The following is an excerpt from guest author Jazzlyn Silva’s forthcoming dystopian YA novel called Phoenix Awakening. The story is set in an alternate future where certain “subjects” are chosen for experimental cognitive and memory testing.
If you were a fan of Veronica Roth’s Divergent Series, you’ll definitely want to give this one a read!
Prologue
Nobody was following her.
“Come on before I leave all of you!” Phoenix yelled over her shoulder. “At this rate the ice will melt before we all make it over!”
Her boyfriend, Carter, rolled his eyes and playfully chased after her. She picked up her pace, even though her brother, Daniel, was still helping his girlfriend Cassandra out of the car.
Their giggles were whipped by the winter wind, and her boot crunched in the snow as she came across Phantom Lake, a circular body of water frozen to the touch and surrounded by the hundreds of shades of green evergreens.
Phoenix smiled as she finally made it to its edge, bending over in laughter as she tried to catch her breath.
“You know I hate when you chase me! Jesus, Carter!”
Carter laughed as he came up behind her and patted her back as he too leaned forward to catch his breath.
“I know you hate it, Nix. That's why it’s fun.”
Phoenix scoffed, responding by playfully shoving at his side. Carter dodged and made a run for it over the ice, and Phoenix was about to chase after him when she heard her name.
“Phoenix!” Daniel called out. “I swear to God, if you fuckin slip and kill yourself, I’m gonna lose it.”
“Yeah, yeah, Daniel. That’s exactly what’s gonna happen. And then I’ll just have to watch you from above ‘cause that sounds like fun,” Phoenix sent back sarcastically, but she didn’t run out onto the ice.
She knew her brother was only worried about her safety, and she didn’t want to make him upset with Cassandra around. She knew it embarrassed her older brother when she did. She wasn’t gonna be the cause of another embarrassing incident.
Daniel and Cassandra made it to her at the lake’s side, and Daniel gave a silent it’s okay by squeezing her shoulder and sliding their skates from his shoulder. Phoenix looked up at him, silent and apologetic. He responded by handing her her skates.
“Don’t just stand there,” he retorted back to her. “At this rate the ice will melt.”
Phoenix rolled her eyes, a silent fuck you, and took her skates, sliding off her boots and replacing them with the skates. Carter had returned with his as well, and sat next to her in the snow as he sludged off his cowboy boots and pulled on his.
“This is Seattle,” she looked at his boots incredulously, “It still amazes me that you continue to own cowboy boots despite the fact that you moved here from Texas, what, two years ago?” she shoved his head playfully, and Carter simply chuckled.
“I left Texas,” he told her very seriously, placing a hand over his heart. "Texas didn’t leave me.”
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| Carter will always be a Texas cowboy at heart 🤠|
“You certainly act like it. I now know what it’s like to date a state.”
“Shut up.”
“You shut up.”
“Make me.”
Phoenix smiled and brought his face to hers, and as their lips met she felt at peace and happy, all at once. He pulled back, and Phoenix watched his eyes filter up above her head. He suddenly raised his hands up from her waist in a mock surrender, pulling back.
“I’m off, I’m off.”
“Yeah, keep it that way, Tex, to hell with your Southern charm,” she heard her brother say behind her. “I'll bench you faster than you can fuckin lasso a bull or whatever the hell you people do down there if you don’t keep this PG.”
“Hey,” Cassandra chimed in as she slid off her sneakers. “Give them a break. They’re in love. It’s cute.”
Daniel scoffed. “To hell it is!”
“Wait, ‘Lasso a bull’? Really?” Carter chuckled as he stood, helping Phoenix up. “What are you gonna say next, Captain, ‘faster than you can say yeehaw and pull up oil.’? You know Coach is also from Texas, right?”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Pull up, kid. Just keep it clean.”
“You keep it clean!” Carter pointed to Cassandra’s exposed foot, her skate in Daniel’s hand. “Premarital feet holding! You dog!”
Cassandra waggled her foot in Daniel’s face, and the four of them laughed. Daniel shook his head as he laced up Cassandra’s skate.
“Yeah and that better be the only premarital thing happening. Now get on the ice, Cowboy! Jesus!”
Carter scoffed in mock hurt and turned to Phoenix, flashing her that rueful smile she adored and pulling her onto the ice with him. She found her balance in an instant, and a smile illuminated her face as Carter twirled her, releasing her into her own spin, her brown hair flying in her face.
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| Phoenix enjoys ice skating with the people she loves |
She was happy.
Winter had come and she was with the boy she loved and the boy she knew would protect her from anything, and everything was—
Sirens. Blaring sirens. She yelped in pain, falling to her knees and holding her head in her hands as her body skidded across the ice.
What the hell, she thought to herself. What the hell?
She looked up, and it was as if someone had pressed a pause button. Everything had stopped: Carter stopped, his hand reaching out for her, one leg lifted as if about to step forward; Daniel and Cassandra were motionless too, their bodies poised in the middle of a twirl. Everything had suddenly froze in place except her.
And then just like someone had pressed the rewind button and suddenly pressed play, their movements sped up, stopped, and started again with a loud crack, punctuated with Carter and Daniel’s simultaneous yells.
Before she knew it, her head was submerged in water icy enough to kill and her world went from foggy to black in a matter of moments.
And just like that, everything she thought she knew was gone.
