Book One Excerpt
Arwan
Arwan knelt beside his mother’s
grave, empty handed. Since he was a young boy, every time he visited he had
brought an offering. Something small, to mark that he had been there—that
someone had been there.
This year was different. He hadn’t stood
in front of her grave for three season cycles. Three long years.
“She is back wit’ t’e earth.” The
priestess’ thick accent weighed down her words. “It is where she belongs.” She
rested her wrinkled hand on his shoulder.
“She doesn’t belong here.”
“One cannot undo what has been
done.”
“Yeah. I think about that every
day.” He clenched his jaw.
Drina sighed. “You were only a
boy.”
A helpless boy.
He examined the new headstone that
marked her grave. Renato would be satisfied his gift fit perfectly.
The old man meant well.
“Can you sense her soul?” Arwan
asked.
Drina’s hand slipped from his
shoulder, leaving it cold. A breeze swept past them, carrying the scent of
mountain flowers and crisp water pooled in the valley below.
“Your mot’ers spirit has passed
beyond,” Drina said, just like she said every year; every time he asked. “I
cannot see her.”
“Do you think she’s happy?”
“Happy?” There was a long, silent
pause. It was a question he’d never asked her. One that seemed to catch her off
guard. “I believe she is proud.”
“Of what?”
Deep creases reached from the
corners of her dark eyes. “Of her legacy.”
He fisted his hands. “You know
better.”
“She did love you, boy.”
He pushed to his feet. “Because she
didn’t know. She didn’t know who…” He turned his face from her grave. “What I
am.”
Drina pushed him out of the way and
shifted to the foot of his mother’s grave. Piles of dried corn, jade, pouches
of cinnabar, and a whistle carved from stone sat near her headstone. “Your
mot’er ascended, yet you mope as if her soul was damned to the underworld.” She
set another bag of cinnabar over the mounded earth. “You must move on.” She
turned to face him. “You must not disappoint her.”
He scowled. “You say that as if I
have an option.”
“You do.” She smiled softly,
something she didn’t do often. “Everyt’ing is balanced. The sun wit’ t’e moon.
Cold wit’ heat. Mountain wit’ valley.”
“Not everything.”
“Yes. Everyt’ing.” She jabbed her
finger at his chest. “But you are too stubborn to remember where you come from.
Who you come from.” She grabbed a stick from the ground. “Even a mighty tree
dies and goes back to the earth.” She smacked him in the arm with the stick.
“Stupid boy.”
He rubbed the spot she’d hit, if
for no other reason than to amuse her. The old woman showed love in strange
ways. “Thanks, Drina.” He placed a kiss on her forehead.
Arwan walked past her, admiring the
rolling hills of plush rainforest below. The echoes of monkeys and birds
carried through the air. “We should get back. I have to meet with the seeker
before returning home. Renato may need me. My phone doesn’t work up here, and I
haven’t heard anything from Marzena.”
“Always in a rush,” Drina said.
“For what? To see the guardian, perhaps?”
Arwan looked at her. “Is she
there?”
Drina shrugged. “Perhaps.” She
waddled past him, toward their Jeep.
“Wait.” He caught up with her. She
was surprisingly fast for an old woman. “Have you heard from Marzena?”
She shrugged again and tugged open
the car door, then climbed inside. “Perhaps.”
Arwan shut the door and leaned in close
through the open window. “You’re a cruel, agonizing woman, you know that?”
She pursed her lips, clearly
suppressing a smile. “Perhaps.”
Arwan hopped in the driver’s seat
and started the Jeep. The engine roared to life. He watched Drina, who didn’t
say a word. “Are you going to tell me what’s on your mind?” The woman was never
quiet. Not unless she was worried.
She gave a long exhale, her ghostly eyes
trained on the mountains below. “I have spent many years wit’ you, boy. Good
years. Bad years.” She met his gaze. “T’ere is a balance, even for you.
Everyt’ing has balance.”
He shifted the car into drive. “Tia…”
She turned away, staring back out
at the jungle. “Until you believe you can find balance, you will never find
peace.”
He shifted the car into drive. At
least her intentions were in the right place, even if she could never
understand. He would never find peace.
Stone Legacy Series Overview
Genre: Mature YA
Their empires have fallen, but their mythology lives on…
Zanya Coreandero is a seventeen-year-old orphan with only a single friend and no hope for a normal life. The only home she’s ever known is the isolated institution—where breakfast is a handful of medications, the psychiatry sessions are mandatory, and her every move is watched.
When Zanya is kidnapped, she meets a group of gifted Mayan descendants, each with a unique ability. Gone from a nameless castaway to the only hope of mankind, Zanya is forced to make a grueling decision: bond with an enchanted stone and save humanity from rising underworld forces, or watch helplessly as Earth falls victim to a familiar dark deity from her dreams. This time, he’s playing for keeps.
A wicked secret hides behind a handsome face…
When Arwan, a dark-eyed timebender, takes interest in Zanya's mission, it's unclear if his intention is to help, or if he's on a hell-bent mission for revenge. Wary of falling for another guy with major secrets and a tainted past, Zanya fights to keep her distance. If only her heart gave her a choice.
With the approach of an ancient bonding ceremony, Zanya struggles to control her abilities—and her desires.
As the winter solstice approaches, it brings an onslaught of unexpected side effects. While Zanya battles to seize control over her supercharged powers, she must also face an overwhelming suspicion that her new boyfriend, Arwan, is hiding a secret so dark it could destroy them both. And with her powers finally taking root, pacing their relationship becomes even more of a challenge.
Just when she thought life couldn’t get more complicated…
With the arrival of a surprise houseguest, Zanya’s deepest fears about Arwan are confirmed. And when middleworld deities intercede, the group of gifted Maya descendants are confronted with hardships they never saw coming—including an enemy more deadly than they have ever faced.
When the heavens, middleworld, and underworld collide, an epic battle for power threatens the existence of mankind. Their survival rests in the hands of Zanya and her new, enchanted family. But when a final secret turns her world upside down, her stone, family, and future aren’t the only things she’s destined to protect.
Stone Legacy
Book One
Theresa DaLayne
Their empires have fallen, but their mythology lives on…
Zanya Coreandero is a seventeen-year-old orphan with only a single friend and no hope for a normal life. Diagnosed with anxiety and night terrors, no one believes her cuts and bruises are a result of an evil entity, and not a brutal case of self-harm.
With the only home she’s ever known being the isolated institution—where breakfast is a handful of medications, the psychiatry sessions are mandatory, and her every move is watched—the only relief is her red-haired roommate named Tara, who’s more like a little sister than her best friend.
Free will is strong, but destiny is stronger.
When Zanya is kidnapped, she meets a group of gifted Mayan descendants, each with a unique ability. Gone from a nameless castaway to the only hope of mankind, Zanya is forced to make a grueling decision: bond with an enchanted stone and save humanity from rising underworld forces, or watch helplessly as Earth falls victim to a familiar dark deity from her dreams. This time, he’s playing for keeps.
A wicked secret hides behind a handsome face…
When Arwan, a dark-eyed timebender, takes interest in Zanya's mission, it's unclear if his intention is to help, or if he's on a hell-bent mission for revenge. Wary of falling for another guy with major secrets and a tainted past, Zanya fights to keep her distance. If only her heart gave her a choice.
Stone Legacy
Book Two
Theresa DaLayne
Tara may have spent years in an asylum, but that doesn’t make her crazy–just fearless.
Dropped in Moscow with a the group of enchanted Mayan descendants, seventeen-year-old Tara is forced to wait on the sideline while her best friend—the Stone Guardian— battles to reclaim a friend’s soul trapped in the underworld.
It sucks being ordinary when everyone else is superhuman…
A mortal girl with a tainted past, Tara is left to deal with an overwhelming sense of inadequacy. Her boyfriend, Peter, is a healer. Her best friend is The Guardian, and everyone else is a powerhouse of awesome strengths. Meanwhile, she struggles to leave her childhood of abuse in the past, and while Peter picks her up every time she falls, it becomes clear he deserves better.
When they opened Pandora’s Box, hell came pouring out…
When she’s given a chance to aid in the group’s mission, Tara is eager to pull her own weight, even if it means uncovering buried memories of being held prisoner by the underworld general. Now haunted with flashbacks of torture, Tara wanders from the safety of Peter’s arms into a city of depravity and corruption. And amidst all this evil is a young man with an agenda of his own, who leads her down a road that will either prove she is a hero at heart, or drag her into a world she’s always feared.
He wants revenge, she wants redemption. And in an underground ring of missing girls and bloody sacrifices, only the fearless can survive…
Stone Legacy
Book Three
Theresa DaLayne
After living her entire life in an orphan asylum, Zanya fears she may actually be losing her mind.
Following the discovery of her ancient Maya bloodlines, eighteen-year-old Zanya Coreandero is faced with a daunting responsibility. She must protect the relic stone while Sarian, the underworld general, ceaselessly drives her to the brink of insanity.
With the approach of an ancient bonding ceremony, Zanya struggles to control her abilities—and her desires…
As the winter solstice approaches, it brings an onslaught of unexpected side effects. While Zanya struggles to seize control over her supercharged powers, she must also face an overwhelming suspicion that her boyfriend, Arwan, is hiding a secret so dark it could destroy them both. And with her powers finally taking root, the struggle to pace their relationship takes on a life of its own.
Just when she thought life couldn’t get more complicated…
With the arrival of a surprise houseguest, Zanya’s deepest fears about Arwan are confirmed. And when middleworld deities intercede, the group of gifted Maya descendants are confronted with hardships they never saw coming—including an enemy more deadly than they have ever faced.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. And when that woman has no soul and a taste for revenge, they will need the powers of every surviving ancestor simply to stay alive.
Anarchy
Stone Legacy
Book Four
Theresa DaLayne
Jayden’s heart may have stopped beating for good when he was rescued from the underworld, but it can still break…
After an ancient Mayan ceremony goes horribly wrong, Jayden is left to face reality—the girl he once loved is pledged to another. At his breaking point, he steals a cab to leave behind the group of enchanted descendants, this time for good.
When Hawa—a beautiful but lethal acquaintance—decides to call shotgun, his only choice is to take her along for the ride.
He’d be glad to have the company…if it were anyone but her. He only knows her by occasionally sharing a hallway in Renato’s huge estate in Belize. It’s clear she has a perma-chip in her shoulder, and they have absolutely nothing in common. So he thinks…
With no cash and nowhere to stay, Hawa leads him into the heart of Guatemala City to an abandoned hotel of orphaned kids. As more of her tainted past is revealed, an unwelcome memory reappears in flesh and blood, threatening to break her wild spirit.
A mysterious orphan is the only one standing between him and the new queen of hell…
Modem, a spunky twelve-year-old girl with a knack for computers, seems to be keeping her eye on Jay. When his abilities go rogue and pull him back to the underworld, Modem shows she’s more than meets the eye. And as everything spirals out of control, Contessa proves no realm is out of reach…
ENTIRE FIVE-BOOK SERIES COMPLETE IN APRIL 2016!
WATCH THE BOOK TEASER HERE
About the Author:
A long-time enthusiast of things that go bump in the night, Theresa began her writing career as a journalism intern—possibly the least creative writing field out there. After her first semester at a local newspaper, she washed her hands of press releases and feature articles to delve into the whimsical world of fiction.
Since then, Theresa has been married, had three terrific kids, moved to central Ohio, and has been repeatedly guilt-tripped into adopting a menagerie of animals that are now members of the family. But don’t be fooled by her domesticated appearance. Her greatest love is travel. Having traveled to over a dozen countries—not to mention an extended seven-year stay in Kodiak, Alaska—she is anything but settled down. Wherever life brings her, Theresa will continue to weave tales of adventure and love with the hope her stories will bring joy and inspiration to her readers.
Author website: http://www.theresadalayne.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheresaDaLayne
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