Hysteriata by D.A. Botta
(Elyzian Chronicles #1)Publication date: March 21st 2014
Genres: Fantasy, New Adult
Emily Hobbs is off to Salem State College when a chance encounter with a fortuneteller changes everything. Emily is transported to the realm of Elyzia and learns that she is, in fact, one of the most powerful witches in existence.
Madame Lavache, the strict headmistress of Cedalion Covenstead, has her sights set on Emily. In her desperate cling to power, Lavache attempts to protect her tyranny by invoking sinister forces, including bloodthirsty pirates and The Devil himself, to rid Elyzia of the rebellious witch.
Along with her companions – an old hermit, a small coven of witches, and their totems – Emily sets out on a collision course with destiny.
Just as the tarot foretold.
A powerful witch
A simple tarot read
And all hell breaks loose
A simple tarot read
And all hell breaks loose
Emily slunk closer to the glowing
well and peered into its depths. The water bubbled and swelled in the
hardened clay of underground. The candlelight illuminated the
ceiling, casting shine and shadows dispersing throughout the dark.
Hues of blue and sediment captivated Emily.
The colors shifted. Now Paige danced
drunkenly about a snapping fire. Her body enveloped by the orange
glow of bonfire. Paronskaft shrunk back against the wall.
“That scene …”
he blurted, “is not for now.” He bit his lips closed and
trembled.
Paige stood amongst the others,
Gretchen and Melanie and Chloe, all of them. She waited for her turn
to leap over the celebratory fire. First Gretchen leapt, then Chloe,
Brenna and even Melanie, hurled themselves above the towering flame.
There was laughter and music as the boys, too, leapt in their boots,
soaring over the tops of the fire and crashing down on the other
side. The ceremony burned into the autumn eve.
Paige leapt into the air wildly,
drunk on wine, and the flames sucked her down into their belly. She
seared and shrieked as her clothes burned away. The others watched
horrified as the scorched silhouette flailed within the orange
bonfire belly. Her hair turned quickly to dust and her skin blistered
and charred. The shadow figure collapsed into miserable ashes and
died wretchedly.
The image diluted into the watery
pool and Emily fell to her knees and sobbed.
“It’s a trick!” Emily shouted,
her voice echoing up through the chambers. “It’s a damned trick,
you old fool!”
Paronskaft was taken aback, shocked
at the insinuation. His feeble body shuttered against the affront. He
wrapped his golden cloak tightly to his skeletal frame.
“I make no tricks, Miss Emily,”
he quivered. “I make no tricks on you! Time is an essence.”
“I can stop this?! I can save
Paige, you mean? How much time do I have?!”
“You have no time.”
Emily tore out of the cave and rode
east, bounding along on Mongrel, weaving through clusters of trees
and stones. The late night air splashed the last of the raindrops
against her face while Mongrel galloped steadily toward the grounds.
A few yards from the edge of the hillside, Mongrel shrunk into his
miniature size, quickly and suddenly, which threw Emily off over his
shoulders and into crumply dry grasses and brush.
“You could warn me, you know,”
she admonished while she quickly laced up her boots. She retrieved a
Scynderstem from Paronskaft’s box. “Meet me at the covenstead,
okay?”
Mongrel yapped and pranced off.
“Go ahead and go!”
Emily secured her satchel over her
shoulder crosswise and dug the balls of her feet into the ground. She
leapt off, arcing and descending spans of nearly one hundred yards.
The smoke from the bonfire crept up into the air over the eastern
wall of Cedalion. I’m
coming, Paige! she wailed
in her mind. Emily soared and sailed toward the ceremony. Stop!
Don’t leap!! she cried
out inside. A
lyre was playing, singing into the crisp air and laughter and dancing
could be seen from the peaks.
Dread filled her bones.
Drew coasted over the seething
flames. Then Melanie gracelessly rocketed over the fire. Next Ethan
perfectly arced over. Wait!
Don’t go! The scent of
wine and embers wafted into Emily’s nose as she drew near. Nooo,
my love! No!! The heat of
the high flame pushed against her body. Paige crested the blaze and
was pulled down just as Paronskaft’s pool had shown. Emily pressed
her thumb into the Scynderstem and it broke as she leapt again,
fearless at the fire, and cast the spell.
Paige wriggled and writhed in the
hot orange glows, blackened already near the fire’s blue bottom.
Emily wrapped her arms around Paige’s waist and dug her toes into
the powdery ash to quickly leap again.
The pair landed near the twisty elm
sprinkled with twinkling fireflies. Emily held Paige in her arms,
resting what was left of her friend in her lap. Emily looked at her
friend who heaved shallow breaths into the air. Paige’s body,
smoldering still and black, released streams of smoke up passed the
branches and into the air. Their eyes met and Emily let loose her
woeful tears.
“I am here,” breathed Emily. “I
am here with you.”
“I …
love you,” Paige mouthed as she departed.
“I love you Paige!” Emily
wailed. “Don’t go! Don’t leave me!”
Paige’s eyes shut forever.
An astonished crowd gathered a few
yards away, shaken witnesses to the sadness and grief. After a long
moment, Emily slipped out from under Paige and tenderly set her body
into the grass. Her face contorted and her entire body trembled with
loss. She trudged over to where Paige and the others had sat. She
snatched up Paige’s lantern of fireflies. She grew angry in her
hurt. She raged in her mind and ached in her heart.
Observing from a ways off, the
Madame and the Ladies and the Lyre Man observed the tragedy in solemn
seclusion.
“That girl,” Madame Lavache
whispered to herself, “is going to raise havoc.”
The
glass jar shattered into glimmering slivers and the fireflies were
released to the sinewy elm.
D A Botta has written four New Adult Fantasy novels, The Elyzian Chronicles, and has also published a collection of poems There in Them Blues. D A is currently working on a New Adult Mystery series, Seriously Confidant, projected for debut in the fall of 2015. D A is a Fantasy Representative for NA Alley and frequents #NALitChat on Twitter. When not writing, D A plays guitar and dabbles in graphic design. D A lives with his family in Massachusetts.
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Thanks so much for having me!
ReplyDeleteI hope your readers enjoy it! :)