Trial by Fire
Covencraft Book One
Margarita Gakis
Genre: Urban
Fantasy/Paranormal
Publisher: Fable
Press
Date of
Publication: 6/25/2013
ISBN: 978-1-939897-03-9
ASIN: B00CX779MK
Number of pages: 325
Word Count: 84,000
Cover Artist: Steven
Novak
Book Description:
Jade leads a structured
life:
Routine job.
Caffeine addiction.
No serious
relationships.
And now, she can
spontaneously set things on fire with her mind.
Well... perhaps
“normal” was never in the cards for her. As she questions her own sanity and
spirals out of control, a man appears on her doorstep and tells her that, like
him, she’s a witch.
Pulled in all
directions, her unbridled magic draws dangerous attention and Jade wonders if
she’s made the worst mistake of her life by joining a coven, or if she’ll even
live long enough to regret it.
Excerpt
from Trial By Fire (Covencraft #1) by Margarita Gakis, available at Amazon.
Jade
shrugged and looked around the medical area.
“I
sent Callie home. Your testing is next and it’s best to have no other witches
about when it occurs.” Paris answered her unspoken question.
“What
about you guys?” Jade asked, gesturing to the doctor and the coven leader.
“Oh,
I’m not a witch,” Dr. Gellar said. “I just work for the Coven.”
Jade
looked at Paris as he spoke. “Part of the test involves your power being tested
against another witch. I’ll be testing your power with mine.” He smiled
benignly at her.
“Is
it going to be like the other night, when you were trying to kill my fire?” she
asked, wary. Thinking about the sick, heavy feeling that had permeated her
chest and stomach made Jade wrinkle her nose in distaste. Paris made a waffling
motion with his head and looked uncertain.
“Possibly,”
he admitted.
At
least he’s honest, she thought.
Dr.
Gellar motioned Jade over to one of the chairs in the public area. “If you would
like to have a seat over there, we can begin your power testing. I’m going to
attach some electrodes to your head, neck and a few of your fingertips and then
we can begin.”
The
room was silent as the doctor connected Jade to the monitoring equipment. Jade
released her hair from her ponytail and shook it out, knowing it was probably
in a huge halo around her head. She wasn’t one of those women who could take
their hair down and have it look like she stepped from the pages of a magazine.
Out of the ponytail, her hair curved along a huge wave from where the elastic
sat. It puffed from her head like a lion’s mane. Gellar clipped more sensors to
Jade’s fingertips, and put a few on the side of her neck. Jade tugged at a few
of the electrodes and poked at the machine they were attached to until Dr.
Gellar rolled it out of her reach.
“Try
to remain still, Jade,” the doctor admonished.
Jade
snatched her hand away and leaned back in her seat, tapping her foot on the
marble floor.
“Completely
still,” Dr. Gellar said without even looking over at her.
Feeling
churlish, Jade stuck her tongue out at her and then felt like an idiot for
doing it, but it was too late. She slunk lower in her seat.
“Okay,”
Dr. Gellar said as she made one final adjustment to the machine, “now we can
begin. Paris tells me that you’ve already been able to generate fire?”
“Yeah.”
“I
want you to try again now.”
Jade
held her hand out at elbow level and immediately a blue flame appeared in the
center of it. Eyes wide, the doctor tilted her head sharply at Jade’s palm and
then glanced at Paris.
“I
know,” he said. “She has a knack for that one.”
Dr.
Gellar raised her eyebrows but didn’t say anything as she made a few notes on a
clipboard. Jade craned her head over to the side to see if she could read it
but it was too far away.
The
doctor returned her attention to Jade. “Can you extinguish it?”
As
soon as she was done asking the question, the flame winked out with an audible
puff. Dr. Gellar made additional notes.
“And
bring it back.”
The
flame sprung up in front of Jade again, only this time, she didn’t even raise
her hand. The flame just floated softly in front of her at chest height.
“Jade,
would you be able to change its shape?” asked Paris.
She
shrugged. “I guess.”
Thinking
about the tiny flame caused it to dance a bit and she could feel the shape of
it in her brain. She pulled at it, twisting it, getting a feel for it and then
stretched it out and shaped it. She thought about a triangle and then discarded
that idea immediately for a pyramid. The flame flickered into a flat triangle
and then quickly folded in on itself and settled as a pyramid, keeping up with
her thoughts. She rubbed her fingertips together and, feeling a rough edge
along one of her cuticles, turned her focus away from the flame in front of her
and looked down at her nail. When she glanced back up at the pyramid, it was
rotating lazily in front of her, like a gyroscope, in three dimensions. She
looked over at Dr. Gellar who was staring from Jade to the flame to the
machines with interest.
“Anything
else?” Jade asked.
Dr.
Gellar came to stand in front of her. “You can extinguish your fire again,
Jade.” As it dissipated, she held out both hands toward Jade, a small object in
each. Her right hand held a tiger eye stone, the left held a small gold coin.
“One
of these objects has been charmed.” Dr. Gellar stated plainly. “Can you tell
which one?”
Jade
looked at the items in the doctor’s hands and although she didn’t know why, she
immediately pointed at the coin. Surprising herself, she raised her eyes to the
doctor, who nodded and put the stone in her pocket.
She
handed the coin to Jade. “What can you tell me about this?”
Jade
took the coin and turned it over in her fingers. The top of her knuckles
tingled slightly. She rested the coin on the top of her fingers, in the soft
skin between her pinky and ring finger. The coin rolled easily from knuckle to
knuckle, flipping itself over. She moved her fingers slightly, letting the coin
flip itself over, running back and forth across the top of her hand.
“It
was charmed so it won’t fall off,” she stared down at the flickering gold.
Then, turning to Paris, she asked, “How do I know that?”
“Magic
lingers, gives off an energy,” he said as though it was a response she would
fully understand.
****
Trial
by Fire (Covencraft #1) can be purchased at Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/Trial-by-Fire-Covencraft-ebook/dp/B00CX779MK),
Amazon.ca (http://www.amazon.ca/Trial-by-Fire-Covencraft-ebook/dp/B00CX779MK)
and Barnes and Noble (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/trial-by-fire-margarita-gakis/1115416716?ean=9781939897039)
About the Author:
Margarita loves the
art, creativity and romanticism of storytelling. Sometimes, however, the act of
putting pen to paper proves challenging, elusive. She develops genuine,
relatable characters which grow in the hearts of her readers. From that
foundation, the stories flourish into a warm friend.
She enjoys pursuits
which blur the lines between the analytical and creative sides of her brain.
This includes her day job in electronic data management, where she uses her
creativity to solve logical problems, and also her lessons learning to play the
cello, where she finds beauty in the structure of music and the instrument. She
believes there is a place for both logic and imagination to work together. When
they do, the results are magical.
Margarita has a
special spot in her heart for dogs and lives with three of them. It can be a
little overwhelming but the quality snuggle time makes up for it.
Margarita lives in
Calgary, Alberta with her family.
Twitter: @margaritagakis
Facebook: www.facebook.com/CovencraftSeries
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