The In-Between: A Dark Fantasy/Paranormal Thriller: Chronicles of The Fallen One, #1

Prologue 

He woke up disoriented , blistering heat blasting all over his exposed skin. He tried to sit up but failed. His entire body ached. Feeling defeated, he just lay on the hard ground, panting. The air was humid and thick, making it uncomfortable to breathe. He had no recollection of where he was or what had happened to him. Peering out through blurry eyes that caked with sand, he saw a world on fire. What was going on? He wondered. The last thing he remembered was camping with his family. A million questions bombarded his mind. Had the bonfire gotten out of hand? Was there a forest fire? Oh god! He thought. Had his dad's propane tank exploded? Concerned for his family, he tried to sit up again, but the vertical motion caused him intense pain that he passed out instead.

Waking up the second time was far worse than the first. Along with the heat and pain, he now heard strange growling sounds coming from all around him. He knew bears frequented the area they were camping in, but these growls sounded off. It didn't matter what was making the noise; he was defenseless and needed to move. Adrenaline pumping, he managed to roll over onto his stomach and army crawl across the harsh sand. Scared and unable to see clearly, he aimed for the cover of what looked like woods. Once he made it under the thick canopy of trees, he took a few deep breaths before rolling onto his back again. It was painful, but he did it. Laying there, he tried to calm down and think. The last thing he remembered was unpacking the tent with his dad. Then, nothing. Did he have a concussion? He felt nauseous, wondering where everyone else was.

Something wet tickled his toes. Looking up, he saw a wall of blue fog rolling in towards him. Rubbing his hands over his eyes, he tried to see it more clearly. The mist appeared to be glowing, but that couldn't be, right? He needed to find somewhere to clean up and wash all the gunk out of his eyes.

The fog moved in closer, slowly creeping up his body until it enveloped him completely. At first, the cold air felt nice against his warm skin. Then his lungs constricted violently. Rolling back over onto his stomach, he choked and coughed into the dirt. Grabbing onto his neck, he gasped as his throat began to close in on itself.  Staring out into the woods, he prayed for help. Feeling his consciousness fade away, he fought to keep his eyes open. It was useless. He had no strength left. Before the world went completely dark, he saw the silhouette of enormous white wings coming towards him through the fog.

Chapter 1

It was the middle of December, freezing, and Ava Chase was miserable. Her family had recently relocated them to a new school, in a new town, with a new so-called life. All the changes may have been exciting for some, but all they caused were stress and anxiety for her. Change was her enemy, and this move was proving to be the biggest battle of her entire seventeen years.

A few months prior, her parents had decided to move them away from her childhood home in Florida to the frozen state of Colorado. Fox Field Colorado, to be exact. Just arriving at the airport had been a shock to the senses. In her opinion, whoever thought it was a good idea to put a giant purple horse with red laser beam eyes as a welcoming statue should be fired.  It didn't help that the move was taking place in mid-December, the peak of winter. Florida was so hot and humid; it sometimes seemed ridiculous that human beings could even survive there.  But now, so far away from home, she found herself missing the sweltering heat. Bye, Bye bikinis, hello ginormous fuzzy parkas. Well, parkas were a stretch, but still, there was a lot of claustrophobic layering going on.

Her eighteenth birthday was in three days. The age of freedom that every teen usually looked forward to. Except, this year, she didn't feel like celebrating. Turning the big one-eight without her best friend Kat was more than just depressing; it was tragic. Saying goodbye to her had been the worst part of the move, and Ava wasn't sure she could ever forgive her parents for splitting them up. They had phone and FaceTime dates, but it wasn't the same as seeing Kat's face in person. Nothing was the same. 

Fox Field was just a tiny blip on the map, and she couldn't stand the small-town feel of the place. The town consisted of a handful of residential neighborhoods, three schools (an elementary school, middle school, and high school), one grocery store, one gas station, and three stoplights. Correction, make that two stoplights. That was it! No gym, no salon, no restaurants, no SUSHI! Well, unless you counted Mabel's Mountain Stop as a restaurant, but that was pushing it.  They served food, but nothing Ava considered edible.  The place was just a drinking hole for the truckers passing through town. Fox Field wasn't just an empty town; it was an isolated one. The commute from Fox Field to the hustle and bustle of downtown Denver was at least an hour, if you were speeding, and owned a car, which she currently did not. It was a testament to her power of self-preservation that she hadn’t already died of boredom!

Chapter 2

It was Thursday, just another monotonous day at Lakeside High School. Shutting her locker door, she shoved her math book deep inside her backpack and bolted down the hallway. She was always late to class, and today was no exception. She was staring at the ground, weaving in and out of students, when she accidentally ran face-first into the wall. Embarrassed, she stood still for a moment, praying no one had noticed. Opening her eyes, she expected to find the wall, but instead, a black t-shirt with white writing met her line of vision. Confused, she looked up to find a person, not a wall. Mortified, she jumped backward, tripping over her own feet, before finally landing hard on the ground. Her butt took most of the impact, but the momentum sent her whole body flying backward, and her head hit the wall. Hard! Shocked, she just sat there for a few seconds in silence, breathing deeply. When she finally looked up to apologize to whoever it was, her brain shorted out.

The boy standing over her was beautiful, well, from what she could see of him. Everything was a wee bit fuzzy at the moment. She felt the back of her head, and there was already a good size knot forming. Beautiful sounded like a weird thing to call a guy, she thought. But hot or sexy didn't seem quite right. He was both of those things, in spades, but neither word fit him. He was tall, maybe 6'2, with broad shoulders and a lean muscular build.  His hair was jet black, wavy, and a little unruly, curling up slightly at the ends. The messy look only managed to make him more appealing. His skin was smooth, olive-toned, and stood out in contrast with his dark hair. He had a flat, straight nose and perfectly shaped lips. When their eyes finally met, Ava let out a long breath and continued to sit on the ground, staring up at him like a complete dumbass. She just couldn't look away from his eyes. They were the most mesmerizing shade of green that she'd ever seen. An impossible mix between forest and emerald, framed by thick, dark lashes that most girls would die for. During the last two weeks at Lakeside, she'd never seen him before. His face was unforgettable.

After a lot more uncomfortable staring, she kind of expected him to help her stand up. Instead, he just stood there, arms crossed over his broad chest, glaring down at her.  For a moment, she even swore his eyes were glowing, but that couldn't be right. Inwardly, she reminded herself that she might have a head injury and deemed it best to check in with the nurse before going to class.

You should watch where you're going! he growled.

His voice was deep, with a touch of an accent she was unfamiliar with. Confused, she managed to whisper, yeah, maybe!

Immediately upset with herself for not being more assertive, she added, but what kind of guy knocks a girl over and doesn’t even offer a hand?

Her face felt hot, and she knew it was turning tomato red. It happened whenever she got upset.

She scrambled to pick herself up off the ground before anyone else noticed their exchange. When she finally stood up straight, she felt a slight pain in her left leg. Limping, she stepped closer to him, the top of her head barely reaching his shoulders. For some reason, she still expected him to say, I'm sorry, or my bad, but nope, he just turned around and bolted in the opposite direction. This time, anger gave her a voice. I'll answer my question for you; it starts with a D and ends with the word bag! 

He didn’t turn around. Maybe he thought his good looks made up for his lack of manners. Or maybe, he was just the D-bag she thought he was. Either way, she was insulted by his lack of concern and was now even later to class. Hoping the nurse would give her a pass, she limped down the hallway towards the administration offices, silently cursing her parents for putting her in this situation. The idea of having to finish out high school in this place, with people like him, made her want to cry.  So far, her senior year was turning out to be just peachy. When she reached the administration hub, she found the nurse's office at the very end of the hall. The door was painted red and decorated with a white sign that read,

Headache, try W.O.W.

Water

Oxygen

Wait

She'd never had a headache before but filed the information under her just in case mental file. The door was open, and the nurse was standing over her desk, flipping through a binder. Rapping lightly on the door, she called out, Hello!

The nurse turned around and smiled at her. She was a pretty, petite blonde, probably in her mid-forties.

Good morning. I'm Nurse Elle; come on in and tell me what I can help you with.

Limping over to the small table, she sat down. I slipped in the hallway a few minutes ago and thought I tweaked something in my left leg. I also hit my head, but it doesn't hurt. I just wanted to get checked out before I head to class.

Nurse Elle pulled out a small light pen from the pocket of her coat. I'm so sorry to hear that. Let's give you a good look-see.

The nurse flashed the light in her left eye and then the right while asking, Look up, down, left, and right for me.

Then she felt around her head, behind both ears, and down both sides of her neck. You have a big knot on the back of your head. Do you have a headache, blurred vision, nausea, or feel confused?

Currently, she didn’t have any of those symptoms, but that rude boy had seemed a little fuzzy right after she’d hit her head. Then again, she also thought his eyes were glowing. Deciding it was probably better to keep that information to herself, she lied. No!

Good! Nurse Elle replied, Now, let’s have a look at that leg.

Nurse Elle carefully lifted her leg into the air, turning it to the left and then to the right, Is there any pain when I do this?

Wincing, she said, A little when you turn it to the right.

Nurse Elle nodded, I think you bruised your left hip, and it's causing a little discomfort in your leg. I don't think it's anything serious, but have your parents take you to the doctor if the pain is worse tomorrow. I'm going to grab an ice pack. I want you to sit here for fifteen minutes, icing that side, and then let me know if you feel good enough to go back to class. If not, I'll go ahead and contact your parents.

She cringed at the thought of calling her parents. Her mom was working in Denver, and her dad was busy with a ton of jobs that day. Not wanting to burden either of them, she lied to the nurse fifteen minutes later and said she was okay. As she headed back to class with her late excuse in hand, her leg and hip still hurt a little, but the limp was gone. Thankfully, she'd always been a fast healer.

Chapter 3

Second-period calculus with Mr. White was her least favorite class. Mr. White had to be the most boring teacher in the history of the world. His incessant talking would drone on and on until the only math problem you could remember was one plus one equals; I want to stab myself in the face. The only positive thing about his class was that Olivia was in it. Since starting school two weeks ago, she had found it difficult to connect with anyone. Partly because of guys like the one this morning and partly because she was super shy. On her first day, when Mr. White had introduced her to the class, Olivia, or Liv as everyone called her, had immediately volunteered to help her learn the ropes. Liv had given her a school tour, helped her find all her classes, and even sat with her at lunch. Liv was sweet, easy-going, friendly, and wait for it, drama-free! That was rare! Liv was a keeper!

As usual, Mr. White was in the middle of a lecture and glared at her as she passed by his desk. She was late all the time, and he was clearly over it. After dropping the yellow excuse slip on his desk, she took her seat.

Morning! she whispered to Liv as she plopped down in her desk chair.

Liv sat behind her and was in the middle of thumbing through her calculus book, looking as confused as Ava felt most days in this class.

Liv was a beautiful girl, with big brown eyes and the cutest little button nose. But poor Liv had astigmatism and was forced to wear coke bottle thick glasses 24/7, that hid most of her pretty face. She had long brown hair that was perfectly straight and perfectly silky smooth. Like, All. The. Time! Hers was a wavy hot mess on a good day. 

Hey girl, Liv whispered back, Is everything okay? I mean, you're always late, but class is almost over. And by the way, is it lunchtime yet? I'm starving?

As Liv said the words aloud, her stomach growled in agreement.

Ava wasn't sure why Liv never ate breakfast. By second period, she was always starving.  After two weeks of the same routine, she came prepared for this very situation. Pulling a granola bar out of her bag, she tossed it onto Liv's desk. We wouldn’t want famine to take you before lunch.

Liv giggled. A little too loudly, causing Mr. White to turn around from scribbling on the chalkboard to shoot her a look of death. On that note, Ava turned around in her seat and pulled out her textbook.

You're late again, Miss Chase! Mr. White said, using his