The Blackwood Chronicles

By Isabel Cortés and Shannen Marie Paradero

Separated from the rest of the world and shrouded in mystery, the small village of Blackwood lives in constant fear of the dark forest that surrounds them. As soon as the sun sets and shadows start to gather over the houses, shrieks and howls can be heard from within the trees. Nobody is quite sure what or who lives within Blackwood Forest, but what is known is that all manner of evil resides inside. Because of this, the adults in the village stay as far away from there as possible; however, the youth of Blackwood is far braver. Mare, Maria, and Ester are three young inhabitants of the village who are desperate to find themselves in the stuffy and rigid community they live in. Each decides to brave into the forest and team up with one of the mysterious creatures that lives inside to make their wildest dreams come true. But just because not every monster is evil doesnt mean that every monster is good. Some are there to bond and protect the children; others are there to create havoc and mayhem. Will the youth of Blackwood survive the creatures of the forest, or will they fall into their clutches? Will they discover their true selves, or will they disappear into the forest forever? The answers lay waiting to be discovered inside of Blackwood Forest.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 21, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524542504

Isabel Cortés

Isabel Cortés is a Mexican-American author from the small town of Highland Park in Los Angeles, California. After seeing her first ghost at six years old, her mother and father decided to help her channel her fear into something productive and creative. Inspired by her own personal paranormal experiences and the Mexican folklore that her parents grew up with, Cortés started writing her own ghost stories and fell in love with the entire horror genre. From the legends of different regions and cultures to all kinds of horror movies from just about everywhere, the horror genre is her life. She is twenty-four years old, and this is her first book.

Book preview

Copyright © 2016 by Isabel Cortés 744495

ISBN:   Softcover   978-1-5245-4251-1

   EBook      978-1-5245-4250-4

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Rev. date: 11/18/2016

Xlibris

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

To the headless girl who was sitting at my kitchen table at three in the morning,

Thank you.

Contents

Mare

Maria Dressed in Black

Ester

Dedications

Mare

Once upon a time there was a large house that rested on the outskirts of a small village named Blackwood which skimmed the shadows of a dark forest. The house had two large windows and the paint was old and peeling so it was impossible to tell what color it used to be. Now the house looked like an old tombstone. The roof was balding and no grass grew on the lawn behind the broken fence. The only thing that ever looked new was the bright red door in the middle of the house. It tempted people to come closer and step inside but no one was brave enough to do so.

No matter how strange or scary the old house might have looked everyone in Blackwood knew that the scariest part about the house was the man who lived inside. His name was Mare and everyone thought he was odd. Built like a giant crane, he had impossibly long arms and legs that made every step he took look awkward. He had a sharp nose and eyes that looked like lumps of coal. Everyone was afraid of his cold black stare and when he walked his long ebony hair flew behind him like a cape. His skin was pale and under the moonlight it seemed to shine with a ghostly glow. Mare spoke to no one and no one spoke to him but that didn’t stop people’s imaginations from running wild.

744495_FNL_1.tif

The stories surrounding Mare were baffling. The elderly women in the village believed that he was a vampire because he almost always emerged from his home when the moonlight began to stream through the trees and so they warned the children never to play after dark. The men who worked in the fields swore he could turn into a giant crow and fly over the village with his strong black wings. The stories went on and on, creating a cloud of mystery and fear around Mare. The one story that everyone could agree on was that Mare was some sort of demon, a ghostly man with a connection to the monsters and creatures that lurked inside of Blackwood Forest so they avoided him at all costs. No one spoke to him, the children weren’t allowed near him, and he had no friends. Mare was alone.

The truth of the matter was that Mare was just as normal as any other man in Blackwood, except for the fact that he had some unusual friends. At a young age he had realized that he wasn’t scared of the forest that skimmed his childhood home like everyone else was. One the other hand, he was quite found of the howling spirits and small creatures that perched themselves on his bedroom window at night. His parents died when he was a kid, leaving him alone at a time when he needed them the most, and while no one in the village took Mare in, they took turns checking in on him and bringing him food. He wasn’t like