Blog Tour:
Rae Of Hope
(The Chronicles Of
Kerrigan#1)
By
W.J. May
Dec
27th - Jan 6th
Cover design
by: Patrick Griffith
How hard do you have to shake the family tree to find the
truth about the past?
Fifteen year-old Rae Kerrigan never really knew her family's history. Her mother and father died when she was young and it is only when she accepts a scholarship to the prestigious Guilder Boarding School in England that a mysterious family secret is revealed.
Will the sins of the father be the sins of the daughter?
As Rae struggles with new friends, a new school and a star-struck forbidden love, she must also face the ultimate challenge: receive a tattoo on her sixteenth birthday with specific powers that may bind her to an unspeakable darkness. It's up to Rae to undo the dark evil in her family's past and have a ray of hope for her future.
Fifteen year-old Rae Kerrigan never really knew her family's history. Her mother and father died when she was young and it is only when she accepts a scholarship to the prestigious Guilder Boarding School in England that a mysterious family secret is revealed.
Will the sins of the father be the sins of the daughter?
As Rae struggles with new friends, a new school and a star-struck forbidden love, she must also face the ultimate challenge: receive a tattoo on her sixteenth birthday with specific powers that may bind her to an unspeakable darkness. It's up to Rae to undo the dark evil in her family's past and have a ray of hope for her future.
UK US
Currently Free On Amazon
Chapter 1
Guilder
Boarding School
“You can’t undo the past. The sins of
the father are the sins of the son, or in this case, daughter.”
Uncle Argyle’s ominous words had
echoed in Rae’s head long after he dropped her off at the airport. “A proverb
of truth” he had called it. Who spoke like that nowadays? Some good-bye. Tightening
her ponytail and futilely trying to tuck her forever-escaping dark curls behind
her ears, she looked at her watch, then out the bus window at the tree lined
countryside. It seemed strange to see the sun. All she remembered was rain when
she had lived in Britain nine years ago.
Trying to get comfortable, Rae tucked
her foot up on the seat, and rested her head against her knee as she looked out
at the scenery flashing by. A sign outside the window showed the miles before
the bus reached Guilder. It’d be another twenty-five minutes. She popped her
ear buds in, blew the bangs away from her forehead and stared out the window
across the rolling farm fields, trying to let the music from her iPod distract
her.
It didn’t work. Just when she felt the
tension begin to ease from her shoulders and she started to get into the song,
something caught her eye. Black smoke billowed just near the top of a lush
green hill. Rae stared, her heart fluttering as an old memory began to take
hold. She knew what that smoke meant. She’d seen it before, long ago.
Someone’s house was burning.
Crap, crap crap, no I don’t want to go
there. Her heart
started racing and her stomach turned over, making her feel nauseous.
Dropping her knee, she gripped the
seat in front of her, burying her face in her hands taking deep breathes, like
the therapists taught her to do. She’d gone through years of therapy to treat
what had been called “panic attacks”. It didn’t matter what other people called
it. To her, it was simply hell; like being sucked back in time against her
will, to a place she never wanted to revisit. So she breathed the way she’d
been taught, slow breathe in, all the way, then slow breath out, all the time
chanting it’s not real, it’s not real in her head.
It helped calm her racing heart and
made her feel more in control, but it didn’t erase the memory. Nothing on Earth
could do that. Being back in England for the first time and seeing the strange
smoke, Rae felt six years old all over again.
She’d been in the living room coloring
with new markers before bed when her mother told her to take them to the tree
house her dad had built for her and play there until she called her in. That
call never came. The blaze bounced horrific shadows around the inside of the tree
house. The stinky black smoke slithered in and scared her little six year old
self in ways the monsters under her bed never had.
Rae shuddered and lurched upright,
forcefully bringing herself back to the present. Could this school be any further into the sticks?
Glancing around the now vacant bus,
she wondered if the driver had purposely left her until last. She’d watched the
last few people get off at a school about fifteen minutes ago, Roe-something or
other. They all looked the same, all pretty girls with blonde hair, not one of
them thin, pale, and tall like her. They hadn’t been friendly. Big surprise
there… She was used to it.
She tended to fly under the radar at best. So she handled them the way she
always handled the ones who instantly didn’t like her for no reason she could
come up with. Rae avoided making eye contact and tried to appear immersed in
the Guilder Boarding School brochure. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to make
friends. She’d just never really had any. Most kids her age either didn’t like
her or didn’t notice her.
It bugged her that Uncle Argyle had
pushed so hard for her to go when Guilder sent the letter. He’d been the one to
move them all from Scotland to New York when she’d come to live with them,
taking her away from the horrible tragedy of her parents’ death, and now, he
suddenly leapt at the chance for her to go back? It didn’t make any sense. It
sort of sucked to leave her current high school. She lacked close friends, but
she also lacked enemies, which was a plus in her book. The girls there seemed
just as stuck up as the ones who’d gotten off the bus earlier, but they’d
simply ignored her. Rae always told herself it didn’t matter anyway. Cliques
were so passé in her
opinion.
Another weird thing that she couldn’t
seem to find an answer to was why Guilder would choose her? How did they even
know she existed? Her uncle boasted how big a deal it was for her to be
selected, but he’d never once explained how they’d even come to know about her
in the first place. She had the grades, the brain part always came easy for
her, but she didn’t have any extra-curricular activities at all, nothing to
make her stand out. So, how had this amazing school she’d never heard of before
decide to take her on? It didn’t make any sense. She tried a few times before
she left to corner her uncle and get him to explain part or all of it, but he’d
always seemed to be busy.
While this wasn’t exactly abnormal
behavior for him, it still left her with a sense of foreboding, something that
had clung to her ever since she got the letter. She couldn’t figure out why,
but she had a strong sense that something big was coming. Whether it was good
or bad, she didn’t know.
A movement out of the corner of her
eye caught her attention, pulling her mind out of the endless circle of
questions in her head. She turned to look out the window, and was stunned to
see the largest bird she’d ever seen in her life. Maybe an eagle? The thing flew parallel with the bus, right beside her.
Pressing her face against the cool glass, her gaze focused intently on the
curious sight. She jerked back when its large wings flapped, brushed the
window, and then veered away. She watched its graceful flight as it soared and
then swooped to settle onto the limb of a large tree just ahead. As the bus
passed by, the bird seemed to lock eyes with Rae and she was mesmerized. Rae
had always wondered what it would feel like to be a bird, to fly so free, go
anywhere the wind took her. She continued to watch the bird until she couldn’t
see it anymore, then slumped back into her seat as the bus sped onward down the
long road.
Guilder
Boarding School. She
gnawed at the cuticle on her thumbnail a little too hard and ripped the skin,
drawing a wince from her. She couldn’t help it, she always did this when she
was nervous. She’d be the only American girl. Well, not really American. She held a British passport but had
moved to New York after her parents died in the fire, leaving her orphaned.
So…not really American, not really British; a little of both, but belonging to
neither.
The bus cruised by an aged stone sign.
Guilder
Boarding School, Founded 1520. One of Britain’s Finest Educational
Institutions. Rae read the sign and wondered how a school could be
that old and not be featured in stories or online. She found nothing when she
tried researching it. They drove under an old,
leaded window arch that connected two round, red-brick
towers. The stream of people coming and going from the doors at the bottom made
her think it must be some kind of office. She craned
her neck to get a better view. The buildings were old but were well kept
and held an almost magical aura of their original Tudor era. She half expected
to see men in tights and codpieces strutting down the road, leading their
horses, with corseted ladies perched delicately atop them. The mental picture
amused her and she absent-mindedly smiled. Her eyes were drawn to the ornate, brick
chimneys along the buildings’ roofs. She glimpsed the other buildings
beyond. This place looks huge…hope I don’t get lost.
The driver pulled to a
halt in front of a building with
an embossed plaque that said “Aumbry House”. The ancient building had ivy
growing all over it. It looked like it was probably older than Henry VIII, leaving Rae with horrifying visions of chamber pots dancing in her head. It
better have indoor plumbing…
The bus door slid open
with a hiss. Rae gathered her two small suitcases and her book bag, clambered down the aisle and finally,
blessedly, off the bus.
“Welcome to Guilder, Ms. Kerrigan.”
Rae awkwardly spun around to face the voice, finding that a tall, thin woman stood on the concrete steps of the
building, her eyes darting left and right, pausing
on Rae for barely more than a few seconds.
Rae stared, wondering where the lady had come from. She wasn’t
there a moment ago. Rae
looked at the woman’s long, wool skirt. This might be England, but today is
sweltering. How
is she not
melting in this heat?
“I am Madame
Elpis, your house mistress.” The lady darted down the large concrete
steps, pausing on the last step and, in one fluid motion, tucked her clip board
under an armpit and extended her hand.
The woman’s features
reminded Rae of a bird – her
jet-black hair, dark
eyes, and especially the jutting nose. Rae nodded and dropped a suitcase so she could return
the handshake, her fingers crushed by the woman’s claw-like grip. Ow, ow,
ow! So you’re freakishly strong, got it.
“Come along. No time for
dilly-dallying.” She turned and marched up the steps, not checking to see if
Rae followed or needed any help with her bags.
Huffing out a breath, Rae grabbed her
things and clambered to follow, hearing the bus driver chuckle as he closed the
door behind her. I’m spending the
next two years here? What joy; What freakin’ bliss.
Hammering and drilling noises from
above greeted Rae as she came through the entrance. The clamor echoed
throughout the building.
“Fifteen and sixteen-year-olds are on
the second floor,” Madame Elpis shouted above the noise. “Your room is the last
door on the left.” She checked the chart she’d been holding under her arm.
“Molly Skye is your roommate. I assume you can find the way.” The last part was
more statement than question.
“Thank you,” Rae replied uncertainly,
not knowing what else to say.
Madame Elpis pointed to a door on her
left. “The study hall’s through there. The glass
doors lead to the game room. The door to your right is to my living quarters.
You are not permitted there.” She led Rae to the winding staircase made
of black and white marble. “Juniors are on the second floor, seniors on the third and
fourth.” She glanced at an old pocket watch
hanging on a chain around her neck and, if possible, straightened even
more. “Dinner is at five o’clock, sharp.” She turned, her skirt swirling as she
darted into her room, and with a kick of her boot,
slammed the door.
Rae exhaled the breath
she hadn’t realize she’d been holding. The
banging of hammers and screeching whine of electric saws reverberated
through the hallway. She was so nervous, the hammering could have been coming from her heart and she
wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference.
Rae took her
time up the marble stairs and, once on the landing,
headed left to the end of the hall. Biting the inside of her cheek, she gave a
light knock at the slightly open door and peered in. Empty. Rae
cautiously pushed the door open and surveyed
her new room.
Thick, lush brown
carpet covered the floor. Two beds, with
matching duvets and tan suede pillows,
rested against the opposing walls. One of
which already sat full
of half-empty suitcases. Modern closets with
ample space matched perfectly with the antique desks
built into the wall by each oriel window. Rae inhaled deeply, taking in a mingled sense of fresh
paint and the unique scent of antiques.
Finally! It’d been one helluva long day of
traveling. Much of the tension ebbed from her
shoulders and she cracked a smile for the
first time in hours.
Rae dropped her suitcases on the
uncluttered side of the room. Her roommate, Molly, must have stepped out
halfway through unpacking. Her closet doors were spread open, with hangers
already full of clothes and more shoes than Rae had owned in her entire life.
She’d never been big on dressing up, but she still knew designer labels when
she saw them and she saw an awful lot of them in that closet. Hopefully, her
roommate didn’t end up being superficial. Rae stood there wondering how she’d
deal with it if she had to room with Guilder’s Next Super Model. Visions of her
roommate stomping up and down the room in heels practicing her “walk”
distracted her. She didn’t hear the footsteps walking down the hall to the
door.
“What are you doing in me room?” Rae
jumped and dropped her purse. A fashionably dressed girl stood in the doorway.
She had dark, mahogany red hair, the kind women paid insane amounts of money to
try to copy. Oh great…well, here we go.
“Molly?” Rae swallowed. “I’m your new
roommate.”
Molly stared Rae up and down. “You’re Rae Kerrigan? I pictured someone totally different. You’re not scary at
all!” She laughed as if at some private joke. Scary? Me? What is she
talking about?
“Name’s Molly Skye. I’m
from Cardiff, in Wales.” She shoved one of her suitcases onto the floor and
dropped into the small,
open space on the bed.
Rae watched, confused. Why
would anyone think of her as scary? Because she lived in New York?
She had a terrible premonition of being the odd one out, and school hadn’t even
started yet.
“You’re not
sixteen, eh? No ta’too?” Molly pointedly dropped
her gaze down to Rae’s waist, as if she expected Rae to show her
something.
Tattoo? Rae squinted, trying to listen closer
to Molly’s accent. The way she spoke, some of the words were hard to make out. Why
would she ask if I have a tattoo?
“My
birthday’s in three days. It’s going to be so awesome!” Molly leaned back on her elbows. “When’s yers?”
“My birthday? Uh…not ‘til November.”
Straight into the personal
info. Okay, I think I know what my roommate is going to be like.
“November? You do have a
long wait.” Molly grimaced and shook her head. “Poor you. You’ll be the last
one inked for sure.” She jumped off the bed. Rae noted the strange comment, but Molly’s motor-mouth went
speeding on, so she filed it away for
examination at a later
time.
“What’d you think of our room? Pretty
cool, eh? Aside from the construction on the floors above us.” She shot the
ceiling an annoyed look. “I just talked to one of the workers. He said they
finish at four. They start again at like eight in the morning! Can you believe
that? Who gets up at that time, anyway?”
Wow. Molly can talk without pausing
for breath.
Rae nodded and tried to keep up. She watched Molly roll from the balls of her feet to her heels, back and forth
continually. It was a typically nervous
gesture that Rae attributed to meeting new people. Everybody has their
issues, but it’s still surprising, considering how fast she’s talking.
“Can you believe we got invited to Guilder? We’re two of
sixteen females within a landmass of rich, supposedly
unattainable, handsome boys.” When Rae didn’t
respond, Molly squinted at her. “You do know why you’re here, right?”
Rae shrugged. Jet lag
seemed to be eating her brain cells. “To be honest, I don’t really know what
you mean. I haven’t been in England since I was six and I know nothing about Guilder.” Despite
numerous Google searches at home and having my nose buried in the brochure for
an hour on the ride here.
“You’re not slow or something,
are you?” Rae shook her head slowly wondering if her talkative new
roomie had just insulted her. Molly stared,
scratching her head. “You really don’t know, do you?” She looked up and to the left, obviously recalling
something important. She straightened, as if quoting
some bit of brochure from memory. “Guilder’s a highly sought after educational
institution, but it is primarily a school for
the gifted. People who get
to go to Guilder know why. The rest of the world has no idea!”
Rae curled her fingers
tight, her nails digging into her palms. She felt stupid and also irritated at
herself for feeling stupid. It wasn’t
something she wanted to deal with, especially after such a long day of travel. “What makes us…gifted?”
Molly’s eyes grew huge.
She paced the room. “Oh, my...
Me da’s never going to
believe this. You seriously don’t know ANYTHING?!”
Rae felt her blood pressure rising. She knew she was tired, confused, and nervous. None
of that it was helping her temper, but she was determined not to lose it on
what amounted to a total stranger. She pressed her lips tight to stop any
snappish comment that might escape. Can’t the ditz just answer a simple
question with a straight answer?
Molly swung around in front of Rae, dramatically squared her shoulders,
and put on a serious face. “When we turn sixteen, we receive
our ink blot.”
“What?”
“A ta’too.”
She leaned forward and whispered, “It gives us special powers.”
Pause…say what? “P-Powers?”
Rae tried not to laugh. Had her uncle sent her to an institution for the
insane? “You’re kidding, right?” Uncle Argyle
had told her the experience would change her life, but hadn’t said how. Rae
figured he meant she’d do some growing up – like a maturity thing. And, of
course, there was that silly proverb. But perhaps he’d mistakenly sent her off
to a giant rubber room.
Molly waved a hand. “I’m
serious. The gift is passed down from
generation to generation.” She blew out an exaggerated breath. “Any guy around
here who’s sixteen has a ta’too on the inside of his
forearm.” She dragged Rae toward the window
and pointed to the building across from them. “That’s the boys’ dorm. Let’s go
outside and walk around. I’ll get one of them to show you what I mean.”
Her eyes dropped down to Rae’s
clothes, her lips pursed tight together. “Do you fancy a quick change before we
go?”
Rae laughed, despite her
roommate’s serious expression. Molly definitely was crazy, but she had a point. She’d dressed
comfortably for travel, and even though she wasn’t big on fashion, even she
drew the line at meeting her new classmates looking like a worked-over hag. She
could use some freshening-up. “Yeah, give me a
moment.”
“I’m off
downstairs to try and find some cute boys. Meet me outside when you’re ready.”
Molly left, still chattering nonstop with no
one in the hall to listen.
Rae opened the closest
suitcase and grabbed the first pair of jeans and top within reach. She
hesitated and dug a little deeper into her suitcase. The jeans were fine, they
were new, but a white t-shirt seemed too plain. She found a pink Converse tank
top with ONE STAR written in sparkles. She pulled out
her hair tie,
wishing her unruly black curls were straight
like Molly’s perfect hair. She never
bothered with makeup because she had crazy-long eyelashes that mascara seemed to
only want to clomp up against, and almost everything else just made her look
kinda like a sloppy hooker. Keep it simple, that’s what her aunt had
always told her. She settled for lip gloss, and deodorant,
and then grabbed a pair of sandals before
tossing her purse under her pillow. Now,
time to
find out what Molly’s been babbling on about, or at least, maybe meet some cute guys. She might be invisible most of the
time, but eye candy was eye-candy, no matter which side of the Atlantic it was
seen on.
Once outside, she shaded her
eyes against the bright sunlight with
her hand and searched for her new roommate.
Molly stood further down
the sidewalk, talking to a very hot guy with chestnut brown hair, dark eyes and
a dimple on his right cheek. It disappeared when he stopped smiling and began
talking again, making Rae a little sad. She wanted to see that dimple again.
Rae bounded down the steps, and then slowed
down, trying not to appear too excited.
She flinched and covered her head when a loud crashing noise sounded from above, and a large piece of debris flew down from the fourth
floor and landed in the blue bin beside her. Face burning, she pretended it
hadn’t bothered her and continued walking. Molly and the boy turned to stare
in her direction.
Rae heard someone holler
from above, but couldn’t make out
what the guy said. Embarrassed by her reaction a moment before, she ignored the shout and kept walking. Molly’s eyes grew big, her hands flew to
her cheeks and her mouth dropped open. She screamed. Rae stared as Molly
frantically pointed above her head. Rae tipped her head
up. She froze in horror when she saw a huge, severed piece of wood paneling balanced like a
seesaw on the window ledge several floors
above.
The wood scraped against the windowsill, and teetered as if undecided
which way it should fall. Oh crap!
A gust of hot, dry wind blew by, knocking the severed beam into final
decent. It spun as it fell and all sound was just gone.
Fight or flight. Rae dropped her gaze, her eyes darted
about. The guy beside Molly moved toward her frozen frame.
Everything moved in slow motion except for the
guy running like a freight train. He was greased lightning, moving faster than anything Rae had ever seen. It didn’t
seem possible for a person to move so fast. And
why am I focused on him when I’m about to be squashed like a bug?
Book I – Rae of Hope Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gILAwXxx8MU
The Chronicles of Kerrigan
UK US
Book III – House of Cards, now available
UK US
Book IV – Royal Tea, coming January 2015
Wanita May grew up in the fruit belt of Ontario -
St.Catharines. Crazy-happy childhood, she always has had a vivid imagination
and loads of energy.
The youngest of six -- four older brothers, and a sister -- taught her at a young age to be competitive in all aspects of life.
At sixteen, she began competing in athletics (track and field) and before she turned seventeen, she was representing Canada in high jump. She continued to compete, breaking Canada's JR High Jump record (1.92m - 6' 3 1/2" for those metric-ly challenged). She attented University of Toronto, and Kansas State University - winning CIAU's and becoming All-American 6x - NCAA Indoors Runner Up + more.
But you're not interested in her athletic career - unless of course you're curious to know she stands 1.70m (5'7") and has jumped 20cm over her head on more than one occassion. She's represented Canada at the World Championships, World Jrs., won Francophone Games, and loved every minute of every competition. From the grueling workouts, the crazy weights she lifted on her back, the days she thought her lungs were going to spit out of her mouth for lack of oxygen, the travelling around the world and the opportunity to read - her favourite past time.
Life continued with her husband (a distance runner from Liverpool, UK, who she met at KSU) and then their first, then second and finally third child. Their house became full of more imagination and stories.
Wanita and her husband run an online business, dealing in antiques and collectables - particularly jewelry and porcelain (one of the business' website: www.wadeincanada.com ).
After her father passed away in 2009, from a six-year battle with cancer (which she still believes he won the fight against), she began to write again. A passion she'd loved for years, but realized life was too short to keep putting it off.
Her first book, Rae of Hope - from the Chronicles of Kerrigan - will be available October 2011 by kNight Romance Publishing.
She is currently represented by Dawn Dowdle of Blue Ridge Literary Agency. Wanita is a writer of Young Adult, Fantasy Fiction and where ever else her little muses take her.
The youngest of six -- four older brothers, and a sister -- taught her at a young age to be competitive in all aspects of life.
At sixteen, she began competing in athletics (track and field) and before she turned seventeen, she was representing Canada in high jump. She continued to compete, breaking Canada's JR High Jump record (1.92m - 6' 3 1/2" for those metric-ly challenged). She attented University of Toronto, and Kansas State University - winning CIAU's and becoming All-American 6x - NCAA Indoors Runner Up + more.
But you're not interested in her athletic career - unless of course you're curious to know she stands 1.70m (5'7") and has jumped 20cm over her head on more than one occassion. She's represented Canada at the World Championships, World Jrs., won Francophone Games, and loved every minute of every competition. From the grueling workouts, the crazy weights she lifted on her back, the days she thought her lungs were going to spit out of her mouth for lack of oxygen, the travelling around the world and the opportunity to read - her favourite past time.
Life continued with her husband (a distance runner from Liverpool, UK, who she met at KSU) and then their first, then second and finally third child. Their house became full of more imagination and stories.
Wanita and her husband run an online business, dealing in antiques and collectables - particularly jewelry and porcelain (one of the business' website: www.wadeincanada.com ).
After her father passed away in 2009, from a six-year battle with cancer (which she still believes he won the fight against), she began to write again. A passion she'd loved for years, but realized life was too short to keep putting it off.
Her first book, Rae of Hope - from the Chronicles of Kerrigan - will be available October 2011 by kNight Romance Publishing.
She is currently represented by Dawn Dowdle of Blue Ridge Literary Agency. Wanita is a writer of Young Adult, Fantasy Fiction and where ever else her little muses take her.
1.
First off tell us a little about yourself.
I’m a mom J
wife J dreamer J and
crazy hyper way too much of the timeJ
person
2.
At what age did you start writing? What was
the first thing that you written?
Rae of Hope was the first book I wrote.
I started the year after my Dad passed away.
3.
Can you tell us how you came up with the idea
of your latest book/project? Did anything inspire you to write it?
I’ve always been fascinated with tattoos…
and super powers. So I figured, why not put them together?
4.
Can you tell us about your next book/project?
Do you have a title/release date?
Royal Tea – it’s the 4th book
in the Chronicles of Kerrigan series and coming out in the next few weeks.
In regards to new projects… I’ve got a
vampire series on the make J
5.
If you weren’t a writer what do you see
yourself doing?
Selling vintage jewelry. I’m a sucker
for beautiful old, jewelry.
6.
Who are some of your favorite authors?
CS Lewis
7.
What are your top 5 books that you have read?
The Chronicles of Narnia,
Others: Game of Thrones series, The Time
Traveler’s Wife, books by Chrissy Peebles, The Lucky One, Comic Books
8.
What was the last book you have read? Honestly?
Scooby Doo and the missing donuts. – my son and I read it together lol
9.
Would you ever co-write with another author?
If yes do you have someone in mind?
Chrissy Peebles – there is actually
something in the mix J
10.
Does music inspire you? If yes what type of
music usually does?
Love listening to music when I write or
when I’m braining storming. I like Satellite radio b/c it mixes it up without
the commercials. Whatever type of music fits the mood I’m writing, that’s where
I hop over too
This part is optional.
1.
Favorite Animal - Tiger
2.
Favorite food – Thai
3.
Favorite Holiday – Christmas!
4.
Favorite Genre to read - fantasy
5.
Favorite color – Purple. I went to KSU so I
bleed purple …
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