Into Focus (Focus Series Book 1) by Alex Bostwick Read Free Book Online Page A

fact was that I just didn’t know what was
going to happen. I was completely in the dark about what kind of
catastrophe was being planned, and unless I found out, I wasn’t
going to be able to do a damn thing to stop it. The responsibility
on my shoulders was severe, and it constantly pressed on me,
creeping up when I least expected it. Every so often, I felt a jolt
of fresh fear and apprehension as the enormity of the task and the
consequences of failing it was swept into my thoughts.
    So. Take the place of an initiate, infiltrate
Focus, find out the evil plan, and then… stop it, I guessed. I
wasn’t sure what I’d be able to do to stop a wizard from doing
whatever he or she damn well pleased, but I wouldn’t be able to do
anything unless I learned what it was I was stopping.
    Hell. Maybe I’d just call the police or ATF
and let them handle it.
    Espionage was kind of my thing. I was good at
it. I was confident that I could get inside eventually, maybe get
onto a computer, copy whatever information I could find, and bail.
What came after that, though, left me with the copper taste of fear
in my mouth.
    Or beak, actually.
    I knew of three people who were definitely
initiates, or who had been a few weeks ago when my friend last
heard. I guess wizards felt pretty free to talk to people who
already knew about them. Hell, my friend had pulled a group photo
off of the guy’s Facebook page. Their names were even tagged.
    God bless social media and the Information
Age.
    So I watched and waited, staring at the
parking lot, waiting for one of my targets to appear.
     
    ***
     
    She finally did after five o’clock that
evening. She came out of the building, wearing a pair of blue jeans
and a no-nonsense shirt, her short blond hair blowing faintly in
the wind. My literal bird’s eye view gave me an excellent close-up
of her face, which was…
    Well.
    She was lovely.
    She had these bright eyes that seemed both
intelligent and kind, which is a rare enough combination. She
wasn’t exactly smiling, but she seemed to be in a good mood
nonetheless, and it showed in the way she walked, practically
bouncing to her car, a small, functional, and unadorned sedan. She
didn’t wear any jewelry, and didn’t look like the type who would do
so regularly anyway. She was young, around my age, somewhere in her
mid-twenties.
    She really didn’t look like someone who was
planning to kill thousands, possibly millions of people.
    But, I reminded myself, she was definitely
dangerous. Anyone who could make it into Focus, even as an
initiate, was able to wield terrible power. Though she may not be
able to nuke a city with her mind, she’d have no trouble burning
down a building, or pounding me into a slurry of unrecognizable
flesh and bone.
    I did not want to turn into a puddle of
goo.
    I didn’t know if I could trust her, and I
couldn’t take the risk anyway. So I stuck to the plan I had
made.
    I flew from the power line to the silver SUV
I had parked off the road, near a small wooded area. Moving
quickly, I shifted back to human, then rearranged my features
significantly. I changed into the clothes I had prepared, shoving
my pants on and throwing the button down shirt over my shoulders. I
leapt into the car and started it as I buttoned the shirt
fully.
    Then I turned my eyes toward the parking lot
in my rearview mirror.
    I saw the girl pull out, signal left, and
drive past me at a leisurely pace.
    I gathered my nerves together, ground my
teeth and followed Nora Tress, initiate of Focus, as she drove down
the road.
    God, I hope this works.
     

 
Preview of Shifting Focus
     
Focus Series – Book 2
     
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    Magic can’t fix everything. You can’t use it
to bring back the dead, or to turn back time. It’s a force of
nature, sure, but it has laws and limitations. I can cause a small
earthquake, for instance, but the bloodstains on my jacket would
prove impossible to remove by