Dawn's Light Read online

  ACCLAIM FOR TERRI BLACKSTOCK

  “ . . . [Last Light] is in league with first-rate adventure fiction and bodes well for the series to come.”

  — Publishers Weekly

  “A popular suspense author, Blackstock combines fast pacing with relationship threads in the fourth series entry (after True Light). This title should find its way onto public library shelves.”

  — Library Journal (on Dawn’s Light)

  “The Restoration series comes to a dramatic end. Blackstock is absolutely masterful at bringing spiritual dilemmas to the surface and allowing readers to wrestle with them alongside her characters. This is a fitting conclusion to this unique series.”

  — RT Book Reviews, 4.5 stars (on Dawn’s Light)

  “Truth Stained Lies is the first in what’s likely to be a very popular new series for Blackstock. Her characters are flawed, faltering in their faith, and ultimately human. They’re the kind of people you wish you had as friends. This latest novel should appeal to millions of existing fans and millions of new fans who just don’t know it yet.”

  — CBA Retailers + Resources

  “Short chapters and terse dialogue propel the fast-paced action . . . [and] the mother-daughter relationship strikes true emotional notes; the redemptive arc of evangelical Christian fiction is natural and resonant in a story of addiction. Blackstock’s many fans will be pleased, and this story will also speak to families dealing with addicted children.”

  — Publishers Weekly (on Intervention)

  “The second in Blackstock’s Intervention series is a fast-paced thriller . . . the portrayal of the dangers of drug abuse and the effects after rehab are fascinating.”

  — Romantic Times (on Vicious Cycle)

  “Crisp prose, an engaging story, and brisk pacing make this thriller another home run for Blackstock. Recommend it to readers who enjoy material by Lynette Eason and Erin Healy.”

  — Library Journal (on Downfall)

  “Shadow in Serenity from New York Times best-selling author Terri Blackstock won’t disappoint. It features page-turning suspense, believable characters, a straightforward but non-preachy Christian message of redemption, and just enough romance to satisfy without being sappy. Blackstock is a masterful writer; highly recommend this excellent title to fiction fans.”

  — CBA Retailers + Resources

  “Blackstock’s superior writing will keep readers turning pages late into the night to discover the identity of the culprit in this amazing mystery. The unique setting and peek into the Nashville music scene are fascinating. Suspense lovers are in for a delightful treat.”

  — RT Book Reviews, 4.5 stars TOP PICK! (on Double Minds, 2009 Nomination for Best Inspirational Novel)

  ALSO BY TERRI BLACKSTOCK

  THE MOONLIGHTERS SERIES

  1 Truth Stained Lies

  2 Distortion (Available Spring 2014)

  THE RESTORATION SERIES

  1 Last Light

  2 Night Light

  3 True Light

  4 Dawn’s Light

  THE INTERVENTION SERIES

  1 Intervention

  2 Vicious Cycle

  3 Downfall

  THE CAPE REFUGE SERIES

  1 Cape Refuge

  2 Southern Storm

  3 River’s Edge

  4 Breaker’s Reef

  NEWPOINTE 911

  1 Private Justice

  2 Shadow of Doubt

  3 Word of Honor

  4 Trial by Fire

  5 Line of Duty

  THE SUN COAST CHRONICLES

  1 Evidence of Mercy

  2 Justifiable Means

  3 Ulterior Motives

  4 Presumption of Guilt

  SECOND CHANCES

  1 Never Again Good-bye

  2 When Dreams Cross

  3 Blind Trust

  4 Broken Wings

  WITH BEVERLY LAHAYE

  1 Seasons Under Heaven

  2 Showers in Season

  3 Times and Seasons

  4 Seasons of Blessing

  NOVELLAS

  Seaside

  OTHER BOOKS

  Shadow in Serenity

  Predator

  Double Minds

  Soul Restoration

  Emerald Windows

  Miracles (The Listener/The Gifted)

  The Heart Reader of Franklin High

  The Gifted Sophomores

  Covenant Child

  Sweet Delights

  ZONDERVAN

  Dawn’s Light

  Copyright © 2008 by Terri Blackstock

  ePub Edition © May 2014: ISBN 978-0-310-29621-8

  Requests for information should be addressed to:

  Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Blackstock, Terri.

  Dawn’s Light / Terri Blackstock.

  p. cm. — (A restoration novel; bk. 4)

  ISBN 978-0-310-25770-7

  1. Regression (Civilization) — Fiction. I. Title.

  PS3552.L34285D39 2008

  813’54 — dc22

  2007051419

  All Scripture quotations unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New American Standard Bible, NASB. © Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

  Any Internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers printed in this book are offered as a resource. They are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement by Zondervan, nor does Zondervan vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book.

  Published in association with the literary agency of Alive Communications, Inc., 7680 Goddard Street, Suite 200, Colorado Springs, CO 80920. www.alivecommunications.com

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means — electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other — except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

  ISBN 978-0-3103-3782-9 (2013 repackage)

  13 14 15 16 17 /RRD/ 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  This book is lovingly dedicated to the Nazarene.

  CONTENTS

  DEAR READER

  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  PROLOGUE

  ONE

  TWO

  THREE

  FOUR

  FIVE

  SIX

  SEVEN

  EIGHT

  NINE

  TEN

  ELEVEN

  TWELVE

  THIRTEEN

  FOURTEEN

  FIFTEEN

  SIXTEEN

  SEVENTEEN

  EIGHTEEN

  NINETEEN

  TWENTY

  TWENTY-ONE

  TWENTY-TWO

  TWENTY-THREE

  TWENTY-FOUR

  TWENTY-FIVE

  TWENTY-SIX

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  TWENTY-NINE

  THIRTY

  THIRTY-ONE

  THIRTY-TWO

  THIRTY-THREE

  THIRTY-FOUR

  THIRTY-FIVE

  THIRTY-SIX

  THIRTY-SEVEN

  THIRTY-EIGHT

  THIRTY-NINE

  FORTY

  FORTY-ONE

  FORTY-TWO

  FORTY-THREE

  FORTY-FOUR

  FORTY-FIVE

  FORTY-SIX

  FORTY-SEVEN

  FORTY-EIGHT

  FORTY-NINE

  FIFTY

  FIFTY-ONE

  FIFTY-TWO

  FIFTY-THREE

  FIFTY-FOUR


  FIFTY-FIVE

  FIFTY-SIX

  FIFTY-SEVEN

  FIFTY-EIGHT

  FIFTY-NINE

  SIXTY

  SIXTY-ONE

  SIXTY-TWO

  SIXTY-THREE

  SIXTY-FOUR

  SIXTY-FIVE

  SIXTY-SIX

  SIXTY-SEVEN

  SIXTY-EIGHT

  SIXTY-NINE

  SEVENTY

  SEVENTY-ONE

  SEVENTY-TWO

  SEVENTY-THREE

  SEVENTY-FOUR

  SEVENTY-FIVE

  SEVENTY-SIX

  SEVENTY-SEVEN

  SEVENTY-EIGHT

  SEVENTY-NINE

  EIGHTY

  EIGHTY-ONE

  EIGHTY-TWO

  EIGHTY-THREE

  EIGHTY-FOUR

  EIGHTY-FIVE

  EIGHTY-SIX

  EIGHTY-SEVEN

  EIGHTY-EIGHT

  EIGHTY-NINE

  NINETY

  NINETY-ONE

  NINETY-TWO

  NINETY-THREE

  NINETY-FOUR

  NINETY-FIVE

  NINETY-SIX

  NINETY-SEVEN

  NINETY-EIGHT

  NINETY-NINE

  ONE HUNDRED

  ONE HUNDRED ONE

  ONE HUNDRED TWO

  ONE HUNDRED THREE

  ONE HUNDRED FOUR

  ONE HUNDRED FIVE

  ONE HUNDRED SIX

  A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

  READING GROUP GUIDE

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  AN EXCERPT FROM TRUTH STAINED LIES

  CHAPTER 1

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  DEAR READER

  THANK YOU FOR READING MY RESTORATION SERIES. I got the idea for these books as the world was preparing for “Y2K.” The world was expecting a huge catastrophe as the clocks turned from 1999 to 2000. Computers were expected to crash, power grids to shut down, and the world as we knew it might come to an end. We all sat around our televisions the night of New Year’s Eve, bracing ourselves for darkness. That darkness never came, and the catastrophe didn’t happen. But the thought of what might have happened continued to germinate in my brain.

  I asked a physicist friend of mine what kind of event could knock out our power grid and fry all our technology, and he told me to research electromagnetic pulses. These pulses could be caused by different things—solar flares, celestial events, E-bombs, and nuclear weapons exploding in our upper atmosphere. As I read and studied these situations and their repercussions, I became more and more aware that these things were real threats to our way of life.

  At the same time, I was troubled spiritually by the cultural decline in America. Families (including my own) seemed to be eating most meals in their cars between ballet and soccer practice, the children were glued to video games and television, and parents were distracted by their smart phones. Our comfort had numbed us to the things God wanted to do in our lives. I became convicted that He was going to have to do something drastic to America to get our attention. What would that be? Would it be war? Famine? A nuclear attack?

  That’s when I decided to flesh out the idea for the Restoration Series and challenge a spoiled American family with a massive global power outage. The Brannings, who’d been used to fast food and take-out, now have to grow their own food and find water. Their cars don’t run, their jobs are gone, the banks are closed, there’s no communication . . . and this family has to decide if they will hoard what they have or share with their neighbors, when sharing might lead to their own starvation. All around them are desperate people, some willing to kill for food or the opportunity to get ahead.

  Since I wrote these books years ago, there have been variations of this theme in television series and books by other authors. Mine are different because I chose not to focus on the military aspect, but on the changing character of the people suffering through this disaster. I fell in love with these characters as I wrote the four-book series, and so did many of my readers. Several years since the series was first released, people are still buying the books and sharing them with their friends. For that reason, we’ve decided to give the series a second life with new covers and a re-launch that will give new readers an opportunity to discover them. It’s my hope that “rehearsing” this catastrophe with my characters will help prepare readers for catastrophes in their own lives. And if it gets the attention of God’s people before He has to give us a wake-up call . . . well, that would be my idea of true success.

  If you like the books, please tell others about them. And if you enjoy the way I tell a story, there are many other books where these came from. Learn more about all of them at http://www.terriblackstock.com/books.

  Thanks again for reading my books!

  Terri Blackstock

  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  Branning, Doug — forty-eight, father of four and husband to Kay Branning. He’s a successful stockbroker who’s never known failure until technology come to an end and he’s forced to provide for his family and protect them from the dangers surrounding them. Although the circumstances of life threaten to defeat him when the power goes out, he manages to find the character and strength to do what needs to be done. He commits to studying the Word of God and becomes the pastor of a home church for Christians in his neighborhood.

  Branning, Kay — forty-five, Doug’s wife, mother to Deni, Jeff, Beth, and Logan. She was a spoiled soccer mom before the outage, living in a 4,000-square-foot home with all the bells and whistles, and driving a brand new Expedition. Now she faces a daily struggle to feed her family and help those around her who have less than she does. She takes much pride in being a good mother who protects and nurtures her children

  Branning, Deni — twenty-three, Doug and Kay’s spitfire daughter. Just before the outage, she graduated from Georgetown University in Broadcast Journalism and landed a job as an intern at the NBC affiliate in Washington, D.C. She was engaged to Craig Martin, an attorney who worked for a prominent U.S. senator. Just before the outage, she comes home to Crockett, Alabama (a suburb of Birmingham), to take care of some wedding planning. When the power goes out and transportation and communication are shut down, along with all electronics, she feels trapped. And when she and her little sister happen upon two murdered neighbors, her depression escalates. Other murders follow these, and homes around them are pillaged. Deni becomes desperate to get back to Washington to be with her fiancé. The father of a high school friend offers her a ride east in his horse-drawn wagon, and she leaves secretly. But it isn’t long before she realizes she’s thrown herself into the arms of a killer. She finally calls out to God for help and begins to recognize his provision in her foolishness. Her father, whom she believed to be weak, moves heaven and earth to find and rescue her. But when things get violent, she is forced to kill her tormenter in self-defense.

  Branning, Jeff — seventeen, Doug and Kay’s son. He was the star pitcher on his high school baseball team, a true jock and a popular kid at school. But he wasn’t used to hard work, and he didn’t much like it. He’s a Christian kid but has moments of rebellion. Saddled with a lot of adult responsibilities since the outage, he finds the weight of the world on his shoulders as he tries to help protect his family from the evil surfacing around them.

  Branning, Beth — thirteen, Doug and Kay’s daughter, who looks up to her older sister. She’s with Deni when they find her teacher and her husband murdered. She’s sensitive to the needs of those around her. To help the children of the neighborhood cope through the outage, she begins to write and produce plays that become major events for the families of Oak Hollow. But the violence that she’s witnessed over the last year has taken its toll on her, and she lives in fear of the Next Terrible Thing.

  Branning, Logan — ten, Doug and Kay’s youngest child, who was raised on Play Stations, computers, DVDs, and television, and finds their new way of life boring and unfair. But he’s enjoying spending more time with his dad now that Doug is home most of the time.

  Green
, Mark — twenty-three, Deni’s friend from high school and a neighbor in Oak Hollow subdivision. He’s in love with Deni and helps convince her that her fiancé is not the right man for her. He’s good looking, strong, inventive, skillful, and a strong Christian. He skipped college and went to work in construction. He’s disliked in the neighborhood because his father was a convicted murderer. When a kid in the neighborhood is shot, Mark is accused and thrown into a broken and violent prison system. When the prisoners escape after killing two deputies and wounding the sheriff, Mark stays behind to help them. He’s released when the other deputies walk off the job. But when he returns home, some of the neighborhood men beat him. His charges are finally dropped, and he winds up going to work as a volunteer deputy to help protect the community. When he has to care for the prisoners — including the men who beat him — he learns that forgiveness is not a emotion, but a choice. With the help of God, he manages to perform acts of mercy toward his enemies and, in doing so, proves to Deni and her family when he’s made of.

  Martin, Craig — twenty-eight, Deni’s ex-fiancé. He’s an attorney who graduated at the top of his class from Georgetown University Law School. He works for a U.S. senator and considers himself a mover and a shaker. When the Pulses began, Deni didn’t hear from him for weeks. He finally showed up to see her but had an aversion to the hard work they were doing to help the community. Deni almost agreed to go back to Washington with him, but at the last moment, she changed her mind and broke off the engagement. He’s been writing her ever since, begging her to marry him.

  Caldwell, Brad — the Brannings’ next-door neighbor and Doug’s best friend. He’s a good man, but not a Christian. An attorney who has a strong sense of justice, he set up a “neighborhood watch” in Oak Hollow and took the protection of the subdivision personally. An African American, he was initially blamed for the murders and robberies in the neighborhood and was beaten up and almost killed. He’s the father of two boys and the husband of Judith Caldwell.

  Caldwell, Judith — wife of Brad, a nurse, who begins to attend Doug’s house church with her two boys, even though her husband won’t attend with her.

  Caldwell, Drew and Jeremy — Brad and Judith’s sons, nine and seven, who are friends with Logan. Both children are traumatized when their father is beaten up, so he pretends he’s fine to keep them from worrying.

  Horton, Chris — twenty-two, Deni’s best friend from high school, a nurse.