Evernight Teen Summer Kick-Off Blog Hop

Welcome to Evernight Teen’s 

Summer Kick-off Blog Hop!  

It’s a great opportunity to get to know Evernight Teen: Gritty Fiction for Today’s Young Adult. Our stories include fresh teen fiction that’s raw, gritty and real.

My spotlight is on...

X5
Author: Diana Stager

Overview

Being a socially awkward geek with anger management issues has made Travis Armstrong an outcast, but on top of that, he has visions of the future. Not that he can tell anyone that, except in an anonymous online forum. When he takes a chance and meets with another group member, he winds up at The Bunker, where everyone has these abilities, and where, finally, he feels like he belongs.
Tara Gage has been at The Bunker since she was thirteen years old. Even among the residents there, she’s unique, and her special talents lead her to discover that The Bunker is not the safe haven it seems to be. She’s desperate to escape and get back to her family.
When they each have visions of the other’s death, Travis and Tara know they have to run. With their captors desperate to get them back, they must rely on each other to get away before their visions become reality.

Exclusive excerpt (unedited)

~Tara~

They released me from the infirmary just before dinner, after I’d talked to a counselor about my feelings. When she had smiled reassuringly and told me that it’s always hard when a friend has to leave, I had to resist the urge tell her where to shove her psycho-babble bullshit. Instead, I cried a bit and told her how much I would miss him and how it had just been so sudden. She patted my hand and congratulated me on my mature attitude, while inside I was imagining all the things I’d like to do to the people in charge around here. My vision showed Travis going crazy, but I knew he wouldn’t be the only one.

In the cafeteria, I sat with my friends while they expressed their disappointment with Mike leaving, but seemed convinced that he must have done something to be expelled. Expelled. Right. More like exterminated. When tears threatened again, I stood and excused myself before I screamed that they were all idiots and should wake up and see what was really going on around them. Just before I left the table, Travis caught my eye and made a movement like he wanted to get up and come with me. I glared at him and he eventually looked away, making no more moves to follow me. 

I went into the lounge and curled up on a comfortable chair in a corner veiled with shadows. And I stared at nothing in particular while replaying scenes in my head. My first day here. Realizing I was trapped. Coercing information out of anyone I could. Mike and I spending time together alone. I thought about that for a long time, remembering how he had kissed me, held me, and comforted me when I needed it. The memory of his attempts to take our relationship further made me smile, but the memory was bittersweet, because I felt tremendous guilt over not giving in to him. Not because he would die a virgin or anything so melodramatic, but because he had truly loved me, and it was a feeling I couldn’t reciprocate.

That was when Travis’s face pushed its way into my consciousness and my insides began to rearrange themselves, a sensation which was strange, but definitely not unpleasant. No! Forget about him and worry about how you’re going to get out of here! I didn’t want to think about Travis, didn’t want to be around Travis, and definitely didn’t want to be having such a strong physical reaction to him.

Flustered, I jumped to my feet and began to pace the room, mentally reviewing everything I knew about the Bunker, from the exit locations, to the staffing schedule, to the stash of supplies I had in my room. There had to be an answer to the problem of getting out of here, but I was missing it. My pacing came to an abrupt halt when I saw Travis enter the room, and I was catapulted into another vision. 

In my vision, Travis was being dragged down a hallway by two security officers, and he wasn’t going quietly. He struggled and twisted, finally managing to break free and take off down the hall. Another security officer stepped in front of him and pointed a gun directly at Travis’s chest, yelling for him to stop. But Travis didn’t slow down or alter his course, and he would have crashed into the guard if the armed man hadn’t fired his gun. Travis tumbled backward and lay on the ground, blood pooling around him as his lifeless eyes stared upward. 

A scream brought me rushing back to reality just as the floor rushed up to greet me. As I fell I realized that the scream was coming from me.

X5 is coming soon to Evernight Teen!

What’s up for grabs? 
• One lucky hopper will win a KINDLE PAPERWHITE eREADER sponsored by Evernight Teen.
• Every book blogger/reviewer site is giving away one free eBook from Evernight Teen (winner’s choice of any eBook from Evernight Teen’s website).
• Plus, each author offers their own unique prize! So visit each blog hop stop for a host of fabulous prizes to win.

How to enter? Answer this:

Who was dragging Travis down the hall? 

Be sure to leave your answer and your email address in the comments below to be eligible to win a prize.

Continue hopping to the next stop!

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