Releasing Wednesday, October 25 - On the Edge of Nowhere
Cover Image: Erin Dameron-Hill Graphics
A new door brings Gina and Mattie to a forest of witches and warlocks with a taste for blood...and the story of Hungry House's mistress.
* * * *
Gina spent the following hour’s
walk through the woods watching their captors. The captured meadow people
weren’t resigned to their fates, she noted. They struggled and fought despite
being bound. They resisted taking every step no matter how the witchy bunch
beat them or zapped them with their wands.
Definitely wands. Gina never saw
beams or sparks fly when they were directed at a victim, but whomever they were
aimed at reacted in pain. Over and over again, meadow folk fell to the ground
and screamed though they showed no injury. The witches and warlocks kicked them
until they scrambled up and took a few steps before fighting back again.
The meadow dwellers’ desperate
battle to not be taken deep into the cool shadows of the forest quelled Gina’s
scant optimism. Whatever was at the end of their trek was certain to be
horrific. She found extra appreciation for their terror an instant later when
she dared to crane for a glimpse of Iz, wondering how her former cellmate was
coping.
Gray Hair said, “Eyes front.” He
pointed his stick at her.
Her guts tried to erupt from her
belly. Her heart burst. A lightning storm blasted her brain. Horrific torment
was everywhere. It tore her insides out. Shredded, Gina fell to the ground. She
kicked and clawed and shrieked from the agony.
A small part of her tattered
senses somehow operated despite the torture and wondered that it wasn’t
accompanied by gouts of blood and entrails exploding from her flesh. She could feel
her body tearing itself apart from within, but her streaming gaze refused to
take part in the awful truth.
The pain disappeared. She lay
gasping, unable to respond to Mattie’s screams though she begged her limbs to
move beyond twitching. Her friend’s shrieks quieted to moans a second later.
The dull thud of Gray Hair’s bare
foot kicking her backside was of little importance after the agony Gina had
just gone through. She ignored him. She caught her breath and wondered if mere
hurt could kill a person.
“Up, or I’ll hex you again.”
She hated herself for flinching at
the threat. Gina tried again to convince her body to work. It obeyed, and she
jerked to her feet. On her left, Mattie did the same.
“Sorry I couldn’t stop him,” her
friend panted.
White Stripes trained her wand on
Mattie. “No more talking. Walk.”
They walked. Being hexed had
allowed Iz and her captor to pass them. She plodded ahead of them, occasionally
shoved by a redheaded giant of a man. Gina wondered if she was wrong to feel
relief that Iz was alive. From all indications, it wasn’t the greatest state of
being.
They came to a huge clearing in
the woods, where shanties and crude lean-tos hugged the perimeter of the space.
In front of each stood thick poles. In the middle were three thick slabs of
rock, set up like giant tables. The setting made Gina think of a prehistoric
picnic ground. There were four blackened firepits on the perimeter of the
tables.
Elderly people came out of the
shacks, along with at least two dozen children. Like those who’d brought the
meadow people and Gina’s group, they were dressed in furred rags knotted
together, belted with strips of leather or stained fabric. The old men and
women leered at the prisoners. The children squealed and capered with
excitement before lighting the fires.
The meadow people renewed their
struggles to break free. Wands pointed, and they went down with yells. While
they writhed, they were dragged to the poles and tied helpless.
So were Gina, Mattie, and Iz. Gina
hated allowing herself to be bound, but the memory of the hex was too much to
dare again. She stood stiff, tense as a board, fingers and toes curled tight
while Gray Hair trussed her to the pole. She held in a deep breath until he
finished.
He stared at her with satisfaction
when he was done. “Praise the Mistress for this boon.”
“Who is this Mistress? Why do you
think she sent me to you?” Gina wasn’t sure he wouldn’t hurt her for speaking.
If he saw her as a person instead of an object, maybe he’d think twice about
whatever it was he planned to do to her. Small hope, but she’d take whatever
she could get.
“She who rules this land and the
next and all the others you travelers visit through the doorways.” He smirked.
“You mean the supposed lady who
lives in the cupola of Hungry House?” Gina’s heart sped up.
“I know of no house, woman. I only
know the Mistress lives up high. She watches over us and sends us good when we
please her and ill when we don’t. We are given powers through our worship.”
“You kill innocents. You’re
murderers,” Mattie snarled. White Stripes had walked off, leaving her bound to
the pole nearest Gina.
“We protect ourselves. We lived in
peace with the ungifted for a long time. We blessed their crops, eased their
birthing pains, sent them good weather. They turned on us, jealous of our
power, fearful of our Mistress. They sent us to burn at the stake. It is
justice to take their lives to enhance our magic.”
“We aren’t them,” Gina said. “We
aren’t from anywhere close to here.”
He looked at her with warmth,
which resembled kindness enough that for a moment, she dared to hope he’d set
them free. “You are gifts from the Mistress. Special sacrifices endowed to her
most faithful. Your blood and flesh will heighten my abilities when I take your
life on her altar.”
So much for mercy. Gina drew
another deep breath and tightened already tense muscles as he finished tying
her. She vowed his Mistress would pay. Whether in this life or the next or
however many it took, she’d pay big.
Those who step inside Hungry House never return. But when the abandoned house on the edge of town is ready to feed, it won’t be denied.
Inquisitive Gina and her impulsive best friend Mattie know better than to enter the abandoned Victorian. The mansion on the edge of Nowhere, Georgia, has a reputation for ‘eating’ those who dare to step inside. Yet when another friend and her younger brother disappear after last being seen heading toward Hungry House, Gina and Mattie have no choice but to follow.
Inside, they find every door is a gateway to a new nightmare. Even death is no escape—it only sends the unlucky trespassers back to the start of Hungry House’s gauntlet. Their only hope is to survive long enough to confront the house’s mistress, an inhuman being whose lust for vengeance is as immortal as she.
Releasing October 25. Pre-order now: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple, Smashwords.
Print on sale now: print
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