CLOAK GAMES: SHATTER STONE excerpt

A few people asked what CLOAK GAMES: SHATTER STONE will be about, so here are the first few paragraphs of the book:

A mistake caught up to me.

To be blunt, I’ve made a lot of mistakes, but I almost always wriggle out of them.

Some of that is because I’m clever and a very good liar. Some of it is because I have magic, and I know spells that no human is supposed to ever learn. Some of it is because I’m in good shape, and I can run faster than a lot of the things that wanted to kill me. A lot of it is because I always assume the worst is going to happen and prepare for it as thoroughly as I can. That saved my life a lot of times.

Though some of my ability to wriggle out of mistakes – if I’m honest with myself – is because I’m pretty, and I can smile and stand up straight and stick my chest out a little and flirt my way out of trouble.

A pretty smile at the right time can smooth over all kinds of problems.

But not this. Not this mistake. This time, the mistake caught up to me, and there was no way I could avoid it.

It caught up to me on the day I had coffee with my brother’s girlfriend’s grandfather.

Yeah. It was kind of awkward.

-JM