Last spring, Lena discovered who she was.
Now all she wants to do is move on—and find a way to be with Tarek, the new Warden of Arcus and the love of her life. Even though worlds separate them now, she holds onto the hope they’ll be together again. Until then, Lena focuses on being truly happy for the first time in her life…this life. She has new friends, an apartment free from her abusive father, and the chance to live a normal life.
But for Lena, the past never stays gone.
A woman from another lifetime reveals Cassondra, Exemplian’s new authority commander, is seeking revenge against Tarek for killing her brother. There is only one way to end this new threat…
This time, it will take more than Wilma to keep the monsters away. It’ll take an entire army–an army who remembers Lena from her past life, and who might just want her dead, too.
Lena’s past will shape her future more than she could ever imagine.
Fear cured most things. Hunger, thirst…hope. It filled me up until it ate my insides, burrowing deep into my psyche to remind me I was a piece of shit.
A failure.
I left them there, killed a mother and her child because I wasn't strong enough.
My eyelids, heavy and thick, refused to lift, forcing me to see their faces–Cara and her precious baby girl screaming for us, needing us. And we just left them. My mind replayed the same image of those lights swallowing them up, disintegrating them to ash.
Wake up!
My eyes shot open and pain lanced my brain. The static was gone, but the memories of it a dull, throbbing reminder. I tried to breathe, but panic forming in my throat made it difficult to do properly. Hyperventilating created clouds of dizziness. I tried to get up, but slammed back onto a floating surface as soft as velvet. When my movement made the swaying worse, I rolled to the edge of a bed and released all the dried apricots and fish from my stomach.
A bucket scooted under the vomit stream, the heaves so violent I almost fell to the floor. Warm hands held me up and pulled back my hair as I emptied the last of my stomach's contents, leaving a hole so big I wanted to disappear in it, escape everything.
Sobs filled the room, distant at first, but then blaring right inside my head, almost as loud as the Guides' attack. Moisture coated my face, coming from my eyes, my nose…my mouth. I couldn't do it anymore
I couldn't.
"Shhh…I'm here, you're safe."
Familiar safety of soft arms held tighter, the smell of vanilla pushing past the pain.
Wilma.
I clung to her, not opening my eyes again, not wanting to face reality. Ever. She didn't force me and held on until the very last sob escaped. Until nothing was left.
I wanted to go home, forget everything.
I killed them.
My head stayed nestled in the crook of her arm. She rocked me, stroked my hair. Said words I didn't bother to try to comprehend. I cleaved to her voice. Too much. All of it had become too much. I couldn't deal anymore.
Take me home!
Oblivion rescued me again. This time, blackness gave me peace.
Volume One
For seventeen-year-old Lena, living in the trailer park with the rest of town’s throwaways isn’t exactly paradise. Dealing with a drunken father who can't keep his fists to himself doesn’t help matters either. The only good thing in her life, other than track, is the mysterious man who visits her dreams, promising to find her.
When a chair burns her arms, Lena chalks it up to stress-induced crazy. Yet as bizarre incidents escalate, even being crazy can’t explain it all away… until one day dream guy does find her.
Tarek lost Lena seventeen years ago after she was accused of treason and marked Tainted. He finally discovers her reborn on Earth into a life of suffering as punishment for her crime.
However, someone else has already found her… and wants her dead. Willing to sacrifice everything, he fights to keep her safe so she can live the only life she’s ever known—even if that life doesn’t include him.
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Born in Pennsylvania, Lynn spent most of her childhood, especially during math class, daydreaming. Today, she spends an obscene amount of time in her head, only now she writes down all the cool stuff.
With a degree in English Literature, Lynn used college as an excuse to read for four years straight. She lives in the Pocono Mountains with her husband, raising the four most incredible human beings on the planet. She writes young adult novels, both fantasy and contemporary.
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