Phil.
Nicholas’ grip tightened on mine. “I know he was your friend and I’m glad he didn’t let me bite you, but…”
“It’s over,” I said, smiling up at him. “My guess is he’s in L.A. and he won’t remember. He’ll never come between us again.”
Nicholas smiled reassuringly and tucked me under his arm.
As we approached the cave and looked inside, the earth began to shake. I clutched onto Nicholas’ arm and screamed, expecting the ground to open up and suck us down inside, starting the nightmare over.
“Whoa, dude,” a guy said, blasting out of the cave like a bat out of hell. “Not a cool time for an earthquake.”
He flipped the dirt out of his sandy blonde hair and turned toward us with a grin. I almost fell over.
“Phil!” I wanted to say as my mouth hung open unnaturally.
He cocked an eyebrow and then smiled smugly. “Do we know each other?”
My mouth slammed shut, unsure what to say. I looked to Nicholas for some help.
“I don’t think so,” I finally said.
“I thought maybe we’d met. You look really familiar.” He squinted and glanced casually over at Nicholas. I wished for my empathic powers to read him. “I’m Phil. I’m new in town and starting SVH tomorrow. Do you go there?”
“I—yeah. I do. I’m Julia.” I held out my hand. “And this is Nicholas.”
I nudged Nicholas in the side, hoping he’d be cordial and let bygones of the parallel universe be bygones, since Phil obviously didn’t remember.
“Hey,” Nicholas said flatly, but didn’t offer his hand.
Phil gave Nicholas a once over with a scrupulous grin and tilted his head. “Hey, man.”
I tightened my grip on Nicholas’ fingers. “We were out exploring, and I wanted to check out this cave.”
Phil shrugged. “Yeah, it’s kinda cool. But be careful, it might be a den. I saw paw prints inside—possibly wolf.”
“Really? Wolves? Don’t you mean mountain lions?” I chewed on the inside of my cheek, remembering back to Nicholas’ initial lie to explain what stalked me in the forest.
“Maybe … you can never be too sure,” Phil said and moved off the rocks and onto the trail. “Anyway, be careful.”
“Sure thing,” I called out. “See you at school.”
He disappeared out of sight. “Yeah, Parker. See ya.”
I froze and swiveled around to Nicholas. “Did you hear that?”
Nicholas’ lips pulled into a straight line. “Apparently, we aren’t the only ones who retained our memories.”
I dropped Nicholas’ hand and moved to catch up with Phil. I couldn’t let this go. We had so much to talk about.
“Whoa, where are you going?” Nicholas asked, wrapping me up in his arms.
“I have to talk to him.”
“No, you don’t.” A sexy smile tugged at his lips, revealing two adorable dimples. I melted. “We’ve got other things we need to take care of.”
“Like?” I furrowed my brow.
“Like the rest of our lives and the details of the latest incoming transfer at SVH.”
“What do you mean?”
He grinned. “Me.”
My mouth fell open. “You’re transferring to my high school? How?”
“I’ll move here, of course.” He laughed, his electric blue eyes lighting up his face. “How else am I going to keep you out of trouble?”
I chuckled, squeezing his torso tighter. “That might be a lot easier considering the obvious.” I grazed my teeth over his neck and pretended to bite.
He shivered like he enjoyed it and dropped a kiss on my temple. “We’ve been given a second chance, and I plan to be worthy of that gift.”
I took a deep breath and drank him in, his smell, his warmth.
“I love you, Julia,” he breathed in my ear.
I looked up into his baby blues and smiled. “I love you, too, Nicholas.” And I will for forever.
Then he kissed me.
I can’t believe this day is finally here and the Talisman Series has come to a close. I’m going to miss Julia, Nicholas and especially Phil, who will always have a soft spot in my heart.
First, I thank God for being patient with me and still showing His mighty blessings. Second, to my husband Mike: we’ve survived yet another book release. Thank you for keeping our house together while I buried myself in this fantasy world. I love you. Third, to Kristie Cook: your encouragement, your assistance, your insight, and pushing me to do my very best. I can keep going on. I’m blessed we are friends and am still dreaming the KM dream for us!
To Lisa Sanchez and Lisa Langdale: both of you are bomb-betas and your magic pulls life from those infamous, confusing dead paragraphs.
To Jaime and Nicole: Thank you for hopping up to the plate and begging to give me feedback.
To Donna Wright and Lori Moreland: for making me look smarter than I am.
To you, my fans: this book is really for you. From all the letters, tweets, messages on Facebook and emails, you didn’t give up on my characters and I hope this ending is all that you craved. Maybe… if I hear enough rumblings, someone may need a story of their own.
To my family: thanks for putting up with me, helping me in my times of need, and cheering me over the finish line.
To my friends: for telling me I could do it and being excited with me when I do. To all the aspiring writers out there: if this is your dream, don’t ever let anyone tell you you can’t. Dream big! Live the life you’ve imagined!
To the book bloggers: thank you for all your promotion and endless excitement of books. You put my work in front of eyes I’d never reach and continue because you love good stories. I’m forever grateful.
This year has been one of the hardest and most thrilling years of my life. My son, who’s so typical now you wouldn’t know he didn’t speak at age three, is thriving at school and preparing to graduate from his four-year journey of in-home therapy. This is the entire reason I started writing and will continue. To all the tutors: thank you for investing in my son’s life. Thank you for helping our dreams for his success come true. Because of confusion/greed in the medical industry, the environment and our poisoned food supply, autism isn’t going to go away. My family is a success story, but there are so many who deal with incredible sadness and difficulties everyday because they love someone with Autism. To up and coming parents: don’t believe the media. Don’t believe your doctor. Do your research before you vaccinate and don’t let anyone bully you once you’ve made your decision. Stand firm. Be a warrior. It could save you or your child’s life.
. . .
Sign up for the author’s newsletter to enter contests and find out about future installments at:
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. . .
Also by Brenda:
Everblue – Book #1 Mer Tales (Available Now)
Evergreen – Book #2 Mer Tales (Coming 2012)
. . .
Brenda Pandos lives in California with her husband and two boys. She attempts to balance her busy life filled with writing, being a mother and wife, helping at her church and spending time with friends and family.
Working formerly as an I.T. Administrator, she never believed her imagination would be put to good use. After her son was diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, her life completely changed. Writing fantasy became something she could do at home while tending to the new needs of her children, household, and herself.
You can find out more about her daily challenges and discoveries on her blog at brendapandos.blogspot.com.
: : :
Stay tuned for a riveting excerpt of EVERBLUE, book #1 in the Mer Tales:
By Brenda Pandos
1
ASH
“So, tell me everything, Ash.” Tatiana stretched out on her blanket in rapt attention. Her toes—complete with ruby-red polish—were out of her flip-flops and curled into the sand as if it was summer, though the chill of March lingered in the air and patches of snow dotted the coastline.
“Nothing exciting happened today.” I shivered in my jacket, sitting on a nearby boulder with my arms looped around my folded legs to keep warm. “I swear.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I watched her bask in a little bit of sunlight and wait in anticipation while the icy water lapped the beach just beyond us. Daily we did this—the drama report from South Tahoe High. Her home-schooled existence left little to no excitement, which meant I couldn’t start talking about anything else until I’d dished out every dirty detail from my craptastic day.
“Fine.” I rolled my eyes.
After I filled her in on the drama, I studied and secretly envied our differences. Tatchi, with her long, tan legs could have any guy at South Tahoe High School she wanted. Her iridescent blonde hair flowed like cascading water down her shoulders; a perfect match to her azure eyes. I, on the other hand, the Irish redhead that freckled in the sun, walked around school unnoticed by guys. Constantly smelling like sunscreen and chlorine didn’t help either.
She lapped up my account like a lonely dog whose master had just come home. She never cared how similar the stories were. To Tatchi, my words were her lifeline to society, to a real life she craved—her live reality show with me as the narrator.
“Oh, wow. What did he do?” Tatchi rolled over onto her stomach and kneaded her hands together, hungry for more.
“Nothing. He acted like nothing happened. The whole thing kinda backfired.”
Tatchi laughed and laid her chin on her folded hands. “Serves her right. Then what happened?”
The longing on her face tugged at my heart. I turned away to watch the endless span of sparkling water across the lake—only the snow-covered mountains gave away its end—and shook my head. “Nothing. I came home. Just another totally boring day.”
“Not in the slightest,” Tatchi giggled. “I can’t wait ’til this is our life.”
I smiled, knowing we’d be breaking out of this tourist trap soon enough and she’d be free. Then she’d finally see that living the drama was vastly different than hearing about it—especially when the heartache happened personally.
We sat in silence for a moment as the past drifted in like the tide in my mind. Tatchi would love nothing more than to finish her senior year in public school, but her parents were super strict—similar to mine. Only, their concern didn’t lay with what kind of education she’d get at STHS or the influence from her peers. No, they hid a big secret. One I’d discovered a long time ago and was the reason I avoided her house.
“Do you have swim practice tonight?” Tatchi asked, interrupting my thoughts.
“No.” I jumped back into reality. “There’s some banquet for the teachers so it was cancelled.”
“Nice to have a break, huh?”
“Meh. I like practice and it’s not like you can do anything anyway. You’ve got a curfew—”
“Not for much longer. How many days again?” Tatchi sat up and copied my pose by curling her arms around her legs too.
“Like I have to tell you.” I scrambled over and pulled the tattered brochure from my book bag. Every word on that thing had been read at least a hundred times.
Last summer, I’d gotten the hair-brained idea to get a post-office box so Tatchi could apply to colleges in secret. She wasn’t thrilled about the idea, afraid how her family would react, but after we sent out applications and were accepted to Florida Atlantic University, we both became excited about the possibilities.
“Only five months and six days ‘til we‘re free,” she said with a coy smile, though nervously fidgeting with her charm bracelet, the vial of blue liquid sparkling in the sun just right.
I grabbed her hand. “Your family will be thrilled, I know they’ll be. You’re the first to go to college
and
on a scholarship. They’ll be happy for your accomplishment.”
Tatchi and her twin brother Fin helped run the family sailing business, Captain Jack’s Charters. My Gran’s curio shop, Tahoe Tessie’s Treasures happened to be on the same pier. Without college, both of us would be slated to stay and eventually take over the family business, putting down roots like our parents.
“Well…,” she said with a sigh, a glint of worry reflected in her eyes, “you just don’t know them.”
The childhood flashback of her dad’s angry face shimmered across my vision. I gulped down my hesitation. She needed me to be strong for her when she finally told them.
With a deep breath and as much compassion as I could muster, I looked her in the eye. “How could they not be proud of you? Sure, they’ll have to find someone to take your place in the office, but that’s nothing. And you can’t pass up a scholarship—”
“It’s not that. It’s other things.”
My stomach clenched. Now seemed like an opportune time to finally discuss what I saw so many years ago. Her dad had a serious problem. In fact, keeping the family secret to herself wasn’t healthy, constantly living vicariously through my warped interpretations of other teens.
I’d just about broached the subject when Tatchi suddenly gasped.
“What’s wrong?” I asked and glanced over to where she looked, afraid her father might be storming down the beach towards us. Instead, a red Jeep rolled over the ridge and down the rocky path that separated our neighborhoods.
She tsked. “What does he want?”