By Erin Fanning
Coming May 12, 2015 from Lyrical Press
Love and danger intertwine…
It’s called El Toque de la Luna—The Touch of the Moon. At
least that’s how nineteen-year-old Gabby’s older sister, Esperanza, refers to
the magical powers she inherited from their Mayan ancestors. Esperanza says
women with El Toque weave magic into their knitting, creating tapestries
capable of saving—or devastating—the world. Gabby thinks Esperanza is more like
touched in the head—until a man dressed like a candy corn arrives at their
Seattle home on Halloween. But “Mr. C” is far from sweet…
Soon, Gabby and her almost-more-than-friend, Frank, find
themselves spirited away to a demon ball, complete with shape shifters—and on a
mission to destroy Esperanza’s tapestries before they cause an apocalyptic
disaster… And before it’s too late to confess their true feelings for each
other.
Excerpt
A gust of wind scattered leaves across the University of
Seattle campus. My hair tangled over my face. New contacts tortured my eyes,
and books weighed down my backpack. It didn’t matter. A tornado could have
snatched me up. As long as it carried me home and put an end to the anniversary
of the worst day of my life.
“Watch out, Gabby.” My best friend Frank thrust his hands
deep into the pockets of his pinstriped suit. “We’re being followed by a giant
candy corn.”
“Giant candy corn? Yeah, right.” If I turned around, Frank
would laugh and say, “Gotcha”, or some other dorky thing. The mind-numbing
boredom of Calculus I, our last class of the day, always set Frank off, making
him zanier than usual.
“I mean it. We’ve got a candy corn on our tail.” Frank
whistled a Lester Ruben song as he sauntered ahead.
“Okay, okay. Let me see this Halloween wonder.” If I didn’t
give in, Frank would never leave me alone. I whirled, ready to hear Frank’s
laugh, and almost ran into a man. His face glowed orange, like someone who’d
spent too much time in a tanning booth, and he wore a white cap pulled down to
his ears. A yellow scarf hid his neck and chin. For once, Frank wasn’t kidding.
The man resembled a giant candy corn.
Shredded paper and a postage stamp poked out of his scarf,
and a moon decorated an edge of the knitting, like one of my older sister
Esperanza’s creations. It didn’t seem possible, but no one else I knew added
garbage and a signature moon to their knitting. A wool coat covered the rest of
him, except his face and steel-tipped boots.
“Sorry.” I jumped back.
Frank’s chuckles mixed with squirrels chattering in a nearby
tree. Drizzle moistened my forehead, and a cold dampness seeped into my bones.
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion, like watching Esperanza unravel her
knitting one stitch at a time to fix a mistake.
About the author
Erin Fanning spends
her summers on a northern Michigan lake, where her imagination explores the
water and dense forest for undiscovered creatures. In the winter, she migrates
to central Idaho, exchanging mountain bikes and kayaks for skis and snowshoes.
She’s the author of Mountain Biking
Michigan, as well as numerous articles, essays, and short stories.
Links
Website: www.erinfanning.com
