Title: Fear Darkness (The Fear Chronicles Book 3)
Author: C.C. Bolick
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
Book Blurb:
Rena Mason found fear and learned to control her powers. Now she plans to fight her way back inside the agency. Before she can save Travis, she learns he’s disappeared. Travis isn’t the only one missing; her dad and brother have been taken by Louis.
Travis Payne spent years searching for his dad. Now his first priority is keeping Rena safe. When Travis wakes up on the other side of the galaxy, he knows he can’t protect her. The only way for him to return is by helping a traitor he fears—if he can afford the price.
Aliens aren’t the only danger the agency faces. As Rena prepares to take down everyone who betrayed her, the only thing left to fear is the darkness her mama knows well…
Excerpt:
Leaving everything she knew was tough. I’d lived through the separation months ago after leaving Florida, but Travis was there to keep me from regretting my decision to stay with Dad while he resumed his job as agent. Had I made the wrong decision? Yesterday Erin was interviewing for a job and today… “Will you be okay?”
She bit her thumbnail. “You’re asking me? I should ask you the same thing.”
“Should we take you back to Chicago?”
“It’s a little late for that. Do you think Sylvia will erase my memory?” Her voice filled with worry. “Do you think she’ll have me arrested?”
“I don’t know. This is my first time leaving the base. If you want to go back to Chicago—”
“I’m not leaving you alone. Until you find this Van… or whoever it is you’re trying to call. I don’t know about these streets, but Chicago was no joke.”
“Then you stay with me for now.”
Erin remained silent until the highway widened and signs for Richmond appeared above us. “Do you think I’ll get to see Tyler again?”
“Do you want to see him?”
“When I heard he died I shut out everyone,” Erin said. “Every day was about my job, about the research. About saving people. Now I know the truth.”
“Do you still want to save people?” I asked.
She turned to me. “I have no idea what I want. I don’t know where I’m going or who I was fifteen minutes ago. All I know is I’ve got to see him.”
“Grab the phone,” I said. “Call the number again.”
Erin took the phone and hit redial. With the speaker on, ringing came across the line… once, twice, and then the same weird clicking and beeping. Also, a screeching that forced Erin to turn down the volume.
“That sounds like a fax machine,” Erin said. “Are you sure this is the right number?”
“Don’t think I’ve ever called a fax machine. It really makes that noise?”
“We still use fax machines at the hospital. If you call the number, you hear the beeping and screeching.” She ended the call and stared out of her window. “How am I ever going to face everyone at the hospital again? Management thought I took a leave of absence to sort out personal issues. I never told them about the job interview.”
“Are you thinking about going back?”
“I don’t know what to think. Sure you don’t want me to drive?”
“Driving takes my mind off going back.”
“So, that’s your secret?” Erin folded her arm under her head and leaned against the window. “If you fall asleep and flip us over in a ditch, don’t bother waking me.”
Her words haunted me long after she began snoring softly. I didn’t want to die in a wreck like Mama did. For the first time since leaving the base, I let myself feel the full weight of her lies.
Our conversation replayed as the traffic thickened, but I kept the Honda safely between the lines. Despite her insistence, Louis wasn’t my father. The man who raised me, the man who she left Louis to spend her life with, was. Why lie?
What bothered me most wasn’t the fact she lied to my face. It was her description of the darkness. I’d experienced the same darkness when my heart stopped. Travis’s voice led me back to my body, back to breathing, and my heart restarted.
The doctor seemed surprised; people who died and came back described a white light or seeing loved ones long dead. No one mentioned darkness. Mama seemed to think this had something to do with her power. A power we shared.
She’d died the night of the wreck and existed in total darkness before returning and eventually taking over the body of Bethany Kruger. What if next time I wasn’t able to find my way back?
Was the darkness waiting for me?
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Author Biography:
C.C. Bolick grew up in south Alabama, where she’s happy to still reside. She’s an engineer by day and a writer by night—too bad she could never do one without the other.
Camping, fishing… she loves the outdoors and the warm Alabama weather. For years she thought up stories to write and finally started putting them on paperback in 2006. If you hear her talking with no one to answer, don’t think she’s crazy. Since talking through her stories works best, a library is her worst place to write… even though it’s her favorite!
C.C. loves to mix sci-fi and paranormal—throw in a little romance and adventure and you’ve got her kind of story. She’s written eleven books including the Leftover Girl series, The Agency series, and The Fear Chronicles.
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