Sunday Snippet: Trip the Light Fantastic (a Chaos novella)

It's spooky month!! Kind of happy to see the end of September. It was definitely a rough month. October is starting with a few bumps but here's hoping they'll smooth over soon.

Got my new tires and what a difference. Hit a snag with the husband's tires. We can't do two. It's all-wheel drive so they'll only replace all four. Sigh. We now have to wait until this weekend to get them replaced. Tires are expensive.

Had truly lovely weather. Mild temperatures that feel like fall are such a surprise. I'm not holding my breath that we won't end up with a big spike again, so I'm enjoying while I can.

Had a decent work week. Had another super challenging copy edit but got through it. Almost finished up with the evaluation read through. And I might be able to get back to my lingering project, which needs attention. I'm also hoping to make headway on my side project, which I'd really like to launch soon.

Good viewing week. I made it through my usual group of shows. I also included two binge marathons of Death in Paradise. The show makes me happy.

Began with Marple. Interesting episode that had some wild twists and turns. Very fun to see Tom Baker on screen.

Started the new season of Britain's Most Scenic Counties and enjoyed the introduction to Cheshire. Another area I'd love to visit at some point.

Caught another episode of Return to Paradise and enjoyed the mystery. Also really enjoyed seeing Mackenzie try to figure out the appeal of dating apps. Loved the interaction between her and the team also.

Watched an episode of Poirot and I'm really enjoying Ariadne Oliver. She's such a fun character. The mystery also ended up being twisty, which I also enjoyed.

Elementary had a great episode. I'm enjoying Sherlock's challenge with recovering from the concussion. Not sure how I feel about the serial killer getting away. Kind of hoping he gets caught without taking out anyone else.

Enjoyed another episode of Young Justice. I remembered some of this one and liked the pacing of the plot. Always fun to see Wally learn life lessons.

Caught another episode of Star Trek Lower Decks and loved the callbacks to Next Generation and Voyager. This show knows how to pay homage to its ancestors.

That's it for the life update this week. Tonight's post is from Trip the Light Fantastic, a Chaos novella.

Here's the miniblurb:

Esme Von Staunton and Ashton Sylvester think they might be going insane. Ashton's weird attunement with Esme draws her into his bizarre nightmare of hallucinations and doing things neither remember. Esme's brother Eric stumbles onto a plot by Baron Mobride and races to save his information source and his favorite couple, but Mobride has other ideas and doesn't plan to let Eric thwart him.

And a preview snippet…

Bonnie woke to muffled voices and no idea what happened. Wait. Her throat hurt.

Memories surfaced. She had a session with Baron Mobride. Something she never enjoyed. The man had a cruel streak and couldn't seem to find release until he exercised some kind of physical dominance on his partner.

Damn! He choked me into unconsciousness. No wonder her throat hurt.

She wisely remained still, but opened her eyes slightly and listened carefully. Baron Mobride stood beside the door, speaking with two of his flunkies. One had a deep, grunty voice and the other sniffled and wheezed when he spoke.

Mobride shoved his legs into his pants. "Continue the project." He buttoned up and grabbed his shirt.

The sniffly one lowered his voice. "Including Sylvester?"

Mobride gave a nod. "Yes, with two more deliveries per week."

The other flunky grunted. "Got some questions about that, boss. 'Specially if you don't want—"

Mobride cut him off. "Shut it. Hold on." Mobride went back to the bed and smacked Bonnie on the ass. "Hey. Wake up." He gripped her shoulder, shaking hard.

Bonnie pretended to jolt back to consciousness. "Wha … what happened?" Her hand went to her throat, rubbing gently.

Mobride smirked. "No matter. Get out and give me the room." He threw her wrap on the bed.

Bonnie pulled the garment over her and sat up. "Baron Mobride. This is my area." She turned away and slid the robe over her shoulders. "I can't leave or I won't make my night's quota."

Mobride snorted. "You're leaving." He peeled several bills off a wad of cash and tossed them on the bed. "Get out. Now."

She scrambled up after grabbing the money. "Yes, Baron." Stuffing the payment into her pocket, she edged past the two men standing in the doorway, keeping her eyes downcast.

She'd seen enough of them before Mobride kicked her out to recognize the faces if she needed to.

The men entered the room and slammed the door behind them.

Bonnie huffed out a breath. "What is Mobride up to?" She slowly made her way down the corridor and entered the bathroom.

Pacing back and forth, she pondered what she overheard.

The baron had something nefarious in the works. "And somehow it involves Ashton Sylvester." She had to Eric know.

Could she wait until Eric's next appointment or should she send a message?

Heaving a sigh, she sat on the edge of the bathtub. "I'll probably wait. Sending a message will be too risky." She couldn't trust word wouldn't get back to Mobride … not with the amount of money the man spent at Tildaswail.

She sent a silent missive to the universe. Let everything be all right until Eric returns.

I have a lot of love for this series. The cast of characters is so much fun to write.

 

That's it for this week.

Cheers!

Skye