by Lisa Glenn
I stood up and looked down the empty sidewalk and smiled. “Yes, Mom, I’m ready.”
Epilogue
I think I found what I wanted to do for a living...or at the least, give it a shot. José had come up to me a few weeks ago and proudly told me that it was his plan to go into the ministry and follow Pastor David's footsteps. As I looked at him, I had to smile. When José said he was going to do something, José was going to do it, no question about it.
"You'll make a great preacher, big brother." I reached down and hugged him tightly. When I stood up, he straightened on his tiptoes and tussled my hair like I had done his so many times. I laughed.
"Don't I know it!" he winked.
As I sit in my room in front of my laptop, I inspected the blank space; my head already full to bursting. Leaning down, I typed out the title and first line without hesitation:
Chapter One
The beginning
Shelby saw the old church in the distance as the bells sang a warm welcome with their, ding-dong-ding chimes...
I typed through the night, my mother and father checking on me once or twice but not disturbing me, knowing that this would only help get the poison out. As I typed though, one thought stayed in the back of my mind like an un-plucked thorn:
Jack is still out there...and it's far from over.
The End
About the Author
Lisa Glenn, born in Montana and raised in Wyoming now resides in Colorado. She is a proud mother of four and a grandmother of many. Along with her writing, she enjoys spending time with her family. When Glenn writes, she chugs coffee by the gallons and eats her favorite treat-chocolate. She is currently working on her next novel.
Thank you for reading my book, ‘Shelby’. Please feel free to leave a review and know that I welcome any and all feedback.
Book two in this series‒ Mary Elizabeth, is now available on Amazon.com
Here is a sneak peek at, The Cascaders, another YA adventure.
The Cascaders
Chapter One
Paltos bent down and stroked the fur on the neck of his companion. “I smell it too,” he whispered. There was a certain scent permeating the air. Straightening, he entered the tunnel cautiously on the lookout for Morgs, the creatures who enjoyed gnawing on the flesh of their kind.
Paltos glanced down at the black panther at his side. “Do you feel the vibrations?” he asked. At the panther’s nod, he glanced back toward the dark in front of them. The tunnels hummed with a soft vibration. His face took on a worried look.
They steadily traveled silently through the tunnel, the only sound was the soft padding of the panther’s paws. When they came to a fork, they turned left and continued. Paltos usually turned right toward the magma pools, which was their usual destination, but something told him to go left this time.
He carried his bow and arrows on his back and his spear in a hand that shook. He slowed sniffing the air. A hole appeared above their heads, and a human man fell and landed on his feet right in front of them with a forked weapon in his hand. When the human’s terror-filled eyes saw them, he stabbed Paltos in the shoulder with the forked weapon, and before he could blink, Paltos was dragged up and out through the hole.
The black panther roared and swiped his large paw with the razor-sharp claws at the human man, but he was too fast. Within minutes, his best friend and the human man both disappeared along with the hole that had suddenly appeared above them.
The black panther let out a blood-chilling screech that echoed off the cement walls of the tunnel. All that was left of his childhood friend were the bow and arrows, and spear. The panther lay on its belly and rested his head on his front paws. His tail no longer wagged but lay listless behind him.
****
Even if he could move, Paltos was too frightened to fight back. The human was breathing hard, and his eyes widened in fear, but from what Paltos wasn’t sure as he was the one impaled on the end of the human’s forked spear. Blood seeped out running down his chest. He tried to dislodge the forks of the spear from his shoulder but was weakened from the blood loss. He lay on the ground, frightened and in shock. A gust of wind had carried them both through that hole. He shook his head. It had to have been about twenty-two or twenty-four feet above them. What kind of power could have sucked them upward?
The man bent over him, then grabbed the handle of the forked spear, and began dragging him across the ground. Paltos growled. Bright shards of light flashed before his eyes, and then the strange man shoved him inside a metal box.
He whimpered as the pain shot through him. Once the human man shut the door, Paltos could hear and see him speaking into his hand. He could see the human behind a clear wall, but fear along with the pain, soon caused him to lose consciousness.
When next he woke, he was lying in a metal cage. A light too bright for his sensitive eyes lit up the room. He sat up and groaned. A bandage had been placed over his shoulder. He stood weakly and glanced around. His eyes widened in shock and something else. Raw terror coursed through his veins. Cages as far as the eye could see were filled with creatures, none like he had ever seen. His hands gripped the bars. A lone tear ran down his cheek. A loud roar ripped out of his throat and the other creatures screamed.