Publication date: September 2nd 2022
Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult
THE SHADOWS HAVE AWAKENED…
Raised on a small unassuming island in the Caribbean, with the kind of sleepy town lifestyle better suited to old fishermen than fiery young troublemakers, Savara believes she has her world all figured out—and hates it. Yet, on her eighteenth birthday—the anniversary of her parents’ death—she wakes up to find the only world she has ever known might have all been a lie.
An unexpected death and the appearance of a mysterious off-worlder force Savara to question everything she has ever known as she and Jasper—her “only adventurous in books” best friend—are thrust into a new world, faced with a task that will not only determine their fates, but the fate of an entire nation. The shadows of a long-forgotten past have awakened with a thirst for blood. Will she be able to stop them from devouring everything in their path? Or will she fall victim to her own demons?
Join them on their journey to a world of elemental magic, where the lines of good and evil have been distorted, and truth is most often paid for in blood.
Welcome to Visanthe.
Excerpt
“Don’t get me wrong,” Jasper began, though it pained him to speak too much. “I’m,” he considered his choice of words. “Glad, I guess, that you’re trusting me with all of this, but I don’t understand. We aren’t friends, and you know this. So why?”
Griffin sighed. “The world is shifting. Spirits that have long slept are waking up, and part of it is because of her. Her soul belongs to those spirits.”
“If any harm comes to her—”
“I am seeing to it that it doesn’t,” Griffin interrupted. “But I will need your help.” He pulled out a book from under his cloak and rested it on Jasper’s bed. “You like to read, I gather. Something we have in common.”
Jasper’s eyes widened as he stared at the ornate, leather-bound book beside him. “Where did you get this?” he asked, recognising it as a twin to the volume he’d taken from Hyrum. “And what do you want from me?”
“In my tent, there is a library. All the questions you have about this world, these people, you will find the answers you seek in these books. They’re yours, on one condition.”
Of course, with Griffin, there were always conditions.
“In that collection, there are a series of journals written in an ancient text that few alive can even begin to grasp. Brass tells me you might be able to read them. My father was in the process of translating them before he died.” Griffin turned away as he mentioned his father, but Jasper caught a glimpse of the soft frown on his face. If he didn’t think him an arrogant, manipulative dick, he might have even felt sorry for him. He was happy to know that everyone, even Griffin, had someone who ruffled their feathers.
Even before he took hold of the book, he knew what it was. Everything from the feel of the embossed, worn leather to the elegant, handwritten, ink-splotched flourishes that lined the pages. Jasper’s mind had already set itself to figuring out where Griffin had found it. He looked up to ask why, but Griffin gazed down at him with deep, sorrowful eyes, silencing all questions. Jasper couldn’t possibly comprehend the pain Griffin felt but he understood the determination. Whatever was in these pages was important. His task was important.
“Will this help her?” Jasper asked, worried by the way Griffin’s tone had softened. He’d unconsciously stopped on a page with a picture of the divination symbol scrawled across the top righthand corner and sprawling letters of a different tongue trailing down the rest of the page.
“I believe so,” Griffin replied, but Jasper knew he wasn’t entirely sure about that either.
Jasper sighed. “Fine.”
Griffin dipped his head tentatively and made for the door, stopping at the threshold. He turned back to Jasper hesitantly.
“You love her,” he said softly. Jasper flared his nostrils and huffed, but Griffin must have accepted this as an answer. “That’s good. She’ll need it. It just might be the thing that saves her.” He bowed his head and set off into the dawn, leaving Jasper alone with his thoughts.
He didn’t know how to interpret Griffin’s last words. It seemed they’d made a truce, for now, and that Griffin wasn’t interested in Savara romantically so much as militaristically. At least that meant he wasn’t a threat, but it also meant that he was willing to put her in danger. Jasper couldn’t say which he preferred. Savara was more than capable of getting herself into trouble. She didn’t need Griffin to help her along.
Jasper had never prayed before. He’d never been to church, and he wasn’t fond of the idea of some grand entity watching over everyone’s suffering for its own entertainment. Despite this, he rested the book on the bedside table, clasped his hands, and began to pray.
“I’ve never asked for your help before. Hopefully, that means I’m long overdue a favour. I don’t even know if you’re listening, but just in case you are, please watch over her. She has no idea what she’s gotten herself into. And though I am going to protect her—you know I’d give my life for her—I just don’t know if I’ll be enough. I’m worried about what this world has in store for us… for everyone. Please, whoever you are, wherever you may be. Please watch over us all…”
Jasper had never thought much of his own voice. It wasn’t loud or imposing. It wasn’t a voice that people usually paid any attention to. He’d gotten used to people not listening to him
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