by Martha Carr
“You have a real chance here,” the man said. “Whoever you are.” He was much younger than Mustache, his biceps dancing under the sleeves of his shirt.
Great. Now I’m hallucinating. Cheyenne blinked at him. “Chance at what?”
The man bowed his head. He leaned over her until he was a few inches away from her face. “You better accept I’m gonna be watching you from here on out. You know, just to make sure you don’t screw up.”
Cheyenne took a deep breath. She couldn’t come up with anything that felt worth the effort.
Her last visitor straightened, nodded, and turned away from the bed. “Get some sleep.”
Like that’s possible. Cheyenne wanted to laugh, but doing even that made her dizzy and nauseated all over again. As if the guy’s final command were a tranquilizer injected into the IV, all-consuming exhaustion overwhelmed her. She slipped away again, the heavy warmth of sleep punctured by wave after receding wave.
This is how Ember slept through the last three days. I get it.
The drow halfling’s eyes closed against her will, but when the brightness of the overhead lights faded, she welcomed it.
What have I gotten into?
Inside Cheyenne Summerlin’s apartment, the grad student’s open backpack sat propped up against the half wall of the kitchen counter. Inside, nestled between her laptop and the uneaten half of a lamb gyro, the copper puzzle box covered in hair-thin etchings of drow runes gave off a soft silver glow. A series of clicks rose from the mechanism at its heart, and two segments of the box detached from the latches holding the thing together and spun in opposite directions to form a new message for its intended witness. A new cycle had begun.
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The Story Continues
The story continues with book two, Leave The World Behind, available now at Amazon and Kindle Unlimited.
Author Notes - Martha Carr
This is the year of the hobbies. First, let me define what makes a hobby. It’s anything that doesn’t earn money, or is of service, or is necessary – like exercise. A hobby’s only purpose is fun. I have mentored a lot of young women over the years and this is one of the first things we tackle. To a person, everyone has been bright, ambitious, talented, caring, and didn’t have a single hobby. I fall in and out of that category myself. Life gets busy, work takes off, children or friends need help and boom – no hobbies.
It’s tough to even get the brain to think of one. Mostly because we’re trying to figure out what we’d like ahead of even trying. That’s called contempt ahead of information. Ultimately, what’s worked best for me is to ask for a list of five ideas numbered according to willingness to try. That’s it. And I set a deadline for when it has to be turned in. Then we chat about each one.
Next step – go gather information on each idea. Where can a person learn more about it? How much will it cost to do it? Do I need any special skills or equipment? Do we know anyone who’s already into this? The more information the better. It solves two things. It usually helps decide which one to start first, if at all, and it lowers resistance because now, it’s not so foreign. We know a lot more about it. The enthusiasm can build.
Then, you go sign up. The action part that takes a little bit of courage. I set a deadline for this one too. You can hate it and you can quit, but you have to at least try. Willingness will get you really, really far in this life and lack of it can shut a life down.
What has been road tested over and over again is that once a person starts trying different fun stuff, they get hooked. Stress levels drop, obsessing over a job or a relationship drops, loneliness drops. There’s something about fun for fun’s sake that soothes the soul.
Last year, I noticed I had fallen off the hobby bandwagon. I had been dabbling in some glass work and drawing cartoons and running but it all stopped somewhere along the way. My stress level was high, my work hours were high. Not good. This year, work is more in alignment and I’ve taken up embroidery so far and I’m back into painting and looking at doing a mural down the lower part of my hallway. I’m also dabbling in baking. Thank goodness there’s that amenity center near me where I can drop off leftovers so I don’t eat them. Running 5ks is another one because of the way I see them. More socializing than exercise. You run for about a half hour with friends and then you go to brunch. Perfect. The other one I want to do is start a neighborhood D&D game. Next on the list.
Making time for something that only benefits me is a great way to teach myself that I matter and that everything holds together even if I’m not there, but that I’m still welcomed back when I show up again. All necessary reminders. It’s like we reclaim that kid part of ourselves every time we do it. What’s your latest hobbies? More adventures to follow.
Author Notes - Michael Anderle
THANK YOU for reading our story! We have a few of these planned, but we don’t know if we should continue writing and publishing without your input. Options include leaving a review, reaching out on Facebook to let us know, and smoke signals.
Frankly, smoke signals might get misconstrued as low hanging clouds, so you might want to nix that idea.
If this is the first book by me you have read, know that there are dozens of rabbit holes (series) you can go down after you finish this series!
Goth Drow the character was an effort to merge a slightly darker protagonist (well, as dark as we can get) while making her something we don’t see too often in a story.
Who would think to create a Goth-looking human as a way to hide a Drow lineage?
(If you know of some stories which have already done this, please don’t tell me. Allow me to enjoy my blissful state of ignorance.)
Inside the team working on this series we named the project “the Goth Draw” story. Which, of course, got shortened to Goth Drow.
By the time we needed to come up with a series name, we were all so accustomed to that name we (and by “we,” I mean I) couldn’t think of anything I liked more than Goth Drow Unleashed. The rest of the team agreed, and there you go.
The story of how Goth Drow became the series name is revealed.
The title naming credit goes to Jake Caleb, the artist for the cover. He will often put in placeholder titles to see how book covers will look with the typography. Then, he gives the cover preview to Martha, who (almost every time) loves his title and runs with it.
I think she is getting a little too happy with just getting Jake to come up with titles, but let’s not mention that to her. The fact they ARE good has nothing to do with anything. At least, not with me giving Martha grief about title laziness. I feel certain she will explain how it is an efficient use of resource talent.
That’s how I would argue the case, anyway. Since I don’t think she will read these Author Notes, (please see comment above about not telling her) I should be good.
Ad Aeternitatem,
Michael
Dark Is Her Nature
For Hire: Teachers for special school in Virginia countryside.
Must be able to handle teenagers with special abilities.
Cannot be afraid to discipline werewolves, wizards, elves and other assorted hormonal teens.
Apply at the School of Necessary Magic.
AVAILABLE ON AMAZON RETAILERS AND IN KINDLE UNLIMITED!
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Other Books By Martha Carr
THE LEIRA CHRONICLES
SOUL STONE MAGE
THE KACY CHRONICLES
MIDWEST MAGIC CHRONICLES
THE FAIRHAVEN CHRONICLES
I FEAR NO EVIL
THE DANIEL CODEX SERIES
SCHOOL OF NECESSARY MAGIC
SCHOOL OF NECESSARY MAGIC: RAINE CAMPBELL
ALISON BROWNSTONE
FEDERAL AGENTS OF MAGIC
SCIONS OF MAGIC
THE UNBELIEVABLE MR. BROWNSTONE
DWARF BOUNTY HUNTER
MAGIC CITY CHRONICLES
CASE FILES OF AN URBAN WITCH
OTHER BOOKS BY JUDITH BERENS
OTHER BOOKS BY MARTHA CARR
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Books By Michael Anderle
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