GHOSTED

Ghosted

A Novel by Laura Sue Gardner

Genre: Young Adult Paranormal Romance

Editor: Nicole Zoltack

Line Editor: Greta Gunselman

Cover Designer: Suzannah Safi

Words: 79179

Pages: 220

ISBN: 978-1-77127-049-6

Price: $5.95

Back Cover:

High school sophomore, Pen Shakes, wishes she were dead. After all, her sister Ina is a ghost.

When Pen’s spirit accidentally astral travels into the Spirit World, she has a unique opportunity to help Ina, who is trapped in the netherworld until she completes some unfinished business from life. But to help her, Pen needs to keep some pretty big secrets.

Every time Pen’s spirit travels, her body is left behind, empty and limp. It isn’t long before Pen’s vacant body is discovered, and her secrets make chaos of her life. It doesn’t help that the hot new boy at school, who calls himself Mortician, is asking an awful lot of questions.

Pen finds solace in the dangerous and mysterious ghost, Quinn, who claims to be her soul-mate from a past life. Though warned about him, she can not resist him.

A few tweaks and Ina’s business will be settled—except that a hungry evil lurks in the Depths.

Excerpt:

Quinn squeezed my hand. Something moved over the water. It was dark, but there was enough light to make out tall shapes rising from the water.

"I see them," I said in a shrieking whisper. Hundreds of dark ghost pillars floated toward us.

"Your presence has heightened their awareness of themselves,” Quinn said with something in his voice that sounded like amazement. “Their forms may appear vaguely human with your energy here.”

My knees shook and threatened to buckle. We stood on a circular stone dais surrounded by water. That's when I noticed how I could see. I was glowing. Light emanated from my spirit.

“It’s your life-force. We can see it so well here because you are exactly opposite this place. But listen.” He turned and held my face in his hands. “As soon as there is the slightest ease of their hold on you, and yes, I can feel it when I touch you, I’m going to conceal you inside me, er, inside my wings and get you out of here. They hone in on you when you are still. Your life-force is like a beacon to them. They can feel it.”

When I am still... It made so much sense. It was like a piece of my life had fallen into place. I’d always been inclined to keep moving, to stay up at night moving around. That's why sleeping on the bus seemed so natural, why I slept in short intervals.

"But... I wasn't sitting still in class very long when—"

“Your life-force is growing,” he said. "In times of rapid growth it's easier for them to find you. And now you've reached the age—the fourth day of the second year of the coming of the Blood... More of them will come. More Dormants. More angry spirits. Eventually the veil between our worlds will become no more than a translucent membrane. When that time comes, you need to be ready. For now you can get away by astral travel. Your spirit can move fast enough along the plane that they won’t be able to catch you. Stay high. And don't worry, you're a fast learner.”

Strange how he spoke as if he knew me. “But moving. All the time? How will I...?” Instinctively, I struggled against the three phantoms that had already clamped on to my spirit.

“You’ve managed all these years.” His breath was like wisps of fresh air slipping in under a closed window. I moved closer, imagining a spring meadow. He smiled. “And you still have me."

The smoky, leech-like forms skimmed the water as they flocked toward me. “Oh God.”

"Be ready," Quinn said. "One, two..."

And they were on me, all over me, sucking the life from my spirit. My screams muted into them. I went limp.

About the Author:

Ghosts, demons, voodoo—all that is dark and mysterious—that’s what I loved as a teen. Immersed in that world, I began writing dark poetry in high school and remember delving into books that foretold the future and ones that spelled out bizarre rituals involving mustard seed and needles. I eventually ended up concentrating on fiction after reading tons of books from my favorite section of the library where I work—the YA section.

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