by Christine Norris
Release Date: May 21st 2015
Curiosity Quills Press
Summary from Goodreads:
Benjamin Grimm knows the theater is much like real life. In 1876 Philadelphia, people play their parts, hiding behind the illusion of their lives, and never revealing their secrets.
When he reunites with his childhood friend Eleanor Banneker, he is delighted. His delight turns to dismay when he discovers she has been under a spell for the past 7 years, being forced to live as a servant in her own home, and he realizes how sinister some secrets can be. She asks for his help, and he can’t refuse. Even if he doesn’t believe in ‘real’ magic, he can’t abandon her.
Ellie has spent the long years since her mother’s death under the watchful eye and unforgiving eye of her stepmother. Bewitched and hidden in plain sight, it seems no one can help Ellie escape. Not even her own father, who is under a spell of his own. When she sees Ben one evening, it seems he is immune to the magic that binds her, and her hope is rekindled along with her friendship.
But time is running short. If they do not find a way to break the spell before midnight on New Year’s Eve, then both Ellie and her father will be bound forever.
Excerpt
Excerpt
#1
Ellie
entered. She stopped for a moment, her eyes wary, and her hand
against her stomach as if she were holding in her breath.
“Ellie?”
Ben called her. “Ellie Banneker?
Her
shoulders relaxed, and her breath came out in a whoosh. She paused
for another breath before making her way down the center aisle toward
Ben. The door closed behind her with a muffled thump, shutting out
the murmurs of those who remained in the lobby. The theater dropped
into an eerie quiet. Now that they were face-to-face, Benjamin’s
excitement was replaced by overwhelming self-consciousness. He ran
his sweaty palms through his hair, smoothing the runaway brown locks
his mother would say needed trimming. He was suddenly aware of the
way he was dressed―he looked like a ragamuffin compared to the
upper class men Ellie must be used to. Her chestnut hair shone in the
light, her green eyes wary but bright.Ben stopped near the first row,
a lump in his throat, hoping she wouldn’t notice the scuffed tops
of his shoes and his frayed shirt cuffs, and let her approach him.
“Benjamin
Grimm? It is you.” Her smile widened, and it was as if the curtain
had gone up in her eyes. The sadness Ben had seen before lifted, and
she became a girl of seventeen. She reached out to him with her bare
hand.
His
nervousness evaporated like morning fog. He wiped his hand on his
pants and then grasped hers tightly, catching the slight scent of
soap and rose water.
Ben
had expected the soft hand of the daughter of a prominent banker;
hands used to doing embroidery and playing the piano. But there were
calluses on her palm, the nails short and ragged. Her skin was pink
and chapped. His expression must have given away some of his
surprise, because when he released her hand, Ellie tucked it into the
folds of her skirt. “I can’t believe that you… It’s been so
long, Ben. You’ve grown.”
The
look in her eyes made Ben decide to keep quiet about her hands. He
was glad she had come in to see him. Having spent years under her
stepmother’s care, he had worried she might have turned into a
snob. “As have you, my lady.” His grin was large as he bent over
in an exaggerated bow.
“Oh,
please don’t. Ben, stop it this minute.” Ellie put her hands to
her blushing cheeks, as if trying to hold back her smile. Ben stood,
laughing, and thrust his hands in his pockets. “I was hiding in the
loft above the lobby and saw you come in tonight. I… didn’t
recognize you at first. You’ve, uh, changed.” It was his turn to
blush again as he remembered what he had been thinking about her
curves.
“You’ve
changed, too.” She squinted and looked closely at his face. “I
can’t see any dirt. So your mother finally wrestled you into
submission about keeping clean.”
Ben
didn’t answer, only smirked and scratched the back of his head. “I
tried to think how many years it’s been since I saw you last.”
“Seven.”
Ellie’s reply was so soft he almost didn’t hear it. “Seven
years. The last time I saw you, we were both ten, after…” she
hesitated. “After my mother died.”
Ben’s
smile faltered. “Yes, that’s right.” He felt stupid for
forgetting, even more stupid for making her bring up something so
obviously painful. His own mother had cried for days after her
employer’s passing. Ellie’s mother had been a lovely woman, who
had provided him with a seemingly endless supply of sweets.
Ellie
shook her head as if shaking herself free of the edge of melancholy
that had dropped over the conversation. “How is your dear mother?
And your little brother? I’m sure he’s no longer the
chubby-cheeked baby I remember.”
Ben
shrugged. “Mother’s fine. She keeps busy running the bookshop.
Harry is… he’s a little brother.” Ellie wrinkled her nose and
narrowed her eyes.
“Being
as I have no little brothers, I’ll have to assume you mean you love
him dearly and can’t imagine life without him.” “Not exactly,
but I don’t want to ruin your image of me as a wholesome young man,
so I won’t tell you what I really think about him. It wouldn’t be
proper for me to say in front of a lady, anyway.”
“You
think I’m a lady, do you? You might be surprised at some of the
words I’ve used when no one is listening.” Ellie’s gaze
wandered over the theater’s ceiling. There was a teasing note in
her voice. “I never thought I’d see you working here. If I
remember correctly, you said if you were going to be in the theater,
it would be in front of the footlights. A magician, I believe it
was?”
“I’m
still working on that.” Ben’s reply was touched with
defensiveness. “But now it’s illusion instead of straight magic,
don’t you know that? It’s all the rage in Europe. Until I can
find a backer, I need to work. My father, he’s the stage manager
now. He got me the job, said it would do me good to learn a real
skill.” He rolled his eyes.
Ellie
raised an eyebrow. “He doesn’t approve of your career
aspirations?” Ben shook his head. “He lets me keep my workshop,
but thinks I’m wasting my time.” He shrugged. “It’s better
than the brickyard.”
Ellie
laughed out loud, a pretty sound that rolled around the inside of the
theater. She covered her mouth and glanced over her shoulder to make
sure no one else had heard. When she stopped giggling, she looked at
Ben and sighed. “I can’t stay, Ben. I don’t want to keep my
stepmother waiting.” She glanced over her shoulder and back to Ben.
“It was so good to see you again.”
Ben
felt the words were weighted somehow, like a current pulling beneath
the calm surface of a river. “It was good to see you again, too,
Ellie.” There was so much more Ben wanted to say, seven years’
worth. He didn’t dare ask to see her again, though, and resigned
himself to only having this stolen moment.
About the Author
Christine Norris is the author of several works for children and adults, including the Library of Athena series and the Zandria duology. When she’s not out saving the world one story at a time, she is disguised as a mild mannered substitute teacher, mother, and wife. She cares for her family of one husband-creature, a son-animal, and two felines who function as Guardian of the Bathtub and Official Lap Warmer, respectively. She has also done several English adaptations of novels translated from other languages. She reached a new level of insanity by attending Southen Connecticut State University Graduate School’s Information and Library Science program, so that someday she, too, can be a real Librarian. She currently resides somewhere in southern New Jersey.
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