Author Cindy C Bennett

Excerpt from Sugar Coated by Shannen Crane Camp. After you've read the excerpt below, come on over to the Facebook Launch Party going on from 4-8 p.m. MST. At 6:05 p.m. there will be a question posted specific to this excerpt. Answer that question for the chance to win a prize. Click here to find the party!

   Staring into the massive expanse of the ocean, Brynn couldn’t help but feel insignificant. Next to something so large and imposing, how could she possibly feel important? She thought of the white-clad Angels, of the one with the smooth, deep voice, and wondered how they would look next to the greatness of the water. Would they look as insignificant as Brynn or would they outshine even the most powerful thing in the world? They were certainly more beautiful in their own terrifying way. They may have even been more powerful, which Brynn was beginning to believe more and more as she dreamt about them every night. But were they as unpredictably changing and dangerous?
   Despite the things her Angel had said in her dream last night, Brynn was still prone to like her. She still wanted to make the woman happy. She knew dreams were nothing more than her mind’s abstract interpretation of what she thought about during the day, but it made life more interesting to put greater stock in them.
   Keeping her eyes locked firmly on the horizon, a crazy thought crossed Brynn’s mind. Maybe it was the thoughts of Angels and impossibilities, or the feelings of insignificance, or just the desire to do something out of the ordinary. But whatever the reason, Brynn lifted her foot from its safe place behind the water’s reach and took one step into the dark, wet sand.
   And then another. And one more. Until the next wave that came brought skin-numbingly cold water up to her knees, completely soaking her pants through. Brynn stood with her mouth open, shocked not only by the unexpected temperature of the water, but by her own bravery. Or stupidity. Depending on how the situation turned out.
   She looked around for a moment, almost wondering if anyone else was witnessing her moment of accomplishment, before a force like a brick wall hit her right on the side of the cheek, knocking her onto her back.
   Her head made contact with the icy water, then the soft sand below that. She dug her palms into the ground and pushed herself up, trying to regain her footing while blinking the salt out of her eyes. She took a deep and noisy breath just as another wave hit her in the face, filling her mouth with a bitter and salty taste.
She opened her eyes under the water that now seemed much deeper and darker, but she couldn’t make much out in the murky and constantly moving abyss. The light reflecting off of the surface suddenly seemed to be much further above her than it was just moments ago, and now pushing up off of her palms wasn’t going to get her to the air. She’d need to kick off of the ocean floor with her feet.