The Turning Book 1: What Curiosity Kills - Hardcover

HELEN ELLIS is the author of Eating the Cheshire Cat, a Southern Gothic about three teenage girls and the Alabama Society that twisted them. The novel was picked for B&N Discover Great New Writers, ABA Booksense 76, and the Los Angeles Times and Southern Critics Circle Best Book of the Year. The book is currently being optioned for film by director Amy Redford.

I want to scream for help, but pain that feels like fire ants has found me. The ants crawl up and out of my knee socks and take over every bit of my flesh. They are between my toes, behind my ears, and in every crevice in between. They scamper across my scalp. They bite. Their bites are unbearable. I twist and scratch within the suffocating comforter. I'm trapped.

The boys lean over me, say things-to me, to each other-I can't make out. My hearing is fading. I'm shrinking. The boys' faces get bigger and rise like moons. One of them blinks. When his eyes close, they are chestnut. Open, they are emerald green. He smiles, parts his teeth, and unrolls a long, narrow pink tongue. He licks the tips of his incisors, which have grown past his lower gums to form fine points.

He purrs, his voice velvet. He says, "Don't worry, Kitty. There are no such things as vampires."