Free The Dream Runner by Kerry Schafer Page A

loved me over an accident.
    "I'm sorry," I told him, knowing it wasn't enough.
    "Why, J? All this time…"
    "Don’t you see? It had to be somebody's fault…" My voice broke. I'd been a vindictive, angry child, taking out my rage and heartbreak on the nearest target.
    "I was the scapegoat? That's it?" Aghast, I watched the hurt fill his eyes from the inside out, the grief bow his shoulders and drain the color from his face. I took one long last look, to memorize the truth of what I'd done to him before he had a chance to cover it back up again, and then I turned and climbed up the steep bank to my waiting bike, leaving him alone with his heartache.
    Just before I started the bike my phone rang. Shark music; nothing on the call display. I almost didn't answer. If the Merchant sent me to do another reading now, I really didn't think I could handle it. But I was already on thin ice with her, so I answered. I even aimed for a smidgeon of polite.
    "Hello?"
    "Dream request."
    I sighed, letting resignation flow through me. At least it would take my mind off Will for a bit.
    "Where?"
    "One William Alderson."
    "Oh no. No, I won't—"
    But the phone had already gone silent.
    He should have let me drown.
    The thought flickered through my brain and then was gone. Death was not an answer. I couldn't see any way around what I was going to have to do. I'd hurt him so much already, and he had no idea how dangerous the dreams could be.
    Still, a request was a request and there was no arguing with the Merchant. I'd tried to resist a few times in the past. It cost me physical pain and never ended well. I'd sold myself for a dream and now I had to pay the price.
    But I couldn't do this thing. Not now. Not here.
    I turned the key and Red roared to life. Will's dream was going to have to wait.
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    Thank you for purchasing The Dream Runner by Kerry Schafer! Keep reading to get more info on Kerry’s books and read the excerpt for the second book in The Dream Wars series, The Dream Thief .

Check out Kerry Schafer books at your favorite eTailer!
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    The Dream Wars Series:
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    The Dream Runner
    The Dream Thief
    The Dream Wars
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    The Between Series:
    Between
    Wakeworld (Coming January 2014)
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    Talk to Kerry on Facebook , Twitter , or visit her web site !

Excerpt from the second book in The Dream Wars series…
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    Chapter One
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    I n all of my years of indentured service as a dream runner, the Will Alderson assignment topped the charts as my worst job ever.
    I owed him. He'd suffered a lot in the last ten years, much of it at my hands, and the last thing in the world I wanted to do was cause him more pain. There was no way Will could know how dangerous a designer dream could be, or what it was likely to cost him. Bad enough that he'd ordered one at all, but the fact that I'd been tasked with delivering his poison was wrong on every possible level.
    The Merchant owned my soul and sooner or later she'd force me to comply, but I had a small, irrational hope that Will would come to his senses if I could buy us both some time. So instead of following orders I fled the scene, knowing that the price for my disobedience would be steep.
    The pain hit before my motorcycle rounded the first curve. Just a warning at first, nothing more than a headache with attitude. If past experience met anything, I figured I could hold out for an hour, two if I was lucky. In the meantime, I might as well double the misery and find out exactly what my mother's lawyer wanted with me.
    Fallstone and Noland, Attorneys at Law, was located just off Main and 4 th Ave. It was a single-story stand alone business, sided with cedar. When I opened the door a wind chime announced my arrival.
    The waiting area was all set up with comfy chairs and reading material, even a Keurig and a selection of coffee choices, but I had no intention of waiting. Getting past the receptionist would be challenge number one, but I figured I could