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Excerpt
- Forbidden Mind
The door to the
studio hung open just a crack, and angry screams assaulted us as we approached.
Luke and
Lucy looked to me as
if I knew what was going on.
I
shrugged my shoulders in the universal I've-got-no-freaking-idea way and crept
to the door. I could have just slipped into their minds, but listening to
people talk both out load and mentally was hard to track and gave me a pretty
big headache. At that moment, what they were saying, or rather screaming, to
each other was more interesting.
We didn't want to
budge the door and draw attention to ourselves, so Luke pushed his head
through. He bobbed in and out so quickly I almost missed it. Being able to walk
through anything was mighty handy at times.
I nudged him.
"Well?"
"Higgins
and Mr. K. They both look pretty pissed."
They
sounded it too. I'd never heard Headmaster Higgins yell at any of the teachers,
or students for that matter.
He wasn't a pushover
by any stretch, but he'd always been levelheaded—until today.
Higgins shouted at Mr. K. "How
could you enter her without permission from me? Do you realize what you've
done? This could ruin
the school and everything we're doing here."
Was Higgins talking
about me?
Mr. K replied with
the same volume and anger. I could imagine the vein over his left eye bulging.
"You have no idea how talented that girl is! She should be at the best art
school in the world, not hidden here like a freak of nature. It's my job to
make sure she has a future when she leaves this god-awful place, and I'm not
letting you, or the people you work for, stand in my way. Or hers."
They must have been
talking about me, but it made no sense. Why didn't Higgins want me entering the
contest, and why did Mr. K hate this place so much?
"Don't you mean,
the people we work for? They employ us both, and you'd do well to
remember that, Mr. Krevner. Their reach extends beyond the gates of this
school."
I couldn't believe
it. Was the headmaster actually threatening my art teacher? What was going on?
"You will pull
her from that competition and clean up the mess you've made, or your days here
are numbered. Am I making myself clear?"
Something crashed
into a wall, and my friends and I jumped back in surprise.
"Everything is
very clear. You use her and her gifts, rent her and all these kids out to the
highest bidder as spies. You make billions on these Rent-A-Kids, as they call
themselves. And now you want to snuff her chance to shine doing what she truly
loves? No. If you want to destroy her dreams, you can do it yourself. I'll have
no part in it."
Footsteps approached
the door. I tripped back, grabbed Luke and Lucy, and the three of us ducked
around the corner of the building. I peeked out just as Mr. K stormed from the
studio, his face bright red and contorted in anger. Not his best look.
Headmaster Higgins
followed him out moments later. He adjusted his navy blue suit and plastered a
calm mask over his face. His midnight black skin did not reveal his recent
spike in blood pressure the same way that Mr. K's pasty complexion had, but the
tight way he held his shoulders and the fists he made of his hands spoke to his
anger.
Tears stung my eyes,
and I swiped at them with the back of a hand still stained with splashes of
paint. If they pulled me from the contest, hundreds of hours of hard work would
be wasted, and my future would get flushed down the toilet. That couldn't
happen!
When both men were
gone, the three of us snuck into the studio and closed the door behind us. My
enthusiasm had drained out of me like dirty bathtub water. I sniffled and wiped
my traitorous eyes again.
Lucy put her arm
around me. "Cheer up, Chica. We'll figure this out, I promise. They can't
keep you from this, not after all the hard work you've done. And you'll be
leaving for New York soon. Luke and I will join you there, and we'll make all
of our dreams come true, just watch!"
I tried to smile, for
her sake, but the smile didn't reach my eyes.
Luke
rubbed my head as if I were his pet dog. "Where's this painting I've been
hearing so little about?"
I
swatted his hand and couldn't suppress a small, but genuine, smile. Luke could
always cheer me: funny,
gorgeous, and so much
like a brother it sucked.
"Over
here." The canvas draped over my painting appeared undisturbed. A sigh of
relief escaped me. At least
nothing had happened
to it. "Close your eyes."
They
both groaned but did as told.
Fear
and nervousness buzzed through me as I pulled the canvas off. What if they
hated it? What if everyone
hated it and my
dreams of being a real artist died before they could even be born? My lungs
clenched with stale breath and I exhaled before I got too dizzy. "Okay,
you can look."
They stood there,
jaws dropped, stunned into silence. They either hated it or totally loved it.
"Um, is this a bad or good
silence?"
Lucy pulled her mouth
closed and swallowed before she spoke. "O.M.G. Sam, this is the most
incredible,
unbelievable thing
I've ever seen in my life. You painted this?" "You like it?"
Her mental voice
slammed into me. 'Would I lie to you? It's amazing!'
Relief flooded me
even as I laughed at her joke. I could read minds, sure, but she was the human
lie detector. No one dared lie to her.
Luke hugged me and
whispered into my ear, "I'm so proud of you, Sam. This is truly
epic!"
We stood there
staring for several minutes. This painting represented so much about me, my
life, my future... everything. I hated to leave it even for a minute, but my
stomach protested its neglect with a loud rumble.
Luke grabbed my hand.
"Come on, let's feed you. My treat."
With the buzz of
success filling me, and Luke's hand in mind, I entertained a what-if. What if I
could get past the whole brother thing with Luke? I took in his tall,
well-defined frame, his dark hair and bright blue eyes. Gorgeous inside and
out, but... nothing. No spark at all. Such a pity. Of all the guys at school,
he was the only one I could even imagine being with, but I couldn't force the
chemistry and neither could he.
We walked to dinner
hand in hand, and I consoled myself with the fact that I had the best friends a
girl could want. Not a bad consolation prize after all, and worth a hundred
boyfriends.
SNEAK PEEK - EXCERPT - FORBIDDEN FIRE BOOK II
Drake inhaled the cool, salty beach air
and sank his toes into the warm sand. The crashing waves of the Pacific Ocean
always calmed his mind, but not this time. He dropped his shoes onto the sand
and rolled his cargo pants up past his calves, so he could feel the sharp bite
of the cold water over his feet.
The sun hovered over the ocean,
ushering in another day. Surfers dotted the watery landscape; Drake longed to
be one of them, lost in the Zen of the wave, no other care or concern but that
one moment of bliss.
His life had changed too much for
surfing to bring him any peace. That day so many months ago changed everything.
He'd been primed to win the regional Venice Beach Surfing Competition—next
stop, Hawaii. Brad had warned him to keep a low profile, but surfing was too
important to him, so Drake competed.
And he'd paid.
***
In a perfect moment of
synchronicity and connection, the wave broke and wrapped around him in a watery
cocoon from which he would emerge reborn. In that state of bliss he didn't
notice Max cutting him off, didn't feel the
pull of the current until his board
threatened to spill him into the depths of the ocean.
With paranormal strength he
steadied himself and kept his feet under him. A look of surprise flashed across
Max's face before he directed his
attention to the wave that also threatened to engulf him.
The men rode their boards to
shore and were greeted by hundreds of voices cheering their success.
To anyone watching, they had
both just scored a serious victory. Even the judges wouldn't be able to tell
that
Max had cheated and tried to sabotage
Drake.
Words
mattered little to him, but Max had just declared war.
Drake shoved Max to the sand
using a touch more than normal strength, just enough to sting. "What the
hell,
man? Are you so desperate to win, and
so afraid of me, that you would cheat?"
Max's eyes turned cold, but he
pushed himself up and stared at Drake. "I don't know what you're talking
about,
but do that again and I'll make sure
you're disqualified from the final round."
A group had formed, drawn into
the drama. Drake passed his board to Brad and stormed off toward the
showers to cool down before he blew it
for good.
The warm sand squished under his feet,
and the hot sun blazed down on his head.
He stripped off his wetsuit and
stood under the showers, letting the warm water wash away the sand, salt and
anger. Today could change his life
forever; he just needed to keep his cool and ignore Max.
He'd been so absorbed in his
rage, he hadn't noticed the buzz of warning under his skin that someone was
watching him.
By the time he felt it, it was
too late.
Something stung his shoulder.
He reached around and pulled
out a dart. His thoughts swirled around in his head and his recent clarity gave
way to a jumble of incoherent
ramblings.
"Dude, are you all right?"
A voice spoke to him, but male or
female, he couldn't tell. His vision blurred and he slumped onto the wet
cement, the now cold water spraying over him until it ran out of time and
stopped.
"Drake, you'll be okay. Come on,
boy."
Another voice he didn't recognize. He
reached out with his mind to stop whoever was touching him, but nothing
happened. His power didn't work. Then he felt it, the compulsion to obey
directed at him as someone siphoned his powers from him.
When hands pulled him away from the
familiar noises, he tried to fight with his muscle.
"Damn it, he's still too
strong. Get him to the van, quick."
"Don't worry," one
voice said to the other. "Drake, you will relax and walk quietly to the
van with us. You will
not put up a fight or make any
noise."
He nodded, stood and walked forward.
Before Drake could process
anything more, a painful whack to his head sent him tumbling into darkness. The
leader yelled at whoever had hit him, and then Drake lost consciousness.
***
That day had been
life-changing, just not the way he'd hoped or imagined.
Drake wondered if his blood still
stained the block of cement his attackers had used to bash in his head that
day, after hitting him with a tranquilizer gun from afar. Overkill, much? They
hadn't underestimated his strength, at least.
Still, not all was lost. The priest's
words gave him hope. They could form a plan. They had help. They were not
alone.
But how did the priest know so much?
Was he really psychic? A shout from behind pulled him out of his thoughts.
"Drake!"
Kylie the Beach Bunny, as she liked to
be called, hadn't changed a bit. Bits of a silver string bikini hugged her curvaceous
form as if it were painted on. Her bleach blonde hair cascaded down her
shoulders in artificial curls. Pretty much everything about Kylie was
artificial, actually. Drake could not for the life of him remember why he'd
ever hooked up with such a shallow creature.
Drake hadn't turned around all the way
when Kylie slipped her slender arm around his waist and pressed her body
against his back.
His skin crawled at her touch.
She leaned in close to his ear, her
voice a contrived throaty whisper. "I've been missing you, Drakey boy.
Nobody has ever had the stamina you do."
"Drake?"
Oh, shit.
Drake turned to face the last person he
wanted to see in that moment. Sam.
About The Author-
Kimberly Kinrade
was born with ink in her veins and magic in her heart. She writes fantasy and
paranormal stories for children, YA and adults and still believes in magic
worlds. Check out her YA paranormal novels Forbidden Mind and Forbidden
Fire and her illustrated children's fantasy chapter books Lexie
World, and Bella World, all on Amazon.
She lives with her
three little girls who think they're ninja princesses with super powers, her
two dogs who think they're humans and her husband, also known as the sexy
Russian Prince, who is the love of her life and writing partner.
BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE REST OF THE SERIES FROM THIS AWESOME AUTHOR!
For a list of her
books, check out: http://Amazon.com/author/kimberlykinrade
Website: http://KimberlyKinrade.com
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