The LUV'NV: Blog Tour {Excerpt, Guest Post & Giveaway}—Souls of Darkness by Eleanor T. Beaty

Welcome to the conclusion of the Eleanor Beaty's Discover Your Destiny Event, organized by Novel Publicity! Every Thursday for the past two weeks, we've featured Eleanor Beaty and her novels, Veiled Mist and Fallen Ruler. Today, we're spotlighting Souls of Darkness. Learn more about the book, read an excerpt and guest post, and then enter two awesome giveaways for copies of the all three books, two $25 Amazon gift cards, swag, jewelry, a Kindle Paperwhite, and more!

Souls of Darkness

by Eleanor T. Beaty

Publication: January 25th 2013 by Q Publishing
Genre: YA Paranormal

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Alex’s life is turned upside down after his father’s sudden death. An old pamphlet found in his father’s belongings leads Alex and his mother, Charlotte, to a remote Polynesian island. His mother longs for a place untouched by past memories, and Alex hopes the trip will help her to heal.

Their arrival on the island elicits an eerie episode of déjà vu for Alex, and he begins to wonder about the pamphlet and his father’s past. Why did he have it? Had he been there before?

Alex senses something is off with the island. Progress is unwelcome by the inhabitants. A local girl reveals the history of the island and its dark spirits. She warns him to never be caught outside after dark, but Alex finds it all hard to believe... Until inexplicable and terrifying events begin to unfold. While digging for information, Alex finds his presence on the haunted island is not by chance. Rangur, the most evil of souls, aims to use him to acquire great power. There's only one way Alex can stop him and for that he must uncover his father's past connection to the island.

Rangur exchanged looks with Sheitu before he disappeared into the forest. He was furious. A day wasted in this stupid village. They weren't taking him seriously, but that would change. He made his way to the village's opposite end, where he found Bui hidden behind thick bushes. The bald dark spirit watched the boy's every move and didn't feel Rangur's approach. Rangur was careful not to startle his most loyal of servants.

"I have a special mission for you," Rangur whispered. He watched Bui's eyes light up.

"Bui always happy with special missions."

"This one is very special."

***

They left the Hanas Village after three.

"Tired?" his mother said, after they dropped Taiya off.

"Yeah. Just can't figure that old man smiling at me. Every time I turned around, he had that toothless smile plastered, like it was stuck, watching my every move."

His mother laughed. "Maybe he thought you were funny. God knows, he must be at least ninety years old. At that age, people have a different perception."

"Yeah, could be." Alex thought about Butler, what it must have been like to live with the natives, then be isolated like a leper.

At the house his mother said she would go for a quick swim. Alex announced he would guard her from the porch. But he dozed off before she even changed into her bathing suit. By the time he woke up, she was getting out of the water. Alex sat up and waved to her. She waved back then turned toward the sea. He watched her dig into the sand with her right foot, look down, then bend over and pick something up. A movement to her right caught Alex's eye. He squinted. What was it? It continued to move toward her at a slow pace. It couldn't be. The shadow got closer. Alex noticed it had a human shape.

"No. No. Mom!" Alex stood up.

His mother turned around and waved at him again. Alex jumped off the porch and sprinted toward her. The shadow reached his mother and engulfed her. His mother's body twisted, her head dropped back. She remained suspended in the air, like a puppet: eyes closed, mouth open and limp body.

"Leave her alone!" Alex wasn't far, just a couple of feet away. He dove in the air with his arm straight out. As he touched her, the shadow whooshed to the left and she dropped to the ground.

"Mom, wake up." Alex felt for her pulse; it was weak. He picked her up and ran back to the house. He put her on the couch and tapped her cheek. Her breathing sounded strained. He removed his pouch and put it around her neck. In moments her eyes shot open and she gulped in air.

His mother looked around confused. "What happened?"

"I don't know. You just dropped. How are you feeling?"

"Dizzy."

She looked pale, and her hand felt cold. Alex knew that Rangur had gone after her because he couldn't get to him. "Stay still, I'll get you some water."

Past Lives

by Eleanor T Beaty

Many years ago I read Shirley Maclaine’s book, Dancing in the Light. I became fascinated with past lives and the effect it had on our present. I had already become a spiritualist so the book was an easy fit. I was also at a critical moment in my life and thought that exploring myself as Shirley had in her book (through past lives therapy) would help me deal with what I was going through.

I didn’t quite know how past lives therapy worked. I thought I could get there and chose to deal with what I felt was most important to me at that moment. But it doesn’t quite work that way and my advice to anyone interested in doing such therapy is – learn a bit about spirits and spirituality ahead so that you can reap the benefits. If I hadn’t read and studied the classical spiritual books by Kardec and Andre Luis, the things I learned during my past life therapy might have caused more damage than good.

So after reading Shirley’s book, I made a call to the Light Institute in Galisteo, New Mexico, where she had done her therapy, asked if they could fit me in and two days later hopped onto a plane for LA. It was a very crazy move as from Brazil to Galisteo it is a very long trip, but I was so excited and had so many expectations…all misleading.

Things didn’t start off too well. At the LA airport I was pulled aside on suspicion of being a drug mule. Why? Because they didn’t have a decent computer system. They saw I had traveled several times that year to New York, first class, with a small bag, coming from Brazil. Instead of keeping my head down I got offended and went on the attack. Seeing the nice, very BIG, African American man go through my wallet, I asked him why they had pulled me aside and he answered it was because I was a writer traveling frequently to the US, in first class. My blood began to boil and I asked him if he would do the same to Robert Ludlum, at that time my favorite author, he said I wasn’t Robert Ludlum. To which I asked – but what if I were? Just because I’m a writer I can’t fly first class? What if I were very famous in Brazil?

He didn’t answer. He proceeded to go through every inch of my bag and knapsack. I told him I had traveled all those times, in that short period, because my father had died and I had to deal with his Estate. If he’d had a decent computer system they would have my background and I wouldn’t have been put through the ringer like a common criminal. I think by then he was annoyed with my tone and abused his position to get back at me for not shutting up. He shoved my bag at me and sent me off for the body search. That shut me up. I left LA mum with anger and humiliation. Never had I been treated with such disdain. I wanted to tear my American passport to shreds. I still had a ways to go before arriving at my final destination, but at that moment I wanted to turn back home.

I arrived in Albuquerque, where a mentor from the Light Institute met me at the airport. I found I still couldn’t speak. I had that angry lump stuck in my throat and no matter how hard I tried to make polite conversation with the man; nothing came out of my mouth. We drove to Santa Fe and spent the night at a hotel before heading to Galisteo.

The next morning I still couldn’t speak. When we arrived in Galisteo, which reminded me of a western movie – empty streets with tumble weeds, an Hacienda, and stray dogs, I began to wonder what the heck had I gotten myself into. The mentor took me to the only hotel, which was really nice and told me we would have our first session that afternoon.
The institute was a short walking distance, so I settled into my room had lunch and headed to my first session.

The mentor, whom we’ll call John, asked me why I was there. I told him I wanted to know about my future, my profession was it on the right track. He listened patiently, probably thinking I should have gone to a tarot reader if that’s what I wanted and then explained that I would be shown what I needed to see and needed to deal with. I still thought that would coincide with what I wanted. And of course I was wrong! Instead of seeing about my future and why I had headed towards writing, I got family. That was that last thing I wanted as my family situation was chaotic.

I got father, siblings, kids and even my assistant. It was intense and most of what I saw was like watching a movie and going through all the sensations as I watched. Suddenly so many aspects of my life began to make sense. There were some heavy moments, during which I saw I hadn’t always been a nice person. If I didn’t have the spiritual knowledge to give me support, I would have given in to self-pity, self-hate and a lot of wallowing. Or I would have turned to denial.

I met a really amazing woman at the Hotel, also there for therapy, and we would compare notes after our sessions. So who did you kill today? Or who killed you? Finding out you killed a family member in a past life changes your perspective and your perception of your family dynamics.

There are three amazing benefits of a well done past life therapy. Besides giving you an understanding of certain situations in your life - during the therapy (while you are reliving those episodes) past debts and ties are being undone. There will be an energy change; hate and anger will dissolve, opening the path for forgiveness. The most important and lasting benefit is once you understand why certain relationships are what they are (or why you had to live certain
situations you) can turn the bad to good, you can fix what isn’t working; you can correct the direction you’re headed because
you learn that for almost everything in your life there is a reason.

My first experience during that trip, the landing in LA and being humiliated, prepared me for what I would learn in the days to come. I realized I had to put my pride aside – in LA I had a problem doing that so life stepped in and took care of things. I know now, after my experiences that pride is an emotion that is a hurdle we all must conquer to grow as individuals.

I will always be thankful to Shirley Maclaine for having the guts to expose her experience, to expose herself to ridicule by her peers and others, so that many of us could have the courage to walk that trail. What an unforgettable experience it was. It changed my life.

Eleanor T. Beaty

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Eleanor T. Beaty is a Young Adult Paranormal author. A worldly person born in beautiful Brazil and spent much of her childhood in several places (Argentina, Switzerland, and the US to name a few). She holds a BA in English Literature and is published in both Brazil and Turkey.

Eleanor loves spirituality and magic - both have allowed her to gain a strong grip on life and enjoy what it has to offer. She believes that everything has a reason and understanding those reasons help us deal with the difficult moments. Eleanor currently enjoys life with her husband in Brazil.