The Gifted Ones: A Reader / The Gifted Ones (ePub)

The Story (Book One)
Grace Nagle has seen more than her share of tragedy in thirty-three years, but she's finally settled into a solitary and quiet life raising her teenaged niece Ellie...quiet, that is, as long as she can keep Ellie in the dark about a certain genetic gift that runs in the family. After Ellie's frightening encounter with the new boy in town, however, Grace can no longer hide the truth. At first, Ellie is thrilled with her new life and her new, Gifted friends, and even Grace starts to reconsider her lonely existence with so many Gifted men around. But when it becomes clear that Grace's original fears were not unfounded, Ellie learns that "different" isn't always better. And sometimes, it means running for your life.

The Series
The Gifted Ones is an episodic series, with each book running 65,000 to 95,000 words in length (250 to 350 paperback pages). Each episode is a complete story in itself, but leaves "dangling threads" to be resolved in later episodes. The stories are chronological and connected with recurring characters, so you will want to read them in order, similar to many action/adventure/mystery series on television.

Series Content
The Gifted Ones series is intended for an audience that is 16+. It does contain some violence and sexuality, but nothing graphic, gory, or explicit. It should be acceptable reading material for anyone from 16 to 106.

Excerpt
It was now or never. Ellie opened the bedroom door wider and crept through. The sleeping woman didn't stir. Ellie tiptoed across the room, trying not to breathe. One-quarter of the distance covered. One-half. Three-quarters, and her heart was pounding.

The sound of the other bedroom door opening sent her racing for the exit. With both hands she clawed at the various locks and latches. How long did she have before some big giant person grabbed her from behind?

"Mouse, wait! Don't go!"

Ellie froze in place.

"Mouse, I mean, Elodie…Ellie? It's okay, don't run."

Slowly, she let her hands off the locks and turned. It wasn't so much the sound of his voice that stopped her, but the name. Mouse. No one had called her Mouse since…well, longer ago than she could remember. It was a nickname known only to her family-Mom, Dad, Aunt Grace, and…"Uncle Joe?"

A soft smile spread across the man's face. "You do remember. I wasn't sure you would."

Yes, yes, it was him. Older now, a little tired perhaps, and with a sprinkle of gray around the temples, but yeah, it was Joe. She wrinkled up her forehead, tearing at the layers wrapped around those memories. Her dear Uncle Joe. He wasn't really her uncle, of course. Lucy and Grace had only one brother, and it wasn't Joe, and Grace had never married, but when Ellie was a small child, Uncle Joe was as much a part of their family as anyone. He had disappeared from her life, though, when Ellie was only five or six. A satisfactory explanation had never been offered, only a promise of such, "When you're old enough to understand." A day which had never come.