BIG SECRET PROJECT TEASER #4

Hello, Dear Readers! I wish you Happy Monday - as it's a very happy Monday for me. The Scalpel is working again, and tomorrow NaNoWriMo starts and I can get to work on Big Secret Project Book Two. Yippee! I've got so many ideas I've been a little worried my brain might pop.

And so it seems only fitting that I should post a Big Secret Project Book One teaser today. This will probably be the very last one, since I don't want to give all the plot away (it is a Secret Project still, after all). As always, when a book is not officially sold yet, this snippet is subject to change major or minor, or even deletion. So enjoy it while you can - and tell me what you think in the comments!

Click the cut to read more.

“Ideas?” I asked softly.

“Try talking to her,” Shinobu said in whisper. “She might not understand what you’re saying, but maybe she will recognise your voice.”

“Just don’t make any sudden movements,” Hikaru advised. “Because one slip, and – ”

“I get it, thank you.” I cut him off before he could terrify me more than I already was and crept slowly towards the fox Jack.

She was beautiful – slender, compact and muscular. Her pelt was dark red, with no white at all, and her paws, the tip of her tail and her ears shaded to chocolate brown. I thought she was a bit bigger than a regular fox, but I wasn’t an expert on the species. 

“Hey,” I said quietly. “You’re kind of cute as a fox, did you know? You’d get such a kick if you could see yourself.”

One of Jack’s large ears quivered a little, but she didn’t turn her head. I left the shelter of the last free and froze, unable to force myself to walk any further. It was just too scary out there in the open. I got down on my hands and knees – I was already as filthy as a human could get, so who cared? – and crawled up to the edge of the cliff.

“This is definitely an experience, right? Maybe not one to share with the grandkids, though, unless we want them to think we’ve lost our marbles and ship us off to the old folks home.”

I clamped my hands on the triangle shaped peak of stone and slowly eased myself down so that I was lying flat. Jack tilted her head slightly, as if she was paying attention to my movements. She lifted one paw, and I tensed.

Don’t, don’t, please, please don’t...

She put the paw back down.

I sighed. “Jack, you know what would be really awesome? If you’d make this easy on me and just come over here. Because, I’ve got to tell you, I think I’m developing a bit of a thing about heights, and you aren’t helping.”

I inched my leg up and over the peak, sucked in a deep, calming breath, and sat upright.

For the first time, I could see what Jack was gazing at.

London spread out in front of us, every bit of it green and shining and growing. Where home had skyscrapers, I now saw verdant green mountains cloaked in mist and topped by gargantuan trees that must have been taller than this house. Where home had roads, there were white, winding paths, glinting rivers and waterfalls. And forests - forests that stretched as far as the eye could see. A gust of that warm, scented wind made me teeter in place, but I was too spellbound to care.