Coral and Bone
By: Tiffany Daune
Release Date: July 7, 2014
Young Adult, Paranormal
Synopsis
Halen knows the sparks igniting under her fingertips are dangerous. She has spent her entire life trying to quell the tingly feelings that make her destroy things, but now that she is back in Rockaway Beach, where she watched her father drown, the flames have become impossible to tame.
Halen is trying to hold on, but when she is thrust into a mysterious new world, the underwater realm of Elosia, she unravels the secrets of her past and can't help but ignite. As she explores Elosia, she realizes her life has been a lie. And when those who have deceived her come to her for help, Halen must choose—walk away or unleash the magick that could destroy them all.
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Excerpt
Sketching his crooked smile had become a habit for Halen, not easily tamed. Flipping through
her notebook, the boy’s gray eyes flashed back from the pages—almost one hundred drawings
in three months. She turned to a blank page, not caring if the teacher noticed, and set the tip
of her pencil on the paper. Closing her eyes, she knew the boy would be there. He never kept
her waiting. His face flashed into view. His forehead was creased in the center, and his usually
full lips were pressed with a tight line. Her fingertips sparked, and when she opened her eyes,
her hand was already penciling in the edges of his jawline. Halen sketched him quickly; she was
familiar with the hallow of his cheeks which dimpled when he smiled, and how one side of his
jaw was a little more round than square, and how his nose hooked ever so slightly as if it had
been broken at one time and had not been set properly. His imperfections were perfection.
As she shaded the rims of his eyes with deep charcoal halos, she longed to climb into the
page, and asked him what was bothering him. She had a lot of questions for him. Finding a page
filled with his broad smile, she smiled inside. As her fingertips brushed his lips, she bit back her
own.
If only—if only you were real.
Halen first drew the mystery boy the morning of the move. Coming back to Rockaway Beach
was a nightmare, so when she had woken from a dream with the boy's face etched inside her
eyelids, and her fingertips igniting with sparks, she feared the worse. She knew the sparks were
a warning; she had fought the flickering flames her whole life. There was more to this boy,
more than she cared to admit. There was more to Rockaway Beach than she cared to face.
The boy smiled knowingly.
Like you care. With a sweep of her hand she drew a long
handlebar moustache under his nose. Then tearing the page from her book, she crumpled it
in her fist. Instantly, her palm warmed as if she were holding a hot stone. Only she knew the
heat was coming from inside her. She quickly scanned the classroom. Most of her classmates
were still filling in the test answers, with penciled circles. A few students were reading. Her
fingertips flickered with heat, and she dropped the paper, fearful it might combust in her hand.
She hadn't set anything on fire, not in a long time, and she wasn't about to start. She shook her
hands by her side, and as she did, a jolt of pain gripped her wrists.
Halen. A whispered voice brushed her ear.
She spun around. Toby Creston shot her an annoyed glare as he shielded his score sheet
with his arm. As if she would copy his answers. She sucked at algebra, but she had studied;
Toby Creston would be lucky if he figured out how to fill the circles in.
Haaaalennnn.
A searing pain spread up her arms, and she inhaled a sharp breath. She whipped around
to face the front of the class. Mr. Ajax sat with his long nose wedged between the pages of his
book. He peered over the rim of his catlike glasses when she let out a gasp.
HalenHalenHalenHalenHalenHalenHalenHalenHalenHalenHalen.
Beating like the thunderous wings of a thousand birds, the whispers swarmed her thoughts.
Her fingertips pressed the squishy foam nestled in her ears.
No way. She couldn't take her
earplugs out. Her earplugs were her salvation, the only things keeping her from blacking out.
Besides the sparks, sound had become her enemy since moving back to Rockaway. Her mom's
diagnosis—stress. "You're suppressing your grief," she had said. "You have to let yourself have
a good cry." Her mom overestimated the power of tears. Halen's father's bones lay in a bed of
sand—tears would never bring him back—tears would never drown the fire raging inside her.
Tears would not save her now.
The chants grew louder, now drilling into every crevice of her mind. She pounded the sides
of her head. The blond girl beside her scooted her desk away from her, shooting her an evil
glare.
Stop! Halen begged as the whispers hammered her brain. She didn't have a choice, she had
to...
She tore the earplugs from her ears. At once the chanting ceased, only now to be replaced
with the chaotic clatter of the classroom. The blond girl now tapped her pencil on her desk.
The metal eraser band hitting the desktop sounded like a jackhammer. She could hear the click
clack of some other student's gum, and the strike of a pointed heal on the linoleum floor. Toby
Creston's heavy breath was a rush of howling wind. The sounds united with the next student,
and then the next, until the whole classroom exploded with a deafening cry. Halen fought to
hold on as the classroom blackened around her. She caught the word
freak, someone calling for
Mr. Ajax, and the blond girl shrieking. The last sound Halen heard was the thud of her skull as
her forehead slammed against the desktop.
Author Bio
I write stories about magick, love and dark creatures lurking in the shadows. When I'm not lost in Edit Land you can find me reading a book from my towering TBR pile or at the movie theater nibbling licorice. I don't have a lucky number, but my favorite time is 11:11. I completely believe that the fortunes found inside cookies will come true and that you must be careful when wishing on stars. I live on an island, so if you want to visit you'll need a boat, and if you want to survive the passage, be sure to bring candy for the mermaids.
Q & A with Tiffany Daune
Can you tell me a little bit about your book and what inspired it?
I love mermaids and magick, so I thought why not bring them together. Of course I couldn't
leave out shape shifters and sirens. I love fantasy realms and worlds. Heck my husband says
I live in one, so why not write about one. Coral & Bone is set in the Earth realm and the
underwater realm of Elosia. Coral & Bone is a meld of all my years of watching Disney movies
and thrillers.
Why mermaids?
You know when someone reads you a story as a child and it sticks with you forever? Hans
the Disney version. But, it wasn't until I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean on Stranger Tides
did I find my mermaid muse for Coral & Bone.
When did you know that you wanted to write professionally and how did you take the leap to
get into the business?
I started writing with the intent of publishing five years ago. I faced a lot of rejection letters, but
I kept submitting and writing, until I received my first contract for Surface. Unfortunately, my
publisher closed, and I had to start over. So, instead of resubmitting Surface, I wrote Coral &
Bone and decided to self-publish.
Your first book SURFACE was published with a traditional publisher and CORAL & BONE was
self-published, did you enjoy self-publishing and would you do it again?
There are pros and cons to both methods. A lot of writers are choosing a blended method
and I think that's a great way to go. I loved every bit of the process, but it was a lot of work. I
was fortunate to have a great team of women working on Coral & Bone. I was blessed to have
Alix Reid as an editor. She worked for Harper Collins for 12 years, and then the very talented
Nathalia Suellen created the cover. Lastly, Tamara Cribley designed the inside. With this team, I
would definitely do it again.
Can you see your work on the big screen?
I think most writers would love to see their work on the big screen. I’m a visual person, so when
I write I’m already watching the movie play through my head. I’m just recording what I see.
Coral & Bone is full of rich imagery. It would be amazing to see the three realms and watch the
drama unfold within each.
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