The Temptation Page 21
“Can I come with you guys?” asked Kelsey.
“No,” I said.
“I’m afraid not,” said Minerva. “It’s far too risky as it is. I cannot reasonably put two young girls in danger, besides which, your energy tells me that you are needed here, for important purposes. We all have a journey, and all of us must honor it to the best of our abilities with as much dignity as we can muster.”
“What are the risks of Shane going to the Underworld or Hell or whatever it is?” asked Kelsey, her eyes watering up.
“Worst-case scenario, we don’t come back,” said Minerva.
“Shane, you can’t do this,” shouted Kelsey. “I know you love him and he’s very special to you, but you have a life here. You can’t throw it all away to, to . . .”
Kelsey couldn’t finish the thought, so I finished it for her. “To save Travis’s soul. That’s what I’d be doing.”
“Yeah,” said Kelsey in defeat. “I know it sounds noble, but I can’t lose you. You’re my best friend. You have so much to live for. It’s not worth it, Shane. It really isn’t.”
I thought of Travis, and of the powerful love we shared, of the electricity between us, and the fact that he had risked his own soul just to see me one last time, and I said, without hesitation, “Yes, Kelsey, it is worth it.”
Acknowledgments
I wish to thank Antonia Markiet, senior executive editor at HarperCollins, for believing in this book from the start, and for editing with diligence, brilliance, and patience. You are one in a million, and I am glad you’re mine. Thank you.
I’d also like to thank Jayne Carapezzi, Sasha Illingworth, Tom Forget, and Jessica Berg for their work on this book.
About the Author
Alisa Valdes is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of six commercial women’s fiction novels, including THE DIRTY GIRLS SOCIAL CLUB. She has a Masters in journalism from Columbia and is a Pulitzer-nominated, award-winning former staff writer for the Boston Globe and Los Angeles Times. Alisa has written and sold pilot scripts to Nickelodeon, NBC, and Lifetime Television, as well as a teen crossover feature film based on The Kindred.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.
Credits
Cover photograph © 2012 by Thinkstock/iStock
Cover design by Sammy Yuen
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Copyright
The Temptation
Copyright © 2012 by Alisa Valdes
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Valdes-Rodriguez, Alisa.
The temptation : a Kindred novel / by Alisa Valdes. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Summary: Rescued from a car crash in New Mexico, sixteen-year-old Shane meets her soul mate, only to discover that he is dead.
ISBN 978-0-06-202420-6 (pbk. bdg.)
[1. Love—Fiction. 2. Ghosts—Fiction. 3. Soul—Fiction. 4. Dead—Fiction. 5. New Mexico—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.V2158Te 2012
[Fic]—dc23
2011022939
CIP
AC
* * *
12 13 14 15 16 CG/BV 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
First Edition
EPub Edition © February 2012 ISBN: 9780062114594
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