Snippet

I’m having doubts. This is the latest snippet. Does it make you want to read forward? Do you connect with Taryn at all? (I know, small snippet, but what’s your reaction?) I know it’s rough, so bear with me.

 

At the mention of the Brody name, Taryn went rigid. “That’s enough,” she said, pushing abruptly to her feet and collecting up her dishes. “I don’t need to hear any more.”

“What?” was Granger’s bewildered reply.

“I don’t need to hear any more,” she said, then turned around, folding her arms over her wrinkled blouse. “I don’t want to hear any more. Finish your pie and your coffee and get on with you.”

“But—  I have to tell you. You’re on the list.”

“List?”

“You know. The List.  The Book List.”

He cast a look around the kitchen as if searching for the incriminating book. It lay on the end of the kitchen island, beside a vase of white camelias. The edges of the flowers were turning brown and starting to curl. It seemed like an omen.

Granger’s gaze skimmed right over the book without seeing it. Hard to believe, given that it was bound in wood with traceries of silver curling across it like whisps of mist. Dotting the cover and set into bezels of silver were cabochons of amethyst, tiger eye, agate, moonstone, and a dozen other stones Taryn had yet to identify.

She’d left the damned thing— Taryn let out a quiet sigh. She couldn’t remember where or even when she’d even picked it up, much less actually put it somewhere. It didn’t matter. The book followed her. Silently demanding. Open it. Write in its blank pages.

When gators tanned their own hides and turned themselves into boots, Taryn thought sourly and focused back on her guest. Invader. Granger was eyeing her with frowning sterness, like a father about to give his daughter a lecture. Or so she supposed. Her father had scarecely ever noticed her, much less lectured.

A spider slid down a thread directly above the sheriff’s head. A black widow, by the looks of her. She hung there, waiting silent vigil. If he were to threaten Taryn, the spider would act. She wouldn’t be the only one. A swarm of delicate spider feet tickled up Taryn’s legs and over her lap, climbing up onto the underside of the table. A silent, deadly army. Whether he knew it or not, Granger was in serious danger.

 

 

5 Comments

  • Douglas Meeks

    Well of course we would want to know more. Who would not want to see what happens next.

  • Paula P

    As usual your descriptions are outstanding! One could almost touch the book in front of our eyes and my skin crawled with the spiders dashing up Taryn’s body.

    This snippit was like licking the spatula after stirring up a batch of brownies…of course I can’t wait to bite into the finished product.

  • Leslie

    I definitely want to read more. I’m curious about this Brody character, and why his name provokes such a reaction from Taryn, and also about this Book List – which I presume has something to do with this book that’s following her around. And the spiders that are apparently her protectors. Yep. I’m hooked.

  • ChrisP

    Attack Spiders! No, wait; Attack Arachnids! (Alliteration makes it so much better.) Tell me more…

%d bloggers like this: