Ascension (29 page)

“Logan, you have to jump!  Do it now!” Laura screamed.

TOO SOON!  AAHHHH! OTHERS… MIGHT LATCH ON!  AHHH!

“There isn’t any time!  You have to do it
now
!”

His screams were the only thing that answered her.  Laura watched, terrified, as the stars came closer and closer together.  She could not let go of her connection to Logan.  She felt the darkness pressing in on the stars.  They were at the tipping point.  One second more and they would collapse into the hole.

Ka-boom!

A giant explosion rocked the world.  White, streaming light knocked Laura backwards, and she lost consciousness.

Chapter Twenty-One

~Just a Dream~

Laura woke up in a dream.  She was in the forest outside her home.  How did she get here?  She wasn’t sure.  Her thoughts were… hazy.

The sun shone down from the clouds above her.  Everything had an ethereal glow, a type of celestial shine.  The air shimmered slightly wherever she looked, but it was peaceful.  Laura felt whole.

She got up slowly.  She recognized the path in the forest.  It was one she had run along many times as a child.  She wasn’t far from home.

She started down the winding dirt path.  In the distance, she could hear birds singing.  Despite the shimmer to the air, it smelled clean.  Pure.

Laura walked along the path.  Her mind was blank, but her senses active.  She felt the soft ground beneath her feet, the slight breeze against her face.  The sun overhead gave just enough warmth for her to be comfortable.

Laura did not remember what happened to bring her here.  But she felt at peace. 

She wandered slowly to the end of the woods.  The forest opened up to reveal a familiar, peaceful street.  She had to think hard to conjure the memory, but found it in time.  This was the street she had grown up on.

She began down the sidewalk.  Everything was in place.  She could see no cars, no people.  Yet, everything was in peace.

In time, she found herself in front of her old house.  Her old home.  A light was on inside.  Laura walked closer and peeked through the window.

Inside, she found her mother sitting at the dinner table.  Beside her was her father, and her little
sister
.  The family dog was curled up on the floor.  Everybody looked happy.  But there was one empty spot at the table.  Her old spot.

Laura looked over to the wall, and found her high school picture there.  It stood by itself inside a dark wooden frame.  She had not been forgotten.  A tear formed in her eye, but she did not feel sadness.  Her family was at peace, and that was all that mattered.

Laura turned away and started down the short path to the school.  That was where all this began. 
All
this? 
All what
?  It was a stray thought, and Laura paid it no mind.

Around her, the sun cast peaceful halos upon everything.  The world shone gently with a calming glow.  Laura felt happy, content.  At peace.  There was no more pressure on her.  The burdens that had troubled her before were all gone. 

Laura wandered through the abandoned streets, stopping every once in a while to admire the calm serenity of the place.  She let her feet guide her while her mind remained empty.  Every step she took was blissful.  Another stray thought bubbled up in her head, something about an injury she sustained, but she paid it no mind.  Her entire body felt perfect.

She didn’t know how much time had passed when she found herself at the lake.  All she knew was the sun had not yet moved from its spot in the sky.  She did not even know how she had gotten there – she thought back and could not remember the walk.  She existed only in the present moment.

She saw the spot where she and Logan… wait. 
Logan
?  She was not sure who that was.  But thinking of the name made her feel all fuzzy inside. 

She looked up, and there he was.  Standing at the edge of the lake, overlooking the water.  He did not know she was here.  She saw him in all his perfection.  His straight back, his perfectly shaped shoulders.  His dark hair that ran down his neck.  She knew he was waiting for her.

She stepped toward him, and he turned his head.  A smile lit up his entire face.  The sun shining down created a majestic aura about him.  Slowly, as if moving underwater, he extended his arm to her.  She came and took it, and he pulled her close, wrapping her in his arms.  He did not say anything.

“Did you do it?” Laura asked.  Her voice was a whimper.  She did not know what ‘it’ was, only that the words felt right.

“Yes,” Logan answered softly.  “I’m here now.  With you.  Forever.”

“Good.”  Laura smiled.  “That’s all I ever wanted.”

~~

The End.

End of Book Bonus: Excerpt from
Chosen
, Book 1 of the Seeker Saga. 

Chosen

Book 1 – The Seeker Saga

By Sophia Sharp, writing as Sarah Swan

Book Description:

Could you live your whole life feeling empty?
A New Life 
Seventeen-year-old Tracy Bachman feels that something is missing in life. Despite a normal upbringing, she can't help but yearn for more. That is why she decides to transfer to a new boarding school, in a move that takes her all the way across the country. 
An Unforgettable Adventure 
When Tracy arrives at her new school, she expects an ordinary enough life. But what she finds there instead changes her in ways she could never expect. 
A love interest she did not ask for. 
A power she does not know she holds. 
And a clique of mysterious, popular girls hell-bent on entangling Tracy in their affairs. 
A Hidden Purpose 
The girls Tracy meets all know she is different. Beneath their easy smiles lies a friendship laced with dark intentions. Will Tracy understand what they want in time to protect herself? Or will she find herself hopelessly ensnared in their web of secrets? 
A Forbidden Romance 
A suggestive glance. A secret rendezvous. In the midst of everything else, Tracy finds temptation in the very boy she is prohibited from speaking to. But as she pushes herself away, she falls right into the arms of another... 
A Mystical World 
Slowly, Tracy starts to understand that beneath her school's veneer of splendor lies a dangerous, secretive world brimming with supernatural powers. And before she knows it, she finds herself deep in the heart of that cryptic, mystifying world. 
All expectations are thrown to the wind as Tracy struggles to balance love, friendship, adventure - and her newfound power. But will she be perceptive enough to realize that there are those who would use her for that power, lurking closer than she can believe? 
--
Chosen
 is the first book of The Seeker Saga, a new YA paranormal series. Look for the second book, 
Forbidden
, to be available March 2012.

Chapter One – A New Life

September 23
^rd
is the first day of fall.  I know this not because I have some bizarre fascination with the changing of the seasons, or with watching the days of the calendar slowly creep by, but rather because this year, September 23
^rd
happened to fall on a Friday.  This is ironic to me, since that day of the week is typically reserved for marking the end of things, such as the working week, than signaling the start of something new.  But for me, September 23
^rd
marked not only the transition into a less prosperous season, when the last rays of sunshine from a glorious summer are taken away, leaving only memories of those warm, lustful days, but also the end of my previous life.

I guess, from an even more pessimistic perspective, one would be justified in saying that September 23
^rd
is also the end of the three most peaceful months of the year, a time when the entire western world shifts away from a recess of lounging and relaxing into a more high-octane way of thinking.  New stresses and pressures begin to show themselves and become painfully rediscovered.  At least, this is the way of things for adults, as I’ve come to figure out in my relatively short sixteen years on this planet. 

For a student like me, fall marks the beginning of a new school year.  This is a time of great fascination and palpable excitement – about seeing old friends, and meeting new ones, and about discovering yourself for the umpteenth time in the first semester of school.  But, this year, that beginning was slightly different for me. 

Thinking back, September 23
^rd
was more than just the start of a new season.  For me, it signified the beginning of a new life, one which would typically be thrown off as interesting and eventful only in the shallow minds of teenagers and (to be frank) the miniscule world they inhabit.  But, my story is far from typical.  While it may begin in a familiar setting, I can see now, in hindsight, that where it takes me is a place far and away outside the realm of familiarity.

But I digress.  The beginning of this story takes place in the backseat of a very cramped early 1990s Oldsmobile Bravada.  If the make of the car doesn’t ring a bell, I wouldn’t blame you – the entire line was phased out of production sometime in the mid-2000s.  But with my dad’s constant insistence that his car was just as good today as the day he bought it, only a few weeks after I was born, it was the only vehicle available to us for the cross-country trip that my family was just completing.  After spending the better part of a week squeezed between boxes of nearly all my belongings, even
my
patience was starting to wear thin.  And that’s fairly impressive, because, as you’ll soon see, I pride myself on being a very patient and tolerant person. 
I’m kidding.
  That was just a lie I made up to make myself feel better about my
im
patience at the gnawing and very distracting feeling of being restricted to nothing more than a very small, very hard backseat in this rickety ride.

“Look honey!” my mom exclaimed in her usual-but-completely-baffling cheery voice. “The sign outside says we’ve only got twenty miles to go!”  She turned around from her copilot seat up front with a wide grin on her face.  That quickly turned into a frown.  “Tracy!  How many times do I have to tell you to
stop chewing your nails
?”

Abashedly, I jerked my hand away from my mouth. 
That
was a habit I had been meaning to break for, oh, over two years now.  I was actually feeling proud of myself for not succumbing to the temptation even once on this long road trip.  But I guess it had become so ingrained that I sometimes did it without thinking.  I resolved right there and then that this would be the absolute
last
time I allowed myself to do that.  What better time, really, than the day before joining an entirely new school?

“Sorry,” I replied cheekily, “I guess my mind just wandered.”

My mom waved me away.  “It’s for your own good, you know.  There aren’t many boys who will like a chomper.”

“Mom!” I exclaimed, feeling unusually embarrassed.  “Can we not talk about
that
?  Not right now?”

“I’m just saying…” my mom replied, turning back around.  “Isn’t that right, Dave?”

Dave
, of course, was my father, who snuck a surreptitious wink at me when mom wasn’t looking.  “Of course, dear,” he replied with only the barest hint of sarcasm.  “Although, I have a feeling that Tracy’s going to do just fine with the boys no matter what her habits are.”  I smiled to myself.  Dad always had a very inflated opinion of his one and only daughter.  If he knew just how much of a struggle it was for me to be able to say two coherent words to a boy that I liked, well…
shell-shocked
wouldn’t be too strong of a word.  Still, he always had a way of making me feel better every time I came home after school with any type of problem, big or small.  That would be one thing I would definitely miss at my new home.