Ruby Sun

Ruby Sun

A Novel by Andrea Cothern

Genre: Young Adult Sci-Fi Fantasy

Tags: Series, sci-fi, fantasy, love, murder, aliens, space, secrets, betrayal, YA, first love, teen angst,

Release: March 9, 2012

Editor: Julie Lynn Hayes

Line editor: Antonia Tiranth

Cover Designer: Kaytalin Platt

Words: 89924

Pages: 249

ISBN: 978-1-927361-97-9

Price: $5.95

Back Cover:

Life in Blanding’s about as thrilling as watching paint dry. Nothing exciting ever happens. Then the Sheltons move to town, and Beth’s life will never be the same. What’s up with this new family? Their son Robert’s drop dead gorgeous—and he’s got a chip on his shoulder the size of a planet! Lizzy is lively and fun, not like the bossy and demanding Clare, who’s supposed to be Beth’s best friend! Until she sets her sights on Robert, that is! The mystery begins to unravel after an innocuous trip to the museum. Can this be true? Are they really extra-terrestrial visitors? Has Beth fallen in love with an alien? When did her life become like an episode of the X-Files?

Excerpt:

"Beth, no!" She pulled on my arm as I neared the edge. I fell to the ground and gagged, nearly vomiting before I began to crawl.

"Lizzy, he's down there, I put him there, and he’s hurt!" I could do nothing but state the obvious. It was all my brain could handle speaking out loud.

"He's gone. Don't go down there. Get up. Get back to the car! Go. Go." She pointed sternly at the car, standing right in front of me, barring my way. I’d no choice but to turn around and get back in the driver's seat.

“We need to call the police. Or an ambulance! Fire trucks always come out, right?”

“Beth, he’s gone. There’s nothing we can do. No one need ever know we were here."

Mechanically, I drove away from the scene of the crime. Being part of a hit-and-run wasn’t my idea of virtue, but I’d no other choice. No one would believe it was self-defense.

"Oh, Beth. Your head," Lizzy groaned. She fumbled with her pillow, trying to get the case off.

"I'm okay, Lizzy. I think it's already stopped bleeding." I looked into the mirror to check on my injuries, expecting my face to be slashed to bits after that impact. Incredibly, all I’d received was a small cut on my scalp, and Lizzy was unscathed - physically.

"They'll never let me go anywhere with you again," she said with a nervous giggle. "You should let me drive."

"No, I'm fine," I lied.

What had I done?

"I just don't understand how a guy could get that obsessed so quickly," I thought out loud. It didn't seem…normal. As if stalkers could be deemed normal.

"Beth, he's just a creepy guy, and you got rid of him. Let's not mention him to anyone else, okay? It's bad enough he was tailing me. I don't want to have to explain what just happened back there to anyone else."

Wait, tailing? As in, keeping tabs on? But why?

"Lizzy...what do you mean, tailing? Is there something you're not telling me?"

"Beth, I really don't think -”

"Lizzy!" I shouted. I felt I deserved to know, especially after what I had just done.

"Okay!" She took a deep breath before continuing. "My family’s very different from your family."

Okay, I knew that one. What's the catch?

"Look at me, Beth. What do you see?" She turned in her seat to face me full on, pulling her hair out of her face.

I looked closely at her. To anyone who saw her in passing, Lizzy looked completely normal, as a teenage girl should. Her hair was slightly unnatural, but that alone wouldn’t cause any alarm. However, coupled with her eyes…

It had ceased to register to me that her eyes were strange - shimmery and iridescent - they almost seemed to catch the light, to absorb and reflect it.

She was different. Unlike anybody else in the world, I’d once thought. Is that why he was following her? Was her family some government experiment that’d escaped and needed to be reeled in?

I started to panic again.

Not Robert.

He could hate me as long as I lived, but I couldn't bear for him to go away; to be taken away…or Lizzy…or Victor. I wouldn't stand for it.

I realized Lizzy was still waiting for an answer.

"What did they do to you?" I whispered. I didn't know if I’d meant her to hear me, but she did, and for a minute I thought she might giggle.

"They didn't do anything to us. This is who we are."

It was time to ask the obvious question.

"Who are you?" My voice wasn't cooperating. I was whispering so softly only very small animals could hear, and then only if they had good hearing aids.

Then it hit me. Their preoccupation with stars. Her knowledge of space travel. The way she spoke about…what was the name of it? With the red sun? In my mind, I knew I needed to ask a different question.

"Lizzy," I spoke slowly, "where were you living before Canada?"

Her sudden, loud laughter caught me off-guard and the car swerved in response.

“What?” I asked.

"I knew you'd get it. Robert always says, ‘Oh, don’t tell anyone, especially Beth, it’s too dangerous.’” She did the funniest male impression when she did Rob’s lines, deepening her voice and moving her arms in a disjointed fashion. “But you get it. I know I can trust you. Remember when Clare was showing us the red dwarf star at the science center? Gliese581, as you call it?"

I’d just been having a flashback of that moment - of course I remembered.

"They thought life might be possible on one of the planets," I recalled.

"On Evelon, it is."

This was true? She wasn't joking? There's a formal name for that planet? How did they live? Why did her family choose to come to Earth?

A million other questions all popped into my head, but I knew she had more to tell me, so I kept my mouth shut and waited for her to continue.

"Evelon is the fourth planet from Gliese - again, as you call it - and the most beautiful place in the universe." She flashed me a smile. "With the exception of Earth," she amended, then paused. I took the opportunity to ask a question.

"Why’d you leave?" I whispered.

She took a deep breath before she answered.

About the Author:

Andrea Cothern lives with her family in Orlando, Florida, and enjoys painting, crafting, reading, and writing in her spare time. She was born in St. Petersburg, FL, but has spent most of her life living in Ocoee/Orlando. She began writing poems and short stories as a young child, and enjoyed English as her favorite subject. Ruby Sun is her first full length novel.

Customer Reviews:

I absolutely love this book, cried, laughed, smiled. Buy it! I can't wait to finish the second book.

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