Coming Soon! Midwood: Edina Hawthorne and the Magician of Sorrows

Here's an excerpt from the upcoming next book in the Midwood series, Edina Hawthorne and the Magician of Sorrows

Edina chased the silver ball as it bounced and bounded along the pathway and into the clearing. When she entered the space she watched the ball bound toward the center and there it stopped against a wooden sign. She raced toward it and grabbed the silver ball tightly.

"I'm going to have a very hard time with you," Edina said to the ball. Then she thought to herself, "Edina Hawthorne, you're talking to a ball. No matter how many strange things have already happened, talking to a ball makes no sense at all." She stood up and read the sign:

"This way to Malthus."

There was an arrow at the top of the sign pointing straight up, into the sky.

"How can I possibly go up?" she muttered. "There's no ladder here and nothing else to get me upwards."

After she said this, she heard a rustling in the trees. Looking around she saw how the branches and leaves were shaking and then, in a far corner of the clearing the leaves started to stir. First, just a little, and then there was a great clustering of leaves that spiraled together and rose into the air. They gathered strength and more and more leaves joined them until soon there was a great whirlwind of leaves and it was coming towards her quickly.

Edina ran away from the whirlwind, but there was nowhere to go. She shut her eyes and waited, hoping that the wind would move past her and she could be on her way. The sound of the wind was very loud and came closer and closer and then all of a sudden she felt her feet leave the ground.

Picked up by the whirlwind of leaves, she was taken up into the sky and taken very far above the trees. Opening her eyes she looked down and saw the tops of the trees and the forest around her. She saw the clearing below and Octavus' clearing, where the old man walked with his staff, touching the trees and changing the color of the leaves and ripened apples appeared. On one side, she could see, very, very far away, the top of the tall clock tower of Puddle. Then as suddenly as she was lifted up, the whirlwind brought her back down over the trees and into a new and strange place.

She landed in the center of a clearing where the grass was a brilliant blue and the leaves on the trees were purple and pink. The wind stopped and all the leaves it had carried fell at her feet in a great pile.

"What are you?" came a gruff voice. "And what are you doing in my glen?"

Edina looked for the voice and in the corner of the space she saw a huge beast. It had the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a dragon with a serpent's tail and lion's claws.

"I'm a girl," Edina answered. "My name is Edina. Octavus said I needed to find Malthus. I'm here to find Jadoo the Magician."

Sighing, the beast replied, "I am Malthus. You have not seen a gryphon before?" He began to approach her.

Backing away a little, Edina responded, "Only in books about mythical creatures."

"Mythical?!" Malthus said raising his head and fluttering his wings. "Do I look mythical to you?!"

By now Malthus was towering over Edina, and she shook out of fear.

"No, sir," she said. "You are certainly not mythical."

"There you have it," Malthus said lowering his head to Edina. "Jadoo, you say? You're here to destroy him? I love a good destruction of a wicked old magician."

"I don't think I'm supposed to destroy him," Edina explained. "Only to break the spell he has cast."

"Spell? What spell? No one ever tells me anything here. It's very annoying."

"Everyone is unhappy now. In Midwood and even in my town."

Malthus raised his claw to his chin and scratched. "Town? Which town?"

"Puddle," Edina replied. "Puddle on Twine."

"Oh, that place," said Malthus. "Quite a boring little village. I've flown over it many times."

"I've never seen you."

"And you never will," Malthus explained. "You see, a gryphon is generally invisible to people. We like it that way. How do you plan to end this spell?"

"I don't know," Edina answered. "I have to find the cavern where Jadoo lives. I don't have any idea of how I will break the spell, or even why he's cast it in the first place."

"Well, the caverns below Midwood are quite a distance from here," Malthus told her. "There are many more pathways and clearings and many more dangers ahead." He leaned his face directly in front of Edina. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"I must," Edina said firmly.

"Very well," Malthus said. "Hop on my back and I'll take you to the next place you must go before finding the caverns. But I warn you: it is a challenging place. You may be at great peril there."

"I shall take that risk," Edina said with some confidence. She climbed onto Malthus' back and, clutching the silver ball, they flew away out of the clearing and over the trees.

"What's next?" Edina thought. "This is the strangest day of my life."