by S. E. Babin
I jerked my attention back to Stern. She noticed who I was looking at and rolled her eyes.
Apparently Mr. Handsome Face attracted his fair share of feminine attention. No surprise there. Too bad his personality wasn’t a little more sparkling.
I sighed and rubbed my hands over my face. Who was I kidding? Like someone like him would ever glance at me twice. Plus, why was I even wondering about this? I was handcuffed and being interrogated by a woman with tiny wings. Could she even use those to fly? If I got up from the chair and ran out the door would she have to chase me or would those wings fire up like a helicopter or something?
I blinked as she snapped her fingers in front of my face. “Ms. Bloom!”
“Sorry,” I muttered. “I had something on my mind.”
“Other than your pending arrest for murder?” she asked.
My mouth fell open. “But I’m innocent!”
“You can tell that to the Council,” she said, snapping her notebook shut and leaving me where I sat.
“What council?” I wailed as I watched her massive back sway away from me. Was I really going to have to die, come to Purgatory, then get convicted of murder? I had tons of people I’d wanted to kill back home. Okay, not literally, because I liked having clean hair and three squares a day, but figuratively, of course. Everyone had those, right?
Something that looked like sympathy crossed over Mr. Handsome Face’s expression, but I was done with him. I needed to figure out how to get myself out of this mess.
The sooner, the better.
But a mere few moments later, I realized why he had that look on his face. Three massive creatures ducked and stepped into my bakery. Wearing wings of ebony that trailed behind them as they walked, they moved synchronously with an eerie grace, each step identical. Their faces were shrouded by the black robes they wore, and their hands were clasped together almost like they were praying.
But they weren’t.
I sure as heck was to someone who probably stopped listening to me a long time ago. They stopped in front of me, whispered something I couldn’t understand, and a peace I hadn’t known since childhood slipped over me, rendering me both mute and motionless.
In the back of my mind, I knew it wasn’t right, even though I felt like I was floating on a cloud of marshmallows. Everything was right in the world and these people they were going to help me.
A few hours later I came to, chained and cold in a dark, gray cell, my only company a mattress made of straw and a bucket in the corner.
“Well,” I muttered to myself, “apparently there are no federal laws here concerning jail cell cleanliness.” I raised a hand to scratch my nose only to hear the loud clink of chains and realize they came two inches too short. I had to lift my knee up and bend my head down to scratch it.
My first week of being a baker in this town hadn’t turned out so well and gazing around me at my new living quarters, I didn’t think it was going to be getting any better any time soon.
“Crap,” I muttered as I rested my head back against the damp stone wall and waited. They couldn’t leave me here forever, could they?
I shut my eyes and whimpered.
Don’t answer that, Piper.
About the Author
S.E. Babin is an award-winning author with a passion for writing books with a paranormal twist. Whether it's romance or mystery, she loves taking the norm and turning it into the extraordinary. Her love of reading turned into a curious exploration to see whether or not she could write her own novel. Beginning with discarded pages of angsty novels and a slightly popular reimagining of Beowulf's Grendel in her high school English class, Sheryl spent way too much time in the library, killing any chance of her becoming a cheerleader or anything even remotely cool.
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Also by S.E. Babin
Out of Practice Aphrodite
Out of Sorts Aphrodite
Out of Options Aphrodite
Out of Chills Aphrodite
Out of Eggnog Aphrodite
Out of Cake Aphrodite
Out of Sanity Aphrodite
Coming Soon!
Out of Excuses Aphrodite
Out of Patience Aphrodite
Out of Order Aphrodite
