The Crystal Witch--Enjoy!!

              I was fortunate this year to have two short stories published in the anthology "Love & Magick", along with Sarah Raplee(McDermed) and Judith Ashley, my co-authors.            

             "Love & Magick" is a smorgasbord of stories and a good variety of genres. Today I'd like to share the beginning of "The Crystal Witch", my first story in the anthology.

The Crystal Witch 

                                  By Diana McCollum 

                                  Copyright February 2014

October 15, 2012

                The right mixture of violet and blue evening sky laced with bolts of scarlet bouncing off the clouds always brought to mind the evening of her death, or what would have been Hettie’s death had she not escaped.

                Even after ten years living in the small coastal town of Waxing, Massachusetts, a death-sky inspired panic deep in her chest. She took several deep breaths repeating her timeworn mantra.

                “’Tis a frivolous fear, 

                   for naught dangerous be near,

                   Bless this house, bless this store,

                   and bless me ever more.”

Hettie intoned the mantra three times.

She put a match to bundled sage twigs and walked the boundary of her small gift shop, The Crystal Witch. Climbing the stairs to her apartment, at the door she murmured an opening charm and crossed the threshold then proceeded to walk the length of every wall in every room. The blessed smoke from the stems both cleansed and protected the space. She stopped by the front window. Pulling the lace curtain aside, she looked out at the sky, almost dark now. The shadow of a figure merged with the dark of the woods across the street. Did she see a lonely soul out for an evening walk, or something more sinister? Her stomach clinched; it could be time to pay her debt.

Samhain was fast approaching. The time of year when the veil between worlds was easily accessible, when good or evil could pass through with barely a ripple in the curtain. Hettie was uneasy this time of year, and with good reason; if Declan came for her, it would be during this preternatural time.

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Hope you enjoyed this except from the Anthology 'Love & Magick" available through Windtree Press.

My novella will be available in October 2014.  I tell Ella's story, a witch who is introduced in "The Crystal Witch."

Do you like paranormal books?  If yes, any specific type: Vampire, witches, shape shifters etc?