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Through the Veil
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Allied in Flight
The Through the Veil series is a dystopian paranormal world. Although it's dystopian, the world overall is not that much different from ours...at least on the Eastern States side which is where this second book in the series, Allied in Flight, takes place. The ES is filled with cities much like we see today. Very little has changed about everyday people's day to day lives.
Veil:
58 years ago, a gorge
from Mobile, Alabama to Quebec City, Canada split the country. It was a quarter
of a mile wide and a mile deep. At the time, it appeared to be just an
interesting geological phenomenon. In fact, it became quite a tourist
destination. But 18 years ago, a fog rolled in on the Western side of the
gorge. They called it the Veil. Within 12 hours, it had created an impassible
wall right down the center. Within hours after that, all the adults (and a lot
of the children, too) were dead, their bodies...just gone.
Since then, no one has
been able to cross from one side to the other...until Lori, an Other with an
ability to manipulate energy using the earth’s forces, breached the Veil as she
fled from the ES and escaped into the WS (book #1).
ES
(Eastern States):
The Eastern
States...those on the eastern side of the Veil.
On this side, the
government somehow had warning that something was coming and managed to hide
and keep their key government and military officials from being affected. Those
people began to reappear two months after the Veil fell to reestablish order,
but the new world society became a police state with extreme rule and military
force.
In the ES, a few people
developed gifts. Those gifts ranged from telepathy to animal shifting to
teleporting. In this society, the gifted people were called Others and have
been reviled by the government as something to be feared and condemned. The
government gathered up the Others and imprisoned them in labs for testing. Most
of the Others have died.
WS
(Western States):
The Western
States...those on the western side of the Veil to the Mississippi River. Beyond
what used to be the Mississippi River is now just ocean.
On this side, there were
only children left to make their way in the world. The oldest survivor was
Bethany Harris. She took control by default and is now the leader of the WS
society which functions on a much more environmental and earth friendly
doctrine.
Everyone in the WS
evolved...they all developed telepathy and wings. A few of them have other
gifts as well...such as healing, communication with animals, and manipulating
matter.
A rescue gone wrong.
It was supposed to be simple. Four members from the Western States planned to sneak into the Eastern States to free four condemned Others. But when they arrived at the experimental labs where the Others were being held, it was under attack from Rebel forces.
Griff Hughes had one job...
He had to find Shar, a wounded hawk shifter. But in the ensuing chaos, he became a captive instead of a rescuer. Three days later he awakens in his own cage, alone. But during the nights, he’s not alone. An alluring redhead with a siren’s call visits his dreams, and his resistance is breaking down.
Shar McIntire is just trying to survive.
After three years in captivity, Shar has one goal...keep her and her sister alive. To do so means cooperating with the evil doctors who want her to seduce and manipulate Griff. She likes and is drawn to the man with the strange chocolate wings, but she can’t let that attraction distract her. Her sister’s fate is in her hands.
In the last eighteen years, life hasn’t been easy for anyone.
The WS and the ES have been separate entities, but once the Veil was crossed, things began to evolve. It’s a new world, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to get easier anytime soon.
Book #2 in the Through the Veil series.
Book #2 in the Through the Veil series.
(note: part of the evolution of humans after the Veil falling was that they developed varying telepathic abilities. Griff & Shar have a stronger connection than most.)
Shar had fallen asleep
after the female general left, but Griff’s pain woke her with a jolt. She stifled a groan as her
muscles protested her quick movement.
But the pain she felt emanating from him was so much worse. She
immediately sent soothing, calming vibes along their mental connection. She
felt him recoil when he realized she was in his head with him.
He tried to build up a
wall, to keep her out of what he was experiencing. But with his shields already
compromised by whatever they were doing, he couldn’t keep her out of his head.
“Let me,” she soothed. “I can’t make it stop, but I can help so it’s not quite as painful.”
“No,” he gritted out. “Get
out of my brain. I don’t want you involved in this.”
“Too late. I’m here.
Deal with it.”
He
growled at her, but then another arc of pain shot through him, and he couldn’t
fight her anymore. He had to deal with his own well-being.
She
hated that they’d caught him, and he had to endure this kind of pain. She
didn’t know a thing about him, just like he didn’t know anything about her, but
if they were torturing him, he had to be an Other. He was in this situation
because he’d been trying to help her, and she had to return the favor.
“I don’t know how much
you know about me, but I have an older sister named Savannah.”
“What are you doing?”
“Providing you with a
distraction. Concentrate on my words. Let me build you a picture of a place where
you can escape to.”
He
answered with a long groan of pain.
Her
breath caught in her throat and she had to clear it to continue. “But anyway, Savannah... She’s a year older
than me, but she’s perfect. Perfect skin, perfect hair, perfect height. It was
a lot to live with while growing up in what used to be upstate New York. Have
you ever visited there?”
She
wasn’t sure he would be able to answer, but then she heard a panting, “No.” He was still with her and the
story.
“That area of the
country in the summer is perfect. There are waterfalls and lakes everywhere.
The water was my element, my escape. The one place where I could out-perform my
sister.” Shar
lowered her mental voice. “I’ll tell you
a secret that I’ve never told anyone else... There’s a good reason why Savannah
hates the water. I was twelve, and she was thirteen. I was so jealous of her I
couldn’t stand it. That summer, her breasts had come in and were perfect. I
hated that about her, especially since all the boys stared at her in her little
bitty bikini. I should be ashamed to tell you this story.”
Shame
heated her cheeks. Her behavior had been beyond immature. She shouldn’t be
telling him this story. For some reason, she wanted him to like her.
“No. You can’t...” His breath sawed in and
out as he tried to center himself. “You
can’t stop now. What happened?”
“Okay, I’ll keep telling
you my story, but you can’t judge me for it.”
“I don’t think that’s
even possible. You’re perfect.” That moment, his voice in her head was so soft
and sincere, her heart clenched with his words.
The
spell broke when he grunted in pain.
Her
eyes filled with tears. She had to get him through this. “Okay, but I’m going to hold you to that. No judgment.”
She
squared her shoulders, remembering the day just like it was yesterday. She’d
been such a little snot. “So, Savannah
was swimming with our older brother, Jonah, and a couple of his friends...all
older, gorgeous guys. I was so jealous of all the attention she got from them.
She looked really amazing in that swimsuit. Because I was basically a fish in
the water and could hold my breath for crazy amounts of time, I took a stick
that had a forked end on it and snuck under the water after her. The stick
attacked her thigh, leaving what looked to be fang marks. Sure a snake had
bitten her, she panicked, screamed, and threw a hissy fit. I thought for sure
they’d see her as the vapid diva she was...”
Not
that Savannah was a vapid diva, not even back then. She was the good sister,
the one everyone could count on, the perfect one.
Where
was Savannah now? She couldn’t be dead, could she? The continued silence in her
head from her sister’s end terrified Shar. If something happened to one of
them, it needed to happen to Shar, not Savannah. The world needed Savannah in
it.
“Did it work?” He sounded so tired.
She
sat up. “Hey, are you okay?”
“Yeah, they drugged me,
so I may fade...keep talking. ...Please.” His mental voice slurred.
Shit,
shit, shit...knowing what those fuckers did once the drugs were involved... A
tear dropped down her bruised cheek. She swiped at it. He needed her to be
strong for him right now, so that’s what she’d be.
“No, it didn’t work.” Shar gave a self-effacing chuckle. “All those guys just fawned over her even
more because then she was injured...vulnerable. I saw feminine power that day
in all its glory.”
Shar had never been able
to make those kinds of feminine things work for her. She was just one of the
guys...built like an Amazon...tall, stick-straight, and sturdy... Guys tended
to see her as an equal, not as a girl.
“Needless to say, she didn’t come back to the lake with us ever again.”
She continued to tell
him silly stories like that for hours, and his responses got slower and
quieter. They weren’t actually killing him, were they?
In the three years she’d
spent as a lab rat, too many people she cared about had disappeared with the
doctors to never return. Their mental light had just switched off. Tears rolled
freely down her face now. She didn’t even try to fight them anymore.
“Hey, red,” Griff slurred.
She hiccupped on a
little sob.
“I think I’m gonna have to check out on you now. Chin up.
I’ll be back in a couple of hours. Don’t forget me.”
“Never, but I’m holding you to that. Wake up soon, Griff. I
need you.”
Nothing but silence
prevailed.
Exhausted, Shar lay down
on the bottom of her cage. Using that much mental energy for so long left her
completely drained when she was well, but after her injuries and the attack,
she was done...both mentally and physically. She simply didn’t have anything
left, so she let sleep overtake her.
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