A rectangular, mahogany desk faces two expensive soft leather chairs, while an ornate glass table sits perfectly comfortable in the center. The desk is immaculate, every paper stacked neatly, and the computer sitting on top of the glossy surface is the latest version of a Mac.
Mr. Lane paces beside his desk, too agitated to sit. He’s wearing his usual crisp black suit with a bleached white shirt and matching black tie. His suit is immaculate with a distinct absence of wrinkles in the fabric. A soft lamp barely illuminates his office. Principal Lane finally stops pacing, folds his arms in front of him, and faces Brett, awaiting his report. Brett wastes no time filling him in with the latest development.
“She has ascended, Father,” Brett states, revealing no emotions through his voice. Lane doesn’t seem surprised by this, but it’s hard to tell since his face betrays nothing of what he is feeling. A slight twitch of his right eye is the only indication that he even heard Brett at all. Principal Lane turns and rounds his desk, sits regally into his large brown leather chair, and runs his hands over his face, the only outward sign he allows to vent his frustration.
“Such a travesty,” Lane begins. “Your brother went off the rails and screwed up all of our plans. But there's nothing we can do about that now,” he says, his voice practically dripping with disappointment. “She's as powerful as you are now, Brett. That's very disappointing, but not unexpected. As you’re aware, I’ve planned for this scenario, just in case, but I’m afraid it’s up to you now to make this right. You must succeed where your brother has failed.”
Brett bows his head slightly to his father in both respect and deference. His father notes the show of respect and continues, feeling the need to further explain the dangers of the situation confronting them. “You're the half that makes her whole, Brett. Your soul is as bound to hers as light is bound to darkness. Her ascension complicates things, but the goal is the same—she must turn dark, or all is lost. We can’t afford any more mistakes.”
“I understand, Father,” replies Brett. “She won't be able to deny me—she can't,” he finishes, his voice conveying a confidence well beyond his years. Lane’s dark grey eyes probe Brett's blue ones. Brett is used to this and doesn’t blink, doesn’t dare falter in his confidence, lest his father notice and chide him for his weakness.
“You must not let your love for her get in the way like it did last time, Brett. I will not tolerate disobedience. If you disappoint me again, the consequences will be severe.”
“Understood,” states Brett, again bowing his head in deference. He turns and slowly leaves his father’s office. There is no evidence of the rage he harbors, save his hands balled into tight fists, his fingers white from lack of blood flow. He must hold his emotions in check, a lesson he learned from a lifetime of obeying his father. The consequence for disobedience is swift and harsh. Just look at what father’s past punishments did to David—they sent him completely over the edge, inducing delusions of grandeur, mixed with a heavy dose of craziness.
As Brett opens the side door and walks back outside into the dark of night, Aimee consumes his thoughts. He must get to her. He must convince her to join him before it’s too late. She has no idea what she’s capable of now, what power she harbors within the recesses of her mind. If left unchecked, all hell could break loose. And Brett has had enough of hell to last him ten lifetimes. Whether she is ready for it or not, it’s time for the world as she knows it, to end.
Coming Soon
Unleashed
The Haunting of Secrets #3
About the Author
Shelley Pickens is a Spanish teacher by day and a novelist by night. She's been in love with everything paranormal since she can remember. After years of teaching high school students, she decided to take her firsthand knowledge of young adults and apply it to her passion for creative writing and fantasy. When not teaching or writing, Shelley likes to spend time with her husband and two beautiful children in Atlanta, Ga. Her escape from reality is her love of complex thriller and science fiction TV series like Supernatural and Sleepy Hollow. In her spare time she is an avid watcher of little league baseball.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/shelleypickensauthor
Blog: shelleypickens.wordpress.com/
Turn the page for more books available
from Fire and Ice
Also Available
From Fire and Ice
The Doors
By Alice J. Black
Amanda Fox is a young girl pulled from the life she knows and dropped into Godfrey Hall, an old house with a secret on the South West coast of England where it never seems to stop raining.
When left alone in the house, she hears something in the dark confines of the dining room. It comes from the mosaic doors and she soon finds out the mosaic seems to move when she's alone.
The mystery of the mosaic consumes Amanda's life and with the help of others, she finally discovers the secret and finds a way to open them for the first time in over two hundred years.
Also Available
From Fire and Ice
Hourglass
By Pauline C. Harris
Jude Sprocket has been a pirate her whole life. Taken in by a man who found her alone on a distant planet at the age of seven, all she has to remember of her past life is the loss of her hand – the vague memory of a race through the woods and a bloody aftermath.
Now, her father recently dead, seventeen-year old Jude has inherited his spaceship – Hourglass. Determined to get off Earth and continue her father’s legacy of piracy, she assembles a crew and takes to the stars.
But more than abandoned ships and hidden treasure await Jude in the vast void of space. She’s haunted by dreams of a distant land, children hiding in the shadows, and a little girl she somehow feels the need to find.
When Jude and her crew stumble across an uncharted planet, curiosity gets the better of them and they land, unaware of the dangers that wait. Suddenly, Jude’s worst nightmares are coming true. The monsters she feared in the dark, the children that haunt her mind, the little girl from her dreams – and the planet she was never meant to leave.
Also Available
From Fire and Ice
Happily Never After
Savannah Shadows #1
By Missy Fleming
There's no such thing as happy endings.
Savannah, Georgia is rumored to be the most haunted place in America. Quinn Roberts knows it is. She's felt the presence of spirits her entire life, investigating and photographing them with her best friend. Only none of those encounters ever turned violent, until now. The menacing darkness feeding off her stepmother has promised she won't live to see her eighteenth birthday.
After a chance meeting, Quinn reluctantly allows actor Jason Preston into her life, which has complications of its own. She's not used to letting people get close. Falling for him while fighting for her life, and her family's legacy, only complicates things more. Jason shows her exactly what she stands to lose, especially when she's being attacked by the mysterious entity. Each attack is more violent and terrifying than the last.
With Jason's help, she dives into the Roberts' family history, searching for a link between a woman who went missing a hundred and fifty years ago and what's happening now. What they find is a brutal murder and that the ghost doesn't just want to hurt Quinn, it wants revenge.
It wants her life.
Unhinged Page 18