Tracy Deebs's Blog, page 3

Awkward. Episode 2x2 Recap

Episode 2x2 Sex, Lies & The Sanctuary Summary and Review in 500 948 words or less The Least You Need To Know: Jenna’s still with Jake. Matty asked for a 2nd chance, but Jenna was all “Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda”, so long.The Set-up: The bliss continues for Jenna as she strolls publicly hand-in-hand with Sweetheart Jake cause he’s not ashamed to be seen with her, even in that tragic outfit she’s wearing. Hey, what’s going down at the Sanctuary? Holy Homeland Security! There’s a camera pointed right at thehigh school’s sex cave. How long has that been there?!?  Jenna prays she and Matty don’t have a starring role in the Palos Hills High Sex Tape.The Sagging Middle: The footage has been snatched. Mass hysteria prevails. Matty is trying to convince himself that he is not playing the part of Tommy Lee/Ray-J/Rick Salomon on the tape, while Jake moans about his girlfriend’s hymen-less status. Whoa! Back up the cherry tree, Matty says. Are you tapping Hamilton? Not yet, opines Jake. Thanks god—I mean, that’s the past, bro, assures Matty. Chill. Oh, hey, J-town. Don’t J-Town me—did you tell Jake about us? No ways, but pics don’t lie, so we better get our story straight, luvah.To quell any scandal potential, the principal asks Crazy Cakes to use her insider ways with the kiddoes to procure the whereabouts of said sex tape. She and Jenna attempt to shake down each other for some info, but hit a wall. The Great Wall that is. J and Tamara convince Ming she has to play her Asian card to get the intel. So Ming must kowtow to Becca, leader of the school’s tong. Ming doesn’t really fit in being neither a School Asian (low SATs) or a Cool Asian (no affair with singer of an indie rock band), but Becca agrees to help. Sushi, anyone? Also, here’s the answers to tomorrow’s history test. Use it and stop making us look bad. Ming is enchanted.At home, Lacey has made all of Jenna’s favorite foods, but J’s not hungry and wants Lacey  to reveal her “A Friend” nom de plume to Cute Dad. But Lacey’s too scared and besides she totally regrets it now. Too little, too late, Jenna declares. Tell Dad or I will.Next day at school, fear of the sex tape’s contents runs rampant in the hallways. I must tell Jake,  Jenna decides.Call off the Asian mafia. But it’s too late for that Becca tells Ming. The DVD will be delivered as promised tomorrow.In the boy’s locker room, Matty and Jake are bantering about thongs and such (they have the best chemistry on the show), especially since Jake seems to have grown some lady bits himself. My girlfriend’s not a virgin, wah wah wah. You must chill, dude, insists Matty. But she loved him, bro—how can I compete? Jake replies. Love? Really? Matty takes off, man-on-a-mission styles.Hey, J-Town, am I still your one and only? Cause, I lurve you, declares Matty, sweet smile of relief on his lips. See, be careful what you wish for, Jenna…Later, Jakes all: Tell me, I gotta know who it was. Never mind. It doesn’t matter cause I’m super-sensitive Sweetheart Jake and all that matters is that you’re with me now. Gag. So, Jenna’s off that hook. Except, Tamara warns her that if Matty’s willing to say the L-word now, he could go all Jason Bourne on J&J’s romance. And how’s Jake gonna feel then when the video goes viral, in 10, 9, 8, 7…No worries! Matty & J aren’t on the DVD Becca tells Ming. Crazy Cakes swipes it and hands it over to a very sweaty principal who wants  to shut down some sexy times evidence of his own—resulting in a VP promotion for Crazy Cakes, apparently evil Becca’s plan all along. While Ming comes to the realization that she’s been jumped into the Asian mafia, Jenna basks in the afterglow of getting away with her sexcapade, until she gets a Meet Me text from Matty.We’re in the clear, he says. So, what about the L- bomb I dropped on you earlier? Again, too little, too late, she says. I’m so sorry, J-town, but please don’t tell Jake. He can’t stand to lose his girl and his bestie. Poor Matty. (Whew! Now that the apology is out of the way, the road is paved to a future reconciliation.)IamJenna.com updates: About the secrets, Jake won’t ask, Matty won’t tell, and mom’s in the closet.  Ping!  Anon commenter reminds Jenna it’s her mom’s secret to tell. In the end it doesn’t matter, because Lacey finally comes clean to Cute Dad (whose name is Kevin apparently). There’s a knock at Jenna’s back door which sets up the obligatory be-hymen reference. It’s Jake, he’s nervous—why did Jenna want to talk? Because she’ not “in” love with that other guy anymore, she’s “in”vested in Jake (vested is so not the same as love, I would like to point out). They kiss and it’s totally…asexual. Guy’s there is no heat with this couple. Like I said before, Jake Rossati will not make it out of the friend zone.Best quote I’m totally gonna use: Amasian-ing!Best Jenna/Matty moment: The adorbs little smile  Matty gives after he declares his love.

It's baaaacccckkkk...Awkward. Recaps

So,  I am way behind on these, but I plan to get the recaps for the first three eps up before the new one on Thursday. Enjoy!

Episode 2x1 Resolutions Summary and Review in 500 753 words or less
The Least You Need To Know: While it’s been 9 long months for us since Awkward.’s first season finale in which Jenna chose Sweetheart Jake over High School Fantasy (HSF) Matty and discovered that it was her mom, Lacey, who authored the infamous Care-frontation letter, in fair Palos Verde it’s been a mere fortnight since these events came to pass.
The Set-up: Tis the night before Christmas, and nothing is stirring except Jenna’s mouse as she catches up on her blogging (Nice to know she’s not the only one who falls behind. Ahem.) The news to her readership: Jake = Bliss. Well, maybe bliss is too strong a word, but definitely more happy-like. And guess what? Jake invites her to update her relationship status to GFF. But is she ready for such a visible commitment while visions of sugar plum Matty still dance in her head?
The Sagging Middle: Christmas morn, family presents around the Hamilton tree. Playing the role of Joan Crawford, Lacey tries to buy her way out of guilt with some bling for her baby girl, while from Cute Dad …a Costco-size box of condoms?!? Awkward.
Skip ahead and it’s time to party like it’s 2012. Jenna’s on the phone with Tamara, who’s still the moth to Ricky Schwartz’s douche-flame. Also, even though Jenna knows about her mom’s role in her non-suicide attempt, she’s keeping it on the DL for now. But Lacey notices her daughter’s growing distance. Could it be because Jake hasn’t made their relationship online official? Gah! Parents just don’t understand, Jenna blogs, as a comment from Anonymous pops up. WTW? Who’s cyber stalking Jenna? (Odds on favorites: Matty or Lacey)
Matty is the NYE host with the most which makes everything totes awkward for Jenna. Luckily, Ming and Tamara are already there cause Jenna is still wigged out by her Anon commenter. Meanwhile, Jake’s ex-Lissa wants to repent her sins against Jenna Old Testament styles—a slap for a slap. And while Jenna gives the Hamiltonsawhore.com webmaster a free pass, the same cannot be said for the Lissa-Sadie ex-BFF relaysh. In the kitchen, Matty’s getting the scoop on the sitch between his bestie and his girl, while Jenna hovers in the pantry. RING, RING!! It’s Crazy Cakes! Aw, Val, I’ve missed you so.
Crazy Cakes is a stood-up mess, but Jenna can’t help right now because she’s decided what she really needs for the new year is closure with Matty. Except that’s not what Matty wants. Oh, no. He wants a second chance. So meet him in the basement at midnight, he pleads, and--in the douchiest Matty moment ever—volunteers to tell Sweetheart Jake himself, who’s sure to understand once he knows it was Matty who tapped Jenna first. WTF????
Anywho, said Sweetheart is whining to Ming and Tamara about the too-long delay of his online girlfriend request. ‘Cept T doesn’t have time for this cause Ricky’s scamming some bimbette on the sofa.  So Jake posits the question to Jenna who’s all deflect, missing cat, deflect. And then…Crazy Cakes arrives to save the day and eventually helps J realize that you can’t let past disappointments hold you back.
10 seconds till midnight: who’s Jenna gonna choose? Sweetheart Jake or HSF Matty? Matty, Matty, Matty…but it’s Jake who gets kissed into the New Year. Which pretty much drives drunkass Matty into the arms of unrequited-luvah Sadie. Luckily, he passes out mid-ab reveal. Phew! Crisis averted.
On to the resolutions portion of the program:Tamara = No more Ricky. For reals this time. Wait…awww, Ricky. Lissa = WWJD? For LifeJenna = No resolutions, and, okay, a slap for Jake’s ex-Lissa.
Denouement: Jake sees Jenna’s econo-box o’condoms. Wow! I’m getting lucky. Oh, don’t feel so special, Sweetheart Jake, my dad gets them for all my boyfriends. What? Yeah, but only for those I REALLY love. That was TMI. Please don’t leave! Hell’s no, I’m totally getting laid! Okay, but if we’re gonna do IT then I really have to change my online status to Jake’s GF for everyone to see. Oh, and confront my mom.  Also, who the hell is this Anonymous commenter?
Best quote: “I am tore up from the floor up; I am beat up from the feet up; and, I need a check up from the neck up.”
Best Matty/Jenna moment: When they awkwardly hug/fist bump each other at the party.
Best scene: Sadie licking the cheese flavor from the Doritos.

New Doomed Excerpt

Sorry, guys!  The weekend got away from me.  Here's the new excerpt from Doomed.  Hope you like it :)


“That’s not the really puzzling part,” Agent Lessing finally continues.  “Especially if you insist on your innocence in this matter, how is it that starting at seven-fifteen this morning, someone from this IP address opened the twelve different sections of code that make up this worm and uploaded them onto the internet, one by one?”
Emily gasps and I want to protest.  I want to tell the FBI agent that she’s crazy.  That I have no idea what she’s talking about.  But the truth of the matter is that suddenly I do.  I know exactly what I was doing at seven-fifteen this morning.
The tentative fairy tale I’ve been building in my head all day—the one I wasn’t even aware of until right now—collapses.  I swear, I feel it shatter and my stomach, though close to empty, chooses that moment to revolt.
 I spring up from my chair.
“Hey, you can’t go anywhere.  Sit back down!”  Lessing tells me firmly, reaching into her jacket and pulling out her gun.
I don’t stop; I can’t.  Even so, I barely make it to the trash can in time.  I don’t know how long I sit there, puking my guts up, but by the time I finish, Lessing has put away her gun.  Emily is looking at me in dismay, while Mackaray and Lundstrom—who rushed in at Lessing’s alarmed shout—are wearing identical expressions of smug triumph.  Even Lessing seems satisfied, and I know it’s because I’ve blown it big time.
            It’s pretty hard to protest your innocence when you get so upset by what they’re telling you that you hurl.
I don’t get up right away.  Instead, I stay on the floor, my head resting against the cool wood of a cabinet.  I think about my laptop, stuffed in my backpack, with all the incriminating evidence on it.  I think about what else is in the bag—namely the pictures from my father that I’d shoved in there at the last minute.  All twelve of them.
            I’ve been wracking my brain, trying to figure out why me, and the answer has been there all along.  The psychopath who did this, the one who chose me as this harbinger of destruction, is my father. 
            He did this to me.  Used my curiosity against me—and the world—and turned me into a modern-day Pandora.  Like my namesake before me, I’ve brought a new kind of evil into the world and there’s no going back.  Maybe Emily’s dad and the others can fix it.  Maybe they can’t.  But either way, I have a feeling that deep, dark hole they want to throw me in just got a lot deeper and darker.
            Every writing campaign I’ve ever partaken in for Amnesty International flashes through my head.  Letter after letter about Guantanamo Bay.  Sierra Leon.  Somalia.  Story after story of Americans taken to foreign countries and tortured because they’re suspected of terrorism. 
Even as I tell myself I’m being silly, I hear the president saying the United States doesn’t tolerate terrorists.  That’s what I am, what my father has turned me into with a few strokes of my keyboard, a few picture downloads that I thought were to celebrate my seventeenth birthday.
            A cyber terrorist.
            I reach for the trash can again as dry heaves shake my entire body. 
What am I going to do?  What am I going to do?      What. Am. I. Going. To. Do?
            Behind me, I hear movement and brace myself to be yanked to my feet.  But that doesn’t happen.  Instead, Emily settles on the ground next to me and hands me a bottle of water.  I rinse my mouth out, drink a few sips.  Then she’s hugging me, stroking my hair.  “It’s going to be okay, Pandora,” she whispers to me.  “I promise. It’s going to be okay.”
            I open my mouth, plan on telling them everything and begging for mercy.  Instead, only four words come out.  Four words I never thought I’d say.  “I want a lawyer.”
            “A lawyer?”  Mackaray’s eyes gleam with triumph as he crouches down next to me.  “Pandora, where you’re going, lawyers rank right up there with fairies and unicorns as mythical creatures.”
            “You can’t do that!” Emily protests.  “She didn’t do anything wrong!  My father—“
            “Your father is one of an elite few who could pull off something of this magnitude, Ms. Wood.”  Lundstrom speaks up for the first time in a long while.  “So I suggest you close your mouth unless you want to bring a lot of trouble down on him as well.”
            Emily shuts up then, her eyes wide and frightened as she presses her back against the cabinet, almost like she wants to shrink inside.  The arms wrapped around me start to tremble, but I barely notice since I’m shaking just as hard.
            “She didn’t do anything,” I tell them, wondering if I should just tell them everything? 
If I should send them next door to retrieve my laptop from Eli and Theo and get them involved in this? 
Do I admit that my father is behind this and let them arrest him, lock him up and throw away the key like they’re threatening to do to me?  But if I admit I had an unwitting part in this, are they going to believe me?  The looks on their faces say no, that they’ve already made up their minds about my guilt.  My best bet, then, is to wait for Mr. Wood.  He’s one of the best computer security guys in the country.  He’ll know what to do.
I shut down then, refuse to say anything else.  They keep asking me questions, but I ignore them.  Even when Mackaray grabs onto my arms and lifts me into a standing position, I don’t protest.  I’ll wait for Mr. Wood, I tell myself.  He’ll be able to fix this.
As we wait, the house grows quiet around me.  The front door opens and closes numerous times and I hear the slam of car doors outside.  The rev of engines that mark the end of the search.  Everyone else has done their jobs and now I’m left alone with these three.
Mr. Wood finally arrives, with a police escort.  He’s all outrage and concern as he wraps his arms around us, but it becomes clear very quickly that he won’t be able to help me.  He’s not my parent or guardian and no matter how much he argues with the agents—he knows two of them personally—they aren’t budging.  But at least Emily seems safe, and that’s something.
“I have to go to the bathroom,” I say, after Mr. Wood’s been here about an hour.  They’ve told him both he and Emily are free to go, but he hasn’t budged.  I know it’s because he doesn’t want to leave me alone with them.
“Tough,” Lundstrom tells me.  “You’re not going anywhere.”
“Jesus, Mike, she’s just a kid!”  Mr. Wood exclaims. 
“She unleashed cyber Armageddon—computer genius trumps kid every day of the week.”
“Please,” I say.  “I really need to use the restroom.”  Even though I don’t.  I just want a couple of minutes alone to think, a couple of minutes where they aren’t staring at me like a bug under a microscope.
“I’ll take her,” Mackaray finally says, and I almost change my mind.  I don’t want to be alone with him, even for as long as it takes to walk to my bathroom.  But it’s not like I have a choice now, not after I made such a big deal of having to go.
We leave the kitchen together and when I try to head upstairs to my bathroom, he grabs my elbow and directs me to the half-bath down the hall.  The one without any windows.  I shake my head in disbelief.  They already think I’m some kind of genius hacker-- now they think I can mastermind an escape from federal custody as well?  Who the hell do these people think I am?
“Leave the door open,” Mackaray tells me when we get there.
“What?” I stare at him incredulously.
“You heard me.”  The face staring back at me is implacable.
“Where am I going to go?  There’s no other way out of the bathroom!”
“Take it or leave it.”  Something moves in his eyes and I know he’s waiting for me to leave it.  But I won’t give him the satisfaction.
“Does your wife know you get your kicks by listening to teenage girls pee?”
The hand on my elbow gets tighter, his fingers digging into my flesh until I start to see stars.  He pulls me towards him and whispers, “You don’t want to play games with me, little girl.  I win every time.”
I’m straining so hard in the other direction that when he finally lets me go, I stumble, crack my funny bone hard against the door frame.  He laughs, at me and at the helpless tears of pain that spring to my eyes.
I go into the bathroom, leaving the door partially ajar.  I turn on the faucet, splash water on my face, blink back the tears.
“Hurry up!” he says after a minute.  “We don’t have all night.”
Before I can respond, the lights blink once, twice, then go out completely.  My entire house is plunged into an inky blackness.
“What the hell!”  Mackaray says, slamming the bathroom door open all the way.  “Either get it done or not, kid.  You’ve got one minute and then I’m taking you back to the kitchen.”
I barely hear him over the pounding of my own heart and the panic clawing through me, trumping everything else.  Even my fear of going to jail.  I hate the dark, hate it, hate it, hate it.  Ever since I was five and ended up getting trapped in my uncle’s storage shed, under a pile of heavy boxes that fell when I was looking for my Christmas presents.  There’d been no lights, or windows, and I’d laid there in the dark for hours, crying, convinced that no one was ever going to find me.
Curiosity had been my downfall then as well.
“Tom?”  Lessing’s voice drifts through the hall.
“Yeah?”
“Just checking.  It looks like the whole grid just went down.”
“I can see that.”  Lessing must catch the sarcasm in his voice because she shuts up quickly.
“Pandora—“  In his voice is a warning and I know my time is up.  But he stops abruptly and there’s a muffled thump, followed by a slithering sound that has me imagining a bunch of snakes sliding down my hallway.  I press myself back against the wall and try not to scream.
Something large moves in front of the doorway.  “Pandora?”
“Theo?” I whisper incredulously.
He leans forward, until his face is only centimeters from mine.  “Let’s go.”  His voice is pitched so low that I have to strain to hear it even this close.
“Go where?”
“Out of here.  Come on, we’ve only got a couple of minutes before they come looking for you.”
“Looking for—you want me to break out of federal custody?”
“Would you rather I leave you here?”
“I don’t know.  I—“ My head is spinning.  Of all the ways I envisioned tonight ending, this wasn’t even in the top thousand.  “Where’s Mackaray?”
“I hit him.  He’s out, but I don’t know for how long.  Now are you coming or not?”
Am I?  I look back at the kitchen, where Emily and her father wait with the other agents.  I can’t leave her—
It’s like Theo can read my thoughts, because he says, “Emily will be fine.  She’s not the one in trouble here.”
He’s right; I know he is.  But still.  Can I do this?  Bad enough to be a federal suspect—but to be a fugitive?  How is it even possible?  They’ll find us in minutes.
Except, the electricity just went out.  Communications are gone.  No cameras to catch us running by.  No way to get out word of a widespread manhunt (or in this case womanhunt).  No way for them to track me when they’re basically blind, deaf and dumb. It could work.
But still, do I really want to do this?  Do I really want to go down this road?
Hell, yes, I do.
I slip my hand into Theo’s, not bothering to ask how he knew I was in trouble, and we glide as silently as possible through the hallway into the living room.  He seems to know exactly where he’s going and I wonder how long he’s been here, prowling around the house, without anyone knowing. 
He slides open the glass door that leads to the deck just enough that we can slip out.  As he silently closes the door behind us, I realize this is it. 
I really have reached the point of no return.
Enjoy! And remember to leave a comment to be entered to win the ARC!

Doomed Cover Reveal

I am so, so excited about finally-- after months of talking about it to anyone who will listen-- being able to reveal the brand new cover for Doomed, my January 2013 Armageddon YA novel!!!!!  I am ridiculously excited about this book (maybe because I researched and worked harder on it than any of my other books EVER-- which is saying something as I love to research :).  Anyway, Doomed is my retelling of the Pandora's Box myth, except instead of opening a box, my Pandora opens an attachment and hearkens technological Armageddon in the form of an MMO and a Stuxnet type computer worm. 

So, with no further ado ... Here's the Cover:




And here's a brief overview of what the book is about:


Beat the Game, Save the World.
One Stuxnet type worm,
One Greek-themed MMO,
One real world scavenger hunt,
Three teenagers on the run
And a ten-day countdown to total nuclear annihilation .
Pandora’s Box isn’t just a myth anymore …

When seventeen-year-old Pandora Walker opens an email attachment, she uploads the most frightening worm ever invented—and in doing so, brings about total technological Armageddon. Everything from the internet to communications to utilities collapses and suddenly Pandora finds herself on the run from Homeland Security, the FBI and every police department in the country, all of whom blame her for the technological wasteland sweeping across the U.S..  With the help of stepbrothers Eli and Theo, her neighbors and the two hottest guys in school-- plus codes encrypted in a world famous MMO--  she sets out on a real life scavenger hunt that only she can solve.  A scavenger hunt that pits her against one of the most brilliant men in the world—the maker of the Pandora worm.  Her father.  Only by unraveling the clues left by him in the MMO, and in real-world places around the U.S., can they hope to beat the clock ticking the days off until the entire planet is Doomed. 
And, in case you're still with me, here's the prologue:
 My seventeenth birthday starts with betrayal. Lies. Mayhem. Fear. It ends the same way, but that’s a different part of the story.  At least for now.   I know that's a terrible tease, so I promise to post more tomorrow-- and all through the weekend.  Post a comment on any of my posts between now and Sunday night and be entered to win an ARC of Pandora along with a signed copy of Tempest Rising and some fun swag.  And if you tweet, facebook or blog about Doomed, you'll get extra entries.  Thanks so much for stopping by and helping me celebrate Doomed's brand new cover!!!!

I'm Signing Books in San Diego this Saturday!!!!

Hi Everyone!  I'll be signing books with the fabulous Tera Lynn Childs at Mysterious Galaxy in Clairemont Mesa.  Here's the address:

7051 Clairemont Mesa Boulevard San Diego, CA 92111
(858) 268-4747

Would love to see some of you if you're in the area!!!!!!

Thanks to the Most Amazing Fans in the World!

Thank you, so, so much, for all the love and support you guys gave me on release day.  I truly do have the most amazing fans and friends in the whole world and I am so grateful for everything you've done to make the Tempest books a success.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!  Here's another excerpt, just to keep you interested ....

You know,she continued, usually, the more time passes after a mermaid’s seventeenth birthday, the more powers she gets. That you had so much power so quickly made me think that you were going to have a lot of surprises in store for us.
She quirked one perfectly shaped eyebrow and I couldn’t help it.  I thought of the electricity thing I’d done with Tiamat’s goons.
Of Kona explaining how rare that kind of magic was.  
Of the voice deep inside myself that had warned me not to tell Hailana.  
Did Hailana somehow know about it?  Had I slipped up in practice, used it without realizing?  I racked my brain, tried to think of every move I’d made, but nothing came to mind.  I didn’t remember wielding electricity against Sabyn or anyone else he’d brought in to train with us.  Except …
Except that nearly every time Sabyn touched me, we both lit up like the Electric Light Parade my mother used to drag us to see at Disneyland every summer.  I’d thought it was a training thing, something that wasn’t all that unusual.  But what if it was the giveaway? Was that bizarre reaction between us what had tipped off Sabyn, and  in turn, Hailana?
I fought the urge to scream in frustration.  I hated this.  Hated not knowing all the things I should, all the bits and pieces that went into life down here.  On land, it wasn’t easy—especially with all the mermaid stuff that had grown almost impossible to hide—but at least up there I understood what was expected of me.  What I needed to do to keep myself safe and sane.  Down below, it was a whole different story, and I kept feeling like I was a couple scenes behind the pack.
I studied Hailana, tried to gauge what she was getting at.  If she were fishing, and I didn’t react to it, maybe she would let the subject drop.  I hoped so, because everything inside of me said that if she knew of my most recent talent, how easily I had killed those men, that I would find myself following even more closely in my mother’s footsteps.
I didn’t want to do that, couldn’t do that.   For seven years I’d sworn I wouldn’t be like my mother, wouldn’t make the same choices she had.  And yet, here I was, in her city, with her queen, living her life—or as close to it as Hailana could get me.  Again I thought of those people I’d seen my mother kill remorselessly, again I shoved the memory away.
Tried to focus instead on the problem at hand.
I didn’t know what to do, didn’t have a clue what to say to her.  I needed Kona, who knew so much more about this life than I did.  I had questions for him, needed answers, but he was so wrapped up in protecting me from the perceived threat of Sabyn that he’d forgotten the ways in which I really needed him.
If only there was some way—
Tempest?  Are you listening to me?  Hailana’s voice, much sharper than it had been before, dragged me back to the present. From the impatient look on her face she’d been talking for quite some time, while I’d been drifting in La La Land, trying to make some sense of the world that was slowly crumbling around me. 
Sorry, Hailana.  It’s been a rough couple of days.  Sabyn’s a tough trainer.
That’s why he’s good for you.  Jared wasn’t pushing you, and that isn’t going to do us any good.  When Tiamat comes back for you, she’s going to come with everything she’s got. 
I know.  It was pretty hard to forget, what with everyone reminding me of that fact every time I turned around.
There was a long silence as the merQueen waited for me to say what I had come to say.  But it was harder than I thought to just blurt it out, now that I was in front of her.  Looking down, I traced patterns on Hailana’s desk as I tried to get my thoughts in order.
Are you okay, Tempest?  she finally asked.
Yeah, of course. I was just …  I looked up into her narrowed gaze and knew that it was now or never.  If I didn’t ask her my questions soon, I never would.  Did you choose Sabyn on purpose?  Because you knew it would upset Kona?
Mmmmm, now we get to the heart of the matter.  Is the selkie prince threatened by such a young, handsome merman spending so much time with you?
The selkie prince, I repeated, is upset because he doesn’t like Sabyn.  But I think you know that.  I watched her carefully, trying to catch any flicker in her expression.  She didn’t so much as blink. 
Is he still beating that drum? she asked.   It was an accident— Annalisse fell and injured herself severely—with Tiamat’s help.  Sabyn tried to save her, but he couldn’t.  Everyone knows that but Kona.
I was reeling a little bit at the knowledge of how Kona’s sister had died, but I wouldn’t give Hailana the satisfaction of seeing he’d never shared the details with me. 
So you knew about Sabyn’s history with Kona, how Kona felt about him, and you decided to have me train with him anyway?  I asked, just to clarify things.  I already knew it was true, even before she answered.  Hailana did what she wanted, when she wanted to do it and to hell with anyone else’s feelings.
I don’t make decisions for my clan based on keeping the selkie prince happy, she told me blandly.  I’m truly sorry if my choices have caused any stress between you.
Yeah, and if I believed that … I didn’t need to see the sudden, cagey look in her eye to know that she was  trying to play me.  Of course, a lot of what she’d done lately seemed to have been with the express intention of causing trouble between Kona and me.  The fact that we were letting her, that we were falling right into line with her schemes, was no one’s fault but Kona’s and mine.  I would even bet that Sabyn was making all those crazy comments to me, not just to get under Kona’s skin, but on direct order from her.  The straightforward approach wasn’t really Hailana’s style. 
Is that all you wanted? she asked.  To find out about Kona and Sabyn?
That was my cue to leave, to get up from the desk and walk out before this meeting descended into the free-for-all our conferences so often became.  I started to say yes, started to get up and swim to the door, but in the end, I couldn’t do it.  There was another question burning inside of me, one that was so important I trembled with the need to have an answer.
Tempest?she prompted.  Is there something else?
What was my mother’s real job for you?
I’m sorry?
You say she was a priestess, say that she was your right hand.  You also tell me that you want me to follow in her wake, but you’ve never actually told me what she did for you.
That’s easy.  Hailana’s eyes were frigid, ferocious, as they looked me over.  She did whatever I asked of her.  And she kept her mouth shut about doing it.  In time, you’ll learn to do the same thing.
That was exactly what I was afraid of.

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Tempest Unleashed is on the Shelves!!!!

Yay!  I am so excited to announce that Tempest Unleashed hits shelves today!!!!  I'll be doing booksignings throughout June in San Diego, Los Angeles, Albuquerque, Las Vegas and Austin, so if you live anywhere around there, come see me!!!!!   I'll post the details tomorrow :)

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Winner of Monday's Prize Pack

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Another Excerpt from Tempest Unleashed

Hi Everyone!  I'm back with another excerpt from Tempest Unleashed.  Hope you enjoy!!!!


The long, deep trench that led directly to Kona’s city loomed in front of us and  I barreled down it, leaving Mahina to follow in my wake.  I was swimming as fast as I could, as fast as I ever had, so that when it emptied out into the city, I ended up skidding across the ground much as I had the first time I’d ever come here.  I’d been rushing to make sure Kona was okay that time, too.
                I ended up stopping inches from one of the selkies in seal form. It was laying on its side on the ocean floor and at first I thought it was just resting  But then I understood--it was dead. 
                I scrambled up, backed away, and realized I was in the middle of my worst nightmare.  Kona’s city looked even worse than Coral Straits had.  Thousands of bodies littered the ground—in seal and human form—each one a little more horrific-looking than the last.
                Oh my God!  Oh my God!  Ohmygod, ohmygod,ohmygod!  I screamed, turning around and around, trying to find Kona.  Trying to see if he was down here.  If Tiamat had-- 
                I don’t know if he’s here, I told Mahina, bordering on hysteria.  I can’t tell the difference between them in their seal forms.  I didn’t see him like that enough. I don’t know.  I don’t—
                Hey!  She grabbed me by the shoulders, gave me a firm shake.   You have to get it together!  She pointed at a few live selkies in human form.  They were going from body to body, checking to see if anyone was still able to be saved. So far, it didn’t look like they’d found anyone.  Let’s go ask them if they know where the royal family is.
                It was a massacre, I told her dully.  They didn’t stand a chance.  They weren’t prepared at all.  Hailana could have warned them.  She could have—
                Don’t think about that.  Not now.  She looked around grimly.  We’ll deal with Hailana’s crimes later.  Let’s go see about Kona right now.
                We swam over to the selkie healers.  As we got closer, I realized one of them was Zarek.  I threw myself at him, grabbed on to his arm.  Kona? I asked, unable to formulate the words to ask what I really needed to know.
We haven’t found him yet.  He shook his head grimly.  The king—he choked up, cleared his throat.  The king and queen are over there.  He pointed behind him to two selkies in human form, both of whom were being wrapped in long pieces of fabric.  Tiamat had gotten her revenge on Malachai, after all.
                I gasped, stumbled, would have fallen if Mahina hadn’t been there to hold me up.  Have you checked above? she demanded of Zarek.
                We did a cursory sweep through the house—no one was there that we could see.
                Let’s go, Mahina told me.  When I didn’t budge, she started dragging me along behind her. 
                He’s not up there, Mahina, I told her desperately.  He’s down here, somewhere.  He’s--  my voice caught on a sob as I tried to accept the impossible.  Tried to make myself understand the inexplicable.  Kona couldn’t be dead.  He just couldn’t be.
                Sitting down here isn’t going to help anyone.  Let’s go check the surface, just to be sure.
Her indomitable will firmly in place, she tugged me toward the narrow, vertical passage that would take me to the island where Kona’s family made their home.  I didn’t fight her because, honestly, I didn’t have the energy.  Trying to make a decision was impossible, especially as an abyss of agony yawned wide inside of me.
                When we got to the passage, Mahina pushed me forward.  You go first.
                I didn’t question her.  I couldn’t.  I just stretched my arms over my head and pushed up.  There was barely enough room in the narrow, rocky chute for me to move my arms and legs, so it was slow going, just like always.  I finally made it to the top, bursting into the warm water of the inlet that brought me to the beach right in front of Kona’s castle. 
                Mahina was right behind me, and together we slowly made our way to shore.  The beach was lined with injured people, while others attended to them.  They were all positioned close to the water and I remembered, suddenly, how salt water healed them.  Which made me wonder—just how badly, and quickly, had those down below been injured that being immersed in the stuff had provided almost no impact?
                No one spoke to us as we made our way over the sand to the giant castle.   When we got to the front door, I knocked as loudly as I could, praying for Kona’s butler Vernon to open it.  If he was there, I told myself, then everything would be okay.  He would know where Kona was.  Vernon would never let anything happen to any of the royal family.
                But then I remembered Kona’s parents, lying dead beneath the surface, and knew that nothing was going to be okay again.  Even Vernon, with his incredible organization skills and implacable manners, couldn’t make it so.
                When no one came to answer the knock, Mahina reached forward and pushed the door open.  I walked in, glanced around.  The foyer looked exactly the same as it always did, nothing out of place, nothing broken, just like at Hailana’s.  Zarek had said they’d done a cursory search of the place, but that didn’t mean anything.  Kona and his brothers and sisters could be upstairs, injured.  Unable to call for help.
                I ran for the stairs, took them three at a time.  Even as the logical side of my brain told me it was impossible, that Tiamat couldn’t make it up here, I didn’t stop.  I had to check, had to know.  I hit the fourth floor in thirty seconds flat and took off down the hall toward Kona’s room. 
                The door was closed and locked, but a quick shot of energy had it buckling in front of me.  I burst into Kona’s sitting room, screaming for him, but he wasn’t there.  I went through to the bedroom, the bathroom, even his huge walk-in closet.  But there was no answer.  He really wasn’t here  He really wasn’t--
                I turned to tell Mahina, and as I did I caught sight of graffiti scrawled across Kona’s bedroom wall.   Written in a red liquid so dark it was almost black, were the three feet high words: THE NEW SELKIE KING REQUESTS YOUR PRESENCE AT THE SAHUL SHELF.
                Eyes wide, heart hammering in my chest, I forced myself to cross the room.  To get up close and personal with the message I was sure I would see in my nightmares for the rest of my life.  Reaching out, I touched the letters, which were still a little wet, and came away with the viscous liquid on my fingertips.  It was thick and a little clotted and smelled faintly of iron.
                At the first whiff of it, the room started to spin around me and my knees gave.  I hit the ground, hard, but it barely registered.  I was still wrapped up in the knowledge, in the horrified realization that I was staring at a very large message written entirely in Kona’s blood.
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Winner #1

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