Stepping Stones
(The Stone Series, #1)
Release Date:
08/25/15
Urban Fey Press
Summary from
Goodreads:
Onnaleigh Moore
is part of a plan—and it isn’t hers. When her brother dies in a car accident,
Onna is desperate to preserve the tatters of her family. Any hope of finding
normalcy vanishes when her mother runs off and her dad turns to booze to numb
his pain. Onna’s grief is crippling, but the boy who showed up just when she
needed him is helping her cope.
Everett’s presence is comforting, though he knows things—Onna’s name just before they met, where she lives, and sometimes he comments on thoughts she doesn’t say aloud. She pegs him for a stalker, or maybe psychic, but the truth is deadlier than she imagines. As their feelings for one another deepen, Everett confesses a horrifying secret: Onna’s brother is only the beginning of the plan, and some fates are worse than death.
Everett’s presence is comforting, though he knows things—Onna’s name just before they met, where she lives, and sometimes he comments on thoughts she doesn’t say aloud. She pegs him for a stalker, or maybe psychic, but the truth is deadlier than she imagines. As their feelings for one another deepen, Everett confesses a horrifying secret: Onna’s brother is only the beginning of the plan, and some fates are worse than death.
Later that day, Onna plucked her phone
off the bed and cradled it in her hands. She’d never considered how much of her
life revolved around the tiny piece of plastic and metal.
Her father left, off to the funeral
home to pick out a casket. She tried to go with him, but he refused to the
point of yelling, so she let it go. She couldn’t imagine walking between the
caskets, trailing her fingers over shiny silver and brushed brass, trying to
find a perfect fit for Caleb. Would he want mahogany and gold? Lacquered black
with silver accents? What about the interior, the satin where his skin would
rest forever? White? Ivory? Open or closed? Maybe he wanted to be cremated.
Onna shuddered, relieved she hadn’t
gone.
Unlocking her phone, she pressed the
number three, waiting while speed dial connected. Her hand shook when she
lifted the phone. It went straight to voicemail.
“It’s Caleb, you know what to do.”
She waited patiently for the beep.
“It’s me,” she started, words hardly a whisper. “I—” she broke off, trying to
arrange her thoughts into something that made sense. “I just…miss you.” She
hung up and dialed again. One day, she knew a stranger would answer.
Biting her lip to ward off tears, she sat on
the bed and pulled her knees up to her chest, trying to think of what Caleb
would tell her to do. Life is for the
living, Leelee, he’d say, or, I love
you little sister, but it’s time to let me go. Or maybe, just think of how small my carbon footprint
is, hardly a blip!
She smiled a little. That was exactly
how Caleb thought.
Onna pushed a few buttons on her phone,
stalling, knowing she would regret whatever came next. Then she dialed her
mother’s number. It didn’t ring. Dead, crackling air, filled her ear and then a
stranger’s voice, the one she feared from Caleb’s number, told her the number
she was trying to reach was no longer in service. She disconnected, clutching
the phone until her knuckles turned white.
A hot ache swelled in her belly, arcing upward to her
throat. Onna pressed her mouth against the bony curve of her knee to stifle the
screams, so hard that she drew blood, but
the sounds kept coming, over and over,
until her throat was raw. She was glad her father wasn’t home to hear it, that
Hunter hadn’t seen her break down. She was on her own in this, determined not
to let her dad see how devastated she felt. Someone had to take care of him.
Her hand vibrated, and she looked down,
surprised to see her cell still clutched there. Everett’s name flashed on the
screen, though Onna knew she hadn’t added his number. He must’ve done it
sometime the day before.
E: Do
you want me to come back?
She stared at the words, remembering
how he knew where she lived, and how he told her his mother was dead. She
should say no. Everett was a stranger, but twice now, he’d seen her cry. He
bandaged her wounds and watched over her while she slept. His hands helped pull
Cora from the burning car.
He’d helped her, but he’d also held her
down. Maybe she couldn’t save Caleb, but she could’ve died trying.
Still, Onna couldn’t deny the bit of
the warmth Everett created inside of her when everything else was frozen.
She sniffed and wiped away a tear.
Maybe a stranger was exactly what she needed. She hit reply.
O: Yes.
About the Author
Kacey Vanderkarr
is a young adult author. She dabbles in fantasy, romance, and sci-fi, complete
with faeries, alternate realities, and the occasional plasma gun. She’s known
to be annoyingly optimistic and listen to music at the highest decibel. When
she’s not writing, she coaches winterguard and works as a sonographer. Kacey
lives in Michigan, with her husband, son, and crazy cats. Along with her
novels, Reflection Pond and Antithesis, Kacey's short fiction can be found in
Sucker Literary Vol 3, and the upcoming Spark Vol 7, Ember: A Journal of
Luminous Things, and Out of the Green: Tales from Fairyland.
Author Links:
GIVEAWAY: a Rafflecopter giveaway
Organized by:
No comments :
Post a Comment