Morgan Scarlett

A Creepy Hollow Story
1. Auflage 2016
ISBN: 978-0-9946953-1-4
Verlag: Rachel Morgan
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, 160 Seiten

Reihe: Creepy Hollow

'Excellent as usual. This series is one of the best I ever read and I read a lot!' - 5-star customer review.
Deadly power. Stunning beauty. She will not be controlled.
Sixteen-year-old Beth's ordinary life is shattered the night her dormant magic awakens and she almost kills her boyfriend. Horrified at what she's done, she flees into the fae realm to find the siren mother who disowned her a decade ago. When it turns out her power cannot be controlled, she is once again cast out from the siren community. Alone and afraid, Beth winds up in the Dark North where a group of witches rescues her. They offer to help her gain control of her deadly magic-but at what price?
Scarlett is a companion story to the bestselling YA fantasy Creepy Hollow series. Grab your copy today to taste a darker side of this captivating magical world!
While this story is best enjoyed in conjunction with the rest of the Creepy Hollow series, it is a standalone story that can be read on its own. (Optimal reading position in series: after book 1, The Faerie Guardian)
Readers' reviews: 
'A fabulous addition to the Creepy Hollow series.'
'I haven't read books this good in a really long time. Rachel, please always keep writing!'

Autoren/Hrsg.

Morgan, Rachel

Leseproben

Two
Beth had always known her father didn’t care much for her. She’d listened to her classmates whining about the anger and disappointment of their parents if any of them broke the rules at home, and she’d envied them, knowing that nothing could be worse than a parent who didn’t care at all. But tonight she’d discovered something worse. It was worse to know that her father hated her. She pushed aside the ache in her heart and rushed to the front door. She pulled it open—and there stood Jack, dressed in his smartest jacket, his dark hair buzzed short just the way it suited him, and his warm eyes smiling at her. Those eyes widened as he took her in. “You look … incredible.” With her throat still too tight for her to utter a single word, she simply melted against him. His arms wrapped around her, secure and comforting. And just like that, her world was right again. “Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked. “Let’s go.” She reached back and pulled the door shut. Jack took her hand as they walked down the front steps. High above them, the sky was dark and menacing with purple-black clouds rolling in. Beth probably should have brought a coat, but there was no way she was going back inside now. They reached Jack’s car—more a patchwork collection of rusted pieces of metal than an actual vehicle—and he held the passenger door open for her. She didn’t speak as they began driving, but Jack kept his hand resting on her knee and that was enough to ease away the pain of that moment inside the house. By the time Jack pulled up near the lake, Dad’s last words to her had receded to the far reaches of her memory, and the nervous excitement she’d felt while getting dressed coursed once more through her body. She’d been to the lake before, of course. She loved it here. The water calls to us … Unbidden, the distant memory of her mother’s words rose to the surface of her mind. She dismissed them as she climbed from the car. As much as she might wish it in the secret depths of her heart, she was nothing like her mother. It wasn’t only water and the untamed power of the ocean that she loved. Being anywhere outside made her happy. Fields, forests, mountains. Not that she often had the opportunity to spend time in nature. The dull and nearly-dead town of Holtyn saw to that. But Jack had taken her hiking several times, driving hours and hours in search of hills and mountains, and they’d even visited the beach twice this past summer. The rest of the time, Beth made do with the lake on the outskirts of town. Jack had parked on the overgrown side, though. The side no one ever came to because too many tangled plants blocked the way to the water. She didn’t question him, though. She trusted Jack. He came around to her side of the car and took her hand. “You might have a little bit of trouble with those shoes, but I promise I won’t let you trip.” Then he led her, not away from the overgrown tangle of bushes and trees, but toward it. He pulled back one of the larger branches so she could duck beneath it. She saw then that a path had been cleared. “Did you do this?” she asked, looking back at him through the lattice of leaves and twigs. “Remember I said I was busy last week?” “Yes. I didn’t see you the whole weekend.” He stooped beneath the branch before letting it fall back into place behind him. He beamed at her. “Now you know where I was. Keep going,” he added, urging her forward. Beth continued along the newly formed path, being careful to avoid the sharp edges where Jack must have hacked his way through the branches just days ago. After several more careful steps, she came to a clearing right beside the water. A picnic blanket lay upon the uneven grass, with a basket beside it and jars of candles all around. “This is that spot,” she said in amazement, looking out across the water to the opposite shore. “That spot we always see from the other side but have never been able to get to.” “Yes,” Jack said. “Happy one year anniversary.” As emotion tightened Beth’s throat, making it difficult to speak, he hastily added, “It’s not a fancy restaurant or anything, but I know you love the lake, and you’ve always wished you could find a way to this side, so I figured—” “It’s amazing. I couldn’t have asked for anything better.” She had often wished she could run away and live in that other world, the world she’d been born for. But then she’d fallen in love with the boy next door, and now moments like this reminded her that she didn’t need that other world after all. This world would do just fine. “It’s just a little bit magical, isn’t it?” Jack said, reaching for her hand. “Yes.” Not the kind of magical she knew of, but as close to magical as anything could be in this world. They sat on the blanket and Beth kicked her shoes off while Jack switched his phone to silent and left it by the picnic basket. Still feeling a little nervous, Beth began describing the miniature terrarium she’d constructed that morning inside a hanging teardrop vase. Jack listened as he poured a drink for each of them. Sparkling grape juice, icy enough to send a shiver down her arms as she took a sip. “I’m sorry, I didn’t expect it to be this cold tonight,” Jack said, removing his jacket and placing it around Beth’s shoulders. “It’s okay. I have you to keep me warm.” She put her cup down so she could push her arms into the sleeves of the jacket. If she’d been dressed like this when she left the house, Dad might not have been so furious. He might not have looked at her with such hatred. She pressed her lips together as she realized the cracks his words had caused in her heart were still there. Jack ran his fingers delicately through her hair and asked, “Do you want to tell me what’s wrong?” She looked up, surprised. She had meant to hide her sadness, but clearly she wasn’t doing a very good job. “No, not now. I don’t want to ruin tonight.” “But if something’s bothering you, then rather get it out. That way it won’t bother you anymore, and the night won’t be ruined.” She looked down at the blanket. “My dad …” Jack nodded, as if he’d known it was something to do with Dad. Of course he knew. Whenever something was wrong, it was almost always to do with the nonexistent relationship between Beth and her father. “It’s just something he said before I left. He … I’ve always known I mean nothing to him—” “Don’t say that.” “—but I was wrong. I mean less than nothing to him.” “It doesn’t matter,” Jack said, and Beth was grateful he didn’t try to contradict her. Didn’t try to convince her that her father did, in fact, care. He knew it wasn’t true just as much as she did. Instead, he leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss against her cheek. “You mean everything to me, my beautiful scarlet lady,” he whispered into her ear. “Scarlett,” she whispered back, tasting the name on her tongue. “I like that. It sounds so exotic.” “It does.” He kissed her earlobe, then pulled back slightly. With one finger, he touched the silver name resting beneath her throat. “But I’m not sure it entirely fits the sweet girl I know you are inside.” “Maybe I don’t want to be that sweet girl all the time,” she said, looking up at him between lashes painted dark with mascara. “Maybe tonight I want to be Scarlett.” Scarlett … The name made her feel stronger, braver. It made her feel more like someone her mother would be pleased with instead of the entirely ordinary girl she had turned out to be. It made her feel like she could almost, possibly … be one of them. “Scarlett,” Jack whispered, a fire igniting in his eyes as she held his gaze, daring him to see her as more than the sweet girl next door. And then the corners of his lips turned up, and she found a giggle escaping her lips just as Jack’s face crumpled with amusement. They fell against each other, their laughter mingling together, and Beth felt that the cracks in her heart were almost healed. As their laughter subsided, she found herself on her back on the blanket with Jack leaning over her, his smiling face close to hers. He kissed her neck, his fingers slid between hers, and when he looked at her again, his gaze was almost adoring. “It doesn’t matter what name I call you,” he said. “I’ll always love you.” A shiver raced across her skin, and at first she thought it was because of Jack’s words and the way he was looking at her. But then she realized the strange feeling had returned. The vibration that hummed throughout her body, making her feel light and heavy at the same time. She wanted to make a mental note to stop putting it off and phone the doctor the next day, but there wasn’t a single thought she could hold onto with Jack looking at her like that. As if nothing else existed in the world but her. “You are more beautiful tonight than you’ve ever been before,” he whispered. His lips found hers, and she pulled him closer. Her eyes slid closed. She forgot everything—Dad’s angry words, the picnic blanket beneath her, the soft patter of rain that had...