EXCERPT
The Perfect Tear
(The Perfect Tear Trilogy Book 1)
(The Perfect Tear Trilogy Book 1)
by Connie Lansberg
Author Connie Lansberg stops by today to share an excerpt from The Perfect Tear. Grab your copy now before the movie is released!
Description
Eleanor is a singer. Her songs keep nature in balance, but when they are stolen from her, a grey mist descends and her world fails to thrive. This timid orphan is thrust into a course of action she never asked for, nor envisioned. Set against a backdrop of abandonment, loss and betrayal, she must find her way through strange and dangerous landscapes in her desperate search for the Perfect Tear, a dark crystal which holds the future of her world. But, Eleanor is no savior. She is a simple girl with strong instincts and she must learn to trust them. Just like the notes of song must connect to create a melody, Eleanor must discover the connections needed to create the harmony required to truly save her world.
Book Video
Excerpt
The wind hit Eleanor with such force, she staggered back, bumping into the wall of the quarter gallery. She had always loved the elements—wind, rain, lightning, and thunder—but always with solid earth beneath her feet. Here, they were all at the mercy of the storm.
She kept her back against the gallery wall and watched the men struggle with the main mast. The rope had come loose and whipped about like a wild animal. Audrey’s mouth moved as she clutched the railing, but Eleanor could hear nothing above the shrieking of the wind. Audrey needed to get away from the railings. She was in danger. Eleanor’s heart pounded and she clenched her fist. She knew nothing of the sea but she could feel its power and knew Audrey was too brave for her own good.
Eleanor left the safety of the gallery wall, head down, struggling against the gale toward Audrey.
Edward frantically motioned for her to go back downstairs, and she looked over her shoulder to see Bella at the top of the stairs. Why wouldn’t everybody just go below deck where it was safe? She yelled for Audrey to come away from the railing but she soon realized Audrey couldn’t hear her. Eleanor had to get to her.
The wind roared past her ears and brought with it another sound. A resonance that made her blood freeze. Eleanor’s body went stiff and a sense of foreboding rose up within her.
Her gaze darted wildly about making the hairs on her arms stand up. What was happening? The very air felt different and the sound, low and ugly, grew louder until she could no longer hear the wind. Her fingers dug into the palms of her hands and a small moan escaped her lips. Something was happening. Something bad was happening and she needed to stop it.
In the space of one breath, the wind halted, the rain stopped falling and the sea grew still. Eleanor raised her head and reached out her hands as if preparing to ward off a blow.
A long necked creature rose silently from the sea and towered over the ship. Eleanor pressed her hand to her throat and her mouth dropped open. She tried to scream, but the sound stayed trapped within her.
The clouds had disappeared, and the serpent glittered in the full moonlight. It was magnificent and terrifying. It opened its mouth and roared.
The ship suddenly rose on a huge wave. It was being lifted from beneath its hull. The wave picked up the vessel and tilted it badly. Eleanor hit the deck hard as Bella skidded past, and she just managed to grab the frightened animal. With Bella under one arm, Eleanor slid forward until she was able to fling her arm around the mizzenmast. Audrey hung on to the railing with a terrified look on her face and Eleanor could see she was at risk. The men clung to the main mast, but Edward lost his grip and skidded towards the ship’s railing.
The serpent roared again and bent its huge head toward the deck, toward Edward.
The scream inside her finally escaped, and, though this monster was as tall as the barn from which she had jumped all those years ago, she dragged the comb from her hair and pointed it at the fiend. “STOP!”
A beam of liquid light flew from the comb. Within the beam, there were smaller, pulsating circles of silver light. The beam grew in size until it reached the serpent, where it split into many parts, forming a web that acted as a net. The net created a barrier between the ship and the demon, thwarting its plan to devour Edward, and its roar was terrifying.
The ship righted itself again, and the monster shrieked again and disappeared. John raced to Edward’s side and pulled him to safety. The silence was like a heavy cloak, and Eleanor stared in wonder at the sparkling net that hung in the sky.
She set Bella down and closed her eyes, breathing hard. Edward was safe. They were all safe now. She just needed her heart to stop racing and then she would go to him. She felt an arm slide around her and she leaned into the support. Audrey held her tightly. “Look.” She spoke softly. Eleanor slowly opened her eyes.
“What are those little silver balls of light?” Audrey asked.
They all stared at the sparkling lights, like tiny stars that hung in the sky, connected by the web of light. Eleanor peered up through heavy lids. Her heart finally slowed its frantic pace, but she felt strange, as if part of her hung there in the night sky. She found it hard to move her limbs. She knew what the little balls of light were.
She struggled to speak. “Songs, my songs. Those I have sung and those I have yet to sing, the songs that kept the garden awake.”
Audrey turned back to the wondrous sight and nodded. Eleanor lifted the comb and pointed it at the glistening net. She must call them back for she could not bear the emptiness inside, as though her heart had gone missing. She took a deep breath and readied herself to receive them.
“Not this time.” The voice hissed in her head and reverberated throughout her body.
Eleanor froze.
The giant serpent reared its head from the sea and, without a sound, opened its mouth wide and swallowed Eleanor’s net of light and all her songs with it.
Eleanor screamed and doubled over, clutching her stomach and she heard Audrey gasp.
Edward raced towards her. “Eleanor!”
Before his next breath, before he could reach her, the tail of the serpent slipped onto the deck, curled around Eleanor, and dragged her to the railing. Bella jumped on her skirts and bit down and Audrey flung herself at the tail. In an instant, Eleanor, Audrey, and Bella were swept overboard.
***
Edward ran. He pulled off his coat and threw himself at the railing, but John and the captain held him back.
He struggled and tried to fight them off. “Let me go! I must save her. Please, John! Help me. We must save them!”
Edward fell to his knees, still struggling. Why were they stopping him? Eleanor needed him. He had to find her. Edward pressed his fists to his eyes. He was dreaming. Surely, he was dreaming. He looked into John’s face. John’s face would tell him this was a dream. But John’s mouth quivered and his eyes filled with tears. Edward stared at the captain.
The captain shook his head. “The water is like ice and so deep. You cannot save them, and I will not lose more young lives on this cursed journey.”
Edward started to shake.
“They will feel nothing, my young friend,” the captain said. “They will simply fall asleep. They will wake in heaven and become angels, I have no doubt.”
Edward could not make himself form a coherent sentence. He just felt cold. Deeply cold, like Eleanor must be feeling. The thought of his perfect girl being so cold was more than he bear, and his heart seemed to burst apart inside his chest. He heard a terrible sound and wondered where it was coming from until he realized the awful wailing emanated from him. John lifted him up.
“Get them below,” the captain said to his first mate. “Fill them with brandy. I am turning this ship around.”
***
Lerion’s eyes had become accustomed to the darkness so when Tsera’s orb appeared before him, it blinded him. He knew it was Tsera because he recognized her tone, the sound of her unique vibrational fingerprint, as it were. As Tsera’s orb came into focus, a surge of rage filled Lerion. Why couldn’t she just leave him to get on with the game?
The orb slowly became clear, revealing his opponent. He knew how much pressure the vehicle was under and that she could not linger. He even hoped she was in a little pain. “What do you want?”
“Lovely to see you too.” Tsera sent the hologram of her form into the lair.
He glared at the construct but kept his voice pleasant. “I have the first two Vibrations. Why did you save the girl?”
“I did it for you.”
Lerion felt a surge of energy pulse through him and he flinched but he managed to hide it. “What do you mean? I have her frequency. She will die like the others.”
Tsera shrugged slightly. “Perhaps, perhaps not.”
“I ask you again, Tsera. Why did you save her?”
“You will have to figure that out.”
Lerion’s smile was tight. She must be in trouble, near to losing, if she needed the help of this girl. “No matter what you do, she is no match for me and you know it.”
Tsera bowed her head. “I have come to give you a clue.”
Lerion glared. This could be a trick.
[Want more? Click below to read a longer excerpt.]
Praise for the Book
"The Perfect Tear by Connie Lansberg is a masterpiece of fantasy. It has a well thought out world with complex characters. [...] Connie Lansberg is a musician, a singer-songwriter, and it was very skillful indeed how she wove music and its importance into the science of her world building as well as into the hearts of her human characters. [...] This book might just move the bar a little higher for the fantasy genre. In her introduction, Connie Lansberg writes: 'We need a brand new story and this time we do not fall from grace, we are not banished from the garden naked and in disgrace. In our new story we are kings and queens and we finally know what being human means.' I think she has just written that story." ~ Ray Simmons for Readers' Favorite
"The Perfect Tear by Connie Lansberg is a young adult fantasy that incorporates a medieval dystopian society with alien adventure. [...] The Perfect Tear is a really sweet, well written story that will appeal to tween, teen, and adult readers. Any fan of music and singing will also be drawn to this book as Connie Lansberg has such a beautiful way of describing the musical scenes to make it seem as if the music was really being sung in the same room, just for them. I enjoyed the magical world that Eleanor lived in. Getting to know that landscape and the cool parts of a world different from ours was a fun adventure that I was happy to experience." ~ Janelle Fila for Readers' Favorite
"With a mixture of classic fairy tale and a dab of science fiction, this story takes a fantastic journey into music, DNA and discovering the treasure of life." ~ Tonja Drecker
"I loved this novel, it was set in a beautiful fairy tale like world and spoke to my inner child. Once upon a time there was a girl called Eleanor and she is a singer but when her gift was stolen from her she must venture out and face the harsh world around her. I don’t know how to explain it, but this book was so pure and delightful. I feel as though every young woman should read it because at the core of it, it is a story of empowerment, fighting for your dreams and being true to yourself because that is where you will find strength." ~ Kelsey White
"Author Connie Lansberg’s The Perfect Tear almost reads like a literary song. It’s a magical mind trip into a world where vibrations and tones exist only to appeal to the senses." ~ Laurenreads1
About the Author
She also received several grants from the Victoria Council of the Arts for the development of mobile phone games that she created.
Connie joined the Melbourne Writers Group in 2010 to work on ideas and scripts and during this time the idea for The Perfect Tear began to develop and take shape. She continued her education by taking scriptwriting classes at the Australian Film and Television School in Melbourne and later, worked extensively with Marcy Kennedy on the book. She has two more stories to complete The Perfect Tear Trilogy.
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