A Girl From Forever
Yolanda McCarthy
(The Forever Institute, #1)
Publication date: September 3rd 2021
Genres: Dystopian, Romance, Science Fiction, Thriller, Young Adult
“Night is a predator, and it’s got me.”
A thrilling dystopian story of star-crossed love, perfect for fans of Eve of Man and The Hunger Games.
Do you know who you are? Do you know where you belong? Do you recognize good from evil? Seventeen-year-old Fern thought she understood it all…
“Yolanda McCarthy’s dystopian novel, A Girl From Forever, is a thrilling teen adventure that explores multiple what-if scenarios as a young woman follows a lengthy quest for answers. Told in the first-person narrative from Fern’s point of view, the reader will be instantly caught up in the turmoil that plagues the protagonist as she seeks answers. With considerable conflict, both physically and mentally, the plot moves forward with a driving force that will have the reader unable to put the book down… This is a powerful story that not only rivets the reader but speaks to them about issues all young people face: first love, betrayal, truth, and denial, and what’s really real is this complicated world in which we live.” – Readers’ Favorite 5* review
Psychics, immortals, and a battle over humanity’s destiny. First love. Betrayal. Abduction. Murder. When friends become enemies and terrorists turn into allies, Fern’s betrayer could be her soul mate – but that might not be enough to keep her alive…
Some lies are lethal.
—
EXCERPT:
Night is a predator, and it’s got me. I see nothing but empty car park, disappearing into shadows and fog. I should be able to see the perimeter walls in every direction, the gleam of the Institute’s gate ahead, perhaps a glimpse of London beyond. Night has eaten it all.I’m not even certain if I’m walking the right way.
I glance back. The Forever Institute stands behind me, reassuringly solid. Once a power station, now it looks more like a hospital, though too silent and still. The only signs of its past are four huge chimneys, blotting out the stars. I love the familiar shape of those chimneys, and the home beneath, where my classmates are sleeping. I can’t wait to tell them about my secret trip out. Yet…
I hesitate. This isn’t how I thought it would be.
Looking out from the Institute, I believed that night was a cocoon. Something to hide in, welcoming, warm. But the night air sucks away body heat as my feet crunch forward, across ground that I’ve trod every day I can remember, its tarmac made alien and strange by the sparkle of frost.
Night wakes up ancient instincts I didn’t know I had, whispering to me that in the dark, there are no adventurers. Only hunters, and prey.
I hug Geraldine’s folder, trying to trap warmth against my skin, and take another step forward, my eyes searching the mist for Rehan. Where is he? The mist is getting thicker, making my eyes sore. I try not to cough.
They’ll hear.
The air tastes wrong. It smells like a computer keyboard short-circuited.
So cold.
My pyjamas are no defence to the night. We’re seventeen, nearing graduation, you’d think they’d give us coats.
I can’t stop shivering, I need to get back inside, get more layers. But… I promised. I have to help Rehan’s sister, and I might not be able to get outside again. He said that I’m the only one who can help. A natural healer, he said. Rare. I don’t know if he’s right, but I know I have to try. If I can help, I must.
And… I’ve waited so long to find out if I have a talent. This could be it. I’d just about given up, but Rehan says he can sense it in me.
It’s wrong of me to wish for telepathy instead, like most of my classmates, like Rehan. Healing is more important than telepathy, he said, despite the fact that without his telepathy, it would have been impossible for us to speak at all.
If I was a ’path, I could reach out and search the night for him, as he originally found me. I wouldn’t have to wait for him to contact me. Wait, and wonder what’s going on.
I hope he’s ok.
What could silence a ’path?
Rehan will be at the gate, he has to be. If it wasn’t so misty, I’d be able to see him already. The gate can’t be more than fifty metres ahead. I speed up, jogging forward, slipping on the frost. He’ll be at the gate, with his sister. I’ll try my hardest to heal her, steal a few moments with Rehan, then sneak back inside. It’s a simple plan. Rehan was completely calm about it.
Which was strange—
The mist shudders. There’s a huge thudding sound, and the air around me presses closer, warmer, to my skin. Another boom, and the crackle of fireworks. My head jerks up, eyes automatically searching for sparkles, before I realise that it’s not fireworks, it’s gunfire.
Gunfire somewhere in front of me, but also behind, and I don’t know which way to run, don’t know who is shooting, or why, and my mind is blank with the impossible reality of it as I kneel, making myself smaller as I have been taught, fingertips melting little circles in frost, tarmac sharp and icy against knees, wet cotton poor protection.
The night is punishing me for breaking the rules, for coming outside where I don’t belong. My heart pounds at twice the usual speed, urging me to sprint away, but I don’t know what is happening, or where is safe. Instead, I tilt my face towards my chest and try to be invisible in the mist.
Not mist. Smoke.
Author Bio:
Yolanda grew up in London, where she worked as a lawyer, a supermarket assistant, a civil servant, and at a cat shelter. Not in that order. Her work took her to California, Serbia, and Dubai, but her fondest memories are of Bermuda. (She’s still homesick for Bermuda. Especially the pink sands of Elbow Beach…)
She now lives in Kent with her husband and son, where she writes all kinds of speculative fiction. Sometimes she climbs mountains.
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