Everlasting
Candace Knoebel
What if your destiny lay on the other side of death?
The annual Culling ceremony is a day every coming-of-age novice looks forward to within the Primeval Coven. It’s the start to being initiated into the Night Watchmen, humankind’s protectors, and it’s the long-awaited day when novices discover if they’re a Hunter or a Witch.
But this day is not a happy one for Faye Middleton. Not when she’s known her whole life that she’s a Defect and is about to face banishment in front of her fellow novices. She’s forced to attend the Culling with little hope for her future, but what she discovers about herself is far worse than she could’ve imagined. And far more dangerous.
Thrown into training and separated from her friends, Faye must learn to adjust. She struggles to find her place within the Coven, and with Jaxen Gramm, the darkly handsome and extremely unnerving man assigned to watch and protect her. Emotions run high, and when she discovers a deadly secret about him, her struggles deepen. As corruption within the Coven begins to unravel, Faye pieces together her role in saving the future of her people, and within Jaxen’s life...but will the truth save her, or be her undoing?
Hello!! Today I have an awesome Dreamcast post for you today, for Candace Knoebel's latest release, Everlasting. Hope you enjoy!
I only have a few actors lined up, but I do have photos I
went off of for inspiration. I use Pinterest a lot for finding characters and
for describing scenes.
Faye Hadley Middleton:
Jaxen Reade Gramm:
Jezibelle Beaumont:
Gavin Amery Gramm:
Cassandra Reed:
Katie Rose Coccia:
Maddock Jacobsen:
Weldon Jacobsen:
Bael:
About The AuthorCandace Knoebel is the award-winning author of Born in Flames-a young adult fantasy trilogy.
Published by 48fourteen in 2012, Born in Flames went on to win Turning the Pages Book of the Year award in February of 2013. Embracing the Flames, the second in the trilogy, is scheduled for release in the summer of 2013. Candace Knoebel discovered through lunch breaks and late nights after putting her kids to bed, a world where she could escape the ever-pressing days of an eight to five Purgatory. Since then, she crawled out of Purgatory and has devoted her time to writing and sometimes heelying.
Facebook ~ Goodreads ~ @candaceknoebel
From
Chapter 3
“This way,” Nathaniel says from the side of the
stage. We’re like cows being herded into individual pens to await sacrifice.
There are closed-in cubicles constructed backstage, and each of us is placed in
one without a word of guidance or encouragement.
“Wait a second,” I say as I try to scan down the
row one last time for Katie, but I’m shoved into my cubicle and the door shuts,
enclosing me in between four confining walls with only the light of a lamp. I
drag my hands down the fabric of the walls until I fall down into my seat. I
tug on my braid again and again and again. Calm down. Breathe. Calm down.
I chant this over and over again, imagining that Katie’s the one who’s coaching
me. I shut my eyes and am back in her room. The scent of her perfume overwhelms
the small space, but instead of making me sneeze, it comforts me. It makes my
imagined state more real.
I hear loud clapping coming from off the stage
and know someone must’ve just gone. They obviously weren’t a Defect. No one
wants a Defect at their ceremony. A voice shouts, “Let’s go, Todd Jenson. It’s
time to meet your partner.” I wonder if it was Katie on stage. I wonder if he’s
her partner. I wonder this through eighteen more times worth of clapping and
cheering and name calling. Anytime now, they’ll open my door and force me to
stand before the crowd, force me to touch the quartz, force me to face my peers
in shame. If they deem me a Defect, I’ll be the first this Culling, and most
likely the only.
I twist my hands into knots and think about my parents.
They have to be out there by now. I’m going to walk out there and they’re going
to be in the front row smiling. I open my eyes. Four walls. They’re closing in
on me. They’re suffocating me. I have to get out.
“Faye Middleton?” The door opens and air rushes
in. I draw sharply on it as the cheering continues. Another novice and her new
partner walk off stage. It’s the girl with black hair. She’s coyly looking at
him from under her lashes. He looks pissed.
Nathaniel guides me forward, and I want to yank
my arm from him. I want to tell him I left my courage back in that cubicle, but
I don’t. I can’t. My lips are glued shut by fear. My knees have turned into two
extremities of doubt, and I know I’m going to fall. I’m going to forget how to
speak.
Steel blue eyes find mine from across the stage.
Elder Maddock. He bows ever so slightly in my direction, his eyes seeking past
my outer appearance. I wonder if he knows who I am. He has to. I stop right
before him and feel like a bird trapped in a cage. I can’t escape the thousands
of eyes studying me. I can’t escape the hundreds of assumptions building me
into something I’m not.
“Faye Middleton,” he says, his voice eager and
curious. There’s a friendly lightness in his voice I don’t expect, a sound that
makes me feel safe and comfortable under his gaze. He has thick, golden brown
hair combed neatly over to the side and back, showing off the squared planes of
his face. He looks much younger than he should, but older than my father. “Are
you ready to begin?”
I turn to the crowd and scan desperately for my
parents. Eyes. There are so many eyes. Too many. They form together, creating
an awful monster that wants to swallow me whole. I can’t find them. The eyes
have hidden them from me. I’m all alone. I try to swallow, but my mouth is so
dry. I bite the inside of my cheek, curbing the need to release tears.
The Witch standing next to him says, “Faye, he
asked you a question.”
I take in a tight breath and force myself to look
away and back at Maddock. “I’m sorry,” I whisper, my stomach twisting a little
tighter.
He pretends not to notice the panic I’m sure my
face is masked in and offers me the kindest, most patient smile. “Everyone is
nervous on the day of the Culling,” he says knowingly. “I was a wreck the day
of mine.”
Polite laughter comes from the audience, and I
feel myself relax just enough so that I can breathe again.
He offers me a small wink…a knowing sort of wink, and says, “Your
parents will be proud.” He says these words carefully, evenly, and I know he’s
trying to tell me something. They’re okay? He’s aware of who I am. “So
are you ready to begin?”
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