Teaser with a Tune

Today is Kid #2's 5th birthday. She couldn't be more thrilled. Somehow she thinks she'll be riding on the bus and going to school with the rest of the kids starting . . . um . . . today. For a while we've been trying to explain she won't be going to school until the fall, but she's just not catching on. Anyway, enjoy the teaser, I'll be planning the surprise party she's been asking for. :-)

Listen to this while reading the teaser:

“Katriona?”

There’s so much I want, but is it really that much to ask? I want the life I was beginning to have. I want family, friends . . . this is all a dream, it’s just a dream and I’m going to wake up any moment. None of this is real. I smack my face, hoping to snap out of this, to open my eyes and be in my dorm room at Virginia Tech, or to open my eyes and see the stars Brad and I put on my ceiling all those years ago. Again and again I bring my palm to my cheek, pinch my hand, punch my thigh, but I’m still trapped in this dreadful place, still sitting atop a beautiful horse, still face to face with a man I don’t want to be face to face with, no matter how far we’ve come.

“Katriona,” Perth says, wrapping his bony fingers around my wrist.

I jerk away from him and punch my thigh again.

“Kate! You are in shock. Let me take you to The Meadows. The giants said the town is clear; we can go to Arland’s childhood home, assuming it is still standing.”

Arland’s childhood home. It may smell like him, may have something that I can touch and feel, something I can hold onto while I cry. “Okay.”

“Hand me her reins,” Perth says, holding out his hand.

“What? Why?”

“In case you change your mind before we arrive.” He opens and closes his palm, demanding the leather straps.

I sigh. “Here.”

Digging his feet into Luatha’s sides, Perth leads Mirain, and Bowen follows.