So I guess that it's time for a new release. How about some historical fiction to whet the appetite for new reading? That's where "The Secret of the Hooked X" comes in. Do you loveThe Goonies? What about National Treasure? Maybe with a little True Grit sprinkled in. Then you will love The Secret of the Hooked X. If you want to get it now, here's a link for you:
The Secret of the Hooked X by C. Merrill—Murder and Templar Treasure
A little different from the Angel Blade series, it's a tale set in the 1890's and is an epic adventure across the country. It's a story about 16 year old Anna Holloway. Her father was murdered in the streets of Boston, and she must leave with her family to join her uncle John in the New Mexico territory. But when she discovers a hidden map to a buried treasure, she learns that her uncle might not be the benefactor that her family believes he is. Her suspicions are confirmed when a stranger appears in a search of the map and takes Anna's brother, William, hostage. Now she must find him and run with the map to keep him away from her family, or he will kill them all to find the treasure for himself.
And you are all in for a real treat. I will include the first chapter right here . . . IN THIS BLOG!. You guys are so lucky.
Now, as a side note (because I know many of you are simply dying inside after reading Archangel): Yes, Book 4 of the Angel Blade series will be coming out in 2018. And it will be the final story of the series (insert weeping and wailing here)
Without further ado, here is chapter 1 of The Secret of the Hooked X. Enjoy! And, as always, keep reading.
Chapter 1
Anna stood at the entrance of the mineshaft, the two great doors open
beside her and the rusty hinges creaking in the breeze. The heavy, dank air
breathed from the depths of the tunnel before her. She held her breath and
tried to steady the lantern in her hands but the glass rattled inside the metal
casing and echoed like chattering teeth against the rock walls of the cavern.
Her eyes followed the two iron rails that started at the mouth of the tunnel
and disappeared into the dark, well beyond her small circle of light.
She had wanted to
enter this place from the moment she first saw it, but now she wasn’t so sure.
The lantern light glinted off the iron rails and beckoned her forward. This
place had been abandoned for so long; there couldn’t possibly be anything or
anyone in here. There was nothing to worry about. Right?
With a trembling
breath, she steadied her lantern-holding hand and stepped across the threshold
of the mine. The damp air tickled her shins just under the long skirt. The heel
of her boot tapping against the rock echoed back to her with each step. Gold
light fell from the lamp and circled at her feet, lighting the way as she
stepped further into the tunnel. The thick rails guided her path forward into
the blackness ahead. She glanced back as a little voice in her head urged her
to leave this place now. Daylight burned bright just outside the opening of the
tunnel, around the heavy gates that she had pulled open to reveal the mouth of
the mine. She could still go back there, to the warm sunshine and back to the
farm where her mother, brother and uncle stayed, safe and unaware that she had
kept this little secret. There was still time to turn around, shut the doors,
and never think of this place again.
Just as she thought
it, she knew it would never happen. The intrigue of the abandoned Appleton
Silver Mine would plague her forever unless she continued onward. And what if
her little brother William found it? He would most definitely enter the mine
without any supervision and probably get himself hurt along the way. She could
only imagine what her mother would say to her then. Why didn’t you stop him? How
could you just let him go in there like that?
You are old enough to know better. At sixteen, Anna was practically
his second mother.
That settled it: she had to go on further. She turned away
from the door and started along the mine tracks
It didn’t take long
before the comforting light of the entrance was too far distant to be of any
help. She swallowed against a dry throat and continued to follow the tracks
further into the cavern. Each step echoed louder down the curving tunnel. Her
eyes squinted against the light, trying hard to peer into the inky darkness
ahead, but only her small circle of lantern light was all that she could see.
The mine forbade her from seeing any further.
The walls closed in
tighter as she moved further down the tunnel, the small bubble of light keeping
the darkness from completely swallowing her. The light about her now trembled
with the shaking in her hand.
She stopped and
glanced back. The curves of the tunnel had now obscured the entryway and she
was surrounded by black. It occurred to her that if she were to get confused
somehow, that she would never know which way to go to escape to the outside
world. But only a coward would turn back now. Whatever lay in the dark of this
place would be hers to find, her secret alone.
A secret that she
could have shared only with her father . . . if he were still alive.
She never would have
thought that she would be here, like this right now. Only six days ago, she was
just leaving Boston. Six days was all it took for her to find herself on this
kind of adventure.
