Authors: Kamery Solomon
I half wished I’d never come. Seeing
her, without being able to hold or talk to her, was killing me.
“Somebody help us!” I screamed out in
frustration. “Gods, witches, anyone! I'll do anything you want—just let me be
with her again!” I collapsed into the dirt—sobbing—my pain overtaking me. I
wondered if immortals could die from a broken heart.
I hated who I was becoming, but I
couldn’t be who I was before, not without her. I had to get to her.
“My help will cost you greatly,” a soft
voice responded behind me. I turned to see a cloaked figure.
A witch.
Praise for
Forever
“Kamery showed us major SWOON
ability. I now have a new fictional boyfriend in Raith…
I highly
recommend you run out and grab your copies today. There is a new queen of SWOON
that has entered the literary world where her words transport you into other
destinations.”
-Lisa Markson, Mommy Reads Too
Much
“Kamery's is Wow! I wanted to
reach into the book and just hug the characters! I've never read anything like
it and I can't say more without giving the plot away.”
-Brenda Anderson, Naughty Bits
Book Reviews
“…It introduces a great new
author Kamery Solomon, she has some serious talent as an author!”
-Melissa, Amazon customer
Other Books by
Kamery Solomon
Forever
The God
Chronicles
Coming Soon!
Moonstruck Media -
Arizona
Copyright © 2012 Kamery
Solomon
Edited by Irene Hunt,
Third Eye Tight Editing Services
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Published by
Moonstruck Media
Arizona
Kindle Ebook Edition
Without limiting the
rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in
any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and
the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of
fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the
product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author
acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products
referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission.
The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or
sponsored by the trademark owners.
This book is available
in print and ebook format.
Dedication
For Mom and Belinda
Acknowledgments
Sitting down and actually writing out
something that I had created was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I
wanted to quit so many times! Luckily for me though, I had many great
supporters that got me to the finish line!
Thank you Mom and Belinda, for telling
me that I could do it and that it would be fun. I know that I didn’t believe
you at times, but it was worth it!
Thank you to my mother in law, Vicky,
for watching my daughter when no one else could. As much as I enjoyed her
helping me write, I think everyone would have been upset to find a manuscript
full of threes, haha! Thank you to everyone else who helped with babysitting
also, you were a huge help.
Also, thank you to my husband, Jake, for
dealing with me through the whole thing. He had to listen to story lines,
complaints, tears, and laughter. He also watched our daughter most of the time
for me. I couldn’t have done it without him!
Thank you to Irene, for a superb edit. I
was a pain, I know, but it’s better now thanks to you!
Kamery
Prologue
I half wished I’d never come. Seeing
her, without being able to hold or talk to her, was killing me.
“Somebody help us!” I screamed out in
frustration. “Gods, witches, anyone! I'll do anything you want—just let me be
with her again!” I collapsed into the dirt—sobbing—my pain overtaking me. I
wondered if immortals could die from a broken heart.
I hated who I was becoming, but I
couldn’t be who I was before, not without her. I had to get to her.
“My help will cost you greatly,” a soft
voice responded behind me. I turned to see a cloaked figure.
A witch.
Chapter One
Human minds are easily fooled
, I thought.
It wasn’t hard for me to do really,
especially when they were asleep. Their unconscious state left them weak and
vulnerable, an easy target for someone like me. I didn’t think I was a bad
person, a troublemaker at the worst. I had created some incredible problems for
people in the past, enjoyed stepping into their dreams and giving them my own
direction. It was always a fantastic laugh for me, not so much for the poor
human who’d let me in without realizing.
I chuckled as I remembered the night
when I turned an old man’s sweet imaginings of golf into a nightmare which
involved his putter becoming a snake that ate him. Just as he began his swing,
I conjured a giant serpent, suddenly writhing in his hands. The man screamed
like a woman and tried to swear, but was stopped short when he was swallowed
whole. He awoke so forcefully I was literally thrown to the ground as I entered
my own mind again, his screams of terror echoing in the dark.
On a different occasion, I scared a
child awake by creating a terrible monster with long claws, wolf like teeth,
and glowing red eyes which peered at him through a window. I’d watched from the
shadows as the boy played in the sandbox. Ever so slowly, the window gradually
appeared just outside the area. The boy, as curious as I’d pegged him, jumped
up and ran to inspect the window only to find my creation waiting on the other
side of the glass. Shock registered on his face and when the beast let out a
terrible roar he screamed. I felt a certain amount of pride over that moment—no
one knew how to produce a terrifying growl like I did.
My favorite time to hand out terrors
usually coincided with the release of a new horror movie. Poor blonde girls;
they always died in the movie, and I was there to help hammer that into their
subconscious minds—over and over again with relish.
I mused over the many times I had
been . . . uh . . .
encouraged
to leave
the humans alone. I didn’t ever get in trouble for anything—exactly—except for
a few choice incidents, which also happened to be some of my favorite memories.
My mother, who held a certain amount of
sway in things, didn’t approve of my shenanigans. She thought they were cruel,
as did most of the other Fae. Her opinion only mattered when I still lived with
her though, and that was a long, long time ago. When I got caught messing in
the minds of those I shouldn’t, she would make me do various things as penance.
Smaller incidents were punished with a stern talk, larger ones with house
arrest. It wasn’t too much of an issue then, since seeking out my choice of
entertainment hadn’t been much of a priority. But as soon as I was on my own,
it was all I wanted to do. As a result, I didn’t visit very often—or at all.
It wasn’t my fault though. As crazy as
it seemed, there really wasn’t much to do in and around Fae. Time had a way of
changing things. I didn’t even know how old I was any more. I’d stopped
counting somewhere after three hundred because it didn’t seem to matter much
after that. All the Fae ever wanted to do was romance each other.
Ew.
That was not for me. Sure I liked girls, but the last thing I needed was
another woman to nag me. If they weren’t romancing each other, or secretly
romancing humans, then they were growing some type of plant. I understand
greens are great and all, but really? I seriously worried the vegetation might
begin to take us over at some point. There’s only so much that can be done with
foliage.
Thus, the mortal fantasies became my
escape–my salvation from boredom. I tried to come up with something new each
night, but being an immortal—having an unlimited amount of nights—was starting
to leave me with no fresh ideas whatsoever. I’d been doing this for too long.
Boring . . . Over
dreamt . . . Really? Puppies? Socks? That’s what you’re dreaming
about? You have no imagination!
I snorted as I stood on the edge of the
forest, shuffling through the minds of humans sleeping peacefully before me.
There was a disgustingly low amount of
ideas to work with. It was either socks or vampires, neither of which I had
much desire to dip into. It had been a while since I’d made my way near this
town, and with the way things were looking, I didn’t think I’d be returning any
time soon.
I decided to give the place one last
try, my mind sorting through the few remaining mortals, one of which was having
an extremely vivid dream about eating a sandwich. I rolled my eyes and gave a
laugh. Nope, I was done here. I turned and began walking into the woods,
towards the magical path which would take me home to The Glen.
I was almost beyond the barrier when,
suddenly, a dream caught my attention and I froze—my interest aroused. I
relaxed and allowed myself to slip quietly into the fantasy, anticipation
building at the fun I was about to have.
It was a girl, a young woman actually,
dancing by herself in a pool of soft light. She twisted and turned her body
with a grace that mesmerized and held me in place with a force I couldn’t
describe or understand. A classical piano piece was coming from somewhere, but
I was so entranced by her I didn’t look around for the source, allowing her
performance to flood my senses. After a few moments, she finished her beautiful
movement and placed her slippered feet into a ballet style pose, then turned,
looking right at me it seemed. I knew it was rude to stare this way, but
knowing she couldn’t see me, I decided to entertain my odd and inexplicable
desire to know her better. I was so caught up in what I was feeling I didn’t
realize she was starting to act uncomfortable.
“Can I help you?” she asked, softly. I
continued to watch, held captive by her. Her eyebrows raised and she cleared
her throat while I looked around, wondering who she was talking to. I saw no
other character in her dream. “I believe I asked if I could help you with
something.” Her voice was more forceful, almost angry sounding. I started
suddenly as I realized she was talking to
me
.
“Me?” I asked just to make sure I wasn’t
mistaken.
Well, this is a first,
I thought.
She rolled her eyes and folded her arms.
“Yes, you. Who else would I be speaking to? Do you see anyone else here?”
I looked around, feeling like an idiot.
I didn’t know what to do. Realizing my stupidity, I quickly withdrew my mind
from hers, stunned at the “conversation” I’d just had. I tried to think of why
my ability to stay hidden while probing another’s awareness hadn’t worked, but
no good reasons came to me.
Had it been a fluke–a one-time thing?
I asked myself.
This was completely unprecedented. I analyzed what had happened, and unable to
come to any type of conclusion, I decided to reach out to her again.
What’s
the worst that could happen? She’ll still see me and I’ll leave, end of story,
I reasoned.
Carefully, I reentered the dream—this
time tip toeing into her imagination. She had resumed her dancing as if nothing
had even happened, spinning with unbelievable balance.
Had she already forgotten about me?
I wondered. I
remained quietly in the shadows, trying not to chortle over her possible
attention span problem, thinking of how I should safely test if she could see
me or not.
Suddenly, I spotted her ballet slippers
and the beautiful ties, which traced up the length of her calves. I smiled
devilishly, eager to do what I did best. I stepped boldly from the shadows and
imagined the lavish ties becoming vines that trapped her legs together and
rooted her to the ground, unable to move.
Take that, dancer girl!
I thought
triumphantly.
At first, I was sure it had worked. She
began to falter and slow, and stopped her twirling, but then I realized it was
because she was looking at me—again. I cursed under my breath and immediately
began to withdraw, though part of me wanted desperately to stay and figure out
how this woman was immune to my powers. I had finally found it—something new
that piqued my interest, but there could be a lot of trouble if I stayed.
Releasing the last threads of her consciousness, laughter reached me, and I
couldn’t help myself—I stepped back into the light of her mind.
She smiled at me serenely, still
giggling somewhat, and I looked at her quizzically. “What are you going on
about?” I asked point blank, unable to contain my curiosity any longer. She
stifled the rest of her amusement with her hand and then cleared her throat as
her hand returned to her side.
“The face you were making was so
peculiar. It looked like you were wishing for my shoes to catch fire—or
something—you were staring at them so intently.” She started snickering again
as she finished her explanation.
I grimaced in embarrassment, a feeling
that was completely foreign. “I was doing no such thing,” I lied, knowing I
would never tell her what I had been doing.
“Then what were you thinking?” She was
calling my bluff, her eyes sparkling. I liked her already—she was just as bold
as I was. It was as if we were two friends trying to beat each other in a word
game.
“What’s your name?” I asked to avoid her
question.
She smiled and shook her head. “Don’t
you know you’re not supposed to tell strangers things like that?” She spun in a
little circle, smiling. Her hands slid through her long hair as she did so,
causing it to lift and ripple.
As she moved, I observed our surroundings
more closely and noticed we weren’t actually in a pool of light as I’d
originally thought, but in a long room, completely bare of furnishings. One
whole wall was made up of floor-to-ceiling mirrors, which had been concealed
somewhat in the shadows. Realizing it was some type of ballroom, I stepped into
the glow a little more. It seemed as if doing so should have been difficult
since I’d spent my existence in the shadows of the human mind, but those few
steps felt like a breath of fresh air. I glanced at myself in the glass wall
and realized I’d automatically altered my clothing to match hers, without
consciously realizing what she was wearing.
I was in a fancy, tuxedo-like black suit
with a loosely fastened red tie. The formal jacket was missing, but I still
looked pretty sharp. The sleeves of my dress shirt were rolled neatly to the
elbow and matching dress shoes completed the look. My reflection looked close
to my normal one, though my pointy ears were missing and my fiery red eyes were
now bright blue. My hair remained its usual blond color, styled short and
messy. It was odd. Normally, I looked like myself in dreams, mostly because
there was no need to change the appearance of someone who couldn’t be seen. I
figured somewhere in my mind I realized I was a visible role in the dream now,
and I needed to look the part.
The girl wore a beautiful ball gown of
red silk with little black, gemmed accents, which rustled with every move she
made; her raven ballet flats showed only when she spun and the air caught her
skirts. Around her neck was a matching jewel and ribbon. Her long ebony hair
hung loose in curls, which would have made any girl jealous.
The woman cleared her throat and
stretched her hand to me. Turning from the mirror to look directly at her, I raised
my eyebrow questioningly as I remained where I was. I suddenly felt
apprehensive; I’d never touched anyone during their dream before, though for
some unknown reason, I found myself wanting to touch this human.
“Come dance with me,” she explained,
stretching her hand towards me further, excitement radiating from her smile.
Unsure of what to do, I took a step
away, locked my fingers behind me, and shook my head. “No, I shouldn’t.”
“Don’t be silly. It will be fun!” She
walked toward me—a woman on a mission—and beckoned for me even more with each
step. “How are we supposed to not be strangers if you won’t dance with me?”
I tried one more time to step away and
found myself against the wall. I started to protest, my nerves getting the best
of me, but the plea never fell from my lips. Everything around us silenced the
moment she touched my hand, and I felt a spark ignite within me.
I gasped slightly and looked at her as
if I was seeing her for the first time. Her eyes became dreamy, dark pools of
honey warmth, framed by beautifully long lashes and perfectly shaped eyebrows.
Her nose was small and fit flawlessly with the rest of her features, and her
smile was the perfect shade of white, surrounded by tempting red lips.
Why didn’t I notice any of that before?
I thought
through the haze.
I swallowed hard as she took my other
hand and placed it on her dainty waist. Closing my eyes, I tried to concentrate
on anything else, but the warmth of her skin was too much of a distraction. The
sensation overwhelmed me even more. When I looked again, she was staring, a
small smile still on her lips. All of the years I spent dancing with the Fae
fled from my mind
“I, uh . . . , I
don’t know how to dance,” I stammered, looking away so she wouldn’t sense my
untruthfulness. I felt a fiery shock as she placed her hand on the side of my
cheek and gently turned my face until our gazes were connected again.