Title: Fear Power (The Fear Chronicles Book 2)
Author: C.C. Bolick
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
Book Blurb:
Rena Mason once feared never being able to explore her feelings for Travis. Now she fears not being able to save everyone she cares about. As her fear grows, so does her power. With Travis’s help, she fights to uncover what really happened to her mom, along with the secrets her dad still hides.
When a renegade agent puts Rena in the agency’s crosshairs, other agents question their ability to contain her. If she could just figure out how to fly without crashing to the ground, maybe she could control her powers.
With threats from Louis, Rena prepares to face the truth about her family. But not all threats come from the outside. As Rena will learn, she can’t trust everyone at the agency…
Excerpt:
Travis pulled out his gun and took a look around the room. “We’re at the edge of town in a warehouse. According to GPS, the second bomb is somewhere in this room.” He grabbed my arm with his other gloved hand and dragged me to the end of an aisle between two rows of boxes. “We’re getting closer.”
I followed as Travis ran between another row of boxes. The light from the sun was fading, which appeared to be the only light within the room. Long shadows fell across the floor. I tripped on a raised section of concrete and Travis caught me before I hit the floor.
“Are you ready to stop this bomb, Rena? I’m serious. You know this is crunch time.”
“I’ll try.” I closed my eyes and tried to think of anything that scared me. Shouldn’t the thought of getting blown up be enough? I didn’t fear Louis before because Travis was always there to save me. But this time… What if Travis couldn’t save me from the bomb? What if my friends were hurt or innocent people took the fall for my mistakes?
He gripped my hands. “Rena, calm down and focus.”
“What if I can’t do this?”
“Rena—”
“No, Travis. What if I can’t make—”
“You are.” Travis pried my hands open.
I looked down as blue sparkled along my palms. “Have you found it?” My voice shook as my hands lit the surrounding room.
His face glowed from the pulsating blue. “I knew you could do it.” Travis pulled my arm until we found an aisle with a box at the center. On the box was a device about the size of a cell phone with flashing yellow and red lights. “This must be it.”
“They put it here for us to find?” I asked.
“The point of this wasn’t to hide the bomb.”
“Then what was the point?” I glanced at the boxes around us. “Where is Louis?”
“Disarm it,” Travis said, “before you lose your cool.”
“Something isn’t right.” My heart began to race. Waves of fear slammed into me like a hurricane that once tore through the Florida town where I grew up. It was the only time Dad insisted we find a safer place to sleep than the camper.
“You’re right to worry,” said a voice from the darkness. A woman’s voice. “Louis wanted to see your skills at work.”
Travis held his gun out and spun around, keeping me behind him. “He’s recording us? What do you want?”
The only sound was a gentle scraping of shoes along the concrete. As the sound approached, a familiar smell reached my nose. Cocoa butter. The sweetness reminded me of the lotion Mama always used. The blue in my palms faded.
“No,” Travis yelled.
“We’re better off in the darkness,” the woman said. “But I disabled the camera on this bomb just in case. The other is still live.”
I breathed in the damp air. Travis stood close; his heavy breathing tickled my ear. “What do you want?” he asked.
“The same thing Louis wants,” she said. “To see her power in action.”
“Do you work for him?” I asked.
The air was silent for a long moment. “Yes.”
“Are you sure?” Travis asked. “From the sound of your voice, I don’t think you do.”
“Your tactics won’t work on me, Agent Payne.” She chuckled. “I know your training better than most.”
I reached toward the sound of her voice. “You worked for the agency?”
“A long time ago.”
Her voice sounded closer this time, as if she stood only feet away. I held up my palms and focused on my fear of running out of time. Blue began to glow, illuminating the room around us. A woman stood where I expected, taller than me with wide-rimmed glasses that made her eyes seem far too huge for her tiny face. Dark hair curved around her face and stopped at her earlobes. My heart sank. After smelling the lotion, I’d expected a face that reminded me of Mama.
“Finish your job,” she said.
Travis pointed the gun at her. “Don’t move. Rena, disarm the bomb and we’ll get out of here.”
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Why is your featured book a must-read?
“The suspense never lets up and kept me turning the pages to the end. I have already ordered the next book in the series. Loved it.” – Amazon Reviewer
Giveaway –
Enter to win an e-book bundle of all 23 books featured in the Young Adult Bookish Event:
Open Internationally.
Runs September 7 – 11, 2020.
Winner will be drawn on September 18, 2020.
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 a dozen books including the Leftover Girl series, The Agency series, and The Fear Chronicles.
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