Mis-Spelled

By Annie Reed

Just one simple little spell. What’s the harm in that?

Maggie never meant to violate her Great Aunt Matilda’s Number Two Rule (Do No Harm) when she cast a spell to help her heartbroken best friend. Because really, who breaks up with somebody over a lack of holiday decorations? Only her spell backfired, big time. Now she’s been summoned to the Great Hall of the North to answer charges brought against her by Santa. Yes, the Santa.

With the prospect of a Merry Christmas looking worse by the minute, Maggie’s about to come face to face with her accuser, the big man himself—and his lawyer—in a trial that will determine whether she’ll lose her magick forever.

“One of the best writers I’ve come across in years.” Kristine Kathryn Rusch

• Language: English
• Publisher: Thunder Valley Press
• Release date: Dec 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005106799

Annie Reed

Award-winning author and editor Kristine Kathryn Rusch calls Annie Reed “one of the best writers I’ve come across in years.”Annie’s won recognition for her stellar writing across multiple genres. Her story “The Color of Guilt” originally published in Fiction River: Hidden in Crime, was selected as one of The Best Crime and Mystery Stories 2016. Her story “One Sun, No Waiting” was one of the first science fiction stories honored with a literary fellowship award by the Nevada Arts Foundation, and her novel PRETTY LITTLE HORSES was among the finalists in the Best First Private Eye Novel sponsored by St. Martin’s Press and the Private Eye Writers of America.A frequent contributor to the Fiction River anthologies and Pulphouse Fiction Magazine, Annie’s recent work includes the superhero origin novel FASTER, the near-future science fiction short novel IN DREAMS, and UNBROKEN FAMILIAR, a gritty urban fantasy mystery short novel. Annie’s also one of the founding members of the innovative Uncollected Anthology, a quarterly series of themed urban fantasy stories written by some of the best writers working today.Annie’s mystery novels include the Abby Maxon private investigator novels PRETTY LITTLE HORSES and PAPER BULLETS, the Jill Jordan mystery A DEATH IN CUMBERLAND, and the suspense novel SHADOW LIFE, written under the name Kris Sparks, as well as numerous other projects she can’t wait to get to. For more information about Annie, including news about upcoming bundles and publications, go to www.annie-reed.com.

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Just one simple little spell. What’s the harm in that?

Maggie never meant to violate her Great Aunt Matilda’s Number Two Rule (Do No Harm) when she cast a spell to help her heartbroken best friend. Because really, who breaks up with somebody over a lack of holiday decorations? Only her spell backfired, big time. Now she’s been summoned to the Great Hall of the North to answer charges brought against her by Santa. Yes, the Santa.

With the prospect of a Merry Christmas looking worse by the minute, Maggie’s about to come face to face with her accuser, the big man himself—and his lawyer—in a trial that will determine whether she’ll lose her magick forever.

One of the best writers I’ve come across in years.

Kristine Kathryn Rusch

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Copyright Information

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Mis-Spelled

Copyright © 2021 by Annie Reed

Published by Thunder Valley Press

Cover and Layout copyright © 2021 Thunder Valley Press

Cover design by Allyson Longueira

Uncollected Anthology logo art © Tanya Borozenets/Dreamstime.com

Uncollected Anthology logo design © Stephanie Writt

Cover art copyright © SergeyNivens/depositphotos.com

This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.

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Mis-Spelled

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Fall off a bicycle, you get back on, no harm, no foul.

Unless you’re eighty and you break your hip, and then if you’re like me and you haven’t been on a bicycle since you were in the sixth grade, you kind of deserve what you get. Might as well ride a skateboard down a steep street at midnight. In the fog. After an ice storm. In other words, just get on with it already.

I’m not eighty, I didn’t fall off my bicycle, and I didn’t break my hip.

No, I just broke the number one rule of magick.

Actually, it’s the second rule. Great Aunt Matilda taught me the number one rule is Don’t Kill Anybody. Which I guess is really part of the second rule: Do No Harm. I mean, death is permanently harmful, right?

(It also made me wonder exactly what bats were buried in Great Aunt Matilda’s belfry that Don’t Kill Anybody became her number one rule.) Before you ask, I didn’t kill anybody, but I did do harm. Not that I meant to. Really. I just wanted to help.

The problem is I did it badly.

Let me explain.

The whole thing started when my best friend broke up with her boyfriend. Well, actually, he broke up with her. The day after her birthday. What a jerk!

Wendy was born on the 13th day of December, which pretty much sucked anyway. Having a birthday that close to Christmas can only be topped as the worst birthday ever by having a birthday on Christmas. But having a birthday on the 13th isn’t exactly good luck either, especially when it falls on a Friday. Which it did this December. Cue Freddy Kruger, right?

So when Pete of the gorgeous blue eyes and manly stubble and washboard abs dumped Wendy on the morning