BooksChatter: ☀☄ Never Forgotten: The Collective [3]

Thank you for joining us on the Virtual Book Tour for Never Forgotten, a Young Adult Fantasy by Stacey Nash (1 September 2015, AUS Impulse, 216 pages).

This is the last book in the The Collective trilogy.

PREVIEW: Check out the book's trailer, synopsis and excerpt below, as well as details on the whole trilogy. Read the Prologue and the first chapter with Amazon Look Inside.

Author Stacey Nash will be awarding an eCopy of Never Forgotten to 3 randomly drawn winners via Rafflecopter during the tour. Please do take part: comment on our post and follow the tour where you will be able to read other excerpts (☀), interviews (ℚ), reviews (✍) and guest blog posts (✉).

Trailer | Synopsis | Teaser | The Series | Author Q&A | About the Author | Giveaway

Synopsis

Continuing on from Forget Me Not and Remember Me, this is the thrilling third novel in Stacey Nash's unforgettable series.

Since the strike on Collective territory during Anamae's rescue, things have taken a turn for the worse. Unprovoked attacks on innocent people have Anamae and her friends fighting day and night to minimize the damage. With hundreds of lives lost, morale amongst the resistance fighters has plummeted. But that's the least of her worries.

Manvyke still has Anamae's mom, Annie, secreted away somewhere and after the way they parted, Anamae worries it's not at her mother's bidding. Maybe Annie's disappearance all those years ago wasn't her choice. But with Manvyke scouring the world, there's something far more pressing than the need to find Anamae's mother ...

It's a fight against time to find the other keys before Manvyke. In his hands, the three relics could unlock enough power to reek a much worse havoc than the current issues at hand. If the councillor gets his hands on those keys, civilization will bow down.

THE RACE IS ON!

Teaser: Excerpt

Chapter One

Mae

We’re too late.
     The minute I step out of the alley with my crew of resistance fighters I can tell. Blood, so much blood everywhere. And the silence. You’d think in the midst of such horror it’d be loud: people screaming, wailing, crying even. But it’s not. The silence is almost deafening.
     My heart constricts like someone tugged at its laces.
     We’re too late.
     We can only help the survivors now and that’s the horrid truth. On autopilot, I walk then run to the closest victim. A woman sprawled on the ground, blood covering every inch of her, so I can barely make out the color of her blouse. She moans when I hold my fingers to her neck, checking for a pulse.
     Not too late for her, thank god.
     “I’ve called 911.” Will’s voice echoes through my mind. Even with the lack of inflection due to the telcom I can hear the sorrow in his words.
      “Damn it,” Jax says through the same tech device, “we’re getting later each time.”
     And he’s right, we are. More people perish with each attack and all because we can’t reach them in time to intercept the Collective. I’ve never felt so useless.
     The woman groans—a long drawn-out noise like no other I’ve ever heard—and slowly sound returns to the scene. Moaning, whimpering, noises of pain, and my friends’ voices pitched low and soothing as we reassure the wounded it’s okay. They’ll be okay. Even though sometimes we know that they won’t. Like this woman. Each ragged breath now comes a little shorter and sharper than her last. I hate the damn Collective for stealing people’s lives, but she doesn’t need to see that.
     “I’m here. You’re okay.” I rest my hand on her sticky arm.
     Her breath hitches, she gives a last weak heave and she’s gone, her head rolling to the side.
     We are too late.

     The saddest thing in this whole mess is that I can’t cry. I’ve seen so much it’s like nothing’s left in me but hatred. My compassion is drained. I glance around trying to decide where I’m needed most, but too many dead and wounded lay in the open-air amphitheater that it’s impossible to know where to turn next. In places, the bodies pile on top of each other, just lying where they fell.
     So much loss and devastation and for what? Because the Collective want to send a message to us; that they’re in control, that the resistance is hurting more people, not helping. Somehow I don’t think us backing off will help.
     A guy walks toward me, his T-shirt—an advertisement for the main band—a tattered mess with his bloody shoulder peeking through a gaping hole. His eyes lock on me, but they’re unseeing, glassed over like he’s retreated inside his mind. He steps over and around those on the ground as if he knows right where they are without looking.
     Hate isn’t a strong enough word for how I feel about the Collective.
     I dread the day we might turn up to find one of my friends, like Cynnie or Xane. I’m not sure how I’d react, but I like to think I won’t see them. That neither of my free-thinking friends would be involved in something like this, regardless of agent duty.
     It doesn’t take long before the wail of sirens fills the air and as the paramedics arrive on the scene, we’re no longer needed. Jax and Will both appear at my side looking as somber as I feel. Today we have another person who’s seen too much, left with too little, and has no choice but to port with us. We can’t leave him for the Collective’s clean up.
     Jax takes a look at the ragged, zombie-like guy and says, “I’ll catch a ride with one of the others.”
     I nod, any words I might have had stolen by this day’s horror, then grab my charge and Will to port us out.

*** *** ***

Long strides take me out the door. The halls in this place wrap around like a meerkat’s burrow, twisting and turning, and just as thin and narrow. But I know it like I do the farm so it doesn’t take long to catch her jogging up the stairs, her short legs pumping fast accentuate the way her jeans hug her rear. I take the steps two at a time to catch up, but she reaches the top before I’m halfway. Her palm connects with the fire exit and she stops, her forehead dropping onto the smooth metal door. She can’t blame herself like this; it’s not her fault. I snag the hand hanging at her side.
     Mae spins around fast, like I shocked her, her face twisted with anger, her eyes stony. If only I could make it all okay. Wrap her up and take the hurt, pain, and anger away. Hell knows, I want to. Instead, I pull her in, closing my arms around her and fitting her head under my chin. The flowery scent that’s her shampoo or some other girly crap fills my senses. Love that smell.
     She presses herself into me, her arms snaking around my waist to hold on tight. Neither of us says anything for a long time until finally she sighs. “We have to stop this.”
     “I’m not sure how.”
     If only it were that easy. I slide my cheek along her hair, my stubble catching in the waves until my mouth hovers over the crown of her auburn head. Pressing my lips to her hair, I take in a deep breath. She sighs and leans against my chest, her cheek pressed just over my heart. Damn, I’ve missed holding her.
     “You’re swooning again.”
     She’s suddenly a statue in my arms, but not for long because she steps back, her eyes cold. “I told you I need space, Jax. What about that don’t you get? Your father’s out to make my life miserable. He’s going after anyone I care are about and you’re flirting? Please, just give me some darn space. I can’t think about Will, about me, about us, with your dad staging attacks left, right and center to send me a message.”
     She slams her hand into the door and shoves through it.
     Idiot. Me, not her.
     My insides feel like they shrivel. Maybe she isn’t fighting feelings for me after all. Maybe she hates me now she knows him. Knows his filthy blood runs through my veins. I follow her onto the rooftop and she spins around. My eyes search hers, but she doesn’t give. Just stands there, chest rising and falling a little too quickly.
     “Mae?”
     “I want to be alone, Jax.”
     Shriveled insides try to pool in my toes while she glares at me, her chin tilted up imperceptibly. I take a step back.
     Right.
     Space.
     I knew it was there—the tension in the air between the three of us—but I didn’t realize it affected her so much. The tension between me and her, her and Will, him and me, always there and as thick as the air that now hangs around us. I shouldn’t have pushed her, be pushing her still.
     Space.
     She continues staring at me with an expression worthy of the way Cynnie’s always looked at me: pity.
     Got it.
     I turn, my right boot squealing on the smooth concrete. Then walk down the stairs without looking back. Even though the heat of her stare burns right between my shoulder blades making me want to peer over my shoulder, I don’t.
     I can’t keep pushing her or I’ll push her away. I’ll give her the space she wants. Time to find herself after we both lost our minds—scratch that—had them stolen. Time to figure out who she is and what she wants. Besides, I should be focusing on this war.
     She’s right, it is my father.
     Father.
     FATHER.
     I have to stop these attacks. Even if he’s not the one behind them, his fingerprints are all over the attempt on her school. I’ll stop this mess.
     For her.

Never Forgotten - available NOW!

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US:

The Series: The Collective

Click on the book cover to Look Inside the book on Amazon and read an excerpt.

Forget Me Not [1]

Anamae is drawn into a world which shatters everything she knew to be true. The first in the trilogy of the brilliant YA Collective series.

Since her mother vanished nine years ago, Anamae and her father have shared a quiet life. But when Anamae discovers a brooch identical to her mother's favorite pendant, she unknowingly invites a slew of trouble into their world.

The jewels she finds are not just jewellery, they're a highly developed technology capable of cloaking the human form. Triggering the jewellery's power attracts the attention of a secret society determined to confiscate the device - and silence everyone who is aware of its existence. Anamae knows too much, and now she's Enemy Number One. She's forced to leave her father behind when she's taken in by a group determined to keep her safe. Here, Anamae searches for answers about this hidden world.

With her father kidnapped and her own life on the line, Anamae must decide if saving her dad is worth risking her new friends' lives. No matter what she does, somebody is going to get hurt.
[Published 1 August 2014, 277 pages]

Remember Me [2]

An exciting new adventure from Stacey Nash, set in the world of The Collective.

When all is lost, she must remember...

Anamae Gilbert managed to thwart the Collective and rescue her father, even though his mind is now a shell. Determined to stop Councilor Manvyke hurting her family again, she's training to become an active resistance member and falling hard for resistance fighter Jax Belfry. But things never sail along smoothly - Manvyke wants retribution and Anamae's name is high on his list.

After a blow to the head, she awakes in an unfamiliar location, unable to remember the last few weeks. She can't believe the fascinating new technology she's seeing. She's the new kid at school, and although weapons training comes with ease, something feels off. Why does the other new kid's smile make her heart ache?

And why does her gut tell her to run? [Published 1 October 2014, 284 pages]

About the Author

Writing for the young and new adult market, Stacey's books all hold a lot of adventure, a good dose of danger, a smattering of romance, and plenty of KISSING!

Hailing from the Hunter Valley in New South Wales, she loves nothing more than immersing herself in the beauty and culture of the local area.

Author of the Collective Series; Forget Me Not, Remember Me, Never Forgotten. And the Oxley College Saga; Shh! and Wait!

Follow Stacey Nash:

Giveaway and Tour Stops

Enter to win one of three ecopies of Never Forgotten.
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