EXCERPT
Spelled
(Amethyst Book One)
(Amethyst Book One)
by Kate St. Clair
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Description
Magic runs thicker than blood.
16-year-old Georgia Sayers may have just found out she's descended from two of the most powerful witches in history, but others have known for a long time, and are hunting her. Can she protect her siblings from them before it's too late?
Book Reading
Excerpt
Breaking the Family Spell
Wyatt still hasn’t moved an inch. His hands are hiked up under his arms, and a strange scowl has taken over his expression.
“Just try it, Wyatt,” I say gently, holding the incantation out to him. He takes it between two fingers, his back still flush against the wall.
“Get in the circle,” Charlotte says.
“I don’t want to. Georgia didn’t,” he snaps.
I haven’t seen him this petulant since he was ten and Dad took away his Playstation.
“I didn’t,” I say. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”
He scans over the words a few times, shoving the napkin into his pocket when he’s done. He closes his eyes, speaking them in a sloppy, hurried stream. Everyone winces, waiting for the pain to hit him.
He opens his eyes and shrugs. “Sorry. Don’t feel anything.”
He turns sharply, skirting around the bedframe, and a twitch of movement in his hand draws my eye.
“What were you doing with your fingers?” I say.
His neck goes rigid, like someone jerked his puppet string. He pivots slowly, raising his hands, spreading his fingers wide. “Nothing.”
“Let’s try it again. One more time.” I can hear my big sister voice coming out, the tone that used to be the only thing he’d listen to. But I know I’d seen it. He was crossing his fingers.
He stays still but something moves in his eyes, like shuffling embers.
“No. It’s a waste of time,” Wyatt says. His voice is low, not the voice of a fourteen-year-old anymore. In fact, looking at him now, I don’t see Wyatt at all. All the smooth innocence in his face has turned to jagged anger and distrust. Something about him is off, and I want so badly to put it right again.
“Let’s just try it,” I say. I don’t wait for him to answer. I’m already striding across the room and grabbing both his hands. The minute my skin touches his, cold spasms grip my muscles. I know I can’t hold onto him for long, he’s a foot taller than me, so out of desperation I yank him forward. He’s just off-balance enough to stagger into the circle.
The sound that comes from him tears my heart to shreds. I’d heard him cry before, when he got shots or when he’d broken his arm, but nothing like this. It was the wailing scream of someone in more pain than I’d ever experienced. His shoulder blades pull together, and his spine curves backward, as if someone is dragging a rake down his back.
Abby covers her ears and screams over him, “Georgia, stop it! Let him go!”
My knees finally bend and I rush toward my baby brother. The toe of my sneaker crosses the circle first. Before I get my body past the line, my feet are ripped out from under me. The back of my head smacks floorboards, shooting a white flash across my vision. Blackness creeps in quickly from the corners of my eyes as the lights in the room surge angrily. The last thing I see is Abby and the twins hurl against the far wall like leaves in the wind, and Wyatt, still screaming on his knees in the circle.
Featured Review
A tough, funny teenage girl in an ordinary high school grapples with the discovery that her ancestors were all ... powerful witches. There is a mystery about this, and someone seems to be trying to hurt Georgia and her 4 siblings - all blood witches. But Georgia and her sisters and brother don't know this essential fact, or much else about what makes the plot churn. There is a terrific love interest and a grandmother to die for. Spelled neatly bridges normal teenage angst and the supernatural. This is great, galloping fun, the first of a series of novellas that ends all too quickly. Give me more, Kate St. Clair!
About the Author
Kate grew up in Austin, Texas, before she attended boarding school in California. She was accepted to the Chapman University Creative Writing program before she wrote Spelled (Amethyst Book One), a paranormal YA series published by Black Hill Press in April 2014. When she's not writing, Kate is riding horses, walking her dogs, or playing with her pet pig, Miley.
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