I first talked to Megan a few weeks ago, when she had become a member of our sacred facebook group. I think it was on that first day when she ended up listening to my ramblings about my short story I’m currently working on. Since then we had some other interesting conversations about female characters, covers, and about books in general. She is lovely and friendly, so I’m happy to host her on my blog today. Read about her below and take a look at the excerpt from her first novel, The Finder of the Lucky Devil in her urban fantasy series, titled Lucky Devil. Those who follow SPFBO might have seen her around since she is participating in the contest this year 🙂
Megan Mackie is a writer, actor, podcaster and playwright. Besides writing, Megan is currently running a satirical podcast called the Princess Peach Conspiracy, about how all of the Super Mario Bros games are really a conspiracy by Princess Peach to keep the war economy going. You can hear it on iTunes, Stitcher, or GooglePlay. She also likes to knit, play games involving dice, and getting into feverish discussions about why the live action Beauty and the Beast is better than the animated version. She lives in Chicago with her husband and children.
Chapter 3
Rune stood frozen outside her office door, a rabbit trembling in a trap. With no way to get through the door in front of her, and the chances of successfully bull-rushing past St. Benedict very slim, she felt almost giddy. The years of hiding were over. Someone had finally found her. Even though she was terrified, there was also an insane feeling of relief.
“Did you write this?” she asked, holding out the slip of paper towards him with trembling fingers.
His head cocked to the side again. “I saw that the paper disappeared from his pocket, but I couldn’t quite work out where it went. Is that a spell or something?” he asked.
“Yes,” Rune responded too quickly.
“So then, you are the magic user I’m looking for.” He stepped closer, closing the distance between them. Rune eyed the hand he still had in his pocket, trying to guess whether he had a gun or a knife; as if that made any sort of difference at this range. Was he here to kill her? Was he here to take her back?
“What… what do you want with me?” She pressed herself harder against the door.
“I just want my wish fulfilled. I wish to find Anna Masterson,” he said, moving closer.
“W-why?” Rune stuttered, shivering with fear.
“I’m not the only one looking for her and I need to find her first. I was told ‘The Lucky Devil’ was the place to find help. Has anyone else approached you about this issue?”
Rune blinked. “You… you wish to find Anna Masterson?”
“Yes. I understand that if someone needs to be found, this is the place to find that sort of help.” He stopped a few feet in front her. “It took me a great deal of trouble to get a hold of that coin and the instructions on its use. I was led to believe that in exchange for the coin, I would be able to talk to someone who specializes in granting difficult to fulfill wishes.”
Rune blinked again, trying to force her sluggish brain to work. “You mean, you’re here to get me to find Anna Masterson?” She couldn’t believe her ears.
He paused, visibly perplexed by her response. “Is that a strange request?”
“Ha. No. No, it isn’t. Well, maybe a little,” Rune rambled nonsensically.
She was so relieved that she thought she was going to throw up. He wasn’t here for her. At least, he didn’t know how close he was to finding what he was looking for. The woman once called Anna Masterson started to think quickly again. He said others were looking for her. What did they want? Should she just run now? No. She had to keep him talking. She needed to know why.
“Do you want to come into my office or something, where we can discuss this?” she asked clumsily.
“That would be perfect, yes,” he agreed. Still he had that hand in his pocket. He was hiding something. How much of a bad guy was he? Maybe she should just run now and ask questions later. Why was he looking for her?
“Uh, yes. Yes, this is it. I just forgot my keys. One second.” She tried to move around him to head back to the bar room, or maybe to run out the door instead. Before she could pass, St. Benedict moved suddenly, blocking her escape. His hand slammed against the glass surface of the door to one side of Rune’s head causing the door to shudder and she yelped, surprised when it didn’t break.
“No please..” she whimpered.
“Sorry,” he said, so close that his breath washed over her face. “I’m… I’m about to pass out here.” His head fell forward, leaning against her shoulder. His breathing was labored and warm through the material of her shirt.
“Oh god! Are you alright?” Rune looked frantically between his hand and his head, uncomfortably close to hers, before doing a double take back to his hand. His palm was pressed against the door and across its back were streaks of drying blood. Fresher blood dripped down the glass, leaving greasy smears on the pebbled surface.
“Oh god, what happened?” Rune asked.
“Need… to sit down…” He staggered forward. Rune caught him in time, using the door to brace herself under his heavy weight. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled. His head lolled as he fought for consciousness. “Blood pressure… loss… body is just reacting… Just gotta sit down.”
“But I don’t have the key,” she said. St. Benedict stopped responding intelligently. “Oh, dammit.” Rune took a deep breath and focused on trying to remember the exact pronunciation of the keyword to open Maddie’s office door. “Aprax… Abraxius… Abraxas. Yes, Abraxas…. the Latin word for door is…?” Rune gripped the door handle, pressing her thumb on the crystal shard in the middle and called out, “Abraxas aperio.” With a gratifying click, the door knob turned and swung inwards.
If you liked the excerpt, please feel free to follow Megan on the following sites:
You can buy her book on:
Amazon and at Barnes&Noble
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