he's not supposed to exist - Hidden Deep (Hidden Trilogy, #1) by Amy Patrick

She's still irresistibly drawn to those woods. There she encounters the boy who kept her from freezing to death that long ago winter night and was nowhere to be seen when rescuers arrived. He's still mysterious, but now all grown-up and gorgeous, too. And the more she's with him, the greater the threat he poses to Ryann's strict policy-- never want someone more than he wants you.

Description:

Release Date: March 23rd, 2015

Give in to the Glamour…

Sixteen-year-old Ryann Carroll has just run into the guy who saved her life ten years ago. You might think she'd be happy to see him again. Not exactly. She's a bit underdressed (as in skinny-dipping) and he's not supposed to exist.

After her father's affair, all Ryann wants is to escape the family implosion fallout and find a little peace. She also wouldn't mind a first date that didn't suck, but she's determined not to end up like her mom: vulnerable, betrayed, destroyed. Ryann's recently moved back to her childhood home in rural Mississippi, the same place where ten years earlier she became lost in the woods overnight and nearly died.

She's still irresistibly drawn to those woods. There she encounters the boy who kept her from freezing to death that long ago winter night and was nowhere to be seen when rescuers arrived. He's still mysterious, but now all grown-up and gorgeous, too. And the more she's with him, the greater the threat he poses to Ryann's strict policy-- never want someone more than he wants you.

Seventeen-year-old Lad knows the law of his people all too well: Don't get careless and Don't get caught. It's allowed his race to live undetected in this world for thousands of years, mentioned only in flawed and fading folklore…

Lad's never been able to forget about Ryann since that night ten years ago. When he sees her again, his fascination re-ignites and becomes a growing desire that tempts him to break all the rules. He's not even supposed to talk to a human, much less fall in love with one.

And the timing is atrocious. The Assemblage is coming, the rift between the Light and Dark is widening, and mysterious celebrity fan pods are becoming more and more widespread and influential. Lad may have to trade his own chance at happiness to keep the humans, especially Ryann, blissfully unaware and safe.

I’m that girl who read the Lord of the Rings trilogy 17 times back to back in middle school, so I’ve always been a big fan of fantasy books and movies. Of course, I realized that LOTR was actually a love story—what? You don’t think so? Well, I was really into the Arwen/Aragorn story line, and I loved the idea of a great love between people of different sorts—one immortal and magical, the other human. HIDDEN DEEP takes place in rural Mississippi, beginning in the woods surrounding the log house where Ryann lives with her mom and grandma. Something incredible happened when Ryann was lost in those woods as a child ten years earlier and it leads to a connection between star-crossed lovers that refuses to go away.

EXCERPT

TOUR SCHEDULE

“Listen, will you be okay to stay here for a minute? It’s a secure spot. Hold on here.” He took one of my hands and placed it on a y-shaped offshoot near my shoulder. “And here.” He placed the other hand on a branch about the diameter of my forearm, and I gripped it greedily. “I’ll be right back,” he said.

            “Where are you going?” I demanded, my panic level rising again.

“Don’t worry. You’re coming with me in a moment.”

That had me more worried, actually, because I realized he was about to jump to the ground.

            “Oh no,” I started to protest, but it was too late. He’d stepped off the branch and dropped, in the way a normal person might have done on the side of a swimming pool, with water waiting inches below. Nothing waited for Lad but a twenty-foot plunge to the ground.

            He slipped below the branch and landed lightly on the earth as if he’d hopscotched to the spot instead of falling out of a tree. He looked up at me and smiled.

My breath left me in a whoosh. It might have been the surprise of seeing him jump and execute the landing. Or maybe it was the sheer beauty of his smile that left me breathless once again.

            “I guess you’ve been doing that since you were a toddler, too?” I yelled down.

            “Of course not. That would be suicide. I was at least seven before I made a jump from such a height.” Lad held his arms up to me. “Okay, now you.”

            “Now me, what?”

            “Drop, and I’ll catch you,” he said as if it was obvious.

It might have been—to him. To me, it was out of the question. “No. No thanks. I can’t do that. When I was seven, I was still riding with training wheels. I’ll stay here.” I looked around for something, a staircase or an elevator to appear, I guess.   

            “Really, Ryann. It’s going to be all right. I will catch you. There’s no chance you’ll get hurt.”

            “If I jump down, there’s every chance I’ll die.”

He laughed again out loud. “You won’t die. I promise. I rescue terrified girls from trees all the time. It’s much easier than saving them from coyotes, and look how well that turned out.”    Knowing I had no choice, I girded myself for my first and what I vowed would be my last leap from a tree. Nudging my way to the edge of the limb, I offered up a silent prayer and stepped off the bough. My body hurtled through the air. My eyelids squeezed tight, tensing for impact. It never came. 

****

I’d heard coyotes rarely attacked people, and in fact, would cower in the presence of a human. Someone forgot to tell these two.

I saw no sign of cowering. The small part of my brain still capable of it searched my memory for the appropriate action. Was I supposed to play dead or make loud noises? I couldn’t remember which, and I really didn’t want to make the wrong choice.

             What I wanted was to step out of the way, or more accurately, run as far and as fast as possible out of the way, and let them have at the dead deer. I took an experimental half-step backward with one foot. The coyotes snarled louder and stepped forward several paces.

            A few more steps in my direction by the pair, another step in retreat by me, and my feet stumbled on the doe’s legs. My back scraped a thick tree trunk. There was no escape for me now. 

            My pulse rocketing through my veins, I scanned the ground immediately around me for a stick or anything I could use to at least make killing me more inconvenient. The beasts broke their stalking pattern and charged toward me. With a scream, I squeezed my eyes shut tight.

            There was a sudden and deafening guttural cry close to my ear, and my heart flew into my throat as something grabbed me hard around the waist. I was hauled upward. The crushing tension around my middle now pressed up painfully into my rib cage. It wasn’t the excruciating sensation I’d been bracing myself for—teeth tearing into my skin—but it was no less frightening than a coyote attack. Wind and small branches whipped my face as I was pulled higher, higher.       The motion stopped with an abrupt thump, and I sat hard against a solid but pliable surface. I began to shiver. Somehow I was still alive, not in pain, and sixty feet off the ground. I turned my head, looking for the explanation.      

And saw his face.

“Lad.” I blinked several times as my brain tried to process it.

Lad tightened his hold around my waist with one arm, and with the other hand stroked my hair. “You’re safe now. It’s okay. They can’t get you up here.”

They. I peered down at the feeding frenzy far below. The coyotes ripped at the deer carcass, snarling and snapping at each other in their greed for the dead flesh. The sound was nauseating. I couldn’t help picturing my own body in place of the doe’s.

            Awareness of my surroundings began to return as the near-death panic subsided. Lad was holding me securely on his lap, my back to his chest, and my thighs supported by his own steely legs. The scent of him was all around me, too, fresh like the woods and a little salty. I inhaled deeply. It was the fragrance of safety.

Lad was really here, and I was wrapped in his arms, cradled by his body. I twisted again to see him. Impossibly-green eyes glinted with what looked like worry.

“Are you injured?” he asked.

            I wasn’t hurt, but I was breathless. Probably in shock. Also, hearing his voice again, so much more beautiful than I’d remembered, and seeing his flawless face so close after days of searching and finding nothing was disorienting. I started considering the hallucination theory again.

            “Are you real?” 

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About the author:

Amy is a two-time Golden Heart finalist (2013 and 2014). She lives in Rhode Island with her husband and two sons and actually craves the heat and humidity of Mississippi, where she grew up. She's been a professional singer and news anchor and currently narrates audio books as well as working as a station host for a Boston TV station.

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