Sunday Snippet: Quest for the Kingfish

Boo! It's the month of Halloween and creeptastic treasures! I love October. That said, it's also the time I need to start thinking and doing my holiday shopping. I do not want a repeat of last year when I waited way too long to get stuff done.

Had a busy week driving all over the place with my daughter. We had a college visit on Monday. I picked her up from the district tournament for golf on Wednesday. And I picked her up from her band competition because she needs to be up and out early in the morning. I forgot how much windshield time driving gives me. LOL

Not a bad week for television. I haven't started any of the new seasons of my faves yet. But… I did finish up Peter Gunn. I have a few ideas of what to replace that slot with but haven't landed on a specific one yet.

I caught two episodes of Blue Heelers. I'm still at the beginning of season two but I love this show. It has a great cast.

I started season nineteen of Midsomer Murders. I can honestly say I took the death of Sykes really hard. Seriously. Which is actually kind of sad but, man, that was one cool dog. The new one, Paddy, is also fun, but I had years' worth of Sykes antics to enjoy. Anyway… I like the new DS guy but I miss Charlie. I'm watching an episode with Jones in it and it kind of makes me nostalgic.

I got to watch two more arcs of Classic Who. The Claws of Axios and Colony in Space. I'll be starting a new one this week.

I also plan to watch the new Passionflix movie that released this week. I'm looking forward to it.

That's pretty much it for television this week. Tonight's post is from Quest for the Kingfish, a novella that got a start with a writing community prompt.

Here's the mini-blurb:

Stevie Peel is a little bit backwards and standoffish, but she loves a good mystery. Griff Lannsiter takes an immediate liking to Stevie and when she finds an ancient scroll tucked into the dusty stacks of the research library, he offers his help on her quest to find the elusive Kingfish.

And a preview snippet…

Stevie Peel sneezed when her feather duster disturbed a pile of moldering dust. "Dammit. I can't believe they won't let me use magick to clean this nightmare of a library wing." Rubbing her nose brought on several more violent eruptions. "Argh! This sucks." She tossed the offending cleaning tool over her shoulder and raised her hands to cast a spell to make the shelf clear.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." The voice came from the doorway leading to the main library.

She didn't have to look to see who decided to interrupt her punishment. Griff Lannister. The only guy… hell, possibly the only person… on campus who would dare. She'd been sentenced and banished to this solitary pursuit for hexing half the pavilion during the winternight festival dance.

Stevie lowered her arms. "You're not me but, yeah, I can't cheat." She shot a gaze over her shoulder. "Besides, I'm not in the mood to kill you right now." Her lips kicked upward in a smile. "Even though I could definitely hide your body in here and no one would find you." Heaving a sigh, she went to grab the stupid feather duster again.

Griff moved into the cavernous room with a laugh. "You won't kill me. I'd come back to haunt you and you'd never know another moment of peace again." He propped his hip on a table stacked with books she'd removed from the shelf.

Stevie chuckled because he totally would haunt her and she had no trouble picturing him drifting around and making her life even crazier than usual.

Moving back to the shelves, she swept the surface again. "Why are you here anyway?" Not that she minded, but the precept made it clear her punishment should be carried out alone.

Griff flipped one of the tomes open, stirring up more dust. "Eh, you got a bum deal. Not fair you have to clean this whole annex and aren't supposed to have anyone down here with you just because you mixed up a few words of a spell." He glanced up from the book. "If they paid attention, they would've known you weren't ready for a public rite." Slamming the book shut, he coughed when a waft of dust rose up to his face.

Stevie shrugged, even though his support touched her deeply. "I could've said something." Except she couldn't. She didn't do well with admitting defeat.

And she didn't talk about her issues with her mind going blank in crowds with anyone but Griff. And only because he pulled it out of her in his very Griff way.

What did the guy see in her?

Griff shuffled through the pile of old papers on the table. "Did they give you a deadline for having this cleanup thing done?"

Stevie snorted. "Are you kidding? I'm pretty sure they're hoping it'll take me the rest of this semester and the next one so they don't have to worry about me ruining the end of year festivities or the Valentine's ball. I mean, how would it look if I ended up making more of the student population succumb to a sleeping spell?" An entire dance floor of people dropping like stones, all because she goofed up the word order.

Griff glanced around the huge expanse of space. "I'll bet you're done within the month. Don't forget we have most of January off for semester break."

Stevie rolled a shoulder. "Except for the mounds of dust, I like it down here. It's quiet and very non-peopley." Her gaze slid sideways in his direction. "Present company excluded." But she didn't mind having his presence.

Griff gave her smirk. "Meaning I'm not people?"

She shot back. "Meaning you're one of the few I actually like." Something that continued to surprise her.

Griff puffed out his chest. "I like being at the top of your list."

She blinked and sputtered. "Totally not what I said." But probably true.

He turned and started toward the doorway, waving his hand in the air. "Doesn't matter, I heard your inferred meaning." He sailed through the exit and left her standing alone.

Shaking her head, Stevie laughed. "Inferred meaning, my ass. You heard what you wanted to hear."

But he didn't happen to be wrong. He did top her list.

I love writing Stevie. I wanted a character that had something of a learning disability but didn't let it stop her from achieving what she wants. And I wanted Griff to not try and fix her or solve her problems but to support her because he sees the potential she has. This story is so much fun.

That's it for this week.

Cheers!

Skye