Available online through Starcrossed productions or from you favorite neighborhood bookstore.

Ancestral Magic by Moondancer Drake

Publisher: PD Publishing

Genre: multicultural paranormal romance, f/f

ISBN: 978-1-933720-54-8 (1-933720-54-9)

Trade paperback cover price = $16.99 USD

"Moondancer Drake draws on indigenous history and ideology to create a rich "underworld" that exists right in plain view of contemporary America, in which battles and intrigue rage between warring clans--one seeking ultimate domination, the other fighting to prevent it. Ancient wisdom goes head-to-head with old animosities in this tension-laden cat-and-mouse game where the stakes are nothing less than the future of a lineage whose roots run deep in the sacred healing traditions of the Earth."

--Andi Marquette, author of Land of Entrapment and State of Denial

Blurb:

In a world where magic has become no more than childish fantasy or cinematic illusion, secret towns exists beyond the sight and understanding of mundane humanity.
Green Grove is such a town.

Sky Hawthorn is a single mother struggling to support herself and her blind son, on nothing more than a waitress’ salary and hardheaded determination.

Meg has spent years watching Sky stumble through one doomed relationship after another with the wrong men, never daring to reveal the secret love she has for Sky

When a lawyer arrives to tell Sky that an aunt she’s never known has left her a manor house in a place she’s never heard of, her family’s life is turned upside down and Sky is left with a big choice to make.

At that moment, with that single decision, the three of their lives change forever.

Hidden away in northern Wisconsin, inaccessible to anyone without magic in their blood, Green Grove’s secrets prove to be big ones. There’s a dark underbelly to the friendly town called the Sect, and they want Sky’s home and the magical place called Sacru Teren, a place her family is bound by ancestry to protect.

With the arrival of Roger Thompson, a charming local doctor that seems determined to sweep Sky off her feet, Meg is left with little but jealousy and doubt. Will the handsome doctor steal away their chance to be happy together, or will visions of Sky’s past and the dark secret that past holds change everything?

Excerpt:

Sky closed the ledger with a snap and leaned back in her chair, reaching her hands toward the ceiling. Her shoulders cracked, one after the other, and she groaned. Twice a month she went through the torture of paying bills. There was something masochistic about watching a bank account dwindle away, bit by bit, check after check. Things had always been tight, but lately she felt as if they were drowning in a sea of debt with no rescue boat in sight.

If it hadn’t been for the state funded programs available to them because of Drake’s disability, they never would have been able to afford his doctor bills or school equipment. Books in Braille were expensive enough when you had a son who was a voracious reader, but with Drake going to a school for the gifted, each of his textbooks had to be specially printed.

A year ago, Drake had insisted he wanted a dog like their neighbor Telisha’s. Sky applied to accredited training schools all over the country, but most insisted Drake was too young for one of their guide dogs. She gathered letters from his teachers and school, reports from therapists and doctors, and after a long battle, Drake’s application was finally accepted by a school in New Jersey.

Their friends and family had pitched in so they could pay Drake’s fees, which covered his room and board for the month he stayed at the guide dog school and the travel fare from Milwaukee to Morristown and back. Sky didn’t like taking charity, didn’t like feeling that she owed a debt to anyone, but she swallowed her pride for Drake’s sake. From the day Jewel entered their lives, she had been a treasure. The freedom her son gained from having Jewel as his guide, and knowing Drake was never alone, brought Sky peace of mind. Vet bills and food for a seventy-pound Labrador were not easy on the budget, but even with the extra financial burden, Jewel was worth her weight in gold.

For his birthday next January, Sky wanted to give Drake a Braille printer and a computer. She had saved all year for the cash and had even looked into financing to get it. That, too, had fallen prey to the reality of their new situation and the limitations their reduced circumstances placed on any further plans. She wanted to make Drake’s life easier, to give her son everything he needed, but...

Sky sighed and gathered up the bills. Throwing on her coat, she checked her pocket for the keys and locked the front door on her way out. One more batch of bills paid to fend off the creditors, and a large hole burned in an already thin bank account. Just proof that no matter how tough things got, somehow she and Drake got by. Some months it was close, and lately she almost always came home tired, but they survived.

She walked across the sidewalk to the mailbox, the packet of filled envelopes held tightly in her hand. Things were starting to get desperate, and she wasn’t sure what more she could do. One more surprise, and the narrow ledge on which their lives precariously perched might just tumble out from under her little family.

“Mrs. Hawthorne?”

Sky looked back toward the apartment building and saw a man in a sharply pressed suit standing on the top step. Everything about him, from the serious look on his face to the well-shined shoes, said his was not a social call.

“It’s Ms., actually; I never took my husband’s last name.” She opened the door of the mailbox and slid the letters inside. Her heart raced. A lawyer? It had to be. She took a deep breath and turned to the man. “Can I help you, sir?”

The man walked down the cracked cement steps and crossed the sidewalk to her. “My name is Michael Kessing, Ms. Hawthorne, and I’m here to discuss an official matter with you.” He held out his card and she took it. “Is there somewhere we can talk? Over coffee perhaps?”

Sky eyed the card suspiciously. “Any reason why we can’t just talk right here?”

“Ms. Hawthorne, it’s been a long drive from Columbia County. I’d like to sit down and relax while we discuss this matter.” He pulled a leather wallet from the inside pocket of his coat and flipped it open to reveal his driver’s license. “I understand your caution, and I commend it, but what we have to discuss could take a while.”

She scanned the driver’s license carefully and matched it with the name on the business card in her hand. Sky checked her watch. It was three o’clock; Drake would be home on the bus in an hour and a half. “Can you tell me what this is about, Mr. Kessing?”

“Ms. Hawthorne, it will take a long time to give you the details of what I’ve been sent to discuss with you.” Mr. Kessing walked back to the steps and picked up the briefcase that he’d set there. “Suffice it to say, it would be quite advantageous for your family if you agree to this meeting.”

Sky chewed the inside of her cheek in thought. The last thing her family needed was more trouble. Panic welled inside her until she was sure she would choke on it. Best to get this over with so she could plan how to attack the new problem.

Sky pointed down the street. The cool fall air was making her arms and hands tingle and she rubbed her fingers together to warm them. “There’s a diner across from the casino on Clyborn. I’ll have to call someone to meet my son when he gets home from school and also let them know where I am.”

“Understandable.” Mr. Kessing nodded at her arms, which were covered in goosebumps. “You may want to get a jacket while you’re at it. I’ll meet you at the diner in fifteen minutes. Is that sufficient time?”

“Give me twenty; that should be fine.” Mr. Kessing’s hard-soled shoes clicked on the street as he crossed to the other side, apparently heading for the silver Acura RSX parked at the corner. Sky took several calming breaths and turned back toward the apartment building.

The tiny ledge her family perched upon was getting even shakier, and there was nothing to grab on to if they fell.