Sneak Peek
From THE WOOD DWELLERS
A sequel novel to THE LITTLE DOOR
A sequel novel to THE LITTLE DOOR
Chapter 1
Life Now
496 days had passed since Rose left Mavarak.
Life Now
496 days had passed since Rose left Mavarak.
Not that she was counting. No, seriously, she hadn’t been counting. Or at least not initially. It wasn’t until she hit one year exactly, 365 days, that she started keeping track. And even then, it started passively. Oh, there goes another month, that’s another 31 days to add to the count. Summer’s over and tenth grade is beginning, how many days is summer anyway? Better add that to the total.
Now, though, Rose purposefully tallied the days to keep track of them. For the most part, the yearning to return to Mavarak had gone away. She adjusted to her new high school fairly quickly. She adjusted to 9th grade, and then when that passed and 10th grade came around, she adjusted to that too. She adjusted to her mom’s new apartment and the weekends at her dad’s house. She even adjusted to Dad putting the old house up for sale.
She just couldn’t adjust to missing Rylan.
From THE LITTLE DOOR
Chapter 1
The Dream
I was drowning.
I could feel the liquid leaking into my lungs. I blinked into the sunlight reaching towards me through a thick layer of water. The river seemed to be thrashing past me at every angle, yet I wasn’t moving. I could hear the distinct sound of the roaring water bellowing overhead, but it seemed to be a hundred miles away.
The Dream
I was drowning.
I could feel the liquid leaking into my lungs. I blinked into the sunlight reaching towards me through a thick layer of water. The river seemed to be thrashing past me at every angle, yet I wasn’t moving. I could hear the distinct sound of the roaring water bellowing overhead, but it seemed to be a hundred miles away.
My arms lay out at either side of my body as I levitated over the riverbed. I rolled over, feeling a certain calmness that seemed peculiar to me for someone who was bound to be dead any second now. As I rolled my body sideways, I noticed the riverbed seemed farther away than it should have been. Rivers are only supposed to be a few feet deep, yet this river went on for miles. If I squinted through the water, all I could make out was a vast, never ending blue that darkened the farther it got from me. I dove deeper, wondering how long I might have to swim before I reached the bottom. Then the thought struck me, how do I know I’m going downward? Or is this sideways? I rolled around again to face upwards, but perhaps that was the direction to go towards the riverbed. Wait, would I want to go towards the riverbed? No, I certainly should be looking for the direction out of the water, not in deeper. I began thrashing my legs, suddenly filled with a desperation to get out of the cold embrace surrounding me.
That’s when I filled with panic. The calmness that had caressed me only moments before broke and I realized I was dying. I spun around again, searching through the deep waters for a way out. Something had to be here to help me find my way out. Where had the light gone that had just been reaching for me? I pushed my body forward through the coldness, searching through the vastness of the dark water. I appeared to be in an ocean, but somehow my brain knew this was a river. I pushed forward again just as a strong gush of water hit my shoulder and flung my body around in a new direction.
Then, as though it had been there all along, the riverbed appeared right in front of my face, close enough for me to reach out and sink my hand into the muddy surface below. Through the twigs and rocks, I saw a little door.