In this exclusive excerpt from Toward a Secret Sky by Heather Mackean, we learn how good Maren has become at pretending to be okay.
About ‘Toward a Secret Sky’
Shortly after 17-year-old Maren Hamilton is orphaned and sent to live with the grandparents she’s never met in Scotland, she discovers an encrypted journal from her dead mother that opens up a door to a world of dangerous secrets and makes her and everyone around her a target. The journal reveals that her parents were employed by a secret, international organization that’s now intent on recruiting her. As Maren works to unravel the clues left behind by her mother, a murderous madness sweeps through the local population, terrorizing the small town she now calls home. Maren must decide if she’ll continue her parents’ fight or stay behind to save her new friends.
With the help of Gavin, an otherworldly mercenary that she’s not supposed to fall in love with, and Graham, a charming aristocrat who is entranced with her, Maren races against the clock and around the country from palatial estates with twisted labyrinths to famous cathedrals with booby-trapped subterranean crypts to stay ahead of the enemy and find a cure for the mysterious madness that gripped her town. Along the way, she discovers the great truth of love: that laying down your life for another isn’t as hard as watching them sacrifice everything for you.
Toward a Secret Sky will be on sale from Blink YA Books come April 4.
Exclusive ‘Toward a Secret Sky’ excerpt
Excerpt from Chapter Three
The journal was the only discovery left. A ragged cord looped around a translucent blue bead on the soft leather cover held the book closed. As I opened it, tiny golden flakes fell from the page edges and left a glittery trail on my jeans. On the first page, my mother had drawn a calligraphic pair of letters: AD. Underneath, she’d spelled out Arcēs Daemonium. Great, Latin. I sighed, completely regretting my foreign language laziness.
I turned the delicate pages and found blueprints and elaborate architectural plans sketched inside. My mom’s detailed notes, addendums, and plenty of exclamation points cluttered the margins, but didn’t make any sense to me. Was it for her job? It was possible, since I didn’t really understand what she did.
I flipped through the book, past dozens of buildings, none of which I recognized, but again seemed somehow familiar. They were interspersed with a few odd drawings of body parts—a hand with extremely long fingernails, an angry face that seemed to growl through scribbles. I doodled in the corners of every notebook I’d ever owned, especially in school, and especially during the more boring classes, but these didn’t seem like they were drawn out of boredom. They were creepy, almost ominous, and they made me uncomfortable.
The last two pages were stuck together. I slipped them apart with my forefinger, careful not to smear any of my blood on the book.
The final sticky corner gave away, and instead of more drawings, I found my name.
My Dearest Maren,
It breaks my heart to write this, because I know if you ever have to read it, that means I’m dead and, worse, you’re in grave danger. I’m so sorry I couldn’t protect you, my darling girl, but remember you are not alone. You will never be alone. All the heaven will be with you, watching you and guiding you. I can’t tell you much more here in case this journal falls into the wrong hands, but know that the longer you possess it, the more danger you are in. Deliver it quickly. Be careful whom you trust. Things and people aren’t always what they seem.
All My Love,
Mom
The letter from my mother shattered my carefully constructed walls. Tears that seemed to come up from my heart spilled down my cheeks as I tried to keep my sobbing as inaudible as possible. I couldn’t stop a giant teardrop from escaping, though, and it fell onto the page, near the word Love. Without thinking, I brushed it away. The ink smeared, and I cried out, sick to have ruined something so precious, one of the last words from my mother.
My bedroom door rattled under a sharp knock, and I lurched, slamming my elbow against the corner of the armoire. “Maren?” my grandmother called out. “Are you all right?”
I slammed the journal shut and dropped it back into the box. I pushed the package under my bed and jumped up. I didn’t want my grandmother to see me crying or try to comfort me. I didn’t trust her yet, and according to my mother, I wasn’t supposed to trust just anyone. Was her warning meant to apply to my grandparents I’d just met? Maybe.
“Just a minute,” I called. I checked the mirror and wiped my cheeks with my sleeve, thankful I hadn’t been wearing mascara.
I opened the door, a fake smile plastered on my face.
“Your grandfather wanted to show you my old golf clubs,” my grandmother said, peeking over my shoulder to see if anything was amiss. “See if they’d suit you.”
“Great,” I replied, leaving the room to prove I was fine. I wasn’t, of course. I didn’t know if I’d ever be “fine” again. Especially not in Scotland. But I’d become great at pretending.
Taken from Toward a Secret Sky by Heather Maclean Copyright © 2017 by Heather Maclean. Used by permission of Blink. www.BlinkYABooks.com.
About the author
Heather Maclean, mother of three, is a Princeton graduate and the founder of Little Laureate, an award-winning educational children’s media company. Named one of the ’16 Best Entrepreneurs in America’ by Sir Richard Branson, she accompanied the adventurous business legend on a 50,000-mile trip around the world, alternately helping improve the lives of others (designing sustainable development initiatives in South Africa) and fearing for her own (rappelling out of a Black Hawk helicopter in a Moroccan sandstorm). Heather began her career at Disney, where she had the distinction of being the first person ever to answer Mickey Mouse’s email. When not castle hunting in her husband’s native Scotland, she and her clan happily reside in Michigan.