They Stay
Claire Fraise
(They Stay Series, #1)
Publication date: October 12th 2021
Genres: Supernatural, Thriller, Young Adult
For fans of Stranger Things comes a suspenseful YA mystery about a missing kid, a girl who can see ghosts, and a horrifying crime only four outcasts have the power to stop.
What if the only person who could help you find your missing brother was dead?
Nothing is as important to sixteen-year-old Shiloh Oleson as her little brother Max. So when the six-year-old goes missing without a trace, a heartbroken Shiloh refuses to believe nothing can be done and sets out to find him.
When one of Shiloh’s classmates says she knows where Max is, Shiloh hesitates to believe her. Francesca is creepy. She says she can see ghosts, but everyone knows ghosts aren’t real … right?
But Francesca says that Max is going to be murdered.
And a ghost told her where he is.
As the line between the dead and living begins to blur, Shiloh starts to think Francesca might not be as crazy as she believed. One thing is becoming clear. Someone has gruesome plans for Max, and Shiloh must confront her worst nightmares to find him before it’s too late.
THEY STAY is the first book in the They Stay Series. Read on if you like ghost stories, plot twists, enemies-to-friends, creepy circuses, budding romance, and unlikely heroes.
Content Warnings: This book contains death, kidnapping, domestic abuse, references to suicide, bullying, and mild adult language.
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EXCERPT:
From Shiloh’s POV, the opening of chapter 1.If Max doesn’t put his shirt on right now, I’m going to kill him.
He does this every week. The minute I fish his red T-shirt out of his drawer and tell him it’s time to get dressed for tee-ball practice, he starts to act up. But I don’t have the energy for this fight today.
“Come on, buddy,” I say, kneeling in front of him and trying to fit my six-year-old brother’s arms through the sleeves of his T-shirt. “Please.”
Max wriggles away from me. “I’m not going.”
“You have to go,” I say, holding his face and wiping the tears that drip from his chin. Dad won’t let Max quit tee-ball, but he should. He’s not the one who has to pull Max off the floor, wrestle him into his uniform every Saturday morning, and promise to buy him ice cream after practice if he’d just put on his shirt already.
Dad signed Max up for tee-ball because Max is a shy kid and Dad wants to break him out of his shell. What Dad doesn’t realize is that Max isn’t shy, he just shuts down around Dad. But Dad will never admit this, so it’s all, “Baseball is the great American pastime,” this, and “tee-ball will get you used to the game,” that. I wish he’d let it go. Just because Dad wants Max to play shouldn’t mean Max has to, but I know damn well Dad won’t listen if I say anything, so I keep my mouth shut.
Max sniffs a booger back up his nose. “I hate tee-ball.”
“I know,” I say.
“I’m bad at it.”
“You just need to practice.”
“But I don’t want to.” A mischievous smile creeps onto his face. “This is a goddamn nightmare.”
The side of my mouth tugs up. Mom uses that phrase when anything inconvenient happens, like getting lost when she’s driving, or dropping a box of dry pasta onto the floor. “A goddamn nightmare,” I echo.
Max had a real nightmare last night. He came into my room in the middle of the night and poked the soft part of my cheek until I woke up.
I shot upright. Seeing it was only Max, relief washed over me. “What is it?”
“There was a green monster in my room.” His eyes were wide with panic. “It stood on its hind legs and it was tall, with blood all over its snaggly teeth.”
Most of Max’s nightmares are about monsters in our house. Usually, they sneak in when he’s asleep and he wakes up to find them standing over his bed. A yawn pulled at my lips. I’d only just managed to fall asleep, but Max needed me, so with a tired groan I scooted over and Max climbed under my sheets. I went on to make up a story about tall, leaf-eating dinosaurs to help him go back to sleep, because he likes those and doesn’t think they’re scary. When I drifted off again myself I dreamed of a huge, long-necked dinosaur looming over my bed. Hot saliva dripped from its jaws and burned holes through my shirt and skin. It got closer to my face until it was an inch from my nose. I stayed still as it opened its mouth to display rows of razor-sharp teeth embedded in its gums. With a venomous roar, it bit me in half.
The dream sounds dumb when I talk about it now, but it was really scary. I told Max about it when he woke me up this morning.
He rolled his eyes at the ceiling. “Don’t be silly,” he said. “The big guys with the long necks are harmless. They eat trees. It’s the angry ones with short arms you got to be scared of.”
Author Bio:
Claire Fraise earned her B.A. in English from Tufts University. She is also the author of YA dystopian novel Imperfect (winner of the San Francisco and Beverly Hills Book Festivals), which she published when she was 16. When Claire’s not writing, she likes crocheting amigurumi animals, reading, and hanging out with her dogs. Even though it goes against every introverted bone in her body, she is on social media. Connect with her on Instagram at @clairefraiseauthor, on YouTube at Write with Claire Fraise, or visit her website at clairefraise.com.
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