Carnelian
Page 25
Arianna walked into her room and plopped down on the bed. She had already packed everything days before. Because of her aunt and uncle’s refusal to tell her how long they would be gone, Arianna secretly packed everything she couldn’t live without. She fell back into the pillows and began to wonder how long it would be before she would be back in her bedroom in their small apartment above the diner. She studied each familiar crack in the ceiling, these same, comforting flaws that she had spent years staring at. She felt as though her life was about to change, but she couldn’t understand to what extent her life would be turned upside down. Arianna glanced at the clock: 8:52. It was time to meet her mystery friend.
Following the instructions, Arianna offered to empty all the trash bins. As she brought out the last bag, she quietly slipped behind the large, green, alley dumpster and waited. The rain had stopped again, and a fog was beginning to rise. Arianna stared at her watch. One minute to go. Patiently she waited, keeping out of view of the back door. In the light fog, she didn’t see the person nearing her. In just a flash, Arianna felt her knees weaken and her body fell only to be caught by two large hands.
“Who?” she tried to ask, but the hands gently scooped her up and her world dimmed without seeing the mysterious person’s face.
Acknowledgements
As with any work of fiction, there are many people to thank along the way.
To you, the reader. Thank you for taking the time to read this story and go on the journey with me and Mari. If you liked it, please leave a review on your favorite online bookseller (or all of them!) and connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, etc. The greatest help you can do to keep a writer going is to support them by spreading the word about their books and leaving them encouraging words. If you are really inspired, join my mailing list to get updates first on my current and future writings.
Also I would like to thank my editor and cover designers. A good editor is essential to getting the story correct. Thank you so much, Kathie, for catching all those errors. Thankfully she can catch everything to make this a better novel for everyone else to read. Thanks also to Ashton Brammer for the second edit to make this book even better. A thank you to Alexandria Thompson at Gothic Fate for such a pretty cover and Lunarieen for allowing us to use your beautiful necklace. A great cover helps get people interested. They may say never judge a book by its cover, but everyone does! I greatly appreciate all those that can do what I cannot, like editors and cover designers. I am grateful I was able to find great professionals to work with on this book.
I’d also like to thank my hubby for continuing to push me further down the writing road. He gives me time when I need it to work on my stories. He encourages me to keep going each and every day on this adventure. And he does all the behind-the-scenes effort to make this work. This would be so much harder without his help. So thank you, B. for pushing me off the deep end (or the cliff as I see it sometimes). And a great big thanks to my little munchkins who keep me going from before the sun comes up ‘til long after it sets. Love you AK and KB.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my novel!!
About the Author
Originally from Wisconsin, B. Kristin currently resides in Ohio with her husband, two small children, and three cats. When not doing the mom thing of chasing kids, baking cookies, and playing outside, she is using her PhD in biology as a scientist. In her free time she is currently hard at work on multiple novels. Every day is a new writing adventure. She is a fan of all YA fantasy and science fiction and continues to promote good books on her own blog at www.bkristinmcmichael.com. You can find her on Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads