Seared into Shadow

The Accident Zone Book One

De: K. A. Quinn

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

“Amazingly well-written storyline with intense focus on the strong and powerful world building... absolutely impeccable when it came to creating shocking revelations.” --Ruby Is Reading

“The mysterious elements of surprises and visually captivating narratives...nothing short of exceptional story telling.” --Books and Associates

A city scarred by an unexplained explosion.
A banned book of magick. A hunted librarian.
Can she escape a murderer who can invade dreams?

When a mysterious fusion explosion flattens the city of Macallister's industrial district into a melted wasteland, psychic abilities crop up among the survivors. Among these are Ethan Sullivan, a grieving man determined to find the powerful Occultists responsible for the so-called accident, and Victoria Wight, a librarian who discovers a book about necromancy and a mysterious diary that may be key to understanding what is happening. Both find themselves the target of a stalker who has the power to possess minds and destroy souls. They become swept up in a plot to disable technology… and taking the blame for the destruction.

This is the first in a trilogy detailing the battle for the future of the city of Macallister and the very souls of its residents as strange accidents continue to occur and those with psychic abilities come under attack by others with magick as well as the government itself.
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Stunned, Ethan stared off to the side of the road, his mouth opening several times before his voice came to him. “Victoria, we could keep moving. Victoria, do you see where we are?”

“I can’t see, too dark.” He turned her chin forcibly to the right and pointed. The moonlight shone on a chain link barricade that stretched across the road, barbed wire lining the top, holding back the miles of desolation behind it.

Once, a bustling suburb had stood at the edge of the high desert, factories and homes lit around the clock, shops, roads, and parks frequented by families and office workers. Now nothing was left alive for as far as they could see.

No sound broke the haunting silence, not another car, not a bird, not an insect chirping for miles. In the east the moon illuminated the skeletal remains of a factory that stretched for blocks. It looked as if it had been crumbling for centuries. Behind it, the remains of East Macallister lay blasted into a smooth crater.

The area pulsed with the weight of a thousand ghosts, pressing on them with the disorientation of a nightmare. The contrast with the city behind jarred them; turning, they couldn’t see its reassuring lights deep in the valley. They were the only living things left in the world.

All of Ethan’s desire for answers melted away in the face of this graveyard.

Her blank face reflected the shock he felt. He tugged at her sleeve with her good arm and she gathered herself. They both rushed back to the car. The pressure of the place pursued them.

Victoria spun the wheel as the car lurched into reverse. She was muttering something repeatedly under her breath, a mantra of protection, or simply words of encouragement to the old car.

Ethan felt vaguely like he was drunk, his emotions dull and distant. Peering out the window, his nose against the cold glass, he wondered nonsensically if he could see his sister if he looked hard enough. Macallister Pharmaceutical was several miles away, within the epicenter's crater, and he swore he saw a faint shimmering from that direction, as if the ground itself were luminous.

Victoria’s driving tore his eyes away from the spot as she snapped the car back onto the deserted highway toward the airport.

“Just a few more minutes,” she muttered to herself, as if a few minutes would really save them or take all Ethan’s horror away. Anne was already dead, and soon they would join her.