Today we’ve got an exclusive excerpt from author Gabi Stevens, who is awesome and sent me her excerpt last April. Her organizational skills and general awesomeness obviously put me to horrible shame. But that’s ok, because her book is the obvious focus of the day. Enjoy!
Free-spirit Stormy Jones-Smythe lives in a loving community of artists, but when she is chosen as the third fairy godmother, the Arcani world forces its boundaries and expectations on her. Luckily even a rigid and strict bodyguard can’t contain her exuberance.
Stormy is the final facet of the Power of Three. Together with the first two godmothers, Stormy has to face the biggest threat the Arcani have seen since the time of Merlin. Maybe she can rescue a bit of happiness for herself too. If she survives.
“Arcani aren’t all- powerful. Even I know that. Daddy is often exhausted after a particularly hard sculpture he’s worked on. Besides, Groundlings outnumber Arcani, what, thousands to one?”
“Basically.”
“And can you imagine the clamor for magic if Groundlings knew?” She altered her voice. “ ‘I’ve run out of sugar. Can you zap me up a cup?’ ‘Mow my lawn for me.’ ‘I want a vacation. Put me on a beach somewhere.’ ‘Get me a Lamborghini.’ ‘Help me win the lottery.’ ‘My wife has cancer. Cure her.’ The Arcani don’t have that kind of power. We can’t do all that and survive.”
Hunter held up a hand before her arguments continued. “I know. Now, what do you know about Luc LeRoy?”
“Nothing. I only met the man last night. Why do people keep talking to me about him?”
“Who else has talked you about him?”
Oops. She wasn’t supposed to have seen Hyacinth. “The aunts told me to find out about him. When I first got my wand.” There. That wasn’t a lie. Exactly. “Why? What do you know?”
“Nothing. That’s what’s so odd.” Hunter fell silent. An emotionless expression fell over his face, but his grip tightened on the octopus.
“Hey, don’t hurt Kitty.”
“Kitty?” He looked startled.
“My octopus.” She pointed at the animal.
“Kitty?”
“Yes. Oc- to-pus. Pussy. Kitty. It made sense to my eight- year- old brain. Give her to me before you rip her.”
He started to hand it over, then pulled his arm back. “No.”
Before she could say anything, he continued. “Summon her to you.”
Disbelief flooded her. “Are you insane? You want me to point my wand at you? After what you’ve seen me do with it?”
He tilted his head. “Then you’d better be careful.”
He held the animal in front of him.
“You Guards really do have to be brave.” She looked down at her wand, then shook her head. “Uh- uh. I can’t do it.”
“Yes, you can. You’re using too much power. Don’t think about it so much. Just feel it.” He jiggled the octopus so that its legs fanned out.
She let out a loud breath, then gritted her teeth. Tension roosted in her forehead.
“Relax. Don’t think so hard.” His voice was soothing.
She forced her brow to uncrease. She focused on the octopus and raised her wand.
“Not so much. Easy.” His voice flowed over her like a warm breeze.
She released another breath and closed her eyes. She imagined a heavy weight lifting off her, leaving her light and airy. Her breathing calmed, and she opened her eyes. “Veni.”
She felt the tingle as power surged up her arm into the wand, but she pictured it as a trickle of water, not a raging river. She continued to breath, in, out, easy, even. The wand joggled gently in her palm.
Hunter released his grip on the toy, but instead of falling to the floor, the octopus hovered in front of him and then began to fl oat toward her. It flew across the room and landed in her hand.
“I did it,” she whispered in awe.
He grinned. The dimple in his chin deepened.
“Woo- hoo, I did it!” She tossed the animal onto the bed and ran to him in celebration. Without thinking, she flung her arms around his neck and hugged him.
His arms closed around her.
Elation coursed through her veins. Silly, really. It was simple magic, but she had done it. She laughed in triumph. And looked up at his face. Right in front of her.
Suddenly the pressure of his embrace was all she could feel. The arms that held her were rock solid, warm, and, oh God, safe. Where did that thought come from?
She stepped back, and his arms released her immediately.
Heat crawled into her cheeks. Impossible. She had never been embarrassed by affection before. She couldn’t remember the last time she had blushed. Over a hug? Knowing she blushed caused her to blush deeper. “Sorry. There’s probably some rule against hugging.”
“Not specifically, but I doubt the Council would approve. So we won’t tell them.” He looked amused.
Amused! He probably thought she was some kind of freak.
“Great. Well, thank you for your help.” She held out her hand to shake his. God! What was she doing now? She snatched her hand back to her side.
One corner of his mouth quirked up.
You can read an additional excerpt at Gabi’s webpage here. So what’d you think? 😀 I like it cuz there’s Latin. That makes it smart. 😉 (Did you catch what I’m talking about?)