When those same alien powers lead Gethyon to commit a terrible act, they also aid his escape. Marooned on the sea-world of Ulto Marinos, Gethyon and his twin sister must work off their debt to the Seagrafter captain who rescued them while Gethyon puzzles over their transportation. How has he done this? And what more is he capable of?
Before he can learn any answers, the Wardens arrive to arrest him for his crime. Can his powers save him now? And where will he end up next?
Goodreads
Excerpt -
A familiar knot tightened in Gethyon’s chest as he watched the others run ahead. Like fish jumping from wave to wave, they leapt through the meadowland, giggling and squealing in excitement. Their laughter drowned out the whispers of blue-green grass dancing around them. Gethyon didn’t share their elation. Instead, a deeper unease weighed in his gut and kept his feet dragging.
Dephon led the way as always, closely followed by Rylan with his white-blond hair trailing behind him. The two girls shadowed them. His sister Callon, her flame-red hair flying like ribbons, ran hand in hand with her closest friend Rechelle.
Rechelle. The name stung every time. Black skinned, black haired and pretty Rechelle, who laughed in his face whenever she saw him, who taunted him each time she stole Callon away from his side, smiling all the while. Anger and resentment boiled in his stomach. It had been Dephon’s idea to race to the top of the ridge, knowing Gethyon couldn’t keep up with them…or wouldn’t want to try. Lagging far behind, Gethyon didn’t laugh or smile. Instead his stomach clenched until he had to swallow down hard on the nausea. Until he wanted to turn around and walk home alone, but then they’d mock him for that too.
Reddish brown hair dangled in his eyes. He flicked it aside with a frown before rubbing sweat-slicked palms down his khaki tunic. The others had come to a stop a short distance ahead and grouped together around Dephon. By the time he reached them, the dark-haired boy had pulled a bag of small, multicolored spheres from his pocket and divided them amongst his friends with generous abandon. Gethyon slowed his approach. No one would want him here, Dephon least of all.
Brown eyes flashing dislike, Dephon stowed the treats out of sight and held his hands out, fingers clenched. “Guess which hand the sweet is in, and you can have it,” he taunted.
Gethyon stared at the outstretched fists and deeper, beyond the covering of flesh and blood to the truth within. “Neither.”
His trick exposed, the boy opened both hands in proof, glowing with spite. “Then I guess you don’t get one.” Turning his back, he took more sweets from the bag and shared them amongst his friends, leaving Gethyon out.
Hurt pounded in Gethyon’s chest as they swallowed theirs eagerly, apart from his sister. She met his gaze with a look of sympathy and stepped closer, offering her own handful.
“You can share mine, Geth,” she said with a tentative smile.
He stared at Callon, aware of the challenging gaze from his opponent over her shoulder. “I don’t want any.”
Another stab of pain at the triumph written on Dephon’s face ripped through him before he turned and walked away, cheeks burning with humiliation. Dephon’s laughter sounded in his ears. He sensed Callon’s pain at his rejection but closed his mind to it. Why didn’t she feel the same hatred he suffered? Why did they accept her so easily…and dislike him so much? It wasn’t fair.
He broke into a run as anger rushed through him more fiercely than his own blood pulsing through his veins. Blind fury drummed in his head and spurred him on. The grasses became a blur of color in his tear-filled eyes, clawing at him as he ran faster. Plants snagged his feet and he fell, sprawled on the earth to lie gasping in pain and frustration. He forced himself to his feet, ignoring the grass cuts that laced his bare arms with blood and had taken the skin from his knees in wet, scarlet patches. Gethyon ran on toward the house at the crest of the next slope—his last sanctuary. He burst through the door, his feet like thunder on the pseudo-wooden flooring as he fled upstairs.
***
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