For this week's Sneak Peek Sunday, I'm sharing
a sample of my new release, Shadows of Serenity. In this scene, Joyce, the owner, of the new yoga studio is conducting her first meeting with the new teacher training students. It's a tense moment as she hopes for enough students to sign up so she can pay the bills, but her meeting ends with even bigger concerns.
“I’m Ricca.” She
curled her legs to one side and sprawled onto an elbow.
“Make yourselves
comfortable,” Joyce replied, pleased to see the latecomer so at ease. Most
beginning teaching students sat rigid and stiff to display their best postures.
“It’s been a hard day for many of us. Let’s take a deep breath to center and
relax before we begin our talk.”
As Joyce
exhaled, she exchanged smiles with Eric who stood in the back of the room.
He grinned ear
to ear. He’d been right, just like when she advised her beginning teachers who
laid out empty mats that were filled with exactly that number of students.
Thirteen students, eleven women and two men, in her first yoga teacher training
class in the new studio of her dreams, lucky thirteen.
A single gull
cried at the window, and Joyce whipped around. Its beak hung open, gaping in
her face. Past the wiggling pink tongue, a message emerged from the dark depth
of its gullet: Thirteen steps to a
gallows. As quickly as it came, the bird flew away.
Joyce sucked in
a sharp breath. She turned toward the egrets, but they had gone. Without
looking at the class, she stepped to the stereo, taking an awkwardly long time
to select a new song. She inhaled slowly, filling her lungs completely, then
released with an extended exhale. The soothing music helped prana flow into
her. But as she scanned the room, her hands still trembled. No one’s face
showed any sign of surprise. Instead, they waited patiently for her to continue.
With a shaky smile, she got everyone on their feet and led a quick asana
routine to throw off any lingering negative energy.
*~*~*
Shadows of Serenity
Genre: women's fiction paranormal fantasy/magical realism
Description:
Joyce Runsey spends her life savings to open a yoga studio in an historic Victorian St Augustine house, only to discover the property is haunted. A female ghost’s abusive and very much alive husband still tortures her by using dark witchcraft. The disruptive energy thwarts Joyce’s ambition to create a special environment to train students to become yoga teachers.
Joyce engages in a deadly battle with not only the tormented spirit, but also the dangerous husband. To protect her students from harm, she must overcome mounting obstacles. An unknown swami pays an unexpected visit to give advice on how to free the anguished ghost. Can Joyce comprehend and follow the wise man’s guidance in time to save everyone who depends on her?
Read a longer excerpt on my website.
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*~*~*
2 comments:
Ooohhh sounds like a bad omen.
Yes, it sure is! Thanks for stopping by, Melissa.
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