The
Witches of Dark Root
The Daughters of Dark Root Series
The Daughters of Dark Root Series
April Aasheim
Genre: Paranormal/Fiction
Publisher: Dark Root Press
Date of Publication: June, 2013
ISBN-13: 978-0615819327
ISBN-10: 061581932X
ASIN: B00D6OUDDG
Number of pages: 350
Word Count: approx. 112,000
Cover Artist: April Aasheim
Book Trailer:
http://youtu.be/klihdS5tQr4
Book Description:
Deep in the
forests of Central Oregon is a town called Dark Root, a place
shrouded in secrets, mystery, and witchcraft.
But for Maggie
Maddock, Dark Root is also a prison, a place where she is forced to
spend her days working in her mother’s magick shop, forfeiting any
dreams of her own. So when a mysterious stranger suddenly appears and
offers to take her away from it all, Maggie jumps at the chance.
Now, seven years
later, a strange phone call sends Maggie back to Dark Root and she is
unprepared for what awaits her: a dying town, a sick mother, a
renewed sibling rivalry, and a past she had hoped to forget. Part
Practical Magic, part Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, The
Witches of Dark Root is a tale that seamlessly weaves the normal with
the mystical, the mundane with the fantastic. Zipping in and out of
time from Maggie’s childhood as an apprentice witch to current day,
where Maggie struggles with her increasing powers, as well as family
obligations, The Witches of Dark Root is a book rich in both fantasy
and heart which will leave readers believing in magic.
Excerpt:
Harvest
Home, Dark Root, Oregon
October, 1995
“Maggie, wake up.” Merry jostled her sister, rousing her from her
nap on the couch.
Maggie sat up, rubbed her eyes, and looked around. For a moment she
forgot that she was in the living room of Harvest Home.
“Already?” Maggie asked, pushing herself onto elbows.
A loud chime coming from the grandfather clock confirmed that that it
was midnight, time for the ritual. Maggie felt the chill from the
open door and looked around for her sweater.
“We aren’t supposed to wear anything other than our robes
tonight,” Merry cautioned, but helped Maggie into the sweater,
anyways.
“Where’s Eve?” Maggie asked. If she was going to have to wander
the woods in the middle of the night for some crazy ritual, then Eve
better be up, too. Maggie saw her standing by the door, jumping up
and down, not tired at all.
Miss Sasha and six of her friends emerged from the dining room,
talking excitedly and exchanging knowing glances.
“You girls ready?” Miss Sasha asked. This was to be their first
grown up moon chant and Miss Sasha could hardly contain herself. She
noticed the sweater Maggie wore over her long blue robe and frowned
but didn’t mention it.
Merry, Maggie, Eve, and Ruth Anne followed their mother and her
friends into the night.
It was cold and the sisters shivered as they wound their way along an
old dirt road shrouded by trees to a circular clearing, a half-mile
away. The girls had played in the clearing many times during the day,
but this was the first time they had seen it beneath the light of a
full moon. The grass looked dewy and lush as the soft light fell upon
each blade, but the trees that surrounded the meadow looked
foreboding and ominous, as if their long, twisted boughs were ready
to snatch the girls, if given the chance.
“What are we doing here again?” Maggie asked, as they made their
way towards the center of the circle. “...And how long do we have
to stay out?”
The adults moved to a point in the very center of the clearing and
the girls positioned themselves a few dozen feet behind them.
Ruth Anne surveyed the area and sat, cross-legged, on the moist
grass. “We are rooting out the evil spirits that are trying to
infest Dark Root.” Her voice was as flat and informational as an
encyclopedia entry.
She reached into the pocket of her dress and pulled out a key-chain
flashlight and a comic book and started reading.
“How do we do that?” Maggie asked, watching as the elders––five
women and two men––linked raised hands towards the sky.
They began singing, a soft melodic chant that Maggie had heard
before.
Merry answered, “Every fall, the Council of Seven places a
protective spell around our town. It must be done before the second
half of the year begins, on November 1st. It keeps out the dark
energies and ensures that the circle is strong.”
Maggie hopped on one foot, and then the other, trying to find warmth
in the chill of the night. “But why do we have to do it now?” she
moaned. “When it’s so cold?”
Ruth Anne responded, never lifting her eyes from her book. “It’s
the witching hour. According to legend, the hours between twelve and
three AM are when all things magical, including witches, are at their
most powerful.” She turned the page of her book and cracked a smile
at one of the drawings. “...It’s too bad we can’t keep out the
crazy.”
Maggie widened her eyes. “But if witches are the most powerful now,
won’t the bad things be more powerful too?”
“I’m scared,” Eve said, jumping in place as the elders
continued their chant. Eve liked magick, but only the lighter arts,
and those that yielded her a reward.
Merry took Eve’s hand and kissed it, and Maggie latched onto
Merry’s other hand.
“I’m scared, too,” Merry fibbed.
Merry wasn’t afraid of anything.
There was a long silence, followed by the heavy beat of a loud drum.
Miss Sasha looked over her shoulder at her daughters, letting them
know that it was almost their turn. They had been practicing the
spell for weeks now, and Maggie hoped she wouldn’t forget the
words.
Ruth Anne set down her comic book and the four girls clasped hands
and waded towards the center of the circle.
Miss Sasha nodded and the girls began their incantation.
As the Witching Hour chimes
And the whole world sleeps and dreams
We join our hands in sisterhood
Staving back the darklings
The circle stands, its shape eternal
Though the darkness is still beckoning
Our light will ward back the infernal
And shield us from the doomsday reckoning
Maggie was still tired and stumbled on a few of the words, completely
missing some of them; however, Merry spoke them as loud and clearly
as she recited The Pledge of Allegiance at school. All the while, Eve
played with her hair and hardly tried at all. For her part, Ruth Anne
recited the words without emotion, anxious to get back to her comic
book.
“Who wrote the spell?” Ruth Anne had asked their mother earlier
that day while they were preparing. “It doesn’t sound right.”
“It doesn’t matter if it sounds right or not,” Miss Sasha had
explained. “It’s the power of words––especially when spoken
in numbers––that matters. When we stand together, no enemy would
dare traverse the boundaries of Dark Root.”
Maggie caught a movement to her right. She thought she had seen a
dark form take shape and then vanish. And then another. Were they
coming or going? She couldn’t tell.
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About the
Author:
April Aasheim spent her
childhood traveling the Southwestern portion of the United States with her
fortune- telling mother and her get-rich-quick dreaming stepfather. During that
time, April and her family toured with a carnival company, sold bug repellant
door to door, and resided in an abandoned miner’s shack in The Superstitious
Mountains of Arizona.
When April became a
teenager she went to live with her biological father in California. Her father
saw April’s need to express herself and encouraged her to write her stories
rather than tell them. By learning to write April was able to make sense of her
family and the world she lived in. She continues to do that to this
day.
April currently lives in
Portland, Oregon with her husband. She is the mother of two incredible sons and
the step-mother to a beautiful little girl. She is the author of numerious short
stories, has contributed to several anthologies, and is the author of the
well-received novel: The Universe is a Very Big Place.
The Witches of Dark Root is
The first in the Daughters of Dark Root series and April looks forward to
writing the second book in 2014.
Website: http://www.aprilaasheim.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AprilAasheim
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