Excerpt from Jennifer Scales: The Silver Elm Moon
PROLOGUE: THURSDAY
Lying on her belly and sobbing, Jennifer Scales wanted to die.
The crescent moon slid peacefully through the twilit sky, shedding enough light on her surroundings for Jennifer to lose all hope.
There was no refuge in this forest. The foreign sounds of unknown things filled the air, murmuring a restless siege. She sat up at the gathering noise and tried to collect herself. They were closing in. Maybe a minute left before the end.
Friends? None left. She thought of them all - Susan, Eddie, Catherine, Skip - and a new wave of despair crashed over her with the memory of each one.
Family? Jennifer began to cry again at the thought.
And there was no place else to go.
Her tear-filled gaze went up to the crescent moon. She cursed it under her breath - so much pain had come into her life since she had discovered its power.
She released herself from dragon form, for what she knew would be the last time. Back in the shape of a fifteen-year-old girl, she felt around with her hands for a sharp fragment of stone. Lifting a small, jagged rock in her hand, she thought wistfully of her beautiful daggers. She had lost them. She had lost everything.
Holding the stone firmly in her right hand, she held out her left wrist. She flexed her fingers and watched the blue veins shudder under her starlit skin.
I miss you so much, Mom. You too, Dad.
The noises in the forest were closer. She could make out movement in a few of the taller trees. They would be upon her in seconds.
She pressed the sharpest edge of the stone against the skin, saw some blood seep out…and then abruptly stopped. Gritting her teeth, she removed the rock from her wrist and stood up. Not like that, she promised herself. I won't do it for them.
"Come on!" she screamed out to her predators in the dark. The stone felt fierce in her hand."Come on!"
She did not see the attack come from behind.
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