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  “He does die,” she shouts.

  The ground trembles. An army of overgrown wolves with tails as long as leashes race into the dirt lot at bionic speeds. Green eyes that glow like lanterns light up the field. They awaken the forest with their menacing growls.

  A series of unearthly screams erupt as the crowd disperses.

  “What’s happening?” I trip over a branch, backing away from the scene. “Nev!” I cry out for Nevermore again, but he doesn’t come.

  Sirens cut through in the distance.

  “We need to go.” Logan hooks me in tight by the waist. “We need to leave right now.” He grabs a hold of the girl behind him.

  “We can’t change anything in the past,” I roar the words into his face, struggling to break free.

  “Skyla,” Logan pulls his lips along my neck—lines a fire of passion with his hot breath up to my ear, “we’re not going to the past.”

  I look over at the carnage as a group of wild beasts circle the two of them. A growling lone wolf pounces onto Gage, causing blood to spurt out of his mouth three feet high.

  “Gage,” I scream, as the world begins to fade.

  “Gage is staring death in the face, Skyla,” Logan whispers. “And in a moment—you will, too.”

  Look for, EXPEL book 6 in the Celestra Series, COMING SOON!

  ***

  The following is a preview of Addison Moore’s new series, EPHEMERAL book 1 of The Countenance, coming 2012.

  Ephemeral

  The Countenance Book 1

  by Addison Moore

  http://addisonmoorewrites.blogspot.com/

  Copyright © 2011 by Addison Moore

  This novel is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to peoples either living or deceased is purely coincidental. Names, places, and characters are figments of the author’s imagination. The author holds all rights to this work. It is illegal to reproduce this novel without written expressed consent from the author herself.

  Chapter One

  In Memory of Me

  In the grand scheme of things, you’ll be dead for a lot longer than you’ll ever be alive.

  I marinade in that truth, baste in the beauty of its wisdom while peering out at the dull emerald world. I fumble through dense woods with roots that race throughout the forest floor like wild petrified snakes. Wisps of lamp-lit fog twist around the narrow trails as the thick branches of gnarled oaks coil around the evergreens.

  Something stirs from behind, disrupts the silence with the heavy crush of leaves. I jump, startled as though I were just waking up from a very bad dream, my chest thumps in rhythm to the pounding in my head.

  “Hello?” I call out.

  I try to remember how I got here. The last solid memory I have is driving to my boyfriend Tucker’s house to rip him a new one for sleeping with Megan Bartlett, a girl I know from volleyball. I was distracted with rage, the light turned green, and I never saw the other car coming. Then the crash—I remember kissing the windshield as I bristled through it at a horrific velocity.

  A groan emits from the branches, more rattling.

  My feet crush over a bed of dried maple leaves, filling in the haunting void of silence.

  A hard thud lands square behind me, and I turn slow on my heels.

  It would have been understandable to see a deer, a bear, or even another human being. But this...

  A whimper gets caught in my throat, drowns out the idea of a scream.

  It’s a man—a thing, his grey skin decomposed beyond recognition exposing dried muscle and bone, one eye missing, teeth all but gone. It staggers forward, slashing the air with its violent swings.

  I trip over an errant branch, landing hard on my back. It comes at me, falls on its knees beside me with its putrid stench. Gnarled fingers tear my sweater, easy as shredding paper.

  I let out a gurgled cry, twist and claw, scampering to my feet.

  The forest gyrates, turns into a kaleidoscope of green as I fumble through a dizzy maze of branches.

  Loud guttural moans vibrate throughout the forest. I can feel its footsteps seconds behind. The forest darkens, the fog presses against the branches, fills my nostrils with its oily haze.

  My mother once said, most people are prone to run through this world blind. I remember her words, the soft mannerism in which she spoke them as I stumble from branch to branch—rip a hole in my jeans, lose my jacket on the offshoot of a pine.

  It gains speed, touches me. Grazes over my hair with its necrotic fingertips. I race blindly through the woods, push past the searing pain ripping through my skull, and crash into the ground with finality.

  I pull back fully, expecting to find the decaying body, the stench of death, but it’s a boy my age—the look of surprise, ripe on his face. He pulls me to safety behind the trunk of a tree and lunges at the creature. Pulls a knife from his back pocket and wrestles with it as it tries to latch onto his neck.

  I pick up a loose branch near my feet and give a hard jab at the decaying monster, striking it directly in the groin. It gives a soft gurgle as if laughing at my efforts.

  I pick a rock up off the ground, the size of football, and lob it at the tangle of flesh rolling around in front of me.

  The boy lets out an agonizing groan.

  Shit!

  “Sorry,” I shout.

  He flips the creature, and lands it hard on its back. It looks as if he’s pummeling it in its malformed face, but as I approach from the side, I can see him clearly dig the knife into the creature’s eye, over and over until it ceases to writhe beneath him.

  He hops off and cleans the blade of his knife against the soft trunk of a maple.

  The creature sizzles. Its ragged clothes engulf in flames quick as a grassfire, extinguishes itself in a ball of smoke.

  “What’s happening?” I pant.

  “Don’t you know?” He replaces the knife in his back pocket. “They’re biodegradable,” a rumble of laughter trembles out of him. “You OK?” He comes over and cradles the side of my face with his open palm, observing me as though he were a doctor. A stream of light falls over him, amplifies the fact he’s alarmingly handsome.

  I want to say, I don’t know where the hell I am, but I think there are more pressing matters than my lack of topographical orientation.

  “What was that?” I ask.

  His brows knit together. He leans in to inspect me, skeptical that I even had to ask.

  “What’s your name?” He asks, wiping the dirt off his jeans.

  “Laken Stewart,” I place my hand over the warmth of his arm. “Where am I?” I’ve never been twenty miles from where I was born—hell I’ve never left Kansas. For sure, I’ve never seen a forest this dense, let alone drifted in one.

  “Ephemeral,” he dips into me with his gaze, “Connecticut,” he adds with a touch of sarcasm.

  “I think I’m lost,” I press my hand against my temple as an explosion of pain rips through me.

  In the distance, I can hear a woman shout my name.

  “Looks like you’ve just been found.” He offers a reserved smile, holding my gaze a little longer than necessary before turning away.

  “Wait.” I catch him by the elbow. “What was that thing?”

  He doesn’t say a word, just circles around my face perplexed and sorrowful.

  “Laken?” The female voice spikes with agitation.

  “I gotta go,” he takes a full step back, “it was nice meeting you.”

  “You saved me,” I say. He disappears in the fog like an apparition. “What’s your name?” I shout after him, but he doesn’t answer.

  “Laken!” A raven-haired woman dressed in a power suit and heels snatches me by the wrist. “You need to keep out of the woods. Do you understand?” Her hair is slicked back in a knot, reflecting blue shadows as she moves.

  “Who are you?” I pull my hand back.

  “Ms. Paxton,” she pants, offering a short-lived smile. “I’m taking you back to campus.” Her chest rises violently as she strugg
les to catch her breath. “Never venture outside of the academy.”

  She guides me out of the dank oppressive forest, onto a red brick path that rolls out towards a monolithic series of ivy-covered buildings.

  “Your uncle requested that you meet up with your brother tonight.”

  “My brother?” Fletcher died well over a year ago, along with Wes, the only boy I ever loved. They drank their way into oblivion before taking a fatal swim in the lake.

  “Yes,” it strangles out of her, “do you think this is funny?”

  “No.” I rub my bare arms. “I’m confused, I—”

  She shoves a yellow student card towards me. “You dropped this on your little jaunt in the woods.”

  Laken Anderson—right face, wrong name. Issue date September 4th. Junior, Ephemeral Academy.

  “Ephemeral,” I test the word out on my tongue. I stare at the student card, confused.

  “You’ll be residing at Austen House. I realize how overwhelming your first day on campus must be. Your sister is the dorm mother. She’s been waiting to orient you all afternoon.”

  “My sister?” I have two, Jen is studying abroad her second year of college, and the epicenter of my sister Lacy’s world is plundering all my free time to help plan her epic tenth birthday party. I love Lacy. I couldn’t love her more if I had her myself.

  “Jen—your sister, Jen.” Ms. Paxton nods in frustration. Her eyes widen with horror as she circles over me with an epiphany. “I have to go.” She darts down the road in the opposite direction.

  “Wait!” I call out as she evaporates into the evening shadows.

  I don’t have a brother anymore.

  I don’t have an uncle.

  My mother is a drunk, and my sister Jen left the country first chance she got. I live in Cider Plains, Kansas, in a quickly dilapidating bungalow that belonged to my grandmother, which is safely haunted by her pissed off ghost and the curse she bestowed upon us before she hung herself from the rafters.

  My last name is Stewart, not Anderson. After I shot through the windshield, a tall radiant being declared it was not my time. He placed his hand, the size of a catcher’s mitt, over my face and submerged me back onto the planet.

  I know for a fact I died on July 13th the day before my cheating boyfriend’s seventeenth birthday. Two calendar months have dissolved without my knowledge. Here I am—same body, different name.

  All I really want to know is what the hell is going on.

  Addison Moore is a graduate from the University of Southern California who writes young adult paranormal romance. She resides on the West Coast with her family and two dogs. Feel free to visit her blog at http://addisonmoorewrites.blogspot.com/

  Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Addison-Moore/140192649382294

  Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/Addison_Moore

  Table of Contents

  Preface

  Chapter One—Betrayed

  Chapter Two—The Stars in the Sky

  Chapter Three—Spooktacular

  Chapter Four—Overtime

  Chapter Five—Gage

  Chapter Six—All is Not Calm

  Chapter Seven—The Gift of Life

  Chapter Eight—Welcome Home

  Chapter Nine—Hello Again

  Chapter Ten—Body

  Chapter Eleven—Fear Everyone

  Chapter Twelve—I’m Gonna Kiss You All Over

  Chapter Thirteen—Love Like This

  Chapter Fourteen—Nevermore

  Chapter Fifteen—Get Away

  Chapter Sixteen—Needle in a Haystack

  Chapter Seventeen—All of My Love

  Chapter Eighteen—Devine Appointment

  Chapter Nineteen—It’s a Dead Man’s Party

  Chapter Twenty—I Ain’t Missing You

  Chapter Twenty-One—Cuts Like a Knife

  Chapter Twenty-Two—The Feast

  Chapter Twenty-Three—It’s On

  Chapter Twenty-Four—Let It Snow

  Chapter Twenty-Five—The Lodge

  Chapter Twenty-Six—Sleeping Arrangements

  Chapter Twenty-Seven—Body Rock

  Chapter Twenty-Eight—The Grand Design

  Chapter Twenty-Nine—All over Me

  Chapter Thirty—The Big Chill

  Chapter Thirty-One—Dressed to Kill

  Chapter Thirty-Two—A Grave Situation

  Chapter Thirty-Three—You’re Dead to Me

  Chapter Thirty-Four—The Deep End of the Night

  Chapter Thirty-Five—Lead Me

  Chapter Thirty-Six—Mother

  Chapter Thirty-Seven—The World is Waiting

  Chapter Thirty-Eight—What is Love

  Chapter Thirty-Nine—Caveat Emptor

  Chapter Forty—Michelle on Top

  Chapter Forty-One—Paragon in Springtime

  Chapter Forty-Two—Count the Ways You Love Me

  Chapter Forty-Three—A Moment Like This

  Chapter Forty-Four—The Talk

  Chapter Forty-Five—Baseball, America’s Favorite Pastime

  Chapter Forty-Six—Stick the Dismount

  Chapter Forty-Seven—Next to You

  Chapter Forty-Eight—Downtown

  Chapter Forty-Nine—Tiaras and Caskets