New Beginnings by Morgan Straughan Comnick

Title: New Beginnings

Author: Morgan Straughan Comnick 

Genre: YA Paranormal Romance

You’ve been chosen to be God’s Warrior, but not even He knows what lies ahead.

Spirit Warrior Stary Moon is prepared to begin her sophomore year of high school with a better understanding of the powers granted to her from the Lord. But the path set out for her is uncertain. Stary never imagined what a challenge it would be to get her friends and family to accept her true love, former spirit Umbra, whose Ultimate Weapon powers are resurfacing mysteriously. On top of this, a dark presence is possessing spirits and ghosts, haunting Stary’s dreams, and wanting revenge. As Stary dives deeper into the world of spirits, she begins losing her connection to the world of mortals. Does Stary have the strength to overcome this darkness alone, or will she need to dabble in some ancient magic? Can she continue this path no matter what the cost?

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I didn’t let him finish. He didn’t need to. With all my heart, all the love and light I felt overflowing in my soul, the soul that knew its mate would never betray me, I kissed Umbra with every fiber of who I was. He embraced me tightly back, leaning us against a wooden support pole without breaking our kiss. I slid my hands everywhere those girls had, hoping to block his memory of them for eternity. I deepened our kiss, his lips so delicious that I wanted to kiss more of him, to see if he tasted any different.

As I laced my fingers through his hair making him mumble with a smile on his face, I kissed his collar bone, his chin, his jaw. Umbra relaxed fully under me, which for him I knew was major. He was always on guard, always ready to fight and now, he was giving me full control. As I trailed the other side of his jaw bone, wanting more of him, I noticed a fragment of black on the crimson curtain behind us. It was almost camouflaged, but it seemed to be…moving…

I needed to learn to keep my thoughts locked up tight when I notice something unusual. The black fragment began to dance and crackle. It became a flame and this flame shot down to the bottom of the curtain after doing its slow, mesmerizing waltz, licking the skirt of our hiding place. As the curtain caught on fire, the flames didn’t cause an inferno anywhere else, but instead smoked up the spots it touched and the now massive black flame was spitting out some sort of liquid. I screamed and pointed behind Umbra. He was ready immediately to defend us, but I could tell from his expression that he couldn’t identify what sort of flame this was.

We ducked in time to see a drop of now green liquid fly past our heads. It splashed onto a floorboard behind us and that spot began to disintegrate immediately, leaving a charred two foot by two foot hole in its place. Umbra positioned his hand to charge up his laser as he stood in front of me, having no protection until his laser charged to make a shield. As the smoke reached the ceiling, a large puddle of acid landed right before us. Umbra rose his arms above his head, but used his whole body to shield me.

I wailed as I heard it make contact on his skin. When I opened my eyes, I saw the green puddle dissolve into the fabric of Umbra’s new long-sleeve shirt, the sleeve disappearing within a second. His arm had a red rash all over it, but only his shirt looked burned itself. As I gawked at the injury, tears in my eyes that he had been hurt to save me, the curtain collapsed, becoming a pile of ash.

I heard my name being called and I looked to see the source was Principal Sea, Mr. Euro, and Mr. Tin. They bent down to check on the damages and Umbra, who was clutching his arm. His jaw was set, the jaw that I was kissing and loving only moments ago was the only thing now keeping him grounded.

As I let Umbra speak to the adults, I stared at his arm to see a drop of black. It looked similar to when a black pen leaks ink and leaves a mark on your skin, but this one was different. It wiggled around, almost like when—

The ink bolt vanished and no amount of blinking and squinting made it return. Mr. Tin helped me up carefully, his brow tense with concern. As I assured him I was just shaken, not harmed, I looked out into the almost clear gym to see Rin, looking like a Greek goddess statue. She only met my eyes for a second, but the look in her eyes was undeniable: fear. Utter, complete fear. To make matters more dreadful, she was clutching her cards for dear life.

I slid to my knees, the weight of all this literally making it impossible to stand. As I looked at Umbra once more, trying to track down the maybe imaginary ink bolt, a sensation pounded into my skull. It felt like someone had punched me from behind with the strength of Hercules and their arm went all the way through my head. I caught myself before I could fall forward although the pain was flooding me like nothing I’ve ever felt before. But the pain was not alone. It brought a friend: a voice, the voice I’d heard over a week ago.

“Better run, little one…”

Educator of young minds by day, super nerdy savior of justice and cute things by night, Morgan Straughan Comnick has a love for turning the normal into something special without losing its essence. Morgan draws from real life experiences and her ongoing imagination to spark her writing. In her spare time, she enjoys doing goofy voices, traveling to new worlds by turning pages, humming child-like songs, and forcing people to smile with her 

"bubbliness." It is Morgan's mission in life to spread the amazement of otaku/Japanese culture to the world and to stop bullying; she knows everyone shines brightly.

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