DDsE, Book 5

By Sue Perry

Being sixteen is Tupac Eminem. Ella has no one to talk to except her new diary, which she has to hide from Ma and Pa Warden, the foster parents she’s stuck with since her family got flattened in a car accident. Now that she lives with the wardens, she has to switch to a new school, where people act like her tragedy is contagious. Her new suburb is just as boring as the last, and offers no hope of secret passageways or magic. But life is not all bad. There’s an interesting boy at the new school – although his family turns out to be impossibly dangerous. And there’s a feral cat, living in the suburb’s only open space, a pitiful excuse for woods. Sometimes the cat invades Ella’s mind. She tells her diary, ‘I’ve gone a special kind of crazy, a split personality. And my other personality is a cat, not a person.’

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sue Perry
• Release date: Nov 13, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370674459

Sue Perry

... Concert stage, dark except for a deep blue spotlight. Singer drops to one knee and his narration evolves from murmur to rant. "This is the story of a man who got what he wanted but he lost what he had. He got what he wanted but he lost what he had. He got –" ...It goes on forever. It's mesmerizing. Uncomfortable. Confessional.Pretty sure this memory is from the time I saw James Brown, decades ago, but the lost identity of the singer isn't the point.I've spent my life gazing across some fence or other, admiring greener grass over yonder. I've acted on so many impulses to jump the fence. No complaints, but it has sure taken me a long time to appreciate where I'm standing right now. And nowadays that blue spotlight chant fills my head whenever I contemplate a new jump.Sometimes I jump back.I was a low–budget television producer until I wrote a psychological thriller, "Was It A Rat I Saw", which Bantam–Doubleday–Dell published in hardcover in 1992. Soon after that I became the mother of twins, jumped into graduate school, and became a disaster scientist. I dabbled in academia, government research, and consulting.I stopped writing fiction for nearly two decades, until I noticed how much I missed it. I resumed writing novels with the literary fiction "Scar Jewelry" about a family with secrets that started in the era of Los Angeles punk and persist for decades. I'm in the midst of a speculative detective series FRAMES, with "Nica of Los Angeles", "Nica of the New Yorks", and "Boredom Fighter" so far. I've just completed a nine-novella series, the young adult paranormal horror romance, "DDsE".Funny. Back in the day, I had a single book idea at a time. Now I'm flooded with them, can't keep up with them, though I write just about every day.I live in southern California. I had to leave for five years to confirm this is where I belong. I live with multiple cats, comfortably close to my twins and granddaughter. Like my life paths, my friends and family are all over the damn place. I like to visit them, spend time at the ocean, explore cities, and go out to hear live music.

Book preview

DDsE

Book 5

Sue Perry

Copyright 2017 Sue Perry

Published by Sue Perry at Smashwords

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Book 5 Table of Contents

Ella's Diary, Entries 178.-217.

Acknowledgements

About Sue Perry and her Novels

Dedication

For Leo.

178.

DD – Which way. Where to now. At first those decisions were easy. Whatever took us away from the cemetery was right. From what I could hear, Lewis and Lourdes made a good team figuring out directions, and, amazingly, he seemed so comfortable around her that he didn't just emit words. Sometimes he spoke in sentences.

I didn't hear much, though. I was Paul Paul Paul. His hair was longer and raggedy, his shirt was faded and raggedy. The backpack had ripped parts. Raggedy. The gray in Paul's eyes was darker now, maybe because he was extra serious. His face was happy, though, crinkled and stretched in the world's biggest smile which got bigger every time he looked at me. But the smile added no light to his eyes.

Grayfast stretched between us, purring so hard the rumble tickled my leg. I rubbed his favorite spots and kept hitting nicks and scabs under his fur. Recent fights?

When we got some time alone I'd hear the details, but already I could tell. Paul and Grayfast had been through rough times.

Here. Alive. Fine. Together. Was what mattered.

Paul pulled a pencil from the backpack, offered me one end. He was right, we had to assume that touching each other could still open a connection to Everweer. Of course I took the other end.

So many things to tell him, ask him. But not in front of Lewis or Lourdes. We were running for our lives together. But I didn't dare blab a secret unless I was sure it was one that was okay to share.

But I couldn't wait to tell Paul about ... I pictured myself in the changeling ocean and climbed onto a surfboard. As soon as the tingling began, Grayfast stopped purring, like he was paying special attention. Paul's loving smile turned amazed. I couldn't wait to ask what he saw! But I would have to, because Lewis was totally out of the changeling loop. He kept driving driving la la la.

Lourdes whipped around immediately, though. She frowned then grinned and began to shimmer.

Paul looked at us with shock and excitement. Then he –– lunged for the backpack, pulled out paper, and began drawing like crazy, alone in his head. Another photo drawing. Some strange lumpy tower.

I shrugged at Lourdes and slipped off my surfboard. Lourdes shrugged back and stopped shimmering. Paul's pencil moved fast over his page. Lewis held the wheel at 10 and 2 and his eyes flicked between mirrors and road like a driver's–ed demo.

Aware but oblivious. Okay. Grayfast resumed purring, Lourdes faced forward, and I just had to smile. – sE

179.

DD – I was in changeling reality. Grayfast's purr was so complicated. Its revs and rumbles were a beautiful maze. I was noticing so much that – heh. I failed to notice Lewis and Lourdes.

Ellllllaaaaaa! pulled me back.

I take it that wasn't the first thing you said to me, I replied.

Lourdes made a noise too sarcastic for words. You and Paul – perfect couple.

Paul hunched over a page, pencil flying in tight circles. He was drawing a closeup of holes in the lumpy tower.

I had assumed the photo drawing obsession would go away after he turned Everweer. Instead, it seemed more intense but that might be because I wasn't used to it anymore.

I was doing a lot of shrugging that morning.

Lewis announced, This traffic. It's an opportunity. Decide our direction.

Lourdes added, Or lack thereof.

Lewis replied, Like a novel. That's how you sound.

Lourdes said, Thank you?

I glanced outside and jumped. When you're on the freeway you don't expect to see torsos.

People walked past our windshield like we were in a parking lot.

Lewis turned his car off. Gas is low. Again. A getaway car. Is what we need. One of my parents' cars? He asked in the rear–view mirror, to me, then added to Lourdes, Out of town. They won't know. His parents were big deals at a corporation and were usually gone.

Whether we should go back to the sub was a huge decision. I wanted to ask Paul and I would have yanked his drawing away if I thought that would get his attention. But he would have kept drawing in air.

What do you think? I asked Lourdes.

She looked surprised and happy to be asked. We should try it. If we're wrong – they'll stop us.

They. Grayfast and her lizard.

I'm glad I'm not alone, I blurted.

Lewis' eyes in the mirror went squinty, embarrassed. On some level I was talking to him, too. But what I meant was, glad I'm not the only changeling.

Agree. Lourdes reached inside a huge pocket on her flannel overshirt then rested her hand on the back of her seat. An iridescent lizard