In order to get a small taste of the book, Angel chose an excerpt from Chapter 5 titled Sunburn with a couple of Cristina's illustrations so check it out:
“Mathew,
your hair!” Marcus said in a small shock.
Mathew’s
hands touched his hair lightly. It was somewhat shorter than it had been at the
beginning of the evening. Or was he imagining the change?
“It seems
darker,” said Ethan. “But it’s probably just the lighting.”
Or lack
thereof. So that was what had changed. The soft gleam of the moonlight was long
gone. In the midst of the almost-complete darkness, the only things that filled
the strange void were themselves and Squall’s now-dimmer glow.
“What are
we supposed to do now?” Marcus asked. “What did Aeon say again?”
“Not a
thing really, no clues or anything this time around.”
They sat,
frustrated, as if floating in the transparent surface that made the ground of
that strange place, and dug in the contents of Marcus’s big bag. They each
drank half of some bottled water, and an entire package of cookies. Squall
limited to roaming about Marcus.
Time began
to play tricks on them. But exactly ten seconds before Ethan was about to lose
his temper, a strong wind caught them by surprise.
“What was
that?” Marcus began since the wind was gone just as it had come.
“It seemed
as if—” Ethan began, but the wind returned once more, interrupting his
sentence.
That’s when
Mathew noticed it in a blur: a strange entity was speeding around them, almost
invisible to the unobservant eye. However, it seemed to be slowing down
redundantly and slowly.
It appeared
at first as a single, elongated entity, but it was actually a humanoid figure
trailed by a strain of other small ones. Now that they were slowing down,
Mathew noticed that they shone slightly.
Squall
began to act crazy. It began to speed on its own, orbiting Marcus to the point
where Marcus’s gravity couldn’t get a hold of him. It began to move lightning-fast,
zigzagging above their heads, and pursuing the mysterious characters after a
few seconds.
“Squall!”
Marcus called. But Squall kept speeding behind the reckless entity.
“What is
that?” Ethan cried, covering his ears with his hands, for the sound Squall
usually made was magnified exponentially. It sounded as though it was about to
go supernova.
Mathew
noticed it then.
“There’s
more of him!” Marcus was ahead of him.
“What?”
“There are
many more Squalls!” Marcus reassured.
Mathew saw
them just as Squall conquered its self-set task, and in the middle of the
haziness, they came to an abrupt halt. He saw a strange boy’s figure
accompanied by a large group of tiny balls; they all made the weird
characteristic sound Squall usually made. The boy’s face was lit by the shining
shimmer of the group of spheres. Squall joined the group at the end. The light
the little spheres emanated resembled sunshine; Mathew did not like this at
all.
Marcus sped
across the darkness towards the lighting of the balls.
“Stop!”
Mathew cried. “You don’t know if we can trust them.”
“But
Squall’s there,” he whined.
“Youcantrustme,”
the strange boy began. He spoke as fast as he moved.
“What?”
asked the three boys in unison.
“You… can,”
he began speaking slowly, but picked up the pace of his speech once again.
“Trustme.”
Mathew
studied the quirky character that stood in front of him. The boy was probably a
few years older than them, but his figure seemed a lot more developed than it
should. He embodied an athlete. He emanated energy—literally. His hair,
clothes, skin, and even his entourage glowed, producing a clear aura of light
around him. His hair was as white as it could be; his clothes, a potpourri of
silver and gold in a pure white canvas in the shape of a long robe that covered
the back of his feet, which were concealed by white, pointy shoes.
In spite of
it all, what made him more unique was the way he behaved. He looked as if he
was about to have a seizure at any time due to the incredible speed of
everything he did.
“Comeoncomeon!”
he indicated. “Wouldyouhelpmefindthem? Ihaven’tgotallday.”
Mathew and
Ethan followed Marcus, who was already patting and greeting the tiny spheres.
“Help you
with what?” Ethan asked. Mathew was surprised that he understood at all.
“Youalreadyfoundher!”
he hesitated. “Thanks! Ithoughtyou’dhelpmefindtheothers.”
“Find who?”
Ethan continued. Mathew was truly impressed now.
“Eugis!” he
said blatantly.
“Eugis?”
Mathew inquired. “And who might that be?”
“What?”
said the boy.
Mathew
began to get annoyed.
“And… who,”
he copied. “Mightthatbe?”
“Oh,” the
boy said before whistling in command.
Squall came
rushing from the back and stopped at their feet.
“Eugis,” he
pointed. “Youfoundher.”
“Squall’s a
she?!” Marcus exclaimed from the back.
“Squall?”
Mathew heard the boy ask, as he trembled and moved about at a million miles per
hour.
“Yes, ok,”
Mathew ignored this. “Now,” he addressed the boy. “We’re trying to find the
sun. Where would we find him?” He hoped that he did not need to repeat the
question; he spoke as quickly as he could.
“The sun?”
the boy checked.
Mathew
nodded.
“IbelieveStellaknows,”
he rushed. “Yes, Stellaknows.”
“What?”
Mathew asked. He was beginning to get tired of that game.
“I…
believe… Stellaknows.”
“Stella?
Who’s Stella?”
The boy
began to open his mouth, but Mathew thought it best to ask another question.
“Where is Stella?” he rephrased.
“I… can’t…
helpyou,” the boy said. “UntilIfindallmydusties.”
“Your
what?”
“Dusties,”
he said as he pointed at the balls.
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