She curled up into a ball, weeping at all she’d lost and knowing it wouldn’t last. In moments the feelings would dry up and she’d be back to not caring, to wanting to tear it all down. These brief instances of being herself were coming less frequently and lasting less and less time.
Shireen was truly afraid that this would finally be her last few seconds of retaining her identity.
Footsteps sounded in the leaves, louder than when the Folk moved through the forest. Whatever it was; deer, raccoon, bear, it didn’t matter.
“I can help you,” a gentle voice said.
Shireen didn’t move for a moment, then blinked her tears away and looked up.
A figure was silhouetted against the bright sky through the branches. It seemed to be holding hand out a hand.
“I can help you,” it repeated, a man’s deep, slightly raspy, voice. “If you let me.”
AFTERWORD
A cliffhanger ending? What a gyp!
Fear not. As I write these words, I’m also working on the third chapter of Solomon’s travels. It’s shaping up to be a page-turner and answering a lot of the questions that were raised in this book. Solomon will return, sooner rather than later. At least one more time.
I want to thank the members of the speculative fiction group of the Writer’s Group of the Triad: Rick Fisher, Kelly McLean, and Mike Swan. Their critiques, suggestions, and revisions made Solomon’s Journey not only a much stronger book, but a much better one as well.
As always, a huge thank you to my mother, Joyce Maxstadt, for not only reading, but keeping a list of typos, misspellings, and omitted words. And Marty Roberts, my friend for more years than I care to think about, who read it and didn’t tell me it sucked.
And of course, to my beautiful wife, Barb. She not only listens as I read chapters to her, she puts up with me pouting when she tells me something doesn’t work, or I’ve repeated the same word three times in two paragraphs, or... well, any number of things really. Then, she rereads it herself, to pick up on all my punctuation, spelling, word choice, etc, that I’ve managed to mess up. It’s a huge amount of work, and she does it with a grace and ease that astounds. I often tell her that it should be her writing the books.
And finally, thank you, the reader, for making it to the end of this leg of Solomon’s Journey. Stay tuned, there’s more to come!
Please, if you enjoyed this story, leave a review on Amazon. It’s a HUGE help to independent authors like me. Thanks, and Happy Reading!
James Maxstadt lives in Burlington, NC with his beautiful wife Barbara and their dog, Remi. When not writing, he’s usually found reading, watching mindless TV, or performing a home renovation project. (Thanks, Dad!) But rather than read about James, he would much rather have you read the adventures of Solomon, or Duke Grandfather and his friends, or visit his website at www.jamesmaxstadt.com!
