Exhausted with life, Dakota tries to end his -- only to be saved at the last moment by his friend Terrell, who then drags him into a world of magic and intrigue that's always been right there, hidden beneath the surface.<br><br>Powerful magic users are steadily pulling the planet into a violent war, and evil forces will stop at nothing to take the talismans possessed by Dakota and his newfound family. Dakota soon finds himself deeply in over his head ... with love, with family, with fighting for all their lives.

The Pyre Starter

“You’ve been wearing it this whole time?” Terrell eventually asked.


He nodded. “Yeah, just—uh, under my shirt. I didn’t know what to say to your cousins if they saw it, so…”


“You could just tell them I gave it to you.”


Dakota laughed dismissively. Did Terrell really think it was that simple? “I could handle that part. It’s the next question that gets tricky. I have your magic necklace. Why do I have it? What the hell do I say to that?”


Terrell shifted his position abruptly, bringing his right foot up and resting it on his other knee. He kept his head down. It was a posture he often took when he was alone with Dakota. As though, sometime in the past, his family members noticed this sort of meek behavior and endeavored to correct it. He kept his head up for them, but not for Dakota. Because he didn’t ask it of him. Absently, the fingers on Terrell’s left hand began picking at the rubber edges of his old white sneaker.


Chapter 16