Abracadabra
by K. Stevens
Genre: Paranormal Urban Fantasy
Magic and mayhem are his middle names. Figuratively. Not literally. He's not sure he even has a middle name, let alone two.
Rod's a trickster by trade, magician by hobby, and thief by night. But when an old friend hunts him down and asks a favor, he can't refuse. Mostly because she'll likely try to kill him before asking again. But also because it presents a very interesting puzzle: to hunt down what a half-elf, magic weapons, and a killer-led cult of shapeshifters have to do with each other.
Lucky for him, Rod has the ability to be in three places at once. The problem? Even he can't always tell which him is the real him.
Abracadabra Excerpt 1
You’d be surprised how many pirate
ships can fit into a magical underground harbor. It was laughable how much
Miles’ ship looked like a toy boat compared to the mechanical wonders
surrounding it. The huge slats of wood on either side and bottom of his ship
didn’t help the notion. It was considered “old-fashioned” to still have a
wooden hull -- not to mention dangerous if there wasn’t an ample amount of
protection behind it. Apparently Miles happened to be an old-fashioned type of
guy.
The wood was old, but had a bright
sheen to it as if Miles had gone over it was some sort of gloss. One could only
hope it was for protection and not decoration. It had a pointed nose and a
narrow rudder, the sides bulging and creaking as it teetered in place. Large
metallic fins stuck out from either side with a single larger fin protruding
from the deck, and all three were pulled
tight against the ship, resulting in the ship looking even smaller.
To be honest, it looked kind of like
a giant fish.
As if its size and shape weren’t
enough to make it stand out, two cannon noses poked out near the front like a
pair of empty eyes while something akin to a huge sniper barrel rested on the
deck.
Miles motioned to an old rope ladder
clanking along the side. He flashed a mischievous smile to Olyvia, who was
clearly uncomfortable with the whole affair and rethinking her deal.
“Ladies first,” he said.
Abracadabra Excerpt 2
The roads were wide tracks in the
ground, the ground around the edges of each hut a trampled mess of sticky mud.
Woven grass mats were laid in the middle of the messes, probably to increase
traction despite the mud reaching through any holes available.
I
followed the beaten path to the closest cluster of buildings, finding my way to
a building with a crudely-constructed porch made of logs forced into place
among the mud. The sounds of community drifted through a makeshift curtain of
thick leaves covering the entrance. A pair of pale, hollow-eyed elves walked
past, keeping their heads down as they pushed past the leaves and made their
way into the building.
Judging
by the many muddy tracks on the makeshift porch, this place was where the elves
gathered. Or at least, one of them. Might as well start asking question and see
what I could see.
I
went to the curtain and attempted to brush it aside. My hand passed through the
leaves instead. I pondered it for a second before snorting to myself; of
course. Of course I can’t interact with things. I pushed past the curtains and
entered the hub.
Tell us about your main characters-
what makes them tick?
Rod is one of those that has been
around for a very, very, VERY long time. He’s seen things come and go, wars
fought, and people he thought he was close to die off while he remained. He’s
got a tinsey bit of abandonment issues, but these don’t come out as clingy so
much as they do ‘disinterested’. He figured out that if he remains distant from
others (to a certain extent), then it won’t hurt so much when they leave
him...and his general attitude is that everyone will leave him eventually,
either through walking out or dying. He’s not completely absolutist, though, as
there are a few exceptions due to their own lifespans and survival interest --
and Olyvia is one of those people. It’s one of the reasons he so carefully
guards her without actively guarding her; he can’t stand the idea of someone
taking her away from him, but yet refuses to get completely attached to her.
As for Olyvia herself, she keeps
others at arms length due to an...unfortunate past that constantly makes her
think of herself as a monster. Instead of wallowing in sorrow or sulking away
into a cave, however, she’s dedicated herself to this idea (so she thinks) and
refused to admit there might be more to the story. She’s fairly long-lived, and
in that time has become confident in her own ability to think and fight her way
through any given problem. She resents feeling trapped, pressured, or someone
lording secret knowledge over her, but her lifetime has taught her patience and
restraint...which is what makes it so much harder to deal with Layla, the
half-elf that is a puzzle unto herself.
From an early age, K. Stevens devoured all things magical and mystical. To this day, she hesitantly struggles to keep one foot in reality while the rest of her remains firmly rooted in the fantastic and insane. In 2015, she finally worked up enough courage to share her stories with more than just her family, and was encouraged by the fact that she wasn’t eaten alive for it. She may be the crazy lady that talks to bugs and stares incessantly into the sky, but don’t mind her. She’s just thinking.
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