Heather Ashbury's Blog

I really am the worst at sticking to a schedule... For example, my blog. I'm supposed to be posting regularly, but hah... that certainly isn't happening.

You get what you get with me! I can be sporadic and impulsive with anything in my life.

So let me catch you guys up on what's been happening in my life!

Book-Related news:

My second book, More Than Wolf, was entered into a cover contest on AllAuthor during the month of December. It was a tight run, but we came out on top winning first place! What a great way to end the year. I am so thrilled for my best friend who designed the cover. She deserved that award! It really is a fantastic cover, and I'm not just saying that because it's on my book.

I just recently unlocked a new author milestone by reaching S1,000.00 in total online royalties! That is counting from Nov 2020 when I first published More Than Human to Jan 2023. I never thought I would actually reach that number.
I have sold a total of 932 books online - some were from free giveaways.

Progress on book 3:
I have been slacking on writing book 3, More Than Legend, honestly... But in the last few days I have made small progress. Hey, progress is progress, right? We are currently sitting at 29,381 words. I do not have a word count goal for this book as I'm just kind of letting it be itself. Book 3 is detached from the rest of the series as the storyline goes, taking you back to the 1640s aboard a ship named The She of the Sea, captained by Jule's ancestor, Grace Foster. You learn a bit more about The Order of Purity, where The Cave is located and why it is so important, who the *real* villain of the series is, and some other fun bits. I've included numerous creatures of myth and lore that are lesser known including aswang, fossegrim, melusine, hamrammr, and my own creation tossed in there!
The research involved for this book has been so fun to do, from what real pirates were like to charting courses for my fleet. I love learning about history and mythology, so this series really keeps my brain entertained.
I am really excited about this book and I really want it to be just right. I know I said I wanted to have it published by the end of winter, but that's not going to happen. My muse took a sabbatical and forced my creativity to go on vacation for about two months. Didn't help that I was overwhelmed with other things at home... But now, my muse has returned and I have been working again! 

Reviews:
I have gained a few new ratings and reviews for both books recently. The written reviews have all been positive, but a few of the star ratings have been low. Ooof. So, if you have read my book(s), please take a moment to leave a review and help me get those numbers back up. Remember, your review doesn't have to be a book report. No one is going to grade you on it. A simple, short explanation of whether you liked it or not will be great! If you'd like to explain why you liked/didn't like it, that helps other potential readers to determine whether or not it's a book they'll enjoy. Liked the creatures? Say that! Liked the love story? Mention it! Enjoyed the more brutal sides of the story? Awesome - others might, too! Anything you can add is helpful to both me and future readers.

Current rating status:
AMAZON:
More Than Human: 4.5 ; 63 total ratings
More Than Wolf: 4.9 ; 10 total ratings

GoodReads
More Than Human: 4.13 ; 45 total ratings
More Than Wolf: 4.75 ; 8 total ratings

Now that I'm finished with the business side of things, here's a more personal look into my life:

Recently, our oldest dog Luna suffered a severe infection that required her to stay the night at the vet and have surgery. She will be 10 in April.
That was a rough few days. I was a complete mess. I have had this dog since she was a tiny, tiny puppy and we have been through some serious shit together. This dog was there with me during my lowest lows. Due to some really bad decisions on my part, she was also put through hell by being taken from one place to another because I couldn't accommodate her. I will always feel shitty about that. 
But, she made it! She got the treatment she needed and she's feeling even better than before! I catch her acting like her puppy-self every now and again. We get to enjoy our loud, smelly, spoiled Luna for another few years

This month I celebrated my 8-year wedding anniversary with my husband. I can't believe it's been 8 years already, but at the same time, it feels like we have always been together. He is my best friend and I am so incredibly blessed to have him in my life. Though he's stubborn and has several quirks that drive me nuts, that's why I love him. Those quirks of his are what make him who he is, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
In celebration, we went out to dinner at the bowling alley (yes... no fancy restaurants for us!) and had some incredible burgers! Seriously, they were really good! So, locals: go to the bowling alley and get you a burger!
We did not go bowling, but rather hit the pool table for some 8-ball on our 8-year anniversary (I actually just realized that... hahaha). It has been nearly a decade since I last shot pool and I was super surprised at how well I did. We had a lot of fun.

And in other news, if you're looking for something new to read, go check out my fellow Seven Sisters' works! The Seven Sisters are a group of women from around the world that work together with writing. We help edit, provide feedback, and of course, support one another. A few of these amazing women don't have any books published (yet) but here is a list of those that do! If you love high fantasy, these are all great!

The Cursed Queen series by Aimee Clinton 

Violet Crown by bv Sloan (bv Sloan has another book releasing soon! The sequel to this one!)

Hunt for the Dragon Egg Thief (This book is great for younger audiences and I really enjoyed it!)
How NOT to Kill Dragons by R. Joy 

Author H. M. Brandon has several books out that also revolve around dragons. 

And that's about it... until next time!
*If you read this blog post, please leave a comment - I'm trying to see if this is actually worth continuing*

 I finally have something worthwhile to share with you all.

The 20th of September was my birthday and for that I offered up both of my e-books for free on Amazon. This promotion made me hit some major milestones as an author.

I will gladly share all of the details from my promo, but first I want to share the milestones that I hit.

First, both of my books reached the Top Ten Best-Selling in two different genres. More Than Human hit #10 in the genre Dark Fantasy Horror and More Than Wolf hit #10 in the category New Adult & College Fantasy. Once my books reached the top 25 on the first day, they both stayed there during the duration of the promotion. They fluctuated, of course, but never went above 25!

I "sold" over 300 copies in the first three days of my promo. That is a lot of new readers! And because of this promo I have officially surpassed the 500 mark for total books sold and am quickly approaching the 1k mark!

Did I make any money from this? No, it was a free promo. BUT, I may have snagged some new readers to stick out my series and I should hopefully be getting some new reviews.

All of this happened because of you amazing people. I didn't do any advertising for my event, just Facebook posts and comments, and because so many of YOU guys shared my post(s) I was able to reach even more people. I could not have done any of this without the dedication and love of my friends and readers, so, thank you. 

In other news: I have passed the 25k word mark for book 3 but have not had much free time lately to work on it. I am hoping to have it finished by December and published early next year. A cover design is being discussed with my lovely artist and I am really looking forward to what her talent brings.

Other other news: I have had two fantastic ideas for other books hit me and have finally found the beginning to one of them. I am debating on whether these will be published under my current pen name or if I will adopt a new pen name. The reason for this is, your pen name is your brand. You hear Steven King and immediately think horror, right? Though, these books are both paranormal themed, they might be geared toward a younger audience, and because of THAT I might change my pen name. Heather might start getting a little more "adult" in the near future.

Here is the breakdown of my Free Book Promo:

Day 1 - 142 copies sold
Day 2 - 86 copies sold
Day 3 - 91 copies sold
Day 4 - 149 copies sold
Day 5 - 71 copies sold
Total copies sold: 539

 *Takes a deep breath* 

I had planned this book release months in advance. I got everything in order and scheduled from editing, to cover, to ARC readers, to signings, to book orders and swag stuff to sell. Everything meticulously thought out.

Then, it all came crashing down on me. I checked the status of my book order for 30 copies of More Than Wolf, and it disappeared. It was as if I never made the order. I'm fairly certain that was my fault - I had unpublished my book too soon after making the order. Lesson learned. Needless to say I went into full-blown panic mode. To realize that my planning had been brought down by something so stupid wrecked me for a good hour.

I pulled myself back together and figured out what I needed to do next.

First, I had to re-order my books, add extra cost for expedited shipping, and see if my order would arrive in time for my signings. Well, Amazon calculated the delivery for more than a week after my first signing on release day. Damn.

So, I rescheduled my signings to be on the following full moon of September 9th and 10th. I let everyone I could know about the changes so any rearrangements they would have to make, they would have plenty of time.

Now here's the kicker:

Today I checked the status of my book order and they have already been shipped! My books will arrive on Tuesday, two days before my originally-scheduled signing. 

Why, Universe? Why???

Oh well. It is what it is at this point, and honestly, I'm feeling better about a September signing than one directly on release day. That means I can celebrate with wine and good company instead.

To add: More Than Human (book 1) is available for .99 (ebook format) on Amazon until the 8th. 

Well hello everyone! It is Monday and I feel like Garfield. "I hate Mondays." 

I am still in the first editing stages of my second book, More Than Wolf. I am nearly finished with the first run-through, then I will be re-reading it over to myself aloud before sending it off to my wonderful team of editors. I, personally, think that the more eyes you can acquire on your project, the more mistakes can be found, and the more flawless the finished product can be. I'm not saying that my book More Than Human is flawless, perse, but it went through the ringer and I fixed the issues brought to attention.

Now, if you find anything else in More Than Human that is incorrect, frankly at this point, I don't care. I will probably revisit the book and make a second edition with adding some details and rephrasing some things, but for now I just don't care. It's good enough, to me.

Audible updates: I have sold 71 copies of my audiobook so far and accrued 7 ratings and 6 reviews! Yay!

Also: I am up to 45 ratings on Amazon for More Than Human! Yay!

Release date for More Than Wolf is set to Aug 11, 2022 so make sure you mark it down! My pirate novella will be released shortly after and that fits into the MTH world between books 2 and 3. I still haven't come up with a title for it yet, though lol

I'd like to put a spotlight on my friend Author H. M. Brandon! Her book Immortal Sacrifice is now available for pre-order! Check out her website! Holly is a fantastic human being with many incredible talents. She is quirky, funny, smart, and tough. I adore her! So go check out her stuff!

In closing: I'm tired. My brain feels like mush. I'm going to go stare at moving pictures with sounds on the tv for a while and zone out lol

Thanks guys!

 The last few days have been rough for me... but I'm not going into detail on the matters that occurred, rather I'd like to move forward and focus on things happening this week.

Coming Up!

This evening I have my first podcast interview! I will share the link to the podcast in my next blog (or maybe the comments in this one). Looking forward to it but I'm not quite sure what to expect...

Not only am I an author, but I am also a freelance photographer. I have been involved in photography since I was very young, using disposable cameras until upgrading to a digital point-and-shoot, then studying film photography in high school. Film photography has been one of my absolute favorite things to learn so far in life. Not only does the image depend on how you frame it when you initially take the shot, but the effects you make to the paper while treating the image as well. So many different possibilities with the same image in the dark room, with such hands-on methods. Honestly, I prefer the older methods over digital.

This upcoming Saturday I am photographing a Celebration of Life event. 

Next month, on the 13th, I have my first "big" wedding to photograph. I met with the bride's mother the other day, scoping out the area for lighting and where to set up for posed shots with my lighting umbrellas. She was lovely, patient and understanding. Doesn't sound like I'll have a Bridezilla on my hands. This wedding will also determine whether I do any other weddings in the future. As I suffer quite a bit from anxiety, this event is really putting me outside of my comfort zone. I hope I can handle it.

About two weeks ago I had the incredible honor to photograph a small, Buddhist wedding. The couple were easily past their 60s, and seeing such new, wonderous love between such aged eyes was an experience that I will never forget.

Usually I photograph wildlife and abstract, but lately I've been branching out and taking on jobs for people. Senior photo shoots, portrait photography, weddings, etc. It's very stressful and anxiety-fueling but I enjoy it nonetheless. I find the editing process to be incredibly therapeutic.

Audiobook Updates:

I want to take this opportunity to thank the incredibly talented, funny, witty, and lovely Kristina Rothe for narrating my book. I think she did a wonderful job and I very much look forward to working with her in the future!

Since my audiobook officially released on the 8th of this month, I have accrued 59 sales and two 5-star reviews. 

My audiobook has dropped in its rank a LOT since it reached the top 100 in two categories. I don't know it it will return to a top 100 ranking, but I'm glad it happened! I have screenshots of the rankings as proof LOL

You can check out my audiobook HERE!

More Than Human Updates:

My book has reached 43 ratings on Amazon, holding a pretty solid 4.6 average star rating. On GoodReads I have received 12 written reviews and 18 ratings, bringing me to a 4.33 average rating.

Total e-book and paperback online sales are at 136. I have sold about another two dozen in-person.

I have had fairly consistent KU reads, totaling to 3,875 currently. Now, that sounds like a lot, right? My book is only about 187 pages long, so that's about the equivalent of reading my book 20 times. If I made 20 sales, my profit would be about $86. In KU reads, I get paid $16.47 for those hypothetical 20 books. That's terribly low. So, PLEASE, if you read a book on KU and liked it, buy the physical copy or at least the e-book. Especially if it's written by and indie author. We honestly don't make very much, and producing a book is very expensive. Support your indie authors any way you can.
If you can't, for some reason, purchase the book, at least share it and suggest it to your friends. Word-of-mouth is one of the best ways to market something, but it takes fan dedication to accomplish that.

More Than Wolf Updates:

My current word count is now 51,614 out of a 70k goal. I fixed the areas that needed fixing, but I think I need to elaborate a little more with certain characters and events that foreshadow future issues. Once it is ready, I will be sharing it with a wonderful editing team that I was invited to known as the Seven Sisters. We are all fantasy writers of different tropes and creatures and each lovely lady involved is a incredibly talented individual (some are multi-talented)! I am honored to be part of this amazing group of fierce, intelligent women and I can't wait to see what they accomplish.

Other books published (and upcoming) by some of the ladies in the Seven Sisters are:

Moa Eriksson has a book titled Sorcery of Words coming out near the end of the year. Release date is TBA
You can follow Moa on IG @ ReadingFaery

Aimee Clinton is the author of historical fantasy titled A Dance of Steel and Shadow, the first of a duet. The sequel is planned to be released Aug 1 but will most likely be released earlier than that.

H. M. Brandon is an author of several books! Check out her website for her works (and one you can read for free!)

R. Joy is an epic fantasy writer touching on pirates in her stories. She is working on a series titled Legends of the Shadow Wars. The first installment, Of Sea and Stone, should be released this winter.

Chelsea Fay is working on a New Adult pirate fantasy trilogy titled Princess of Mist - release date is TBA. You can follow her on IG @ ChelseyFayWriter

B. V. Sloan is going to release her first installment of a trilogy titled Violet Crown later this year. You can follow her on IG @ BVSloanAuthor

In Closing:

Thanks for reading! Check back next week for another blog entry from me. 
If you'd like to help support me and my works, please consider subscribing to my Patreon!

You can contact me at: HeatherAshbury89@gmail.com

 Hello everyone! I am giving this blog thing another whack! From here on out, I will be trying to make blog entries at least every week, providing writing and life updates to whoever reads this.

Starting with today:

NEWS!!

My audiobook just released on the 9th and I have made 51 sales so far. Between publishing the audiobook and today, it has reached the top 100 spot in two different categories. I have since dropped in rank and am now over 100 and even 200 in those categories. Oh well. It was a nice, fleeting moment of excitement and pride. Maybe it will reach the top 100 again? Who knows...

In relation to the released audiobook, I have several UK codes for free listens through Amazon! So, if you'd like a code for a listen (in return for a review) let me know! You have to be a UK Amazon customer to redeem. 

Book 2 Update:

I have redacted about 14k words of a flashback state in my current book. I felt that it was exceeding the proper word count and would take away from the main story too much. BUT, I have decided to take that 14k and turn it into a novella. It's a story about my MC's ancestor, famed Captain Grace Benadette Foster, a werewolf pirate captain who leads a fleet of five ships. That bit has been so much fun to write so far and I've actually learned quite a bit from history and what pirates were actually like (thank you, Robert Lewis Stevenson, for providing a highly inaccurate representation of pirates).

The Pirate book has yet to be named, but it will serve as a 2.5 in my series (best read between books 2 and 3). I hope to release it soon following book 2 titled More Than Wolf.

For your consideration:

If you'd like to help support other Indie Authors, I will be providing a highlight on one Indie Author per blog post. Someone whose work I highly respect and would suggest to others.

Starting with today I'd like to highlight an author and good friend of mine, Martin Kearns. His book, Beneath the Veil, is like a modern take on Dante's Inferno. It's a clever read with fun pop culture references, Roman and Norse mythologies, angels, demons, and the crossing over the veil between the land of the living and the realm of the dead. It was a great, interesting read that kept me wanting more. I found it very difficult to put the book down.

You can check out Martin Kearns' book here: Beneath the Veil

Funny story about how I ended up initially connecting with this author. I was in a Facebook group for "Authors Supporting Authors" (insert very heavy eyeroll here - they are almost anything BUT supportive of other authors) and got into an argument about my writing process with another user. Well, that guy got a wild hair up his ass about me and decided to try to smear my hard work. He left a 1-star review on Amazon without so much as reading my book. (He is an unverified purchaser and left the review within an hour of the argument). I looked this guy up on Amazon and found that he had done the same thing to another author, Martin Kearns. I looked up Martin on FB and asked him about the review. Turns out, he had a very similar altercation with the same person on FB. We ended up buying each other's books, reading them, and loving them! So, thanks to that stupid troll, I was able to meet another fantastic and talented author, Mr. Martin Kearns (who is an all-around fantastic guy, too!).

In closing:

If you'd like to check out my audiobook, please click HERE

Be sure to leave a rating/review of my book More Than Human! Loved it? Hated it? Let me know!

Thanks for reading and I'll see you next week!

Contact me at: HeatherAshbury89@gmail.com

In the last year since publishing my book, More Than Human, I have learned tremendously. I would like to share with you what my experience has been.

Publishing a book is not cheap, by any means. It’s expensive in both time and money. Sure, you write a whole book (by the way, it took me about 6 years to get this book out of my head, piece it all together, and complete it), but through writing you’ve made subconscious typos and mistakes. Therefore, you have to read it over again and again and again, catching new errors every time. Then, you’re too familiar with your own work to find all of the inconsistencies and misspellings, so you need someone else with fresh eyes to look it over. Sometimes this takes several people, which is why having beta readers is a phenomenal asset. Once a few other people have read it over and made their suggestions or corrections, you need to read it over yet again. This takes a lot of time. Reading a 50k word novel can take at least 8 hours for most readers, and that’s just for casual reading, not for critiquing.

Then, assuming that you don’t know how to format books yourself, you need to hire a formatter. Rarely will the formatter be finished and have your work ready for you by the next day. So, we have yet another waiting game. If your formatter has other clients, you may have to wait even longer until they can have the time to complete your work.

Cover art is another expensive part of the book. Some digital artists will sell basic cover designs for as little as $25. I, however, didn’t want to go this route. I wanted to showcase a friend’swork on the cover of my book. The cover art took quite a while to create, as well, since it was drawn digitally by hand rather than stock photos slapped together and altered. The more time it takes, the more expensive it is. It also has more meaning to me. My cover art is special to me. It was my very first (and currently only) “fan art”, and I love it. So thank you, Kelsey, for doing the artwork for me and I look forward to creating more covers with you!

- One of the biggest things that I have taken away from this is not to be too hasty. I published my book before I should have, honestly. Two copies of my book got out with a few major errors still existing within. Thankfully, one of my readers caught the errors and notified me, so I pulled my book back off of the site and corrected the mistakes, which again took some time. About two weeks later my book was ready to publish again, this time with no errors! It was an impatient mistake that I will not make again. My next book will NOT be published until I am 100% certain that there are no errors in it. Again, this is why beta readers are so valuable. I had one reader catch a timeline inconsistency that was completely missed by several people, myself included. Whoops!

-Marketing is a whole ‘nother world that I have been too intimidated by to really delve into. My strategy has mainly been networking and connecting with potential readers. This has been a fairly successful approach that has saved me a lot of money. Talking and engaging with people is free, so why not? I love connecting with my readers – getting to know who they are and what other interests they have. Some have even become good friends and my best supporters!

-Creating a Facebook group for my readers is probably one of the best decisions I have made! It’s a wonderful way to engage with readers, ask them to answer polls, and responding to inquiries about my work.

- There are ALWAYS trolls lurking about. Someone, somewhere, is going to hate your work for no apparent reason. I have seen this happen quite often with authors, and it’s a harmful struggle. That one trolling review can be detrimental to future sales, especially if you have a small amount of reviews to begin with. But, it’s okay. As more people become interested in your work and bother to give it a read, you’ll receive the real, honest feedback that truly matters. Sometimes, that one terrible review can have the opposite results of what the poster was intending. I have seen a few authors’ sales and reviews soar after receiving a bad review.

- Getting your book out there takes just about as much effort as it does to write one to begin with. If you don’t have a marketing team or some kind of representation, your book’s exposure all falls on you. That’s a hard game to play and a very competitive area. All kinds of people have published books and are desperately trying to make money from it. Some hastily did it with little to no care on their book’s appearance and worth, over-pricing their short works filled with countless typos and mistakes. These people are out there competing with those of us who have spend a ridiculous amount of time working on our stories. Please support the latter!

- Scammers are rampant. As soon as they see “author” attached to your profile, get ready to be bombarded by promises of gaining your book exposure, getting you more reviews, and all these otherpromises as long as you send your book to them for free and pay them. Guess what? They take your money and more often than not, that’s the last you’ll hear of them. So, if you are considering becoming a writer, please be aware of the scams lurking around every corner. Connect with other authors and ask them about any propositions people come at you with – don’t get scammed!

- In the last year, I did not expect to have sold nearly 100 copies. I did not anticipate the incredible and wonderful feedback that I have received. I expected more haters, honestly. I didn’t think my book would become an audio book. I never even considered doing a graphic novel until just the other day.

- When I started this book, I could only see as far as the end of it. By the time I was halfway done, I had already developed most of the plot for the sequel (and thought it would end there). Now I have four books planned out! So, don’t ask me how long this series will be. I’m letting it take the helm and end itself when it is good and ready. Will four be all? Will I go all the way to 10? Who knows? I’m just along for the ride and I hope you are, too!

- I was hoping to receive some fan art by now, but alas, I cannot makeit happen.

- Writer’s block sucks! However, I have found that reading other works really helps clear my writer’s block. Maybe that will work for you?

In conclusion: Writing and producing a book is not as simple as many view it to be. It requires, nay, it DEMANDS time and money. Without trying to gloat, it is an impressive accomplishment to produce a book worth a damn. I am incredibly proud of myself as I continue on this path. At times, I let people’s negativity get the best of me. Sometimes I feel like I shouldn’t be writing at all. But when I read the comments and reviews from people who love my work, that’s what really keeps me going. Their positivity fuels my fire. Never give up, and always be your True Self!

Current sales and reviews as of one year:

Amazon sales: 78

Amazon Reviews: 24 (One 1-star; Two 4-star; Twenty-one 5-star!)

Amazon Average Rating: 4.7

GoodReads Reviews: 6 Ratings; 4 reviews (all 5-star)

To add: I have sold about a dozen copies in-person, bringing me to just shy of 100 copies in the first year!

 In my books, I honestly try to tackle common stereotypes that I feel have been misrepresenting certain groups. One example is my main character, Jule. In the book More Than Human, it should be fairly obvious that she is bisexual. Not, through a lot of different literature and movies and shows, very often if a woman is portrayed as bisexual, she falls into one of two categories. She is either kind of "butch" or masculine whether it be in appearance or personality, or she is feminine but still falls for another woman. In either case, both seem to always end up with the woman. Jule, however, is a bisexual woman in a committed hetero-sexual relationship. Yes, people, it is possible. 

I'm attempting to put more emphasis on choosing a person rather than a gender.

This topic is a very personal one, to me, as a bisexual woman myself.

Can we just stop stereotyping all-together? Maybe?

 So, a few days ago I had my first interview. Now, this interview wasn't designed for me nor was I particularly sought out for said interview, it was more of an offer from another blogger for any new authors to help get their name out there. Nonetheless I was ecstatic! I mentioned to the author that it was my first interview ever and she reached out to another friend of hers who also conducts interviews for his IG and scored me second, more involved interview. I still don't know when the interview will be published, but this new one will be advertised and hyped up for about two weeks leading up to the drop of the entire interview. I'm super thrilled because I was also able to include two excerpts from my book (the two that I have previously shared here) getting a sample of my book out to new potential readers. I worry, though, that the segments that I chose don't do my story justice or aren't a good representation of what you're getting in my book. 

I'm really hoping that my book starts a new representation for werewolves. I'm honestly tired and sickened of all the domestic violence that is portrayed in lycan communities and the whole harem crap has been over-played too much. I'm actually tired of all of the unimaginative stereotypes surrounding these incredible creatures. I personally think they're lame.

Chapter 13

Pain shot through Jule’s head as she regained consciousness; the effects of the drug that was pumped into her bloodstream still lingering. She strained to open her eyes. The sunrise, with its blinding pink and orange light, peaked over the hill. She struggled to her feet, her body sore from lying on rocks and sticks for hours throughout the night. Still in a haze, she took in her surroundings and tried to piece together her broken memory. She remembered being with William by the fire, and then having to pee.

“Oh no, William!” Panic swept through her again as she wasted no time in rushing back to the house. She burst in through the back door and frantically began searching for a phone.

“The kitchen,” she said to herself as she darted towards it.

A phone hung on the wall just inside the kitchen across from the sink. Jule grabbed the phone and immediately started punching in Loki’s number memorized by heart. Not a single signal came from the phone. Not even the beeps from the buttons on the pad made any response. Irritated, Jule slammed the phone back into its place and began searching for her cell phone. She recalled leaving it on the coffee table in the living room and rushed to it, finding it smashed in pieces on the floor instead.

“There’s got to be another phone in this house!” she cried out in frustration.

Jule frantically searched in every room, but each phone she found was just as dead as the first. She flipped a light switch on the wall of the bedroom but the light gave no response. Angrily, she flipped the switch off and on again, expecting that maybe if she did it enough times, the light would magically respond and turn on. Nothing happened.

“Shit, they must have cut the power to the whole house,” she mumbled to herself. “I’ve got to get out of here!”

Deciding to drive back to town, Jule sped down the stairs out to William’s truck, only to find the tires slashed and the engine wires cut. The truck was going nowhere.

“Fuck!” she shouted and began to cry. What am I going to do? I have no vehicle, no way to contact anyone, and I’m out in the middle of nowhere, she thought dismally to herself. The only thing Jule could think to do was to walk back to town. She quickly ran inside, grabbing her backpack and some water, and then headed out on her long journey.

The early morning sun warmed her chilled bones as she walked with a quick pace down the driveway to the main dirt road. Her body and head still ached as the drugs continued wearing off, but she pushed herself forward regardless. Jule shielded her eyes with her hand as she looked at the position of the sun to get a sense of time, though she was more guessing than anything. I think it’s been a few hours already. She frowned and concentrated back on her task. Racing against time she quickened her pace, fighting through the throbbing pain in her head and aches in her legs to make it back and find William.

As Jule rounded a corner in the road, the rumbling sound of an old truck approached from behind. Jule threw herself into some bushes to the side of the road. Someone from the Order must have still been around William’s house. I wasn’t careful enough, Jule thought punishing herself for her carelessness. The noisy truck slowed as it got nearer to where Jule abandoned the road for cover and pulled over, the brakes screeching as it came to a halt. The exhause rumbled noisily. The foul fumes rose into Jule’s nose, making her gag. She hunkered down lower as she heart the driver’s side door creak open and feet hit the gravel, crunching as they approached. Shit, they saw me. Jule’s heart raced. She balled up her fists and swallowed hard.

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