Curse Breaker: Books 1-4

by Melinda Kucsera

  “Rat Woman was here? When did you see her?”

  How long was I trapped in that 'Question?' Evidently, long enough for allies to come and go and someone to release not one but two deadly threats. And I no longer have the power to even try to stop them. But Bear was another story.

  “Insect Man was here too. They tried to save us from the shadow-creature and the staring people, but the black mist made them fall apart. I hope they're okay.”

  “I hope so too.” But Sarn couldn't worry about them right now.

  He set Ran down out of the tentacles’ reach. “Stay here while I rescue Bear.”

  “Be careful.”

  Sarn nodded.

  Without magic, ‘careful’ was his new watchword, and it lasted all of five seconds. Five tentacles, each about as wide as a tree trunk slithered over rocks and twisted banners. The third one from the left dragged Bear closer to the hole it had entered through. Sarn patted his pockets, searching for anything that might hold an edge then remembered his pendant. When he tried to lift the leather thong it hung on over his head, it choked him until he let go. Damn, there went plan A.

  Plan B was more dangerous, but he was out of options. So Sarn went into a slide and stabbed the tentacle with his pendant when he passed by. It dropped Bear and felt the ichor-spewing hole he’d drilled in it, bumping two other tentacles while he scooped up Bear. Three tentacles whipped around as Sarn rushed back to his son. He dodged the first two and leaped over the third.

  “You did it! You saved Bear.” Ran’s eyes shone with joy as he hugged his only toy.

  The stuffed thing looked less ratty, and its fur seemed fuller and softer than before. In fact, Bear wasn’t even dirty from rolling in the dust, and he’d acquired a silver ribbon that shimmered in the crystal light. Did that spirit guide's body receive an upgrade when I wasn't looking? Sarn shelved that question for later when five tentacles weren't searching for him and his son.

  “Yes, Bear’s safe now.”

  “Sometimes the smallest actions make the biggest difference,” Nolo said and in Sarn’s mind’s eye, his other master tossed a rock into a calm pool, rippling its surface to make his point.

  It was time to test that theory because, without magic, small things were all he could manage. But according to Nolo, if he did enough ‘small things,' they'd pile up into something big. Perhaps their cumulative effect would be enough to shift the course of the future.

  “Come on. Let's go see what else we can do.”

  “But the m-monster—"

  That was a concern, but a grim determination fired Sarn, leaving no room for doubt. My heroes wouldn't give up just because they didn’t have the right tools, and neither will I.

  “I’ll think of something.”

  ‘Rocks and ripples’—those two words echoed in Sarn’s mind as he scooped up his son and ducked under tentacle number four, which had decided to probe the ceiling. Through a square-cut hole, it explored the duct. Tentacle number five snaked over the ground investigating rocks, so he stepped over it then turned sideways as tentacle number three shot past him. It struck the wall showering them with pebbles as Sarn hurried around the next bend.

  To be continued in Curse Breaker: Sundered.

  Keep reading for a bonus story. Let Ran take you behind the scenes so you can see just how Curse Breaker: Falls went so spectacularly off the rails. He can’t wait to show you.

  Characters Speak

  Hi Readers!

  I’m back! It’s your favorite little boy from the story—Ran! I hope you enjoyed our adventure in spiritual warfare. We were supposed to go on a radically different adventure, but the Adversary chose to go after Papa instead of egging Aralore and her mobile disaster on like a good villain should.

  Our scribe is unhappy about that. Melinda doesn’t like cliffhangers and Empire Strikes Back kinds of endings, but we left her no choice. (We, the cast, aren’t sorry about that. Don’t tell our scribe, okay?)

  Melinda likes happy endings, sky beams and lots of magic. But most of all, she likes me (Ran) to end up somewhere safe by the book’s end, but this time, the story couldn’t end that way. Papa deserves a little time to explore how the other half lives—without magic.

  Granted, Papa’s not getting a lot of time, but I’m excited to see how he handles the challenge. (I also have front row seats.) This way, when Papa makes his final decision, he can make it with no regrets. And I get extended father-and-son time, so I have nothing to complain about.

  We’ll do the story our scribe wanted to tell in Curse Breaker: Sundered. Promise. Curse Breaker: Sundered will come out before summer 2018. We’re shooting for an early May release. Of course, we must confirm that with our scribe.

  Join our digital army to read all our out-of-book adventures by going to www.mkucsera.com/welcomecharacters

  So, how did our book go so spectacularly off the rails? I’m glad you asked. It went a little something like this:

  THEN

  Our Scribe hunched over her *magical* laptop recording our every deed (and sometimes modifying them). Her fingers danced across the keys until a voice, like the rasping of a chain smoker, startled her.

  “No, look again. I’m not doing that. I’m doing this.”

  A bony finger tapped the screen, and the characters swirled into a vortex.

  “Wait, I don’t want to do that either.” A little boy (me) climbed onto the ladder-backed chair next to the table.

  “Who’s writing this story?” Our scribe shoved her hip-length brown hair behind her shoulder and glared at us.

  “You are,” I said, “but I like his idea.”

  “What idea?”

  “This.”

  An image took shape on the screen revealing a hooded man, pied-piper style, leading a crowd of listless, staring zombies.

  “Wait, that’s not right.” I shook the laptop and scattered the pixels. They accreted into another image, but it still wasn’t right. “Papa can’t fly and what is that?”

  Our scribe closed the laptop shutting off the image. “I can’t work like this.”

  “Well, you must.” Jerlo leaned against the refrigerator. “I’m not being left out of this one.”

  [Our scribe has a tiny studio apartment. The whole cast can’t fit inside it at the same time, but we try when we have important things to discuss—like the plot of our books.]

  “You already had your own book,” I said, frowning at the commander’s impertinence.

  “And who are you?”

  “Someone you haven’t met yet, the Master of Newsletters,” I said in as serious a tone as I could muster.

  A glass door slid open letting in a gust of chilly wind. “Hey, we want in on this one too,” Ranispara said as she and Inari entered.

  A silver branch snaked inside before Inari could close the door and a woman in white squeezed past, knocking her diamond-studded crown askew. “Us too, or we’ll hide from the sequel. We don’t need to play with black lumir, you know. There are less lethal things we could be doing.” She folded her arms over her bejeweled chest.

  Our scribe was backed into a corner by all the bodies packing into her apartment, but she’s a tough one. Standing to her full five-foot-nothing height, she stared us down.

  “Let me get this straight. If I let you have your way for this one book, you’ll go on the adventure I wanted to send you on?”

  “It must include all of us—the whole cast such as it is, but that’s what we’re offering.” Jerlo stepped forward.

  “You do realize that black lumir crystal is out there destroying your world, right?”

  “The Queen of All Trees and I have a plan to stop her,” said Shayari as she pushed past Jerlo. “We don’t need help, but we do need them to stay out of our way.” She gestured to the rest of the cast and a few shot her murderous looks.

  “And I want to fight him.” The Adversary pointed at Papa. “I’ll take your soul boy.”

  Papa doesn’t like crowds, so he sat on a dirty lawn chair on the s
ix-foot square of cracking concrete pretending to be a patio. Across from him sat Uncle Miren drumming his fingers on the glass-topped table between them. I rushed over to join them and put my soul out of the Adversary’s reach. I liked it right where it was.

  “It’s called spiritual warfare.” The Adversary smiled at my retreat. I climbed onto Papa’s lap, and he hugged me.

  “I don’t like this idea anymore.”

  “Why not? I’m offering you another father-son adventure with a dark twist of course.” The Adversary’s smile turned feral as he approached, and I shivered.

  While Papa considered the proposition, his eyes glowed brighter indicating his magic was considering it too—not a good sign. What the magic wanted, it got, and it wanted this fight.

  “No, Papa, let’s do what our wonderful scribe, Melinda, wants us to do.”

  But Papa was already nodding. Though he did spare a glance at my uncle. Uncle Miren was no help.

  “I like the idea. You should do it—really test yourself.” Then Uncle Miren looked at our scribe. “Do I get to be in this one? You left me out of the last one.”

  Our scribe shrugged. “I have no idea what they’re planning. But the story I want to tell will give you far more page time and lots of drama and action. I like action and big, blockbuster endings, but you’re not going to let me do that, are you?” Our scribe glowered at the Adversary.

  Uncle Miren wavered.

  The Adversary waved to get his attention. “You’ll get a powerful cameo. I’ll make certain.”

  Uncle Miren frowned at the Adversary. “You promise?”

  “No, Uncle Miren, don’t do it. He’s a bad man. You can’t trust anything he says. He lies.” I tugged on his sleeve but Uncle Miren never listens to me. Papa says it’s a teenager thing.

  “Cross my heart and hope to die.” The Adversary traced a cross over his heart with his bony finger, the liar.

  “Then I agree.” Uncle Miren glanced at Papa, but he was already onboard with the plan.

  I looked at our scribe, but she was nodding too.

  “Then we have an accord. I’ll do Curse Breaker: Falls your way and you do Curse Breaker: Sundered my way. Agreed?” She met everyone’s eye and they nodded in turn except me, but I go where Papa goes, so his assent is as good as mine. I fingered my slingshot. I had a feeling I’d need it.

  NOW

  And that, dear readers, is how this book came about. Our scribe is still not happy about our usurpation of her creative duties, but she’ll get over it. We’re letting her throw some serious magic around in the next book.

  I, and the cast, hope you enjoyed this glimpse behind the scenes. We don’t just take over newsletters. We also take over our scribe’s life, but she’s okay with that because we keep her life interesting.

  We hope to see you back in the next book. The cast is going after that black lumir crystal with a vengeance. At least I think that’s what we’re doing. Our scribe has not said much about it yet. She’s trying to avoid another mutiny. She wants sky beams and happy endings. And maybe, we want them too.

  We hope to see you in Curse Breaker: Sundered. Get it now!

  — Ran, son of Sarn, “Giver of Inside Scoops”

  Would You Leave a Review?

  As an author, I appreciate the feedback I receive from readers. Reviews help other readers to make an informed decision before buying my book. If you enjoyed Curse Breaker: Books 1-4, please consider leaving a short review.

  Thank you for reading Curse Breaker: Books 1-4.

  Want Free Adventures?

  So do we! Who are we? We’re the stars of The Curse Breaker Series, and we don’t just star in books. We also invade inboxes, conduct spy missions, rescue our scribe, grapple with mother nature, run from dragons and storm corporate headquarters.

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  In Memoriam

  This book is dedicated to my sister Carolyn who died in 2014 at the age of 29. Before she died, she requested I publish this book and its sequels. I hope Amazon delivers to heaven, so she can see her last request fulfilled again. Curse Breaker: Books 1-4 published in March 2018.

  Carolyn, this one’s for you. No really, this time I mean it. It’s chock full of angels, demons, and all your favorite tropes. I hope it rings some bells. So, polish your halo and fluff out your wings, sis.

  I miss you more than words can say. You were my best friend and my sister. Thank you for listening to tales of Sarn and all the characters making their home in Shayari. I will never forget you or my promise to you. I’ll keep publishing stories until I have no more to tell. I only wish you could have read this book, but alas, I wrote it three years after you passed away.

  We’d Love to Hear from You!

  Stay in touch! Don’t forget to get our FREE weekly adventures. Just go here to sign up: http://www.mkucsera.com/characterswelcome and the cast will take over your inbox every week, so you don’t have to live without us in between books. Watch us defeat corporate goons, shady characters and save our scribe in a genre-busting thrill ride. You never know what mayhem we’ll get into each week. Check out a recent issue here.

  Looking for more ways to connect?

  Join our Facebook group. We go on mini-adventures and need your help to succeed.

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  ~

  So... a dragon moved into our newsletter host. Yes, you read that right. She's decided our email list is her horde. Those shiny at symbols (@) look like eggs, and she's sitting on them.

  How do we get oust her and take our list back without getting too singed in the process? 0_o

  —Ran, son of Sarn, "Asker of Tough Questions"

  ~

  (By the way, it’s not too late to chime in with your advice. To go directly to this conversation, click here. The newsletter-dragon is on ongoing issue. Help Ran sort out out!)

  If you’d like a less public way to get in touch with us, we’ve got a form for that: http://bit.ly/CntctMK or you could email us at Melinda@melinda-kucsera.com.

  We’re also on Twitter. You can tweet us @MelindaKucsera or leave a comment on our Facebook page: http://bit.ly/MKFBPG.

  And last but certainly not least, We have a website, www.melindakucsera.com, where we post the weekly adventures of Ran and all the cast members, giving you behind-the-scenes glimpses of their antics both on and off the page.

  Thank you for reading! We look forward to meeting you.

  The Curse Breaker Series

  Other books in the Curse Breaker Series:

  (Suggested Reading Order)

  CURSE BREAKER: ENCHANTED

  HIS ANGELIC KEEPER*

  CURSE BREAKER: DARKENS

  CURSE BREAKER: FACETED

  CURSE BREAKER: FALLS

  CURSE BREAKER: SUNDERED

  CURSE BREAKER: HIDDEN*

  DIVERGENT HEROES

  (These stories are set before Curse Breaker: Enchanted but can be read at any time. There are no spoilers, only cameos.)

  RELIC HUNTER

  MAGE HUNTER*

  DEMON HUNTER*

  *Forthcoming.

  ~

  (Please don’t tell our scribe about the asterisked books. She might not know we promised them. But rest assured, we’ll get them out to you. We have a plan. It might involve angels, dragons and a lot of magic.)

  ~

  This is not the end. Get the sequel, Curse Breaker: Sundered, now!

  Thank you for reading Curse Breaker: Books 1-4.

 

 

 
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