Please enjoy an exclusive excerpt from debuting author, Melissa Andrea’s, novel Flutter, expected release date December 2012. Will be available through Amazon and other avenues.

Chapter One: Blackout

Adan

I sat alone, sipping at my coffee slowly without really tasting the searing liquid.

The ordinary coffee shop was dimly lit and about to get dimmer as one of the hanging lamps bulb light pulsated, flickering like a mores code message. It was a 25 hour shop and at three in the morning there was a surprising amount of people scattered throughout the tables and bar stools on the counter. 7 including myself to be exact and it made me wonder what they were doing here at this time in the morning.

I took another sip of the bitter coffee and tried not to grimace as the tasteless flavor slid down my throat, warming my body as it traveled down. I used the coffee as a distraction, something for my hands to do while I waited, but the more I forced myself to drink it, the more I regretted not just getting something off the laminated breakfast menu. The waitress sauntered over to me just then and presented me, what I was sure her most flirtatious smile and stuck out the pot of coffee in offer.

“Can I get you anymore coffee there?” Her voice was syrupy sweet and that combined with the question of coffee made my stomach hurt.

“No thank you.” I said just as sweetly and returned the smile. I could have been a complete jerk and I had the feeling she still would have swooned.

“Well then stranger, can I get you anything else??” It was hard to miss the invitation in her question, but if I had she made sure her point was made with her body language.

“No, but thank you. I’m just waiting for a friend,” her face fell slightly, but picked up when I added. “He shouldn’t be much longer.”

“Well if you need anything, you just holler for me.” She smiles again and turned. I could help but follow the swish of her hips as she walked behind the counter disappearing into the kitchen. I shook my head and tried to grind away the image from behind my eyes lids with my fists.

Turning I looked outside the window, it was pitch black outside with no light to be expected for months. Big billows of angry clouds covered the sky with promise of stormy weather for the people of this small town. It was the middle of the year on this side of the world and the middle of winter as well. They had been sunless for months and expected to be sunless for a few more as well. After almost 12 years of this pattern, it wasn’t a big fuss anymore. If scientist couldn’t explain it, then a town of less then 5000 people didn’t have a chance either.

I looked down at the table and began to skim over the outdated article that had been cut out of a deteriorating newspaper that was smashed between a thick piece of glass and the booth table, dated 10 years ago. It went on about how the town looked to be left without any sun for the second year in a row. The previous year the sun had just disappeared for nearly 7 months and that was left in its place were stormy clouds. No one could explain why this had happened how far how long it would continue.

It was an epidemic of chaos after the first month with no sun. Crime in this small town and the towns around who were also affected by the missing son sky rocketed to an alarming high. You wouldn’t think so much violence couldn’t exist with only a few thousand people, but it was there. Everyone swore it was the end of the world, an omen for the sins of all the wrong doers. Stores were raided and houses were broken into, people spent weeks underground expecting the unexpected. Reinforcements were finally called in and eventually everything started to calm down enough that it was safe to go out without being harassed.

After almost 8 months of no sun, the towns people had awaken one morning to find the first sunrise. Again nobody could explain what made it reappear or why any of it had happened in the first place, but with the ever changing environment people considered it a sign and a blessing when it returned, but when it happened the next year and the year after that, no one knew what to think anymore.

No one except for me.

I knew what caused the sun to fade and hide for months at a time, depriving the earth of its warmth, but I didn’t know why or how it happened.

I took another sip of my cooled down coffee and made a face of disgust. Blah! I don’t know why I continued to drink the stuff. I pushed it to the other side of the table so I wouldn’t pick it up again out of pure distraction. I waved off the waitress when she started to work her way towards me again and she put on a full pout, but turned around. I looked at my watch and realized it was just about time to get moving again. We still had another day or so of traveling and I wanted to get out of here before we got hit by this storm.

I decided to wait or Aaron outside and shifted out of the book reaching into the back pocket of my jeans and throwing down enough cash to cover the coffee and tip. As I passed the counter I tried to ignore the look of invitation in the waitress stare down as she drew lazy circles over the top of the counter with her red finger nail. With a nod of my head I pushed my way through the door of the coffee shop that tingled as it closed.

I stood off to the side, knowing he would be back anytime now. I shoved my hands into my pockets and rocked on the balls of my feet to keep myself occupied. It was cold for everyone else, but it didn’t seem to bother me, I kind of liked it or at least I had adapted for it.

This would be our last stop before we finally reached them and Aaron needed to get some last minutes supplies before we headed out. I just wanted to be there already, I was anxious and that feeling was getting stronger, which was a good sign I guess. I just wanted it to be over already, everything I had been through had been put in fast forward, literally, for this moment and now everything seemed like it was going in slow mo.

I saw Aaron come around the other side of the diner and I pulled my hands from my pockets and cupped them around my mouth blowing hot air into my hands, which also filled with the smell of coffee.

I was going to have to brush my teeth before we left, I thought to myself.

He walked up to me nodding and I took a deep breath.

“Let’s go get ourselves an ice Princess.”

 

Chapter Two: Ripple Effect

Sara

I couldn’t remember exactly when I had become aware of the fact that I was in a dream.

I couldn’t remember anything actually.

It was so dark I couldn’t tell at first if my eyes were closed or not and I blinked rapidly trying to see if I could distinguish a difference between the two. This type of darkness was intense and it immediately had me feeling claustrophobic. It didn’t help that I felt almost complete restricted, but by what?? My breathing came in harder and faster and I tried not to freak out.

I didn’t know how long I had been asleep, everything seemed to be pretty fuzzy in the when and where department. The more I realized just how little I could remember, the more the tiny pin needles of panic started spreading throughout my body, making my fingertips and toes tingle with numbness. I desperately tried to construct up some memories of where I had been or even what I had been doing last, but everything seemed to blur in my mind - as well as in this dream. I knew it had too be a side affect from still being comatose somewhere and honestly that’s all that kept me from going into full on hysteria.

I hated the kind of dreams where you knew you were in one, almost like looking into a window at yourself, but no matter what you did you just couldn’t wake yourself up from it. Sub consciously, you knew when you were dreaming, there is always that lingering nagging feeling deep inside sending out alarm bells that something just wasn’t right and I was experiencing those signals loud and clear right now. Everything inside me was screaming that something wasn’t right and it went a lot deeper then merely being held hostage inside a dream.

Scratch that, this was definitely more like a nightmare.

Dreams, at best, were something that you didn’t mind sleeping through or getting woken up from at the worst possible moment. Nightmares on the other hand were trapped doors, dead ends around every corner, fear gripping suffocation, and no matter how terrifying they seemed to be, it was almost impossible to be woken up from one when you wanted nothing more.

I hadn’t actually stopped to let myself think about the nightmare itself, I had been more absorbed with the distraction of the temporary memory loss I seemed to be struggling with at the moment, but now I was starting to feel…cold?? And that had me distracted in another direction. It occurred to me then that I was trapped and for the first time since becoming aware of my hallucination, I realized I couldn’t move anything. Why would I be standing??…or was I lying down?? I didn’t even know, but the fact that I was doing either of the two in this nightmare and I was just now realizing it, had me freaking out more.

Trying to focus, I pulled in all the corner of my concentration and tried to figure out my surroundings. I couldn’t see past a few inches from my face, so trying to squint to see a few feet in front of me was going beyond out of the question. My eyes had adjusted towards the pitch black I had been surrounded by earlier, it was almost dim now, but I still couldn’t seem to put into words exactly what I was looking at right in front of me. It also didn’t seem to help that my vision was completely clouded over. Whatever I was surrounded by was solid and not entirely clear either and whatever it was had a good grip on every inch of my body, the only thing I had any room to move was my head and neck and not by much.

Trying to analyze my situation inside my dream could have easily been hands down my worst idea ever. At least I thought so, I still couldn’t remember past memories so trying to remember past bad ideas or decisions was probably not going to happen at the moment either-

Ugh, I scolded myself. I was getting side tracked again.

I currently had bigger problems to sort through. Starting with, why couldn’t I wake myself up?? Maybe I was just in too deep a sleep that it was going to take a while to coax my brain to finally react.

I knew that I had to be in some kind of…

What??

I in fact did not know what I was in. I couldn’t seem to feel anything around me, and even though I wasn’t entirely uncomfortable, the simple fact that I seemed to be snugly enclosed in something was extremely off putting. Breathing seemed to be next to impossible and I tried dragging small amounts of air in through my nose to keep from passing out, not only from lack of oxygen, but from the frightening unknown.

Could someone pass out in a dream?? I didn’t know.

I tried to focus on what my fingers could feel, but they were numb to the touch so the attempts were useless. I also wasn’t exactly sure where they were, it felt like my entire body had fallen asleep. I didn’t know if I had clothes on, but I couldn’t feel anything anywhere so there really was no way of knowing. Instincts automatically had me attempting to look down, but I was drawn up short, the tip of my chin rubbed up against something smooth…cold and…wet.

I shivered.

Just like that, the memory was there, flashing in my mind like big bright neon lights blinking remember me, remember me and instantly I was able to breathe just a little bit easier. It was as if the chill had triggered something inside my head and I remembered being sick, extremely sick. Two weeks had gone by with my intense flu like symptoms, if flu symptoms could be on steroids, mine had definitely taken a few hits. I remembered having a high fever, cold and hot spells - I could be burning up one minute and completely drenched within the next. Horrible headaches had attacked me as well as a dull ache that settled into my bones had also been among my symptoms. That’s what this was, I had obviously gone delirious, most likely from the high fevers and now they were messing with my mind.

I could feel it again, my body was starting to shiver from the coldness I had felt earlier and I prayed that this would be enough to awaken me. My breathing started coming out faster and I could see the small vapor clouds it left in front of me in the small cave that surrounded my head. Suddenly everything seemed so real to me, I was starting to see things clearer now and the edges around my dream no longer seemed to be blurred out. It was almost like someone had struck a match and instantly the small area I was in was bathing in a soft golden glow of light. I still couldn’t move my head to look down or even around me really, but my now perfect eye sight could finally focus on what was surrounding me.

No, trapping me, I thought.

I blinked several times and squinted, my brows pulling together in confusion and I shook my head in denial.

This wasn’t real, I had I had to be dreaming, my mind argued against the unfeasibility of my entire situation.

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and dragged my teeth over the bottom of my lip and as hard as I could stand it, biting down on my lip. I waited a couple of seconds, waiting for me to wake up, but nothing happened. I opened my eyes slowly and instantly wished I hadn’t, the light around me had grown brighter and there was no mistaking it this time.

Oh my god! I thought frantically as I realized what I was trapped in.

I was trapped in ICE!

 

 

 

 

Adan

 

Have you ever had the feeling you’re drawn to someone, but there wasn’t anything they had said or done??

That’s exactly how I felt walking over the surface of the icy lake standing directly over the spot I knew she would be hidden. Nestled deeply below, she was protected and safe inside of her frozen cage. I was still having a hard time wrapping my head around their whole Freezing process and that was saying a lot coming from someone like me, but from everything I had learned, these extreme measures needed to be taken so she would remain secure. She was the key to everyone’s survival; I knew that was a lot of pressure to put on any one person, even one as strong as her, but I also knew she could handle it. I had witness once before how strong she could be. She meant everything to our two clan’s safety, actually to our very existence.

Oddly enough she meant a lot to me too, I didn’t quite know how, but being this close to her did something to me. Gravity was at its finest moment here and as if to prove point, I crouched down, drawn to the spot just above her head and placed my bare hand on top of the thin layer of frost that covered the entire lake. The cold bit at my exposed flesh, but not enough to distract me from the tingling sensation that was currently consuming all of my attention. The moment my hand had pressed against the ice, sparks started and sizzled, electric currents soared up my arm, spreading like a wild fire through my entire body. I heard the ice shift under the intense pressure, sending hairline cracks over the exterior of the lake. I thought about pulling my hand back, but even if I could have sent out the effortless order, I knew I wasn’t going too.

I had thought my reaction to her the first time we had met had been a simple fluke, adrenaline from the events that had taken pace earlier that night – a night that even now, after sixteen years, I could still remember clearly. The situation at the time had been completely different and although I felt strongly about her then, it was vastly different now, just as strong, but definitely different. She had been just a toddler then, my instincts at that time had been a deadly need to protect her at any costs, but now…now I had a hard time explaining to myself what I felt towards her. The urgency to guard her was still there, but it was more then that and it was something I wasn’t comfortable thinking about, even in the safety confines of my own head.

Here I was with every single one of my nerves vibrating with life, hope and that same strange familiar yearning. I hadn’t expected my reaction to her to be even stronger after all this time, especially with the depths of thick solid ice several feet deep, separating us. The ice barrier should have been laughable to me, it was nothing compared to the millions of miles and years that had been stacked against us.

They had elected me to bring her back, because other then her watcher, I had been the last one to see the Princess alive. It hadn’t been part of my job to know where the watcher had taken her, my job had merely been to get them safely off the island, but I had known that I could find her. I had been extremely confident the pull she had on me would come in useful, even if it was good for nothing else, but confusing the hell out of me. I had expected it to take me a lot longer to find her, but that gravity like link had been there drawing me to her the whole time, guiding me to her location.

Within a week I knew of her vicinity and within two weeks I knew exactly where she was. After two months of zigzagging all over the northern hemisphere, making sure I was losing anyone who might have been following me, I was finally standing over her. My reaction to her had always been there, as far as I could remember, it had been a dull crackle over the last few years, but the moment I had started tracking her, the current had surged to existence full force.

It had been like a special beacon she was submitting just for me, like she knew I was coming for her and she wanted me to find her without any trouble.

I know how crazy that makes me sound, but how else could I possibly explain the connection I feel towards her?? Maybe it was just the fact that I needed her to save our kingdom that was putting more emphasis on this attraction I thought I had to her. It was just my imagination working double time. That explanation made me feel less guilty about my forbidden feelings for a Princess that wasn’t even mine, but the relief was temporary because in the end I knew it had nothing to do with our royal responsibility.

I heard the footsteps approaching behind me – I had heard them way before they had come up close enough for any normal person to hear them. Bare feet crushed the delicate shapes of the snow flakes that were scattered all over the length of the iced lake; I didn’t need to turn around to know who it was.

“She’s here, right below you in fact.”

“Well gee thanks Sherlock Holmes.” Two months worth of travelling with Aaron was to blame for the disdain that laced my words. “Listen I didn’t bring you along so you could find her, I brought you along so you could defrost her.”

He didn’t respond to my harsh words, he just circled around me, staring at the spot right about the Princesses head. My gaze swept across Aaron’s body, there was no disgust in my eyes, just open curiosity. I never get use to seeing them in their natural form like this and even now as I looked at him, it was as if this was the first time I was seeing him. I dropped my eyes to meet the same spot and wondered how she would look for the first time when she took this form.

“It’s already started.”

My distracting thoughts were broken at his words and my head snapped up. I looked at him with puzzled eyes. His head was cocked to the side and his face was twisted in complete focus.

“What do you mean it’s already started?? I thought you said it was way too early. That we would have to jump start the process ourselves.” I accused.

He was silent for so long, I didn’t think he was going to answer me, but when he finally looked at me, he looked just as confused as I was.

“I don’t understand it…” his voice trailed off and he knelt down, resting his knee against the frozen floor and resting one arm on his raised knee. He placed his other hand flat on the cold surface just like mine had been moments before.

I hadn’t expected the intense sense of possession that flooded me, consumed me when Aaron placed his hand over her. I knew he wasn’t actually touching her and I was completely aware that I was insane, but the touch seemed intimate and because I wanted nothing more then to slap his hand away, I balled mine into fists to control the temptation. Something occurred to me then and I blurted it out before I thought about how crazy it would sound.

“Do you feel anything towards her??” and just like I had suspected, Aaron looked at me like I had lost my mind.

“What do you mean??” He asked slowly and his dark brows pulling together in uncertainty.

I wanted to take it back, I wanted to pretend like I hadn’t just opened my mouth, letting out the crazy thoughts inside my head, but I was past the point of no return and I had to explain myself. “I mean do you feel any…connection to her??” I was even waving my hands around in front of me like I was an insane person. “Like a cosmic pull towards her??” I felt like an idiot, but part of me didn’t care because I desperately wanted to make sure that no one else felt this same link to her that I did. That she was mine even is she wasn’t. “Well??” I demanded when he just stared at me with that stupid perplexed expression.

“I feel her energy…if that’s what you mean” His words came out slow, as if he were unsure of my reaction.

“So you don’t feel it all the time, her energy, I mean?? Or is it only when you’re close to her??”

“Yes.” He still sounded unsure about where this was going and then he specified, “Only when I’m close to her.”

I exhaled my relief slowly, hoping he wouldn’t notice, “Just wondering.” I shrugged nonchalantly, trying to pass it off as indifference, but he didn’t seem to notice or care. Aaron wasn’t one to dwell on facts or details that didn’t involve the specific task at hand; he was pretty laid back in that way.

“She’s awake.” He said catching my attention. I tried to peer into the ice expecting to see her.

“I don’t see anything.” I said.

“Well she is pretty imbedded in the ice. You won’t be able to see her, but…” he trailed off and I was starting to get pretty annoyed with that.

“What?!” I didn’t want to admit, but I was getting anxious.

“She can sense us…or actually…you.”

For a moment I forgot how to breathe. The fact that she was aware of me –maybe not in the same way as I was of her- caught me off guard. Once again I was searching the frozen water hoping to catch a small glimpse of her. The urge to tunnel through the ice myself was so great, my hands shook. I looked at Aaron again making sure he wasn’t playing some vindictive joke at my expense, secretly trying to get back at me for my asinine questions earlier.

“She can sense me??” I asked doubtful, “What does that mean exactly??”

“I don’t know really. I’ve never felt energy like this before, it’s extremely strong and half the time I don’t even know who is giving it off the strongest - you or her.”

“You can feel my energy too?? I thought you could only sense others from your kind??” I wondered what kind of energy I- we, we’re giving off.

“I can’t, I mean I don’t, not usually anyway. This is the first time I have ever felt anything like this. I am the strongest of the LIGHT FIGHTERS, so that could be why, but I’m not positive.” He was completely bewildered by the situation.

I had known he was the strongest of their clan. That was exactly why I had picked him to come along with me. I needed someone whom I could trust to get the job done quickly and even though he was just a kid, he was in fact their most valuable. He interrupted my critic when he spoke again.

“She’s scared,” he said. “She doesn’t know what’s going on. She doesn’t know who she is, in either of her worlds, but that’s just a side effect of the process. It’s different for anyone; she’ll get passed that once she is completely thawed out and around her normal settings.”

He sounded like he was comforting me and I wondered if he could read my energy again because no sooner had he said that, pain knotted in my throat at the thought of her having to be down there alone and it made it difficult to swallow, I wanted nothing more then to be buried down there with her, comforting her, holding her. I shook my head angrily –why did my thoughts always have to go in that direction?! When I looked up, Aaron was staring at me, probably trying to figure out my emotions and I knew for sure this time he could sense my energy and I immediately felt guilty. I didn’t know much about the whole energy stuff, but I’m sure it wasn’t just something he could turn on and off when he wanted.

I wanted to ask him about it, but he cleared his throat and looked towards the sky squinting. Shaking his head again, he still wore that same confused look.

“I just don’t understand it.” He finally said. “The sun isn’t even at its highest point in the sky yet. There is no way this should be happening.”

“How long will it take for her to completely defrost??” I asked.

“Well once the process has started, it’s only a matter of a few hours, but a normal defrosting process is done closer to the warmer months when the sun is at its warmest. I’ll have to pull the sun closer to help speed up the process, but it could be no sooner then tomorrow morning or afternoon maybe, the sun isn’t very strong this time of the year.”

“Well what are you waiting for then?? Get started,” I ordered. “The sooner we have her out of there the better. I don’t want her to be entirely traumatized now that she has had time to realize that she has been buried and frozen alive.” My voice was rough with worry and impatience, but I couldn’t help it.

It was a hell of a way to wake up like that and it was made worse that she had no idea what was going on.

End of Preview

You can contact Melissa or find out information about her book at

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Melissa-Andrea-Debuting-Author/176125595798616?sk=info