Interview with Aaron Patterson, Author of Airel

Welcome to our interview with Aaron Patterson, author of the YA paranormal novel Airel. Aaron has agreed to give away 3 copies of his book, so make sure you leave a comment below with your email address to quality for entry into the giveaway.

So, tell us a little bit about you. What makes you tick?

I am a big nerd really. I love to read, paint, hike and play with my kids. We hang by the pool, go out dancing on the weekends and have a ton of fun. I was a big reader as a kid, once read 100 books on summer break and now that I write, well, there is no better life in my book. (No pun intended=)

Who is your favorite author at the moment?

Ted Dekker

Now on to the important bit, your book. Can you tell us about it?

Airel is a mixed up girl, she has a crazy best friend Kim and is just trying to get through high school. She falls hard for the new boy Michael and kind of loses herself in the process. She is kidnapped and finds out she may not be all human. There are two parts to the book and I take you back to 1250 BC and you meet a Angel named Kreios. He loses his wife and must protect his daughter from a group called the Brotherhood. Both stories mesh in the end and all I can say is, you will love it!

What inspired you to write in this genre?

That is a funny story. First I wanted to kill the main character. That was all I wanted because so many books are the "Happy Ending" kind. So I went from there and I wont tell you what happens in the end but it will blow your mind!

Is this your first book?

No I have two other books published and two short stories. My other books are adult thrillers and it is a three part series. The first is Sweet Dreams, and the next is Dream On. They are in the CSI world and I am told that they are way cool, not sure who told me that but...

Do you have plans for more?

Yes, Airel is the first in a five book series. i love writing YA and will keep doing it as long as I can.

Describe your main characters in a single word.

Complicated.

Okay, now you can tell us more about them.

Airel is pretty but not a Hottie. Smart and funny and kind of a loner. She is small, only 5,1 and thin. But don't mess with her or she will put you down.

Kim is her best friend and will not stop talking! She opens her mouth and thinks later, always in trouble and never learns.

Michael is tall, a hunk and sort of a mystery. He may be evil but you never know. He likes Airel but not sure why, does he have something going on? Maybe.

What was the hardest scene to write?

Anything with Michael... he is a hard one to write as I connect with Airel better. I know weird...

What is your favorite scene?

The end scene. It was fun and heart-wrenching.

Can we read it?

WE MADE IT TO the theater before anything disastrous could happen. After I parked, Michael opened my door for me, and on the way to the ticket booth, he grabbed my hand and held it, and would not let go. I was glad, but terrified. On one side of this shiny new coin, he was not shy about his affection for me, and didn’t feel like he needed to ask permission for anything. On the other side, what the heck was he doing holding my hand without asking permission? 

We bought our tickets and went in to the theater, but not before Kim and I had a conference in the bathroom to compare notes. She insisted on digging for all the dirt on me and Michael from the five minute trip over to the theater and dished me all the dirt that I didn’t really want to know about her and James. 

“Guess what? Guess who his favorite band is? Just guess!” She was giddy. It was cute. They were both crazy about the exact same music. We walked out holding hands and giggling. Luckily, that discouraged any more handholding by Michael as we found our seats. But, of course, I let him sit next to me. I couldn’t be rude. Besides, I wanted to sit by him.

Darkness filled the movie theater as the previews started rolling. It was girl, girl, boy, boy, Kim on my left, Michael on my right and James next to Michael. Kim didn’t seem to mind or maybe she just didn’t care. Michael was making jokes about the different movies that were coming out and leaned over, whispering in my ear, “Do you want anything? Popcorn or a drink?” 

Just the sound of his voice in my ear made the hair on my arms stand up again. Not to mention the goose bumps. “Sure. Diet Pepsi and popcorn. Thanks, Michael.”

“No problem.” He slipped out and James followed.. 

“They went for a junk food run,” I whispered to Kim

“Good, I’m starved.” Then she changed gears again, almost giving me whiplash. “So. I see you and Michael are getting friendly…” She had a glint of sarcasm in her voice. 

“He’s nice, but he’s a little out of my league, if you know what I mean.” I didn’t dare even think about anything more with Michael other than friendship...  even with the handholding. It could have been a fluke. Or maybe I’m being neurotic. 

If there’s one thing I’d learned about guys, it was that they can hurt. I was going to be as cautious as possible about all of this. Michael was friendly with everyone, anyway, and I had no reason to believe he was seriously considering me as one of his many, many options.

“Come on, he likes you. Anyone can see that. Don’t worry about anything, just leave it to me.” I gave her that don’t even think about it look and hit her in the arm. “Ow, so mean!”

“Ha! You deserved it. Now don’t try anything or I’ll tell James you’re a stalker.”

“So? I am.” Kim laughed, adjusting her purse. She flipped out her phone and left a movie theater check-in on Facebook, moving quickly on to Twitter. I guess a girl’s got to stay in touch with her peeps, but Kim was a little overboard. I was on Facebook too, but that was only because Kim had set it up for me. If I didn’t get on it often enough, she would hack in and post stuff on my behalf—just another reason why I could never lose her.

Michael came back up the stairs and slid in next to me. He handed me a large soda and smiled. “Big enough for ya?”

“Yeah, ya think? Holy BUCKET.” I giggled like an idiot and turned my face away. What was this guy doing to me? “Where’s James?”

“He had to go to the bathroom. He should be back soon. Unless he’s running scared from … ahem…” He pointed with his thumb over to Kim who was busy checking her reflection on her phone.

“Ha, she would find him,” I whispered in his ear. I could smell his shampoo and feel the warmth of his skin next to mine. His arm brushed mine and I almost embarrassed myself by screaming. It probably would have come out really weak, given the heart palpitations I was having to deal with.

James came back a few minutes later and took a handful of popcorn. Sheesh, help yourself, pal. The movie started and I scrunched down in my seat, wondering what I was doing. Was I a glutton for pain? Did I just like to have my heart broken? Just the thought of… 

My thoughts were instantly cut off by something I had never felt before. It was like a splitting headache in the back of my skull. Everything went fuzzy. I closed my eyes and tried to focus and for the second time today, I felt like throwing up. This time it was not as strong, though. I controlled my lunch, breathed in deep three times, then opened my eyes.

The people in front of us, all the way down to the front row, were all a blur—all but two, who sat in the second row. It was a tall man with short blond hair and a shorter man with a ball cap on. They were talking and from where I was sitting, I could tell they were not happy.

The tall blond man leaned over and whispered something to the ball cap man and he stiffened. I had a bad feeling that something was going to happen, but I wasn’t sure. What are they talking about? 

Then I saw it. The glint of a blade, catching the light from the movie screen, appearing from the blond man’s coat. I saw his arm wrap around the ball cap man’s shoulder, reaching around to cover his mouth.

I tried to yell, but nothing came out. I just opened and closed my mouth like a fish. There was no way this was real. Everyone else seemed not to notice the two men, but I could feel what happened.

The tall man jerked his arm, making the ball cap man’s body twitch crookedly. A second time he thrust the knife in and after a few more seconds the ball cap man went limp in his seat. I was speechless. I had just witnessed a cold-blooded murder. I couldn’t breathe, let alone talk. It looked like the ball cap man was napping in the darkness. There was no way anyone would see he was dead until the end of the movie.

Now, just as if I had shouted at him, the tall man with the knife turned and looked dead at me. His piercing dark eyes shot a hole right through me. I jerked my gaze away and tried to act like I was lost in the movie. He stared at me and refused to let me out of his sight. I managed to grunt something like, “I have to go to the restroom.” I stood and slipped by Michael and James.

I hiked down the stairs and past the killer’s row, was and I could feel him watching me hatefully. He sat still as I passed. I didn’t look his way. I could feel his gaze follow me as I turned to go out into the lobby. I was scared and in a panic, not sure what to do. My mind felt like sludge and would not work like I needed it to. 

I hit the lobby quickly and ran full blast to the bathroom where I promptly threw up in the sink. I looked into the mirror. My reflection was the image of a stranger—I wondered at all of this for a split second. Questions came tumbling in, all jumbled up and twisted together with answers that didn’t fit. I fumbled with my phone and dialed 911. Come on, pick up! 

“Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?”

I was just about to answer when I heard the door open. I turned and rushed to an empty stall. I shut the door as quietly as I could and crouched down on top of the toilet. I quickly turned off my phone but it played that irritating jingle that’s always way too loud, giving me away. There was silence then for what felt like eternity. Then I heard heavy footfalls. Someone was walking slowly through the room…toward me.

Like a crazy person, he was whistling some random tune, very low, like a whisper. At first it was unintelligible, total nonsense. But then he came even closer to the stall where I hid, and as he did, I swear I could recognize the tune. It was beyond me to put a name to it, but it filled me with horror. 

I shivered as he came closer, the footfalls like heavy machinery, dropping like lead weights on the tile floor. I saw under the door  the shine of a pair of men’s dress shoes.

Oh God, oh God…! Don’t let him find me… I was crouched like a jungle cat on the toilet and if I could have pinned my ears back, I would have.

I could see him hunch down on the balls of his feet, his coat touching the floor around him like a tent. He started looking under the stall doors, crouching lower. His hand dropped down and a bloody eight-inch long knife was in his hand. I just about screamed but I clamped my hand down over my mouth, only allowing a frightened gasp to escape.

I watched him through the crack of the door, his body tensed like a vicious predator. He sniffed at the air. Then his hands slowly came down and rested on the floor, balled up on his knuckles with silky elegance. It was more frightening than the anger and violence I was expecting. He seemed to be completely calm and collected. 

Down he sank, and as he did, he slid his feet back away from his hands. Lower and lower to the floor as if doing a push-up, he descended, the knife in the hand nearest to me. 

I could not bear it, but I knew I would see his face... it was inevitable. I dreaded the seconds as they ticked along with me riding inside them, but I also dreaded those that were coming for me.

Then it happened. His face appeared in the small space under the door. He was looking directly at me. I could not bear his gaze. My body twitched and I turned away and trembled in panic.

~ * ~

A big thank you to Aaron for chatting with us today. He will be our guest on Blog Talk Radio on Wednesday, so make sure you stop in and listen at 3:30pm PST.

It's contest time! Leave a comment below with your email address in the following format to be entered into the giveaway. parayournormalteam(at)gmail(dot)com. Good luck to everyone!