Zandrael and her friends aren’t like other humans, but they are familiar with earth; they have watched over it since its creation. Zandrael knows they chose to cross over as humans, but in her new form, she can’t recall why. As they begin to uncover some of the darker parts of humanity, including their own, Zandrael begins to wonder if they are there to save the humans... or to save earth from humankind.
This book is the first in a series of three novels, relevant to the current shifts in our world, exploring the concept that we are all connected and capable of creating our own future.
Excerpt
Have you ever woken from a dream and longed to be back in it?
“Zandrael”
Andrea looked at her iPhone and plopped her head back down on the pillow. Every morning since her fourteenth birthday, that one word woke her up five minutes before her alarm. It was spoken in a voice so familiar, yet one she couldn’t quite place. She didn’t mind. It gave her five minutes to shake the lonely feeling following her reoccurring dream, which also started on her birthday.
In the dream she was in a beautiful meadow with high cliffs enclosing the space in a semi-circle. The cliffs were made of bluish rock with a gleaming, smooth white stone weaved throughout. Large, flowering vines hung from the top to the ground. The rest of the circle was closed off by plush forest.
Andrea’s favorite part was the waterfall pouring from a dip in the cliff into a small pond, then exiting through a stream into the forest. Large rocks jutted here and there in the pond where strange lizards, snakes and turtle-like creatures lay basking in the sun. The lizards were orange with black stripes down their backs. Their front feet were webbed and their tails like large flat paddles which steered them through the water. Andrea would have thought they were salamanders had it not been for their thick scales. The snakes were just as cool. Striped yellow, black and white, they had large scalloped dishes on the back of their heads which may have been for breathing underwater or hearing, she was not sure. The turtles looked fairly normal except for their large, cat-like eyes and wings.
Sometimes she would jump along the stones in the stream, or hop along the backs of the turtles through the pond. They didn’t seem to mind at all. Still other times she would lay in the grass with her bare feet in the pond. And every once in a while, but not every night, she would spread her wings and fly around this utopia, letting her feet barely touch the blades of grass or reaching a hand down to skim across the water. These were the dreams which caused her to wake with the deepest feeling of loneliness.
She never questioned why she didn’t leave the meadow. Her wings could easily take her over the cliffs, and her feet could easily carry her through the thick forest she loved so much. It just felt right to be in the meadow. She felt safe. She felt at home.
This was the dream Andrea woke to today. She could feel a physical ache between her shoulder blades and spine. Much like she imagined an amputee felt, Andrea could feel the loss of her dream-wings as if they were real.
Of course, she never told anyone about the dreams. Her mother would have her in a therapist’s office faster than she could get dressed.
Andrea was reaching for her phone when it buzzed. She smiled. X was predicable beyond comprehension. Every morning at 7:00am on the dot, he sent her a text with the fact of the day. Sometimes they were random and sometimes they were on a topic he knew she was interested in.
X: Did you know there are approximately 167 charter schools in Pennsylvania? They are making the biggest impact on minorities and at-risk students. How was your first day?
Andrea: Did you know the world's termites outweigh the world's humans 10 to 1? I don't think I'm a minority or at-risk. Glad we went to Hawk Mountain, although that was a bit weird. I’ll tell you about it tonight.
Andrea had no idea where X got his facts, but she was pretty sure he knew hers were from the caps of Snapple bottles, just as she was pretty sure he knew her facts before he read the texts. It seemed like he knew everything, which is why she was drawn to him in the first place.
My memory of Elias is intimate but brief; I asked him, "what happened, where are you taking me, who are you? Tell me!"
In a calm voice; "Sara hush, you died.
Bristlecone Magic is a YA Christian fantasy about family, friends, neighborliness, love, magic and yes, even tragedy. The story takes place in Clinton County in upstate New York.
There is more than one kind of Magic! Contact me if you'd like an au
Khenlee has reached 12 Cycles of Seasons and will find which working circle she will now belong to. She is shocked to find out what the gods have decided what her life work will be.
