Cascade

By Claudia Hall Christian

The horrid past invades the perfect present

As peace settles on the Castle, darkness looms on the horizon and the pain of former lives threatens to destroy the here and now. Delphie, Jill, Jacob, Sandy, Aden and their loved ones come face to face with their worst demons.

But this is Denver Cereal.

It takes more than a school brawl, a shooting, prison, a vicious beating or even a death to destroy the love an loyalty that unites this extended family of choice. In Cascade, the beloved Denver Cereal characters return. Pooling their skills and abilities, they confront the past before it overwhelms the present.

Cascade is the third installment of the Denver Cereal. An Internet sensation, Denver Cereal is a serial fiction grounded in Uptown Denver, Colorado.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cook Street Publishing
• Release date: Feb 5, 2011
• ISBN: 9780982641767

Claudia Hall Christian

Claudia Hall Christian writes stories about good people caught in difficult situations. Her stories are addictive, heart pounding, and intense. She is the author of the Alex the Fey thriller series, the Queen of Cool, the Seth and Ava Mysteries, Suffer a Witch, Abee Normal Paranormal Investigations, and the longest consecutive serial fiction ever written, Denver Cereal. She lives in Denver where she keeps bees, gardens, hangs out with her Plott Hounds, and husband

Book preview

CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

The Oracle Taber

The day before Thanksgiving

How could it happen? How could the horrible past reach up and snatch her from the perfect present? She couldn’t make sense of it.

Lying on her bed, Delphie mentally tracked the series of events.

She’d worried about her chocolate-chip cheesecake. Valerie loved Delphie’s cheesecake. Valerie could, and would, eat an entire chocolate chip cheesecake herself. But Valerie was slimming down and muscling up for her movie role. Standing in the kitchen, Delphie was worrying about Valerie when she heard Heather’s indignant:

Some guy who says I’m being sued.

She remembered walking out to the door. Sam slipped his arm around her shoulder as they watched the kids. She glanced from person to person. With practiced ease, she read their mental states.

Jill was being sued by Trevor’s parents. They wanted custody of Katy. Jill wasn’t sure what was more annoying — the custody bullshit or the subpoena for Honey’s sister’s trial. The dark cloud of Trevor hung in Jill’s mind.

Heather was being sued by the cretin who had impregnated her. Delphie felt a flash of rage from Heather. Blane thought it was funny.

Jacob blocked her from reading his mind. Whatever he received was bad — so bad that he didn’t want to disrupt the party. He caught her eyes and shook his head. Nope, she wasn’t getting in.

Valerie was being sued for defamation of character by Heather’s sperm donor. Delphie hated that phrase but Valerie used it. Valerie knew Mike would take care of the suit. She trusted Mike implicitly and simply put it out of her mind.

Aden’s ex-wife, Nuala, was claiming she was mentally ill and wanted her parental rights restored. Unwilling to bother with Nuala, Aden stuck the papers into his back pocket. A kiss from Sandy set everything right in Aden’s world.

Honey was subpoenaed to her sister’s trial. Even though they’d expected the subpoena, MJ felt helpless to protect her. He masked his helplessness with fury. Delphie chuckled. The little process server had been terrified by MJ.

Delphie had been so focused on reading other people’s thoughts and emotions that she hadn’t heard the little man say her birth name. Chastity. Not that she recognized the name.

The next three words were like arrows through her soul.

The.

Oracle.

Tabor.

The name she’d lived with for ten years — The Oracle Taber. She took the papers, winked at Mike, and closed the door. Easy. After all, she had a chocolate chip cheesecake to worry about. When she turned from the process server, she saw everyone’s shocked faces. She’d laughed.

What? Did they think she was born Delphinium? No last name? Only the name of a flower?

No, Celia had given her that name. Sam nodded in affirmation. He was there when it happened. If they didn’t mind, she had a cheesecake to attend to.

She was standing in the kitchen when the past crept up and snatched