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Category: Science Fiction
Description: For one boy and his friends, the path to Paradise comes at a cost--one they may not be prepared to pay. When a biking accident leaves 17-year-old Joss Kazdan with the ability to hear things others can't, reality as he knows it begins to unravel. A world of legends exists beyond the ordinary life he's always known, and he is transported to the same Paradise he's studying in World Mythology.
eBook Publisher: Solstice Publishing,
eBookwise Release Date: July 2012

Available eBook Formats: OEBFF Format (IMP) [272 KB]
Words: 56847
Reading time: 162-227 min.

Chapter 1

Waking up sucked.

Sleep was my escape. My only refuge.

Before I'd even opened my eyes, I felt myself sinking back into the gloom.

How in hell would I make it through another damn day?

"Get up, Joss! You're late!"

My mother's tone was harsh and accusing. In her mind, I wasn't just late. I was a worthless, seventeen-year-old punk.

And you know what? She was right.

Like every morning, my five-year-old sister, Callie, burst into the room and dove onto my bed. I did my best to hide how I was feeling.

"Hey there, Lilly Bug!" I sat up and tickled her belly and she squealed with delight. When I stopped tickling, though, her face darkened.

"What's the matter?" I asked.

Callie sat up and faced me, her big brown eyes welling up with tears.

"Joss?" Her voice sounded tiny and scared. "Are you leaving me again?"

"Of course not, silly." I reached out and stroked her thick curls. "What gave you that idea?"

"Mommy said you're going straight to Hell."

I chuckled. "I'm not going anywhere."

Callie's eyes brightened and she lunged forward to hug me.

We were close even before I spent twenty months in lockup at Framingham. Now she clung to me as if I might vanish again at any moment.