Title: Elementals: The Prophecy of Shadows
Author: Michelle Madow
Publisher: Dreamscape Publishing
Release
Date: January 26, 2016
Series: Elementals #1
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Format: eBook and paperback
ISBN: 2940152448849
Filled with magic, thrilling adventure,
and sweet romance, Elementals: The
Prophecy of Shadows is the first in a new series that fans of Percy Jackson
and The Secret Circle will love!
When Nicole Cassidy moves from sunny Georgia to gloomy New
England, the last thing she expects is to learn that her homeroom is a cover
for a secret coven of witches. Even more surprisingly … she’s apparently a
witch herself. Despite doubts about her newfound abilities, Nicole is welcomed
into this ancient circle of witches and is bedazzled by their powers—and, to
her dismay, by Blake—the school’s notorious bad-boy.
Girls who get close to Blake wind up hurt. His girlfriend
Danielle will do anything to keep them away, even if she must resort to using
dark magic. But the chemistry between Blake and Nicole is undeniable, and
despite wanting to protect Nicole from Danielle’s wrath, he finds it impossible
to keep his distance.
When the Olympian Comet shoots through the sky for the first
time in three thousand years, Nicole, Blake, Danielle, and two others in their
homeroom are gifted with mysterious powers. But the comet has another effect—it
opens the portal to the prison world that has contained the Titans for
centuries. After an ancient monster escapes and attacks Nicole and Blake, it’s
up to them and the others to follow the clues from a cryptic prophecy so that they
can save their town … and possibly the world.
Excerpt:
“Run!”
Blake yelled, grabbing my arm and pulling me off the merry-go-round.
It spun
under our weight, and I held onto the metal bars, pushing off them to leap over
the edge. The cedar chips on the ground cushioned my landing. The car was
behind us, which would mean running towards the monstrous hound, so I bolted
for the playground, hurrying up a ladder of rubber tires that led to the
closest platform. Blake followed close behind. The second he was up he took the
lighter out of his pocket and aimed a blue fireball at the tires. They melted
to the ground seconds before the hound reached them.
It looked
up at us and growled—a low, menacing sound that if I spoke dog I would have
assumed meant “I’m going to have you for dinner”—and tried to jump onto the platform.
It missed by only a few inches.
Blake
flicked on his lighter and threw a fireball at its chest, but the hound jumped
to the side to get out of the way. It turned all four of its eyes up at us, one
head letting out a deep roar as the other snapped its teeth together, taking
bites out of the air.
My hands
shook, and I gripped one of the log posts behind me for support. “Have you
learned how to fight these things in homeroom?” I asked Blake, my voice rising
in panic.
He threw
another fireball, and it missed the hound again. “No,” he snapped, the flames
lighting up his face. “Fighting legendary creatures isn’t on the syllabus.”
“Maybe it
should be,” I said as he launched another ball of fire, hitting the hound on
its front paw. Both of its heads yelped in pain. The scorpion tail lowered
between its legs, and it growled again before turning away from us and running
around the side of the playground, woodchips flying behind it as it gained
speed.
My heart
pounded, and I looked around to figure how to get off the platform. The exit
was a slide that dropped off at the monkey bars. I could get down and run to
the car, but I didn’t know where the hound was, and leaving the platform could
give it the perfect opportunity to pounce.
Then the
hound growled again. I turned around, spotting it clamoring up a ladder of logs
that led to a nearby platform. Only a wobbly bridge separated that platform
from our own. My entire body shook, and I moved closer to Blake, grabbing his
arm for support.
The hound
reached the top of the platform, and its glowing eyes narrowed, ready to
attack.
Not
having anywhere else to go, I launched myself down the slide and hurried to the
monkey bars, climbing up the ladder and hoisting myself on top of them.
Gripping the sides, I crawled to the center bar, but the ground spun beneath
me, my lungs tightening as I looked down. I had to take a few deep breaths to
steady myself. A six-foot fall wasn’t deadly. Now wasn’t the time to let my
fear of heights get to me.
Blake
scrambled behind me, and I turned around to make sure he wasn’t hurt. Sweat
dripped down the sides of his face from the flames, but other than that he
looked okay. He took his lighter out again, holding it up in preparation to
create another fireball.
I looked
back at the hound in time to see it run along the bridge and hurl itself
towards us. It bared its teeth as it flew through the air, its arms
outstretched as it came closer to the monkey bars. But it must not have had
enough force behind the jump, because it fell to the ground with a loud thump.
It stood and shook the woodchips off its fur, a low growl coming from somewhere
deep in its throat as it turned its heads up to look at us.
Before I
could say anything to Blake about how completely screwed we were, he threw two
balls of fire towards the hound, hitting both of its faces. It howled and
collapsed, whimpering as it buried its snouts in its paws. The smell of burnt
skin filled the air. My stomach swirled with nausea, and I lifted a hand to my
nose to block out the smell.
Only a few seconds passed before it stood up again. The fur
on its faces had changed into a charred grey. Its yellow eyes glowed brighter
now, both snouts chomping madly in the air, strings of saliva dripping to the
ground as it waited to devour whichever one of us lost our balance first.
Michelle
Madow grew up in Baltimore, graduated Rollins College in Orlando, and now lives
in Boca Raton, Florida. She wrote her first book in her junior year of college,
and has been writing novels since. Some of her favorite things are: reading,
pizza, traveling, shopping, time travel, Broadway musicals, and spending time
with friends and family. Michelle has toured across America to promote her
books and to encourage high school students to embrace reading and writing.
Someday, she hopes to travel the world for a year on a cruise ship.
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