Snow Wicked White

Cinderella Assassin

Atlantis Riptide

The Romance Dance

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“Great story as usual. A lot of surprising twists and turns.” Jlstep

“This is a really good book! Just like the rest of the series, it was full of action, adventure, romance and kept you wondering how Sky would get out of the next tight spot (and Reef too).” Amazon customer

Kindle Top 100 Rankings

“I loved seeing Sky tell her story and how she felt about her life. Watching her you see where her bitterness at the beginning turns into something else as she spends time away from her mother’s influence. This is a great and interesting series all around.” 5 of 5 Stars – Book Junky Girls

“I’m a little sad about Book 4 crying a little. It ENDED. I finished and IT was GREAT a fantastic ending.”  – Stephanie Jordan

Atlantis Dark Tides Excerpt

I was the fourth daughter of King Atlas.

And I was The Seer.

The name echoed in my brain, a constant tease.

Ceto had told me how badly King Atlas had treated her when I was born. Told me why he’d named me Scylla, or Sea Monster. Told me that during the Catalyst, while King Atlas had taken his three precious daughters and put them in pods to be saved, he’d done nothing for me.

Left me to die.

The burden of rejection weighed like a shipwreck and colored my view of myself to pitch black.
Ceto had saved me. She’d raised me alone. She’d instilled this hatred deep in my blood of the society that had rejected me. And sometimes it seemed that she hated me, too.

I lay on the ground of the cave seeing nothing but blackness. I couldn’t get the bloody images out of my head, or the doubts and fears about Ceto.

Or Poseidon’s message. If the message got in the wrong hands—

“Scylla.” A strong arm wrapped around my waist. A hand grabbed mine. “We need to get out.”

Blinking, I stared into Reef’s worried blue eyes. He held me against him. The strength of his arms and the solidness of his chest cocooned.

Lightness filled my body and my sight. For a moment, I enjoyed the touch of another. A touch from Reef. Then reality slapped me like Ceto would if I showed weakness.

“Let me go.” I struggled against him. “What’re you—?”

“We need to get out of the cave. Now.” The urgency in his tone smacked.

My scattered mind couldn’t wrap around the importance. “Why?”

He yanked me toward the cave entrance. Swimming at super speed, he dragged me alongside.

“Do you know where we are?”

“I did find my own way here.” Sort of. I didn’t need to admit I’d followed him. I’d sound like a stalker.

“Under an island in the Marshall Islands. An old human proving ground.”

“So?” One of my arms was tucked under his and the other was gripped tightly by his hand.

Our entwined fingers somehow looked right together. But that couldn’t be correct. My muddled mind was scrambling images. I couldn’t dream about being with anyone. Ever.

“You don’t think Wade noticed that fact or would take advantage?”

“What do you mean?” Shock from his closeness kept my brain unclear. I couldn’t follow the conversation.

“The humans detonated bombs here. Some of the ordnance didn’t explode. It’s still usable.” Reef tugged harder. “After we escaped, Wade played with a couple of the bombs.”

“He messed around with undetonated bombs?” The pieces of this conversation fell into place. Pieces that could be pieces of me if the bomb exploded and we were in the way.

“Just now.”

A shot of adrenaline spiked through me followed by a large wallop of fear. A human bomb could explode at any moment. I kicked and punched trying to break free so I could swim faster.

He let go of my arm, but kept his fingers threaded through mine. The connection should’ve frazzled my nerves. Instead, it calmed. I kicked my feet to speed us along.

We reached the edge of the cave. We still had the long, dark tunnel to traverse. Water pulsed, radiating with tension, aware of what was about to take place.

My internal organs quivered and my heart beat like a countdown clock. “What kind of destruction can one of these human bombs cause?”

An explosion ripped outside the tunnel.

I jolted, and then froze.

“We’re about to find out.” Reef tugged me against the wall in a spot with a small crevice. He grabbed hold of two small outcroppings of rock and held on. His body shielded mine. I didn’t know how to react. No one had ever protected me before.

The hard rock I was pressed against dug into my skin. Reef’s body was hard too, except in a gentler, more pliable way. With him so close, his palm scent infiltrated my senses and everything inside softened. He seemed to fit against me, just like our hands seemed to fit together.

The force of the explosion caused a surge to slam through the tunnel similar to water going through a whale’s blow hole. With him on the outside, he took the blunt hits of the streaming rocks and rushing water. He took the pain instead of me.

Not even Ceto protected me this well. She didn’t seem to care if I got hurt or injured. A sharp pain flashed through my body.

The strength of the current tried to pry Reef and I away from the wall. He hung on tight. Kept us safe.

Rocks tumbled from above our heads. I ducked and Reef bridged his body over mine. Debris rocketed past. Portions of the wall fell. The tunnel entrance collapsed.

My mouth dropped open. My eyes bulged like a jellyfish. I couldn’t believe what I saw.
Boulders as big as whales, rocks the size of walruses, and even small pebbles and stones blocked our way.

Reef scrambled over the pile that had been our only way out. He pounded on the newly-built crude wall.

“Good thing these old fragmentation bombs have lost some of their strength.” Frustration growled in his voice. “If you hadn’t resisted we’d be out of the cave by now.”

“I didn’t know.” One word slowly followed the other.

We were trapped. Trapped by my ignorance and stupidity. I didn’t know about the bombs. Didn’t know Wade would set one off.

My chest rose and fell. My mind scrambled for a solution. I had to get out. I couldn’t die here.
At least Poseidon’s terrible message would be buried forever.

Ceto would be angry. She’d sent me on a mission and I’d screwed it up. She’d berate and belittle. And I deserved it. If I didn’t die here, Ceto might complete the task herself.

Wallowing in helplessness, I counted my mistakes.

I’d befriended Tori to learn about Princess Maris, except I’d begun to care for the human. My first mistake. Then, I’d saved Tori and exposed my powers. Second mistake. And now, I was trapped with Reef because of my third mistake.

Gloom darkened into panic. We wouldn’t drown because we were Atlantean, but we could starve. “What’re we going to do?”

Reef dug his fingers in a small crack. A rock came out and tumbled to the ground. “Dig.”

The new scrapes and scratches on his back stretched with his movements. His hands burrowed deeper into the barrier. Each time he pulled out a sizeable chunk more debris filled the open spot.

I swam next to him and grabbed hold of another rock. “Do you think we can excavate a space big enough for us to squeeze through?”

“It’s worth a try.” His muscles bulged when he yanked on a sharp corner of a protruding rock.

His tendon ripples sent an answering ripple inside of me. “What were you doing here? Spying on the Royalists or on Wade and the Separatists?”

Shaking my head to clear the thoughts of Reef’s muscles, I focused on what he was saying. Interesting that Reef didn’t include himself in the second group.

“Why don’t you tell me who you are and what side you’re on?” I needed to know who I was dealing with. “Separatist or Royalist?”

“I know you’re not a Royalist.” His offended tone surprised. “You said you hated anyone royal.”
Technically, I was half royal. And half sea monster.

He pulled a chunk of rock out. “You’re not a Separatist, either.”

“How do you know?” I’d worked with him and Wade to get the nautilus. Or at least I’d pretended to. I hadn’t really cared what side they were on. I had an agenda of my own. Now, which side Reef fought for seemed important.

“If you were a Separatist you wouldn’t have followed Wade here. You would’ve come with him.” Reef pulled out another chunk of rock.

Reef was smart. He’d studied the clues and figured out what I wasn’t. Could he figure out what I was?

Studying him, knots formed in my stomach. His hair was black like mine. Thick, shiny. Hair a girl wanted to run her fingers through.

His face was a similar dark color to mine, almost Mediterranean in tone. Not that my skin color came from that ocean.

The lines on his forehead showed an intense look of concentration. He believed he could conquer anything. Even this wall of debris. The sexy expression made me think of the bad boys I’d seen on Tori’s television. Bad boys who always got the girls.

The knots loosened and then pulled taut. I wouldn’t get answers ogling Reef. “You went with Wade, but you’re not a Separatist.”

“How can you tell?”

“You don’t follow orders very well.”

His short laugh sounded self-derisive and I liked that he could make fun of himself.

“Interesting observation.” He didn’t admit I was right.

We struggled on for a bit. Every time one of us loosened a rock, another one or two would fall and take its place. Even with super Atlantean strength my arms were tired.

I stomped my bare foot on the rocky ground. “We’re never going to get out of here.”

“Don’t give up.” He tugged on another large rock. His well-defined muscles bunched and tightened as he tossed it to the ground.

My ears clogged as if ascending quickly from Ceto’s deeply entrenched lair. The water buzzed. Was that my attraction sizzling the surface or something else?

“Water pressure is building.” Reef’s terse tone cut across the short distance. His sapphire eyes didn’t shine bright. “If we don’t release some of the pressure this place is going to blow. A second explosion.”

I stilled like I’d been frozen by a mythical mermaid’s powers. I couldn’t think. Couldn’t act. I’d never expected my death to be this. For my life to end so soon.

He quit pulling on the rocks and scrutinized me. Did he think I had an answer?
I didn’t. I didn’t know what to do.

“Can you use your powers to move the rocks?” His question stunned me like one of Ceto’s tentacles.

“P-powers?”

“You manipulated the water in the lagoon to save Tori. I know what’s possible.”

He’d seen my special abilities. I couldn’t deny they existed. But when I used my powers my skin morphed green. No one had noticed at the lagoon. They’d been too busy. In this enclosed space Reef would notice and he’d have more questions.

My tummy turned with nausea, jumpstarting my green-toned skin.

“Sky?”

Stupid thoughts. He was right. And I should’ve thought of using my powers before this. I guess between the thought of Tori almost dying, the pain of my visions, and Reef wanting to help me, I lost focus.

I concentrated on my surroundings, on the emergency situation. This tunnel would explode with the force of the water streaming in through small fissures. Fear trickled through my veins similar to the streaming water through the cracks. The pressure in my head built fast with the pressure in the cave.

I might not know human history, but science I understood. This situation was like a carbonated bottle shaken. As the pressure built in the cave the walls couldn’t take the force of the pressure and would explode in upon themselves. The rocks would avalanche.

We’d be crushed.