Those Who Fall [excerpt + pre-order link]
She Who Rises, the first book in A New Age of Magic, came out almost exactly a year ago. And now I'm getting ready for the release of its sequel! Those Who Fall will be coming out as an ebook on Amazon July 15th, and its available for pre-order here.
And for a little teaser, here's a scene from the book:
Those Who Fall
A blast of fire slammed into the glass, shattering it. I threw my arms up to shield my eyes, phone clattering to the ground. “Farida, what are you doing?”
“That wasn’t me!”
The glass settled; I lowered my arms. Outside, a terrifyingly familiar woman with dark skin and a matted, wildly curly ponytail was smirking as she strode closer. Imani. She was followed closely by the guy I recognized but couldn’t remember, the one who had fought with her last time. I instinctively stepped back, looking for somewhere to run — but where? And what was the point? A black car was parked on the lawn several yards behind them, meaning they still had speed on their side. We might be able to lose them in the woods, but that was a big maybe.
How had they found us? And since when could either of them throw fire like Farida?
Imani’s fists lit up with flames; she punched a ball of fire toward me. Heat sailed past my shoulder as another burst of flames collided with Imani’s, the two blasts destroying each other. Then Farida was shoving past me, leaping through the broken window and onto the damp lawn. She threw a rapid series of punches toward Imani and her ally, the air around her bright and hot. It gave me a little satisfaction when the guy dove for the ground, apparently not competent enough with his magic yet to fend off the barrage, but Imani didn’t waver. She held her ground and devoured the series of fireballs with an arcing wall of flames.
The ground steamed as the wall faded, creating a smokescreen-like affect. The two cousins stood studying each other through the mist, both breathing heavy. The air was charged and volatile; I glanced back and forth between the two women, wondering who would strike first, if I should hide, if I could help, if, if, if—
The puddles filling the hollows of the uneven ground suddenly roiled as though brought to a boil, darkened like storm clouds, and then exploded upwards. A flurry of small, black birds had emerged. I threw my hands up to shield my face again, but no attack came — the screaming I heard wasn’t Farida, either.
Imani was flailing wildly, trying to knock the birds away from her face as they dove and pecked at her with their yellow bills.
I glanced toward Farida. She was ashen and panting, the sleeves of her sweater pushed back to reveal an unfamiliar golden bracelet decorated with a variety of studs. It held a stone of swirling brown, white, and grey that reminded me of marbles.
“F-Farida?” I said, stepping toward the shattered window. I paused. What could I even do? I wanted to reach out to her, to touch her shoulder — as though that could somehow snap her back into herself or dispel this illusion or… something. But there was too much space between us and, when she turned toward me, the look in her eyes frightened me. It wasn’t the grim determination I was used to seeing in her when she fought. It was darker.
For the first time, she really did look like Imani.
She surged forward, hurling a fistful of flames at her cousin. Imani barely managed to dive out of the way; the cloud of shrieking birds followed her every move.
Nausea seized my gut as I watched Farida use both birds and fire. I had travelled with her long enough and seen her fight often enough to know that the birds weren’t part of her normal set of powers. They had to come from a different stone — undoubtedly the one in her new bracelet. But using more than one stone was dangerous. Masika had said it was destructive, more so than magic usually is, and that it could blacken a heart and corrupt it with greed and bloodlust.
Farida knew that. She was too smart to do something that reckless.
Imani darted away from another streak of fire, trying to evade the swarm of blackbirds at the same time. I expected the earth to heave and form a barrier between her and Farida, but it never did. Was she not using her old stone?
A gust of wind surged up around Imani, catching in the blackbirds’ wings and tossing them violently aside. They squawked and shrieked and fought to right themselves. Imani recovered quickly and hurled a massive burst of flames toward Farida, who tried to swallow it in her own wall of fire. But just before the two fires met, another gust of wind kicked up behind Imani’s, propelling it forward and amplifying it. It crashed into Farida with concussive force. She screamed hoarsely as she was thrown backwards.
The man had joined the fray. And he was definitely stronger in his magic than he was last time, no longer shaking and panting from the exertion of a simple strike.
The blackbirds dove at Imani again, but the man was ready this time. A whirlwind sprung up around the birds, trapping them in a spinning current of air. He was clenching his teeth now, holding his hand up toward the mini cyclone as veins appeared in his forehead. Farida and Imani continued trading blows, once more evenly matched, but as I watched I realized it wasn’t going to last long. The birds were dissolving as the tightening spiral of wind tore them apart.
Once Farida’s backup was gone, that guy would team up against her.
‘I can do this, I can do this, I can do this.’ I tried to calm my racing heart with deep breaths as I leapt out the window. The ground was still slick and I nearly fell on my ass, but managed to find my balance. I was glad everyone was too busy fighting to pay any attention to me. Taking another deep breath, I set off across the lawn toward the man. He was distracted right now. If I could get to him while he was distracted…
I reached down to the imaginary pool of blackness inside me and called it to my palm. As I closed the distance between us, I thrust my hand forward. A thin mist of poison curled out. The man was startled as the black mist drifted by his face. Coughing, he swung one hand toward me, simultaneously knocking my arm aside and dispersing the airborne poison with a puff of wind.
I was trying to summon more poison, stronger this time, when the last of Farida’s birds dissolved and the man rounded on me. A gale buffeted against me. I stumbled back a step before planting my feet and leaning into the wind, raising an arm to shield my eyes from dirt and debris. The man let out a growl of frustration and the wind immediately died. I looked up in time to see a burst of light.
The creature that appeared had massive, brown-feathered wings. Its head resembled an eagle’s, with a sharp, hooked beak and intelligent eyes. It was four-legged, the front bird-like and taloned, the back two furry and clawed and enormous as a lion’s paws. From the backside emerged a long, thin tail with a tuft of fur on the end. It towered over me, breath hot in my face, before rearing back on its hindlegs and letting out a fearsome battle cry.
I raised my shaking hands, trying to call on my poison but only able to think of the monster’s talons and claws and my frozen legs and blood pounding in my ears and I needed to run—
As the creature swung back down onto its forelegs, it slammed into me, talons tearing at my shirt and slicing the skin on my chest. I hit the wet earth — lights dancing in my eyes — sharp, hot pain—
And then the world was whitewhitewhitewhite.
And for a little teaser, here's a scene from the book:
Those Who Fall
A blast of fire slammed into the glass, shattering it. I threw my arms up to shield my eyes, phone clattering to the ground. “Farida, what are you doing?”
“That wasn’t me!”
The glass settled; I lowered my arms. Outside, a terrifyingly familiar woman with dark skin and a matted, wildly curly ponytail was smirking as she strode closer. Imani. She was followed closely by the guy I recognized but couldn’t remember, the one who had fought with her last time. I instinctively stepped back, looking for somewhere to run — but where? And what was the point? A black car was parked on the lawn several yards behind them, meaning they still had speed on their side. We might be able to lose them in the woods, but that was a big maybe.
How had they found us? And since when could either of them throw fire like Farida?
Imani’s fists lit up with flames; she punched a ball of fire toward me. Heat sailed past my shoulder as another burst of flames collided with Imani’s, the two blasts destroying each other. Then Farida was shoving past me, leaping through the broken window and onto the damp lawn. She threw a rapid series of punches toward Imani and her ally, the air around her bright and hot. It gave me a little satisfaction when the guy dove for the ground, apparently not competent enough with his magic yet to fend off the barrage, but Imani didn’t waver. She held her ground and devoured the series of fireballs with an arcing wall of flames.
The ground steamed as the wall faded, creating a smokescreen-like affect. The two cousins stood studying each other through the mist, both breathing heavy. The air was charged and volatile; I glanced back and forth between the two women, wondering who would strike first, if I should hide, if I could help, if, if, if—
The puddles filling the hollows of the uneven ground suddenly roiled as though brought to a boil, darkened like storm clouds, and then exploded upwards. A flurry of small, black birds had emerged. I threw my hands up to shield my face again, but no attack came — the screaming I heard wasn’t Farida, either.
Imani was flailing wildly, trying to knock the birds away from her face as they dove and pecked at her with their yellow bills.
I glanced toward Farida. She was ashen and panting, the sleeves of her sweater pushed back to reveal an unfamiliar golden bracelet decorated with a variety of studs. It held a stone of swirling brown, white, and grey that reminded me of marbles.
“F-Farida?” I said, stepping toward the shattered window. I paused. What could I even do? I wanted to reach out to her, to touch her shoulder — as though that could somehow snap her back into herself or dispel this illusion or… something. But there was too much space between us and, when she turned toward me, the look in her eyes frightened me. It wasn’t the grim determination I was used to seeing in her when she fought. It was darker.
For the first time, she really did look like Imani.
She surged forward, hurling a fistful of flames at her cousin. Imani barely managed to dive out of the way; the cloud of shrieking birds followed her every move.
Nausea seized my gut as I watched Farida use both birds and fire. I had travelled with her long enough and seen her fight often enough to know that the birds weren’t part of her normal set of powers. They had to come from a different stone — undoubtedly the one in her new bracelet. But using more than one stone was dangerous. Masika had said it was destructive, more so than magic usually is, and that it could blacken a heart and corrupt it with greed and bloodlust.
Farida knew that. She was too smart to do something that reckless.
Imani darted away from another streak of fire, trying to evade the swarm of blackbirds at the same time. I expected the earth to heave and form a barrier between her and Farida, but it never did. Was she not using her old stone?
A gust of wind surged up around Imani, catching in the blackbirds’ wings and tossing them violently aside. They squawked and shrieked and fought to right themselves. Imani recovered quickly and hurled a massive burst of flames toward Farida, who tried to swallow it in her own wall of fire. But just before the two fires met, another gust of wind kicked up behind Imani’s, propelling it forward and amplifying it. It crashed into Farida with concussive force. She screamed hoarsely as she was thrown backwards.
The man had joined the fray. And he was definitely stronger in his magic than he was last time, no longer shaking and panting from the exertion of a simple strike.
The blackbirds dove at Imani again, but the man was ready this time. A whirlwind sprung up around the birds, trapping them in a spinning current of air. He was clenching his teeth now, holding his hand up toward the mini cyclone as veins appeared in his forehead. Farida and Imani continued trading blows, once more evenly matched, but as I watched I realized it wasn’t going to last long. The birds were dissolving as the tightening spiral of wind tore them apart.
Once Farida’s backup was gone, that guy would team up against her.
‘I can do this, I can do this, I can do this.’ I tried to calm my racing heart with deep breaths as I leapt out the window. The ground was still slick and I nearly fell on my ass, but managed to find my balance. I was glad everyone was too busy fighting to pay any attention to me. Taking another deep breath, I set off across the lawn toward the man. He was distracted right now. If I could get to him while he was distracted…
I reached down to the imaginary pool of blackness inside me and called it to my palm. As I closed the distance between us, I thrust my hand forward. A thin mist of poison curled out. The man was startled as the black mist drifted by his face. Coughing, he swung one hand toward me, simultaneously knocking my arm aside and dispersing the airborne poison with a puff of wind.
I was trying to summon more poison, stronger this time, when the last of Farida’s birds dissolved and the man rounded on me. A gale buffeted against me. I stumbled back a step before planting my feet and leaning into the wind, raising an arm to shield my eyes from dirt and debris. The man let out a growl of frustration and the wind immediately died. I looked up in time to see a burst of light.
The creature that appeared had massive, brown-feathered wings. Its head resembled an eagle’s, with a sharp, hooked beak and intelligent eyes. It was four-legged, the front bird-like and taloned, the back two furry and clawed and enormous as a lion’s paws. From the backside emerged a long, thin tail with a tuft of fur on the end. It towered over me, breath hot in my face, before rearing back on its hindlegs and letting out a fearsome battle cry.
I raised my shaking hands, trying to call on my poison but only able to think of the monster’s talons and claws and my frozen legs and blood pounding in my ears and I needed to run—
As the creature swung back down onto its forelegs, it slammed into me, talons tearing at my shirt and slicing the skin on my chest. I hit the wet earth — lights dancing in my eyes — sharp, hot pain—
And then the world was whitewhitewhitewhite.
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