Tour Excerpt: Downpour by Madison Daniel

Welcome to my blog for the Downpour Tour! Downpour is the second book in Madison Daniel's Ember series. I really enjoyed Ember and look forward to reading Downpour. Check out the excerpt from book two below.

Young Adult Paranormal
Ember series #2 

A little sister lost.

A family tree withered.

A journey to save the past.

Max Valentine is a walking supernova.

On the run and searching for answers, his light darkens.

Dark skies on the horizon make his next chapter ominous.

His powers are fading but still he pushes toward the storm.

Embers still burn but can he survive this one truth...

...love is eternal but the heart is not.

A Sneak Peek

Chapter two in my new book Downpour. This is the second installment in the Ember Series. I have attached a link to the song that is meant to accompany your reading experience. Look. Listen. Fade away. ~ M

Hush 02

~Climbing Up The Walls: Chris Cornell~

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ii0aAY0G4E

Friday afternoon - 2:31 p.m. - June 16th.

I wasn’t expecting it to take this long to track Asia down, and now that this rickety old bus had almost reached its destination, I filled with hope. When money is no object, and you don’t want to be found, disappearing is quite easy. Asia and her family were loaded. As rich as it gets. She could have run away to the moon if she desired it.

I almost gave up a week ago. I was growing doubtful I’d ever find her, as I made my way into the little town of Needles, California. I was sitting in my simple but quiet motel room watching the ceiling fan spin me into unconsciousness when the local weather channel gave me my first ray of hope. The smiling weather lady pointed out that the seasonal rains had been acting completely out of character down near the bottom of Mexico. She chalked it up to global warming, but I knew better. Asia was as special as I was. With her emotions, came the rain. Lots and lots of rain. She was what the local islanders referred to as, a rainmaker. If I was fire...she was my opposite. She was water.

So I used the last of the money I had left and headed for the border. Once I made it to the border the real detective work started. I only knew a handful of words in Spanish and found it extremely hard to find help. I had spent most of the day running in circles, but a young mother and her son helped me in the beautiful town of San Carlos, pointing me in the right direction.

Apparently her family was from just outside the small-secluded town that seemed to be going through the early monsoons. Her father had told her that the beaches of Punta Allen were dying, and that a broken heart had brought forth this curse.

Punta Allen was a tiny town on the ocean, just outside of Tulum, Mexico that lived and breathed by its fishing, and business was fading. The new powerful storms had chased off all the fish.

“Gracias,” I smiled to the driver as I stepped from the bus. He only glared at me and then up at the darkening skies. He was far from comfortable here. He probably thought this little town was cursed too. Hopefully I could help them with their new curse, even though I was also scared that my resurrection just might make this so called curse even worse. I had no idea how Asia would react to me, and that sobering thought had wreaked havoc on my mind and stomach.

“Just breathe,” I whispered as the air filled my lungs. Music pumped inside my head through my mp3 players’ earphones. By habit, I ran my hand through my hair, messing up my bangs. They had grown out again in the past month of searching for Asia. I had missed the comfort they afforded me after I cut them off months before. I had another habit of hiding behind them when I was nervous.

“You can do this,” I encouraged myself. The air felt wet and heavy with hardly any sun above. Slowly, I made my way to the middle of the town. There were only a few people scattered around the streets. Not a single one of them looked happy to see me. The little cursed town was dead quiet. Not much more than the grumbling thunder overhead could be heard. I started to doubt my decision to come here.

“Now or never Max,” I tried to encourage myself. Nervously, I browsed my map and realized that it wasn’t helping me at all. The paper crinkled within my sweaty, hot fingers. I glanced up at the angry sky. A couple of locals watched me closely from afar. They didn’t seem to want me here. I couldn’t really blame them though; the last stranger brought nothing but misfortune to their lives.

“Hola,” I said quietly with a polite wave as the three men walked up to me. They said nothing at first and watched me carefully. One of the men could not take his eyes from my shiny black guitar slung around my back, and my hands heated up cautiously around the loop of my bag. I quickly removed my earbuds and the music softly echoed into the air. The other two men positioned themselves on my sides and offered their hands to shake. As I reluctantly did, the wind rushed through the streets, startling us. It was sweet and familiar. My blood ran hot.

“Asia...” I almost shouted as that first scent of her hit me. Cherry blossoms. I had missed that smell every day that it had been gone. When I spoke her name the three men took a small step back and watched me carefully again. It made me very uneasy, but I was excited that I wasn’t far from the end of my journey.

I smiled and softly spoke, “Cherry blossoms.” My eyes pointed to the sky. The men looked at each other quickly. Three pairs of bulging eyes locked onto me as they all pointed to the end of the road we were on. The oldest spoke sternly, speaking words I only half recognized. I nodded, not knowing exactly what he said, and slowly pushed past them down the road. They watched my every step. Later I would learn what he had said...“the crying girl is on the beach.” In a matter of minutes I could hear the crashing waves of the ocean and my pace quickened.

I pushed my way through some brush and thick vegetation before my feet hit the cool sand. As my wide, brown eyes tried to take in the view of the beach, her scent hit me again like a sledgehammer. My legs felt weak but my chest filled with excited fire. My core still burned for her. She still called to me on an instinctual level. It’s hard to describe just how powerful that feeling was. The blood in my veins sped up and filled with heat, causing my skin to steam. It slid from my pores like thin smoke. Quickly, I scanned my surroundings and tossed my gear to the soft sand. I filled with nervous relief at the barren landscape, only to overheat when I found a small audience at the end of the beach.

“Uh oh,” I laughed nervously as two young girls spotted me. They looked like teenagers, and not shocked by my smoky first impression. They watched with smiles as the first drops of rain peppered me lightly. I waved at them, slowly walking forward in the sand. One of the girls smiled back and hid her face behind her thick black hair. The other girl stood up quietly and pointed to the rolling waves. Her posture was determined and still. Her black curls of hair flickered around her serious face. I followed her finger to the black waves and my head began to spin.

“Asia.”

She was lying along her back on her red and black surfboard with her arms caressing the rolling water. Storm clouds swirled around the sky, spinning back and forth in front of the yellow sun, making its rays dance along the water and her body, which was covered in a tiny black and blue wetsuit. Her hair trailed along behind her in the water as the waves built themselves up back and forth. She looked amazing. She looked beautiful. She looked...broken.

My body overheated instantly and my feet began to burn. I quickly kicked of my shoes and buried my toes in the cool sand as I walked forward. It didn’t help though, as my body filled with fire. My feet felt as if they were walking on hot Jell-O. When I looked down, I found that I was so hot, the crystals of sand were melting beneath me.

“Hmmm....that’s a new one,” I joked. My powers were still growing, but this was just plain weird. It gave me an idea though and I reached down and scooped up a large handful of sand in front of me. The two girls looked on with their mouths open in shock as my hands filled with white and blue light. I was lost in my own little world now and didn’t give them much more thought as I pushed the heat inside my hands harder. I focused my powers and squeezed as hard as I could. Light pulsated from my arms as the rain fell a little harder.

“It’s working,” I gasped. Inside my hands a sparkling shard of glass winked at me. It didn’t have a particular shape but reminded me of an ice sculpture shaped like a dull flame. Steam twisted from it softly. I held it in front of me so the light from the sun might catch within its walls, but the thickening clouds would only tease it with bright light. It caused a soft strobe effect and gave me another idea. I heated my hands again, this time concentrating only on the white and blue light I could generate. The hot piece of glass filled with a prism of colors and flashed like a sparkly disco ball in my hands.

“See me,” I spoke to the waves.

Asia didn’t budge from her board as the brilliant colors flickered over her and the waves. My head filled with a dull ache and I called to her as loud as I could, but the waves were much too loud. I looked over to the two girls but they were gone now. The rain began to fall harder and I tried my trick again. With fading patience I pushed even harder but it didn’t work. Slowly, I let my head fall in disappointment. As I did, Asia caught a quick flicker from the corner of her eye. She quickly turned on top of her board filled with anger, and rose to her feet even quicker when she saw my outline in the falling rain.

“Max?”

Time slowed as her brain tried to wrap itself around what her eyes were showing her. From behind my wet bangs I could feel the waves grow bigger, and thunder shook everywhere. I raised my eyes to hers out on the ocean and froze under the weight of the moment. Her crystal blue eyes stared through me as if I were a ghost. Pain filled her face, and her hair dripped down the sides of her shoulders. I stood motionless holding the piece of hand shaped glass, not sure what to do next. Time had frozen both of us, just like the first time we met.

The rain fell cold and strong as the waves rumbled all around her, making me grow scared for her safety. If she were to be hurt again like last time, I wouldn’t be able to help her again. The thought of my failing powers made me angry for a second before the rush of seeing Asia again silenced my famous temper. I reached out my hands with the piece of twinkling glass. She furrowed her brow slightly and let her body fall from the board. The dark mass of water engulfed her completely. Waves fizzled and fuzzed before starting to settle. The uneasy sea fell to a sullen hush in one short moment. No sound but the wind and my collapsing heart.

“Not again.”

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME! I LOVE THIS BLOG/PAGE! READ ON! ROCK ON! MD

About the Author


Music is LIFE and the written word is our SOUL. Music and writing have been my true ambition since I was a child. I have used music in every form possible; writing it, performing it, healing with it, etc. I call it my "life's soundtrack." I have always written in some form, from comic books to screenplays to short stories and now the new series "Ember." I have spent my writing life inspired by all the music of the universe, 80's movies and eye candy. When not writing I enjoy dreaming out loud, challenging the real world and inspiring the ones I love. I have found a true passion for my stories and characters and am eager to share them with the world. See you on the next book tour...MD

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