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    Question the Darkness: The Chronicles of Kerrigan Prequel, #2
    Question the Darkness: The Chronicles of Kerrigan Prequel, #2
    Question the Darkness: The Chronicles of Kerrigan Prequel, #2
    Ebook258 pages3 hours

    Question the Darkness: The Chronicles of Kerrigan Prequel, #2

    By W.J. May

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    About this ebook

    Learn how it all began … before Rae Kerrigan.

    The sins of the father are the sins of the son.

    What did Rae's father do that put fear in people's eyes at the name Kerrigan?

    Simon Kerrigan is a bright kid. He likes to ask questions and push adults in their way of thinking. He's falling for a girl he's been warned to stay away from. Tempted by forbidden love, he also must face the biggest challenge of his life: receive a tattoo on his sixteenth birthday.

    This ink is going to give him a supernatural ability unlike anyone before him. When secrets of the past begin to reveal themselves, he questions everything he's ever known.

    Pressure from Guilder Boarding School and the Privy Council only confuse Simon more as he struggles to find himself.

    How hard will he have to shake the family tree to find the truth about the past?

    The Chronicles of Kerrigan Prequel is the beginning of the story before Rae Kerrigan. Christmas before the Magic is just the beginning (but not be the end...)

    Prequel Series:
    Christmas Before the Magic
    Question the Darkness
    Into the Darkness
    Fight the Darkness
    Alone in the Darkness
    Lost in Darkness

    The Chronicles of Kerrigan Series
    Rae of Hope
    Dark Nebula
    House of Cards
    Royal Tea
    Under Fire
    End in Sight
    Hidden Darkness
    Twisted Together
    Mark of Fate
    Strength & Power
    Last One Standing
    Rae of Light

    The Chronicles of Kerrigan Sequel
    A Matter of Time
    Time Piece
    Second Chance
    Glitch in Time
    Our Time
    Precious Time

    The Chronicles of Kerrigan: Gabriel
    Living in the Past
    Present for Today
    Staring at the Future

    Kerrigan Chronicles

    Stopping Time

    Passage of Time

    Ticking Clock

    Secrets in Time

    Time in the City

    Ultimate Future

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDark Shadow Publishing
    Release dateJul 15, 2016
    ISBN9781533710581
    Question the Darkness: The Chronicles of Kerrigan Prequel, #2
    Author

    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.

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      Book preview

      Question the Darkness - W.J. May

      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:

      C:\Users\wanitajump\Documents\aCoversNew2016\2016-17summercovers\Heistdom+\Cok Prequel Poster.jpg

      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

      C:\Users\wanitajump\Documents\CoK Series\CoKBanner.png

      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

      C:\Users\wanitajump\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCacheContent.Word\Poster TCOKS.JPG

      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

      C:\Users\Wanita\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\Content.Word\Living in the Past Facebook Cover Art.jpg

      Present for Today

      C:\Users\Wanita\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\Content.Word\Present For Today Facebook Cover Art.jpg

      Staring at the Future

      C:\Users\Wanita\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\Content.Word\Staring at the Future Facebook Cover Art.jpg

      Kerrigan Chronicles

      Book 1 – Stopping Time

      Book 2 – A Passage of Time

      Book 3 – Ticking Clock

      Book 4 – Secrets in Time

      Book 5 – Time in the City

      Book 6 – Ultimate Future

      Find W.J. May

      Website:

      http://www.wanitamay.yolasite.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

      Contents

      Have You Read the C.o.K Series?

      Kerrigan Chronicles

      Find W.J. May

      Blurb:

      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

      Have You Read the C.o.K Series?

      Kerrigan Chronicles

      Find W.J. May

      Note from Author

      More books by W.J. May

      TUDOR COMPARISON:

      C:\Users\wanitajump\Documents\aCoversNew2016\2016-17summercovers\Heistdom+\Question The Darkness Facebook Cover Art.jpg

      Blurb:

      LEARN HOW IT ALL BEGAN ... before Rae Kerrigan.

      The sins of the father are the sins of the son.

      What did Rae’s father do that put fear in people’s eyes at the name Kerrigan?

      Simon Kerrigan is a bright kid. He likes to ask questions and push adults in their way of thinking. He’s falling for a girl he’s been warned to stay away from. Tempted by forbidden love, he also must face the biggest challenge of his life: receive a tattoo on his sixteenth birthday.

      This ink is going to give him a supernatural ability unlike anyone before him. When secrets of the past begin to reveal themselves, he questions everything he’s ever known.

      Pressure from Guilder Boarding School and the Privy Council only confuse Simon more as he struggles to find himself.

      How hard will he have to shake the family tree to find the truth about the past?

      The Chronicles of Kerrigan Prequel is the beginning of the story before Rae Kerrigan. Christmas Before the Magic is just the beginning (but not the end...)

      Chapter 1

      IT WAS FINALLY HAPPENING. After all this time, it was finally happening.

      Simon Kerrigan held his breath and watched as the glowing red numbers on his digital clock switched from eleven fifty-nine to midnight. For a second, he couldn’t even look. He just pulled in a silent gasp as his eyes snapped shut. He should take his time, after all. There should be some kind of moment of silence. Of ceremony. He hadn’t waited sixteen years for nothing.

      Screw that—I want to see it!

      With a childlike giddiness that was most unlike him, he pulled out the flashlight he’d stashed beneath his pillow, and rolled up the arm to his long-sleeve pajamas. He wasn’t worried about his roommate—the seven-foot-tall colossus snoring on the other side of the room. Appropriately named Brick, the man had what had to be the most boring tatù in the world: the ability to amplify sound. Needless to say, this level of mundane mediocrity perfectly epitomized his entire personality, or lack thereof, and Simon was confident that even if he did happen to open his eyes and look over, he wouldn’t have the wherewithal to know what was going on.

      Sound amplification, he scoffed as he eagerly rolled up his sleeve. Lamest ink ever. And I swear, he practices with his snoring. Mine’s not going to be anything like that. Mine’s going to be...

      Nothing.

      No mark. No inkling. Not even the start of something.

      He blinked and double-checked his watch. It matched the time on his digital clock. Sighing he dropped back down on the bed and tried to will the ink art onto his arm. If he thought about it hard enough, would that make it show up? He sighed and let his eyes close. Maybe if he just relaxed and tried to sleep, it would come.

      He just wanted a strong tatù. Something he could use. Just as he felt himself drift off, he jolted and sat upright. I want my mark to be...

      He stopped short as he stared down at the shimmering design that had magically laced its way across his skin.

      ...different.

      Different was perhaps a bit of an understatement. Simon didn’t think he had ever seen a design so unusual. Nor had he heard any of his professors mention it as a possibility. And he would know. There wasn’t a student at Guilder who paid more attention to the variations and limitations of ink than he did. By this point—halfway through his second year—he was kind of known for it. The brain. The loner. The odd boy from the odd family who kept to himself save for his one loyal friend. And now this. Yet another thing to set him apart from the horde. Yet another distinction between him and the rest of the unwashed masses.

      Not that he minded. In fact, he couldn’t have been more pleased.

      Most kids in high school, even a school as strange as the legendary Guilder Boarding School, prized homogeny above all. By instinct, teenagers craved normalcy. Even teenagers gifted with superpowers living in a secret society somehow all wanted to be the same.

      But not Simon.

      His freedom lay in his power. He had always known that. Since long before the ink appeared on his skin. His tatù would go on to define him.

      Now, if he could just figure out what it was...

      It was a man, that much was clear. But a man with a slightly blurred face, as if the ink had smeared to exactly the point where you couldn’t make out his expression. In one hand dangled an old-fashioned clock, while the other was stretched out with what looked to be some kind of shimmery ray shooting from it.

      First guess, he figured it might be some kind of magician.

      It was cool, that much was certain. Undeniably cool. In fact, the longer he stared at it, the more Simon was hypnotized by the very sight. Like Narcissus gazing at his reflection in the pool, he sat there for what had to be hours—twisting his arm this way and that, flexing the muscles so as to see the mysterious man from every angle.

      Not a magician, he decided as the clock struck two. The clock ruled out a magician. But surely some kind of sorcerer. A wizard maybe? No, not a wizard. Nothing so common as that. This had to be something else. Something like—

      —a warlock! he whispered aloud, casting an automatic nervous glance at Brick, although the kid never missed a beat in his snoring.

      Yes, a warlock.

      He grinned to himself as he flipped over onto his back and held it up to catch the light of the moon. Best night ever. Better even than that night he’d spent in Scotland over winter break. The night where he’d kissed a raven-haired beauty under the light of the stars.

      A slight frown flitted across his face, and he lowered his arm to his side. Well, maybe not better than that. He wasn’t sure anything could be better than that. Just...different.

      Yes. Different. Like him. Like his new tatù.

      The arm came back up with a happy smile, angling automatically to catch the light. Just wait until his school friends got a load of this. His smile turned abruptly smug as he pictured the look on one particular face. Wardell’s. If the boy had a first name, he’d never bothered to learn it. In fact, he made it a habit not to get to know any of their names, only their ink. It was a testament to how much of a pain in the ass this particular guy had been that Simon knew his last name at all.

      Sure, Wardell thought he was the king at this school. With his flashy fox ink, good looks, and a rich family, he’d been a natural choice. But now all that was about to change. There was a new king in town.

      The warlock.

      The second Simon thought the name, he instantly banned it as a moniker. His best friend Argyle had clearly been forcing him to read too many comic books, and his imagination was running away with him. But that didn’t change the fact that Wardell was going to have to step aside. He didn’t imagine that stupid fox running up his arm could do too much against a one-of-a-kind tatù like the one Simon had now. He would quite simply have to put the insufferable jock in his place.

      Like an intoxicating dream, the mental image floated through his head.

      Wardell—walking unassumingly across the grass, surrounded by his usual group of friends.

      Simon—striding boldly out to meet him, surrounded by no one, needing no one.

      Wardell—saying something flippant and rude like usual, not realizing the consequences.

      Simon—slowly raising his arm.

      In the quiet dorm room, he copied the exact gesture he saw on the warlock, extending his fingers to their fullest extent and imagining the same kind of liquid light pouring forth. What happened next was of particular satisfaction.

      Wardell—flying through the air in front of everyone, landing in a puddle. Or mud. Or both.

      Serves the bastard right...

      But then, as quickly as the gloating mental image flashed through his head, it disappeared with a start, leaving Simon feeling rather cold in its wake.

      One-of-a-kind tatù, huh? On second thought, they didn’t really care for that sort of thing at Guilder. Sure, there had been a few sensational cases over the last few decades, but they had either been snatched up by the Privy Council, or had discreetly disappeared. Either way, they were usually never seen or heard from again.

      Turned out that as extraordinary as this secret world of theirs was, the geniuses running the Privy Council, and Guilder for that matter, were as homogenous as the teenagers. Prizing talent as long as it stayed strictly within its specified guidelines. Encouraging power as long as it was limited, and put to their own personal use.

      The arm came down again as Simon turned to stare out the window with a worried frown.

      Suddenly, he wasn’t so sure he wanted to go showing off his tatù after all...

      THE NEXT DAY, SIMON picked out his clothes carefully before setting out for classes. Brick had already left by the time he got up—off to lift weights at the gym or some other absurdity—so he was able to prepare in relative peace.

      Thankfully, the springtime weather was still cold enough that no one would think his long-sleeve shirt layered with a long-sleeve sweater was at all unusual. And given the fact that he’d made absolutely no friends, save for Argyle, and never shared any personal information about himself, there was a good chance that no one even knew that today was his sixteenth birthday.

      Yes, everything will be fine, he thought as he pushed open the door to Joist Hall and set off across the grass, heading towards Professor Lanford’s history class. I’ll just keep my head down, and—

      Hey! Kerrigan!

      Simon froze like someone had poured a glass of icy water down his back. He knew that detestable voice. After one and a half years of acute loathing, he’d know it anywhere.

      With a look of the upmost derision, he slowly turned around. Sure enough, Wardell was jogging towards him across the grass, followed by his usual band of sycophants. He skidded to an ostentatious halt, ‘accidentally’ spraying Simon with a wave of wet grass, and waited for the rest of his friends to catch up.

      What do you want, Wardell? Simon asked pre-emptively.

      He didn’t want to be late and call attention to himself on this day of all days. And although he hated to admit it, the aggravating fox made him more than a little nervous. Both of them were tall and fit, but if Wardell wanted he could most likely lay Simon out cold. Between his ink and the four or five friends who were constantly at his back, it wouldn’t be that much of a question.

      Or would it? Who knew what new powers Simon had up his sleeve.

      Wardell lifted his hands innocently, standing just out of reach with an unbearable twinkle in his eyes. We’re touchy this morning, aren’t we? There was a collective chuckle as the rest of the group filed in behind. And here I’d have thought you’d be in a great mood.

      Simon’s eyes darted nervously from person to person, sizing them up while refusing to surrender an inch of ground. Yeah? And why is that?

      Wardell cocked his head to the side, a playful, animalistic gesture he barely seemed aware of himself. Like a cat playing with its food. Because it’s your birthday, that’s why.

      It felt as though the entire campus fell suddenly quiet. Birthdays might not have been that big a deal at any other boarding school, but Guilder was different. At Guilder, the day you turned sixteen was a day that determined the rest of your life.

      How did you know that? Simon asked quietly.

      Wardell shrugged, tossing a pebble back and forth between his hands at lightning speed. A little bird told me.

      Behind him, Robert Fletcher, a shifter with the power to turn into an eagle, crossed his arms with a smirk. Simon’s eyes narrowed. Yeah, he bet a little bird told him. He bet a literal bird flew right into the admissions office and lifted his file from the records.

      So how about it? Wardell pressed impatiently. What did you get?

      A secondary bell chimed, a warning not to be late, and Simon fell a step back, trapped between a rock and a hard place. You know, he said casually, glancing behind him at the old brick building, same as my dad’s.

      Wardell grinned and took a step forward, enjoying their game immensely. Yeah, except no one around here really knows what your dad has either, do they? Because the guy never leaves the house, like a freak.

      Like father, like son, one of the boys behind him muttered.

      But Wardell didn’t have time for petty insults. He was here for a reason, and, like Simon, he had a class to get to and professors he didn’t want to upset. So what is it? Show me.

      Simon jutted up his chin. It’s none of your business.

      The grin came back. Really? You think you can hide it all year long?

      I think if you’re so concerned with ink, you should really focus on figuring out the rest of yours, Simon sneered. Still haven’t mastered that super-strength bit, have you?

      Wardell’s eyes narrowed as his skin blushed a delicate shade of pink. While the skills he had now might be impressive, it was true that he, along with most other Guilder students who already had their ink, hadn’t yet been able to unlock the rest of it. It was a touchy subject all around.

      Tell you what. He took a sudden step

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