Elliott Set for Early Release

Over Labor Day weekend this year, I participated in the International 3 Day Novel Writing Contest again. If you're not familiar, writers have three days to produce a novel. I've done it a few times before (Transformation, Titanic, and Aaron were all products of the 3 Day.) This year, I knew whose story I wanted to tell. If I was going to be essentially locked in a room inside a character's head for three days, it needed to be someone I liked. So, I decided to write Elliott's story, and I'm glad I did.

Unlike the first two books in the A Vampire Hunter's Tale series, Elliott's story doesn't involve historical events or figures recreated as vampires. It focuses more on how he got to be the character we all know and love today. And honestly, parts of his past are heartbreaking. It's no wonder he's always trying to make everyone laugh. As the saying goes, if you don't laugh, you'll cry.

I've decided not to wait on the results of the 3 Day to release this novel. We were promised word about a long list of winners in October and didn't get it, and since the book is edited, cover is made, formatting is done, I'm going to go ahead and release Elliott to the world on November 15. I'll come back and update this post with a link when I have one. I wanted to let you know because, over the years since I first started writing in this world, I've had more readers tell me how much they love Elliott than any other character I've created (and that's a lot of characters considering this is my 34th publication.) For me, this book isn't about vampires or hunters or guardians. It's about examining the struggles we all go through in life, the ones that stick with us and make us who we are. We all have ghosts of our pasts we carry along with us, those voices we hear in our head that either tell us we can, we can't, or we never will. I'm not sure if Elliott's story will make you laugh or cry, but I hope it will make you think and reflect on how you got to be you. After all, it's only through that sort of examination that we can ever figure out who we're going to be.

As always, thanks so much for all of your support. I don't blog as much anymore as I used to now that I'm writing more books, but I do plan on writing at least one more blog post this year to let you know about the goals I set for 2018 and how I managed to accomplish them (assuming they're all met by the end of the year. So close!) Until then, happy reading.

Elliott will be available on Nov 15, 2018 on Amazon and in Kindle Unlimited

I'm Writing The Chronicles of Cassidy At Last!

When I started publishing almost four years ago, I was a reading intervention teacher at two different elementary schools. I worked with a lot of fourth and fifth graders who wanted to hear about my writing. They were fascinated with The Clandestine Saga, even though I never told any of them the title because that series isn't exactly for kids. I promised them, though, that someday I would write a series they could read.
My intentions were to take Cadence Findley, the main character in Clandestine, and create a series about her younger sister, Cassidy. Since the kids at school seemed to want to read about vampires, I thought Cassidy would be the perfect heroine for them. Even though it's been a long time since I initially thought of writing this series, I'm proud to say the first book in the series, So You Think Your Sister's a Vampire? is finally finished, and I'm hoping to publish it in July. I hope that those same kids who were asking so many years ago will be excited to read it, along with lots of other kids and adults who like The Clandestine Saga series.
The series will be at least three books long and will follow along as Cassidy Findley discovers something odd is going on with her older sister. It parallels The Clandestine Saga but is appropriate for kids as young as ten years old with no bad language or other inappropriate content. There will be some vampire slaying eventually, but it won't be as descriptive as the other series written for adults. I let my second grader read this book, so it's definitely fine for audiences of all ages, in my opinion, but I think grownups will like it, too.
I will be looking for people interested in receiving an Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review soon, so if you think you'd like to read it before it's published, let me know at authoridjohnson@gmail.com. Below, you'll find an excerpt to give you an idea of what the novel is all about. (Please keep in mind my editor hasn't gone through the manuscript yet!)

Young Adult Vampire Adventure, Coming Soon!

Chapter One

            You think you know someone, and then they go and turn into a creature of the night, a bloodsucker, a vampire, right before your very eyes, and then you realize, you don’t really know anyone at all, perhaps not even yourself.

           My name’s Cassidy Findley, and up until a couple of weeks ago, I was living a pretty mundane existence. I live in a small town in rural Iowa where the most exciting thing that ever happens is someone shoots a deer or a friend’s hog has piglets. No, really, those are the kinds of stories I’ve come to expect to hear in the hallways of Shenandoah High School on a Monday morning. Okay, I might be exaggerating a little bit; sometimes there are stories about who is going out with who or who met a hot stranger at the mall—which happens to be about an hour away from here in Council Bluffs, so no one can ever verify those sorts of stories. Yeah, nothing exciting ever happens in Shenandoah, that is until the night before Thanksgiving. Nothing would ever be the same after that night.

            Actually, things started to head in the direction of a downward spiral a couple of nights before that. My older sister, Cadence, is nineteen and attends college at the University of Iowa in Iowa City—well, she did go to college there, anyway. I’ll get to that soon enough. She was back in town for the week because of the holiday, and I was so happy to see her. My sister and I have always been very close—until recently.

Her whole life, my sister has talked about wanting to be an elementary school teacher, so the fact that she dropped out and took a job with some sort of security company would’ve been shocking if I hadn’t already figured out by then what was happening. Again, I’m getting ahead of myself. I guess it would make sense if I just started at the beginning.

            Cadence was super popular when she was in school. She was a cheerleader, in the choir, and in a half-dozen other clubs. I do some of those things, too, but I definitely don’t get the same sort of attention as Cadence did, which is fine. I don’t need that sort of spotlight. Not that she ever seemed to want it either, but that was just part of who she was. My sister is beautiful, with long brown hair and big brown eyes. I’ve seen guys literally crumple when she flashes them her dazzling smile. She’s totally oblivious, though. Still, being so well-liked garnered her a group of friends that went practically everywhere with her when they were in high school and a boyfriend that was the envy of all the other girls. Even after she and Jack broke up, he still continued to follow her around like a puppy dog every time she came home. So, it was no surprise that one of the voices I heard through our adjoining bedroom wall that night was his.

            I try not to eavesdrop as a rule. I think it’s underhanded and sneaky. But… my sister’s friends are loud, so I can often hear most of their conversations just by not listening to any music or watching anything on my laptop when they’re chatting. Like I said, none of what I overheard was on purpose. And sometimes I wish I hadn’t heard anything at all. But I did.

            I was sitting on my bed, trying to decide whether to watch a movie or catch up on some TV when the whole group of them came up the stairs. I closed my laptop and went into “not eavesdropping” mode. I heard Cadence’s friend Drew Peterson’s voice first. She’s still in high school and on the Varsity cheerleading squad. Since I’m on the JV squad, sometimes we practice together, and she’s usually nice to me. She has short, curly blonde hair and big blue eyes. She’s really pretty, but unlike my sister, she knows it. Drew’s the kind of girl who will use her looks to get whatever she wants, and I always wondered why my sister hung out with her when Cadence usually likes people who are more down to earth.

            I remembered that she used to date my sister’s friend Kash Donetello as soon as I heard his voice. “That’s why,” I reminded myself. Drew started hanging out with my sister when she was dating Kash, and even though they broke up a while ago, Drew has stuck to my sister like bubble gum on her Converse. She just won’t go away.

            Drew’s laughter peeled through the wall, and I heard my sister mention she has a paper that she’s got to work on. Why her friends were here while she was doing homework is beyond me, but I figured it is back to the sticky factor. Once someone has latched on to Cadence, she has a hard time shaking them.

            I heard her two other guy friends—the aforementioned Jack Cook, ex-boyfriend and star baseball player who now attends college in Nebraska, and Jon Chancellor, who decided not to go to college. Jon is one of those guys who is always joking around about everything, and although I’ve personally never thought he was particularly funny, I guess Cadence does. She has always had a strange sense of humor.

            I could hear two other female voices, too, though not well-enough to make out what they were saying. Still, I knew that they are my sisters real best friends, the ones she’d choose to keep if she had to whittle down this group. Taylor Christianson and Sidney Cox are to Cadence what my two best friends, Lucy Burk and Emma O’Sullivan, are to me. I have other friends, too, like Milo Parker and Wes Standford, and then there’s Liam White who is super cute, but I think is just using me to pass Algebra II. If I had to pick my two BFFs, though, there’s no question it would be Luce and Em hands down. I know that’s a lot of names, and for right now, you probably don’t have to worry about most of these people. The only ones that are super important are my sister, of course, and Drew. If I had known then what I know now about the fate of Drew Peterson, I would’ve burst into my sister’s bedroom and ordered everyone to go home immediately.

            But I didn’t do that because I had no idea that the conversation my sister was having through that paper-thin wall would be so significant.

            I adjusted my position on top of the floral print bedspread my mother had purchased me a few years earlier when I decided I was too old for Disney Princesses and tried not to not listen to my sister’s conversation. You’d think the walls would be thicker considering that was supposed to be the master suite. Despite the fact that Cadence had an en suite bathroom and a closet big enough to hide all of her friends should my parents ever care that she was practically throwing a party in her bedroom, I was never jealous. My parents’ bedroom was downstairs in what was meant to be a mother-in-law suite, but my Grandma Janette lives in Des Moines and my other grandparents still have each other. So, everyone else has spacious bedrooms with attached bathrooms, and I have to walk down the hall a little way to take a shower. Really not a big deal—not even a first world problem. Still, I could practically hear my sister and her friends breathing, which is why I can say I definitely wasn’t trying to hear what they were talking about.

            But I heard nonetheless. Drew was talking about an Eidolon Festival. I’d never heard that word before and thought at first that I just wasn’t hearing it correctly through the drywall, but I did what I always do when I hear a word I don’t know—I looked it up. Even before she stopped talking, I had it on Wikipedia. Since I was pretty sure she wasn’t talking about idolizing anyone, that only left one alternative. “A specter or phantom,” I read aloud, my forehead crinkling. Why would anyone want to go to a festival for that? I wondered. It definitely didn’t sound like something my sister would like. She wasn’t even a fan of Halloween. Not that she was scared; she just thought it was pointless to walk around dressed like someone you’re not, trying to scare people or collecting candy. I tended to agree with her and waited to hear her tell Drew to forget about it.

            The discussion went on for a few minutes, and I could hear Cadence saying she didn’t want to go. It sounded like Taylor was actually afraid, like she was about to cry, so I thought for sure this would be the end of the discussion. But then Drew started whining, and I know that’s my sister’s weakness. “You all went away to college and left me here,” she was saying.   

            Like kryptonite, the tears of Drew Peterson melted my sister’s iron resolve, and the next thing I hear is Cadence agreeing to go. I can hardly believe my ears. Whatever this thing is, it sounded dangerous, and it’s not even in town. They’ll have to drive to Villisca. A festival of ghosts in a town made famous for an axe murder? I’m pretty sure this is a bad idea.

            I know what you’re thinking, and you’re right. You’re asking yourself, “If Cassidy Findley is such a good girl, why didn’t she get up and go tell her sister not to go?” Or, “Why didn’t she head straight downstairs and interrupt her parents’ viewing of CSI Miami to let them know her older sister was planning to lie to them and use a cover story of spending the night at Drew’s house to sneak out?” And you’re right—you’re absolutely right. I should’ve done one or both of those things. And now, here we are, a few weeks later, and everything in the world is completely different. This is a guilt I will carry with me for the rest of my life. I no longer feel like the good girl who always makes the right decisions. What I overheard that night has led me down a dark hole, one where I not only eavesdrop on every other member of my family, I’ve also become a master of deception. As a matter-of-fact, I’m pretty sure someone is dead because I didn’t stand up and say something. What’s even worse (yes, worse than death) is that, because I chose not to burst through my sister’s door and tell her not to go to that stupid festival, my sister is now a vampire; I’m almost sure of it.

Chapter Two

            The night before Thanksgiving, I went to bed a little earlier than usual. I wasn’t particularly tired, but I was worried, and I didn’t want to hang around my parents any more than I had to because I was certain they would be able to tell something was bothering me. Cadence had sat around the house most of that day, trying to act inconspicuous, but I could tell by the way she twisted the ring on her right hand that she was anxious. I wanted to ask her why she had agreed to go to this festival if she knew it was a bad idea, but she had no idea I could overhear her conversations with her friends in her bedroom, and I was still under the impression that breaking her trust would be worse than just letting her go. For the most part, my sister has good judgement, and I still expected her to find a way to talk her friends out of going.

            Ever since I’d heard Drew use that word—Eidolon—I’d been doing some research. I thought if I knew more about where they were headed, maybe I could come up with some sort of a way to trick them into not going. But no matter how much searching I’d done using the keywords I’d overheard from their conversation, nothing came up. Even though I had heard enough to know this Eidolon Festival in Villisca was supposed to be the night before Thanksgiving at the witching hour, which is 3:00 AM, nothing popped up. I’d considered asking Emma to help me because, when it comes to computers, Em’s a whiz, but I didn’t do it. I was still thinking I was overreacting, though somewhere deep down inside, I felt a stirring, like this night would be a turning point of sorts. I played it off, because that just sounds ridiculous. I wish I would’ve listened to my gut.

            We were eating dinner, chicken casserole, one of my mom’s specialties, and the table was mostly quiet except for the clatter of silverware. I could tell my mom was going over her list for Thanksgiving dinner in her head, and my dad was probably thinking about the football games he’d be watching the next day. Cadence was much quieter than usual, and I wanted to ask her to stay there with me that night, to watch a movie, but when she was done eating, she cleared her throat and said, “I’m heading over to Drew’s.”

            “Oh?” my mom had said, clearly not expecting that.

            “Yeah. She’s having us all over to watch movies. I might just sleep over at her house. I don’t want to come back in the middle of the night and wake everyone up.”

My sister wasn’t looking at either one of my parents. She was looking right over their heads, like she couldn’t meet their eyes. And I wanted to yell out, “Liar!” But instead I shoved a fork full of noodles and overcooked chicken in my mouth.

Dad looked at Mom and shrugged. “Okay, honey. Just be back plenty early in the morning.”

“I was hoping you could give me a hand in the kitchen.” My mom managed a small smile, but she didn’t protest. Now, I wonder if perhaps her intuition had kicked in, and she’d somehow sensed her oldest daughter was in danger, but like me, she’d chosen to ignore that voice in the back of her head.

“Sure. I’ll be back in plenty of time,” Cadence had said, a nervous smile on her face. She’d scooted her chair back, the legs screeching across the surface of the oak floor beneath our feet, and took her plate into the kitchen. I wanted to follow her, to confront her. I’d taken another bite of my dinner now tasting nothing.

The break in the silence started a conversation between my parents, and my mom started talking about the sales on Friday. She has friends who go Black Friday shopping, and while she’s not much of a fan herself because of the crowds, she seemed to be considering going this year.   

“May I be excused?” I asked, interrupting their conversation.

“Sure,” my mom had said, as if she wasn’t expecting me to be so polite. I’m not sure why I asked either—it’s not a rule at my house—but I was in the kitchen a few seconds later, practically running into Cadence as she came around the corner of the counter by the dishwasher.

“Oh, Cass. You scared me,” she’d said, clutching her chest.

I’d wanted to say if she scares that easily, perhaps she shouldn’t go out tonight, but I had just stood there, holding my half-eaten dinner. I remember noticing she wasn’t quite dressed like someone who was going to her friend’s house to watch movies. She was wearing knee-high brown boots, thick tights, and a skirt. I’d seen her bring down her brown jacket, which I assumed she’d toss over her brown cashmere sweater. I didn’t comment on the fact that sleeping in that outfit wouldn’t be very comfortable, and maybe she should consider taking an overnight bag. Instead, I just muttered, “Sorry,” and stepped around her to scrape off my plate.

“You got plans tonight?” she’d asked. My sister was always trying to figure out whether or not I had a secret boyfriend. I could see the twinkle in her eye as she hinted that this is what she was really asking.

“No,” I’d said, thinking now would be the perfect time to tell her I know more about her plans than I was letting on. Instead, I turned on the tap and rinsed my plate before sticking it into the dishwasher next to hers.

“Well, you should call one of your friends or something. You never have any fun, Cass.”

I was thinking at least I am not sneaking out behind mom and dad’s backs, but I just looked at her, wondering why we were so different. I would have never considered doing such a thing, and my sister was supposed to be a good girl, too, though I know this isn’t the first time she had lied to our parents.

I must’ve been staring too intently, because her forehead furrowed. “You okay, Cass? You feeling all right?”

“I’m fine,” I’d managed, trying to force a smile, but my face was frozen, and I am guessing it came across as a grimace.

She did not look convinced. “Okay. Well, I hope you find something fun to do.” She smiled at me and headed toward the kitchen door.

“Cadence!” I hadn’t meant for my voice to be so loud, but she’d stopped and turned to face me, still puzzled. I’d taken a few quick steps over to her and wrapped my arms around her. It took her a moment to hug me back, and at the time, she’d probably thought I’d lost all of my marbles. “Be careful,” I’d said into her shoulder.

A nervous giggle had escaped her lips. “I’m just going to Drew’s,” she’d reminded me.

Somehow, I’d managed to regain my composure and stepped back, releasing her. “Right.”

Cadence continued to look at me like she thought I might need to be professionally evaluated before she said, “Goodnight, Cassidy,” and backed out of the swinging door into the dining room.

“Goodnight.” Only she hadn’t heard me. She was gone by then. I could’ve ran after her, grabbed ahold of her, and not let go until she promised me she wouldn’t go to that stupid festival, but I didn’t do it. I stood in the kitchen, fighting back tears, wishing I’d been strong enough to speak up. While I was certainly unsettled, even then, I had no idea that was the last time I’d ever see my sister alive. She’d come back to the house later that night, but by then, I’m pretty sure the change had already started taking shape, and she was already undead.

Whatever the reason, I’d gone to bed early that night, thinking there was a shift on the horizon, something bigger than anything I’d ever known before. Eventually, I’d dozed off, but my suspicions that all was not well were confirmed when I awoke sometime between 4:00 and 5:00 AM to the sound of an unfamiliar voice coming from my sister’s room, an engine outside, and footsteps on the roof.

***

What did you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments or on my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/IDJohnsonAuthor/ 

Why It's Never Easy to Kill, But Writers Do It Anyway

I guess I can honestly only speak for myself, but I've been killing people for years--characters, that is--and I always have a good reason for it. It's usually not easy, but it's always well- thought out and purposeful.

Don't fear the reaper.

I wrote my first book when I was fifteen. It has yet to be published because I can only imagine what sort of a train wreck it truly is, but I killed off an important character in that one. Not a lot of people have read it, but all of them were floored that I'd killed him--especially my high school lit teacher.
I've published four fiction texts in the last eleven months and am working on my fifth.  Every single one of them loses a character I had grown attached to. Why? Because if I am attached to these people, hopefully the reader is, too. For me, writing is about evoking emotions. Nothing quite gets a reader invested like making them love someone and then snuffing out the light from a character they love the most.
That being said, I have yet to kill a main character.
Perhaps, the fact that I have personally lost so many supporting characters in my own life plays into the reality I am trying to establish for my main characters. People die--it sucks--but it happens. If it happens in life, it must happen in books.
I know some readers hate books where important characters die. Who hasn't cried over Beth in Little Women? I hope the deaths that occur in my works are meaningful enough that, by the end of the book, the reader is saying. "I hate that so-and-so died, but if s/he hadn't then... wouldn't have happened."
Death in books is a lot easier to explain than death in real life.
Tonight, I killed a character I absolutely love. Based on a real-life person I also have an affinity for, it was one of the toughest scenes I've ever written. But it had a purpose and I think this demise will make my story stronger and more interesting in the end.
Writers--have you ever killed someone off?
Readers--what do you think about the death sentence for fictional characters?
Please leave a comment and look for The Clandestine Saga Book Three: Repercussion soon.
Follow me on Twitter @authoridjohnson

First Review for The Clandestine Saga Book 1: Transformation

The first review is up for my new book--and you can read it on this lovely smoking gun pic!

I feel like this reader said everything I have been trying to convey in my blog posts and in book blurb. I know this reader has read some of my other books as well and I am honored that she is such a big fan. (And no, I don't know her--or him--and it isn't my mom, lol!)

Yesterday, I found this striking image on Getty Images and I decided to elect this woman my new spokesperson.  You see, Clandestine means secret and the book is all about how there's a secret world that we, as humans, don't even realize exist. Once you're part of that world, you never see anything the same ever again. So, Cadence not only has the burden of figuring out who she really is, she also has to keep this extremely important secret from many of the people she loves--her friends, her ex-boyfriend Jack, and her sister Cassidy.  As a result, she doesn't know how to relate to those people any more. However, she also doesn't feel as if she is really a part of the LIGHTS team either, especially after she almost gets kicked off for making a bad decision. This Vampire with a secret kind of sums it all up--Vampires are real, but you can't tell anyone....

It's so awesome to have a review already. I hope to get some feedback from other readers soon. Book 2 is about halfway done, and I am still formulating ideas for book 3. Feedback will help me insure I am keeping the readers entertained, intrigued, and captivated.  So, please, read the book and let me know your thoughts.

Pictures courtesy of Getty Images.

The Clandestine Saga Book 1: Transformation, Chapter 1

Today is your last chance to pre-order The Clandestine Saga Book 1: Transformation before it goes on sale tomorrow. You can pre-order here. In the meantime, please enjoy Chapter 1.

Chapter 1

         “We really should do something fun while you are all in town,” Drew exclaimed as she plopped herself down on a giant pink beanbag chair near the window in Cadence’s bedroom. The rest of her friends were strewn about the room already, Taylor and Sidney on the bed, Jon and Kash in the two small chairs across the room, Jack slumped against the wall next to the chairs.  How many times had they all crashed here during high school? Now that all of them except for Drew, the baby of the group, had graduated from high school and gone on with their lives, these times were much more rare, and it had occurred to Cadence more than once that evening that this may be the last time she had her gang all together. 

            While her friends continued their idol chatter, Cadence Findley sat in front of her computer screen, trying to finish the last two pages of her English paper.  Professor Martin was such a jerk for giving them homework over Thanksgiving break! If she could just get this done, she could finally enjoy her friends’ company, rather than haphazardly chiming in from time to time and occasionally shooting annoying glances in their direction when they got a little over-zealous in their enjoyment of a week free off school.

            The group was a bit of an eclectic collection of personalities. Cadence was never quite sure what the glue was that kept them together, though Taylor insisted that Cadence was the glue.  She didn’t think so. With her long brown hair, large brown eyes, and perfectly proportioned facial features, she had been fairly popular in high school. Yet, she had always felt there was something different about herself, like she never quite fit in with the rest of the kids in school. She had participated in extracurricular activities, like cheerleading and choir. She had attended the dances and pretended to care about what others thought of her hair and her clothes.  But at the end of the day, she always felt that the worries of high school were nothing compared to the “real” world.  When she graduated last May, there was no question she was going away to college. She would have liked to have gone even farther than the University of Iowa in Iowa City, but they offered her a pretty nice scholarship and she took it.  And it wasn’t so far away that she couldn’t drive back to her hometown of Shenandoah for holidays such as this.

            None of her friends had gone with her.  In fact, she and Jack had broken off their two year long relationship because he did not want her to go.  He had already signed on to play baseball for the Nebraska Cornhuskers—a pretty big deal—and was hoping that he would show up "Big Man on Campus" with his pretty little lady on his arm. But Cadence had other plans for her life, and his insistence that she follow him to Lincoln had ended their relationship, though they had somehow managed to remain friends, something that Cadence was thankful for.

            The rest of the group had scattered to other institutes of higher learning, with the exception of Jon who went to work for his father’s plumbing company for a bit, hoping to save some money before starting college. And Drew was a senior in high school this year. She had been on the cheerleading squad with the other girls and, though her peppiness was often annoying, she had wedged her way into their group via a short-lived relationship with Kash.

            “Cadence, did you hear me?” Drew’s chipper voice chimed from the corner. Cadence had been so preoccupied with finishing her assignment; she had no idea what the rest of the group was talking about. “I said, 'Have you ever heard of an Eidolon Festival?'”

            Temporarily pulling her eyes away from the computer screen, Cadence turned to address the spunky little blond.  “A what?”

            “That’s exactly what I just said!” Jack chuckled from his slumped position on the floor. 

            “It’s so cool!” Drew said, bounding up from the floor and crossing to where Cadence sat in front of the computer. “I saw a flyer the other day in this gas station. We’ve got to check it out!”

            “Because a gas station is where I always go to meet my entertainment needs,” Jon mumbled sarcastically as Drew shoved her way between Cadence and the computer.

            “What are you doing?” Cadence asked watching helplessly as Drew grabbed the mouse out of her hand and opened up Chrome.

            “Okay, so, Miss English Teacher,” she said, referring to Cadence’s career ambition, “What does eidolon mean?”

            Cadence thought for a moment. She knew she had heard the word before but she wasn’t precisely sure she knew the correct definition.  In fact, she would be surprised if Drew knew. She wasn’t exactly known for her broad vocabulary.

            Taylor was standing behind her chair now, a purple pillow pressed against her chest.  “It sounds like a place lazy people go to drink wine if you ask me!”

            Drew snorted and rolled her eyes.  “It’s eye-dol-in not idol-wine!” she exclaimed.

            “Isn’t it like a ghost or something?” Cadence asked.  Drew was frantically searching Google, trying to find more information than what she had seen on the flyer in the gas station.

            “I’ve never heard of it before,” Kash remarked, “But if it’s a party, you can count me in.”

            “A party about ghosts?” Sidney asked.  She was still sitting on the bed but was no longer reclining.  She strained her neck to peer across the short distance to Cadence’s computer screen.

            “It just means a specter or a phantom,” Drew proclaimed. “I know, I looked it up on Dictionary.com.”

            “And that makes you an expert!” Jon added in his typical sarcastic tone.

            “I’m not an expert,” Drew responded as she continued various searches containing the words “eidolon” and “festival” and “Iowa.”  “But I would like to be!”

            “Well, what did the flyer say?” Taylor asked.

            Drew continued to search, now adding the word “secret” into her search criteria. “It was kind of cryptic, for a flyer. It just said something like ‘Eidolon gather, Percy’s Lot, Villisca, Witching Hour, November 26^th.’  I probably wouldn’t have even noticed it if I hadn’t dropped my keys.”

            The rest of her friends exchanged questioning glances, but Drew didn’t notice. She continued to search as the others drew straws nonverbally to determine who got to ask exactly what Drew meant.  Finally, Jon exclaimed, “Explain!”

            Drew was used to having to explain herself.  She was a bit ditzy at times—most of the time.  She sighed in frustration, “I was walking out of the gas station and I dropped my keys. I bent down to pick them up and I noticed a red scrap of paper sticking out from behind a trashcan. It was bright red so it caught my attention. So I grabbed it and read it.  And I had no idea what eidolon meant but I knew that festival meant party!  So, I tried to find out more info on my phone but I couldn’t find anything else out about it. I did find out that eidolon means phantom though, which sounds cool, so I think we should all go. It’ll be totally creepy and fun!”

            “So, for all you know, this is, like, a private party?” Taylor asked confused.

            “No, I don’t think so. It’s a festival and it was a typed flyer so it’s not like someone just wrote a note and dropped it. They want people to go,” Drew said a bit defensively.

            “Then why don’t they advertise it or at least have a website?” Sidney wanted to know.

            Drew sighed, tossing the mouse away and crossing back to the beanbag chair. “Come on, guys!” she exclaimed. “All of you are off in college or working and I’m here going to flippin’ high school. I never get to have any fun!  Would you please just go with me?”

            “It sounds kinda cool to me,” Kash agreed. For a moment, Cadence wondered why Drew and Kash ever broke up.

            “Listen,” it was Taylor this time, “It’s the night before Thanksgiving. I don’t think my parents will like it if I’m out partying until the wee hours of the morning. My mom is going to expect me to help with the dinner, you know.”

            “What time is the Witching Hour anyway? Midnight?” Sidney asked, her expression seeming to indicate that she was considering going with Drew.

            “No,” Cadence said almost automatically.  “It’s 3:00 AM.”

            “Are you sure?” Jack asked.  “I always heard it was midnight.”

            Cadence’s glance became a bit sterner. “I’m sure,” she replied.

            “Search engine it!” Taylor said, taking over the mouse.

            Jon laughed, “Because the word Google is trademarked,” he commented quietly, almost to himself.

            “She’s right!” Taylor exclaimed. “It is 3:00 AM. Says so right here.”

            “On Wikipedia? The most reliable source of information since the invention of the internet,” Jon sneered.

            “No, it’s not Wikipedia! It’s a site about witches!” Taylor said defensively. 

            “There’s no way I’m going out to a party at 3:00 AM the night before Thanksgiving!” Sidney stated emphatically, her hands tugging absently on her light brown ponytail.

            “Me neither!” Taylor agreed.

            “Come on!” Drew pleaded.  “We’ve gone out that late lots of times! Remember when we snuck off to Red Oak Tap?  We all told our parents we were staying at Cadence’s house and she told her mom she was at your house, Sid. It was the best time ever!”

            Sidney seemed to contemplate this argument for a moment, her green eyes flickering with memories of times well spent with this group of friends.  “I don’t know . . . .” she said as the tides began to turn in favor of one last hurray with her gang.

            “Well, I’m in.  And I’ll drive,” Kash said, slapping both hands down on his legs.

            “I’m too scared to go!” Taylor proclaimed, pouncing back on the bed next to Sidney.

            “You’ll be fine!” Kash proclaimed.

            “I’ll protect you,” Jon added, rapidly raising and lowering his eyebrows.

            Taylor laughed. Jon was always flirting with her but, thus far, nothing had ever happened between them. “You’re going then?” she asked, tossing her long blond hair back over her shoulder.

            “Well,” Jon said hesitantly. He looked at Kash, who was nodding his head.  The two of them had gone almost everywhere together since the beginning of high school. Even now that Kash was attending Iowa Western Community College, they still found plenty of time to hang out together. He would hate to miss out on a chance to have another adventure with his best friend.  “I guess so,” he said slowly.  “If Kash is going, then I’ll go.  I’ve never been to a festival based on wickedness before, but I can only assume this may be a prime opportunity to see some boobies.”

            The girls all groaned in disgust and Sidney threw a pillow at him, while the boys chuckled in agreement.

            “Jack?” Drew asked.

            Jack was fairly reserved so the prospect of seeing topless women was not a motivating factor for him, at least not one he was willing to verbalize. But, the idea of spending time with his friends, one friend in particular, was appealing to him. “I don’t know,” he began. “Cadence, what do you think?”
            Cadence had kept her back to the group as they discussed the potential adventure. She was hoping no one would notice that she was present, and therefore, she wouldn’t be asked to go. Of course, since they were sitting in her bedroom, the chances of this were slim.  “Well,” she sighed, “this certainly isn’t my thing. There’s nothing at all interesting to me about ghosts and goblins, vampires and all that.”

            “Seriously?” Drew asked, slumping her shoulders.  She knew that, if Cadence didn’t want to go, she probably couldn’t convince anyone else to go with her.  “Fine, I’ll just go by myself!” she pouted.

            “I said I’d go,” Kash reiterated but Drew didn’t lose her wounded kitten expression.

            “I don’t think it’s a good idea for some of us to go and not all of us,” Jack stated assertively.

            As much as Cadence wanted to disagree with him, he did have a point. Drew was only seventeen years old and even if Kash and Jon went with her, they still might end up in a situation that wasn’t safe. However, if all seven of them stuck together, like they always had, she felt better about their chances of avoiding evil regardless of the theme of the revelry.  She glanced at Sidney, who was chewing furiously on her bottom lip, a sign that she had not decided whether or not to risk it, and Taylor who was staring at the floor, shaking her head back and forth slowly.  Taylor clearly did not want to go.  Then, Cadence looked back at Drew. Her arms were crossed, her chin forced into her chest. “Fine,” she finally acquiesced. “Let’s go.”                        

                                    ***

            The sky was pitch black; clouds covering whatever stars may dare to shine. The moon hung low, it’s enervating journey home to the horizon almost concluded. Though it was late November, the chill seemed to come from within, not from the cool breeze that gently nudged her back to the safety of their vehicle.

            A glitch in the passage of time took place and suddenly they were in the midst of the festivities.  Flashes of smoke and fire clouded her vision.  Many of the participants were masked or perhaps their faces were contorted.  They wound their way amongst the ghouls and specters.  A parade of undead gamboled by, clad in crimson and black, shrill laughter ringing, percussion jarring them along. A pair of eyes that seemed to see through her very soul. Pure evil incarnate.

            Suddenly, the search was on. Frantically looking, running about.  She did not know who or what she was looking for, but she knew she must become whole again at once.  And then a vision of horror. Scarlet droplets turning to an endless flow. Disbelief overshadowed by rage and it was over.  An incessant need to run, to escape, to flee this place, never to return.  They would never return....

            Cadence bolted upright.  Despite the chilly room, she was sweating.  At first, she couldn’t remember exactly what she had been dreaming about but she knew she had been sprinting in her dream, and her chest heaved as if she had been truly attempting to outrun a predator.

            She wiped her brow on the sleeve of her flannel pajamas, and after a moment to compose herself, turned to her nightstand and a drink of water. Whatever she had been dreaming, it was terrible, and she was afraid to go back to sleep.  She glanced at the clock next to her bed. It was 3:00 AM.  She felt chills climbing up her spine as she realize at this time tomorrow, she would be at the Eidolon Festival.  Suddenly, she remembered, she had been dreaming about attending the fair.  But, if her dream was any indicator of what type of phantoms they might encounter at such a place, it wasn’t ghosts and ghouls they should fear. It was vampires.

            Cadence pondered making a phone call to one of her friends, possibly Sidney or Taylor. As the details from her dream came flooding back, it seemed more and more real. Considering the time, she decided not to disturb them, though she was sure neither of them would mind if she woke them up to discuss her trepidation. Nevertheless, it was in fact, just a dream.  She finally withdrew her stare from her iPhone on the nightstand and slid back down under the covers. She would talk to Drew the next day and tell her she didn’t think attending the Eidolon Festival was a good idea at all.

                                                
Order The Clandestine Saga Book 1: Transformation here.