Under: A Dystopian Paranormal Romance Novel

Chapter 1

For me, there were two apocalypses.

There was the first one, of course. The one that happened one hundred and fifty years ago. That broke the world off into sectors and separated us all from each other as people.

It was the reason our regent took control in the first place—the reason we were walled off from the other sectors. The reason life was the way it was.

But that apocalypse was not the one that hurt me the most. No, that was the second apocalypse—the one that was just for me.

The moment where I watched everything I had ever known burn down around me in a whirlwind of fire. The moment that destroyed me from the outside in.

How was I to know it would also be the thing to make me new again?

I was already awake when the buzzer on my alert system rang. I had waited for this my entire life—to live out in the circle, to be where the action was, to finally live in the place where I always knew I belonged.

I hopped out of bed, brushed my long, black hair—inherited from my mother—then took my allotted six-minute shower. My heart was pounding as I swished my teeth cleaner and inspected myself in the mirror.

I could not have been more excited if I was meeting the regent herself.

Sure, for other people—for those who grew up in the circle, surrounded by its magic and technology—this was old hat. But I was a farm girl, raised with my hands in the dirt. Before today, the most exciting thing I had to look forward to was one of our cows giving birth.

And now, here I was, about to take a position as a mystical maintenance operator. I, Razz Coleridge, would be at the wall itself. I would use my abilities to keep ravagers out. Just like the keepers of old.

It was almost too much to take.

I spat the cleaner into the sink and watched as the drain sucked it down.

Unbelievable, I muttered.

Back home, I’d have to wait for the sink to drain naturally. But here, they’d built everything to make life easier.

I walked back out into my designated one-bedroom apartment that came with my position, and then dressed myself in the standard uniform. After slipping work boots on, I walked out. I closed the door behind me, and then slid my finger across the scanner to lock it up.

I didn’t have much yet in terms of possessions. My most valuable belonging was a blanket my grandmother had knit for my mother before I was born. My father made a point of making sure I knew that before I came here. After all, the circle was a dangerous place. Everyone knew that.

As I exited onto the bustling circle streets, I felt my breath catch in my throat.

I shouldn’t have been surprised. All the paintings, all the pictures, all the televised events from the circle, showcased a bright, busy metropolis without much room to stand, let alone walk.

But being within it, actually being a part of the hustle and bustle, was something different altogether.

I ran fingers through my hair, straightening it to make sure I looked the part of an official worker. I wasn’t sure why I did it. It wasn’t as if anyone was looking at me. They were all too busy focusing on their own lives, heads buried in communicators and eyes plastered on their screens.

Sector Five was a bullseye, with our regent right at the center of it all. And I was in the circle, the city perimeter that went all the way around the border, stretching several miles out from the great wall toward the Dustlands at every point.

I took in a breath of the thin, cold air. Crazy to think that, from where I stood, I was actually closer to the center than I was to the opposite side of the circle. What a strange world I lived in.

I was now in the circle, or at least this small part of it—where everything happened. And there, shining like some mammoth, inviting beacon of progress and warmth, sat the center.

It was odd—after all, I grew up pretty close to the center. But due to the terrain, to the valleys of the Dustlands, I could never actually see it. Now, I was in mountainous terrain, and, in the distance, the metallic castle—the center—jutted through smoky clouds.

It might as well have sung my name for the way it drew me to it.

But there was no time to enjoy the awe-inspiring view. I was stationed at the wall. And that was where I headed.

By the time I made my way to my designated section, the doors were swinging shut.

Wait! I yelled, rushing toward the quickly slamming sheet of metal and electronics.

Once closed, it wouldn’t open for anything outside of a full-blown state of emergency until our shift was over. I’d miss my entire first day. If I were to do that, I could kiss my job goodbye. Facing the people back home wouldn’t even be possible.

To say I had made my feelings known about coming here would be like saying a ravager was unpleasant to look at. The party my parents threw for me before I left was the most lavish anyone back home had ever seen, and almost certainly more than they could afford.

I wasn’t going to let them down now. Not after they believed in me like that.

My legs pumped harder and faster as I neared the door.

I jumped toward it, sliding through and feeling the door close tight against my back. I managed to pull myself in just as it shut behind me.

A tall man with dark eyes and a set jaw glared at me. Judging from the stripes across his chest, he was a senior officer. And from the gray in his head and the lines around his eyes, I’d imagine his time here hadn’t been without stress.

Razz Coleridge, reporting for duty, sir, I shouted, balling my fist up and pounding it against my chest, as was custom.

His mouth twisted downward as he eyed me up and down.

Still, my back remained straight and my eyes focused.

I had been through the hard times. Been through winter in the Dustlands. It would take more than a disapproving stare from a weathered old officer to bend my will.

You’re late, he said in a voice that sounded like broken concrete.

Yes, sir, I answered. Though, to be fair, I can’t imagine how that might be. It was my understanding that last call was to be held at—

Your understanding doesn’t matter here, he barked. And we don’t deal in ‘fair’. Fair gets people killed, and we’re in the business of keeping people alive. Even if we have to hurt some farm girl’s feelings while we do it.

I blanched. I didn’t think I was so obviously out of place, but I must have been, because this guy could read me like a book.

No matter. I was late. Everybody got one free pass, right?

I began to march, trying to act like a real officer, but then my head pulled back sharply. Turning, I saw what had happened.

I thought I made it through the closing door without issue. It turned out my ponytail didn’t agree with me.

My face flushed bright red as the senior officer huffed at me.

Grabbing a pair of scissors from a nearby desk, he handed them to me. Here you go.

He wasn’t playing around.

Yes, sir, I answered.

Without hesitation, I took the blades to my hair, chopping off more of it than I ever had at one time. Setting my jaw, I nodded and handed the scissors back, careful to keep my eyes clear and free of any of that pesky emotion stuff.

So…where do I start?

The pamphlets and brochures I received after my designation ceremony did little to prepare me for the truth about the wall.

The smiling people and clean floor that populated the pages were, in reality, replaced by filthy hallways that opened up into free air, grunting coworkers, and a fistful of angry superiors shouting orders as if they were already tired, even though it was barely past sunup.

But I wouldn’t let that bother me. So things weren’t exactly the way I imagined them… The life and job I hoped for since I was a child pulling at my mother’s leggings wasn’t what I envisioned. I had been here for four hours now, and I hadn’t spoken to anyone outside of the scissor-happy superior officer.

That would not get to me. I was finally here. I was in the circle, and, regent save me, I was going to make a go of it.

I kept focused on the wall—the crackling pillar of multicolored energy that surrounded this sector as a whole—and the magic in me flared. I could feel it pulling at the power inside of me. When combined with the energy of my coworkers, it would power the wall. It would keep the monstrous ravagers begging to get in outside.

Look at you, Bright ‘n Shiny. A voice, the first I heard in hours, startled me.

I jerked.

Looking over, I saw a tall redhead smiling over at me. A few minutes ago, a middle-aged lady was in that spot. There must have been a shift change I hadn’t noticed.

Are you…speaking to me? I asked, surprised at the grin on his face. It was the first I had seen today, not counting the one in my mirror this morning.

I don’t see anything else bright and shiny here. Do you?

Like mine, his hands were outstretched. Where my energy was blue, the power that flew from his hands and into the wall was a deep scarlet.

I…I guess not, I answered, stifling a chuckle. I’m Razz.

You sure are, he said, nodding at me. How long have you been in the center?

Is it that obvious? I asked, turning to him while still keeping my hands stretched toward the wall.

Ideally, I was supposed to keep focused on my task and not deviate from it. But it was just so nice to finally talk to someone, and a nice person at that.

Besides, he was turned toward me, too. It couldn’t be that bad.

You might as well be wearing overalls with a garden spade sticking out of your pocket.

I sighed.

Don’t be like that, Bright ‘n Shiny, he said. Standing out isn’t a bad thing. In fact, I’d say it’s the opposite. He shook his head. You don’t want to fit in. Not in a place like this anyway. He reached out a hand for me to shake, breaking off his connection to the wall. The name’s Aarid.

Are you sure you’re supposed to be doing that, Aarid? I asked, motioning with my head from his hand to the wall.

What? That? Aarid balked. Don’t worry. I think I know what I’m—

A loud crash sounded right in front of us.

Aarid pulled back, falling hard against the filthy floor.

Aarid, I yelled. When I looked over, I saw something I had only ever seen in paintings and my nightmares.

A ravager had collided with the wall.

Its disgusting features smashed against the force field, and I could feel the energy inside of me pool toward the weak spot. But, without Aarid’s abilities, it wasn’t enough.

Pain shot through me, knocking me backward as a hole tore into the wall.

My stomach dropped as the ravager began to tear through the broken section. The opening wasn’t big enough for the beast to pull all the way through, like my hair caught in the slamming door, but its claw swiped at me.

I froze, terrified and dumbstruck. This thing, this unimaginable monster, a being that had haunted my bedtime since I was a child, now stood in front of me.

With an open mouth and rows of fangs dripping yellowed saliva, it rushed toward me.

Only a slither of energy held it back—the slightest tint of blue, red, and green.

And that wouldn’t last long, not if I couldn’t act.

Razz!

Aarid’s voice pulled me from my daze. I saw things anew—this place, this monster, and this energy. It was all an opportunity to show them what I could do, to show them who I was. And hey, maybe I’d show myself, too.

I reached my hands out in front of me, placing them so close to the ravager that I could feel its hot breath across my palms.

My stomach churned. This thing wanted nothing more than my death, the deaths of all those I’d ever known, and the end of the only home I’d ever had.

Not today, I muttered, speaking the words the officers in my sector had said for ages now. Today, the wall holds!

I pushed out toward the monster that had broken completely free of the wall’s energy, blinking hard as the power flowed through me. It felt strange, foreign, even though it was coming from my own body.

I had never done this before—let my inhibitions loose.

It wasn’t done back home. People didn’t have real abilities out there. They’d been bred out over the years or something. None of the bloodlines that held magical properties to the level I was displaying existed outside of the circle. Everyone knew that.

But I was the exception. And as such, I’d been able to get a job in the circle—something no one from the Dustlands had been able to do before me.

Judging by the sheer amount of icy blue energy cascading from my hands at this moment, it was clear I was the exception.

The ravager snapped at me again, but my power kept it pushed back far enough not to hit me.

An alarm wailed. Someone would be coming soon, and then I’d have help.

But if I could do this by myself—if I could beat back a ravager and seal the hole in the wall without any assistance—well, that would certainly make up for being late this morning.

I gritted my teeth and leaned into it. A cold feeling rushed through me, making me feel alive in a way I never had before.

This power wanted to be used. Wanted to overtake me, and, for the sake of my new life here, I was going to let it.

Ice formed over my entire being in a blue, pulsating energy that lit me up on the inside and pushed me closer and closer to the ravager.

I watched it slide backward against its own will.

It was still trying to come at me, still bloodthirsty and looking at me as if I were dinner. But I was a force. At least I was at this moment…and nothing was going to stop me.

Giving one more massive push, I screamed, and the world disappeared. The alarm, the wall itself, all the people I was sure had come to help me by now—they were all gone. There was just me, the ravager, and the power that was more intricately intertwined within me than I had ever imagined.

Outside of the wall, the monster fell back.

Instantly, I shifted focus. My bright blue energy went to work at rebuilding the wall, stitching its energy back into place. In a matter of seconds, it was firm. Whole again. I could feel it. The connection was strong, and nothing was getting through it.

Its power rushed through me, mixing with my own and making me feel like I was standing atop the universe itself.

I belonged here.

I knew it.

Tears filled my eyes as the real world returned.

I felt arms at my back, patting me and shouting congratulations. Looking around, I saw the hall was full of officers, all staring at me in awe.

Most of the workers were still fighting back the wall, and some new people had stepped in to replace those of us who had just spent our energy fighting off the worst of it. That left about a dozen of us just standing around, and something told me that this wasn’t the kind of place where you just stand around. Even if not protecting the walls, we should be doing something. I just didn’t know what.

Aarid was back on his feet. He slapped me on the back and started chanting my name.

My face got hot and my heart pumped faster, but for a completely different reason than it had just a few seconds before.

Enough! The loud voice sounded throughout the hall, silencing everyone.

I looked up to find the source of the voice. From the second floor, I saw a man glaring down at me. He was about my age, with sandy-brown hair, light eyes, and chiseled features that would have been striking even if they weren’t trained on me with enough intensity to turn coal into a sparkling gem.

Stop acting like children! He shook his head. "Do you think this is playtime? Do you think we get exalted for doing our job? He pointed to the wall. This is what we do. It’s the job. It’s more than the job. It’s the only thing standing between everybody you love and complete destruction. His mouth twisted in disgust. We don’t throw a party because we narrowly escaped getting ourselves killed. And we don’t throw pink-cheeked children on our shoulders and treat them like Prince Park just because she fixed the mistake of someone who should have known better than to get distracted in the first place."

Oh, loosen up, Henrick, Aarid called out. He threw his arm around me and squeezed hard. Bright ‘n Shiny here did good. She earned herself a drink. And, by the regent, I’m going to buy it for her.

Henrick looked to Aarid before turning back to me. He shook his head. Idiots. All of you.

Then he disappeared back behind the bannister, but, for some reason, I couldn’t stop staring at the place he’d just been standing.

Chapter 2

The rest of the day was a blur of congratulations and self-doubt. Had I really just beaten back a ravager all by myself? And if so…how?

I wasn’t some impressive magical prodigy. I was a