Dark Clouds

By Scott Bury

Matt always knew when his mother was about to arrive: the wind would swirl from every direction at once and dark clouds would mass in the sky.

He and his pretty wife, Teri, try to get out of the way, but as the Witch's Son, Matt is drawn into a spider's web.

He has to use his special abilities to spoil the Witch Queen's plans—but the price for that is to be paid in blood.

Fortunately, Teri has a few special abilities of her own ...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Scott Bury
• Release date: Oct 17, 2011
• ISBN: 9780986952944

Scott Bury

Scott Bury is a journalist, editor and writer living in Ottawa. His articles have been published in newspapers and magazines in Canada, the US, UK and Australia, including Macworld, the Ottawa Citizen, the Financial Post, Marketing, Canadian Printer, Applied Arts, PEM, Workplace, Advanced Manufacturing and others.He has two almost-grown children, an orange cat and a loving wife who puts up with a lot. You can read more of Scott’s writing at scottswrittenwords.blogspot.com and scottstravelblog.wordpress.com, and on his website, http://www.writtenwords.ca. Follow him on Twitter @ScottTheWriter.

Book preview

Part 1: The Mandrake Ruse

By Scott Bury

Copyright © 2011 by Scott Bury

All rights reserved

No part of this story may be used or reproduced in any manner without the prior written permission of the author, except for brief quotations in reviews.

Published by The Written Word Communications Company

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

www.writtenword.ca

Cover image and design by Scott Bury ISBN 978-0-9869529-3-7

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication information is available.

The Mandrake Ruse

Matt always knew when his mother arrived in town: the wind would swirl from every direction at once, sending the neighbour’s weather-vane spinning clackety-clack and the yellow and brown leaves whirling along the road like a child’s top.

Let’s get out of here, Matt said to his pretty, petite wife, Teri. They packed a few things into a single suitcase and drove out of Ottawa, over the bridge to Wakefield. We might as well stay somewhere nice, he said.

It’s too bad it’s so expensive, Teri replied. She looked worried, but not about the money. She was weary of her mother-in-law’s antics.

When they arrived at the hotel, Teri loved the way its rustic pretence did not mask its luxury. She lay on the bed and squirmed on the thick duvet. This is so nice.

Matt flopped down beside her