Guarded Wish
Guarded
Trilogy Book 1
by
Addison Carmichael
Genre:
YA Fantasy Romance
HER
MOST GUARDED AND DARKEST WISH COME TRUE—
18-year-old
Sandy Koufax makes an impossible birthday wish that her perfect
fantasy guy Peter would somehow come to life. She then re receives a
cupcake with a notecard that reads:
Happy
Birthday, Sandy.
Make
a wish.
I
promise it will come true.
And
you know I always keep my promises
—Love
always, Peter.
Then
Sandy begins spotting him around her new home in San Francisco. Just
when Sandy finally meets this gorgeous doppelganger Mick Barron and
her life starts to make sense again, the real Peter warns her in yet
another nighttime dream there was indeed someone who was able to
punch through the dimensional veil between their worlds—an assassin
contracted to hunt down and kill her. This assassin is a mimic able
to take on the image of any person—her coworkers, friends and even
her new boyfriend Mick. Now Sandy doesn’t know who she can believe
or trust, why this otherworldly hunter wants to kill her, or who can
and will help her escape him. Now Sandy doesn’t know who she can
believe or trust. Or why this otherworldly assassin wants to kill
her. Or who can and will help her escape him.
When the hunter at last finds and tries to kill her, Mick Barron miraculously appears from nowhere and rescues her. After a terrifying chase, they finally lose he, and Mick explains who this assassin is—a lethal hunter contracted by her father and evil dictator from their world of Noma. Where he is from, confessing that he is her Peter (Mikkel Petros), and that somehow she was able to break through and bring him here to her world.
This is when Sandy finally learns that she is the only hope for their world’s ultimate survival and end of her father’s genocidal schemes.
Excerpt:
Could I
ever believe in the impossible again?
Maybe it was just time for me to finally grow up and put away childish
things, which included Peter.
At my
continued silence, he exhaled heavily.
“Fair enough, I suppose. Then I
need to take you someplace in case I can never break through again and our
connection is severed forever. Will you
let me take you there?”
Of
course, I answer. I would go to the ends
of the world and back with him, as we did many times in my dreams throughout
the years. Those were the most exciting
adventures we shared.
He
slides his arms around my waist and holds me tightly against his hard
body. We fit together perfectly, two
puzzle pieces locking into place. The
feel of him folding against me at every angle is hot and delicious. I could stay there in his arms all night.
He
whispers in my ear, “Then close your eyes, beautiful girl. And whatever you do—don’t look, and don’t let
go!”
To make
sure I don’t peek, he bends down and gives me such a deep, mind-blowing kiss
that opening my eyes is impossible. An
icy rush of wind swirls around us, while every inch of my body sparks with
aching need. I would gladly continue kissing
him several more minutes, hours, but as usual he breaks apart first with a
husky chuckle.
“Okay,
Andeleal,” he says, tracing my jaw with the tips of his fingers. “Open them.”
I clear
my throat and blink hard, trying to regain my wobbly bearings. When I’m steady and everything comes more
into focus, I see that we aren’t outside my bedroom at midnight, but on the
glittering golden sand of a coastline at dawn.
I
survey our weird surroundings. It’s like
nothing anyone could have imagined—trees of the oddest shapes and foliage,
bizarre wildflowers in colorful patches everywhere, distant mountains capped
with pale blue-white snow. But it’s the
rock formations on the nearby grassy hill that grabs and holds my attention.
No, not
rocks, I finally make out—ruins. Cracked
crystal and white pearlesque beams that refract the morning light in streams of
brilliant rainbows. Enormous broken
walls with aged carvings slowly being claimed by moss and vines. It went up the hill for at least a quarter
mile. Whatever it once was must have
been enormous and fiercely grand.
“Where
are we?” I ask with amazement.
“Your
real home, Andeleal,” Peter says, grasping both of my hands in his. “And someday, somehow you will save it.”
“Me? No, I can’t do anything,” I say.
He
grips my fingers harder. “You can. It’s been prophesied. He was never worried before, never believed
the ancient stories. Not until he
discovered your existence. Now he fears
you’ll come and break his hold on our world and destroy him, so he’s determined
to find and kill you first.”
“What? Who?” I ask.
“Our
spy says that he might have even discovered a way to punch through the veil to
get to your world, so you must find a way to pull me through first. Only then can I protect you.”
I’m
furious at the taunt. He knows I want
him to truly exist. I would’ve done
everything to make him real, to help him cross any barriers between us so that
we could finally be together forever.
But
then I always wake up. Alone.
Peter
shakes his head as if reading my thoughts.
“I know I failed you once, but I swear on my life I will not again. If only you can find a way to believe in me
again, I know you can pull me through.
You’re older now, Andeleal.
Stronger. I know you possess the
Gift.”
Tears
well, sting. I want to believe in him
again, so much. I just didn’t know if I
still had it in me to take that gigantic leap of faith.
His
image begins to fade, making my stomach drop.
No! He can’t go! He can’t!
Somehow I sensed this is the very last time I would ever see him
again. That he would forever fade away
into all those lost childhood dreams we all lose when we finally grow up.
I have
to find a way to stop him from leaving!
I have to find a way…
His
fingers on my jaw feel as thin as mist.
“Believe in me again, Andeleal.
Bring me over. You have to find a
way...”
Guarded Heart
Guarded Trilogy Book 2
It's
been a year since Andee Peter's father unsuccessfully sent an
assassin through the dimensional veil to hunt down and kill her on
earth, and she's been living incognito with her Guardian Prime
boyfriend Mick Barron in Roundup, Montana ever since. Now her
Iroment king father, Lydon tel-Mortem, kidnapped her foster sister
with the threat to kill the little girl unless Andee crosses the
divide and faces him on their home planet of Noma where his own power
is strongest.
But
in the process of sending her military guardian to rescue Marie,
Andee falls down the dimensional rabbit hole and finds herself in
Noma instead--alone.
Not
in the modern metropolis of Umbrey she aimed for either, but in the
wilds of neutral territory.
There
she's captured by a band of rebels led by a young, attractive
mountain man who determines to find out who this young foreign
woman really is. And Leotner c-Tallega doesn't plan to release
Andee until she divulges her true identity--tempting her ways
that makes her want to confess to all kinds of things she didn't do.
Excerpt:
My wrists were cuffed behind me, my ankle restraint diffusing any supernatural abilities I possessed as I was marched up a winding dark crystal staircase, through massive rooms and down long hallways before reaching enormous, intricately carved double doors.
They opened to another futuristic-ancient mashup style of what looked to be a throne room complete with a jewel encrusted seat on the raised silver dais. But it was the imposing man who sat on it that made my stomach sink.
He was exactly as I remembered him from my nightmares with his red gleaming hair that reached to his shoulders, deadly cobalt blue eyes, and the thin hooked scar on his deceptively handsome face, looking no older than his early thirties. His armor-like clothes were black and sleek, and a single dark band sat around his head.
I didn’t realize I had halted until one of the soldiers shoved me hard from behind with the butt of his weapon. I whipped my head around to sneer at him. Not intimidated, he motioned for me to walk forward, stopping me just before I reached the wide platform steps.
I glared up at the High Ruler of Iroment standing above me. I had no doubt who he was, what he was to me. We looked too much alike to deny it.
“Daughter,” Lydon tel-Mortem greeted, a cruel smile curving his lips.
“Evil father,” I returned.
“I’ve been expecting you,” he said. “My thanks. You are right on time.”
On time?
His grin widened, reading my confusion. That’s when all the puzzle pieces snapped into place, stopping my breath.
There had been no accidents, no mishaps or coincidences. This man was a brilliant strategist even by Nomian super-genius standards. He had planned everything to happen exactly as it did, accurately predicting every move of every pawn and rook and knight and queen he ingeniously placed on the chessboard, including myself.
We were all fooled.
I, most of all. Because I should have expected this of him. My mother had warned me. He was the lethal hunter of my worst nightmares after all.
And I was his prized prey—finally caught.
Through me he would gain the crown of Umbrey and topple the balance of powers. Now he could become the ultimate ruler of Noma, and his first dictate would be to kill off a third of this world’s population. Those remaining he planned to control with an iron rod and a cold heart, and there was nothing I could do about it.
Unless I could somehow figure out a way to escape him.
Then I would work to make everything right again.
I owed it to my people, my worlds, both old and new.
But in order to do this, I needed to take a hard look at where I went wrong, my first step forward that led me further and further into his final trap. And I realized it was the afternoon of my birthday, the day I finally stopped looking over my shoulder and ignorantly let my guard down.
They opened to another futuristic-ancient mashup style of what looked to be a throne room complete with a jewel encrusted seat on the raised silver dais. But it was the imposing man who sat on it that made my stomach sink.
He was exactly as I remembered him from my nightmares with his red gleaming hair that reached to his shoulders, deadly cobalt blue eyes, and the thin hooked scar on his deceptively handsome face, looking no older than his early thirties. His armor-like clothes were black and sleek, and a single dark band sat around his head.
I didn’t realize I had halted until one of the soldiers shoved me hard from behind with the butt of his weapon. I whipped my head around to sneer at him. Not intimidated, he motioned for me to walk forward, stopping me just before I reached the wide platform steps.
I glared up at the High Ruler of Iroment standing above me. I had no doubt who he was, what he was to me. We looked too much alike to deny it.
“Daughter,” Lydon tel-Mortem greeted, a cruel smile curving his lips.
“Evil father,” I returned.
“I’ve been expecting you,” he said. “My thanks. You are right on time.”
On time?
His grin widened, reading my confusion. That’s when all the puzzle pieces snapped into place, stopping my breath.
There had been no accidents, no mishaps or coincidences. This man was a brilliant strategist even by Nomian super-genius standards. He had planned everything to happen exactly as it did, accurately predicting every move of every pawn and rook and knight and queen he ingeniously placed on the chessboard, including myself.
We were all fooled.
I, most of all. Because I should have expected this of him. My mother had warned me. He was the lethal hunter of my worst nightmares after all.
And I was his prized prey—finally caught.
Through me he would gain the crown of Umbrey and topple the balance of powers. Now he could become the ultimate ruler of Noma, and his first dictate would be to kill off a third of this world’s population. Those remaining he planned to control with an iron rod and a cold heart, and there was nothing I could do about it.
Unless I could somehow figure out a way to escape him.
Then I would work to make everything right again.
I owed it to my people, my worlds, both old and new.
But in order to do this, I needed to take a hard look at where I went wrong, my first step forward that led me further and further into his final trap. And I realized it was the afternoon of my birthday, the day I finally stopped looking over my shoulder and ignorantly let my guard down.
Book
3, Guarded Crown is releasing October 2018!!
Addison
Carmichael is a self-proclaimed literature junkie, having read most
of the classics from Jane Austen and Charles Dickens to Melville and
Shakespeare by the sixth grade—all for fun!
She
loves hiding many literature Easter eggs for her readers in the
stories she writes (look for many from Lewis Carroll and J.M. Barrie
in the Guarded series).
Attending
Irvine Valley College and Mt. San Antonio College for degrees in
Literature, English, and History, she has published 12 short stories
in national periodicals. Guarded Wish is her debut novel in the
Guarded trilogy series.
A
native of Southern California, she has lived all over the west coast,
now making her home with her family in Snohomish, Washington.
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