Summerland excerpt-

Rhiann, safely buckled into the passenger seat of Keeley's electric blue Viper, found herself wrapped in the freshness of the morning. Landscape whizzed past her. She lifted her head to the bright blue sky, feeling the sun on her face.

Keeley cranked the wheel so hard that Rhiann bounced against the door. A flash of memory rushed through her head; panic swelled in her chest.

"What the hell?" She managed to gasp before Keeley slammed on the brakes.

Tires screeched, the smell of burning rubber entered Rhiann's nose before her face bounced off the dashboard.

"Look!" Keeley jumped out of the car. "Madame Zorbina, Psychic." She wrenched open Rhiann's door. "Let's get our fortunes told."

Rhiann spilled out of the car, holding her shoulder. "I don't need a psychic to know a trip to the emergency room is in my future."

"Well, Madame Crystal Ball Gazer, can you tell me what my future holds?"

Rhiann, still holding her shoulder, cast a withering glance at Keeley. "Do you really want me to answer that?"

Keeley linked her arm through Rhiann's and led her toward the house. "It will be fun. Maybe we can ask the psychic what's in store for you and the tattooed sexpot."

Rhiann did a final feel of her shoulder before releasing it. "There is no future with Jimmy. Stress and exhaustion caused me to act like a moron."

"Uh huh." Keeley sounded unconvinced.

They entered the tiny foyer of a darkened house. Lit candles covered every inch of surface; the cloying stench of incense hung heavy in the air. Rhiann could not get any air into her lungs.

"I don't have a good feeling about this." She stepped closer to Keeley.

"You're right." Keeley took a step backward. "Let's get out of here."

"Wait!" A cracked voice boomed into the foyer, followed by an ancient woman. She shuffled into the room, stooped from age and life.

"Come, my dears." She waved a withered hand. "Follow Madame Zorbina, get your fortune told."

"No, thank you, this was a mistake." Keeley tried to turn Rhiann around.

"No mistake." The woman smiled a toothless grin. "You are here for a reason."

She gestured again with her skeletal hand. "Come, dears, come with me."

She shuffled behind a beaded curtain.

Rhiann and Keeley argued silently with each other, then stepped through the beaded curtain. There, they found the old woman seated at a scarred table. Her smile appeared serenely empty as she shuffled a tarot deck. A simple nod of her withered head indicated the two chairs in front of her. Rhiann and Keeley sat in the same straight back chair, clasping hands tightly. The woman finished shuffling, then placed the deck into a silk purse hanging at her waist. She reached to her left and brought a covered object down from a shelf. Madame Zorbina pulled the gray, tattered cloth off with a flourish. A cloud of dust puffed up, settled in a ring around the crystal ball. She gazed into the ball, muttering in a foreign language. Her eyes closed, opened, closed, opened. Rhiann huddled even closer to Keeley on the small chair.

"You are thinking of home." The woman's voice crackled with age. "Your uncles weigh heavy on your mind this morning."

Rhiann tried not to react; even though she always referred to Uncle Eddie's life partner as Aunt Genie, Genie was, in fact, a male who embraced his femininity completely. Keeley's hand gripped hers tighter.

"You lost your mother, by murder, when you were young." The old woman continued. "It deeply affected you and your brother." Her brow furrowed. "Brother?" Her head shook with indecision. "Brother?"

Rhiann struggled to keep her breath steady; a panic attack hovered close to the surface.

"You lost another love, one you were—?" The old woman's questioning eyes glazed over.

Her convulsions brought Rhiann and Keeley to their feet, screaming and reaching for cell phones.

"Call 9-1-1! Call 9-1-1!" Keeley dug through her purse; her hands shook so badly she couldn't grasp anything.

"No, wait." The old woman's voice rang through the panic, now clear, young, and husky. She appraised Rhiann with a new perspective. "God, you are a sight for sore eyes. The auburn hair suits you!"

Rhiann sank back down onto the chair. "What?"

"This is not funny, lady." Keeley pulled on Rhiann's shirt. "Let's g-g-g-o."

"No! Please!" The old woman raised her hand quickly. "It took so much effort to do this, Keeley!" The woman's lucid gaze fell once again back onto Rhiann. "I love you talking to me every night before you go to bed, but keeping me on your nightstand is a bit on the creepy side."

"Reed?" Hope washed away Rhiann's disbelief. "Reed? Is it really you?" She grasped the woman's hands tightly. "Oh, baby, you have no idea how much I have missed you."

"Rhi, this is a scam, it has to be," Keeley said, pulling harder at Rhiann. "Let's get out of here."

"Wait!" The old woman lost a little clarity in her eyes. "You met two men yesterday."

"Yes!" Rhiann answered breathlessly. Her heart hammered in her throat; she strained to hear Reed's words.

His voice faded away as he said, "I don't want to see you—"

The old woman slumped, unconscious, to the floor. Keeley finally located her cell phone and dialed 9-1-1. Neither one waited for the paramedics to arrive.

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***Trivia Question: What divination device did Madam Zorbina use for Rhiann’s “reading”?**

EMAIL your answer to db.moon@ymail.com

 To be entered into the drawing for a free e-copy of Summerland

Coming up next, Rhiann Taylor and Brett Adams, two of my characters from Summerland will be sitting down with me to discuss Summerland, the emotions, the situations they found themselves in and the parties.