Radium Halos

Radium
Halos

Book I

In the
Senseless Series

By W.J. May

Smashwords
Edition

Copyright 2014
W.J. May

All rights
reserved. 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.

The Senseless
Series:

Download Radium
Halos part 1 For FREE

Radium Halos
part 2 – coming February 2014

Website:
http://www.wanitamay.yolasite.com

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-WJ-May-FAN-PAGE

Cover design
by: Book Cover by Design

Book II –
Coming 2014

Chapter
1

Zoe

I hated the
mine. Like a crypt across the horizon the place always made me
shudder. They had closed it down years ago and boarded up the
entrance. The horror-film image still haunted me.

Tonight
vehicles littered the overgrown grass field surrounding the shaft.
From behind the orange and yellow flames of a bonfire, blue spirits
danced about, as if the mine had allowed them to escape. Foreboding
lingered in the pit of my stomach. The sound of music, chatter and
laughter barely muted the feeling.

I shifted away
from the fire and dropped my head against the back of lawn chair.
Ominous clouds created large voids in the dotted, glittery sky.
To rain or not to rain, that is the question.

Heidi waved a
hand back and forth in front of my face. “Earth to Zoey. Earth to
Zoey. Come back to Elliot Lake. The school bonfire is missing
you.”

Even with my
eyes cast toward the sky, I could hear the smile in her voice. I
grinned and turned to face my best bud, one last shutter sneaking
up my spine. “The mine gives me the creeps.”

Heidi leaned
over on her lawn chair and nudged me with her elbow. “I heard that
back in the sixties or seventies, half the miners ended up with
some toxic disease from the uranium. Most likely cancer”

Rylee, my other
best friend, tossed her dark hair over her shoulder and rolled her
eyes. “Only you two would come up with the number one way to kill a
mood. The big ‘C’.”

“It’s not like
we’re going inside.” I stuck my tongue out and tried to keep the
corners of my mouth from turning up. Pretending to copy Rylee’s
hair toss, I swung my head dramatically and let my recently
straightened and blonde strands flip around. Not near as sexy or
smooth as Rylee’s. I glanced at Heidi, unable to mimic the action
“I still can’t believe you cut your hair so short.”

“I donated it.
Totally worth it.”

“Yeah. I’m cool
with that, but it’s been long since third grade.”

Rylee stepped
over and touched the back of Heidi’s hair. “The shaved part at the
back is incredible.”

I lacked the
nerve to do something so daring. “It’s awesome.”

“It’s what I
wanted ever since I saw it in a mag,” Heidi said.

Our little
pixie.
The new cut took away some of her innocent look --
making her appear older. I liked it. It represented the change of
our final year of high school. We were growing up.

“…but dying it
platinum.” Rylee whistled. “I bet your mom had a coronary when you
got home.”

Heidi grinned a
tiny bit. “She was pretty ticked.” Her tiny fingers flicked the
spiked front.

“Soooo…” Rylee
straightened in her chair, causing her chest to stick out.
Uh
oh, prowl pose. Rylee’s on a hot man hunt.
Rylee pressed a
perfectly manicured hand against her flat belly. “Brent said
there’s a new guy in town.”

I got up and
moved to Brent, who’d been sitting on a tree stump quietly playing
his guitar. The humungous mine silhouetted behind him. It looked
like a monster’s mouth trying to swallow him and everything around
it up.
Stop being such a scaredy-cat.
I rolled my eyes
heaven-ward to clear my over active imagination and focused on
Brent.

He sat with his
head down while he strummed along to the music blaring from the
speakers. In the fire light, his brown hair appeared sandy-blonde.
As if sensing my gaze, he glanced up. A smile touched his lips, and
his eyes seemed to twinkle from the reflection of the dancing
flames.

“Where’s Seth?”
I realized Mr. Clean, our fifth partner in crime hadn’t shown up
yet.

“He’s bringing
fresh meat.” Brent continued playing while the stereo music blared
behind us. He managed to make his composition sound perfectly in
tune, and yet totally different than the rock song playing.

“Ohhh… I love
hot dogs and burgers!” Heidi sat down by Brent. “Topped off with
marshmallows for s’mores, of course.”

“No, silly, not
food. Nice hair crop, by the way.” Brent ruffled the back of her
head. “There’s a new kid in town. He’s from England or Ireland,
somewhere across the pond.”

Rylee, always
gorgeous and perky, swept her black hair up in a pony and then
dropped it perfectly into place. “Tall, hot, and handsome, I
hope.”

“Like me, huh?”
Brent laughed.

“How come no
one knew he was coming?” Rylee played with her car keys, a little
green dot flashing as she tapped a button on them. “This town’s so
small. Everyone should’ve been talking about it over the summer
holidays.” She started pacing around the fire, scouting the small
crowd.

“Guess it was
like a last minute decision. I’m sure you’ll find out all the
details when you devour him.” Brent laughed and played two loud
boom chukka bings
punctuated by a clap on his guitar.

Heidi covered a
smile with her hand. I faked a cough. We both knew what Rylee’s
response would be.

She made her
signature baby-pout face. “I don’t eat men. I simply get
bored.”

“Put the lip
away. It’s not gonna work.” I grinned.
Only Rylee could be
Rylee.
“We always get stuck picking up the pieces after you’ve
broken the poor guy’s heart.” I bent forward, pretending to pick up
a million invisible pieces of shattered heart off the ground. Rylee
had dated every boy in our class, plus a grade or two above, since
starting high school. She wasn’t a tramp. Every decent guy in town
just wanted to see if he might be Mr. Right. “How ‘bout tonight you
give the new guy a chance to breathe? Not make him your next
conquest right away?”

“Conquest?”
Rylee raised her eyebrows.

“You know,”
Heidi said, sarcasm dripping. “What you do all summer long with the
vacationers?”

“I get it. You
don’t like competing.” Rylee shrugged. “I figured you guys thought
it was fun.”

“Not when we
lose all the time.” I sighed. “Kinda hard to compete against your
midnight black hair and perfect voluptuous body. Makes the boys of
summer migrate towards you.” Heidi and I didn’t stand a chance,
even when Rylee didn’t try to get them.
I’m not jealous
. How
could you fight nature?
Okay, maybe a teeny bit jealous
.

A loud boom
suddenly rocked the air. I jumped and whirled around to see where
the noise came from. Startled at first, everyone around the fire
laughed when they realized the noise came from above.

“That didn’t
sound good.” Brent set his guitar in its case lying on the
ground.

“Maybe it’ll
just pass over. There’s no forecast for rain,” Rylee said.

Heidi pointed
towards the other side of the bonfire. “Well, if it does start
pouring, we’re on the wrong side. Everyone’s going to make a mad
dash for their cars, and we picked the furthest spot. We’re like a
kilometre away.”

“Great.” I
grimaced. Getting wet meant my straightened hair would turn curly
and, worse, the dreaded frizzies.

Brent picked up
his guitar case. “No way am I letting this baby get ruined. I
bought it in an antique shop in Germany. Had to carry it around
with me for the last two weeks in Europe.”

“We’ll be fine.
It’s not gonna rain. The skies—” Rylee paused and glanced up.
“Whoa, those are freakin’ huge, black clouds!”

As if to mock
her, the sky lit up with a zigzag flash of lightning, immediately
followed by a sonic boom that shook the ground. Large raindrops
splattered down, making the fire hiss in protest. Everyone started
to grab chairs and food and belongings. Over the shrieks of the
girls, someone hollered to head over to the bowling alley and
continue the party there.