We Need a Little Christmas!

 

My favorite part of the holiday season is to put together a bunch of shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. We fill them with school supplies, toys, hygiene items, useful things, fun things, and send them through Samaritan's Purse to children in foreign countries, to assist in the day-to-day demonstration of Jesus' love.

Let me give YOU a gift this year:

FIRST: Go to SamaritansPurse.org and put together a shoebox or two online, or pay for the shipping on the boxes you've put together, OR check out their online gift catalog and donate toward one of the many items to help families and villages in need around the world.

THEN: Email me an electronic copy of your receipt, to: 2OldeDragons@gmail.com

BUT BEFORE THAT: Check out the storefront at YeOldeDragonBooks.com or my website, MLevigne.com, for the book blurbs, and pick out the ebook(s) or audiobook(s) you'd like to have, my thank-you for helping Samaritan's Purse spread God's love this holiday season. Give me the title of the item(s) when you send me your receipt. Here's what you can get:

Up to $20 spent: Any ebook

Up to $40 spent: 2 ebooks or 1 audiobook

Up to $60 spent: 3 ebooks or 2 audiobooks

Up to $80 spent: 4 ebooks or 3 audiobooks (or 2 ebooks and 2 audiobooks)

Over $80 spent: A print copy of the Neighborlee fantasy novel, Allergic to Mistletoe. Or all the ebooks.

TITLES: Christmas in Ohio -- Crystal Christmas -- Tabor at Christmas -- Allergic to Mistletoe -- Christmas Fiction Off the Beaten Path

Have you checked out THAKAI, recently?

 

THAKAI is my current work-in-progress up on Royal Road.

I try to upload 2 episodes, around 2,500 words each, every week.

Here's the link to the page. Please come read! 

 https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/118523/thakai

Essentially, my hero, Dysander, is an Odysseus-type character. That means there's an equivalent of Helen in this world, a version of Sparta, a version of Troy, a version of Ithaka (Thakai, for those who aren't good with anagrams ...) and Penelope -- and a war, and a long journey home.

Right now, I'm nearing the end of what will be Book 1 when the series begins to be published. The tentative title is DYSANDER AND THE SEA GOD. In this book, so far, Dysander has a friend named Aithon who is actually the sea god, Ancuenor, incognito. They have a huge, dangerous adventure that I just finished writing, and Dysander learns the truth. He's kind of peeved. In turn, Ancuenor is furious with Dysander because of something he did that the sea god considers treachery, and the two don't part as friends. Then in the next book, as THAKAI continues, the sea god interferes when Dysander finds the girl he wants to marry, and when he doesn't get his revenge, puts a curse on Dysander, forbidding him to ever leave his island home.

At least, that's the plan. There's a workaround, of course, because how could there be a Trojan War and a Trojan Horse without that world's version of Odysseus to come up with the solution?

Please visit THAKAI and read, leave comments, make suggestions -- maybe get your name in the acknowledgements, for coming up with something truly brilliant that changes the trajectory of the whole story!

Excerpt: ALLERGIC TO MISTLETOE, Neighborlee, Ohio, Book 10

 "So, what do you think?" Megan said as she stepped into the lounging part of her and Alexi's dressing room backstage.

Alexi and Harry had gone to get their car and bring it to the backstage entrance, for a quick getaway. Megan had confided in Bethany that she thought Harry was cute, so excited about riding in a real, Human-made car.

"I like him. How does his wife feel about him spending the holidays with me and my Dad?" Bethany said.

"No wife." Megan shrugged and slipped into her clogs before sitting down on the other end of the couch. "Which is a total injustice. Alexi says the girls can't see past his science experiments and his research, to the really great guy under the brainy persona."

"What kind of science experiments?" Bethany imagined Harry doing a Nutty Professor routine, his lab coat smeared with stains, maybe scorched in places. It fit. How long since she had let herself feel anything but mild social friendship with a man?

Maybe the fact that he didn't ask for her autograph, didn't ogle her figure, had a lot to do with the attraction. Because yes, she admitted to a strong attraction between them, from the moment that zap of static electricity sent a lovely, hot shiver down her back.

It was great to realize she was a normal woman after all, not a frightened, frigid little teasing twit, as that last studio-arranged date accused her of being.

This was going to be a great Christmas.

A knock on the door, then it opened and her heart did a funny little skip when she saw Harry, and the way his gaze zeroed in on her all the way across the room.

"Ready?" He stepped into the room and held out a hand. "This might tingle a little."

"Kind of like a force field or tractor beam or something wrapping around a ship?" she offered.

Harry's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open a little, and that funny feeling in her stomach turned squirmy. Had she turned him off already?

Then he grinned. That lovely zing climbed her arm when their hands touched. A buzzing sensation raced across her bare skin. It tickled and massaged somewhere between her skin and her bones.

"Wow." She flinched when her voice sounded a little off, not quite hollow.

Excerpt: ALLERGIC TO MISTLETOE, Neighborlee, Ohio, Book 10

 "Umm... What exactly did they tell you about me?"

"Oh, I figured out the whole not-quite-Human thing a while ago. I just never confronted them with it." Bethany blushed and looked at her hands clasped on the table in front of her.

Something dropped inside his chest and warmth stole over him. He wanted to protect her. He wanted to take the paparazzi and the other bozos stealing her privacy, and send them to the Dungeon Dimensions for a couple hundred years. Nobody he knew blushed. The simple little reaction made her seem small and delicate and vulnerable.

Which she was anything but. He had seen her first movie, the tough chick who turned her world upside down to save it, who devised bombs and weapons from nothing to protect innocents. Even with that blush fading from her cheeks, he sensed a lot of similarities between the Bethany sitting before him now and the girl on the screen. It made no sense, but Harry didn't care.

"So, say something." Her smile went crooked.

"You're pretty calm about it. A lot of people would probably be freaking out, faced with the fact of a lot of other dimensions of reality, side-by-side with the one they know. I've always wondered what the CIA and FBI and all those foreign intelligence agencies and governments would do, if they knew about the Fae realms. If they'd maybe try to bomb us out of existence, or prosecute us as illegal aliens or whatever."

"So, who was here first? Fae or Humans?"

Harry sat for five seconds with his mouth hanging open, stumped by that question. That was definitely something for the Ether Lexicon. For all he knew, that was part of the no-need-to-know information the Lexicon sometimes stubbornly refused to divulge. Then he laughed. Bethany blushed again, but she grinned.

How come girls like her don't exist in the Enclaves?

Excerpt: ALLERGIC TO MISTLETOE, Neighborlee, Ohio, Book 10

 "Bethany?" he murmured when he reached her table. Harry admired her self-control, so she didn't even flinch or look his way, betraying her disguise. He held up the half of Alexi's business card that served as his identification.

Bethany peered from under her floppy hat and slid her half of the card across the table toward him. She didn't take her fingertips off the card until he matched up his half to hers.

"Harry Morton," he said, and held out his hand. Bethany's slim, strong little hand slid into his. Something sparked, almost a buzz, between their fingers.

"Static electricity." She offered a crooked little smile and a whisper of laughter as she jerked her hand away.

"Uh. Yeah." Harry slid into the booth facing her while he gathered his thoughts. She had felt that? She had soaked up more magic than he had first guessed.

Fascinating.

"I think Alexi insisted on all this cloak and dagger just for the fun of it," she said, as the audience applauded the first illusion of the evening. She grinned, which made an inexplicable world of difference for Harry. If she had scowled or showed reluctance in any way, he didn't know what he would have thought of her.

"Yep, that's my favorite cousin."

"You look like him." Bethany offered an awkward little smile.

"You think so?" He glanced at Alexi, who stepped back and held up the silk purse on a pole, so Megan could demonstrate there was nothing in it. Real magic made things so much easier for magicians, Harry mused, but Alexi and Megan insisted on practicing sleight of hand, doing it the way full Humans did. He supposed it was all in the challenge. 

"He has more glitz, but there's a strong resemblance. Of course, combing your hair back like that and dressing so casual, that makes people kind of pass over you. So, you're really good at this invisibility thing?"

Read Penelope's Story NOW

 

Have you seen EPIC: The Musical, on YouTube yet? (It's The Odyssey, set to music, by the way. Love it!)

Have you wondered about Penelope's side of the story? Just why did she wait through 10 years of war and then 10 years of wandering and imprisonment, for Odysseus to come home?

Now you can read Penelope's side of the story!

Back in print after 10 years, PENELOPE OF ITHAKA is available exclusively on Amazon right now.

The official release date is November 1, BUT you can get the paperback NOW and save $3 off the official cover price.
Or you can pre-order the ebook.
Or you can wait until November 1 and read it in Kindle Unlimited.

And yeah, there's an audiobook coming.
Or you can listen to individual episodes now on the Ye Olde Dragon's Library storytelling podcast.

Take your pick.

But please follow this Affiliate link and check it out!! I'm so proud to have this book baby of mine available again!

https://amzn.to/47Ahv2N

Excerpt: ALLERGIC TO MISTLETOE, Neighborlee, Ohio, Book 10

"She doesn't mind having a stranger around?"

"Funny, that's the same thing she said about you." Megan gave her top hat one more tiny adjustment.

"We're on, sweetheart." Alexi caught up with them, wrapped an arm around Megan's waist, and kissed her for luck as he did every night. A kiss that packed enough heat into a two-second liplock, Harry burst out in sweat. They stepped out onto the stage.

He gulped, locked down his counter-spell so he wouldn't fade out at an inopportune moment, and headed for the side entrance. Time to meet his assignment.

He stepped into the supper club seating area and meandered around the perimeter to the booth where Bethany waited. On stage, Alexi kept up the patter while Megan searched the audience for the first volunteer assistant. All the women watched Alexi, all the men watched Megan. Harry felt slightly nauseous from the rising pheromones. Didn't these Humans have any self-control? Especially when it came to two entertainers who made it very clear they were married to each other?

He didn't see anything wrong with window-shopping, as it were, and appreciating what was on display. But Harry drew the line at plotting how to break the glass and steal what was inside.

Excerpt: ALLERGIC TO MISTLETOE, Neighborlee, Ohio, Book 10

  

"She's got magic," Harry whispered. He studied Bethany through the curtains while the emcee warmed up the audience for Alexi and Megan's last show of the night.

"You might be right." Megan adjusted her top hat. "There is something about her that makes my fingertips tingle. I just can't figure out what. If there's Fae blood, it's mixed with something that muddies the waters." She patted his back. "You're starting to fade."

"Oh? Sorry." Harry concentrated on his anti-invisibility spell and turned back to watching Bethany Miller in her shadowy corner table. That big, floppy hat and garish muumuu couldn't hide her, yet dressing in loud, obnoxious clothes did trick people into ignoring her. Somewhat.

Harry turned his vision sideways, looking into the 'tweening spaces, those half-step areas between dimensions. His long-term invisibility made it easy to slip halfway into the next dimension.

A soft, rainbow-streaked corona shimmered around Bethany, marking her as someone who had been touched by magic for so long, it had become embedded in her essence. The colors didn't quite clash with her outfit, but it was enough to make his eyes ache after a while. Still, he kept watching. She fascinated him. He loved puzzles, and Bethany had just presented him with one.

"So, she wants to be invisible?"

"She wants to spend the holidays with her father without being mobbed every time she steps outside," Megan said. "She's a nice girl who doesn't enjoy the rat-race of stardom. She refuses to change and act like a star, and that makes her even more popular. Kind of like a girl who isn't in Need is a whole lot more attractive."

Harry blushed, and his concentration slipped so he felt himself fading out. Which was actually a good thing. He wasn't about to admit to anyone he wished he knew the terror of being the target of a woman in Need. None of the girls he had grown up with had targeted him. It was humiliating. Hera-Jane maintained that if he socialized more, so people realized he had grown up into something of a stud, he would be hunted. Harry was too busy with his experiments to find out. Although, this adventure would be an experiment, wouldn't it?

Excerpt: ALLERGIC TO MISTLETOE, Neighborlee, Ohio, Book 10

 "How's that non-magical betting system working out for you?" Harry snapped his fingers to bring a towel over and got out of the hot tub. He tapped the communications sphere, activating it so it shimmered into transparency. Alexi and Megan's faces appeared before him. He was glad he had opted for the towel.

Harry wasn't a skinny geek by any means, but Alexi had inherited the family build and good looks, along with the family curse. Harry was white-blond and buff, but Alexi had it cubed. Still, despite all the advantages Alexi had in looks and freedom and a real job in the Human world, along with a smart, fun wife who hadn't needed to trap him by going into Need, Harry preferred his smaller troubles. Alexi had nearly been doomed to spending eternity without magic. Megan had rescued him from that. While Harry wouldn't have minded being rescued by someone like her, he knew it would still rankle from time to time. He had a ridiculous longing to be the White Knight, rescuing damsels in distress.

"What's up, Cuz?" He gave an extra yank to his towel.

"We have a job for you," Megan said.

"You and your invisibility spell," Alexi added with that grin that had always meant really cool, really loud, really messy adventures when they were boys.

"I'm there." Harry snapped clothes onto himself. "Just tell me where and when."

It's QUIZ TIME! Ready to earn points for a free Neighborlee novel?

 

ALLERGIC TO MISTLETOE QUIZ 

How do you play?

• Listen to Chapter 1 of ALLERGIC TO MISTLETOE either on the Ye Olde Dragon’s Library storytelling podcast page on YeOldeDragonBooks.com, or on your favorite podcast app.
• Answer the questions.
• Send the answers to 2OldeDragons@gmail.com

Points add up to get a free ebook or audiobook or print book in the Neighborlee series.

All month, the featured book is at a discounted price, if you need to fill in the holes in your collection. I mean, there are 13 books altogether. If you have all 13 already, THANK YOU!! But chances are good you don’t have all of them.

Yet.

This is your chance to get more and catch up on the weirdness that is Neighborlee, Ohio.

 

1. What swarmed the ceiling of the main room of Divine's Emporium?
2. What was Maurice wearing for the party?
3. What did Maurice enjoy doing with Lanie's parents?
4. What came into the party with Dawn and Stanzer that didn't like being in the same room with Maurice?
5. What did Ken give Jo instead of the traditional wishing ball ornament?
6. Who promised to help Maurice figure out how to get around the barriers in his relationship with Holly?

 

 

Excerpt: ALLERGIC TO MISTLETOE, Neighborlee, Ohio, Book 10

 

"I'd much rather you concentrated on doing new things," his sister said, "rather than fiddling with spells that are nearly as old as time itself. Less chance of something semi-sentient deciding to punish you. The really old spells have a life of their own. They don't like being tweaked." She reached out with her unerring sisterly sense, caught the sides of his face in her hands, and bent down to kiss his forehead. "Please wash up and come to breakfast visible." As she got to her feet, she made a face. "Bleah. Gunpowder. It tastes even worse than it smells."

"Well, you've learned something new before breakfast, just like me." Harry grinned when Hera-Jane strolled out of the laboratory, muffling giggles that sounded like nightingales.

The communications sphere shimmered into being while Harry relaxed in the hot tub -- another wonderful invention of Humans. Fortunately for him, and whoever might be calling at this time of the morning, the sphere remained opaque.

"I gave at the office," Harry said.

Alexi's rich, rolling laughter made him grin. Nothing like a call from his favorite rebellious cousin to take a morning from interesting and frustrating to fun.

Excerpt: ALLERGIC TO MISTLETOE, Neighborlee, Ohio, Book 10

 

Uncle Mortimer patted his cheek. "I wish gunpowder had been around when I was your age. It's quite the thing to make messes when you're only 100 years old. When you're pushing nine centuries, well, you have to pretend to have some dignity."

"Especially when your cloaking spells aren't what they used to be and you can't hide the evidence," Hera-Jane added. "Uncle Morty...the Chinese had gunpowder back when you were a child."

"Hmm, yes, but the Asian Fae Enclaves were quite isolationist back then. They wouldn't share anything, least of all such clever Human toys." Their wild-haired uncle nodded once more for punctuation. "Quite all right now, lad? Back to normal?"

"Close enough. How much can you see me?" Harry asked.

"Not a speck. We can smell you, though." His sister sat back and wrinkled up her nose. "Well, are you any closer to success?"

"I think so. Not much, but at least I didn't trip any of the fire suppression and reconstruction spells." Harry allowed himself a few flickers of triumph over that, before diving into the new puzzle. "You say I was visible when I was unconscious?"

"Something disrupted the invisibility spell for a little while. It just proves my theory that the malfunction lies in the Ether connection that powers this particular invisibility spell. You need more research, lad." Uncle Mortimer slapped in the general direction of Harry's invisible shoulder and heaved himself to his feet. Chuckling, he tottered out of the laboratory. Standard housecleaning spells had cleared the damage while they talked.

Excerpt: ALLERGIC TO MISTLETOE, Neighborlee, Ohio, Book 10

 

"Hargrove? Hargrove! Wake up, boy!"

The admonishment, in the tired, worried voice of Uncle Mortimer, was punctuated with a slap that served quite adequately to bring Harry back to consciousness.

He lay still, trying to remember what had knocked him unconscious. A few cautious sniffs answered him. The stink of Human gunpowder and several sophisticated Fae explosives filled his sinuses. Memory streamed back into his head. He had been playing with a new kind of controlled explosive device, to help in archaeological excavations. Obviously, the charm controlling the direction of the explosion had malfunctioned.

Why were people hitting him?

"He must be conscious now. He's fading out," said his sister, Hera-Jane.

That yanked his attention off trying to figure out what he did wrong. "Fading out?"

"You were visible, the entire time you were unconscious." She fumbled across his chest until she found his shoulders, then shook him. "Come on, Harry, rise and shine."

"I'm always invisible when I sleep. I have to concentrate to be seen." He opened his eyes, relieved he could still see. That explosion had felt uncomfortably close to his face.

SAVE -- and get the paperback before everyone else!

 

The next Book & Mug Mystery, SKELETONS IN THE CELLAR, comes out October 15.

But you can get the paperback in an Amazon exclusive NOW and SAVE $$$ by following this Amazon Affiliate link.

https://amzn.to/4nR7HGY

Cadburn Township has stories about the Cadburn daughter who ran off to the Civil War disguised as a boy. Or did she? Maybe she ran away from home with her true love, to escape a forced marriage. Either way, legends say her ghost haunts the township.

Then there are the rumors of Underground Railroad tunnels leading from several houses to Cadburn Creek. And three years ago, there was a big fuss over some historical reenactors and historic researchers and academic rivalry -- with the couple at the center of the shenanigans vanishing suddenly, without warning.

Until a rainy fall starts flooding in Cadburn Creek, and suddenly, the truth of quite a few rumors and legends are brought to soggy light ....

Excerpt: RETURN OF THE LIVING PROOF, Neighborlee, Ohio, Book 9

 I knew the place Pete was talking about. The lot held a ramshackle building that had once been a convenience store and then went through at least a dozen transformations all the years I was growing up. It was in a bad location for businesses. The chunk of land set aside for Neighborlee schools sat right on the southern border of town. The building had started out as a gas station, just across the street and over the border in Allenby, nearly hidden by huge clumps of trees on three sides. Over the years, all those businesses that had moved in and moved out had neglected the building and the parking lot. It was generally a bad location for businesses that depended on visibility and traffic driving by to survive. 

Thinking about it, I supposed a business that just used the building for a headquarters and sent its workers out would probably last longer than anything that had tried to set up there in the past. At the very least, Pete would have work for the summer. I couldn't imagine him keeping the job when school started again in the fall.

ALLERGIC TO MISTLETOE, the next featured book in the Neighborlee Visitors Guide.

 

The feature book for October in the Neighborlee Visitors Guide is ALLERGIC TO MISTLETOE, the first of the three Maurice stories.

Check out the books on the Neighborlee page and in the storefront at YeOldeDragonBooks.com

Maurice is a Fae who violated a few rules and went a little too far, dealing with bullies and bad guys. To teach him compassion and restraint, the powers-that-be exiled him to Earth. His parole officer: Angela, of Divine's Emporium. His sentence: 2 years shrunk down to 5 inches tall, with shrunken magic to match, and wings slapped on his back that even Tinkerbell wouldn't be caught dead in.

Wednesday, October 1, you can listen to chapter 1 of ALLERGIC TO MISTLETOE on the Ye Olde Dragon's Library storytelling podcast, on your favorite podcast app or at the podcast page on YeOldeDragonBooks.com, to get a taste for what's happening, and prepare for the quiz to be posted later in the month. Answer the questions, and you can earn points toward free Neighborlee novels. If you're intrigued enough to read the whole story, ALLERGIC will be on sale in all formats on the website. Get it while you can!

And be sure to come back here every few days to read an excerpt from ALLERGIC TO MISTLETOE.

Excerpt: RETURN OF THE LIVING PROOF, Neighborlee, Ohio, Book 9

 "I can take my bike or the moped to the office and then ride with the truck carrying the signs and stakes and all that stuff. No problem."

"How close are they?" I tried to remember seeing a sign for Pi Surprise. They hadn't come into the Tattler to buy advertising yet. Which suddenly struck me as a little strange. All their advertising was either in the Plain Dealer, or stuffed into mailboxes. Nothing in the local paper. So how far away was their office?

"They're in that little flower market on the corner down past the schools."

"On the Neighborlee side of the border, or the Allenby side?"

Pete thought a moment, while I held my breath and told myself it was all right, nothing dangerous ever came into Neighborlee from Allenby. Darbyville, yes, but not Allenby.

"Across the street, so I guess Allenby. I saw the help wanted sign just about the time they were putting it up in the window. It's a new office. They moved here from Euclid. So I'll spend the first couple weeks just helping with renovating the office." 

"Okay. Sounds good." I told myself I was hungry, it had been a long day at work, and Pete would make a good spy, to figure out if there was something not-quite-ordinary going on with Pi Surprise. Maybe someone was just out to make things difficult for an expanding business, moving those gnomes around.

Excerpt: RETURN OF THE LIVING PROOF, Neighborlee, Ohio, Book 9

"Because it won't get in the way of going out in the afternoon, and it'll never get in the way of my other job."

"Okay, that makes sense."

Pete turned to look at me, to make sure I wasn't being sarcastic.

"Are you able to handle the work on your bike? Because I'm not getting up at four-dark-thirty to drive you around. I'm proud of you that you're being responsible for your expenses … and I can't believe I'm sounding more and more like …" I laughed.

"You were going to say you sound like Mum and Pop, but you don't, because they would never talk like that," he said, sinking down into the nearest chair with a big grin. 

"Just sounding like a parent. Man, is this what happens when there's a baby on the way? The air changes and does something to your brain so you start sounding like an adult?" I shook my head and held up a hand to stop him responding with whatever smart-aleck comeback was making him grin like that. "Okay, I'm proud of you. Even though you couldn’t pay me enough to take a job like that. Staying up late to fly patrol is one thing, but getting up early? Nuh uh. Not me."

 

Excerpt: RETURN OF THE LIVING PROOF, Neighborlee, Ohio, Book 9

 Pete and I put some time in searching through my freezer and refrigerator, trying to figure out what to serve our guests for dinner. According to Maurice, Cerb and Loralee both liked ordinary Human food, and she had developed a taste for spicy cuisine in the last month. Great, a dog with a hankering for Szechuan or Mexican. It could have been worse. How would I explain a dog chowing down on pickles? Or chocolate? It was supposed to be poison in large quantities for dogs.

While we worked on dinner, Pete dropped his bomb: he had lined up a second summer job. I bit my lip to keep from asking how he thought he was going to spend any time with Meggie, when he was working a second job. I had the feeling the second job was so he could take Meggie out on really nice dates. *sigh* My little brother was growing up and facing adult conundrums.

"What was that?" I had an awful urge to stick my pinkies in both ears and dig, because my brain didn't want to acknowledge what Pete had just told me.

"Pi Surprise." He sighed, like he had gone through this a few times already in his mind, and practicing hadn't helped.

"Why would you want to do that? Especially after Gordon told us about all the complaints they've been getting."

"Because it has to be done really early in the morning --"

"I repeat, why would you want to do it? You're the one who doesn't run on solar batteries, remember?" 

Getting up early to bomb someone's lawn with decorations was part of the package. It had to be done early, so the workers wouldn't get caught and sent away by the unwilling recipients of the embarrassment.

Excerpt: RETURN OF THE LIVING PROOF, Neighborlee, Ohio, Book 9

Pete came home while I was settling the expectant parents in Harry's old room. He was pretty excited to see Cerb, then tripped over his tongue and nearly tripped over his own feet a few times when he saw Loralee and realized what was going on. He didn't say it, but he gave Cerb the "you dog" look. It was kind of funny.

Once we had things set up to Loralee's liking, she and Cerb and Maurice headed out again. They were on patrol, after all, making sure that inimical forces on Earth didn't hear the lying siren song of Big Ugly like the Rivals had, and come into our town to try to help him break through to invade Earth. 

Pete's timing was good, because there was furniture to move around and put into storage. Not much, since Harry had moved almost everything he owned into Felicity's place, after she and Jake finished renovating their house and moved out. Sometimes I did miss that ridiculous espresso machine. The furniture in Harry's old room was simple, meant for guests. Pete moved the desk out, and we turned the dresser drawers upside down so they became stairs, so Loralee could climb up onto the bed. I had a few squeamish moments, imagining her giving birth and soaking the mattress. Well, it was a spare bed. I would worry about replacing a mattress when I needed to replace it, and not before.

 

It's QUIZ Time!

 

Ready to take a quiz and earn points toward free books?

How do you play?

• Listen to Chapter 1 of RETURN OF THE LIVING PROOF either on the Ye Olde Dragon’s Library storytelling podcast page at YeOldeDragonBooks.com, or on your favorite podcast app.
• Answer the questions.
• Send the answers to 2OldeDragons@gmail.com

Points add up to get a free ebook or audiobook or print book in the Neighborlee series. This is your chance to catch up on the weirdness that is Neighborlee, Ohio.

RETURN QUIZ:

1. What did Lanie do to the attempted carjacker?
2. What did the cop call Lanie?
3. What did the carjacker do while the cop's back was turned?
4. Who made the keychain for Lanie, and what was it made from?
5. What was the name of the lawn decoration company?
6. Where were Athena and Wallace going, to spend a week with Bethany?
7. What was in her neighbor Tom's front yard, when Lanie got home from work?
8. What did the flyers for Pi Surprise advertise?
9. Who dropped his cup of coffee when Lanie mentioned blue storms?
10. Who was Gahlmorag?

Excerpt: RETURN OF THE LIVING PROOF, Neighborlee, Ohio, Book 9

 What I wanted to know, but didn't dare ask at that time, was why some extra-dimensional visitors had to take on terrestrial forms, and their limitations, such as Cerb and Loralee, while others, like Maurice, went around in their own bodies? Although, granted, in the case of Maurice, with some modifications.

Instead, I thought for a few seconds, then said, "Harry moved into Felicity's place. Would his old room be good enough? Not much furniture to move around. Put the mattress on the floor, or would they want to sleep on the bed at normal height?"

Maybe I gave in too fast. On the other hand, this was a pregnant woman, even if she didn't look like one. I owed Cerb for protecting my neck a few times last year.

"Are there any special arrangements they need?" I hated talking to Maurice when Cerb and Loralee were right there. I had gone through situations just like this after I landed in my wheelchair. Too many people had a tendency to want to talk over or around someone in a wheelchair or showing other handicaps. They seemed to prefer to deal with the able-bodied person with the gimp, instead of talking directly to the gimp. Kind of rude. I didn't want to do that to them. Since they couldn't talk to me, I had to ask Maurice, who was clearly there as go-between.

"Just a place to get out of the darkness. There's a kind of a clash of magics and resonances, so it's a little uncomfortable to stay at Divine's for too long once the sun goes down. Don't ask. I don't understand."

Cerb snorted and Loralee gave a little whine. 

"Yeah, neither do they. Probably some side effect of staying so long in these bodies. Anyway, during the day, they'll be on patrol, although Loralee will probably spend a lot of the next couple weeks getting off her feet, down in the park, or at Divine's." Maurice shrugged. "They've never been through this, I sure as heck haven't been through this before, so … we're all guessing."

Excerpt: RETURN OF THE LIVING PROOF, Neighborlee, Ohio, Book 9

 "At least, we hope. We need a safe place for her to hole up until the demon spawn are born."

So help me, I wished I had a fly swatter. I knew Maurice liked Cerb, so he wouldn't say something like that unless he was either in a viciously snarky mood, or he was joking. Still, I wanted to hit him hard enough to send him all the way to home plate at Progressive Field. Considering how far away we were from Downtown, that would take a lot of muscle power, aided by my telekinetic talent. I was sure I could manage it. How dare he say something like that about babies who hadn't been born yet?

Unless he wasn't joking?

"Umm, Maurice … what will the babies look like when they're born? Do they take after the physical bodies of their parents, or are they …" I couldn't finish the question. I looked into Loralee's big amethyst eyes and I couldn't find the words. 

Yeah, ever heard of a normal, ordinary dog with amethyst eyes? Proof she was otherworldly.

Excerpt: RETURN OF THE LIVING PROOF, Neighborlee, Ohio, Book 9

 Just a few days after that, Maurice rode over to my house on Cerb. I hadn't seen my guardian hound-angel for a while, and one look at the smaller, cuter hound sitting next to him told me why.

"Cerb, you dog." I couldn't help it.

The hound was a girl, and since she was visibly pregnant, chances were good she was the sweetheart for whom Cerb had taken voluntary exile and guardian service on Earth.

He snorted and his mouth fell open, tongue lolling out extra long, with lots of drool. His gross way of laughing at me. Maybe getting back at me for the teasing.

"Hey, Lanie," Maurice said, and leaped off Cerb's back to hover in front of me. I knew he was uncomfortable with all the sparkle and glitter of his wings, which were part of his punishment when he was exiled to Earth, but watching them go at nearly sonic speed to keep him hovering was … mesmerizing. "We need your help."

"Felicity is as close as you're going to get to an OB-GYN for … well, anthropomorphic interdimensional travelers."

"No, not that." He swallowed and looked a little green for a few seconds. The color hovered longest in the tips of his tiny pointed ears. The guy was only five inches tall, but that was a vibrant shade that just stayed visible. "At least, not yet. Loralee isn't due to pop for another month." 

Cerb made a sound somewhere between a cough, a choke, and a grunt.

PRE-ORDER AND GET SOME GOODIES!!

 

My next Book & Mug Mystery, SKELETONS IN THE CELLAR, is slated to release October 15

IF YOU PRE-ORDER, and email me the Amazon receipt, I'll send you the epub file for a short story set in Cadburn Township, along with a JPG of the town map. Follow this link to get to the Amazon page!

https://amzn.to/4625CRf

SKELETONS IN THE CELLAR

A tale of small town legends, rumors, and academic rivalries.


Local legends speak of a Cadburn daughter who ran off to fight in the Civil War, disguised as a boy, and never came home. Other legends tell of a girl's ghost, in Civil War costume, haunting Cadburn Creek. And then there are the stories of Underground Railroad tunnels going from Cadburn Creek to suspected station houses. But no one has ever proved those stories true.

Three years ago, those rumors mixed with the usual wrangling between the two rival historical societies in Cadburn Township, complicated by the activities of the Spirits of '62, the local Civil War reenactors group, and the bickering between their leader, Steve, and Lyndsy, a history student hoping to make a name for herself, no matter the cost.

Olivia, head barista for Book & Mug, finds herself in the middle of everything, when Lyndsy rents a room in the same historic home and stirs up trouble with an old man obsessed with the Cadburn ghost. She and others breathe a sigh of relief when Steve and Lyndsy leave town abruptly, and the political in-fighting seems to be resolved.

Until an unusually rainy fall causes flooding in Cadburn Creek, revealing the rumors of tunnels to at least be true. When secrets buried for three years are uncovered, the rumors and rivalries and bickering return to the light of day. Saundra, Kai, Eden and Olivia join forces to separate truth from rumors and let the dead rest at long last in peace.

This is the 4th Book & Mug mystery, and I've already got a few things set up at the end of this book to prepare for Book 5, tentatively titled, CARRYING A TORCH.

Email me with your receipt to get your free short story: MichelleLevigne@gmail.com

Excerpt: RETURN OF THE LIVING PROOF, Neighborlee, Ohio, Book 9

 

Just two days later, Hayward responded with information, classified for now because of its oddness: images of churning, unusual weather patterns in the area of the Bermuda Triangle. What looked like the "seeds" of hurricanes, there one moment, with streaks of electric blue going through them, and then gone just a few heartbeats later. And no signs that anything had been disturbed, other than broken palm fronds or foam on the water.

I might have found some hope, to share with my brothers. The disturbances that seemed to be tied into Lost Kids or Hunt activity were in the vicinity of the Triangle. However, there was a big blank area, clearly visible once the locations of all the disturbances were marked onto one map. Smack dab in the middle of that blank area was the hotel where my parents had been staying when they vanished. And, as Daniel had revealed to us last summer, where his grandfather, Arthur, had been staying. He had been in Bermuda at the same time as my parents, following up his own research. We were all disappointed to learn that he hadn't been there to meet my folks or pursue a similar line of research. It was all luck. Maybe bad luck on Arthur's part. He had been knocked flat by something that was still inexplicable, about the same time my folks vanished. He had been drained physically, and his memory of several days wiped away. Arthur had taken months to recover.

Of course, Neighborlee sat in the middle of a big blank area, too. All sorts of electrical energy and disturbances, and our town was in the proverbial eye of the storm.

Kind of makes you wonder, you know?

Neighborlee Visitor's Guide: RETURN OF THE LIVING PROOF, book for September

 

Return of the Living Proof

What do a pregnant, shape-changing, interdimensional visitor, a questionable summer job at an even more questionable new business, a college life sciences project, and returning nemeses have to do with finally finding out what happened to Charlie and Rainbow Zephyr?

That's what Lanie and her growing team of allies are trying to figure out.

Cerb is back, with Loralee, the "girl" of his dreams -- both of them stuck in dog shape while on Earth -- and looking forward to a "blessed event." Instead of suffering cravings, Loralee digs up Lanie's yard, in her sleep, uncovering jewels and bones and trouble.

Then there are strange visions that result from unwise exploration of Black Water Pool and Jinx's pond. Both are off-limits spots in the quarries that have been seriously and strangely affected by past magic. And Senior Prank Night escapades.

When magically altered water seems to open a doorway to view the past, Lanie and her brothers take  advantage of a chance to figure out what happened to their parents in Bermuda, going on two years ago. The question is if they're preparing to rescue their parents -- or if they are the cause of the mystery after all.

 

Remember to check out YeOldeDragonBooks.com for information on the book and discount pricing all September.

Check back here later for the quiz, to earn points toward FREE books!

Excerpt: SHRUNK: THE EXILE OF MAURICE, Neighborlee, Ohio, Book 8

 

"Okay …" Maurice nodded. "I see what you mean. Didn't see that coming. I do like Star Trek …" He clasped his hands under his chin and fluttered his eyelashes.

Angela sputtered, fighting laughter. "We'll see. If you behave yourself for the next couple weeks. Now, to business. The guardians can handle the reality of you, in theory. With others who are sensitive enough to see you, we must tread lightly. To avoid tipping them in the wrong direction."

"Like Ken?"

"Perhaps. Ken noticed something, even if he isn't sure what. You don't want to get off to a bad start."

"I think I'm off to a great start. Helping two lonely hearts has to make big points with the Fae Council, don't you think?"

"Did you make Ken--"

"Nah, he thought of that all by himself. Guys like that need full-time keepers, helping others and ignoring themselves." His frustrated look faded into sympathy. "They'd look good together, you think?"

"I think those two would be very good together, yes." Angela tugged Maurice's outfit straight. "And I think they could do with a little help. A little. Not interference. A few nudges. Clearing a few obstacles out of their path. That sort of thing. Nothing drastic to catch the attention of Humans, and no strong use of magic."

"What strong magic?" he snarled. "When the Council pasted these stupid wings on me and shrank me, they shrank everything."

"If you don't fix that attitude, you can spend the entire Christmas season on that tree." She fought not to burst out laughing when terror blanched his ruddy complexion.

"It's kind of hard not to have an attitude when you're used to being over six feet tall and you're condemned to five inches for two Human years," he moaned He glanced toward the doorway and leaped into the air, before vanishing in a shower of purple sparks.

Jo came back into the room, accompanied by Holly. She wore a royal blue calf-length knit shirt-dress that hugged her slim frame. "What do you think?" She turned around, making the skirt flare out.

"You are going to knock them dead. They'll have to make you secretary to the president when you interview," Angela said.

"I'll just be glad to have a job with regular hours, indoors, and no newsprint or diesel fumes or engine pieces all over the floor."

"Go on back into that room," she made a twirling motion with her hand, "and don't come out until you have at least one outfit for each day of the week. That's an order."

Jo and Holly picked out three more dresses, two skirts, two pairs of dress pants, and several sweaters and blouses. They chattered excitedly as they left together, hauling Jo's new clothes out to her car.

Angela curved her hands around the Wishing Ball. The dragon's ruby eyes glowed softly in the dim afternoon light. "I wish for you a happily ever after," she whispered. Sparks spun up out of the Wishing Ball and shot out across the shop, through the front door. They split into two streams outside, following the paths Jo and Ken had taken.