Perilous Waters

“The plot twists, romance, and action had me reading way past my bedtime. I couldn’t put
Timespell
down!”

-Bethany Wiggins, author of

Shifting
and
Stung

“The strength of Paz’s debut novel,
Timespell,
derives from her Daughters of Fate. These three teenage girls must manage the catastrophes of adolescence—prom, boyfriends, teachers and bullies—while attempting to correct historical catastrophes that threaten us all.
Timespell
is a fun and entertaining read because of the irreconcilable differences within the trio, and the danger to the world should they fail.”

-Jason Beymer, author of

Nether
and
Rogue’s Curse

“Diana Paz enchanted me with her magical and amazing debut,
Timespell.
The ending left me in awe and craving more. I predict Paz will quickly become a new favorite author of young adult readers.”

-Karen Amanda Hooper, author of

Tangled Tides
and
Grasping at Eternity

“Timespell
has everything to offer—historical upheaval, the trials of high school friendship, heart-pounding romance—all wrapped in a fresh, inspired take on mythology. The result left me holding my breath until the very last page.”

-Trisha Leigh, author of

Whispers in Autumn
and
Return Once More

DIANA PAZ

Misted Mischief Press

First American Paperback Edition

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, dialogues, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

Copyright ©2015 by Diana Paz

Cover design by Melissa Williams

Cover photograph by Subbotina Anna

Logo design by Kevin Poythress

Author photo by Matthew Pierce

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

Diana Paz’s author website is
www.dianapaz.com

“Had you fought like a man, you need not have been hang’d like a dog.”

-Anne Bonny, October 1720

The last words she spoke to her imprisoned

husband, the pirate Calico Jack Rackham.

He was executed the following month.

Together, the Daughters of Fate can Journey across the world. They can summon the winds of time and Voyage throughout history. They can Vanish from sight and roam unseen. These gifts we bestow to our loyal priestesses and their descendants. But ‘ware the temptation to seek greater power, for even the most innocent of Daughters is not above corruption.

-The Fates

~ Chapter 1 ~

Angie

The
sheer white curtains of Angie’s canopy moved, as if from a breeze. She sat up in her bed.

“Who’s there?” she called to the darkness.

Silence met her. She drew up her blanket, willing the soft fabric to offer comfort. The gauzy curtain billowed out again. She breathed in deep, her mind telling her of the salty air, but her window was shut, and she didn’t live near enough to the sea for the breeze to carry the scent.

Please, no. Not again.

She reached out to pull aside her bed curtain, but the curtain disappeared as her fingers touched it, leaving her hand moist and cold. She rose and spun around, realizing the curtain was nothing more than sea foam. She wasn’t in her bed at all. She was on a beach.

You’re dreaming,
she lied to herself.
Wake up.

Her eyes squeezed shut. Oh, she knew better. She wasn’t dreaming. Another vision was imminent, except this time the rapid surge of magic rose so viciously she lost her balance.

“No—” the word caught in her throat, having no effect on the warped manifestation of magic within her body.

The world writhed, with ocean bluffs growing taller and wind gusting sand into the air. She flinched, shielding her face with her palm. Why could she feel the sand? Her room had disappeared, which she had expected from a vision, except normally they were similar to out-of-body experiences. No sensation. No feeling of connection to the world around her. This vision was not like the others. It was far more real than anything the magic had ever sent her before. So real, in fact, that she fell physically forward to land at a harsh angle in the sand.

She blinked against the bright flames that leapt in front of her, unable to make sense of what was going on. She was lying on her side. Her cheek pressed against sand as she tried to move. Her ears pounded with the sound of thundering surf. Panic lodged itself in her chest and she squeezed her eyes shut.
It’s only a vision. It’s only a vision.

She should be feeling her bed, or nothing at all. Yet…

Her lashes lifted, carrying fine grains of sand with them.

…
only a vision.

She stood shakily, bile rising in her throat at the realization that she was truly here, at the beach. Her fingers curled against her palms. Visions held no scent of smoking wood or salty sea, and they didn’t bring grains of sand to scratch her eyes and hands. She wasn’t home anymore. Her body had traveled somehow.

One-TWO-three-FOUR
… she called out an eight-count in her mind, repeating the cadence in a vain attempt to stem the rising fear. Thoughts of David swarmed her. Sweet and loving, her best friend and so much more. Was this the night, then? Would the Sorceress’ monsters finally find David and tear him apart?

“No.” She sucked in her breath, her hand involuntarily covering her mouth. She shouldn’t be able to talk.

Unsteady after the force of so much magic, she took a trembling step, her throat becoming tighter by the moment. The ground beneath her bare feet sunk with her weight.

Sand. It forced itself between her toes. She blinked hard, still in a fog, still half-expecting to discover that this was only a dream.

“Wake up,” she whispered, compelling her mind to free itself from the magic’s powerful grasp. But there was no escaping this… whatever this was. Her hands curled into fists as she faced the cold, windswept beach. A glorious sky of liquid midnight spilled across the world to meet an inky, starlit sea. Waves rumbled their eternal grievance against the shore. Angie moistened her lips, tasting salt on the air. Her loose hair lifted on the chill breeze as the night air found its way through her sheer, summer bed clothes and caused goosebumps to race along her arms.

Her flesh quivered against her hands as she clutched her upper arms in an effort to keep warm. In her muddled state, all she could think about was finding David. She choked back a sob, spinning around to scan the ocean. Creatures would break the surface, sea-demons from the nether, sent to destroy the world. The creatures would overwhelm David. In her visions, sometimes she saw herself blasting at the demons, other times she was held back as she watched him bleed and writhe against their onslaught. Always, she arrived at his side after it was too late. Always, his hand reached for her, slick with blood.

Always, she watched him die.

Except now she wasn’t watching a vision. She had been teleported to this beach. The very beach she had seen countless times in her mind. Her heart galloped against her ribcage as she scrutinized first the ocean, and then the shore, recognizing Marine Park, or Mother’s Beach as it was known by locals. Little more than a waveless bay where mothers often came with their children, knowing they didn’t have to worry about the surf. It was one of the few beaches in Santa Monica with fire pits, so at night it became a more grown-up hang out… one she and David no longer visited. Not since she started having visions of his death here.

He was surely here, if the magic had sent her here, but as she approached the clusters of beach-goers she saw no sign of him or his friends. She stared, running their recent conversations through her mind. Wouldn’t he have told her that he was going to the beach? He would have asked her to come with him. The thought brought a measure of relief, but if David wasn’t at the beach, why was she here?
How
was she here?

She edged toward the nearest bonfire, hoping for some clue. Glancing about at the various groups of people laughing and roasting hot dogs over their fires, she saw familiar faces from school, but no one that David was friends with. Many were Kaitlyn’s old friends, and that was enough to make Angie recoil from the light. As she did, a shadow shifted, giving the impression of demonic horns on a pointed face flickering through the fire. Her heart crashed against her ribcage, as though it would escape if given the choice. She forced her gaze to remain locked on the twisting shaft of darkness, but it couldn’t be a creature. The creatures of Mythos were unable to breach the present timeline. Not unless she and the other Daughters of Fate left a portal open in the past, and they hadn’t been on a mission since returning from France three months before.