Published by The Wild Rose Press
Released August 29, 2014
Genre: Paranormal New Adult
Length: Novel
When
her aunt steps off a grain elevator into the emptiness of a prairie evening,
Mira Piper loses her one protector. Chloe, her flighty mother, impulsively
drags her daughter to Bramblewood, an isolated spiritualist retreat in northern
Michigan, run by the enigmatic Dr. Virgil Simon.
Chloe
plans to train as a medium but it's Mira who discovers she can communicate with
the dead. When her mother abandons her, Mira discovers a darker aspect to
Bramblewood: the seemingly kind doctor has a sinister side and a strange
control over his students.
Then
one winter's day Troy Farrington arrives, to fulfill his mother's dying wish
and deliver her letter to the doctor. But calamity strikes and he finds himself
a captive, tended by a sympathetic Mira. Haunted by her dead aunt and desperate
to escape Bramblewood, Mira makes a devil's deal with Dr. Simon. But
fulfillment comes with a steep cost...betrayal.
~ * ~
“You
are absolutely stunning, Mira.”
I stole
another glance in the mirror. The material was a rich, shimmery gold that fell
from my shoulders in folds of liquid light. It looked like something a Greek
goddess might wear. Oh, how I wished the girls from Amberville High School
could see me in this dress!
“When
you came here,” said Dr. Simon, “I had a vision of you like this. I looked at
the girl before me, but I saw the woman you are now.”
“Thank
you,” I murmured, gesturing toward the piles of clothes on my bed. “You’ve been
so generous. I know you’ve spent a good deal of money on me—”
“Money
means nothing,” he interrupted abruptly. “I have more than I could ever spend,
more than I know what to do with. Don’t consider the cost.”
His
tone was brusque, and I wondered if I had offended him.
But the
next moment Dr. Simon smiled. “I think of you as my charity case. You were like
a doll thrown out in the garbage. I simply rescued you from the trash, cleaned
you up, and dressed you in something decent. But the beauty was present all
along.” He touched my cheek. “Here.” Then he touched my forehead. “Here.” Then
he touched my chest. “And here.”
I knew
he was referring to my heart, but even so, his hand on my chest made my face
warm with discomfort.
“You
blush so easily,” he laughed. “You’ll never be able hide anything, Mira, with
such a transparent face.”
“That’s
all right,” I said, taking a small step back. “I don’t have anything to hide.”
~ * ~
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