_United_, Book 2 of Magicborn, is officially in progress. Because you are my most loyal supporters, I am giving you a rare sneak peek into the first draft of my process. Very few people get to see anything this early, partly because it is mostly bare bones of story waiting to be fleshed out and polished in later drafts, and partly because my stories tend to change as they grow and I often rewrite the early chapters completely a few times. So, enjoy the exerpt below and consider yourself privileged to see Seline as I see her at this point in her story.
— Several minutes passed and nothing happened. Finally Narrayssi trudged back over to us, her forehead wrinkled and her arms crossed over her chest. “I can feel the dragon when I reach for it but I can’t draw it out. The magic here is – different. Weaker, I suppose.”
— Dagda shifted where he leaned against an oak but said nothing. He had managed with some effort to create a small kettle for cooking what food we had scavenged over the past two days, but all efforts to shape the trees or the land into even a crude shelter had failed. As a result we had shivered an entire night away in an October rainstorm. Dagda’s blankets hadn’t done much good soaked in cold water.
— I sighed, rubbing my temples with chilly fingertips. “I guess that just leaves me.” I paced, thinking. “I still think you have the best chance of connecting with the Atlanteans. If I can change, I want you to fly with me. We can link and maybe between the two of us the magic will be strong enough.”
— When she agreed, I rubbed my arms vigorously and strode off to the center of the clearing. I stood still, my arms loose at my sides and my eyes closed. The magic was still there inside me, but using it felt like pulling my feet out of the mud on the trail in Fae. Where it had flowed through me without effort in Fae, now it settled and waited for me to draw it out. I wasn’t sure I had the strength to transform or to hold onto the great power of the dragon when I had, but I had to try.
— I reached for the part of me that had awoken in Fae. It stirred, much more slowly than before, as if a great beast disturbed in hibernation uncoiled itself with much stretching and grumbling. I closed my eyes, a wrinkle forming above my nose from my effort to concentrate solely on the dragon within. As if angered by the break in its slumber, it rushed upward, its roar blasting fire into the sky as black wings filled the clearing and scraped trees with their tips. I revelled in it, even as it drained the magic from my blood.
All of you lovely readers here have been so supportive, helping me to grow this little corner of the universe. Without you I’d still be sending my stories into empty air! In the spirit of the season of gratitude and giving, I am drastically reducing the price of _Chosen_, Book 1 of Magicborn for one day only.
As a specific thank you for all of your support, I am making a small token of my appreciation available just for my blog followers. Comment below during the month of December, tell something from the book that made you smile, frown, laugh, or cry, and include your mailing address, and I will send you a signed bookplate for the inside cover. I’m so excited to hear your reactions and talk about the story with you!
The Word Worker 