Arson (Arson #1)
by Estevan Vega
ARSON is the first book in a Young Adult Paranormal series. Book two, ASHES, is also available now.
ARSON GABLE FEELS LIKE A FREAK. HE CAN CREATE FIRE. HE NEVER ASKED FOR IT. HE NEVER WANTED IT. BUT HE CAN'T SHUT IT OFF.
Before now, three things were true: he both loved and despised his grandmother; his life was going nowhere; and he was alone. But when a strange girl--who feels more normal behind a mask than inside her own skin--moves in next door, Arson hopes to find something he's never had: purpose. After years of living in fear, he will be forced to confront his haunting past and embrace the unknown as he walks the fine line between boy and monster. Edgy, realistic, and breathtaking, Arson, the chilling chronicle of an isolated teenager with unimaginable ability, is set to ignite the hearts and minds of a new generation.
Ashes (Arson #2)
by Estevan Vega
ASHES is a YA paranormal thrill-ride. Book 2 in the gripping Arson trilogy.
MORE THAN THREE MONTHS HAVE PASSED SINCE ARSON AND EMERY WERE SUDDENLY TAKEN. TAKEN AND THEN SEPARATED. AND EXPERIMENTED ON.
The minds running Salvation Asylum have abducted them for a dark purpose. A campaign has been set in motion to genetically alter mankind. Unknowingly, Arson has become the most vital instrument in this global scheme, initiated by a select group of brilliant scientists and cunning world leaders. Confused, trapped, and unable to fully manifest his abilities, Arson faces a new existence crawling with questions. Will he ever see Emery again? Is Grandma still alive? Can the fate of the human race really hang in the balance of one choice?
Nightmare and reality collide in Ashes, book two in the gripping ARSON trilogy. Love will be tested. Powers will shift. And the past will invade the here and now as Arson discovers a part of himself he has never before known and fights against his own shocking origins. Will this boy who once tempted fire be able to take on a fearful future? When the struggle intensifies and secrets come to light, will Arson be ready to accept the haunting revelation that there may be others out there, others like him?
Her screams tormented the halls. In mere moments, Salvation Hospital awakened.
“Oh God!” The stinging pressure intensified from inside of the young girl. “Oh, it hurts so much.” The pit of her stomach bubbled up and bubbled back down. The gurney rattled underneath. A shirt, filthy and tattered, clung like life to her stuttering body. It didn’t take long for the hot blood to mix with the sweat.
She jerked. “It’s burning.” There was fear in her tears. A hollow horror glared from her face. Both eyes rolled inside loose sockets, spinning like wandering spheres.
Outside, the wind tossed dead tree limbs. The branches scratched the windows, letting go of the leaves that once clung to its frail shape. The cloudless December sky watched, dragging the cold dark into itself as winter let slip the ashes of snow.
The halls of Salvation carried no sympathy for the harsh world outside, no love for a young girl unfit for the fire inside her. The emergency room doors swallowed the chaos for a moment, but its torment could not be contained. The panic.
The screams. The stop and go of unsure wheels and squeaking metal.
Something unknown had come through.
“We need to get this girl into surgery now!” one of the EMTs shouted. His voice quickly vanished down the corridor.
The white walls crept around them at every angle. “Miss, just try and relax.”
“Daddy,” her voice quivered. “Daddy…” Her lips couldn’t say the rest. Her eyes could. Whispers slipped out. The silence underneath was troubling to those surrounding. She stared into her father’s face, perhaps even his soul.
He weakly stared back, at first a solid stone. Then he turned away, a hollow cave.
Her heart dragged. The hard material gripping her back began to pull tighter. The fast jerks forced her head to spin, the face of her lover, Isaac, blending white with the surrounding world.
“It’ll…” her father tried. “It will…be over soon, sweetheart.”
“Oh, Henry,” her mother gasped. “Darling, do something, won’t you? She’s our only daughter. She’s my baby.”
Henry didn’t move.
She beat his chest. “For the love of heaven, do something. Pray for her, darling. Pray for her. That child is coming. Oh, sweet mercy!” She stroked Henry’s jacket lapels, desperately trying to grasp to a hope that wasn’t there.
He held her in a symphony of silence. His daughter sensed something not right, something horrible coming.
“Almighty God, grant her peace,” her mother begged with quaking lips and tear-soaked glasses.
The next few seconds came like a flood. The emergency crew pulled her away from her parents, away from the past, away from everything she once knew. Isaac swore he’d never let her hand go. “You’re gonna be just fine, baby, you’ll see.”
He looked down upon the bloody mess. “Our son’s gonna be so beautiful.” His voice cracked. He wiped away a tear, glanced at one of the panic-stricken faces surrounding him, and breathed deeply.
She twisted. Her stomach blistered, and another crimson stream bled into the sweat on her shirt. A plume of smoke sailed slowly into the air.
“What do you want to name him, baby?”
Her teeth slammed tight like two gates coming together.
Her eyes abandoned Isaac momentarily then drifted back fast.
“Oh, Isaac…ahhh!” Her nails drove into his palm and drew
blood.
“It’s gonna be just fine, I promise. It’s almost over. It’s almost over.” They rushed around another corner, the hallway growing darker and darker with each turn.
“Stephen. I always…liked…that name.” She winced. “I think it means crown. Our son will be a prince.”
“You never put those name books down,” Isaac said. “Yeah, yeah, of course, baby. I like that name. It’s perfect.”
The dim lights flickered above. The smell of her shirt singeing reached his nostrils. It was disturbing to breathe in.
Silence consumed the entire hall for several long moments, stretched back and lingering. People’s expressions spoke of worry and uncertainty. Their mouths lingered wide with shouts but no voices. Screams with nowhere to rest. It was enough to pull a human being out of a coma.
“Bring her in now, before we lose the child too!” she heard someone call. Trepidation filled her throat.
Isaac shuddered in bewilderment. “What?”
“Stay calm, okay? They’re gonna do everything they can to help your wife,” the EMT assured. He seemed about Isaac’s age.
“Fiancée,” Isaac whispered.
“Dr. Raymond,” a nurse ordered to the receptionist, “we….to operate…quickly! Losing blood. ER…3.” Not a full sentence or even full thoughts, just indecipherable syllables bonded to panic. Would she die? Would her child die?
A very well written book, exceptional understanding and writing of disabilities (not that the story is necessarily about disabilities, 2 charaters have them) or others and the affect to them. A story that is a page turner reflecting extremely well on different types of personalities and highly interesting. My 2 disappointments are the title and cover. I don't think they are a good description of the book, which may be a "disability" to sales. Perhaps "Stephen, Stephen and Emery" and not a dark cover suggesting evil, at this point.
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