BOOK BLITZ~Torn by Laney McMann

Sunlight seared my face, and my fingers dug into hot sand before a cool shade fell over me.

“Teine?” A soft voice called my name. Someone pulled on my arm.

My head lolled to the side, but my neck caught on a crick and refused to move further than a couple of inches.

“Teine? Can you hear me?” Soft wisps tickled my face, even as my head pounded above my left ear.

My eyelids opened and closed, scratching against the corneas like sandpaper—my mouth dry, like paste. Though blurry, a figure loomed over me.

“We have to go. Hold on to me.” A gentle squeeze of my hand made my fingers flex.

“Max …” My voice cracked, word slurred; my tongue seemed too large for my mouth. I raised my arm, but it thumped to the ground at my side with the weight of a lead pipe.

“Shh. Do not let go.”

My heavy arms swung up on their own. I attempted to clasp my hands, to entwine my fingers, but they slipped back down to my sides with a dead thud. Vision refusing to cooperate, my eyes slipped in and out of focus. “What … happened?”

“You will be all right.”

“Max?”

“Shh. Save your strength.”

Oh, god.

Max.

I fell … We fell. It was so hot. Too hot, and …