READ THE FIRST TWO CHAPTERS: In Restless Dreams, by Wren Handman
Happy Sunday! This Tuesday, readers will discover what happens when prep school student, Sylvia, finds herself wielding an incredible magic and caught between two Faerie Courts. For now, you can catch the first TWO CHAPTERS of Wren Handman's YA Fantasy, In Restless Dreams, here on our blog!
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CHAPTER ONE
"You what?” I hate the way my voice cracks. I wish I could make him think I didn’t care. Of
course, if wishing could make it so, I would probably wish for him not to be breaking up with me,
instead of just wishing I was handling it better.
“I think we need some space. Y’know, to like... Rethink
things.” Tommy runs a hand through his hair, an excuse to
stare down at his feet instead of into my dangerously teary
eyes. Please, God, don’t let me cry. As if being broken up
with in the corner of an immensely crowded room while
music blares around you isn’t bad enough, I am not going
to cry in front of every person that I know.
“Space. Like... like breaking-up space, or like going-to-
the-cottage-for-the-weekend space?” As if I don’t know the
answer. We’ve only been going out for a few weeks, so it’s
not like my heart is breaking in my chest—but the public
humiliation might kill me even if the break-up doesn’t.
Tommy doesn’t answer, which I know means the answer is
obvious, but I stand there like an idiot waiting for him to
say something. Finally, the silence becomes so awkward he
clears his throat just to make a noise. I think if I talk I might start crying,
so I just keep my mouth shut.
“The first one,” he finally mutters. “Sorry.”
“And you really thought the middle of Trisha’s birthday
was the right time for this conversation?”
It feels good to get mad instead of weepy, so I go with it. People on the
dance floor are starting to pay attention to us, and I can feel
my hands balling into fists at my sides. Alice is giving me
‘concerned face,’ and she looks threateningly ready to come
over here.
“Yeah, well, Leanne sorta asked if I wanted to dance,
and I didn’t want to, like, cheat or anything, so I figured we
should talk. I’d kinda been thinking about it for a while,
you know?”
“You’re breaking up with me for Leanne? Leanne
Planter?” Okay, that was definitely a shriek, and now
people are definitely looking at us. Including Leanne.
“Syl, c’mon. Calm down,” Tommy hisses, turning his
body away from the room and shielding me partially from
view.
“Whatever. Just. . .just whatever,” I tell him, and shove
ungracefully past. I can feel his eyes on my back as I storm
out of the room, my cheeks hot as half of the crowd
watches me go. What a disaster.
Tonight was supposed to be the best night of my year.
Trisha McBride is the richest girl in our school, and when
Daddy’s little princess turns sixteen, he throws her one
heck of a party. Her whole house is done up like some
fairytale dream, with those little twinkling lights wrapped
around the banister and along the borders of the rooms.
There’s an actual band playing in the living room (okay,
they go to our high school, but they’re pretty good), and
Tommy and Bruce got their brother to buy beer. There’s
even a swimming pool in the backyard, and a big bonfire
where people are roasting marshmallows and goofing off
under the stars. For the first time in my entire high school
life, I actually have a date to a party, and Alice helped me
tame my curls into this unbelievably beautiful French
braid, and I saved up my allowance for five months to buy
this dress, and now I’m alone in the backyard trying not to
cry because I chose to date a guy for his looks instead of his
brains. What a total disaster.
“Oh my God, what the hell just happened?” Alice demands, bursting
through the door behind me. She looks ready to pummel someone and is
clearly just waiting for my word to make it so. God, I love her.
“Tommy broke up with me,” I mutter, wiping tears out
of my eyes.
“He what? Why?”
“So he can dance with Leanne.” Is that a tinge of bitter-
ness in my voice? Why, yes, I think it is. I’m thinking some
very unkind things about Tommy, one of which pops out of
Alice’s mouth. I widen my eyes, laughing despite myself.
“Alice!”
“Well, he is. Anyway, you don’t need him. You are so
above him.” She whips hair out of her face in an impatient
gesture, and I hear someone around the bonfire call out her
name. She ignores them, her attention concentrated wholly
on me, and I’m grateful and uncomfortable all at once. I
really don’t want to cry, and all this sympathy is sure to do
me in. I just need to get out of here, go home and wallow
where no one can see me.
“Thanks, but you kind of have to think that. Best friend
and all.”
“Oh come on, don’t tell me you’re going to let him ruin
your night! You are a sixteen-year-old bombshell, and I
know every eligible guy here.” Alice tilts her floppy black
hat down low over her eyes and makes like she’s scanning
the crowd. She’s wearing an outfit that she claims is
mimicking Annie Hall; she was downright horrified when I
told her I had no idea who that was.
“Everyone knows every eligible guy here. We’ve been
going to school with them since first grade.” I lace my arm
through hers and kiss her on the cheek. “Goodnight,
Alice.”
“How are you gonna get home?”
“I’ll walk.” I start walking back inside, and she follows
me. As soon as we pass through the door, we have to raise
our voices to be heard over the band. On second thought,
they aren’t that good—the bass player can’t keep rhythm,
and the lead singer sounds like he has a cold.
“It’s dark.”
“It’s Topaz Lake. I think I can handle a twenty-minute
walk.”
“Down the highway. Alone?”
“Alice, I—” I completely forget what I was going to say
as I see Tommy and Leanne grinding in the middle of the
dance floor. I don’t think I could make my body move like
that if I had all my bones removed. I’m gonna be sick. I
hurry through the press of the crowd and out the front
door, Alice hot on my heels.
“You don’t even know if your mom will be home! Isn’t
Eric out at a friend’s house? Maybe she went out for the
night.”
“To where? The only choices are pretty much the casino
or Junction Bar, and she has no money and doesn’t drink.
Goodnight, Alice.”