On a Dark Wing – Cover Tease

By Jordan Dane

On Monday October 3rd, I’m revealing the cover for ON A DARK WING on TeenShiver, my second YA with the awesome Harlequin Teen (Jan, 2012). This will be an exclusive for TeenShiver, ‘cuz I love you guys. So I wanted to hint of things that will be on the cover, important images that will capture the essence of the story of a young girl who stares into the eyes of Death—twice.

The choices I had made that day, all of them led to that one moment when the school bus drove off and fate took over. I would learn a lesson I wasn’t prepared for and Death would be my willing teacher.    ~Abbey Chandler

Five years ago in Alaska, Abbey Chandler faced Death on the worst day of her life—the day her mother died. Now with gaping holes in her memory caused by the horrific car accident where she lost her mom, she struggles to remember what happened, but she can’t get past her guilt for the role she played in the crash when she missed her school bus. But Death never forgets her. For reasons of his own, he seeks her out years later with an agenda she never sees coming.

As an author, I had to imagine what it would be like for a young girl to stare into the beautiful and mesmerizing eyes of Death. What would she see? Would she even recognize the captivating boy for what he is? How would Death keep her from being afraid or would he even care if she’s scared?

I see Death as a keeper of souls, yet with the frightening power of an immortal charged with a lonely duty—being the last one to turn out the lights on humanity. By the end of the book, I ached for him and the solitude he must endure forever. His sense of duty and purpose felt like a burden that no one soul should have to bear and I wondered if he'd ever been given a choice. Below is Abbey’s first encounter with Death, before she realizes what really happened to her mother.

Excerpt – Abbey’s First Encounter with Death

Momma. Please…help me.

I searched for my mother, but couldn’t move my head. I didn’t even sense her next to me. I felt alone, cocooned in pain and deepening shadows. How long I lay there shivering, I didn’t know, but eventually I sensed something that, to this day, I have never forgotten.

A strong presence filled the SUV.

Soothing heat replaced the numbing cold that had settled in my bones. It made me want to close my eyes and sleep, but a strange urgency wouldn’t let that happen. I strained to stay awake and searched the shadows, waiting for a glimpse of something…anything to explain the eerie feeling.

After an intense light stabbed my eyes and sent a shock of pain down my spine, I saw movement. Something eclipsed the truck’s headlights. It drifted toward me, inching closer until it hovered over my body. The brilliant glimmer swept over me and through me. Even though I could see through it, the light took shape and substance. The ghostly flicker turned into a body with arms and hands…and finally a face.

A boy’s face.

I was only ten, but he looked older, like a high school boy. He had the most intense eyes that I’d ever seen. Beautiful. They were deep blue and reminded me of the frigid depths of the ocean. His eyes were the only real color on his face, but that wasn’t the most incredible thing about him. White tufts undulated and billowed within the boundaries of his filmy body, beautiful and peaceful. He conjured memories of a perfect summer day with me lying on my back on a grassy hilltop, picturing animal shapes in drifting white clouds.

When I shifted my gaze back to his eyes, I saw a long tunnel with a glimmering light at the end of it, a light eclipsed by the vague shapes of bodies undulating on a watery surface. Those wavering images calmed me. At that moment, I felt a part of them, as if I belonged. He comforted me in a way no one ever had.

The boy fascinated me. I must have had the same impact on him. He stared at me with such concentration that it looked as if he were memorizing my face. Who are you? I wanted to ask, but I couldn’t make my lips work.

When he reached out his hand, a strong impulse made me take it.

In my research of this book, I found several references to Death not traveling alone. Inky black ravens are his harbingers and signal his coming with their eerie presence. They are a chilling glimpse of things to come. Abbey is stalked by these shadowy creatures until she realizes why they seek her out.

Excerpt – His Ravens

Below my bedroom window, a tree moved in the night breeze. It wasn’t until I looked closer that I saw them. The tree was filled with ravens and crows. Hundreds of them. When their iridescent black wings flapped, they caught the moonlight in their feathers and it made the whole tree look as if it would lift from the ground and drift into the night sky. The birds had gathered for a purpose that I didn’t understand, but for some strange reason, I knew one thing.

They had come because of me.

ON A DARK WING (Harlequin Teen, Jan 2012) is a coming of age story for a girl who is lucky to be alive, but she can’t move on with her life carrying a burden of guilt over the death of her mother. The tragedy marks her. It defines her. Tanner Lange looks out for her from a distance, the only way he thinks she’ll accept him—as her best friend. Being a boy in a wheelchair, he doesn’t feel he has much to offer her except his unflinching loyalty, the same loyalty she had always shown him after he was paralyzed. Tanner sees the major crush Abbey has on the perfect boy—a great guy who doesn’t even know she exists—Nate Holden. When Death finds a unique way to face Abbey again, she will learn what love and loyalty truly are.

The cover will be posted on Monday, Oct 3^rd. I hope you’ll stop by and let me know what you think. Please show Death some love by cross posting him. Believe me, he’ll be watching.

For the question of the day – if you faced Death like Abbey, what would you say to him? Or what would you hope he’d say to you?