Blurb
Can love survive death?
“No one has ever walked out of Red. Once
the Soul Catchers get you they don’t let you go.” Denny’s words scare me but I
have no choice. If Will is in Red that’s where I have to go.
I’ve never really thought what it was
like when you died. I’m only 16, too young to worry about that. At least I
thought I was. I’ve heard about Heaven and Hell, of course, but it doesn’t look
like I’m in either of them. All I know is that Will is here too and I need to
find him. I can’t face spending eternity without him.
EXCERPT:
Sapphire Blue –
Extract
Everywhere Will turns all he can see is mist.
It’s inside his head too, wrapping around his mind, stopping him from thinking
straight.
He tries to shake
the mist away, to find a fragment of memory that will tell him who he is, where
he is. But there’s nothing. His mind is a complete blank. He can’t even
remember his name.
He squints as a
shape starts to form in the mist. It’s a man.
The man strides
purposefully as if he’s heading somewhere in particular and needs to get there
fast.
“You okay, mate?”
Will shakes his
head. “I can’t remember anything. Where am I?”
The man pauses and
looks around. “No one meeting you?”
Will frowns, trying
to remember. Why would someone be meeting him? “I don’t think so,” he stammers.
“Should they be?”
“Sometimes they do.”
The man’s tone is casual. He shrugs. “You’d better come with me then.”
Will doesn’t know
what else to do, so he follows the man. He has to quicken his pace to keep up
with this stranger’s long, effortless strides and constantly looks around,
trying to get some idea where they are. After a while the mist starts to fade
and Will sees that they’re crossing what looks like barren wasteland. Rugged
cliffs jut up along each side, gnarled trees and bushes dot the landscape here
and there, and a buzzard caws as it flies overhead. It’s eerie. There’s no one
around except him and the man yet Will feels like he’s being watched. Stalked
almost.
“Where
are we going?” he demands, fear making his voice sound shrill. “Who are you and
where the hell am I?”
The
man turns around. “You really don’t remember, do you?”
Something
about the way he says the words sends an icicle of fear down Will’s spine. “Remember
what?”
The
man holds out his hand, it’s long, thin and bony. “Take my hand.”
Will
stares at the outstretched hand not wanting to touch it.
“Take
it if you want to remember. Or leave it if you don’t. It’s all the same to me.”
Will
hesitates, a terrible feeling of foreboding seizing him. What is it he has to
remember? He’s sure it’s something he’s not going to like. But he has to find
out. He needs to know who he is, where he is, what he’s doing here. He takes a
deep breath, reaches out and grasps the man’s hand.
Immediately,
a bright light explodes across his forehead. He gasps and tries to pull his
hand away but the man grips it tight, his nails digging into Will’s flesh. The
light fades and pictures flash across his mind like a horror slide show. He’s
getting in a car, a girl’s singing, a huge tree zooms in so close that he
instinctively step back then there’s a big bang. Now the girl’s lying
motionless, blood oozing out of a gap in her forehead, her neck bent at an
awkward angle, her eyes open, staring. Will draws in his breath, his hand
pressing across his forehead as his memory floods back and his heart shatters
into jagged smithereens that puncture him inside. The girl is Sapphire, his
girlfriend. He’d just passed his driving test and was taking them for a drive
when he crashed.
He
killed her. He killed Sapphire.
Author
Bio
Karen King has had over one hundred
children’s books published. She’s written for many children's magazines too
including Sindy, Barbie, Winnie the Pooh and Thomas the Tank Engine. She writes
for all ages and in all genres; story books, picture books, plays, joke books
and non-fiction. Sapphire Blue is her second YA novel. She also writes romance
novels under the name of Kay Harborne.
Links
Author Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn&__adt=7&__att=iframe#!/KarenKingAuthor
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/dashboard
Twitter: @karen_king
Amazon Author page: http://www.amazon.com/Karen-King/e/B0034P6W7I/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1
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