Hooded

by A A Woods

  “I’m not, you know.”

  Eliza started, pulled from her thoughts as Joe bumped into her shoulder.

  “What?”

  “Gay. Not that I have anything against the idea,” he said, the words tumbling out of him. “I’m sure it would be awesome to be gay. Then at least I could respond to them with an enthusiastic hell yeah.” Eliza laughed as Joe continued. “But I’m not.”

  “Joe, I’ve seen your collection of Taylor Swift posters.”

  He ducked his head, pale cheeks flushing with color.

  “Too many?”

  She shoved him gently.

  “Come on, you weirdo, we’re late.”

  Eliza and Joe were the last to enter homeroom, which of course made things more awkward than usual. Mrs. Henderson immediately launched into her disapproving lecture about timeliness and work ethic, but Eliza wasn’t listening. She could feel the eyes on her, hot with malice and cunning. The female student population at Meru seemed to think that Eliza was a barely tamed zoo animal, still reeking of the wild. She guessed that the stories about her last school—where she’d been suspended twice for bloodying a bully’s nose—had circulated enough to give her what her mother would call a reputation. But not enough to make them back off. If anything, it was like they were poking her. Looking for a weakness, a button, a trigger. Wanting to be around to watch the show.

  And it didn’t help that deep down, Eliza wanted to give them one.

  Finally released from the early bird gets the worm sermon, Eliza followed Joe to the back of the classroom, hunching her shoulders to avoid the haughty stares. Worst of all was Tori Bent, as beautiful and cruel as a winter storm.

  And unfortunately, Eliza’s roommate.

  “Did you get lost on the way to class?” Tori hissed as Eliza slid into her seat, Joe taking the one behind her.

  Eliza made a coughing sound shaped suspiciously like the word harpy.

  “Look, I know we aren’t exactly friends—” Eliza snorted “— but I want to make it up to you. The girls and I are having a bit of a, shall we say, affair in the woods tonight. By the Fitzgerald Base fence. You know, that clearing off Exit Two.”

  Suspicion prickled along Eliza’s arms. Disgruntled by the sudden appearance of a roommate in what had been a private room the year before, Tori had taken on the mission to exclude or humiliate Eliza as if it were her holy calling. So Eliza knew there must be something more to the affair than Tori was letting on. Especially since Joe was kicking her seat from behind in silent warning.

  “I think I’ll pass,” Eliza said, swallowing the urge, the need even as it welled inside her.

  “Come on, are you scared?”

  It was as if Tori knew the passcode to Eliza’s brain. She fought it, tried to breathe through it, but the instinct to prove herself ran marrow deep. Ever since Katie’s death, Eliza hadn’t been able to resist a call to action. A way to stand out.

  A dare.

  And this was just that.

  “Fine,” Eliza said, ignoring Joe’s foot now hammering on the underside of her molded plastic chair. “What time should I be there?”

  Books By This Author

  Vagabonds: Book 1 of the Scottstown Heroes Series

  Something’s hiding in Scottstown…

  Eliza Mason is bored and frustrated by her life at Meru Academy. Her it-girl roommate hates her, her teachers pity her, and the only friend she has is the rich but reclusive Joe, who doesn’t exactly share Eliza’s yearning for adventure.

  But when she accepts a dare to sneak onto the local military base and sees something she shouldn’t, Eliza suddenly finds herself in the middle of a dangerous mystery. Desperate to find answers, she puts everything on the line to find out what’s going on.

  What she discovers will change her life forever.

  For fans of X-Men, Maximum Ride, and Stranger Things.

  The Star Siren

  Twelve light-years from civilization, Nova’s planet is dying...

  Abandoned by Earth and condemned by ever-expanding solar flares, the colony world of Carbide has fallen into war. Nova, a member of the military's elite Sirens, enforces the rule of a dictator, convinced that violence is the only way to keep order on their doomed planet.

  But while assassinating a traitorous general, Nova learns that the wormhole that closed 50 years ago has just reactivated. More colonists are coming, bringing with them a way to save Carbide... and all the evils of Earth.

  The Sirens are ordered to infiltrate this incoming ship and take charge of the technology that will make their world self-sufficient. But in doing so, Nova can’t help but learn about the planet of her ancestors.

  And wonder how much she really understands about her own.

  For fans of The Expanse and Interstellar, this science fiction thriller will have you on the edge of your seat!