“I want you to travel, not cripple yourself,” she’d said.
Wren felt better since talking to Bridgette. She didn’t know she’d felt bad before. She’d been okay, she’d been making it through—but that was all she’d been doing. Bridgette had known it, even if Wren hadn’t been able to see it.
The thought of moving on was still a little hard for Wren to grasp—how could she just continue on with her life like Bridgette never happened?—but she thought she was understanding it more each day.
Bridgette wasn’t asking her to live like the two of them had never been. She was asking Wren to actively participate in the creation of her life now that they weren’t.
So now Wren just had to figure out what that life she was going to create looked like, exactly.
A number of sips later, she swallowed down the last bit of tea, careful not to tip the cup up and risk disturbing the way the leaves had settled.
She gave the bottom of the mug a glance, knowing what she’d see—and froze.
Slowly, she sat forward in her seat, placing both feet on the floor and bracing her forearms against her knees as she stared into the mug.
The leaves didn’t look like she expected. Like they had last time.
She shook her head. No, we ended the Shadow.
She stared down into the cup like she hoped the image would miraculously morph into something else.
The Shadow was gone. She’d done it with her own hands. The thing was toast.
So why did the tea leaves look like this?
She closed her eyes, drew a breath and opened them again.
Still the same.
Because it’s not the Shadow.
The knowledge came to her like it had been delivered from on high. From Bridgette.
It’s not the Shadow. It’s something else.
Wren rose from the chair and paced slowly across the tiny space, turning the mug in her hands and observing the leaves as she walked, as the light dimmed.
And the image changed.
When she turned it, the image wasn’t threatening at all. It was a portent of good fortune, of the right path taken.
But when she turned it back, it was an omen of control and oppression.
So which was it?
She closed her eyes, drew another breath and sent the question out into space. Out to Bridgette.
What is on the horizon? Which image is the augury?
And she got her answer. Will either change your course?
Wren sighed and opened her eyes on a roll. “No, it won’t,” she said aloud. “But I’d like to know what I’m walking into.”
The RV was silent. Of course it was.
Reading tea leaves was an imperfect science. What you saw reflected more of your own inner workings than a true psychic glimpse at the future. Which meant the sinister message she was seeing probably had more to do with her own anxieties about what she was planning to do than anything else.
Right?
“Fine,” she said aloud, casting her gaze to the framed picture of Bridgette. In the picture, Bridge was holding Wren’s arm, hugging it, and staring up at the camera Wren had held above them: a wake-up selfie she hadn’t known the importance of when she took it, capturing real life at its brightest.
“I hear you loud and clear,” she said to Bridge. “But I’m not going back to Seattle right away. And I’m not selling the RV.”
⫷⫷⫷⫷⫸⫸⫸⫸
Thank you so much for reading The Medium’s Possession! Now, quick! While the feels are still tingling, can you please go leave a review? They help indie authors like me a ton! Plus I’d love to know what you think.
I’d also love to stay in touch! Sign-up for my newsletter and receive Cloaked Funeral, an exclusive Cloaked Series short just for my subscribers! Plus you’ll get sneak peeks of my upcoming books, be the first to know when pre-orders launch, and receive an exclusive steamy scene each and every month right to your inbox.
Finally, grab your copy of The Witch’s Complement (the final book in The Cloaked Series) here!
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
As always, thank you first and foremost to my hubby, Josh: You’ve always and continue to support me. I’m working like heck to make sure our leap of faith wasn’t made in vain. I love you—always and forever.
To my whole family, you put up with and support me through a lot so I can create these worlds and people and weave stories with them. Especially...
To my mom + sisters who lived through the trauma that inspired parts of the entire Cloaked Series. I’m glad we are the family we are. Other people wish they were so lucky.
To my mother-in-law for being a voracious reader and asking me when the next book will be finished. That’s good pressure for an author to have.
To The Ponies, my writer tribe, I’m grateful every day we all met. I hope to kickass and take names just like the rest of you. Here’s to making up for lost time with the second half of 2021 and beyond!
(Be on the lookout for future debuts from Alexis DiGirolomi, Jo Segur, Kitt Masters, Chris Henderson-Bauer, and Kelly Blake. And check-out existing books by Melora Francois, Jasmine Silvera, and Lin Lustig. You won’t regret it, I promise!)
To my friends I didn’t meet through writing but who put up with my writer-rambling, thank you for the safe space to talk about this book as it was being written—and rewritten. Especially Katy, Chuck, Vince, Crystal, and Sarah. (P.S. Vince, I’m rooting for you every day, friend. Cancer sucks. Let’s kick its ass.)
To the team of people who helped me get The Medium’s Possession “shelf ready”, thank you for your patience, your responses, and your enthusiasm for this story.
To my critique partner, Lin Lustig, thanks be to Twitter that we found each other! I can’t wait to witness all the glass ceilings you will break.
To my editor, Jen Graybeal, I’m so grateful to have you on my team. Thank you for helping me take this story to “final” draft (if there truly is such a thing as an indie author.) I can’t wait to send you the next project.
Finally, to the awesome individuals who backed my Kickstarter all the way back in March, 2020! Your donations helped make this possible. Whether you pledged $1 or $100, I’ll be forever grateful you had the faith to make a pledge on an author who hadn’t published a book in five years. The world needs more people like you:
Scott Fry, Pauline Nastasi, Arne Radtke, Eva Scalzo, Sarah, Lindsey Ekland, Crystal Cates, Sean Gibbons, Sara Robertson, Radina, Valerie, Kitt Masters, Angie Eskenazi, Rashida Scholz, Beth*, Hollie Ryan, Melissa Fransaw, Jamie Witten.
*Beth, your Kickstarter pledge reward is in Chapter 6.
The Medium's Possession Page 23