The Sentinels (Harbingers): Episode 3

By Angela Hunt

Andi, Professor McKinney's brilliant-but-geeky assistant, begins to have troubling dreams of thousands of animals around the world mysteriously dying. What could it mean? When her dreams become a reality, Andi discovers a pattern in the mass deaths. But her theory doesn't bode well for humankind--and the team could soon face an even greater disaster.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
• Release date: Apr 11, 2017
• ISBN: 9781441231338

Angela Hunt

Angela Hunt (AngelaHuntBooks.com) is a New York Times bestselling author of more than 160 books, with nearly 6 million copies sold worldwide. Angela's novels have won or been nominated for the RWA RITA Award, the Christy Award, the ECPA Christian Book Award, and the HOLT Medallion. Four of her novels have received ForeWord Magazine's Book of the Year Award, and Angela is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from both the Romantic Times Book Club and ACFW. Angela holds doctorates in biblical studies and theology. She and her husband make their home in Florida with mastiffs and chickens.

Book preview

Hunt

CHAPTER

1

I was sitting on the edge of my grandparents’ deck, bare legs swinging in the sun, when Abby trotted out of the house and sat beside me. Abs! I slipped my arm around her back and gave her a hug; she returned my affection by licking my cheek. Stop that, silly. You know I’m ticklish.

As if she understood, Abby straightened and joined me in staring at the sea oats and the white sandy beaches of the Gulf of Mexico. We had sat in this same spot hundreds of times in our growing-up years . . . me, the geeky high-schooler, and Abby, the ungainly Labrador pup. Somehow we had both outgrown our awkwardness.

I ran my hand over the back of her head, then scratched between her ears. My heart welled with nostalgia as tears stung my eyes. I’ve missed you, Abs, I whispered. All that time away at college . . . I wish you could have been with me. Maybe I wouldn’t have been so homesick if you were there.

She whimpered in commiseration, then gave me another kiss.

My throat tightened at the thought of eventually losing her. Big dogs tend to have shorter lifespans, and all the books said Labs lived an average of twelve to fourteen years. Which meant I’d only have my girl for another five or so years. . . . I had to get home more often.

Abby pricked up her ears, pulled away from me, then jogged down the deck steps.

Abs! You know you’re not supposed to go down to the beach.

When it suited her, Abby had selective hearing. She dove into the bed of sea oats. I couldn’t see her in the thick undergrowth, but the tasseled heads of the stalks bent and trembled as she passed by.

You’re going to get sand spurs in your coat!

No answer except the rustle and crunch of dry vegetation. Then a warning bark, followed by a throaty growl.

She had probably found a rat, but for some reason her growl lifted the hairs on my arm. I stood and walked to a better vantage point, hoping to spot her. Abby! I brightened my voice. Want a treat? A cookie?

Another bark, and then a sharp yelp, followed by a frenzy of rustling and crunching. Then Abby began to cry in a constant whine as she retraced her steps, moving faster this time. Had she found a snake? Venomous snakes were not common on the beach, but this was Florida. . . .

I flew down the stairs, drawn by the urgency in her tone. Abs! Come here, honey. Come on, baby, come on out.

If she’d been bitten, I had only minutes to get her to a vet. My grandparents had left a car in the garage, keys on the ring by the door . . .

Abby appeared in the pathway. She lifted her head for an instant and wriggled her nose, parsing the air for my scent. Then she ran to me, barreling into my legs and knocking me onto the sand.

Abs? She was on top of me, thrashing her head while she whined, and with great difficulty I managed to catch her jowls. Abs, honey, let me look—

My breath caught in my throat. Abby’s panicked breaths fluttered over my face as I stared into what had once been gentle brown eyes but were now empty, blood-encrusted caverns.

Everything went silent within me, and I screamed.

My grandmother’s expensive sofa had a flaw in its fabric, but I didn’t think Safta had noticed. The tiny dotted pattern wasn’t arranged in perfectly straight lines, resulting in a slight variation that must have caused a problem for the upholsterer. Then again, perhaps a machine assembled this piece, and most machines had no feelings.

Lucky machines. Apparently the deviation in this upholstery pattern had been enough to evoke a horrific nightmare in my afternoon nap. My heart pounded for ten minutes after I woke up, then I bent down and gave Abby a huge hug, relieved to find her alive and well. But the minute I put my head back on the sofa pillow, a lingering sense of dread enveloped me.

I released a pent-up sigh. I’d been at my grandparents’ beach house for a full twenty-four hours, but being home hadn’t helped me relax as much as I’d hoped. Being with family usually took my mind off my work, but my grandparents had taken their jet to Miami to attend a wedding, leaving me to examine patterns on the couch, watch the professor read, and suffer quiet nightmares.

Andi? As if he’d overheard my thoughts, the professor lowered his book and waggled a brow. Your grandparents have anything to snack on around here?

I’m sure they do. Let’s go to the kitchen.

I rolled off the sofa and led the way to the ultra-modern kitchen Safta rarely used. Because she and Sabba now lived alone in this big house, they tended to eat out a lot. But my grandfather liked to snack, so the pantry was usually stocked with goodies.

Like a hungry puppy, the professor followed me to the kitchen, then craned his neck forward as I opened the pantry door. Almonds, I said, reading the labels on cans and boxes. Matzo crackers, cheese crackers, chocolate cookies, Oreos, and pretzel sticks. Yum, and these. I reached for a bag of jalapeño chips, my personal favorite. If you like hot and spicy—

I like almonds. The professor reached past me and grabbed a can from the shelf, then popped the top. Then he hopped on a barstool, picked up the book he’d been reading, and tossed a handful of nuts into his mouth.

I understood why he was hanging around—just as I understood why he’d been reading in the living room instead of the guest room. We were both still recovering from a harrowing experience in Port Avalon, and neither of us wanted to be alone.

Nice place your grandparents have here, the professor said, his gaze moving to the wide sliding glass door with the ocean view. Nice of them to let us hang out here for a couple of days.

I know.

I crossed my arms and wished I could think of some way to dispel the creepy memories of Port Avalon. When I learned that the next stop on the professor’s speaking

Reviews for The Sentinels (Harbingers)

[jenneth_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

 The best of Christian fiction authors come together to write a what I can only describe as a novel written in the spirit of an RPG (role playing game): Bill Meyers writes as the tattoo artist, Brenda; Frank Peretti writes as the atheistic professor; Angela Hunt writes as the geeky professor's assistant, Andi; and Alton Gansky writes as the Christian jock, Tank. In an attempt to write episodically like a TV series, these four Christian authors take turns telling novellas that develop into a larger story.I personally fangirled when I found this book. The series is such a quirky phenomenon that it's actually hard to find much about it online. Almost as if the authors didn't mean for it to be widespread. Almost as if we readers stumbled upon their own writing practices that weren't meant for public viewing.But they are. And I couldn't be happier.With writers such as Meyers and Peretti in the mix, you can assume the book delves into quite a bit of Christian paranormal. Four characters inexplicably come together to repeatedly stop evil, often satanic forces, from disrupting the world. And no matter how much the characters may differ from each other, and no matter how much they try to go about their own lives, they continually are brought back together.The writing of each other is vastly different from the others. This can be both a strength and weakness for the series. Bill Meyers tends to write with very short sentences and enjoys testing your suspicion of disbelief, with little to no description or dialogue tags. In his writing, the characters can only show their greatest emotions with no filter or social grace to keep them reserved as we would expect most people to be in typical situations. Everything is an extreme, and while this works well for a high-risk, fast-paced climax or action scene, it struggles when the entire piece is paced this way. The book as a whole may suffer because Meyers's notable style is the first of the four, and if this style irritates some readers, they may not read beyond the first novella. However, those who enjoy Meyers's writing style will find him as familiar as an old friend and enjoy how he crafts the characters differently from the others.Personally, I most enjoyed Frank Peretti's novella. It reminisced of his and Dekker's 'House' standalone novel because of the mysterious and inexplicable mansion that appeared in different places throughout town. In fact, it seemed as if Peretti took several of his story concepts and reintroduced them here. Not only 'House,' but 'This Present Darkness' seemed to have a few moments of inspiration that then affected the rest of the book. Frank Peretti's style is so intense that it left me, a twenty-year-old college student, afraid of the dark. Ha! After I finished the book, I discovered a YouTube video of Peretti reading the first chapters of his novella in his deep, suspense-radio-drama voice. Definitely worth the search if that kind of stuff interests you.As a disclaimer, this is a grittier Christian fiction than typical in its genre. Few of the main characters are religious, and the one character who does identify as Christian was written as young and naive (though overall still likable). The book handles things like paranormal and satanic influences, and while the characters are all united in fighting the evil, like a TV series, the ending doesn't fully resolve, but instead promises more to come. My one main frustration was that some of the authors chose to insert questionable language. While some of the offensive language is merely crude, others border on taking the name of God in vain, even though I think the authors meant the outbursts to be a prayer of some sort.Each of the four authors do a gripping job at writing the characters in the book and sucking you in with the same kind of attraction Netflix does with 'Stranger Things.' This is a binge-worthy book.Things to Watch Out For:Sex: A comment about "sexual desires" pg 139Language: screw-1 pg 95, a-1 pg 122, p-2 pg 15, 122, crap-1 pg 122, "she flipped me off"-1 pg 123, G-1 (possibly a prayer) pg 142; G's sake-1 pg 146; several prayerful comments in the last quarter from a Lutheran character, but some of them seem to border on being flippant. "Blessed J" (supposedly reverent) pg 288Violence: Characters run from peril and satanic forces. A mysterious house afflicts characters with hyper-realistic nightmares. Child kidnapping. Murder. Several characters are dragged toward a door to Hell. Characters are forced to be presumably possessed with the Devil. A child is stabbed.Drugs: None that I specifically remember.Nudity. NAOther: Demonic activity and situations involving demon possession. A character is a tattoo artist and can see into the future. Characters each have special, unexplainable gifts such as healing, visions, etc.

[bemislibrary · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Like the one hours television shows that flash the forensics and solve the mystery, this book builds on a common supernatural theme. The novella format allows for only superficial character development. The stories, like many TV season finales, leave many issues unresolved. While it is not a satisfying beginning, middle, end story, it is worth reading just to see how the unique format could work. LibraryThing Member Giveaway randomly chose me to receive this book free from the publisher. I was under no obligation to write a review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

[vintagebeckie · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I didn’t really know what to expect when I chose Invitation to read and review. Oh, I knew that the 4-novella collection was authored by some of the best authors in the field of Christian fiction, and that I have never been disappointed by anything they have written. I also knew that their writing style, characterization, and plot-development suited my reading tastes. But I didn’t know I would be led on a challenging and twisting journey that included mind-bending situations. Invitation is speculative fiction at its best. It has a unique format that suits the genre well — short, episodic novellas, changing points of view, and story lines which at first seem unrelated, but soon come together in a coherent manner. There is something weird going on, and this reader enjoyed every minute.Each novella in the collection has a different author and the unique voice of one of the four main characters. Four very different people with strange gifts are brought together in what can only be called a supernatural way. And try as they might, they cannot keep from forming a team to investigate and somehow impact weird happenings. I loved how the authors’ collaboration brought forth a cohesive whole. This cannot possibly be easy to achieve, but they somehow managed to achieve unique stories within a consistent framework.Evil seems to be having its way in Invitation, but there is a sense that God is at work in big ways in the world and in the lives of the main characters. I think the spiritual journey each character embarks on is my favorite part. As each challenge is met, the characters learn more about themselves and their place within a spiritual world. Each novella is wrapped up in Invitation, but the story is far from over. Invitation is just the first novella collection in this series.Invitation is gritty and edgy; not your typical CF. So don’t be surprised if this book takes you places you didn’t expect with characters that don’t often show up in normal novels. You just need to do what I did — sit back and let the authors take you on a trip you won’t forget.Recommended for fans of speculative fiction.Audience: adults.(Thanks to Bethany House for a complimentary copy. All opinions expressed are mine alone.)