October Weeping will go live on Halloween -- and it's a fun and suspenseful ride into another Thornwacker paranormal adventure. Truly, I love this story. It's a great continuation of where October Syndrome left off, only this time the plot centers around Todd and Naomi.
(PS: New to the October series? Get the lowdown of October Syndrome here.)
October Weeping dives into some great mythology about gargoyles, as well as an abandoned mall with a dark history. While the material may sound heavy, the heart is really about Todd's inadequacy as the younger (and not popular) Thornwacker. Independent Naomi is in a similar boat. Confused, angry, and stubbornly defiant, Todd and Naomi delve into a dark mystery together. But fate may have more than just another haunting in store for them.
Excerpt:
She watched Todd take a gulp of soda, then follow-up
it up with some more Doritos. In a year’s time, not much had changed about
Todd…with the exception of his toned arms and less boyish voice. But that hardly
mattered. Naomi shook her head, half laughing at her own observation.
Todd
seemed to take notice of her sizing him up, unfortunately. He flexed his bicep
and winked at her. “Catch isn’t the only one becoming a man, you know.” Now she
did laugh. Two brothers couldn’t be so different. Catch, the somehow naturally
tanned blonde who looked like he fell out an Axe commercial. And Todd, who
could have been Daniel Radcliffe’s stunt double for Harry Potter. ...If Harry ate junk food 24/7 and ghost hunted.
She
glanced back up at the gargoyle. It didn’t particularly look like a weeping
boy. Instead, its serpent-like tongue hung out of its mouth, while the eyes
looked as though they were hunting for new prey. An odd wave of hair circled around
the forehead. By all accounts, that thing
was scary. Todd’s story of tragedy hardly measured up against something that
looked so—
“Demonic.”
The word came out before she could stop it.
“What?
The gargoyle?” She nodded. “Well, gargoyles aren’t supposed to be pretty,
Naomi.”
She
sighed. The sun was setting. The air was getting chillier. “How much longer are
you going to stay here?” He shrugged in response. It occurred to her that
usually Todd was much more animated. He loved being a nerd. He loved exploring
and being the weirdo Thornwacker that everyone expected. But this picnic
spread…it was more solemn than a boy on an adventure. “Where is Catch?”
“At a
party with our parents.”
“Without
you?”
He
sighed. “I guess some stuffy event in our little town didn’t sound like much
fun.”
“So
you came up here to…watch the gargoyle?”
He
grinned at her. “Don’t you have big plans with your girlfriend? Or with Sully?”
She
winced at his reference to Emma. “Sully is spending quality time with my
mother. She likes romantic crap like weddings and dresses.”
“That’s
funny.” Todd stated flatly. “Catch isn’t much for dresses and romantic crap.”
“I
know.” Sully reached for more Skittles. “That’s more your style, isn’t it?” She
stopped herself from laughing. Because Todd certainly wasn’t. “You still like
Sully, don’t you?”
“It doesn’t matter. She made her choice. But it’s the wrong one.”
<STAY TUNED FOR MORE!>
#teenreads #paranormal #ghosthunters #gargoyles #halloween #octoberseries #octoberweeping
