Taken (36 page)
Momma blinked and arched her eyebrows. “That’s a very good idea.”
Josh groaned as he lifted his hand three inches off the floor. He shouldn’t be able to open his eyes, much less move.
He trembled as he reached for Channie. “No.”
How was he able to speak?
“Don’t.”
Channie glanced over her shoulder to be sure she wasn’t gonna piss off Momma then knelt back down and pressed her hand over Josh’s heart. “No spell can break our bond.” Their heart-bond glowed and shot beams of golden light between her fingers. Channie leaned over, blocking it from Momma’s view, until Josh was able to pull it back inside his heart-of-hearts. She pressed her cheek against his and whispered, “Remember our wedding vows?”
Josh lifted his chin, a tiny nod.
She whispered the prophetic words into his ear. “
Look upon each other’s face and bind yourselves with courage and grace.
When time and distance keep you apart, let love protect your spell-bound hearts.”
Josh’s body trembled under Channie’s hands as she kissed his brow. “Even though your mind forgets, your heart will remember. I love you Joshua Vincent Abrim.”
“Channie!” It was barely a whisper but she heard the agony in his voice as if he’d screamed her name.
She kissed him again … one last brush of her lips over his. “It’ll be better soon. I promise.”
Momma said, “Get out of the way. I don’t want
you
to forget
him
.”
Channie backed away in slow motion … studying every detail …
the width of his shoulders … the angle of his jaw … the stubble on his chin … the shape of his lips … the deep blue color of his sapphire eyes …
She pressed her hand over her shattered heart and whispered, “Never. I could never forget him.”
Channie could see the effects of Momma’s spell as it attacked Josh. Agony twisted his features into a mask of pain as he fought back.
Their bond flared, filling the room with a brilliant golden light as Josh reached for her once more. He whispered her name then sighed and closed his eyes. Their bond faded. Darkness reclaimed the room.
Channie now knew the true meaning of
Empty
.
In Praise of
Enchantment
: Book One
Amazon Bestseller Top 20
in Children’s Fiction, Sports and Activities
“This book will make you believe in magic.”— J. Timothy King author of
From the Ashes of Courage
“This unique addition to the paranormal romance genre deals with teenage sexuality in a nuanced yet discreet way ... recommended for fans of the Twilight series, Harry Potter, or paranormal romance in general.”
—
Jared Oliver Adams author of
Whiteface
and
One Good Thing
"This book took me to places I've never been ... Once I was
drawn in, I was unable to put it down until the end." — Shannon Dermott author of
Beg for Mercy
"Magic, treachery, humor and thrills ... flat out fun to read. Five Stars!" — Ben Langhinrchs author of
My Cozy Chair
(review blog)
“The writing is superb, really polished plot and characters … a whole new world to get lost in.” — Jason Matthews author of
The Little Universe
and
Jim’s Life
"Every girl wants their prince charming to be just like Josh. It made me cry and laugh and gasp ... a make your heart warm and tingle kind of love story!" — Natasha
“If you crave excitement and danger with your romance and can't get enough of Stephenie Meyer, Suzanne Collins, or Cassandra Clare make room on your Kindle for
Enchantment
!
”
The third and final book of The Channie Series will be available September 2012
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Charlotte Abel was born and raised in Oklahoma. She spent many happy summers visiting relatives in Arkansas. She now lives in Colorado with her husband, Pete and loves hiking, biking, snowshoeing and skiing in the Rocky Mountains, but will always have a special fondness for the Ozarks.
Visit her at
TheChannieSeries.com
You can also find Charlotte at
Amazon.com
and
Goodreads.com
Check out
Channie’s Diary
online
If you enjoyed
Taken
I hope you’ll recommend it to your friends and write a quick review on
Amazon.com
So many people contributed to this process, I hesitate to thank anyone, lest I forget someone. With that disclaimer … I must thank my editor, Carol Burkett and Kris Kendall, my publicist. The value of their support, friendship and guidance is beyond measure. They are both worth their weight in gold.
I’d also like to thank my early beta-readers and reviewers: Karla Hernandez, Nicole Passante, Jessica Ramierez, Stephanie Redwine, Maghon Thomas and Terri Thomas. Without them, this would be a very different book. They all deserve power-names of their own.
I will be forever grateful to Orson Scott Card for encouraging me to turn the short story I wrote during his workshop into the first novel of this series,
Enchantment
.
A special thank you to my friends, colleagues and mentors at the
Indie Book Collective:
Carolyn McCray, Amber Scott, Rachel Thompson and Taylor Lee.
Meeting Destiny
Excerpt
Read a bonus excerpt from
Meeting Destiny
by Nancy Straight — Available now!
Chapter One
Seth stopped by to get a salad halfway through my shift – it’s one of the only things he’ll eat from the menu.
“I’m hitting the library.
You need a ride home tonight?”
I shook my head, “No, I’ll catch a ride with Melissa.
Call me later?”
“Sure, but it’ll be late.”
He leaned across the counter, “I miss you already.”
He’s the sappy romantic type.
Seth and I have lived next door to one another our whole lives, our moms were best friends in high school, and we’ve been dating, I guess, since middle school. As I watched Seth make his way to the parking lot, I saw someone coming through the door who made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.
I watched the man closely, not paying attention to the order monitor or anything Melissa said.
He must have felt me staring at him because he caught my gaze for a second.
Neither of us moved.
He stood two steps inside the doorway as if arguing with himself whether he wanted to be here.
The man had bushy brown hair that looked as though it hadn’t seen a comb in days and likely not any kind of shampoo in weeks.
His hair lay in all different directions.
It looked dark brown, but I couldn’t tell if that was really the color or the grease from neglect.
His face looked like leather, covered in stubble, with deep crevices from the sun.
He had a slender build, his cheeks were sunk in, he was tall, easily five eleven, maybe an inch or two taller.
His clothes were a mess.
He was wearing a dirty white t-shirt hidden under a thick green winter coat.
The coat looked like the old Army jackets from the sixties with a large silver zipper.
The coat’s length hung well over his thighs.
It was unzipped and hung over blue jeans that were too long and too big for his frame; maybe at one time they fit his waist, but that was at least twenty pounds ago.
His appearance made me think of a homeless person, maybe an addict whose addictions had shrunk his body, maybe a vagrant happy to find a decent pair of jeans from Goodwill.
His appearance didn’t disturb me nearly as much as his expression.
It was as if he were looking through the people, like the people in the restaurant didn’t actually exist.
The hair on my arms joined the hair on the back of my neck, all at attention.
I felt an uneasiness I’d never felt before.
I don’t know how I knew, but I knew this man was trouble.
I scanned the room and saw several tables had opened up.
It looked like there were maybe twenty customers, not nearly as many as just fifteen minutes ago.
All seemed to be oblivious to this newcomer.
“Lauren!”
The voice caught me off guard and quickly brought me back to reality. Melissa looked frustrated with me, “I need four fries and two cheeseburgers.” From her stare, she must have had to repeat herself.
I watched as the customer wearing the green coat moved from the door to her line.
I put the fries and cheeseburgers on the tray and pretended to be looking up at the order monitor.
Embarrassed, I managed, “Sorry, I must have been daydreaming for a second.”
Only two orders were in line.
A woman in her late thirties who looked like she had just left an office, had her four-year-old son in tow.
The four-year-old was babbling as if he’d not been able to talk all day.
I only vaguely heard his questions, “Mommy, can I have a toy? Can I have a boy toy?
I don’t like the girl toys.
Remember when I got a doll?
I want French fries.
Can I have chicken? Mommy…”
The green jacket guy was bad news, and I knew I had to get Melissa away from the counter, even if only for five minutes.
Before the exhausted mom could place her order, I tapped Melissa on the shoulder. “Hey, Wanda wants you to go inventory the freezer.”
I am a horrible liar and anyone who knows me well can see through me immediately.
I made a conscious effort not to make eye contact with her.
I told myself I just needed her out of the way until the green jacket guy left.
“No way, I didn’t bring a coat.
I’m not doing the inventory.” She blasted this louder than I had expected, and I winced, turning around to see if Wanda had heard the exchange.
Wanda was assisting the drive-through and luckily paid no attention to the two of us.
“Besides, I did it last week and did a miscount - too many beef patties on this week’s shipment.
Wanda told me not to do the inventory alone again - ever.”
I needed to make this sound good, so with as forceful a voice as I could muster, I looked straight into her eyes, “Look Melissa, I’ve got plans tonight and can’t work late.
You can’t handle the front by yourself.
If we’re going to get out on time you have to figure out how to do basic math!”
My angry voice devastated my upbeat friend, and the hurt on her face was as clear as if it had been written in marker.
“Just go.”
Stepping to the register, I put my back to Melissa, betting she would depart without any argument.
I took the order for the mom and son while watching every move from the man in the green jacket.
He was looking around wildly at each of the exits, over his shoulder, through the windows; I did my best not to catch his eye again.
Rather than piecing their order together and going on to the man in the green jacket, I waited for their order to be complete.
I took a deep breath and told myself I was overreacting.
He didn’t force his way to the front of the line.
If he were really dangerous, he wouldn’t have acted like a normal customer.
It’s not like I haven’t served people who were poorly dressed and in need of better hygiene.
I tried to tell myself that he was just a hungry man in need of a shower.
No, if anything, I have learned to trust my instincts, and every fiber of my being told me this guy was bad news.
As I got the exhausted mom’s to-go order, I was thankful that she was as anxious to leave the restaurant as I was for her to get away from the man standing two feet behind her.
Her son continued with an endless string of questions, although I believed she was tuning him out as well as I was.
The working mom thanked me and walked straight to the nearest exit.
My stomach felt like I had eaten a rock - or maybe a whole box of them.
The ache from my stomach now joined the tiny hairs on my neck and arms that hadn’t relaxed since this stranger walked through the door.
My heart started racing so fast that I could actually feel my pulse through my skin.
