Darkness Watching (Darkworld #1) by Emma L. Adams
Publication Date: October 10th 2013
Genre: Upper YA/NA Paranormal Urban Fantasy
~Summary~
Eighteen-year-old Ashlyn is one interview away from her future when she first sees the demons. She thinks she's losing her mind, but the truth is far more frightening: she can see into the Darkworld, the home of spirits– and the darkness is staring back.
Desperate to escape the demons, Ash accepts a place at a university in the small town of Blackstone, in the middle of nowhere - little knowing that it isn't coincidence that led her there but the pull of the Venantium, the sorcerers who maintain the barrier keeping demons from crossing from the Darkworld into our own world.
All-night parties, new friendships and a life without rules or limits are all part of the package of student life - but demons still stalk Ash, and their interest in her has attracted the attention of every sorcerer in the area. Ash is soon caught between her new life and a group of other students with a connection to the Darkworld, who could offer the answers she's looking for. The demons want something from her, and someone is determined to kill her before she can find out what it is.
In a world where darkness lurks beneath the surface, not everyone is what they appear to be...
Desperate to escape the demons, Ash accepts a place at a university in the small town of Blackstone, in the middle of nowhere - little knowing that it isn't coincidence that led her there but the pull of the Venantium, the sorcerers who maintain the barrier keeping demons from crossing from the Darkworld into our own world.
All-night parties, new friendships and a life without rules or limits are all part of the package of student life - but demons still stalk Ash, and their interest in her has attracted the attention of every sorcerer in the area. Ash is soon caught between her new life and a group of other students with a connection to the Darkworld, who could offer the answers she's looking for. The demons want something from her, and someone is determined to kill her before she can find out what it is.
In a world where darkness lurks beneath the surface, not everyone is what they appear to be...
~Excerpt~
At that moment, the lights in
the hall went out, as did the projector, plunging us into dusty darkness. Cara
let out a shriek.
"It's happening!"
she wailed, clutching at her garlic clove which, not being securely fastened to
her jacket, fell to the floor. With another shriek, she dived underneath her
seat to retrieve it.
"Calm down! It's just a
power cut." I furrowed my brow, trying to read my notes. Everyone talked
amongst themselves as Mr Darton struggled to turn the projector back on. I couldn't
see any lights outside in the corridor, either. A whole school power-cut.
Great. And why did I feel so cold?
A stream of faint winter
sunlight shone through gaps in the blinds that covered the windows, lighting
the myriad dust motes in the air. I sighed and tilted my head back, rubbing my
eyes to stop them from closing. I could feel a headache building behind my
temples.
Then a pair of eyes appeared
amongst the rafters, and stared right into mine.
They gleamed violet, with
vertically slit pupils like a cat's. They blinked, looking down at the
confusion below. Then they locked onto me.
Once, when I'd cut my finger
on a kitchen knife, I'd gone into shock and nearly passed out. My vision turned
blue around the edges, and everything acquired an odd, blurred quality. Right
now, looking into those sinister, alien eyes, I felt exactly the same.
I'm going mad. It's not
real. Cara's superstitions have made me start seeing things.
That, or the lack of sleep. I
realised I'd stopped breathing. I could feel sweat on my forehead, but at the
same time I felt cold all over, cold as the frigid December air outside. As if
fresh snow covered me, slowly seeping into my skin through my hoody and jeans.
But at the same time, it felt more like the kind of paralysing chill I
associated with that moment in horror stories when someone saw a ghost.
Was it a ghost? I'd always
thought ghosts would look…human. If I believed in them, which up until now, I
thought I didn't.
All around me, I could hear
the other students chatting, laughing. No one screamed, cried, or ran for the
doors. It was as though my own private bubble of horror enclosed me like the
cage I'd envisioned earlier. Trapped.
Then I heard a faint whisper,
almost like a breath.
"Ash."
I would have screamed if I'd
been capable of making a sound. I knew beyond doubt that those eyes, that
voice, belonged to something which wasn't human.
The eyes blinked again,
becoming part of the shadow once more, as the hall lights came back on. For a
moment, a swathe of blackness remained in the rafters, like a single patch of
mist left behind after a fog has lifted. Not a single speck of dust disturbed
the area around it.
Then it vanished.
I still couldn't breathe.
Those cold eyes remained imprinted on the insides of my eyelids, light purple,
glowing and staring.
Staring at me.
I blacked out for a minute.
When I came to, I heard Mr Darton's low mutter into the microphone-not that
anyone listened. Whispers filled the air, ordinary conversations. People talked
about their plans for the weekend, not about monsters with violet eyes or
piercing, unnatural coldness. The more studious skimmed through revision notes.
I looked down and saw mine scattered all over the floor. I didn't remember
dropping them. I didn't remember anything but those awful eyes.
I've cracked. Did staring violet eyes fall under the category of
stress-induced hallucinations?
Cara tried to laugh off her
moment of panic.
"I didn't really think
it was the end of the world," she insisted.
The end of the world. Maybe
that was what I'd seen. A sign.
Ridiculous.
~About The Author~
Emma spent her childhood creating imaginary worlds to compensate for a disappointingly average reality, so it was probably inevitable that she ended up writing fantasy and paranormal novels for young adults.
She was born in Birmingham, UK, which she fled at the first opportunity to study English Literature at Lancaster University. In her three years at Lancaster, she hiked up mountains, skydived in Australia, and endured a traumatic episode involving a swarm of bees in the Costa Rican jungle. She also wrote various novels and short stories. These included her first publication, a rather bleak dystopian piece, and a disturbing story about a homicidal duck (which she hopes will never see the light of day).
Now a reluctant graduate, Emma can usually be found in front of her writing desk. Her debut novel The Puppet Spell, published in 2013 by Rowanvale Books, is a fantasy tale for young adults and the young at heart, inspired by her lifelong love of the fantastical, mythology, and video games. Emma also writes urban fantasy/supernatural novels for older teens and adults. Her next book, Darkness Watching, is the first in the upper-YA/New Adult Darkworld series, and was published in 2013 by Curiosity Quills Press.
Visit the Darkness Watching book blitz for a list of participating blogs and to to learn more about the book.
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