Playing With Power: The Kerrigan Kids, #4

By W.J. May

Be careful what you wish for…

 

When Aria and her friends get a dangerous vision, they have only moments to act. A life is in danger and they find themselves caught up in the kind of adventure they've always wanted.

 

But things aren't always what they seem.

 

A split-second decision and a surprise invitation change everything, as the gang's lives are turned suddenly upside-down. They struggle to adjust to their new reality, but find that some ties are harder to break than others. Some ties should never have been made in the first place.

 

Some ties can't be broken at all…

 

Kerrigan Kids

Book 1 - School of Potential

Book 2 - Myths & Magic

Book 3 - Kith & Kin

Book 4 - Playing With Power

Book 5 - Line of Ancestry

Book 6 - Descent of Hope

Book 7 – Illusion of Shadows

Book 8 – Frozen by the Future

Book 9 – Guilt of My Past

Book 10 – Demise of Magic

Book 11- Rise of the Prophecy

Book 12 – Deafened by the Past

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dark Shadow Publishing
• Release date: Apr 15, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393463511

W.J. May

About W.J. May Welcome to USA TODAY BESTSELLING author W.J. May's Page! SIGN UP for W.J. May's Newsletter to find out about new releases, updates, cover reveals and even freebies! http://eepurl.com/97aYf   Website: http://www.wjmaybooks.com Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-WJ-May-FAN-PAGE/141170442608149?ref=hl *Please feel free to connect with me and share your comments. I love connecting with my readers.* W.J. May grew up in the fruit belt of Ontario. Crazy-happy childhood, she always has had a vivid imagination and loads of energy. After her father passed away in 2008, from a six-year battle with cancer (which she still believes he won the fight against), she began to write again. A passion she'd loved for years, but realized life was too short to keep putting it off. She is a writer of Young Adult, Fantasy Fiction and where ever else her little muses take her.

Book preview

Have You Read the C.o.K Series?

The Prequel series is a Sub-Series of the Chronicles of Kerrigan.

The prequel on how Simon Kerrigan met Beth!!

Download for FREE:

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THE CHRONICLES OF KERRIGAN: PREQUEL –

Christmas Before the Magic

Question the Darkness

Into the Darkness

Fight the Darkness

Alone in the Darkness

Lost the Darkness

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THE CHRONICLES OF KERRIGAN

Book I - Rae of Hope is FREE!

Book Trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gILAwXxx8MU

Book II - Dark Nebula

Book Trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca24STi_bFM

Book III - House of Cards

Book IV - Royal Tea

Book V - Under Fire

Book VI - End in Sight

Book VII – Hidden Darkness

Book VIII – Twisted Together

Book IX – Mark of Fate

Book X – Strength & Power

Book XI – Last One Standing

Book XII – Rae of Light

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THE CHRONICLES OF KERRIGAN SEQUEL

Matter of Time

Time Piece

Second Chance

Glitch in Time

Our Time

Precious Time

The Chronicles of Kerrigan: Gabriel

Living in the Past

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Present for Today

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Staring at the Future

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Kerrigan Chronicles

Book 1 – Stopping Time

Book 2 – A Passage of Time

Book 3 – Ticking Clock

Book 4 – Just in Time

Book 5 – Time in the City

Book 6 – Ultimate Future

The Kerrigan Kids Series

Book 1 - School of Potential

Book 2 - Myths & Magic

Book 3 - Kith & Kin

Book 4 - Playing With Power

Book 5 - Line of Ancestry

Book 6 - Descent of Hope

Find W.J. May

Website:

https://www.wjmaybooks.com

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-WJ-May-FAN-PAGE/141170442608149

Newsletter:

SIGN UP FOR W.J. May's Newsletter to find out about new releases, updates, cover reveals and even freebies!

http://eepurl.com/97aYf

C:\Users\Wanita\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\Content.Word\W.J. May Logo Black.png

Playing with Power Description

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU wish for...

When Aria and her friends get a dangerous vision, they have only moments to act. A life is in danger and they find themselves caught up in the kind of adventure they've always wanted.

But things aren't always what they seem.

A split-second decision and a surprise invitation change everything, as the gang's lives are turned suddenly upside-down. They struggle to adjust to their new reality, but find that some ties are harder to break than others.

Some ties should never have been made in the first place.

Some ties can't be broken at all...

Contents

Have You Read the C.o.K Series?

The Chronicles of Kerrigan: Gabriel

Kerrigan Chronicles

The Kerrigan Kids Series

Find W.J. May

Playing with Power Description

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Coming Soon

The Kerrigan Kids Series

Find W.J. May

The Chronicles of Kerrigan

PREQUEL –

SEQUEL –

The Chronicles of Kerrigan: Gabriel

More books by W.J. May

TUDOR COMPARISON:

Chapter 1

Someone’s about to die.

Even years later Aria would never be able to forget those words, the look on Lily’s face when she said them. Pale as a sheet, fresh off her first vision, staring up at her friends in the rain.

She couldn’t be more specific than that. Truth be told, she could barely stand. Yet she was the first one who leapt to her feet, tearing recklessly across the grass.

Come on! she cried, slipping on the wet lawn. Hurry!

The others stared for only a moment. One of those quiet yet pointed moments when they instinctively knew that everything was about to change. Then they took off running after her, just five blurry figures, vanishing into the night.

For how many times Aria had pictured their dramatic call to arms, lying in her bed at night, staring up at the ceiling, the actual moment was nothing like she expected. Far from a cinematic orchestral swell, it alternated between something comically realistic and something out of a dream.

The thick grass was already drenched by the torrential downpour, and not ten seconds could pass without someone’s legs flying out from under them as they tumbled to the ground. The others would pick them up, cursing their clumsiness, only to immediately fall down themselves. At the same time, somewhere in the distance, screaming voices echoed in the night. Blinding flashes of light were soon to follow, and when Aria turned her head to look she could have sworn she saw the silhouette of a woman in a trench coat dramatically framed against the billowing clouds of smoke.

We need to hurry, she thought, putting on a burst of speed. That fight isn’t going to contain itself, and the second Angel’s finished with those agents she’ll be coming to find us.

A part of her was relieved at the thought.

It was one thing to go charging recklessly into the unknown, adrenaline pumping, the thrill of adventure flying through her veins. It was quite another to have been prophetically guided to a homicide in progress. This time, they knew exactly what they were getting in to. The only thing they didn’t know was whether they’d be able to stop it, or if they’d even get there in time.

Maybe they should be calling for the agents—the same people who’d recently tried to drug them on the school lawn. Maybe they should be calling for Angel—a woman who’d taken down more crime lords and murderers than the others combined.

But even if Aria wanted to, even if there were big warning lights flashing in the logic centers of her brain, she knew there was no stopping Lily. The girl had been given her first glimpse into the future, a sacred calling that had offered this one, fleeting chance to save a life.

She wasn’t going to miss it. And the others weren’t going to either.

Someone’s about to die.

Aria put on a burst of speed, matching Benji’s cheetah at the front of the pack. While the guy might have been hesitant to continue back at the school, he was fully on board now—wet strands of hair whipping out behind him, the manic glow of adrenaline flashing in his electric eyes.

He glanced over the second she joined him, then threw out a sudden hand for the others to stop. They had reached Dorian’s cottage. And they clearly weren’t the only visitors that night.

A window was broken and the door was hanging slightly ajar. As if whoever had come before had first tried approaching by stealth, then decided to just burst inside—guns blazing.

I wonder if there are guns, Aria thought suddenly, remembering that their suspect might have been inked but also hailed from the common world. How would we deal with something like that?

Her eyes flickered involuntarily to James before she realized there were bigger problems.

...what happens next?

The friends had torn across the campus in a supernatural blur of speed. But the second they found themselves faced with that open door, all their momentum vanished on a dime.

Suddenly, a whole new host of questions stopped them in their tracks.

What if there’s more than one?

What if they’re heavily armed?

Should we tell James to wait outside?

Do we go through the front door?

Should we circle around the back?

It was overwhelming—the kind of quiet frenzy that would have been practiced out of them in training, but the Oratory had never seen fit to open its doors. It paralyzed them instead, rooting them to the spot as they tried desperately to see around it, tried desperately to simply think.

Then a sudden crash echoed from inside and all those questions flew right out of their heads.

With a deafening shout Aria and Benji kicked open the door, splintering the frame and sending it tumbling back into the house. They leapt inside a second later with Jason right behind, his hands raised to cover them, that deadly ice flickering in his eyes. Lily and James came just a second after, grabbing a pair of matching katanas off the wall.

There was no one in the living room. No one in the kitchen. They couldn’t be sure about the bedroom, but before they could give it much thought a muffled groan filtered down the hall.

At that point everyone froze.

Two heartbeats. Aria kept repeating the phrase in her mind. I can hear two heartbeats.

One assumedly belonged to Dorian, while the other belonged to whoever was trying to kill him. One was faint, while the other was strong.

The next few seconds would be crucial. There wasn’t much time.

Lily, can you freeze the house?

It was a long shot, but Aria asked the telepathic question anyway. Thinking once more of Angel and how much easier things would be if they could have a suspended moment to themselves.

Lily’s eyes dilated ever so slightly as her arm drifted into the air, but after just a split second she shook her head. Her hand tightened on the katana instead. The silent message was clear.

There was no way to avoid it—inked or otherwise.

Whatever was coming...it would be a fight.

Strangely enough the sudden clarity subsided the panic, filling the friends with a surreal sense of calm. Almost like they’d rehearsed they splintered away from each other, ghosting silently to different areas of the house. Jason circled around back, while James and Lily took up position at the end of the hallway. Aria fought her more aggressive instincts and turned invisible, but not before giving Benji a quiet hand signal as she melted out of sight.

They wouldn’t see her coming, but they wouldn’t see him either. The boy wasn’t just fast, he was blinding—there would be no way to prepare for such an attack.

Her hand came to rest on his shoulder. She gave it an anticipatory squeeze.

Then they flew down the hallway...coming to a sudden stop.

Dorian!

It was even worse than Aria thought. Not only had her favorite new teacher been attacked, but it looked as though the fight was already over. He was lying in a pile of broken porcelain, eyelids fluttering weakly, a mixture of coffee and blood spilling across his chest.

But the biggest problem? There was no one else in the room.

Her head flew around on a swivel as she searched frantically for the culprit. The crash they’d heard had happened just seconds before. The painful moan was a second after that. Whoever had done this was still here. She just couldn’t find them.

Unable to keep up such speed in an enclosed area Benji materialized beside her, losing his precious invisibility as he, too, stared desperately around the room. There wasn’t a single thing out of place. If it hadn’t been for their teacher bleeding on the carpet, they might have thought that everything was fine. Then suddenly—

BEN!

In hindsight Aria would acknowledge it didn’t matter if one was invisible if they shouted out loud the second they raced inside. But she couldn’t help it. Just as her best friend was kneeling to Dorian’s side a fist swung out of nowhere, striking him right in the nose with devastating force.

His head snapped back as he crashed into an armchair, a river of blood pouring down his chin. It must have hurt terribly, but he looked more shocked than anything else. So shocked, you’d think he’d never been hit before. In a way—he hadn’t. Everything the kids had done thus far was nothing more than advanced sparring. Whoever this person was, they were playing for keeps.

LOOK OUT! she cried again as a shadow flew towards him.

His bright eyes flashed up just as a young man appeared in front of him.

Turns out, they didn’t need to be looking into shifters after all. This guy’s tatù was for pure speed—the kind that would rival even Benji’s cheetah. But the problem with ink like that was that if you enhanced one sense, you inadvertently enhanced them all. Just speed...?

Not by a long shot.

There was no time to react. One second, he was standing there. The next, he had grabbed Benji by the front of the shirt and thrown him straight into the ceiling.

Aria let out another shriek as he crashed back to the floor.

It wasn’t the distance, it was the force with which he struck. The entire cottage rattled as Benji’s eyes fluttered shut and the young man shook out his arms, muscles enhanced by years of flying well over the natural speed limit. He knew there was someone else in the room. He knew she was invisible. But never in a million years could he have predicted what would happen next.

With a vengeful scream Aria shimmered back into view, hair streaming out behind her as she flew across the room. The man’s lips quirked up with a smile. There were only a few things in the world that could beat pure speed, and invisibility certainly wasn’t one of them.

But Aria had a great deal more than invisibility up her sleeve.

When she was only a few steps away, she threw up her hands and fired out a spray of what looked like liquid shadow. The man stared down at his body in shock. It wasn’t painful. But it wasn’t meant to be painful. It was useful in other ways.

What the ...?! He stumbled back a step, kicking out at her chest while shaking his hands, trying to get the shadow off. When that didn’t work he prepared to make a run for it and re-group, only to discover the purpose of her little trick.

He wasn’t hurt. But she could track him.

Just a second after he’d vanished she grabbed him back again, following the inky trail leaking onto the floor. Grabbing on to someone travelling at such a speed was usually a surefire way to dislocate one’s shoulder (a lesson she’d discovered whilst chasing after Benji). But she switched immediately into super strength—yanking him back like he was nothing more than a doll.

At this point, the man seemed to realize he was in trouble.

He twisted around in her grip, lobbing a punch at her face, only to get struck three times in rapid succession. The first two were enough to wind him. The third drew blood. It would have been enough to stop most people. But whoever this man was, he wasn’t counting on his ink alone.

He’d been given training. And he was very good.

Under the pretext of doubling over at the waist he reared up suddenly and struck her right in the chin, knocking her off-balance enough that he was able to escape. By this time Lily and James had raced into the room, weapons drawn, but he knocked both down as he sailed to the hallway.

He probably would have gotten away if he hadn’t paused in the frame.

So this is it? he panted quietly, glancing back at Dorian’s crumpled form. This is the best your beloved Guilder has to offer? Your new set of toys?

The magical shadow dripped in strange patterns off his