Kindle Edition
Category:
Science Fiction
Publisher: OakTara
Type: Fiction
Pages: 280
Copyright: Nov, 2011
ISBN-13: 9781602902718
Price: $4.99 (eBook)
Chad Michaels must learn to control a mental pathway called the Conduit in order to make contact with long dead teens from the past to locate quinsets (living batteries) needed to save the Earth from destruction.
THis novel came about when I was explaining to my grade seven class that authors often leave the reader hanging with a cliff hanger so powerful the reader is force to continue reading.
The opening prologue was the example I read to my students. They wanted to know what happened next so I was forced to write the next chapter and so on.
Excerpt
THE QUINSET
Armand Matte
Prologue
Chad Michaels moved cautiously along the darkening hospital corridor stopping to check back along his path. Using three thousand year old skills, he was unseen. He quickly reached the empty nursing station; his eyes walked over the list of patients on the status board. When he saw her name, his heart eased for a moment. Marissa was right; Cathy was still alive.
With softened steps, Chad tiptoed along the corridor until he reached her door. Chad drew himself up to his full height and summoned all of his courage as fear twisted his guts because he knew, with absolute certainly what awaited him beyond that door. Only his deep love for Cathy made him move forward. As he pushed open the door, Chad caught sight of his reflection in the mirror over the sink. His normally cheerful 18 year old face was pale. Only his steel blue eyes sparkled in the dim light.
On the hospital bed lay the object of his visit. When he moved closer, courage left his legs. As he grasped the bed rail for support, the figure on the bed moved, her face slowly turning towards the visitor.
The passing years had not been kind to Cathy. Very little remained of the beautiful girl he once knew. On the bed were the ruins of an incredibly old woman. Her raspy breathing told Chad she was dying before his eyes.
Chad placed a travel bag on the corner of the bed. The young man reached over grasping her cold, dry hand into his own. He gently turned the stiff arm over, and pulled up the loose sleeve. The long, jagged scar was there. This old woman must be Cathy Reval, the girl he once loved.
The warmth of his touch revived her. She moaned softly when her head flopped onto his hand.
“Go away!” she muttered. “No more tests. Let me die in peace.” Her left hand waved blindly before his face.
“Cathy,” Chad whispered. “It's Chad. Look at me.”
“Leave me alone!” She coughed violently.
As he turned his head, the young man's eyes fell upon the thick, heavy glasses on the night table.
“Here, put these on.” He gently slipped the glasses over her ears. “Cathy, look at me. It's Chad. You've got to remember. It's me. Chad Michaels. You must remember.” His hands desperately closed upon her shoulders. The frail figure moved effortlessly into his arms as he pulled her close to his face. He wanted to shake her, to drive reality back into her mind.
At first, Cathy's old, clouded eyes refused to fix on his face. Then, slowly her face broke into a soft, toothless smile.
“Chad, can it really be you? You haven't changed.” She brought her rough hand up stroking his smooth face.”
Abruptly, the smile vanished, the elderly woman jerking herself out of his embrace.
“Chad, go away. You promised never to try to find me after the Conduit was broken. I knew if you ever found me, I would be like I am today.” She brushed her hand against her wrinkled face. “All you're going to do is break my heart all over again.” Her voice crackled with subtle anger. “Why are you doing this to me, Chad? It took me years to get over you, and now you drop back into my life. I'm dying. Please, Chad. Leave me alone!” She flopped back onto the pillow, exhausted by her speech.
He moved closer pulling her hand in his. “Cathy, when I made that promise to you, yesterday, I meant to keep it. Don't you think this is tearing me apart seeing you now when I remember you as so young and beautiful. But look!”
From the travel bag the visitor withdrew what appeared to be a small, shiny, pulsating green rock.
“A quinset?” she asked her voice tipped with excitement. “But they're all gone.”
“Shush,” he whispered. “Not this one, Cathy.”
When Chad placed the quinset in her open hand, he suddenly realized, that today was the first time he had touched the hand of the girl he was going to marry.
As his hand folded over hers and the quinset, their minds blended once again.
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