Many years ago, in the land of kings and knights, Dozer, a
powerful wizard, casts a spell over Scartin, and changes him into a tiny toy
wizard and puts him inside the box of a puzzle.
Centuries later, Shelly Taylor, and her two kids, Bobby and
Andrea, find their lives in turmoil. They are uprooted from their home and
friends and moved to a small town in Idaho. Their parents’ marriage falls apart, and to
make matters worse, for some reason the kids at their schools are shunning
them.
Shelly, once an advertising executive, starts cleaning
houses to make ends meet. It is in one
of these old homes where the ancient puzzle is found.
As the family works on the puzzle, strange things start to
happen. An evil presence is making its
way to the Taylor house, intent on making sure that puzzle never gets put
together, no matter the cost, and it’s up to Bobby and Andrea to make sure that
it does!
Excerpt
Miss James turned
to look at the two kids in the backseat.
“Andi – that’s a name you don’t hear everyday.”
When there was no
reply, Steve jumped in. “It’s short for
Andrea.”
“How darling,” the
woman said, smiling at Steve. She turned
her attention again to the back seat.
“So, how do you like our little town?”
Oh no!
Bobby groaned inside, squeezing his eyes shut.
Andi sat up a
little straighter, smiling. “Oh Miss
James, my mom, brother, and I are just loving it here. We are living the dream.” The woman smiled; apparently not having a
clue sarcasm was being thrown in her face.
“Picture this,” Andi continued, “My mom has a fabulous, great paying
job, but because our dad loved us so much he talked her into giving up her
career to come to Smallville,
USA.”
“Andi,” her dad
said in a low warning tone.
“Not only that,
Miss James, Bobby and I were in schools we loved and we both had so many friends,
but what was important was our family being together. You know, a loving
family, everyone being a team member, so dad could have his chance.”
The woman’s eyes
darted nervously around the car.
“Well…uhm…that’s just lovely Andi.
Now if we…”
Andi wasn’t
through. “It is a lovely story, isn’t
it?” She leaned forward, as if to tell
the woman a secret. “But the love didn’t
stop there,” Andi said, putting her hand on Miss James’ shoulder. “Bobby and I were nervous about going to a
new school, yet excited to meet new friends.
You can surely understand that, right?”
Andi’s stare demanded the woman’s eyes to stay trained on her face. Miss James, her mouth partly opened, slowly
nodded. “Can you imagine Bobby’s and my
dismay when the kids, all but shunned us?
We didn’t understand. We are nice
people. Why would the kids, at a new school,
who have never even met us, give us dirty looks and talk about us?”
Miss
James, wide-eyed, shook her head back and forth. “Why would they?” She asked.
“That’s
what we wanted to know.” Andi sat back
in her seat. Her voice changed from
sugary sweet to matter of fact. “Imagine
our surprise when we found out our father felt the need to shag the neighbor’s
wife.”
“Andrea!”
Her father snapped. “That’s enough!”
. “And who could have guessed that the lady’s
family that our dad destroyed, had two kids that are the same age as Bobby and
me? Yep, John Slater, who is extremely
popular, has apparently told everybody in my sophomore class that it’s my fault
that his family life is in the toilet.”
“I’m
warning you, Andrea,” her father threatened.
The
sugary sweet voice was back. “What?”
Andi purred. “Seriously, dad, how could
you have known that mom wouldn’t understand about you screwing around with
another woman? The nerve of her telling
you to get out! Now, Miss James, she is
working two jobs. An up and coming
advertising expert is now answering phones at a real estate company, part time,
and cleaning houses for a management company.
Isn’t that priceless?” Andi’s voice dripped with sarcasm.
I write for all ages, from the early reader to adults. My books range from pictures books for the
little ones, to fantasy, time-travel adventures for ages 9 to 13. I also write
adult stories, including a family drama and contemporary, paranormal and historical
westerns romances, under P. A. Estelle.
I was a school secretary for 21 years. My husband and I moved to our retirement home
in Kingman, AZ, on very rural 54 acres, living on solar and wind only.
More about my books can be found in the following links:
https://museituppublishing.com/bookstore2/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=146&Itemid=82
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