For as long as seventeen-year-old Reka Cushing can remember, she has watched her friends and her neighbors be stolen, their bodies used as hosts for the Halorans; an alien race that has come to earth posing as gods. For just as long, Reka has lived in fear of drawing the eye of a Haloran, keeping her head down, hoping not to be caught in their sights.
The only time she has ever been bold, tried to get what she wanted, a god, one more powerful, more dangerous than all others is watching.
Monica Millard was born and raised in Alaska. She doesn’t own a dog sled team, but has worked in a place where there are buildings with caged exterior doors to keep employees from being eaten by polar bears.
She lives in Wasilla, Alaska with all her critters, some four legged and others that stand on two. She writes Science fiction, fantasy, and Paranormal for young adults.
The bonfire scene that follows this was the initial scene that sparked the entire book. It was clear the gathering was being done in secret. It made we wonder why these people were out risking getting caught just to dance. Also, it made me wonder why dancing would be forbidden. Those questions spawned the whole story.
Book Excerpt
Children of the Gods - A Chosen Novel
Niko settled into his place in line across the courtyard from me. He glanced up, his dark eyes searching mine. “Reka.” My name was on his lips.
I felt heat flood my cheeks. I was not normally so irresponsible, but as I watched him the previous night, weaving through the tangle of bodies surrounding the fire, it was not fear of being Chosen that drove me. It was fear of not being chosen by him.
With his nineteenth birthday just over two months away, I had little time to secure a place in his heart that would sustain him when the fear of drawing unwanted attention set in. Once he became an Unchosen, the Haloran were free to interact with him on a personal level. He was, however, forbidden to see those of us still available for selection, except on Choosing days and only then, from a distance, as a spectator. At least until he was paired.
So the night before, I did what I swore I would never do.
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