Sunday Snippet: Elemental Healing (a Lantern Jack tale)

Happy Easter tothose who celebrate. For everyone else, I hope your weekend is rocking withgood vibes!

We got someterrific news this week. My youngest, who will graduate from university in May,got accepted into grad school! She's so excited and will have a Master of Arts Administrationwhen she finishes.

Had a fairly busy weekwith work projects. Discovered one ended up with a corrupted file and had tofix some weird, random code that inserted itself into the file. What a pain!

Decent week of viewingtelevision. I'll admit some was mainly background noise while I worked on editing.But not bad overall.

Ended up gettingtwo episodes of The Batman in this week. Enjoyed both and should be ontrack to catch another one this week.

Also caught twoepisodes of Classic Rugrats. Weirdly, I remember two but from differentepisodes. They always did two per show and I distinctly remember one from eachof the episodes I watched. Weird.

Watched anotherepisode of My Life Is Murder and, once again, enjoyed it. Dueling bakersisn't something I would normally think of as a premise for murder.

Enjoyed another episodeof Midsomer Murders. I have one left for this season and then it's timeto wait for more again. Good thing there are plenty of other mysteries to keepme occupied.

Started the newseason of Silent Witness. Another new face or two for this season andI'm okay with that. I have a feeling things are going to get very interestingthis season.

Caught anotherepisode of Death in Paradise. We're getting closer to Humphrey's exitand Jack's entrance. I'll be able to start Beyond Paradise in the nearfuture.

Watched anotherepisode of Elementary. The new vibe between Holmes and Watson is fun.I'm enjoying a slightly softer version of Sherlock.

Started an episodeof Peak Practice. I skipped one because I really didn't care one bit aboutthe whole saga of Andrew and Kate. But it's interesting that Will is back.Should be a wild ride.

That's pretty muchit for the life update this week. Tonight's post is from Elemental Healing,a Lantern Jack tale.

Here's the miniblurb:

Lantern Jack is back to right another wrong. Erica Ellisis a fire demon whose powers are going out of control. She needs interventionand an ancient ritual could save her from harming others. Perth Pettigrew is a mysticknight and knows the old rites. Too bad he's no longer using his gift. It's upto Lantern Jack to bring the two together for some elemental healing.

And a preview snippet…

Erica woke up,thankfully still numb. A full bottle of liquor knocked her back a few hours.She might have to grab more to be safe.

She blinked away thesleep them jolted upright. "What the hell?" An ugly carved pumpkintook up space on the nightstand.

It greeted her. "Hello,I go by Jack."

She rubbed her eyes."Huh, you're new." She glanced around. "Did Blenden bringyou?" Who else could've entered her studio apartment while she slept.

Her low-simmering angerfaded. He'd never brought her anything before. If a weird gourd could count asa gift.

Jack tsked. "Blendendidn't bring me. But I am here to help you."

She laughed. "Oh,sure. A creepy jack-o-lantern is going to help me. Right." How, exactly,did the plant think it could assist her?

Jack responded. "Youcan doubt all you want, but I'm your only hope."

Seriously? Maybe shewouldn't plan on drinking whiskey anymore. Clearly, the potent alcohol had herhallucinating. And gave her a raging headache.

Erica groaned."I'm talking to a damned pumpkin." She got up on wobbly legs andstarted for the small bathroom. "What do you know about me anyway?"

Jack filled her in. "Iknow you're out of control and losing your grip on your ability more with eachpassing day. How bad do you think it'll be on All Hallows?"

Erica paused then satdown. Hard.

She raked a handthrough her hair. "Shit. I didn't even think about that." And sheshould have.

Jack pushed her. "Youneed to."

Erica sighed. "IfBlenden hadn't bailed, this wouldn't be a problem." Why did her mentorleave her high and dry, especially so close to All Hallows?

Jack made anoncommittal reply. "Maybe he didn't bail. Maybe he did. Either way,you have to step up and decide what to do."

Erica huffed out abreath. "Right because that's so easy to do." She inhaled slowly,trying to find her center. "Fine. Got any suggestions?"

Jack chuckled. "Youwon't like it."

At this point, Ericadidn't care. "I don't enjoy drinking myself to an early deatheither." And she really hated the idea of being anywhere near as drunk asshe'd need to be on All Hallows in order to not hurt anyone.

Jack replied. "There'sa place—a rock quarry—about an hour's drive from here. If you go out ofcontrol, there's not much you can burn down out there."

Erika considered theidea. Safer to be away from people until—hell, better make that if—she got herability under control. But she could use help. She didn't want to live at aquarry for the rest of her days.

She eyed the pumpkin. "Whatabout Blenden? If he comes back, he won't know where to find me." Shedidn't want to believe the grizzled, old demon abandoned her.

Jack made a sound offrustration. "Maybe someone else will show you the way. You can't counton an old fire demon."

Right. As if someoneelse is going to leap to my aid.Erica had a brief thought about the handsome mystic knight. Too bad he neededan attitude adjustment.

Which led her back toMatchick. "Blenden's the only one who gave a shit. No one else gives adamn about helping me transition."

Jack sighed. "I'mnot saying he didn't care. I'm saying he's old and maybe unable to helpanymore."

Is that why hehasn't been around lately?

Erica growled on anangry breath. "Fine. But if I have to camp out, I'm not going." Shecouldn't do tents for obvious reasons.

Jack's face twisted. "There'sa small building the foreman used to stay in. It's cinder block so you can'tdamage it too much."

Erica snorted."Gee, thanks for the confidence." And why did she feel insulted by apumpkin?

Jack smirked. "Doyou want directions or not?"

Erica got up andstarted gathering stuff to pack. "Not like I have any other options."

I have so much fun writing the Lantern Jack tales. This oneis a little tricky but I'm enjoying it.

 

That's it for this week.

Cheers!

Skye