Ruby Frost Excerpt

*taps the microphone* Is this thing still on? Testing…1,2,3….

Hi everyone!

I know I don’t blog as much as I used to and I apologize for that. I’ve been writing as fast as I can and working on Ruby Frost. I’m almost finished with the third draft of the novel and I really hope you enjoy Bianca’s next adventure in Everafter. There is so much more going on. You will meet a whole bunch of incredible characters and also a new villain. So I sincerely hope it’s worth the wait. I want to make sure I give you guys the best book possible.

 

Anyway here is an unedited sneak peek at Ruby Frost, featuring your favorite Wonderlandian, Maggie Hatter. 😉

 

“There are clocks everywhere,” Maggie said as she looked at her surroundings, with a mixture of awe and fear. She wrinkled her lightly freckled nose as though she had just smelled something foul. “I don’t like it. All this…tick-tocking. It’s unsettling.”

Bianca chuckled and shook her head. She knew that bringing Maggie with her to the real world was going to make things a bit complicated. Maggie Hatter, daughter of Alice and Maddox aka the Mad Hatter, had never been to school. Sure, she knew how to read and write (thanks to her mother) but other than that she had no interest in education whatsoever. But she was curious as to where Bianca went every morning. And it was that curiosity that got Maggie to wake up early and get dressed. She had to borrow some of Bianca’s clothes, which were a little big on her. Bianca was shorter and curvier than Maggie, who was tall and slim like her father, but she just shrugged and borrowed one of Bianca’s belts and that helped keep everything in place.

“Please behave. I only have a few months left to go and then I’ll graduate,” Bianca whispered as she guided Maggie through the busy hallways of her school.

“I promise. You don’t have to worry about me. Although that girl over there should worry about her teeth. Why does she have all that metal in her mouth?” Maggie whispered.

“They’re called braces and people use them to straighten their teeth.”

Maggie looked horrified. She covered her mouth to keep herself from crying. She composed herself and twirled a piece of her blond, curly (and sometimes matted) hair.

“Why? What did her teeth do? Do they put your teeth in prison for misbehaving? If so, then I want to know what sort of shenanigans the teeth around here like to do,” Maggie said.

Bianca rolled her eyes and tried not to laugh. “Just…shh. Okay?”

“Shh? Easy for you to say. You probably know where all the teeth go to have fun,” Maggie muttered.

They stopped in front of her locker. Bianca unlocked and opened it. She took out her math book and a few notebooks. She handed one to Maggie in case she wanted to take notes during class. Maggie arched an eyebrow and quirked her lip a tiny bit.

“What am I supposed to do with this?” Maggie asked, holding the notebook between her index finger and thumb as though it were a skunk.

“Take notes?” Bianca suggested.

Maggie tossed the notebook back inside the locker and slammed it shut. “I don’t think so. I’m here to observe and see what is so dangerous of about this high school. So far there is nothing here that is disconcerting. There are no jabberwockies, no Bandersnatch, no card soldiers. I’m starting to think you were exaggerating,” Maggie said.

“Trust me. I wasn’t exaggerating. Some of these people are horrible and vicious,” Bianca said.

Maggie crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

(c) Liz DeJesus 2017

 

Glass Frost Teaser

Note: You’ve heard all about First Frost, now it’s time to learn a bit more about the sequel…Glass Frost. Here’s a sneak peek.

Reluctantly Bianca sat down on a nearby stool; the chairs were so small that she worried she would break them. Luckily for her, they were quite sturdy. Bianca took a seat next to Terrance. Ming eventually joined them and sat beside the prince. Bianca noticed the awestruck look on Prince Ferdinand’s face as he ran his hands along the table.

“Are you okay?” Bianca asked.

He lifted his gaze at her. “Incredible. Isn’t it?”

Bianca grinned and nodded. When she closed her eyes, she could easily imagine a young Snow White living here. A beautiful little girl, scared, with nowhere else to go. Probably relieved to have found a safe place to call home. Someplace where she wouldn’t be abused, threatened, or killed. A steady energy seemed to run through the cottage. It hummed with warmth and love.

The three dwarves joined them in the dining room where they all sat and drank herbal tea. Bianca breathed in the warm and aromatic fragrance of the cloves and cinnamon.

“This cottage was half the size when Snow lived with us,” Collier said.

“Really?”

“Snow didn’t care though. She loved it here,” Howard said. “She helped rebuild the kitchen and planted a vegetable and rose garden beside the cottage. It hasn’t been touched since she passed away, but every year there is a fresh crop of vegetables ripe for the pickin’. I swear every year the roses smell sweeter and sweeter.”

Bianca imagined Snow White helping them build the kitchen and the other rooms in the house. She could picture her with silver-colored nails glinting on the corner of her mouth and a hammer in her hand, ready to do anything to help. Bianca wondered if she helped carve the designs on the walls, and if so, which ones was she responsible for.

“She loved you,” Bianca said.

“Aye, she did,” Knox said. All three brothers nodded in agreement.

“Were you angry with her when she left?” Terrance asked.

“No. Not at all. This wasn’t a place for a beautiful princess. We were sad to see her go, but never angry,” Knox explained.

Bianca was happy to hear that. Did Snow White know how they felt? She liked to think so.

Knox finished his tea and set his mug down on the table.

“Come…follow me,” he said. He grunted as he got out of his chair. “You’ll have to forgive my slowness…these old bones aren’t what they used to be. I am nine hundred and ninety seven years old after all.”

Bianca set her tea aside and followed Knox as he led her up the steps.

“Is it true?” Bianca asked.

“Is what true?”

“That dwarves live until they are a thousand years old.”

“Yes, it’s true.” Knox gave her a single nod.

“Doesn’t it scare you? Knowing that you only have three years left?”

“Death doesn’t frighten me, child. I’m looking forward to being finished with this life. I’ll see my brothers again. I’ll see Snow White once more. I won’t be so tired anymore.”

Bianca had a hard time believing what Knox just said. She had never met anyone that was looking forward to dying. In all honesty, she had never thought about what she would be like twenty years down the road. As far ahead as she was thinking at the moment was her senior year in high school and her eighteenth birthday. But other than that? She had no clue.

Bianca continued to follow Knox up the lopsided stairs. She had to bend a little so her head wouldn’t touch the ceiling. Once they reached the hallway, she studied her surroundings. There were four rooms. Three of them she could peek into, but all she could see was the foot of their beds. The door to the fourth bedroom was closed. That was the room he led her to.

Knox opened the door; it released a soft creak, as though it had been ages since anyone had stepped inside its threshold. It had a higher ceiling than the rest of the cottage. In the middle of the room was a full-size bed with white lace sheets and a single pillow. There was a small night table with a silver candlestick and a single half-burnt white candle. At the foot of the bed was a large wooden trunk. It was a beautiful polished cherry. All Bianca wanted to do was open it and find out what secrets it held.

“This was Snow’s room,” Knox said.

“It’s beautiful.” And Bianca meant it. She was struck by the simplicity of the place. It was elegant. Uncomplicated. Much like the woman that inhabited this space.

“We’ve left it just as it is. We come in every once in a while to dust and clean off the cobwebs.”

He opened the trunk and very carefully placed the items on top of the bed. There was a white dress, a pair of dusty-rose silk slippers, black work boots, a navy-blue and white quilt, and lace gloves that had yellowed with age. Then he tugged on a small piece of rope and revealed a secret hiding place. Patiently, Bianca waited. Knox pulled out a red velvet bag with gold ties.

“Here.” He handed the bag to Bianca.

“What is it?” she asked as she took the bag from him. She couldn’t get over the rich velvet fabric she held in her hands. The fabric felt soft against her fingertips. Bianca had never seen anything so luxurious in her life.

“I don’t know. I’ve never looked inside. She never said what it was or what to do with it. All she told me was that she would return someday to retrieve it. Unfortunately that day never came. And seeing as you’re her kin, I like to think she wouldn’t mind if you had it.”

Knox took the items he had placed on the bed and put them back inside the trunk. He gently closed the lid and walked out of the room. He closed the door behind him with a soft click, leaving Bianca alone to examine the red velvet bag.

She let out a deep sigh. It never ends.

She sat on the corner of the bed. The color on the blood-red bag was still bright. It was as though it had been at the bottom of the trunk for a few days and not a couple of centuries. She undid the knot and emptied the contents on top of the bed.

“Apple seeds,” she whispered.

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