Breathless

Breathless
by Cole Gibsen

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Genre: YA Paranormal
ISBN: 978-1-937254-27-8
Length: Novel
Publication Date: March 2012
Cover art by Jeannie Ruesch

Obituary-reading emo girl Edith Small is broken - the end result of forcing herself inside a mold that doesn't fit. All she wants is to conform to her strict sergeant stepfather's rules long enough to make it to graduation day. But a boat accident threatens to unravel the life Edith has worked so hard to keep. After waking up in a hospital with a lacerated shoulder, Edith fakes amnesia. Because admitting she received her injuries from a blue-haired girl who breathes underwater is all the reason Sir needs to send Edith on the first bus to military school.

Safe at home, Edith struggles to put the nightmare behind her. But the mysterious creatures that live in the ocean aren't about to let her forget. After meeting Bastin - a strange boy with silver hair and black eyes - on a secluded dock, Edith learns about the war raging undersea to end human existence. A war that Edith, unwittingly, has become the key to winning.

In a world where death is an ever-present shadow and motives are as dark as the bottom of the ocean, Edith must decide if her life is worth risking for a love that can't survive past the shore.

Excerpt

I was out of the ocean's release, no longer drowning. My throat felt like it had been scoured with steel wool. Each cough wracked my body with agony, forcing tears from my closed eyes. I shook my head slowly from side to side, hoping to calm the ocean waves crashing inside of my head. There wasn't a place on my body that didn't ache.

Someone exhaled sharply, then said, "She's breathing." The male voice was warm and thick, like honey. I couldn't be sure, but I thought I detected a note of relief.

What was going on? Had I been rescued? I tried to lift my arm but my body felt foreign and useless. Moving wasn't an option, and even though I knew the tide brushed against my feet, the water seemed miles away from where I was.

"Rest," he whispered to me.

Rest? I would have laughed if I was able. It wasn't like I could do anything else but lay there. I tried to open my eyes but I was unable to fight the velvet warmth of unconsciousness that pressed against me. Maybe I was dying, after all.

I heard a sound of female disgust. "Can't you see how badly injured the thing is? It would be cruel of us to leave it in this condition. Allow me put it out of its misery." Hers was the voice of an eerie lullaby, and I cowered inside my lifeless shell.

Were they actually talking about killing me? What kind of rescuers were they? I tried to ask them but only managed a low, cracking groan. I sensed movement and knew that one of them had shifted closer.

"Absolutely not." His voice swirled in my head like satin.

"But she saw me! You know the danger in that!"

"I do. I see you every day and it's made my life hell."

She hissed. "The king is not going to be happy with you."

"And how would that be different from any other day?"

"Bastin! You curse us all with your short-sightedness! These creatures are weak and stupid. They destroy everything they do not understand, and that makes them more dangerous than any foreign army we've ever faced. How can—"

"Luna." The voice was no longer caramel-coated but now a jagged, tangible force.

Bastin. His name was Bastin.

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