Erin the Fire Goddess: The Beginning (excerpt)
This is the first book in the Erin the Fire Goddess series
I walked through the
school gates and headed home. I was about half way when I spotted them. Sat in
the black Fiat Punto were Sean, Paul, and James, with Kelly in the driver's
seat. A few steps away, I spotted Justin and Jessica, who seemed to be having a
heated argument. Mainly one sided. Jessica's red hair seemed to blow fiercely
around her, even though there was no wind.
I stopped and paused for
a moment, unsure whether to continue walking or not. Jessica hadn't bothered me
for a while now, but that still didn't stop me from feeling on edge every time
I saw her, especially when she was so angry.
I looked to the field on
my right. I could easily climb the fence, walk across the field, and go through
the trees at the far end. It should bring me out two streets away from my home.
I hadn't noticed that it had gone quiet and they were all watching me.
I looked over at their
faces, and for some reason, they all looked nervous. Then my eyes fell on
Jessica. She was furious.
"I warned you!"
she seethed. I could see her slowly moving towards me. Her teeth were grinding
together and her hands were clenching and unclenching in fists.
My heart started to beat
faster, my palms becoming sweaty. It was hard to swallow around the huge lump
that had appeared in my throat.
“Jess!” I saw Justin
place his hands on her arms. “It's not time,” I think I heard him say, as I saw
movement from the car and the others started to get out.
Jessica had noticed, too,
making her start running towards me.
In that second, I knew I
had to jump the fence. I dropped my rucksack and hurtled over the fence,
throwing myself into a sprint across the field. But it was too late; she was
too fast.
I felt like my head was
being pulled off. I screamed as she dragged me to the ground and started
kicking and punching me. I was sure one of my ribs broke. The pain was
excruciatingly unbearable. I couldn't stop screaming.
Why
was no one helping me? Why had no one got her off me? Why me? What had I done?
Why? Why? Why?
I started to feel angry.
The feeling of heat from my anger was building and building to the point where
it took over the pain. I couldn't control it. I'd never felt so angry before.
That's when I heard Jessica scream.
“She's burnt me!” Jessica
yelped both in pain and confusion.
“There's a towel and a
couple of bottles of water in the back of the car,” I heard Kelly say. “Paul?
James? You go get them. Justin?” She paused for a moment. I was still curled up
in a ball. I had no idea what was going on. Who
burnt who? All I knew was my anger was starting to fade and the pain was
taking over. Tears streamed down my face. I still couldn't look up when Kelly
continued. “Get her out of here!” she snapped.
I expected to feel hands
on me, dragging me up, but I felt nothing. It sounded like I was alone. All I
could hear were my muffled cries of pain.
“Erin?” I heard the
concerned voice of Sean whisper in my ear.
I didn't move or speak. I
started to take deep breaths to try to overcome the pain.
“Can you hear me, Erin?”
Kelly asked in a soothing voice.
Then I felt someone
stroking my left cheek. I froze. Was my mind playing tricks on me? My breathing
started to accelerate and the stroking stopped, but the hand didn't move off my
cheek.
“Shhh, it's okay. We won't
hurt you.” It was Sean again. It must have been his hands on my cheek. He went
back to stroking my face as I heard footsteps approaching.
“We phoned Kate. She's going
to meet us at the cottage,” I heard Paul and James chorus.
“Erin?” Kelly spoke this time. She didn't wait
for a reply. “I'm just going to put some water on you and wrap you in a towel,”
she told me gently, as I curled up tighter in a frightened ball.
I couldn't feel water on
me, just the sound of something hissing. I did start to feel cooler though,
which was a plus, but the pain was still there and taking control of my body.
I didn't even want to
look down to examine myself. If I was in this much pain, I could only imagine
how bad I looked.
Suddenly, I felt someone
put a towel around me and lift me up into their arms in one quick movement.
Before I could open my
eyes or try to get away, everything went black.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
