BLOG TOUR [Excerpt] Riddle of Fate by Tania Johansson

Riddle of Fate 
by Tania Johansson 
Publication date: May 29th 2014
Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult

Synopsis:
Khaya’s life, a life the Order say was never meant to be, is thrown into turmoil when she discovers she has a second ability. The Company who employs people like her – with rare and special abilities – insists that having more than one inevitably leads down a dark spiral into madness. So they are watching and waiting, ready to terminate her at the first sign of trouble.

Now, on the run from the Company’s agents while trying to prove her sanity, Khaya realises they are not the only ones she should fear. Angels are working towards her demise as well.

The question that haunts her is this: What did she do that was terrible enough to elicit the wrath of angels? And can she trust the mysterious Derrin, or is he the cause of all her tribulations?

Derrin tapped on the door before walking in. He frowned as he pushed the door open. The room was dark and no lamp had been lit. His stomach became a hard pit of tension as he stepped into the room, not knowing what he would find. A faint burnt smell hung in the air. “Khaya?”
A whimper.
“Khaya, are you hurt?” he asked.
She didn’t answer. He squinted to see her silhouette huddled on the bed, her back leaning against the wall. Derrin lit a lamp.
Her eyes were red rimmed. She sat staring at him without saying a word. Then he saw it. The bag he’d given her was on the floor. The drawstring was still pulled tight, but there was no longer any movement.
“What happened?” he asked, knowing – more or less – what the answer was going to be.
She gave no response apart from her mouth pulling into a tight line. He picked up the bag and pulled it open. He grimaced. “What happened?” he repeated.
“I did what you asked. I used my cursed ability. Did you know what would happen?”
“Did I know you would kill it? No, of course not.”
“It was an accident,” she hissed through clenched teeth.
“I’m sure it was, Khaya. Do you want to tell me what happened?”
She swallowed hard and, turning her face away, blinked back tears. She took a moment to compose herself before speaking. “I tried to look inside the bag with my ability. Took me a while before I managed to sense it in there. It was amazing.” A small smile appeared on her lips and she looked up at him. “I could see its little heart beating, the blood rushing from one chamber to the next and through its body. I saw its lungs fill and empty of air.” She fell silent and was staring at the wall as though watching it all again. “Then I found its nerves. Remarkable. Like little lightning bolts shooting from one part of the body to the next. I couldn’t draw my attention away from it. I… I don’t know what happened. One moment I was just watching it, the next –” her voice faltered. “I got so fixated on this display and I wanted to see more of it. The next thing I knew, there wasn’t anything happening at all. Its heart had stopped and its lungs were still. And then I smelled it.
“It was as though an actual lightning bolt had hit it. I killed it.”


AUTHOR BIO
I grew up in a small town called Ficksburg in South Africa and moved with my family to England aged fifteen.

I then completed my schooling through a correspondence course from South Africa. This challenging time taught me a lot of self-discipline and determination. Qualities that have been invaluable while writing my first novel.

In 2004 I started studying optometry at Aston University in Birmingham, UK and currently I live and work as an optician in Kent.

In 2008, I married my wonderful husband, Tor. He has been such an amazing support and wealth of internet wizardry from when I started writing through to designing a cover for Book of Remembrance, to publishing my book on amazon as well as setting up this website. I cannot thank him enough.

Reading has always been one of my passions. I have fond memories of trawling through the library aged five (yes I was a geek from a young age!). More recently, I found myself wondering about the process writers must go through to complete a novel. I started thinking about how they would go about planning out a story and keeping track of all the various aspects of it. Finally, I decided to try my theories out. I have not looked back since!

I started writing Book of Remembrance end of May 2011 and finished it in December 2011. Since then, I have self-published it as an e-book on amazon. I have also started writing the follow up novel, which is untitled at the moment.