Beware of a Cursed Forest
Misty Falls, Book 3
Contemporary Fantasy / Fiction
Publication Date: September 19, 2023
Page count: 99 pages
SCROLL DOWN FOR GIVEAWAY!
SYNOPSIS:
How long can a magic ring last?
Long enough to get Violet through the worst, then send her through it
again. When her new husband and his friends go grave robbing, they dig up a
legend. They recover a thousand-year-old ring with a curse. When she finds
it she uses it to her advantage like the last ring she owned, and her
husband confesses to her how he obtained it. The magic flees from the ring
after killing the people it sees deserving, but when it attacks her, Violet
knows what she must do. It’s go back to grandma’s, then Misty
Falls.
When she goes back her curiosity gets the best of her and she goes with a
friend to investigate a murder in the haunted forest. Soon the forest is
haunting her, and she is met with the killer, who wants more young blood.
Though born on Friday the 13th, she believes in herself. Is she able to
escape a streak of bad luck?
READ AN EXCERPT:
Curtis and his friends split up into three motel rooms ten minutes away
from the cemetery they wanted to rob. They couldn’t bring them on the
plane, so they had to go to a local store and get a shovel for each of them.
The plan was to rob Jessie’s grave first and look for the famous ring
that was fashioned in hell. “I want to see this ring,” one of
them said. “I hope it doesn’t say made in hell or I will
run.” They snickered at his joke except for Curtis. All their rooms
were right next to each other. After hitting Jessie’s grave that night
they would look through other graves and the mausoleum afterwards because
there was no digging with those, then they’d go for the bigger graves,
because the families may have had more money to pay for them.
After a quick dinner it was darkening. “Can
we go now?” Curtis asked.
“It’s supposed to be late, but we will
all take the rental car and be there in about thirty minutes. It’s
getting darker at this point. I don’t think anyone will see
us.”
“Have you done this before?” Curtis
asked.
“No, I’ve stolen but not from a grave
and this will probably be the only time.” By the time everyone was in
the car it was darker, and they left. They had shovels and gardening tools
in the back.
A red glow of light began to come from over the
horizon. “I thought the sunset was over,” one of them in a black
leathery jacket said.
“It was,” said the dark blond who
appeared to be the leader. He had the most experience stealing and did not
spend one day in jail for anything.
As they got out the red seemed to get bigger.
After opening the trunk, they then got out shovels and began looking for the
one grave with the ring. There was a large, rounded tombstone straight ahead
with some fresh flowers there half dead. The leader went for that one and it
read Jessie the name they were looking for. He had died almost ten years ago
and there was a card against the stone. It was about how someone missed him
so much and how she loved him but never told him enough and it was signed
Tess. It was from his girlfriend. The leader left it open and put it back.
His friends began to dig but Curtis wandered around looking for graves to
start digging. “Go to the mausoleum,” the leader told him, and
Curtis went that way glad Violet had no idea where he was.
As the guys dug Curtis tried opening crypts with
the shovel but they didn’t come open. When he found an old one with a
big crack he decided to try that one. This person had died in the
1920’s. He hit it hard a few times with the shovel and the right side
fell off. Sliding the coffin out and peeking in he could not see well but
there wasn’t anything buried with him of value. He put it back and
tried to find another one. He kept looking for older graves because if they
were buried with anything old it could be valuable.
Curtis stepped out of the crypts and saw that most
of the sky had turned red accept a circle of black in the middle. They all
stared at it. “What makes the sky like that?” One of them asked.
No one responded.
“Guys I don’t like this,” Curtis
said.
“We are almost there,” the leader
said, and he made deep holes with his shovel. “Go look for crypts to
steal from.” Just then he smacked into the coffin with his shovel.
They dug it out and opened it. Curtis came to see. “There he
is.” Exactly, Here lies Jessie just like the tombstone said. Curtis
glanced up and the whole sky was red. It seemed like an omen to him but
there were still pretty twinkling stars shining through. The leader pulled
the ring of his finger. Examining it the design looked like hell fire and he
check on the inside. It said made in Hades. He wanted to throw it but
pawning it would be a better idea. He put the ring in his pocket, and they
began reburying Jessie.
They kept looking around the graveyard for ghosts
and zombies coming to get them for revenge, but they didn’t. If
anything, Jessie would have been glad the ring was gone and being the good
person that he wouldn’t hurt anyone. They finished covering the grave.
“Don’t worry. We’ll pawn it as fast as we can,” he
told Curtis.
“If and when we find a pawn shop,” one
of them said. Curtis was the only one uneasy and they couldn’t drive
away fast enough. He would never do this again and was sorry he broke the
man’s crypt marble.
The sky had stayed red for the rest of the night.
When morning came it seemed like a dream but they needed to find food and a
pawn shop. There were still days left in their stay in Michigan to do as
they wished after finding what they needed.
After Curtis called Violet the leader wanted to
tell them his decision. “I easily found a pawn shop in the phone book,
but it’s not close. So, I have decided we have more to steal, and we
can pawn that before we go back to Canada where we won’t get caught.
Is that ok?” he asked Curtis.
“That’s fine. It’s only a ring
and I’m not even staying with it,” he responded.
“Yes, and it must be worth so much. We can
split it just tell your little lady back home your business was doing
well.” Curtis nodded in agreement. They spent the day looking for
places to rob and eat.
While they ate Chinese food in a motel room the
leader made his announcement. “We will rob an old mansion. It’s
old but they look like they have money. Tomorrow me and Anthony will go and
see if there’s an easy way in and what they leave open or
unlocked.” All they could do was nod. “Then we’ll come
back when they’re gone and get you Sawyer. Curtis we need someone to
drive the car. You can get out, but you need to be ready to drive. Hopefully
these people are going on summer vacation. How’s that sound?” he
asked Curtis.
“Sounds fine. If we go in through the backyard
it’s harder for people to see what we are doing,” he
suggested.
“Good idea,” the leader Tristan said.
He turned on the TV while they had a beer and relaxed. “It’s
funny how rich people like to come out here thinking that it’s nice
and peaceful and then get robbed.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Martha Wickham has studied writing with Writer's Digest and has an
associate’s degree in Social Services. She has also written poems and
songs and even studied screen writing and horror. She still writes and likes
getting writing prompts. Her favorite author is VC Andrews. If you purchase
and read Martha's books a review on this web site will be greatly
appreciated.
GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
