Nowhere for Christmas

by: Heather Gray

Anything can happen on the road to Nowhere…

A journalist and single mother, Avery is used to being in control, though she tries to remind herself to let God take lead in her life. Eli, her teenage son, is happy as long as he has his music, plenty of food, and the occasional adult on which to practice his rapier wit.  Gavin, a virtual stranger, is a photojournalist who mysteriously disappeared from the scene a few years ago.

The trio ends up together for a Christmas road trip to the small town of Nowhere.  An eight hour drive in a rental car turns into two days of misadventure and calamity as bad luck stalks them.  They get a flat tire, the bumper falls off, the car overheats – and that's only the beginning! Along the way they meet some interesting people – from a bait shop owner who moonlights as a mechanic to a chatty preacher's wife and a highway patrolman whose wife and mother can't agree on the best way to remove a skunk's stink.

Hungry, cold, and tired, the three finally arrive in Nowhere only to discover the town is nothing like they expected. Reaching their destination, it turns out, doesn't necessarily mean the journey has ended.

Can two people forge a future when their secret pasts collide?

New school. New friends. New reputation. High school sophomore Ainslie Avalon-Bennett works hard to hide her Crazy Girl past. But as long as her best friend’s disappearance remains unsolved, she can’t shake the depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder that once landed her in a mental ward.

Ainslie’s tenuous control over her life shatters when her warring parents ditch her at Christmas. While they take a cruise to “work things out,” Ainslie must spend the holiday in Palm Springs with her aunt and uncle, owners of a struggling Mystery School and occult store. Plunged into the world of fire fortunes, dragons, entity eaters, and an ailing spell book, Ainslie is well beyond her comfort zone. Then she meets a boy who spikes her pulse and calms her OCD.  But will she lose him once he discovers her past? Or will his deadly secret, hidden in plain view, be their undoing? 

Excerpt

I found a patch of sunlight where I could sit with my back against the wall and pulled out The Scarlet Letter. I kept my head down while Uncle Esmun arrived and took his seat. Years before Sophia's disappearance and my descent into the rabbit hole, I had sat in on a few of Dad's business meetings. I knew the protocol. Be quiet and inconspicuous. Don't interrupt the adults; they have important business matters to discuss. Only these adults were discussing the tarot cards they had drawn from a deck in the center of the table.

I tried to concentrate on Hawthorne's book, on Hester's vengeful husband who'd practiced medicine under an assumed name. But Hazel was telling the rest of the group she had just returned from Cornwall, England and had brought each of them a gift. I wondered what it could be. Seashells? Photos of quaint cottages?

ʺI have a pixie for each of you.ʺ

Right. Like you could get those past customs.

ʺHow nice of you, Hazel,ʺ Aunt Terra said.

I thought back to what I knew about pixies. Weren't they supposed to be a) extremely troublesome and b) not real?

Hazel sashayed up to each Board member, starting with Cerelia, and acted like she was putting a pixie in their hands or on their shoulder. As she progressed around the table, some members oohed and aahed as if she was a three-year-old showing off a crayon drawing. When she approached Evie's grandmother, the tote vibrated, rattling the glass table. Hazel faltered, her expression uncertain. She dropped back, and the rattling stopped. Brimstone smells hissed through the closed zipper. Cerelia shrank back.

Evie's grandmother pointed a warning finger at the tote. ʺStop it. Don't be rude.ʺ

My jaw dropped. Thor glanced at me, then flicked his gaze back to the tote. It stopped emitting smoke.

Uncle Esmun rubbed his nose. Hazelʹs head wobbled as if she were figuring out her next course of action. She still cupped her hand as if she carried an invisible pixie.

Hello! Did you not notice the real magical object in the room?

Seemingly unable to drop the pretense, Hazel advanced toward the alientologist. He ignored her and scribbled in his little notebook. Thor politely rebuffed her. Both rose at least twenty degrees on my Guy Approval Meter.

I checked my watch. The meeting had started forty minutes ago. Nothing had been accomplished. No one had addressed the tote situation. My face warmed again. I shifted position. Instead of sitting against the wall with my legs straight in front of me, I sat cross‑legged and hunched over my book. A tugging sensation rippled between my shoulder blades.

Thor glanced my way.

The more I thought about how much Aunt Terra and Uncle Esmun must need every cent the store and mystery school could generate, the more energy swelled behind me. Warmth radiated from my face. My whole body felt as if it was glowing. I tried to distract myself by flitting back to my book and my lengthy homework assignment list.

I couldn't concentrate.

Hazel had reached Aunt Terra and delivered what I hoped was the last pixie. She pivoted and spied me. The energy behind me compacted. It crackled with huge warrior/ninja/dragon chi — alert and ready to strike. The thought of straightening up and backing into it set the fine hairs on my forearms and nape on end.

Thor's eyes met mine. Our gazes locked, and I swear he did a Zen mind meld. Soothing waves of chi — energy — flowed through me. The brimstone stink evaporated, replaced by the calming scent of lavender and sage.

Hazel's gaze swiveled from me to Thor, then back to me. Looking buffeted by an unseen wind, she silently returned to her seat.

The corners of Thor's full lips curved upward. Two urges warred within me — the desire to leap across the room and kiss him, and the urge to arch my neck and breathe fire.

Thor's smile widened.

The Teen Wytche Saga by Ariella Moon

Spell Check
Spell Struck
Spell Fire

Available at:
Amazon & Barnes & Noble

About Ariella Moon

Ariella Moon writes about magic, friendship, secrets, and love in Spell Check, Spell Struck, and Spell Fire, the first three books in The Teen Wytche Saga from Astraea Press. After a childhood spent searching for a magical wardrobe that would transport her to Narnia, Ariella grew up to become a Reiki Master, author and shaman. Extreme math anxiety and taller students who mistook her for a leaning post marred Ariella’s youth. Despite these horrors, she graduated summa cum laude from the University of California at Davis. She now lives a nearly normal life with her extraordinary daughter, two shamelessly spoiled dogs, and an enormous dragon.

Connect with Ariella Moon

http://www.ariellamoon.com

http://ariellamoon.blogspot.com

http://www.facebook.com/ariellamoon.author

http://www.goodreads.com/AuthorAriellaMoon

http://www.pinterest.com/ariellamoon/

Are you ready for more Covington Falls stories?

I hope so...because I sold the next TWO BOOKS in the series to Astraea Press: ACTING UP (Book 2) and IMAGINE THAT (Book 3). Expect Book 2 to be out some time in spring 2014. These books will introduce you to two more amazing couples. You'll also get to follow Julia and Seth's ongoing relationship. 

Book 2

If you read Marry Me you'll remember Ethan Thomas, Seth's friend and basketball buddy, who also lost his wife. In ACTING UP Ethan gets his second chance at love with disgraced Hollywood actress, Addison Covington (yes, she stole the name from the town).

ACTING UP...

Addison Covington is the reigning Ice Queen of television. Until her producer husband falls in love with her on-screen daughter and a well-placed punch on national television casts her as the wicked ex-wife. Fired and disgraced, she escapes to Covington Falls, the idyllic Southern town where she found comfort in a time of turmoil as a teenager.

Life for widower Ethan Thomas is constantly on the brink of chaos. Trying to raise twin sons alone is just one challenge. As a high school principal, he has to deal with hundreds of students, not to mention their interfering parents. Now, he’s short one drama teacher, and if he doesn’t find a replacement to direct the spring musical he'll have a riot on his hands. His childhood neighbor, Addison Covington, could be an answer to prayer. Or one more complication he can’t afford.

Before Addison can say "Casting Call" she's been drafted for the job. Now, she's out to become the star in her own comeback story, despite some off-key caterwauling, a bitter ex-stepson showing up on her doorstep, and the boy-next-door turned sexiest high school principal she's ever met. One thing Addison and Ethan agree on is that there’s no room in their lives for romance. He’s got too much at stake, and she needs to reclaim her former glory in Hollywood. In the end, these two lost souls will choreograph a happy ending with the help of Grace, Love and a Curtain Call.

And here they are...Addison, Ethan and Double Trouble...

Book 3

IMAGINE THAT is definitely a story of opposites attract when simple, blue collar Nate Cooper meets charming Emily Sinclair, a best selling children’s book author on the hunt to revive her dormant imagination.

IMAGINE THAT…

Children’s author Emily Sinclair was supposed to be the next J.K. Rowling…Until her second book flopped and her imagination went on the fritz. Like the storybook heroes of her childhood, Emily sets out on an epic adventure to find inspiration again. Till a dead car lands her in Covington Falls, a small, Southern town with a healing power of its own. Soon Emily is taking up her quest, looking for inspiration driving a mobile library van, as a companion to a crotchety old woman and her narcoleptic dachshund, and as a very ungraceful baker’s assistant.  Of course, what really sparks some romantic fantasies is a valiant hero, though he yields a paint roller instead of a sword.

Rugged, blue-collar Nate Cooper has spent most of his life avoiding the printed page. These days he doesn’t have much use for fancy words and certainly not for a slightly off-center writer on the lam. Not when his mother is battling cancer, his kid brother has morphed into a teenaged ogre, and God seems to have taken a vacation.

On paper, these two would seem the least likely pairing, and a happily ever after nothing but fantasy. But with faith and a little imagination, Emily and Nate are about to write a new chapter that will lead to unexpected love.

Introducing Emily, Nate...