A selection from Power Trip

Since nobody's reading these, anyways, I think it's fine for me to go non-linear.  Here's my one beta-reader's favorite part of my book, Power Trip.  Enjoy.

  King took one last look at Sand’s equipment.  Then a big grin crossed his face.  It reminded Sand of Jax.  “Do you want to take the fun way down?” 

Jax tilted her head.  “The fun—“ the implication of the phrase as applied to where they were hit her in the face.  She shook her head vigorously.  “No.  Never.  Let’s take the ladder.” 

King strolled to the edge of the observatory.  He lifted one foot off and held out his arms.  “Time is of the essence!  Make sure to land on a reinforced limb!  Channel your power only when you’re sure of how you will hit the ground!”  He leaned dangerously forwards.  The wind whipped his hair into an ocean blue storm like real waves.  He grinned mischievously.  His mannam circuits colored deep green. 

Jax’s circuits colored bright red.  Every muscle in her body tensed. 

Sand decided to do something about it.  He grasped her arm.  He powered up his limbs and pulled.  Jax held fast to the floor but she budged.  Sand pulled harder.  Exhilaration built in his body, anticipation funneled into his stomach.  He grinned like a maniac.

Jax closed her eyes.  She took a deep breath.  And she ran forwards.  She jerked Sand along with her and then threw herself off the side of the observatory and into thin air.  She squeezed her eyes shut.  And she shouted in ecstatic joy. 

“Yahoooooo!”

Chapter 24: Dead Men

The wind tore at Sand’s face.  It ripped his lips back past his cheeks.  It forced the water back into his eyes.  It rippled in his ears.  It smacked straight into his chest and pulled the cord on some internal organ and flooded his body with lightning.  Jax’s hands clamped onto his arms with visceral pressure.  Her hair streamed out behind her in full frosty brilliance.  The ground twirled.  They stayed together and did not move.  The world bent for them.  The wind tore at them but they did not part.  Jax let out another whoop of exhalation.  Sand blinked hard and joined her.  The ground came up to meet them.  Sand imagined how they would land.  He could not think straight.  The world moved too fast.  More lightning whipped through his body.  He closed his eyes tight and trusted his instincts.  He moved so that he would be there to catch Jax if she didn’t land right.  He flooded the circuits in his legs and in his spine.  He formed a card barrier around his soft parts, his forehead, his neck. 

Wham! 

The ground’s impact rocketed through his entire body with explosive rigor.  Jax’s arm landed hard on his shoulder.  But his legs locked.  The impact traveled through him like through a metal beam.  The flood of energy in his life circuits flowed straight against the energy of his fall and negated it.  The pavement cracked.  Sand staggered.  Jax fell to her knees.  But she was laughing.  And crying.  She toppled onto her back and stared up at the sky. 

Whap! 

King landed a few feet away.  Splinters of stone stung Sand’s cheeks.  He lifted his arm to shield himself.  He felt dizzy, but alive.  He looked down to check on Jax.  She stared with open eyes up at the building which she had fallen from.  Sand followed her gaze.  It looked truly magnificent.  The window out of which they had jumped was no bigger than an ant.  Sand brought his thumb up to his eye and covered it entirely.  He grinned big. 

King stepped over a pockmarked landscape to get to where Sand and Jax had landed.  It looked as if the fun way out were a regular occurrence.  Big hunks of fluid stone gaped at horrendous angles.  Around the edge of the building the ground churned like a field under plow.  King reached where Jax had landed and put out his hand to help her up.  Jax accepted and the two stood at right angles to each other for a split second.  Jax smiled. 

“Dad, that was awesome.” 

King gave a broad smile.  “I’m glad.”  He turned away from the building, down the straight street which ran across the side on which they had landed.  He brushed himself off.  “Sixth street is this way.”  He began to run.  

You can but Power Trip Here.  It's $2.99, a pretty good price, all things considered.