The Broken Branch: A Girl Between Worlds (Prologue/Preview)
What does it mean to grow up in a world that already thinks it owns you?
They called her a miracle. A monster. A marvel.
Eliana was born different from any child before her - a hybrid child - neither fully human nor fully beast - Eliana lived her life behind glass until the day she could no longer be contained. Overnight she became a headline, a spectacle, a mystery that the world wanted to protect... or control but everyone wanted to explore.
As Eliana struggles to claim her place in a society that both worships and abhors her, she finds solace in the one bond no one can take away: her telepathic connection to Luna, her mirror-self and sister suffering in another world. Eliana's real battles are the ones no one sees: the cruelty of classmates, the pressure of fame, the systematic abuse befallen upon her otherworldly sister at the hands of the very scientists responsible for both of their creation.
Raised by her mothers, Eliana learns to harness the unearthly bond no one else can touch - a living, resonant connection that bends reality itself and grants her impossible influence - the link between herself and her sister - in a desperate attempt to claim any semblance of control amid the hopeless divergence of her existence.
Blending the raw ache of coming of age with elements of dark fantasy and social allegory, The Broken Branch is a lyrical and unflinching story about otherness, power, and the dangerous hope of belonging.
These are the first 10 chapters for a novel I've been writing for the better part of a year. These chapters serve as sort of an intro/prologue for the rest of the story. They recount the portion of the story that happened during the protagonist Eliana's life up until age five. The rest of the story will go over the following years of her life, all the way up until young adulthood. I hope you enjoy. :)
