Good morning, everyone!
I’m finding it hard to believe it’s the last Thursday in January. Where did this month go? Seriously. It seems like it was just Christmas, and now it’s almost Valentine’s Day. Sheesh!
For this last Thursday in January, I’m in the mood for a little ghost story. “Iris and Ivy” will be free to read for a week. Enjoy!
Iris and Ivy
Annie Reed
Published by Thunder Valley Press
Copyright 2011 by Annie Reed
Cover art copyright 2009 by Ivan Bliznetsov at iStockphoto.com
Iris leaned her weary back against the inside of the front door to her apartment. She felt as well as heard the latch snap shut.
Home again, home again, whoop de doo.
She closed her eyes and concentrated. In her mind’s eye, she saw a faint green glow surround the lock. She kept concentrating until the glow spread to fill the crack between the door and the jamb, like a bit of glow-in-the-dark weather stripping.
Satisfied the bit of threshold magic would hold, she opened her eyes and pulled off the wig with its long, brassy red curls. Her scalp itched. She scoured her fingers through her own blonde hair until the skin on her head tingled.
Her face itched, too. She’d caked the makeup on pretty heavy tonight. Foundation and blush. False eyelashes so thick they looked like furry caterpillars crouching on her eyelids. Enough steel grey and dark brown eye shadow to make her look like the sexiest nearly-dead person trolling the dockside bars. She couldn’t wait to wash all the crap off her face so she could get back to being herself.
Changelings shifted their appearance with hardly a second thought. All they had to do was see you, or better yet touch you, and presto chango, say hello to a brand new version of yourself, original model no longer required. Non-changelings like Iris had to work a little harder to become someone else.
“Well?” she said to the not-quite-empty apartment. “What did you think of that one?”
(read the rest of the story here)
