The Way Unforeseen
The Ghostly Way #0.5
by Jill Bisker
A tragic tale of unrequited love, a broken heart, and the lost dreams of another era. Teoline, Quentin and Soren were introduced in the novel Finding the Way Back. The Way Unforeseen tells the story of how they came to know and love each other, and details the terrible events leading up to their final redemption and fulfillment.
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Chapter One
Her heart was full of exhilaration. She wasn’t sure whether it was just being with Quentin, or if it was also knowing that she was doing something that her parents wouldn’t find socially acceptable that made it so. They met and sat by the lake while they talked of everything and nothing. They laughed watching the ducks chase the little pieces of bread they tossed. She felt as if there was no one else in the world who understood her like this man. Even after such a short acquaintance, they seemed to agree about everything.
The weeks flew by, and each day she spent anxiously waiting for the next time she could sneak out to be with Quentin. She found herself looking for his bright blue nineteen-forty Chevy whenever she was out on the street.
The joy she’d once felt in her work at the library took on a feeling of drudgery while watching the hands of the clock move toward their appointed assignations. Quentin would stop at the back door to the building and she would try to steal away, unannounced. She would jump into the passenger seat and Quentin would shoot off. As the first snows started to fly, he announced that he was being assigned to another territory. They were sitting in his car with the windows down after eating at a café in the next town over, and she didn’t know what to do or say. She’d known something was wrong when he’d been quiet during dinner.
“So, where do you go next?” Teoline asked, folding and unfolding a match book she’d picked up as a memento of another time they were able to be together.
“Iowa,” he answered, his eyes trained out the front windshield. “After that, it’s on to Illinois.”
“Oh,” she said softly. There was a lump in her throat and tears began forming behind her eyes. She willed them not to fall. Inside the car it was quiet except for other vehicles passing outside. She looked at the cream colored leather seat with its rips and tears, the dirty dashboard, and the worn carpet. This dingy interior had become a comfortable sort of home while they were together. After a few more minutes, Quentin started the car and put it in reverse. Neither of them spoke another word until they were a block from her parents’ house.
“Do you think you can get out tomorrow night? I’d like to be with you one last time before moving on.” His voice seemed stretched, and she wondered if his words were creating as much pain for him as for her.
Tears for the Departed
Swann Saga – Book Two
by J. Troy Seate
Renee Swann’s innocence was shattered in the Altinoma Valley, but she and her family survived. She believes she’s endured the most horrific circumstances imaginable, but she’s wrong. Now, nine years later, with a busy life and a good job in New York, Renee feels a growing uneasiness as the horrors of her past give way to a chilling new nightmare…and there’s nowhere to hide. Can she survive the horror that took root long ago once more, or will this ultimate exploitation and degradation destroy her?
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Enjoy a short excerpt from the book…..
Chapter One
“She’s gone!”
“Who’s gone?” Renee Swann asked, holding the phone with one hand and a small square of buttered toast with the other.
“Mattie Lawrence,” Renee’s assistant gushed excitedly. “Her super said she just packed a bag and told him she wouldn’t be back!”
“Damn,” Renee said under her breath. “Okay, Kate. We’ll find someone else. Check with the usual agencies and I’ll talk to Valor.”
Renee placed her phone back on its cradle. She remembered her dad saying similar words to her mother…a lifetime ago.
“Jennifer’s gone,” he had said.
The chilling comparison made the hair on her neck stand at attention. An invisible finger turned to that page of her life. Her thoughts drifted back almost a decade to Altinoma, when, at thirteen, she had been in the clutches of the Andrews. Unpleasant memories welled in the back of her skull, just a thought away from surfacing and taking center stage. “Not today,” she told herself. “I’ve got too much to do.”
Renee returned to her bedroom and pulled down on the fitted sheet that popped off the corner of the bed on restless nights. Then, she opened the bedroom louvers and closed the sliding glass door; the rituals of the morning, the things that anchored her to the reality that wanted to slip away during her night dreams. Images from the past crowded back into her mind as vivid as if they had happened the day before, visiting her parents’ grave, hiding in a hole in the ground with Donnie Andrews, visualizing the boogieman Doc Vickers said lived in the woods, and the moment she realized Donnie’s parents, Doc and Viola all lied to her, used her for their own purposes.
People long dead, wandering about in her head. “Demons be gone,” Renee said as she warmed to her first sip of cinnamon-laced coffee and forced her thoughts back to her present life. Mattie taking off surprised her. Although young and impressionable, she showed potential. She could only wonder if Mattie went home, somewhere in the Midwest or moved in with some guy she met in the business. Sometimes girls came back to give modeling another shot, but not usually.
“I’m here to stay. That’s for sure,” Renee said as she admired her New Jersey condo. The early morning sun slanted across soft contemporary furniture she picked out a piece at a time. Her place was a symbol of how far she’d come from the Altinoma Valley. Her career and independent lifestyle were her proudest achievements.
