The Essential Elements, #1
by Elle
Middaugh
Publication date: February 27th 2016
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Publication date: February 27th 2016
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
BLURB
Valerie Moore was a beautiful,
headstrong girl with below-average social skills and above-average anxiety
(including a flair for over-an alyzing).
With her mother long deceased,
and her father recently deployed, she ends up being sent to live with her
eccentric aunt in a tiny town nestled in the mountains of Pennsylvania. But,
being a Navy brat had made her into a bit of a loner, and making friends
certainly wasn’t her strongest suit. As if the life of a typical teen wasn’t
hard enough.
But Valerie soon discovers she’s
not a typical teenager. Not by a long shot.
SECRETS are revealed…
…About her family, about her
newfound friends and relationships, and about her whole world… Things that have
been kept from her for her entire life…
But the biggest secret of all is
revealed when Valerie discovers that she has Elemental powers, and a chain of
inexplicable and irrevocable events unleashes throughout the little town…
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“Any
other Elemental family members?”
I
narrowed my eyes and took a deep breath. “No.”
Delaney’s
gaze bored a hole into my head through my eyes. She didn’t believe me. Panic
swelled in my veins. As my heart beat faster, my brain squeezed tighter. Would
this pain never end?
“Other
Elemental family members,” she demanded. “Now.”
I
wracked my brain for a smooth lie that just wouldn’t come. It was too late for
smoothness, but not for a lie. If I could just think of something.
My head
lashed to the side as her hand stung my cheek. Agony erupted through my system
and my stomach hurled once more. Frothy spit and stomach acid spewed from my
mouth and dripped onto the pretty stone-tiled floor.
“Elemental
family members,” Henri prodded softly.
I spit
the nasty taste out of my mouth. “I don’t have any.”
Delaney
pulled a handgun from the back pocket of her skinny jeans. She aimed it at my
left shoulder, a few inches shy of my heart, and cocked an eyebrow. One last
chance to change my tune before suffering a bullet.
I took
a deep breath. My entire body was tingly with shock and disbelief. I’d never
had a gun pointed at me in my life. It seemed surreal…
Until
reality came screaming into focus with an earsplitting boom.
My eyes
widened, and for a brief moment, time decelerated. The throbbing pain muted,
because my heart was barely beating. The smoke hovered almost unwaveringly at
the end of the barrel. The hole in my shoulder became a slow-motion
kaleidoscope of vivid red.
She shot me… She actually shot me…
The
world sped back into real time, and pain assaulted me like the wall of sound
before an explosion. If I hadn’t been tied to that wooden post, I would have
surely been knocked backward by the sheer volume of anguish.
I’d
never before experienced pain so severe it was mentally disorienting. Now, in a
desperate act of self-preservation, my mind was trying to leave my body.
Blacking out seemed the only way to short-circuit the maddening shrieking of
the pain receptors.
My
vision was clouding with twinkling spots of dark colors, each dot stabbing my
brain before winking out of existence and appearing somewhere else. The
overwhelming smell of iron and gunpowder rode the air, heavy like a fog.
I
somehow managed to choke down the gag that was seizing my throat. I somehow
managed to remain conscious.
“Elemental
family members,” Henri asked again, more sternly this time.
They
would kill me if I didn’t talk. Delaney aimed the gun at my other shoulder.
They would kill me slowly…
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Author Info
Elle Middaugh is a newly
published author, born in the sticks outside of Clearfield, Pennsylvania. After
moving around the east coast a number of times, she now lives in her hometown
with her husband and three children.
Reading has been a favorite past
time since Elementary School and choose-your-own-adventure books. Writing has
been her dream since Middle School when she first began penning her own
material. Being published is the most awesome achievement in her writing career
so far, but she hopes for more exciting landmarks and stepping stones in the
future!
She’s a proud Navy wife; a
frazzle-brained mother; a homebody who dislikes cleaning; a fan of tennis, and
fitness in general; a lover of hot tea, mountain dew, and all things fiction;
and she’s a bigger My Little Pony fan than her children.
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