by T S Paul
The light was fading fast so I had to be quick. This part of Alabama got dark really fast. I grabbed a clipboard and package from my trunk and approached the complex. In my practice runs before taking the license test this technique had worked as a way to get information about a subject. Lots of messenger services in a big city.
Getting through the gate was easy. Finding the condo wasn't. Pascal's place was in the exact center of the complex overlooking the pool. It was a really nice pool too. Olympic sized with Jacuzzis and everything. I could just imagine Elisha in a skimpy bikini racing down the sidewalk as she dove into the deep end. In my minds eye I saw her feet leave the concrete and her body fly through the air. With gentle ease she broke the gleaming surface of the water like a seal broaching. I could see shimmering drops as they ran down her body over her swelling bre..."
"Hey mister! Are you lost?" Shaking my head to come back to the here and now I looked down into the eyes of a small human.
"No, little dude. Just the wrong address." I looked up. My dream girl was gone but the pool still remained. As I turned to leave a sign caught my attention. Finally a lead.
Stuffing my package and clipboard into a trashcan I grabbed the notice that they were hiring lifeguards and knocked on the door of the office. Polar bears could swim after all.
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The desolation was complete. It looked like God had reached out a hand and flattened the entire village. Building walls were toppled, roofs were broken, and the usual structure of their daily life had been totally destroyed. It would've been impossible to determine from the current scene that only a short number of hours before this it had been a village of over 4000 people. One teeming with the normal activity of a small village.
Zhanna stood with her hands balled into fists, staring around her. The sick feeling in her stomach was overwhelming. She didn't know whether to fall to her knees, crying torrents of tears or to scream her rage to the heavens. Stuck between grief and anger, she was frozen.
How could have come to this?
The muted sound of soft sobbing filled her ears, and she turned to her left. Curled protectively around two small children, an older woman in the traditional head covering, or babushka, stared blankly at what remained of her home. It was Baba Marta. Zhanna knew that probably meant that the two crying children were Gregor and Anna, but she couldn't see for sure. The sound of the children's soft, frightened sobs told her both that they were alive and kicked off an unconscionable rage.
How could it have come to this?
Zhanna had seen other places where disasters had happened. There was always a bustle of people trying to rescue and repair. Men rushing around, caring stretchers, comforting their families. But all that she could hear and all that she could see was a frozen aftermath of a horrible disaster. There was no bustle, no rescue. No men.
There was the main problem. There were no men in the village right now. They were all out on contract. Without the men's mercenary work, there would be no food, no shelter. The entire village was dependent on having the best, and the brightest spend huge amounts of time away from their families.
Her dark thoughts were rudely interrupted.
<> sniped through her thoughts.
She looked down into the brilliant eyes of her cat, her familiar. Dascha stared back at Zhanna with a wicked glint in her eye. The cat was gorgeous. The deepest gray coloring and the black undertone of the fur seem to glow in the sunlight. Almost too dark for a Russian Blue, Dascha looked more like a Russian Black. Looking at her cat, Zhanna felt the blast of astonishment that occurred whenever she thought of how she had ended up with such a beautiful, powerful, impressive familiar.
She must've stared too long at the cat because the next thing she knew her ankle was pricked by a set of very sharp claws.
<
<>
<
Zhanna drew a deep breath and straightened her spine. Forcing a calm look unto her face, the young woman walked toward the older one who was still clutching the crying children, calling out as she walked, "Just a moment, let's see how you're doing..."
<<<>>>
It had been a totally devastating time. Four days of unrelenting labor to take bodies out of the rubble, patch up the wounded, and salvage what they could of belongings. Zhanna was exhausted, and the remainder of the people in the town weren't any better. Some of them were grieving the loss of friends and family, while others were coping with the destruction of their homes. The grief and the tiredness cast a dark cloud over the huddled people, one that was almost visible.
No one knew what had kicked off the twisters that had come through the small village. Appearing like evil fingers of fate, five of the roiling black clouds had zeroed in from the far side of the fields, ripping through the crops and colliding in the center of the town.
One of the observers had mentioned that it looked like a choreographed dance of death. The green cast of the clouds and the way that the winds twisted people into pretzels of tortured bodies and reduced sturdy buildings into a collection of splinters made Zhanna even less inclined to live anywhere where twisters were a common phenomenon.
Everyone was working tired. There just wasn't enough food in the village to take care of everyone, so many of the healthier people were skipping their meals or splitting them. The children and the old people were the ones that everyone needed to watch. They were the ones most fragile in the face of injury or shock. Zhanna knew that her elderly grandmother would be especially vulnerable and resolved to somehow get her to eat. It would be an argument that she wasn't willing to lose. Baba would eat!
<
The mental tone of Dascha, Zhanna's familiar, worried the witch. Granted, the cat had only been her familiar for less than six months, and they were still learning about each other every day. However, Dascha's normally snarky, semi-humorous tone was totally missing. The cat sounded serious, deadly serious.
Groaning audibly, Zhanna stood up and stretched her back. The other three people in her small work group looked up at her movement, most of them too tired to do more than look. However, obedient to the "suggestions" of Dascha, Zhanna simply said, "I think I'll take a last turn around the area just in case something got overlooked."
Weary nods were the only thing that she got in response, so she thought that perhaps she had made the transition unobtrusively.
She walked toward the directional line of the psychic bond feeling in her head. The one that said, "Dascha is fine, Dascha fine" as a background mantra in her brain. The black cat was waiting for her in the semi-twilight just around the corner. The plush coat of the Russian blue was so dark that the subtle mixture of dark gray and black provided wonderful camouflage in the fading light of the evening.
Zhanna asked quietly, "Dascha, what is wrong?"
Dascha replied, <
<
<
Dascha moved to one side, allowing Zhanna to see what her body had been blocking. It was a small embroidered bag, about 4 inches tall and tied with brightly colored yarn. Even being within a few feet of the charm bag made Zhanna uncomfortable. It was like a cloud holding the stench of rotten blood in place. It made her skin crawl and her breath tight in her throat. A feeling of overwhelming stress and strain seem to press down on her from every direction. Zhanna shuddered involuntarily.
<
<
<>
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If you owned the World's largest sentient Garden and pathway to other Universes what would you eat?
Marcella Blackmore, the matriarch of the family, was many things; Witch, mother, and community leader. But cook was her favorite role. Digging in, feeling the soil, and cooking from the heart was the only way she knew to treat the bounty of the land. Marcella is a true Vegetarian, and that is how she cooks.
Take a peek inside her cookbook at her most favorite recipes and what she feeds her friends and family. Even the Cat. You will enjoy Vegan, Vegetarian, and Gluten- free recipes. Agatha may be the Federal Witch, but Marcella is the true Garden Witch.
Join Marcella, Agatha, and even Fergus inside for fun and adventurous Vegetarian exploration.
Enjoy the stories of the Garden while you eat the wonderful recipes that Marcella has provided for you!
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Welcome to the Badger Hole Bar - where the bar is alive with the sound of races and dimensions unexplored. Sit for a bit, read the stories, and enjoy this collection of recipes from the Eat and Read collection. Whether you are vegan, vegetarian, or omnivore, this cheerful cookbook and story collection will provide you with a welcome to a new series!
We will be waiting for you!
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The Federal Witch
Born a Witch Drafted by the FBI! Now Available in Audio!
Conjuring Quantico Now Available in Audio!
Magical Probi Now Available in Audio!
Special Agent in Charge Now Available in Audio!
Witness Enchantment
Night of the Unicorn
Invisible Elder - TBD
Blood on the Moon - TBD
Child of Darkness -TBD
A Draft of Dragons -TBD
Cat's Night Out, Tails from the Federal Witch Audio Coming Soon
The Standard of Honor
Shade of Honor
Coven Codex -TBD
A Confluence of Covens -TBD
Conflict of Commitments -TBD
Standard of Honor -TBD
The Mongo Files
The Case of the Jamaican Karma -TBD
The Case of the Lazy Magnolia - TBD
The Case of the Rugrat Exorcist -TBD
Cookbooks From the Federal Witch Universe
Marcella's Garden Cookbook
Fergus Favorites Cookbook
Marcella's Summer Bounty -Coming Soon
Marcella's Autumn Harvest -Coming Soon
Read and Eat Cookbooks
Badger Hole Bar Food Cookbook
Athena Lee Chronicles
The Forgotten Engineer
Engineering Murder
Ghost ships of Terra
Revolutionary
Insurrection
Imperial Subversion
The Martian Inheritance - Audio Now Available
Infiltration
Prelude to War
War to the Knife
Ghosts of Noodlemass Past
Athena Lee Universe
Shades of Learning
Space Cadets - Coming Soon Early 2017
Short Story Collections
Wilson's War
A Colony of CATTs
Box Sets
Chronicles of Athena Lee - Books 1-3
Chronicles of Athena Lee - Books 4-6
Chronicles of Athena Lee - Books 7-9 plus the prequel
The Federal Witch Book 1
Standalone or tie-ins
The Tide: The Multiverse Wave
The Lost Pilot
Uncommon Life
Kutherian Gambit
Alpha Class. The Etheric Academy book 1
Alpha Class. The Etheric Academy Book 2
Alpha Class The Etheric Academy Book 3 - Coming soon
Anthologies
Phoenix Galactic
The Expanding Universe Book 2
Cupid's Bow
Mysterious Hearts
Non-Fiction
Get that Sh@t off your Cover!
Don't forget to check the Blog every week for a New Wilson or Fergus story.
Copyrights
This book is a work of fiction, All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.
No actual Unicorns, Demons, Fae, Dragons, Mermaids, or Witches were harmed in the making of this book. Promise.
Copyright © 2017 T S Paul
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.
The phrases ©Badger Hole Bar and ©Badger Hole Bar Universe are creations and property of Author Taki Drake and are used here with her permission.
Cover designed by Heather Hamilton-Senter
Great Big Thanks to :
Developmental Editing by Diane Velasquez and Dorene Johnson AKA the (real) D's.
Final Editing by Kat Lind, The Dragon Lady
All writing was done on Scrivener and Google Docs
Special thanks to my wife Heather who keeps me grounded and to Merlin the Cat, we are his minions and to all the members of Phoenix prime.