In
pre-celebration of my upcoming release date, here is an excerpt of The Darkest
Legacy: Betrayed:
I
stared in horror at the grotesque figure standing in front of me. No… it
couldn’t be. It just wasn’t possible.
The
book I had grabbed off the bookcase dropped out of my hand and I gasped for
breath as if someone had punched me in the gut. I tried to maintain eye contact
with it… her… but oh, God! What the freakin’ frack was that thing?
The
creature, or Fanny, was now altered back into her original form and stood right
in front of me. She raised her arm and pointed a finger about six inches from
my nose. I held my breath, waiting for whatever horrible thing she, it, was
about to do to me.
“Don’t
you ever disobey me again!”
I
stared mutely at her, my eyes wide and my body still.
“Do
you understand me?” she screamed out.
I
couldn’t move and certainly no words would come out of my mouth.
“ANSWER
ME!” the monstrous, gravel voice bellowed. Terrified, I watched as her face
began to expand and she seemed to grow taller. A bloated finger jabbed at the
air in front of my nose.
Oh my God! This was not happening.
This was not real. I was in bed, having a terrible nightmare. I
pinched myself–digging a nail deep into my skin–and cried out when I drew
blood. I stared at the red mark and then at the Fanny monster in front of me. I
still couldn’t say a word. My verbal abilities were gone and the creature’s
anger increased the longer I stayed silent.
Fanny’s
face turned into that unsightly combination of gray and cherry red. She reached
her arms out and snatched me off the ground. I was elevated high in the air
until we were eye to fiery eye and nose to bloated nose. Her breath reeked like
a rotted carcass and I choked and coughed as the stench filled my nose and
mouth. Stinging tears covered my eyes as I struggled helplessly in her grasp to
find fresh, clean air.
She
opened her mouth and a wave of her death air washed over me. She took one hand
off my body but I remained suspended in the air as the other hand clamped down
tighter on my rib cage. Her talon-like fingers grabbed my face and turned my
head, forcing me to look at her.
I
did not like what I saw.
Fanny
had turned back into full monster mode. She had grown so tall that her head hit
the high ceiling. I was like a toy in her clutches as I realized I was at least
six feet off the ground. She opened her mouth and I gasped! Her teeth! There
were so many! They were shaped like shark’s teeth and the jagged points glinted
from the light in the secret room.
I
lifted my legs up and kicked them out in the direction of her midsection. She
deftly straightened out the arm that was holding me, elongated it and took a
step backwards. When my legs fell helplessly back down, she grasped both of
them in her free hand. My body was suddenly yanked forward as my legs were
thrown behind her back. Straddling her deformed body, her arm tightened around
my back, crushing me closer to her chest. My appalled face was now an inch from
her monstrous, misshapen one. The wild beating of her heart thumped against my
body as the stench of rotten flesh poured out of her gaping mouth.
I
struggled to break free but I was squeezed closer and closer to her. My breath
came out in short bursts. Any air that I could take in was clogged with Fanny’s
foulness, causing manic coughing fits. Nausea took over and I hoped I would
puke all over her… it… whatever this thing was. I had to get away from this
nightmare. I would do anything, anything it asked me to do.
I
hope you enjoyed the excerpt!
Betrayed
will be released on February 13, only 4 days away! :)
Author: Jennifer Lynn Catz
Genre: YA Fantasy
Ages: 12 and up
Release date: February 13, 2015
Pages: 330
Content: Clean with mild curse words
Until
next time ~
