Travis Starnes

Second Down - Chapter 23

Wednesday was the first chance I was going to have to practice with Li. She’d had tutoring until almost dinnertime both Monday and Tuesday, and I still had a lot of studying to do for the week, between school and watching video. As part of the extra work I’d asked Coach for to start making improvements, he sent me home Saturday with video of the game, and I was supposed to make notes in specific formats and bring it back to him so he could see how I was evaluating the game.

What tha...

Second Down - Chapter 22

The little bell over the pharmacy door clinked as I pushed it open. After Dad had gone to work, Mom never came out of her room. I thought she was working, until I heard a noise from the back of the house and went to investigate.

She was lying there, listless, in the dark. Apparently, she called in sick again to work. The stuff I’d found for her last week had seemed to help, and she hadn’t had another attack except for a small one the day after I’d found her home on the couch. I’...

The Plains of Pluto - Chapter 3

Athans, Greece

Ramirus questioned the reasoning of holding this meeting in this particular Bouleuterion with the temperatures descending as they were. He had seen such buildings in other parts of Greece, particularly northern Epirus, where the sides of the building were at least enclosed, offering more protection from the elements. But here in Athens, it had open sides that offered no such comfort. Perhaps it was to allow people to see their politicians at work, or perh...

Second Down - Chapter 21

Everyone was excited as the bus rolled into Trinity High’s parking lot next to their football field. After last week’s game, practice all week had felt different, like the team was starting to think they could win again after a long losing streak.

I was feeling it too, with something like excitement instead of nerves for the first time since moving to JV. It might have helped that this was my first away game with the team. When I’d done the away game with the freshman, it had basi...

The Plains of Pluto - Chapter 2

Devnum Docks

The wheels of Hortensius's hired carriage clattered to a halt on the cobblestones near Devnum's sprawling dockyards. He stepped down, his boots meeting the stone with a solid thud, only to have to hop back into the carriage almost instantly to avoid being run down by a man with a hand cart.

To say the docks were busy was an understatement. People were moving in every direction, most carrying large and heavy things. Hortensius was used to the chaos of ...

Second Down - Chapter 20

I fantasized about getting my hands around Elijah’s throat and choking him out the entire way home. Admittedly, that was taking things a little too far. Sure, he was an asshole, and he’d ruined my clothes, but I’m not sure going to prison for attempted murder would be the best way to deal with it.

Still, it did make me feel a little better to fantasize about it.

I was just so furious because he kept doing this shit and kept getting away with it. There were absolutely no cons...

Out of Control - Chapter 6

Note: I've decided to back off on how explicit this book will get. It should now be closer to a more standard romance novel (it's not a romance novel, but the level of explicit should be about that level), and I'll make its own category for the series and start handling it like the rest of my books.

I hung around the Alpha Sig house a little more, but the guys were blowing off steam before classes started. We were supposed to have our initiation the next day and Jake ha...

Second Down - Chapter 19

I wiped sweat from my forehead as I yanked another weed from Eduardo’s mom’s vegetable garden. In west Texas, October still nineties or, if we were lucky, maybe it would drop into the eighties.

I actually didn’t mind it though. Maybe it was because of all the time spent practicing outside in the heat, that spending time without the pads on felt a lot cooler, or maybe it was remembering what it felt like to do construction with the foreman breathing down your neck because you have ...

The Plains of Pluto - Chapter 1

Eastern Germania

The autumn wind bit through the fabric of Ky’s cloak as he entered the large command tent, which offered little additional protection against the cold of the oncoming Germanic winter, even with the stove burning in the corner.

Not that it actually bothered him. The nanites streaming through his body were able to adjust his internal and even skin temperature to some degree, insulating him from the outside weather. He couldn’t withstand long soj...

Second Down - Chapter 18

Saturday, I was out for my first game actually on the field with the JV team. We were playing Whyatt High School from Fort Worth, which had a record of three and one as opposed to our four and oh, and they had a hell of an offense from the tape we'd watched.

Still, I was as pumped as I could be to finally show what I could do on a slightly bigger stage. More so because this was a home game and our stands were packed. The away team's stands were much more full than I was used to on the f...

Second Down - Chapter 17

As good as Thursday’s game went, at least my quarter of it, Saturday’s game was a disaster. Jorden struggled the entire time, with four interceptions and a botched handoff, the last of which turned into a touchdown for the other team.

I was actually glad I got a chance to observe the game in person because the level of play competition was way more intense. Since it wasn’t just freshmen, the guys were all generally bigger and faster than the teams I’d faced so far this year.

Second Down - Chapter 16

“...worry about it. Mom will understand,” Eduardo said as we walked into the cafeteria.

“Make sure she knows I’m going to keep coming to help, but it might have to switch to Sundays for now. JV plays on Saturdays every week, which the evenings are going to be pretty packed. Maybe I could come earlier, but I want to see how the first few weeks go.”

“No, Sundays are good. I’ll check with Mom, but she’s good either way.”

“Cool. I’d come this Sunday, but I�...

The Blackstar Legacy - Chapter 4

They traveled south down the road for thirty minutes, until after the sun was well down over the horizon and the sounds of the night started their song. Smaller animals and insects came out to look for food under the cover of darkness, and larger animals looked for the smaller animals.

Finally, Rowan led them off the road a bit to make camp, to give their group a little bit of cover from any further bandits that might be traveling the road.

In a few minutes, a campfire was crackli...

Second Down - Chapter 15

Friday was the first practice in a while where the coach didn’t ride us like we were screw-ups. In fact, he was in a downright amazing mood. We did the least amount of warm-up we’d ever had to do before and spent a fair amount of the practice looking at film from the game, with the coach explaining to us where things went right and where we could still fix things.

I thought the coach might say something about the long passes I managed during the game and how we gave up a whole quart...

Second Down - Chapter 14

I again managed to make it out of practice without any more confrontations, although I was getting a little annoyed to do so basically required me to skip going into the locker room after practice. Since I sometimes stayed with Miguel and Tyrell, and now I was staying after with Wayne and Bennet, it was hard to know when I was going to be done and headed either to the locker room or start my walk back home.

Had Elijah been a patient person, he would have just waited and watched for me t...

The Blackstar Legacy - Chapter 3

They spent the rest of the day retracing their steps back to the sage’s glade. Even with Jasper’s proclamation, the mood had turned somewhat darker, if that was possible, as the fullness of their task became apparent. Rowan and Jasper spent most of the walk describing what they would face when they reached The Claws.

Osric had seen it, seen the images of what the place looked like and felt the hate from the place in the vision the gods had given him, but Talia and Grace had no idea ...

Second Down - Chapter 13

I managed to avoid Elijah all day on Tuesday. Monday after practice, I made sure to walk in when Coach did, grabbed my stuff, and got the hell out of there. It wasn’t that I was afraid of Elijah and his bunch, but I didn’t want to deal with his bullshit, which was going to be extra because he blamed me for being benched instead of his own actions.

Hell, I’d tried to tell him that was what was going to happen if he kept playing these games, but Elijah was the kind of guy who could ...

An Ending of Oaths - Chapter 25

Drayford, Dunwic’s Reach, Kingsheart

The week following the victory in Twyver had been hectic, to say the least. The routed crown forces had scattered, but it was not the last crown army to deal with.

Thankfully, the dueling defeats in Iron Keep and on the Thunderhorn were enough to give the men his father had put in charge of their armies pause. Or at least the ones in Kingsheart. They had pulled back into Ambleton and Langmere for the time being while they rei...

Second Down - Chapter 12

Monday, things were peaceful for most of the day. Sure, there were the dirty looks from Elijah, but that had become almost standard by now. The only thing missing was Jamal. He’d been in a splint on Friday after that bad hit he took at the game, but he’d said his parents were taking him to Midland this morning to the hospital to get it looked at further. Apparently, the doctor was worried about ligament damage and they’d need to run better tests with the equipment they had there.

...

An Ending of Oaths - Chapter 24

The battlefield at the Four Corners stretched out before Garris, wheat fields trampled by his army and retreating civilians to the northwest, tree-covered hills down the road to the northeast and southwest, and mountains down the road behind him.

He had lined his forces ahead of the road, stretching across it and into the fields on either side. The remnant of the Iron Keep men that had made it out of the fight up the peninsula, mostly conscripts bolstered by a scattering of men-at-arms ...

An Ending of Oaths - Chapter 23

Devonport, Barony of Shalesport, Kingsheart

Baron Kieran Newberry entered his private solar to find seven of the eastern barons finally assembled, seated around his broad table. It had taken most of the day to sneak the men into the city through hidden passages and side alleys, and then into the keep without being seen. They all knew they must be careful, considering the eyes this kind of meeting would have on them from the west.

Tension was high in the room, the ...

Second Down - Chapter 11

Coach ran us ragged on Friday again, I guess thinking if he put us through enough pain, everyone would get on the same game plan.

The only thing that gave me any hope that things would change was he paid specific attention to Elijah and his crew. The optimistic part of me thought that might mean Coach had finally seen what they were doing and was taking it seriously.

Or Coach could just be pissed about Elijah’s missed catches and Hunter’s fumble. My warning to Elijah after the...

An Ending of Oaths - Chapter 22

Starhaven, Sidor

Edmund shifted papers around his desk, tired from a long day of audiences. He had already not had enough time in the day to deal with the matters of state when he had Serwyn to handle the audiences, most of which mattered not at all. Nobles and representatives of barons either begging for favors or offering pleasantries and adulation, in hopes of getting the same favors from another direction.

Listening to them was a waste of time, but one he had ...

Second Down - Chapter 10

Tomorrow is game day, and Coach had okayed us to use a few audibles in the game. I hoped it wasn't needed, and Elijah wouldn't be an idiot and try to sabotage the team again, but I knew that was wishful thinking. I knew Elijah from our past and from our future in the dream, and he'd always been petty and overly concerned with being humiliated and made to feel less than he thought he should be.

Elijah didn't think about the future and never thought about the consequences of his actions. ...

An Ending of Oaths - Chapter 21

Treweg, Barony of Stourshire, River Mark

Aldric surveyed the field where a hundred conscripts drilled with spears, their movements still unpolished after days of practice from atop the stone walls that surrounded the market town. Sitting at the point where the Horn Road and the East Road merged, becoming the South Road that went all the way through River Mark and deep into Shadowhold, it was a critical piece of land, to be sure.

It also wasn’t where he wanted to...

Second Down - Chapter 9

My stomach finally pushed me to get off the bench and head inside. I was still struggling with the idea that I needed to become friends with the guy who would maybe, if my dream was right, kill my father in a year and a half. It was the right call, really the only call considering there was no way I could explain my reasoning. At least not without getting locked up.

I tried to put it in the back of my mind for now, until I figured out how to go about being friends with some random kid I...

An Ending of Oaths - Chapter 20

Wyvern’s Tail, Stormhaven, Iron Keep

Garris walked down the rocky beach, looking from the land and then back out to the sea, envisioning in his head where ships would come from and the best place to position his men.

Even in the height of summer, it was cold this close to the Icelands and Alchmara, the water pushing down out of the Frozen Sea keeping the Bleakwater Straits frigid year-round. Technically, The Wyvern’s Tail, the isthmus that projected off the we...

The Blackstar Legacy - Chapter 2

A small change from Chapter 1. The tower they're going to, mentioned in the document in chapter 1, is the Nexus Tower, but the artifact is called the Blackstar.

A month was a long time, and they had settled into the safe and amazing world of Avendell in that month. Not quite put down roots, but spread out. Gotten comfortable. He had enjoyed his time, putting off the thought of what would happen when the Sage finished translating the document. Now that it was don...

Second Down - Chapter 8

While the game and conversation the night before were occupying a lot of my thoughts, it wasn’t the only thing I had to focus on. Football was a priority, but so was school now, and I’d been busting my ass to get the year started off on the right foot.

So Friday morning, I was sitting in the front row of my math class, trying very hard to follow everything Ms. White was putting up on the board and wishing I was a better student in my dream life. It had done a lot to get me ahead in ...

Cover Reveal - An Ending of Oaths