It's Time for Another Teaser Tuesday!

I'm not sure how many other writers do this, but I do read every review that I get. I don't get enough at the moment to be overwhelmed by them, so I do sit down and read through everyone's reviews. I hear everything you are saying. I want the next book in the Prophesized Series to be as good as it can be so I try to listen to all your advice. Yesterday, I got my first negative review. I'd gotten a few three star reviews on Goodreads, but I got my first two star review on Amazon. Surprisingly, I was happy about that. Now, I feel like everything is actually real. Not everyone who reads my book is going to like it. I'm glad to know that someone honestly didn't like and wasn't afraid to say that. I appreciate it!

Right after I read that review, I got a message from a reader saying that I was a great person to look up to and that she hopes to someday follow in my footsteps. If you're reading this message, it seriously made my day and I can't thank you enough for your kind words. You're not just some random kid :) That message pushed anything negative that I was thinking out of my mind and solidified my decision to publish this book again.

Since I have such awesome readers, I decided to post a longer teaser today. It's not from book two in the Prophesized Series. This is from the first book in my Guardians of the Chosen Series. This will be the next series that I attempt to publish in the fall. It's a YA series with a lot of Greek Mythology sprinkled in. I hope you like it :)

**This section is unedited and may contain a few errors. It's also subject to change before publication.

Another twig breaks in front of me, closer this time. I stop and look around for the animal. There’s something nearby. I know that some animals are nocturnal and hunt at night. I’d be stupid to think that I was alone in here. Is there anything bigger than a deer in Indiana? I’ve hear of a couple coyote attacks recently though. What do you do if a coyote attacks? I know you’re not supposed to run from a bear…does the same apply for a coyote?

I continue standing still, waiting for something to come out of the covering of the trees and reveal itself to me. A minute passes and nothing happens. Hesitantly, I move forward. I should probably turn around soon. I’ve never felt like this before. I’ve never been afraid to be out here at night before. My dad and I used to take nightly walks through the woods. It’s so different without him here.

Snap.

I stop again. It’s just an animal. It’s just an animal. It’s just an animal. I repeat this to myself over and over as I continue to stare down the path trying to convince myself that it really is just an animal. I don’t see anything. It seems like everything in the forest has stopped. The breeze is no longer blowing through the trees and the trees are as still as statues, standing tall and unmoving. I glance around me. Something is wrong.

Ok, it’s definitely time to go. I turn around and smack straight into...a chest? I push forward and try to fight him off. An arm wraps around my waist, pulling me against his chest and restricting my movement. I open my mouth to scream, but his other hand silences me. I stare up at the man in front of me. There’s a haze around his face, so I can’t see anything about him, except for this eyes. His piercing blue eyes stare down at me.

“I’m going to remove my hand. Please don’t scream,” says a deep timbre voice. He doesn’t seem like he wants to cause me any harm. When I don’t do anything, he slowly releases his hand from my mouth.

“Who are you?” I ask him.

“You need to leave,” he says without answering my question.

“What?”

“Go home, Elsie.”

“How do you know my name?”

“Go home and don’t come back here.”

“Who the heck are you?” I yell. Because I’m scared and confused, I continue. “You can’t just grab me and tell me what to do. And why the heck can’t I see your face?”

Again, without answering me, he turns around, releasing me from his grip and grabs onto my wrist, pulling me forward. I attempt to fight against him, but this man is strong. I dig my feet into the ground, hoping to slow him down, but it doesn’t faze him.

Fine. I run forward and jump in front of him. He can’t stop soon enough and both of us fall to the ground. When he lands on top of me, the wind is pushed out of my lungs. That wasn’t what I wanted to happen. He perches himself up and glares down at me. Even without seeing the rest of his expression, I can tell from his eyes that he’s angry.

“Was that necessary?”

“You won’t answer any of my questions!” I say through a clenched jaw as I try to breathe again. “What the heck is going on?”

Another twig snaps to our right. We both turn and look in that direction. When Mr. Mystery Man turns towards it, something soft brushes against my cheek. Is that his hair? Jumping off of me, he bends down and picks me up, slinging me over his shoulder.

“Put me down, you big egotistical jerk!” I hit his back, but he continues moving briskly through the woods. I realize that my insult could have been better, but I’m a little frazzled at the moment. It’s the best I could come up with under the circumstances. “I don’t appreciate being manhandled!”

He makes a strange sound. I stop fighting against him and push myself up. “Are you laughing at me?”

“I find you amusing,” he tells me.

I hit his back again and he laughs again. “I’m serious. Put me down.”

“Why are you still trying to fight me? I’m trying to save your life.”

“From what?” I push my hair away from my eyes. I can tell that we’re getting closer to the edge of the woods. “And I don’t need someone to save me, thank you very much.”

“Oh, but you do.”

I open my mouth to refute his comment when I get a look at the trail again. Something dark is moving quickly towards us. A high pitch sound echoes through the forest. The man holding me stops and turns around. He pulls me down and covers my mouth, silencing my scream. “Close your eyes,” he tells me as he cradles me against his chest.

I can hear the footprints of the man running towards us. They’re so much louder than they were before. The man holding me yells at me to close my eyes again. I listen to him this time. Plunged into darkness, I can feel his subtle movements. What the heck is he doing? Shouldn’t he be running?

Suddenly, I’m back on my feet. I open my eyes. I’m standing on the Daniels’ porch. The blue eyed man steadies me as he leans down on the step below me. How’d we get here so fast? “Go inside and don’t come back out, no matter what you hear,” he tells me.

“Wait, what’s going on?” I ask.

Mystery man glances over his shoulder and pushes me towards the door. When I collide into its cold surface, he starts backing up. “Please, just listen to me.” 

With that he disappears.

How? I rub my eyes hoping that my mind is playing tricks on me. There’s no way he could just disappear like that. I scan the yard, but find it empty.

What the heck just happened?

I reach for the doorknob when I hear a deep grunt in the woods behind the house. The sound of wood breaking echoes through the stillness of the night. I turn the handle and run into the house slamming the door in the process.

I definitely need out of this town.

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