The Aura of Love…A Puzzle for Your Pleasure: Chapter 8!

The April 25, 2008 Winner is Margaret E of Marianna, FL!

 

Check back soon for a new puzzle and another chance to win!

 

Win an Autographed Copy of The Aura of Love!

 

So, let’s have a little fun with my novel, The Aura of Love!

To start, read the excerpt from Chapter 8 below the puzzle. Once you have the excerpt embedded in you head, you can work the puzzle in one of two ways.

Solve online at The Aura of Love: Chapter 8, or if you need paper and pencil in hand, right click and click on Print Picture.

Email your answers to kathyjmarsh@aol.com by midnight on April 25, 2008 to enter!  Good luck! 

 

 

 

Chapter 8

           Fuming, Jace realized he had to put some distance between himself and Reggie.  Once Remy and Zavier were gone, Jace bent down and, looking his niece, Ann, straight in the eye, said, “Sweet Pea, I’m gonna see you later.  Darius and I are going to get something to eat.
            “Okay.”
            Jace saw Anne’s smile falter, saw her eyes travel from her dad’s balled fists to his stone-like face, saw her stiffen, saw that she knew something was wrong.  Trying to erase her tension, he rose and said something he hoped would return her smile.  “You have a good time today.  Call me later and tell me how you liked the Double Dare.  Okay?”  He kissed her head before turning and walking away.
            He and Darius had only taken a few steps when Reggie’s yell slowed Jace’s pace somewhat.
            “Hey,” Reggie hollered, “I wanna talk to you, Jace.”
            This was not the time or the place to have the conversation Reggie wanted to have, so though Jace slowed, he continued walking.
            Reggie watched Jace’s receding back, watched him walk away like he hadn’t heard him.  His anger exploded and he ran up behind Jace, grabbing his shoulder and spinning him around.  “Hey, I’m talking to you, man!”
            Facing his brother, Jace’s anger was so intense, he found himself looking through a blood red haze.  His gaze landed on Ann and he forced the haze to diminish.  Through clenched teeth, he spoke to Reggie.  “What the hell is your problem?”
            “My problem?  My problem?  I’ll tell you what my problem is.  I got a problem with you dating that woman, that…that damn Remy or whatever her name is.”  Bitch was the word on the tip of his tongue, but he held back in his daughter’s presence.
            Jace mocked Reggie in a singsong voice and with a little side-to-side wiggle of his head.   “I got a problem with you dating that woman.”
            “Oh, so now you trying to be funny.”  He took a step toward Jace, and since he was a couple of inches taller and a few pounds heavier, others might have viewed his move as threatening to Jace.
            Hardly threatened, Jace stepped right up into Reggie’s face.

The Aura of Love…A Puzzle for Your Pleasure: Chapter 18!

  

The January 31, 2008 Winner is Norma W of Pembroke Pines, FL!

  

Win an Autographed Copy of The Aura of Love!

 

So, let’s have a little fun with my novel, The Aura of Love! 

To start, read the excerpt from Chapter 18 below the puzzle. Once you have the excerpt embedded in you head, you can work the puzzle in one of two ways.

Solve online at The Aura of Love: Chapter 18, or if you need paper and pencil in hand, right click and click on Print Picture.

Email your answers to kathyjmarsh@aol.com by midnight on January 31, 2008 to enter!  Good luck! 

 

Come back soon to check out more excerpts and puzzles!

 

 

Chapter 18

 

Kara’s eyes widened with surprise, and almost immediately, narrowed with anger as Remy and Jace passed her table.  I thought she said she was through with that blue bastard!

The conversation at her table, about reparations and Kara’s role in it, died as her attention followed their progress.  Jace pulled out Remy’s chair and helped her sit while the hostess looked on with a silly grin on her face.  Kara was aware that the hostess, who was human, saw only an African-American couple, not the intercoven couple Kara saw.  After he’d tucked Remy’s chair, Jace walked around the table to take his seat while the hostess handed them menus.  What a gentleman he is.  The sneer on her face belied that thought.

So riveted by the lunch date in progress, Kara had forgotten her own lunch, along with her conversation and her friend.

With much name-calling and hand-waving, Liz, Kara’s lunch companion and one of her longtime employees, finally got her employer’s attention.  “You know them?”

“Huh?”  Though Kara looked at Liz, her mind still dwelled on Remy and Jace.

“You’re looking at them like you know them.”

“Well, I know her.  That’s Remy Renee.  She’s a friend and-”  With those words, Kara’s attention returned to her friend and her date.  Her frown deepened as she zeroed in on Remy’s purple aura and Jace’s blue one.

“Our client, Remy Renee?  Urbane’s owner?  Is she dating him?”  Liz’s surprise was evident in her voice.

With no small effort, Kara pried her eyes from Remy and Jace and cast them upon Liz, whose aura was as purple as her own.  Hiring blue coven aurals was a definite no-no as far as Kara was concerned.  It would never happen while she was at the helm of her company.  “It sure looks like it, doesn’t it?  I would never have believed she’d do something like this.”

“I know that’s right.”  Liz was a definite yes-woman and always agreed with her boss, no matter the subject.  “I could never date a blue coven guy.  They just don’t do a thing for me.”

“I know what you mean, girl.”  Kara nodded, emphasizing her agreement.  “I really hate what Remy is doing, and I think it’s time I do something about it.”

The Aura of Love Book Trailer!

Win an autographed copy of The Aura of Love!

  

The January 2, 2008 winner is Sarah D of Chattanooga, TN!

Come back soon to check out more excerpts and puzzles!

 

Take a tantalizing peek at the The Aura of Love Book Trailer!

The Aura of Love

Congratulations to the winner, Johnna N. of Lawton, OK!

Add an extra $50.00 to your Christmas shopping fund!

Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and at book stores nationwide.
If not on shelf at book store, they will order it for you.

Solve online at The Aura of Love Online.   If you love to solve puzzles with pencil in hand, just right click in the puzzle and choose print target.

Have fun and good luck!

 

  

The Aura of Love…A Puzzle for Your Pleasure: Chapter 4!

The October 2, 2007 Winner is Karmen S of Huntsville, AL!

 

So, let’s have a little fun with my novel, The Aura of Love! 

To start, read the excerpt below the puzzle. Once you have the excerpt embedded in you head, you can work the puzzle in one of two ways.

Solve online at The Aura of Love: Chapter 4, or if you need paper and pencil in hand, right click and click on Print Picture.

Come back soon to check out more excerpts and puzzles!

 

Chapter 4

           While Remy and Zavier were engrossed in their Scrabble game, Jace was involved in his own game.
           Aw man, I can’t believe he got fired!  Jace grabbed his head and leaned back in his chair, his gaze touching the ceiling, despair and disbelief written on his face.  His Sim had been a superstar, rich and making money mammy.  And now, all that income was history.
            Jace’s digi beeped, shaking him from his Sims-induced haze and bringing him back to reality.  One glance told him Darius was on the other end.
            “What up, man?”
            “Jace, man, that was one slammin’ party Pandora gave last night.  No!  Wait!  I wouldn’t know that…’cause I didn’t get to go.”
            Through his digi’s screen, Jace saw Darius’s big grin.  “No, you didn’t, and your ass was never missed.  Pandora did ask about you, though.”  He paused as memories of last night brought a smile.  “Remy and I had a great time!  I think–”
            Jace stopped, his conversation cut short by his doorbell’s high-toned chimes.  “Hold on a minute.  Let me see who this is.”
           His brother, Reggie, older by seven years, stood on the other side of the door, his braids fuzzy.  Reggie’s expression conveyed worry, stress, and sorrow as he stumbled over the threshold.  “I came to get you, man.  Dad’s in The Clinic.  A car hit him.  He was in Wilmington.  They don’t know if he’s gonna make it.”
            “A car hit him?” Jace asked, the digi still at his ear.  “How could a car hit him?  Where were his psychic skills?  Wilmington, Delaware?”
            “North Carolina.  And I don’t know, Jace.  He just was.  Come on, we gotta go.”
            “Jace.”  Darius got no response.  “Jace.”
            “Yeah?”  Jace felt as if he’d been thrust into a debilitating emotional fog.  Maybe he could hear Darius if he just extracted himself from this fog, if he could just concentrate.
            “I’ll meet you there.  Okay?”
            “Huh?”
            “I’ll meet you there.”
            “Uh-huh…yeah…okay.”
            Jace disconnected his digi and lay it down next to the computer where his Sim now partied with guests.  He had one final thought as he and Reggie left.  What the hell was Dad doing in Wilmington?

The Aura of Love…A Puzzle for your Pleasure: Chapter 1.2!

Win an Autographed Copy of The Aura of Love!

The September 21, 2007 Winner is Patsy N. of Charlotte, NC!

 

So, let’s have a little fun with my novel, The Aura of Love! 

To start, read the excerpt below the puzzle. Once you have the excerpt embedded in you head, you can work the puzzle in one of two ways.

Solve online at The Aura of Love:  Chapter 1.2, or if you need paper and pencil in hand, right click and click on Print Picture.

Come back soon to check out more excerpts and puzzles!

Chapter 1.2
 

The journalist, who would later write the anonymous tale entitled “The Beings Amongst Us,” lay in his bed, shadows from his flickering TV dancing around the darkened bedroom. His eyes moved frantically beneath his closed lids. In his somnolent state, he was amazed at and just a little frightened by the dream he was having.

His muscular body felt unbelievably light as, suddenly, it seemed he was pulled from his bed, from his house, and through the star-filled night. He was puzzled that the rushing wind didn’t freeze him or cause any difficulty breathing.

Bit by bit, the forward motion stopped and he found himself looking around at nothing. His heart did a stutter-step as he realized he was dropping like metal toward a magnet. As if his thoughts had been heard, his speed decreased to a less frightening rate, allowing curiosity to overwhelm fear. Straining, he peered below him.

He became aware of sound as an eerily-spoken narration seeped into his consciousness. The voice sounded like none he’d heard before. It seemed to come from no outside source, but to be inside his mind, his being. Abruptly, his vision cleared as though he had broken through some type of fog, a veil. He lost track of the narration, his mind staggered by the sights below him. The voice stopped, as if once again, reading his thoughts, his feelings. He saw clearly the people below him, though his brain had trouble processing the information sent by its visual counterparts. His eyes closed for a moment, but the people looked the same upon their re-opening. His mind was a confusing jumble of thoughts, unable to make sense of the things he was seeing.Each person seemed to have a colorful energy bursting through his or her skin, either blue or purple. Fighting to keep his equilibrium, he took a deep breath as a thought, something else odd about these people, skittered through his consciousness. The fingers of his mind reached for the thought, but it slid right through, back into his subconscious.The narration began again, the voice oddly soothing. He relaxed, allowing the voice to calm him as he listened.“The land you see below is called ‘The Island’ by the ones who live there. We are Auralites and the energy field that surrounds us is our aura.”The journalist, his fear dampened and his curiosity heightened, asked, “Where did you come from? How did you get here?”“Before we came here, we lived where you live. But now, we only work where you live. Not all of us, though. Some of us work on The Island.”Questions, running amok in the man’s head, went unasked as the narrator continued.“We moved to The Island in the early 1700’s because more and more humans were coming to the new land, the land you call North America. We were scared we would be discovered, entrapped, examined, and killed.”Realizing there was a lull in the narration, the journalist collected his thoughts enough to ask, “Humans? You’re not human?”“We weren’t scared we’d be discovered because of our auras, though. They are invisible to those who are not Auralites. We thought you might see us utilizing our powers or maybe you’d notice we didn’t age or get sick like you. Our biggest fear, though, came from our need to screen ourselves when we were in your presence. We could only do it for a short time because it took such intense energy, such a big use of our powers. And there were suddenly so many of you: roaming, shooting, riding horses. The dangers were everywhere and at that time, we had not made the medical advances we’ve made since. We did not know how to save ourselves from unexpected harm.”When the voice stopped, the journalist was able to refocus on the Auralites below. What was it about them? His focus became more intense, the odd glimmer growing until it was a fully-formed thought. Each and every one of the Auralites was black, not one of them white. And they were all the same complexion, a rich, chocolate brown color.His mind reeled from the information bombarding it. There were so many questions he needed to ask. Unheeded, one disengaged itself from the jumble in his head. “I don’t understand. If you can only be around us for a short time, how do you work with us today? Aren’t you still scared?”“But today, our powers have increased and we have learned how to use them more efficiently. Being around you is no longer the energy drain it once was. But still, we have fear. So, we own our businesses and hire only Auralites. Our contact with you is minimal since you are only the customer. Although now, we can be with you undetected for hours, for weeks even. And a few of us choose to do that. Those are the ones who live among you as our undercover agents. They have infiltrated your institutions:  your government, your businesses, your schools, your very lives. The information they send back to The Island about humans and human events is crucial.”The questions flooding his head numbered in the hundreds. Though his previous question had been answered, the journalist had the feeling the narrator wasn’t responding to his queries but was telling the story in his own way. But that didn’t stop him from asking a few more questions. “Where are you from? Are you going to hurt us? What powers?”

As the words fell from his mouth, he awoke with a start. His voice resounded through his bedroom where the TV still cast its shadows. His adrenaline high, his breathing labored, his heart pounding, he sat up and reached for the glass of water on his nightstand. He took a huge gulp and then wiped the moisture from his forehead as he lay back on his pillow.

“Whew, that was quite a dream!” Feeling a slight crunch and hearing a light crackle, he reached behind his head. His eyes grew large as he saw the leaf fragment clutched in his hand. “What the hell?”