In which a book is completed

Trace of Magic is done and sent off to my editor and agent. I’m sure there will be comments and revisions to come, but for now, it’s a done book. Finally. I had it drafted weeks ago, but with all that’s been happening with the boy and getting my office painted, I was seriously slow on the revisions. I finished early this morning on the Solstice. Very auspicious.

Happy Solstice!!! I love this day. This is the rebirth of the year for me, when the days start getting longer and somewhere deep in the ground, roots are thinking green thoughts. Tonight is also the night the moon holds sway longest. I’m named for the moon goddess. She’s out hunting evil tonight and make sure that the white light shines over the world.

The boy continues on no better. The earliest appointment I’ve been able to get so far is January 21st. I hope to hell we can get in earlier than that.

And a snippet from Trace of Magic:

He looked back at us. Something moved across his expression as the overhead light faded slowly. He deliberately set his gun on the console. The threat was clear.

“One more thing. I want to know what you aren’t telling me. Right now.” But he looked at me, not at Taylor.

I didn’t blink. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I didn’t either. I mean, I was hiding everything I could from him. How was I supposed to know what exactly had set off his radar?

“The haunters.”

“Oh. Them.”

“Yeah, them.” He pointed at me. “If I’m going to help you, you can’t lie to me.”

“Who says you’re going to help me?” I tossed back, knowing full well I should just shut the fuck up before he put a bomb in my shoes.  Don’t get me wrong. I won’t pretend that I really cared that he’d killed the guys who were chasing us. After all, they shot at me. But Price had blown them up like they were as disposable as Kleenex. I knew I was, too.

“I did,” he snapped.

“You’re a Tyet man,” I accused, sudden anger getting the better of me.  Taylor clutched my hand warningly. I ignored her. “Now that you know there are haunters involved, your incentive for finding Josh disappears. Since someone in the Tyet is clearly behind his kidnapping, I’m betting you’ll probably jump in to help cover it up, or do whatever dirty work they need you to do. You know Josh cares about Taylor, I’m guessing the Tyet will want you to use her for leverage. You know the drill: cut her, make her hurt, make him talk. We’ll be lucky if anybody finds our bodies.”

Taylor gasped and I put my arm around her, my stomach clenching. I hadn’t meant to put it so baldly, but here we were in the back seat of an enforcer’s car with nowhere to go and a gun aimed at us. Mincing words seemed pointless. My chin jutted. “Am I wrong?”

His face worked and then he twisted around and slammed the car into gear. The wheels spun and the rear fishtailed as he jumped on the gas. I had no idea where he was taking us. But at the rate he was driving, we might be headed straight for hell.

6 Comments

  • Adrianne

    Yummy snippet! Thanks!

    Happy Solstice! It was a pretty one here with a heavy frost on the pine needles and wispy clouds around the mountains.

    I’m sorry your son isn’t doing better. I hope you can get it figured out soon.

  • Tine

    I am sorry to hear that your son is not doing any better.

    Have you had him tested for Ciliac (sp) disease? I have been reading so much about glueten free lately and I have a fair number of friends who have just started doing gluten free diets and their general health has improved.

    Going further along, my brother has been on the paleo diet and says that he is in the best health of his life. This is an extreme diet but he has been taken off his high blood pressure pills.

    Another friend of mine posted an article about changing over the ‘natural’ bugs of the the stomach to improve your health. I can track that down for you if you wish.

    I would at least have the doctor test the boy for the disease though.

    • Adrianne

      Getting the wheat out of my diet took me from IBS and terrible stomach aches to no pain. Getting the dairy out of my diet made a massive reduction in the number of times I vomited and got “stomach flu”. And I’ve tried a huge number of probiotics over time. While they didn’t fix my stomach aches and IBS, they did make me feel better. The best one I’ve found is Primal Defense. It’s expensive, but worth it.

      I think all of your suggestions are worth trying.

      • Di Francis

        If they scope him, then they’ll undoubtedly check for Celiac. But the trouble is he doesn’t have the other symptoms that accompany them. I do have him on a good probiotic, but not doing much. I’m seriously wondering if he has a parasite, but he doesn’t have the expected intestinal issues with that, either. He’s keeping a food journal, but nothing in particular seems to set him off.

    • Tine

      This from a friend of mine.

      There was a very good article in Experience Life magazine. It suggested adding the following to your diet, yogurt with active cultures including Kefir. Capsules of pro-biopics, foods with active cultures like bagged, not canned saurkraut and Kimchee (Korean saurkraut). Surprises included eating mushrooms of any kind, raw or cooked. Another suggestion for those who are suffering from rawness on their bottoms due to diarrhea or fungal infection is to apply a small amount of plain, active yogurt or pro-biotic powder taken from capsule to affected area several times daily. The good bacteria will work its way up and bypass the strong stomach acids that sometimes kill it off before it can get inside. Also, eliminate all sugar, fruit juice, refined foods and alcohol from your diet for at least three weeks if not forever.

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