Sheltered
by
Debra Chapoton
Author: Debra Chapoton
Title: Sheltered
Purchase Links: Available in Paperback and
Digital Copies
What It's About!
Living together
unsupervised, five troubled teens confront demonic forces and are compelled to
deal with their problems in distinctly different ways. Paranormal meets psycho
meets Goth in this story of a supernatural haunting and budding love.
High school junior,
Ben, hacks into his step-father's real estate holdings and provides rooms in an
old two-story house to various outcasts: the schizophrenic kid, the angry Goth
girl, and the homeless girl who worships him. When Megan needs a place to live
she comes to the rooming house with a different set of problems and the ability
to confuse and attract Ben.
One by one strange and
mysterious occurrences stretch the teens’ beliefs in the supernatural. How they
deal with demons, real and imagined, has tragic as well as redeeming
consequences.
Sneak Peak!
Prologue
Next
Wednesday
Emily knew
the precise moment that Ben returned, she felt him in her scars. She watched
him carry some things to the house, heard the door close; she smiled when she
heard him call out that Santa was here. He did that once before, in early
December, insisting that she accept the gift he held out, not wanting her to
wait until Christmas to use the mittens he knew she needed.
She went
toward her door now, wondered what he had brought, and then heard Megan’s voice
below. Oh no, he probably brought something for her. She scuttled back to her
nest by the window and stared outside, was still staring fifteen minutes later
when she saw them walk down the street, Ben shouldering a shovel, his other
hand knotted with Megan’s.
She touched
the skin on her arms, lightly at first, making it tingle. The image of Ben with
Megan multiplied across her mind in broken mirrors, a repugnant picture that
reflected her own self-loathing. She scratched at her scabs, felt the pricks of
pain force away the ticklish sensations. She closed her eyes.
When she
opened them she saw a figure standing at her door.
“Who–?” she
started, but the figment waned to less than a shadow. Still, though, there was
something at her door.
She rose
slowly and held her hand out.
Its face was
more womanly now, friendly, motherly. Yes, she knew this face. Its pearly white
skin so shocking against the ruby lips, the stringy hair a match to her own.
Her mother.
She stretched
her fingers toward the face. The hallucination faded then sharpened. The eyes
began to blaze. She drew her hands back to her own face. What’s wrong with
me? The delusion grieved Emily; all
around her fluttered a longing.
And a deadly
fear.
About The Author!
Debra Chapoton has taught kids of all
ages in her main career as a teacher. She has a BA in Spanish and a Master of
Arts degree in Teaching English. She started writing in 2002 and was surprised
to find out that the characters quickly take over the action and dialogue in
the stories.
Her first YA novel, Edge of
Escape, was self-published and
then discovered by Piper Verlag Publishing and translated into German. Stalking and obsession get a
sympathetic twist in this story of physical and psychological survival.
Her second YA novel, Sheltered, detours into a different
genre as she writes about five teens who confront supernatural forces. Two boys
and three girls all harbor secrets which make some of them susceptible to demon
possession. Embracing all things supernatural might protect them, but are they
ready for the consequences?
Chapoton has also written eleven chapter books for middle grade kids
and a non-fiction work for adults, Crossing
the Scriptures.
When she’s not writing Chapoton enjoys the quiet of the full log
home she designed and built with her husband. They live in the middle of 62
acres of beautiful woods in northern Michigan.
