Rowan Shannigan, AKA
Shiloh Darke
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Rowan Shannigan has always harbored a deep fascination for
the paranormal. She believes in Ghosts! She believes Angels
watch over us. She knows Demons stalk us and she really wishes
Elves were around to be yummy and heroic when we need them for
inspiration!
Rowan lives in Texas with her son and her very own Soul
Mate. Her house is filled to the brim with love and laughter,
not to mention a few ghosts here and there. Oh, and more than
just a few cats! You can’t forget the cats!
Awareness and Sensations are Rowan’s first Young Adult novels, with
one more
book planned out for this, the Awakening Awareness series. She also writes
Romance for adults under the pen name of Shiloh Darke.
Website
AWARENESS ON FACEBOOK
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Waking in the hospital after a car accident nearly
claims her life is a serious jolt to Rebecca, a
sixteen-year-old with a promising future. Learning she had
been there for over a week is pretty nerve-wracking as well.
But that isn’t what really bothers her. No, what is really
bothering her is her newfound ability to see shadows no one
else around her can see, and to hear voices no one else can
hear. Then, the ghost of a little boy materializes in the
middle of her room, walks right up to her and starts
talking. TO HER! In front of her mother, no less.
Now she has to re-learn everything she once believed to be
true about the world she lives in, and what is real in that
world is becoming a pretty daunting task to face. Because
ghosts she can see and hear are not the only ones popping
out of the woodwork; let’s just say... Elves and Angels,
demons and Faeries, oh my! And would someone please just
answer this one question: What’s a girl supposed to do for a
good night’s sleep?
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Excerpt
Word Count:
65,900
Buy at:
Smashwords (all formats) ~
Barnes and Noble ~
Amazon
Price: $ 4.99 |
Reviews
Read the In-House Review
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To order this book in print, please contact Charlotte
Holley at cholley@gypsyshadow.com (ISBN #978-1-61950-045-7) |
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Maddie is a teenager who is in LOVE with a boy who is just so out of
her league. She's a dork, He's a Jock. She's plain, He's
Drop-Dead-Gorgeous! Of course, she doesn't believe he could ever have
feelings for her. Then, amazingly, he asks her to be his date to the
dance. She's totally shocked, skeptical and suspicious. Why would
someone like him ask HER out? But Stephen has secrets and a crush of his
own. Will she accept him when he lets her in on them?
Excerpt
Word Count: 6300
Buy at:
Smashwords (all formats) ~
Barnes and Noble ~
Amazon
Price: 2.99 |
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When Rebecca woke up in the hospital after her
near death experience with the ability to see as well as hear things
others didn’t, she thought the Ghosts and Demons were the worst thing
she’d have to deal with. Little did she know they really were just the
tip of the iceburg.
Now, she finds herself thrust into a world hidden
within her own—a world that doesn’t want her. She isn’t good enough for
the Elf King’s son, all because she’s human? And if that’s not bad
enough, now she has to make a decision: Keep her new talents to herself,
as she's sworn to do, or help someone who desperately needs her.
Tough Decision...
Excerpt
Word Count: 66000
Buy at:
Smashwords (all formats) ~
Barnes and Noble ~
Amazon
Price: $4.99 |
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To order
this book in print, please contact Charlotte Holley at
cholley@gypsyshadow.com (ISBN #978-1-61950-162-1)
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Excerpts |
Awareness |
“When He, the Spirit of
truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth;”
John 16:31
One—Voices
Voices... the first thing I remembered hearing when I woke up
in the hospital that morning. I was confused and disoriented. My
mother sat perched near me with a worried expression on her
face, but all I could do was take everything in.
I was lying in a bed with tubes connected to me. Shadows danced
along the pristine walls, but had no apparent point of origin.
Who did the shadows belong to?
Voices; hundreds of voices whispered all around me, but I saw no
physical body for any of them. My heart sped up as I looked
around, trying to make sense of it all. Surely I was going
crazy. I had no other explanation for it, though.
My inner musings were interrupted when the doctor entered and
greeted me with a smile. “Well, look at you! All bright-eyed and
bushy-tailed.”
I glanced from the doctor to my mother and back again. “What’s
going on?” I asked in a voice that was hoarse from disuse. “Why
am I here?”
Mother leaned forward and took my hand. “Baby, you were in a car
accident. You’ve been unconscious for six days.” Tears welled in
her eyes. “I’ve been so worried.”
Swallowing the lump that had formed in my throat, I whispered.
“Is everyone else okay?”
Squeezing my hand, Mom nodded. “You were the only one who had to
be admitted. Everyone else went home that first day.”
“Thank God,” I responded, closing my eyes. When I opened them, a
woman was standing just to the left of my mother, looking down
at me with a curious expression.
Then, just as fast as she had appeared, she vanished. I blinked
and reached up to rub my eyes, trying to clear them of the days
of crusty sleep that had built up in the corners. Surely I was
seeing things. How bad were my injuries? Did I have a
concussion?
“So, what’s wrong with me? When do I get to go home?” I asked
quietly.
The doctor smiled. “Well, I’m keeping you for a little longer,
just to make sure your head injury is truly on the mend. But I
think we can probably let you go home in time for the weekend.”
When he spoke, a shadow raced past him, drawing my attention as
it stopped just as abruptly and turned toward me. As I watched,
it moved closer and a face took shape.
The boy looked me over intently before offering me a lopsided
grin. “Don’t tell him you see me, or they’ll transfer you to the
State Hospital, just as sure as I’m floating around.”
He glanced over toward my mom and the doctor, adding, “They’re
watching. You need to tell them your head’s hurting and ask them
to turn down the lights.” Glancing back at me, he clicked his
tongue. “Trust me. Do it now!”
Without even thinking, I turned and covered my eyes with my
hands. “I’m sorry. The lights hurt my eyes. Can we turn them
off?”
The doctor nodded. “Of course; you have a couple of hours until
lunch. Why don’t you try to get some more sleep?” Turning to my
mother, he smiled. “She seems to be in the clear now. I’ll be
back to check on her later.”
She offered him tears of gratitude, and I watched, feeling
pretty overwhelmed. I wondered silently how close I had actually
been to dying.
“Oh, you were close,” the boy said. “They’ve been in and out of
here for days.”
I looked back at the boy, who had now materialized completely to
stand beside me. He couldn’t have been any older than twelve,
but he seemed very with it. Glancing over, I saw my mother was
standing at the door, talking to the doctor still, so I could
respond without worry of being overheard.
Looking back at the boy, I asked quietly, “They? Who are they?”
He looked from me to my mother, then back at me. “Okay, two
rules. One: you don’t talk to me. I can hear your thoughts. You
don’t want just anyone seeing you talking to things they can’t
see. They’ll think you’re crazy.” He smiled. “And second: don’t
ask questions you aren’t prepared to hear the answers for.”
He chuckled. “I’ll come back tonight after your mom goes home.
It’ll be easier for you to understand me and not freak her out
by talking to imaginary friends she probably can’t believe in.”
He smiled and reached to touch my arm, but stopped, holding his
hand just inches from my skin.
Fascinated, I watched as the hair on my arm directly below his
hand stood straight up. A chill ran through me, making me
shiver. I could feel him. But I knew he had no physical body.
He stepped back. “Just don’t freak out at what you see today.
The things you see here in the daylight won’t hurt you. I’ll
explain when I come back tonight.”
With those few wise words, he vanished, exactly like the woman
who’d been standing beside Mom earlier had. To say I was shaken
would have been an understatement. This went beyond anything I’d
ever imagined possible.
“Well, baby girl, it looks like you’ll be going home soon,” Mom
said as she moved back to take the seat beside my bed. “That’s
wonderful.”
I turned to smile at her. “Yeah,” I answered. “That’s good.” And
it was. I just wasn’t sure this other thing was good. But how
could I tell her about that? I mean, I was seeing ghosts. Wasn’t
I? How was that even possible?
Or maybe I had just hit my head so hard this was all still a
hallucination and I only thought I was awake! Yeah. That sounded
like the better option. It was a heck of a lot easier to believe
than the version of ghosts, disembodied voices, and shadows
dancing all over the walls. I mean, move over, space cadet...
Psycho in ward three!
Okay, so ghosts were real. All right, I could buy that. I mean,
it was actually pretty cool... on a really weird, spooky,
don’t-tell-anyone kind of way. But they didn’t need to talk to
me. I mean, no way was I going to continue seeing them. I could
refuse. Couldn’t I?
I was soon to learn just how impossible it would be to ignore
the spirits that float around us every single day of our lives.
I was also about to learn the plans I had been making for my
life were no longer an option.
Two—Ghosts and Angels
Later that night, my mother kissed me goodbye and promised to be
back early in the morning. I had to clasp my hands together to
keep from grabbing her and begging her not to leave me. I didn’t
want to be alone. But I was too old to act like a baby.
It was just all too crazy. I wasn’t prepared to handle it with
people all around me during the daylight. How the hell was I
supposed to handle it at night with no one—no one alive, that
is—here?
Biting my tongue, I waved goodbye as she walked out the door.
Then, I counted. One-one-thousand, two-one thousand, three...
nothing. Maybe I had only been hallucinating. Nope, I had quit
counting too soon.
“Hi there! Miss me?” His voice almost made me jump completely
out of the bed.
Gasping, I turned to look at the boy I had seen earlier, now
perched precariously at the foot of the mattress. “Don’t do
that!” I growled. “You scared my heart half out of my chest!”
He tilted his head, considering my words and looking at the
vicinity around my heart. “Still looks like it’s beating in
place to me.”
I fought the urge to throw my pillow at him. Instead, I tried
the calm, I-don’t-believe-in-you approach. “You are figment of
my imagination. I am going to sleep now and you...” I
grumbled, pointing at him, “. . . are going to go invade someone
else’s nightmares.”
He actually looked insulted. “Hey!” he pointed back, “I’m here
to give you a quick lesson. You had better be nice, because I’m
not going to help you at all if you’re gonna act like that!”
I groaned, shaking my head. “You are not real! I hit my head and
I am just hallucinating!” I pointed, wagging my finger at him.
“I don’t need a lesson. I need to get some sleep so tomorrow
they’ll decide they can let me go home.” I rolled my eyes.
“You’re younger than me anyway. What could you possibly teach
me?”
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Back to Awareness |
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Christmas Dance |
Chapter 1
Stephen Daniels; that’s the name of the boy I loved. Now, you
have to understand, when I say loved I’m not referring to some
little schoolgirl crush. I was not taken to flights of fancy. I
never swooned when a cute boy walked past me. I never even
really swooned with Stephen, either. Panicked if he walked near
me? Yes. Stared at him when I thought he wasn’t paying
attention? Of course. But what I felt for him wasn’t some fickle
crush.
How do I know, you ask? It’s simple, really. My affection for
him started the first day of kindergarten. I was walking past a
row of desks and tripped over a book bag. He caught me and
worried over whether I was hurt or not for the rest of the day.
Now, I won’t say we became fast friends. I was too shy, and he
was too perfect. I’m not exaggerating, either. He was perfect.
Beautiful green eyes, wavy blond hair, and a smile that just
made my heart melt. He was an amazing person, too. From that
very first year, and every year following...perfect because
he wasn’t a stuck-up snob like other people who were naturally
beautiful could be. No, not my Stephen; he was kind, with a huge
heart. He was always friendly and outgoing. He never had a bad
word to say to anyone.
Of course, he had so many people who were attracted to his
natural inner and outer beauty that he really didn’t get to know
me all that well. I was outside of his circle. But he still
always found a way to be nice, and we sometimes talked to each
other; when I wasn’t too busy being tongue-tied around him. Like
I said, I never swooned, but I often stuttered like a fool in
his presence.
Of course, I could never say I was the beautiful, outgoing
girlfriend my Stephen so richly deserved. I’d like to tell you
he fell madly in love with me the first time he saw me; just
like I had with him. But the truth is: I didn’t believe he’d
ever seen me. Not really, even though he went to my high school
and had the same lunch hour as me. Heck, he was in five of six
classes with me. He always had been in at least four classes
with me ever since we started middle school. It almost seemed
like some cosmic order was trying to thrust us together. Hmm... sometimes I wondered if he’d ever noticed it like I had.
We were as different as night and day. He sat in the front of
the classes; I always lingered in the back. Where he was
outgoing, I was the introvert. If I thought it would do me any
good, I’d have tried to come out of my shell. But I was always
scared to death of rejection. So I stayed where I was and just
dared to daydream about him. Daydreaming can be almost as good;
if more than a little unsatisfactory.
My name is Madison Elliot. My friends call me Maddie.
Unfortunately, where Stephen is dreamy perfect, I’m only
average. My hair is mousy brown. It doesn’t even have any
highlights in it to make it look like it might have any luster.
It’s long and straight. My eyes are just an average color of
brown; nothing fancy, no sparkle in them, either. My mother says
there are flecks of green in them and they light up when I
laugh, but I really don’t see it. I think I was God’s idea of a
joke.
The reason I say this is because... well, my mom was head
cheerleader when she was in high school. My dad was the star
quarterback on the football team. They were high school
sweethearts who fell madly in love. When they got married,
everyone said they were going to make such beautiful babies.
As a baby, I was sweet. I can admit it; I’ve seen the pictures.
But from the age of two to the first year of school, something
went drastically wrong. It’s like the opposite of that story,
The Ugly Duckling. I started out being really pretty. Then, as I
aged, I wilted like a flower without sunlight.
Add all these things together and it equals a sad existence,
with a mundane life. Or at least, it did. My life would have
stayed that way, I’m certain, if it hadn’t been for that fateful
day, two weeks before the Christmas Dance of our eleventh grade
year. That was the day everything changed.
Stephen and I were both in Miss Oscar’s homeroom. She was in
charge of planning the Christmas Dance that year. She had been
told to pick two students from her homeroom class to assist her
in the planning. I don’t know if it was God or fate, but when
she picked, Stephen and I were the two students she wanted to
help her.
I don’t know how it happened, but during the time we were
helping Miss Oscar plan for the dance, fate finally stepped in
and my life—not to mention my luck—changed. I remember it all
like it was yesterday...
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Christmas Dance |
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Sensations |
Prologue—Purgatory
Sam:
“I said no!” Becca stood in the center of the room, glaring at
the Angel who had transported us to this beautiful place
suddenly, and with no explanation. Honestly, I didn’t blame her.
It was pretty wild.
We had been pulled out of what I would only call a scary
situation, and thrown into one that was just as spooky and
intense. There was no way we were staying here! Seriously? I
mean, people didn’t belong in the spiritual realm. Not when they
were still alive. Did they? And where were our bodies? How long
could a body survive without a soul connected to it?
So, anyway, now here I was, standing in this room that looked as
if it was part of a palace, with these long flowing robes, like
what a person wears when they sing in a church choir, watching
Becca spit and hiss like a cat at the Angel who had just
informed her that we would be staying here until they had a
course of action against the Demons who were trying to kill us.
Shocking, right? But there was even more good news. Apparently,
the demon who had taken over my body had been able to do so
because of my Fae heritage. Who knew Faeries were more
susceptible to demon possession when in the human realm if they
were unprepared.
Then, the Angel had even looked down his nose at me and
criticized my mother for keeping me in the dark about my true
identity. I was outraged! I had been so shocked and surprised
that I hadn’t even been able to come up with a good comeback.
Until after he left us.
Then I had turned to Becca with my bewildered expression and
done what any headstrong, angry teenaged Faerie would do. I
puckered up like a baby and wailed for all I was worth. “How
could she do this to me, Becca? My own mother hid my memories
from me!” I sank to the floor, in shock and grief. “Who am I,
anyway?”
The thing that always made me believe Becca was a really good
friend was the way she could just drop whatever worry or anger
she might be feeling at the time to offer comfort to anyone who
needed it. The girl seriously didn’t have a single mean bone in
her body. I loved that about her. It made me proud to call her
friend.
Her fierce sense of determination was also something I admired;
like now. She was standing toe to toe with an Angel, no less.
And she wasn’t afraid. No, that wasn’t even the right word! What
she was at that moment? Well, the best word I can come up with
was furious!
“You gave us no warning, Zeek! Not one!” she accused. “Not even
a, oh, by the way, we may need to take you into protective
custody for a while, or anything!”
She threw her hands up in the air. “What are we supposed to do
now? I mean, am I just taking a sabbatical from my life?” Her
voice rose as the frustration grew. “I am a junior in high
school, for heaven’s sake! I can’t just put that on hold!” Then
her voice wavered. “What about Mom?”
There it was. For the last, oh I don’t know, half hour, she had
comforted me and encouraged me not to panic or be upset. Now, it
was her turn. Tears filled her eyes, and I moved forward to try
to comfort her. She held to me even as she continued to stare
the beautiful Angel in the face. “What does she know? Does she
know I’m here? Does she know I’m safe?”
I hugged her tighter as she finally let herself cry over the
entire mess we’d just unexpectedly found ourselves thrust into.
Zeke, or whatever his name was, finally had the good grace to
seem somewhat apologetic for what we were going through. He took
a step closer to us and reached out to pat her shoulder. “This
will not interfere with your human life, Becca. I promise, when
this is over, we will set everything back as it should be.” He
sighed. “But for now, I need you both to trust me.”
She held to me for a moment longer, returning my hug before she
let go and stepped back a little. “Where’s Darethmar? Where did
you take him?”
Zeke gave her a smile and I felt like someone was getting ready
to tell a huge lie. “He’s a prince, with obligations to his
people, Becca. He was taken back to his home. You’ll be seeing
him soon, I promise.
Now, maybe that wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the most upfront and
honest response I’ve ever heard either.
Then, as if his answer wasn’t enough to throw my hackles up,
what he did next really irked the hell out of me. He offered us
both a parting bow and promptly disappeared, leaving us alone in
the middle of what seemed for all appearances to be a deserted
palace.
Becca groaned and moved to sit at the end of the bed on the far
side of the room. She looked around with an exasperated
expression before glancing at me. “If anyone had told me a year
ago that I would be seeing ghosts, fighting demons and kidnapped
by Angels, I would have told them they were nuts!”
I nodded, crossing my arms over my chest and looking around us
at the room we were in. “I hear that!” I gestured at myself,
shaking my head slowly, “I mean, look at me! I never in a
million years would have believed I was a Faerie if it wasn’t
for these wings.”
Even as I said it, I turned my head to glare at the appendages
protruding out of my back. “I still don’t know if I really
believe it. I keep trying to figure out how in the world I’m
supposed to sleep with them!”
Almost as though my words changed my reality, I suddenly felt
completely exhausted. I felt like I had run a marathon, and then
did a thousand jumping jacks. I don’t remember much after that.
I only remembered feeling like if I didn’t find a way to lie
down I’d just fall over in a heap.
Just as well, I suppose. This isn’t my story tell anyway. Not
really. I play a small part in it, but Becca is the only one who
knows the entire tale.
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