. I wanted to take the time with this acknowledgement to state how precious they are to me.

  To my Creator, for I know this passion comes from a powerful, enigmatic source that humbles me with its constant greatness.

  My husband, no doubt, deserves some kind of medal! The man is there from the first instant the idea is thought to life, through the long days of writing where I slip into another world. He manages the blessed life we have built, taking care of our little ones, making sure that there is some kind of substantial meal on the table for each of us. He’s a saint when it comes to telling me what day of the week it is, and letting me know that dawn is approaching and it might be a good idea to get some sleep. He understands that music drives me and is just fine with the same song playing on repeat for days until I have the scene trapped in words. He’s used to having a conversation with me and in mid-sentence I stop and rush to write a line down. There is no doubt that he didn’t sign up to share his wife with the fictional family that always dances in my mind, but he rocks it all the same. I can’t tell you how amazing it is to have someone want your dreams as much as you do, someone that never lets doubt creep into your mindset.

  My children, they make me smile every day. They are now to the point where they’re all for naming characters, dancing to that same song that plays over and over. They love to joke about ‘mom’s bubble’—they know that mom dreams wide awake and tease me when they have to pop that bubble to tell me something.

  Steffini Walker, Sabrina Hoover—there are not words to express how thankful I am to have found you both! I love you girls!!

  Special thanks to Amy Donnelly, Steffini Walker, Alysia Kurtz, Jan Galloway for working through the edits on this episode!

  Graphic designers are one of the unsung heroes of the publishing world. Which is sad because they’re the ones that give your daydreams a face, they bring the emotion and definition to your work that readers new and old will recognize over time. Emma Michaels is another gift; she not only helped me find the image for my debut novel, Insight, but has also been through each of my covers since. She has a way of understanding exactly what I envision and does not rest until that vision is there before us both. This cover was far different from the others. It had to be more than an image that may or not change over the course of time. It had to be a logo, a brand, something that could be identified with this story for seasons to come. Emma rose to that challenge, and I have to say this is one of my favorite covers. It’s almost as if she saw the emblem in my mind clear as day and worked until it was created. Emma, you are amazing!

  My Betas are amazing. It’s their truth that makes them that way, how they are not afraid to tell me what they like and don’t, how they don’t bat an eye when I hand them a contemporary story, a YA story, or this story. They read each with an open mind and their feedback is priceless. There is not a doubt that it always mirrors the feedback my readers will give me once the story is published for the world at large.

  I have the best street team ever! Thank you girls for sharing my daydreams with me!

  Readers. I swear to you, to this day it blows my mind that there are people on this earth that I will never have the chance to meet that have shared these stories with me, people who get it, who leave reality and step into my daydreams with me if only for a moment. You humble me. I can’t stress that enough. Thank you so much for taking a chance, giving up your time to read my work.

  As you can clearly see, people often think that writers have solitary lives, and in some real fashion we do, but more so than not, the story you are reading was impacted by not only those that walked the publishing line with
the writer, but the world at large. Inspiration is everywhere, in every dark and positive moment, in every song, drive, commercial. Everything is inspiration. Life is beautiful, even the dark stressful moments. You just have to find that beauty, and thankfully I have outstanding people in my life that ensure that I notice it each and every day.