![](\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-3np69EHr43Q\/U3yn1WEkk3I\/AAAAAAAAA9U\/HQnuWGwA1XM\/s1600\/Shine+Crest+stained+glass+Raze+Kindle.JPG\")
<\/a><\/div>\nExcerpt from RAZE
\nCHAPTER ONE<\/p>\n
My name\u2019s May. My sister\u2019s called Lillie. Mom named us after her heroine, May Lillie, a genuine cowgirl who wrestled broncos, shot pistols, and starred in old western flicks. Mom loved the woman so much she named both her daughters after the lady.
\nMy dad was a cowboy from Texas. Lillie\u2019s dad was a street kid from New York. Mom\u2019s gone now, so my sister and I stick together. We\u2019ve learned we have a knack for raising hell. Believe it or not, that\u2019s what we do for a living.
\n\u201cYou gonna finish that?\u201d Lillie pointed to my chocolate-drizzled donut. Chocolate is the food of the gods. Don\u2019t let anyone tell you different.
\n\u201cI\u2019m fixin\u2019 to.\u201d
\n\u201cFixin\u2019 to? Nobody talks like that in New York.\u201d
\n\u201cI do.\u201d I took a bite out of the donut. Heaven saturated my taste buds. Mmm, chocolate.
\nThe restaurant crowd pressed in around us. We ignored them, tucked into our booth at the back. Our seat on the west wall gave us a spectacular view of the city. Skyscrapers surrounded us. Their glass panels reflected the morning sunlight. The diner smelled of grease. Shouting erupted as New Yorkers called out their food orders. My sister claimed that she loved it here. I still couldn\u2019t comprehend why.
\nLillie pulled out her tablet. With her corn-silk yellow hair, dark eyes, and olive skin, Lillie could pass for my sister, but that\u2019s where the similarities stopped. She wore skinny jeans, a nose ring, and a gray Death Metal t-shirt. I stuck with my worn-in cowgirl boots and plaid shirt. She called me a hick, I called her a freak. That\u2019s what sisters do, right?
\n\u201cWhat\u2019s on the schedule today?\u201d I asked Lillie.
\n\u201cPaula Conrad. She\u2019s meeting us here. Her youngest daughter went missing and she wants us to find her.\u201d
\n\u201cAnd how are we supposed to help?\u201d
\n\u201cGuess she wants us to chainmail whoever took her daughter.\u201d
\n\u201cRazor. She\u2019s already tried the cops?\u201d
\n\u201cNo idea. Guess we\u2019ll find out. But while you\u2019ve been stuffing your face, I\u2019ve been doing some research.\u201d
\n\u201cNerd,\u201d I muttered between bites of chocolate goodness.
\n\u201cLoser,\u201d she shot back.
\nLillie pulled her tablet close and tapped the newsreader app. I leaned in as the din from the morning rush overpowered the broadcast.
\n\u201c. . . six month anniversary. Residents are slowly recovering after an alleged Shine attack that left most of Seattle demolished. A memorial was held on the ruins of the Space Needle.\u201d
\nIn other news, a total of seven teens between the ages of thirteen and fifteen are still missing from the Bronx and Manhattan boroughs. Authorities are enforcing a strict curfew and urge anyone with information to contact them as soon as possible.\u201d
\nLillie clicked off the reader as a woman and a teenage girl loomed over us. Ms. Conrad and one of her children, I assumed. The girl looked fifteen, sixteen tops. Freckles spattered her nose and cheeks. She wore her strawberry blond hair in a sloppy ponytail. Grass-stains marred her soccer t-shirt. Her eyes darted away from mine.
\nMs. Conrad looked as if she were trying hard to keep from crying. When she looked at me, I felt a sense of silent pleading, and something else. I couldn\u2019t put my finger on it.
\n\u201cMs. Conrad?\u201d Lillie asked.
\nShe nodded and took a seat in the booth. Her daughter squeezed in beside her. \u201cYou\u2019re the Wheaton sisters?\u201d
\n\u201cYes,\u201d Lillie answered.
\n\u201cThis is my oldest daughter, Karmen. I hope we\u2019re not late.\u201d She smoothed strands of mussed hair away from her face. Her voice cracked as she spoke. I noticed one of her hands trembling as she placed it in her lap.
\n\u201cHow can we help you?\u201d Lillie asked.
\nShe forced a smile. \u201cI guess you\u2019ve heard about my daughter?\u201d
\n\u201cShe\u2019s one of the missing teens?\u201d I asked.
\n\u201cYes, her name\u2019s Ashleigh. She\u2019s only thirteen. God, she\u2019s just a baby.\u201d She held her breath for a moment. \u201cShe\u2019s all we\u2019ve got.\u201d
\nKarmen rested her fingers on her mother\u2019s hand.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re sorry for what you\u2019re going through,\u201d Lillie said.
\nShe nodded.
\n\u201cMs. Conrad, why did you come to us? Why not ask the police for help?\u201d
\n\u201cI already have. But they can\u2019t help. Not really.\u201d
\n\u201cWhy not?\u201d
\n\u201cThey won\u2019t listen, and . . .\u201d she exhaled. \u201cAnd I can\u2019t tell them everything, you know?\u201d
\nLillie leaned forward. \u201cWhat can\u2019t you tell the police?\u201d
\nShe didn\u2019t answer.
\n\u201cMs. Conrad, you came to us for help. What can\u2019t you tell the police?\u201d
\nShe shook her head. \u201cNo. It\u2019s nothing really. Forget I said anything.\u201d She snatched her purse off the table and rummaged through it.
\n\u201cMs. Conrad,\u201d I said, sinking my southern drawl into the words. \u201cMy sister and I don\u2019t agree on music or boys or pretty much anything, but there is one thing we do agree on. We don\u2019t believe in blabbing. Keeping secrets is what we do best. If there\u2019s something you need to tell us, then do it.\u201d
\nThe hum of voices quieted as the diner\u2019s morning rush ebbed. She stared out the window. Choppercars whizzed around the towering buildings. Below the skyscrapers, a sea of yellow taxis filled the street, but she seemed focused on something else. \u201cI can\u2019t,\u201d she whispered.
\n\u201cNot even for Ashleigh?\u201d Karmen asked in a quiet voice.
\nShe stared at Karmen. A look passed between them. I wondered if they\u2019d had this conversation before. \u201cNo.\u201d She looked at me with a steely determination in her eyes. \u201cThis isn\u2019t why I came here.\u201d She pulled a picture from her purse and passed it across the table.
\nI took the photo. The girl looked like her mother, with light hair and the same nervous smile.
\n\u201cI want you to find her,\u201d Ms. Conrad said, \u201cnot interrogate me. She\u2019s been gone four days. She was with some friends on her way home from school. The cops searched the area but didn\u2019t find anything. Please help her. I know you\u2019ve found people before. I\u2019ll pay as much as you want.\u201d
\n\u201cFirst we need information. Anything you can tell us will be helpful. No secrets, no lies.\u201d
\nTears shone in her eyes. \u201cThey\u2019d take her if they found out,\u201d she whispered.
\n\u201cWho would?\u201d
\nKarmen squeezed her mother\u2019s hand. \u201cMom, it\u2019s okay. You can trust them.\u201d
\nI studied Karmen. She seemed like an honest person, but I wondered why she trusted us. She\u2019d never met me or my sister.
\nMs. Conrad exhaled, then replaced the picture in her purse. \u201cThe government. Ashleigh is a Shine.\u201d
\nSo that\u2019s why she didn\u2019t want to tell us. Shines were people with unusual abilities. If the government found out, Ashleigh would be taken to a facility. Probably never see her mother again. No wonder Ms. Conrad guarded her daughter\u2019s secret.
\n\u201cHow long have you known?\u201d I asked her.
\n\u201cNot long. Karmen noticed it first. Ashleigh started levitating objects in her sleep about six months ago. She didn\u2019t even know she was doing it. Then one morning at breakfast she levitated her oatmeal.\u201d She let out a breathy laugh. \u201cRight out of her bowl, spilled it all over herself.\u201d
\n\u201cAnd on me,\u201d Karmen added.
\n\u201cWhat did you do after that?\u201d Lillie asked.
\n\u201cI made her promise to keep it a secret. I couldn\u2019t let them take her away from me.\u201d
\n\u201cSo your daughter\u2019s been hiding her abilities for six months. Are you sure she didn\u2019t tell anyone?\u201d
\nShe didn\u2019t answer. Her silence spoke volumes.
\n\u201cWho did she tell?\u201d I asked.
\n\u201cIt was her best friend, Gemma. Ashleigh came home from school one day. She was acting strange. I asked her what was going on and she said Gemma was a Shine, too, just like her. I begged Ashleigh not to tellGemma about her own abilities, but she wouldn\u2019t listen. The day Ashleigh went missing, Gemma went missing as well.\u201d
\n\u201cBoth on the way home from school?\u201d
\nShe nodded.
\n\u201cCould the government have found out and taken them?\u201d
\n\u201cNo. The government has to contact the parents first, fill out paperwork. They wouldn\u2019t just kidnap her. This was someone else.\u201d
\n\u201cWhat about the SSS?\u201d
\n\u201cMaybe. But if they did it, wouldn\u2019t we know by now?\u201d
\n\u201cTrue,\u201d Lillie said. \u201cWhat about Revens?\u201d
\n\u201cThe bounty hunters?\u201d
\n\u201cIt makes sense.\u201d
\n\u201cBut we\u2019ve got the same problem. Revens wouldn\u2019t be quiet about it. If they\u2019re trying to collect a bounty on a Shine, the police would\u2019ve known.\u201d I turned to Ms. Conrad. \u201cDo you have any idea who might have taken them?\u201d
\nThat look in her eyes returned, but this time I knew what it was. Terror. \u201cThere\u2019s a street gang, they call themselves the Xeros. They take Shines like her\u2014the ones who\u2019ve just discovered their abilities\u2014and make them fight against each other. It\u2019s an awful game, most of them die, and if they don\u2019t die, they wish they did.\u201d
\nI\u2019d never heard of the gang, and Lillie and I usually knew about groups like that. They must\u2019ve been very good at hiding. But that begged the question. How did Ms. Conrad know? Lillie must\u2019ve been thinking the same thing.
\n\u201cHow do you know about this gang?\u201d my sister asked.
\n\u201cBecause I was fourteen when they took me.\u201d
\nI almost laughed. \u201cHow is that possible? Shines have only been around for a few years.\u201d
\n\u201cThe Xeros haven\u2019t always used Shines. Before that, they went after anyone different, anyone they thought would be interesting in a fight. I\u2019d been a resident at a mental institution a few times. They thought I had issues, so they took me.\u201d
\nLillie stared at Ms. Conrad. \u201cWhat sort of issues?\u201d
\n\u201cDepression, anger problems, that sort of thing. Nothing major, nothing that warranted what they did to me.\u201d
\n\u201cThey forced you to fight?\u201d
\nShe nodded.
\n\u201cHow did you escape?\u201d
\nShe pressed her swollen eyes closed.
\nKarmen turned to me. \u201cShe\u2019d rather not talk about it.\u201d
\n\u201cNo, it\u2019s okay,\u201d Ms. Conrad said. \u201cThey need to know.\u201d Her voice softened. \u201cI knew I was about to die,\u201d she said. \u201cThere were others stronger than me, more vicious. When we weren\u2019t fighting, they kept us tied up. One day, I found a box cutter on the field. I kept it. I used it to cut through the ropes. I\u2019d almost escaped when they found me again.
\n\u201cThe next time, they chained me. I still had my box cutter. I knew what I had to do.\u201d She took a deep breath, and then carefully rolled up her sleeve. Her forearm twisted around with a click. She removed a prosthetic arm from her elbow. She placed it on the table with the quiet clanking of plastic against metal.
\n\u201cNo one else made it out alive.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
All this week, I’m promoting by book Raze, Shine #6. Today I’m posting chapter one of RAZE. Hope you enjoy! Excerpt from RAZE CHAPTER ONE My name\u2019s May. My sister\u2019s called Lillie. Mom named us after her heroine, May Lillie, a genuine cowgirl who wrestled broncos, shot pistols, and starred in old western flicks. Mom […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1369,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tamaragrantham.com\/StagingSite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tamaragrantham.com\/StagingSite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tamaragrantham.com\/StagingSite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamaragrantham.com\/StagingSite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamaragrantham.com\/StagingSite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tamaragrantham.com\/StagingSite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1370,"href":"https:\/\/tamaragrantham.com\/StagingSite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151\/revisions\/1370"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamaragrantham.com\/StagingSite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tamaragrantham.com\/StagingSite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamaragrantham.com\/StagingSite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamaragrantham.com\/StagingSite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}