Rising Tide: Dark Innocence
(The Maura DeLuca Trilogy, #1)
About Rising Tide
Could Maura's life get any worse? ...turns out it most certainly can.
Isolated and sheltered by her lonely mother, Maura's never been able to make friends. She seems to drive her classmates away—except for the odd times they pay enough attention to torture her—but she doesn’t understand why. Maura considers herself to be a freak of nature, with her unusually pale skin and an aversion to the sun that renders her violently nauseous. Her belief is only worsened by the fact that almost everyone around her keeps their distance.
Even her own father deserted her before she was born, leaving Maura alone with her emotionally distant mother, Caelyn. Even though Maura is desperate for answers about her unknown parent, Caelyn remains heartbroken and her daughter can’t bring herself to reopen her mother’s wounds. Or is there a more sinister reason Caelyn refuses to utter a word about her long-lost love?
When a cruel prank nearly claims Maura’s life, one of her classmates, Ron, rushes to her rescue. Darkly handsome & mysteriously accepting, Ron doesn’t seem to want to stay away, but Maura is reluctant to get too close, since her mother has announced she’s moving the two of them to Vancouver…nearly 3,000 miles away from their hometown of Indiana, Pennsylvania.
If life wasn’t already challenging enough, Maura begins to experience bizarre, physical changes her mother seems hell bent on ignoring, compelling Maura to fear for her own life. Vicious nightmares, blood cravings, failing health and the heart-shattering loss of Ron—as well as the discovery of a tangled web of her own mother's lies—become obstacles in Maura's desperate quest for the unfathomable truth she was never prepared to uncover.
Excerpt
Broken. That was the best way to describe my poor half-hearted mother. That was the way my father left her, so she couldn’t help it. And when I came home from my doomed outing, I was afraid what was left of her just might fall to pieces. As Ron walked me up the front steps, I cringed away from the expression she’d have engraved on her face when she saw my scantly covered body, the blood dried into my hair from the ugly wound in my head…the boy I was with…
“Are you sure you want to come in?” I hated the fear that permeated my voice. I didn’t know if I was more afraid of Caelyn screaming at Ron before she knew what had happened, or her falling apart in front of him after she’d heard everything.
It was too late now…he was ringing the doorbell. He looked so much braver than I felt. I could see the anger that had crept back into him in the hard set of his lips, the flash in his dark eyes.
It didn’t take long at all for Caelyn to tear the door open, anxiety all over her face. She looked at Ron, dumbfounded. She must have caught sight of some part of me, because she instantly peered around his shoulder then to find me, standing meekly behind him, clad only in a boy’s shirt that just barely cleared my hips.
“Maura?! What the…” her eyes fairly popped with dismayed astonishment.
“Hi Mom.” What an asinine thing to say. I should have at least started with, “I’m okay.”
Caelyn just stood there with her mouth hanging open. I felt the fear turn over, like a living thing, in my stomach. How was I going to survive this? How could I even begin to explain everything that had happened tonight?
Luckily I had Ron. “Hi, um, Ms. DeLuca,” he started out sounding very shy, but as my mother’s brows furrowed closer together, he put a stronger edge to his voice. “I came to bring Maura home.” She was still scowling.
“Um…I’m Ron by the way,” he put his hand out to her. She ignored that entirely.
My mother’s look was venomous, “Maura! Get in the house this instant!”
Oh boy…she thought Ron was at fault for whatever imagined atrocities were going through her brain right now.
“Mom!” I was desperate to put everything right, despite how much trouble I knew I’d be in. “You have it all wrong!”
“I said GET IN THE HOUSE!” she screamed at me, absolute fury flying from her eyes. I’d never seen her so angry before and I was terrified. “Do I need to ask you again?”
“N-n-no ma’am,” I stuttered. I hurried past Ron, but not without looking up at him with apology in my eyes. I felt horrible for his being put in the middle of all this just because he’d happened to save my life.
Once inside, I steeled myself to try to talk to my mother. “Mom, will you please just let me…”
“Don’t say anything, Maura,” her voice shook. “Do you have any idea what you’ve put me through tonight?”
I was confused then. Did she want me to stay quiet or answer her question?
Ron saved me again. “I think I can explain,” he took a tentative step onto the living room carpet.
I didn’t like the way Caelyn’s head snapped around when she looked at him. “What was your name again?” she asked viciously.
I saw him swallow hard as he answered, “Ron.”
She turned on him then. “Well Ron,” it sounded like she’d chewed on his name before spitting it out, “do you mind telling me why it is you’re out with my daughter…when she’s supposed to be with Katie Parker? And after you’ve answered that, I’d really love to know why you would bring her home wearing only that!!” She pointed the index finger of her shaking hand at me, standing on the plush, blue carpet next to our couch, holding onto its arm for support, my knees knocking together.
Ron went a little pale…I couldn’t stand to see my hero wrongly accused.
“Mom! Listen to me! If-if it weren’t for him, for Ron…Mom I’d be dead right now!” I shouted it all out quickly, before she had a chance to silence me again.
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About the author
Claudette Melanson lives in Guelph, Ontario, with her husband Ron and four bun babies: Tegan, Pepper, Butters & Beckett. She was born in Bristol, Tennessee and graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a BA in English and an MA in Literature. Vampires have been a passion since age five. She hopes to one day work full time as an author, since there are many, many books living inside her head.In her spare time she enjoys watching Japanese Anime and reading vampire stories....along with other great fiction. She is also very interested in good health and is an advocate of Ketogenic eating, using whole and natural foods. Future dreams include writing many more books, spending more time with her son Jacob and Sister Susie. She hopes to take them and her nieces Maggie, Sadie and Sophie to Disneyworld with the proceeds from the first novel. A Rabbit Rescue fanatic, she also hopes to help rescues all over the world save many innocent lives.
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