In honor of the book trailer release, here's the trailer and an excerpt of Through the Veil:
CHAPTER ONE
Dedra ran, stumbling along the cart track and up the hill, tripping over her tattered skirts. Pausing to catch her breath, she leaned against the familiar yarnel tree and inhaled its nutty fragrance.
No time to linger. Leaving the tree's lengthening shadow, she crested the hill where the veil so often met her.
Where was it? She could feel it, but tears blurred her vision. As she spun around, near panic, the stone city and distant farmland smeared like a pastel drawing left in the rain.
Frantically wiping her eyes, she tried to clear them but couldn't, so she closed them tight. Clarity was essential—this she knew. She slowed her breath and drew herself up to her full height. Calm washed over her. Now was the time.
Dedra opened her eyes and turned a slow, clockwise circle. There, at last! She saw the tell-tale shimmer, the slight iridescence in the air a less careful eye would miss. She stepped forward, wrapped herself in the veil, and a fleeting tone heralded her departure.
The harmonies jarred Dedra's ears. That can't be good.
The strings melted away and she stood beside her bed, with the yellow duvet and stuffed animals. She turned to close the window against the deafening traffic noise from forty-two stories below. Looking down at her jeans, she saw the rips she'd hoped wouldn't translate. How am I gonna explain that to mother? Maybe she could get rid of them and no one would notice. She had to be more careful next time... if she ever went back.
She thought of her early, unintentional trips and how, even then, she'd always looked forward to the next. How Yidavil had taught her to behave properly there, and how Eosin had made her feel at home. Eosin.
Tears threatened again. How could she have done it? Would they be able to forgive her? Would she lose Eosin's friendship? She didn't need his help as she once had--she'd grown up fast in Ahwey, no matter how she appeared here--but she still needed him.
The front door shut downstairs.
"Dedra? Are you home, darling?" Mother called from the bottom of the stairs.
"Yeah, I'm... I'm in the bathroom," she lied, hoping it would keep her mother from bursting in. She yanked off the jeans and shoved them under her bed.
She heard footsteps on the stairs. Oh no, she's coming! Darting for the bathroom, Dedra just had time to grab a pair of pajama pants off her hamper and tug them on before her bedroom door opened. She flushed the empty toilet and trotted back out.
"Hi, Mother."
"Whatever are you wearing?" Mother regarded her from the doorway, sharp and impeccable in a pencil skirt and maroon blouse. "You look a fright."
"Oh. I, uh... " Dedra stammered. "I just wanted to be comfortable while I practiced." Her violin lay abandoned on the small table next to her practice chair, where she'd left it when the veil came. A glance at her alarm clock confirmed she'd arrived a few hours later than intended, she guessed because of her emotional state.
Mother looked her up and down. "And you thought blue-and-yellow jammies would complement a purple blouse?" Dedra looked sheepishly at the tall woman staring at her over narrow glasses. "Well, dear, you'd better put on something decent. We're having company for dinner."
"Company" meant clients. Dedra sighed and wished she were back in Ahwey, but then she remembered what had sent her clamoring up the hill. For once, she'd escaped to home instead of from it. Did that mean she no longer had anywhere to go?
Mother laughed. It was musical but colorless, dead.
Dedra picked at her dinner, trying not to think about earlier. She just wanted to be alone and figure out what to do. Meanwhile, she had to endure father's tired stories and mother's fake laugh, and all the stupid, empty chatter of client dinners:
"It must be so lovely to have this much space, right in the heart of the city!"
"Well, you know, we got it for a steal. Ha, ha, ha."
Yawn. She wished her parents would go out for these things more often. She was happier eating in the kitchen with Hazel and Maddy.
Then, just as they started dessert ...
"It's from my new favorite chef, you simply must try it."
... Dedra saw the wall behind her mother start to ripple. No, no, no, no, please.... She couldn't let this happen here.
"Mother, may I please be excused for a moment?" she asked, with a glance toward the bathroom.
"Yes, Dedra, you may," mother replied, smugly proud of her oh-so-polite daughter. Dedra glanced over her shoulder as she stumbled from the dining room and saw her mother's expression falter.
The guest bathroom on the main floor was forbidden--"It's called the guest bathroom because it's for guests, darling"--and for once Dedra was glad. It gave her an excuse to dash up to her room.
The ripple made the round white rug next to her bed look like a pond during a light spring rain. Trying to outrun it was useless. The veil didn't always open in a specific where; sometimes it opened for a specific whom. That was one of Yidavil's first lessons for her. She could call it at will, but she'd never been able to control when it came for her.
Dedra stood on the undulating rug, with its cool tones and mild vibrations, and pulled the veil around her.
Something was wrong.