(Un)wise (25 page)

As with all the other books, each of the girls’ stories overlap.  Book four, from Peace’s point of view will tie into the scene you just read.  At some point, I will also release Charlene’s story detailing how she found her way to Thomas and the amazing extent of her gift.  So, stay tuned.

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Coming 2014

Jaw clenched, I shoved the key in the apartment building door.  My skin felt too tight from all the crap I had to deal with at the office. 
I should have quit like Ethan said
, I thought. 
Who cares if I spend my whole life tending bar?
  It would be easier, especially with the setup Ethan had.

Stopping to grab my mail from the entry, I gave a tight smile to my downstairs neighbor.  Waves of annoyance rolled off him and soaked into me.  My skin grew tighter.  I quickly grabbed my mail and moved on before he could pull me into a friendly conversation.

My neighbors all liked me.  They didn’t even know me, but that didn’t stop them from treating me like a close friend.  As a rule, I didn’t socialize with anyone in my building.  It just didn’t seem right.  After all, I robbed them of anything negative emotion they might have.  So, how could they not like me?

As a child, I’d always wanted friends.  When Ethan came along and seemed to understand me better than anyone else ever had, I gave up on having friends and settled for having a friend—singular.  And Ethan was enough.

I trudged up the stairs to the second floor, opened my apartment, and stepped inside with a sigh.  My eyes fell on my bag hanging from the special support the landlord had installed for me.  I wanted nothing more than to start hitting it, but knew once I started, I wouldn’t stop until I was drained.  First mail, then change, and then dinner.  After that, I could have at it.

Kicking off my flats, I sorted through the mail while walking to the kitchen.  I didn’t need to pay attention to where I was going.  My apartment wasn’t that big.  The living room and kitchen flowed together with a tiny island separating them.  The living room had my bag dangling from the ceiling and that was it.  My bedroom had a T.V., bed, and dresser.  I didn’t need much.

I stopped mid-sort and stared at an envelope with a hand written address.  No return address.  No postage.  Weird.  I threw the bills to the side and set the envelope on the counter.  The bills I’d write out later, the envelope I would open while I waited for food.  The freezer had a nice selection of dinners waiting for me.  I grabbed one at random and threw it into the microwave.  While I listened to the hum of my dinner cooking, I tore open the envelope and pulled out a hand written letter.

No matter how I write this, you won’t believe it.  All I ask is that you don’t throw this away...just consider it.

There are people looking for you.  They know what you can do.  They must not find you.  If they do, they will hurt us both, and so many more.

Don’t trust anyone.  Run.  Stay hidden.  Our time’s almost up.

I turned it over and glanced at the blank back.  There was no greeting and no closing.  Just an unsigned note.  My eyes fell on the one sentence that truly concerned me.  “They know what you can do,” I murmured.

The microwave beeped.  I used a magnet to stick the letter to the refrigerator and drifted to my room to change.  Dressed in Spandex shorts and a tight exercise tank top, I padded out to the living room and ignored the cooling dinner that waited for me.  I slipped on my gloves to protect my knuckles and started exercising my demons.

The idea that someone might know about me didn’t scare me.  I found it amusing.  No one really knew but Ethan.  My parents had their own ideas about me—how could they not after raising me?  But their suspicions weren’t close.  They thought I exuded positive energy.  I’d like to blame their hippie thoughts on their habits in the sixties and seventies, but they weren’t that old.  The reality of what I did wasn’t that I released positive anything.  It was the exact opposite it seemed.

I mostly siphoned negative emotions.  But if I wanted, I could pull the positive ones too.  I felt what the people around me felt.  Like sampling ice cream, their emotions had different flavors letting me know their moods.  Unfortunately, the siphoning wasn’t voluntary.  No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t completely turn it off.  But, boy, could I turn it on.  If I wanted, I could drain a room in two heartbeats.  Taking away all that negativity made the people around me happy, but did the opposite for me.  The more I siphoned, the less I felt like myself.  I grew agitated, angry even.  My skin tingled the more I absorbed until it felt painfully tight.  The only thing that helped relieve it was physical activity.

I hit the bag, timing the back swing and setting a grueling rhythm. Who would ever think someone could do what I could do...and why would they come after me?

Good luck to whoever thought they could take me
, I thought.  I’d leave them on the floor with a gap-toothed smile.

The Judgements:

• Strength — Charlene, Emmitt’s mother, wife to the werewolf leader Thomas [
  Book 6, a prequel, no release date
  ]
  
• Hope— Gabby, recently reluctant mate to Clay  [
  Book 1:  Hope(less)
  ]
  
• Prosperity — Michelle, mate to Emmitt, son of Charlene  [
  Book 2: (Mis)fortune
  ]
  
• Wisdom — Bethi, mate to Luke [
  Book 3: (Un)wise
  ]
  
• Peace — Isabelle [
  Book 4, anticipated release 2014
  ]
  
• Courage — [
  Book 5, anticipated release 2014
  ]
  

The light’s Gabby sees:

• Werewolf — Blue center with a green halo
  
• Urbat — Blue center with a grey halo
  
• Human — Yellow center with a green halo
  
• The Judgements:
  
• Charlene — Yellow with a red halo
  
• Gabby — Yellow with an orange halo
  
• Michelle — Yellow with a blue halo
  
• Bethi — Yellow with a purple halo
  
• (Peace) — Yellow with a white halo
  
• (Courage) — Yellow with a brown halo
  

Touch

By Melissa Haag

Tessa longs for freedom...

A touch.  That's all it takes for Tessa to know her future with a boy.  Her mom tells her she needs to choose her best option before she turns seventeen.  Problem is, she sees all her “options” dying before they turn thirty.  That may have worked for the last fourteen generations of women in her family tree, but Tessa can't choose and condemn someone to an early grave.

An unfortunate incident at Tessa's school starts a chain of events that reveals Morik, a centuries old chaos demon.

Morik won't stop looking for her...

Hidden from the world, he has waited for his chance.  Desperate for a purpose, he struck a deal.  The time has come to collect.