Crystal Christmas

By Michelle Levigne

Sequel to MUSIC IN THE NIGHT, from Guardians of the Time Stream

 

Christmas approaches, despite illness sweeping through 1870s Cleveland. Carmen, Brogan and the underground community struggle to protect the orphans and destitute who shelter with them, and find ways to celebrate, despite the dangers. Hidden Mountain becomes a haven and a source of miracles, far from the blizzards and dropping temperatures.

 

Brogan and Carmen help Ransom prepare a special gift for Ess: a crystal ring, and a proposal. Carmen is happy for her childhood friend, but she can't help wishing Brogan would make a crystal ring for her, too.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ye Olde Dragon Books
• Release date: Dec 4, 2022
• ISBN: 9781952345906

Michelle Levigne

On the road to publication, Michelle fell into fandom in college and has 40+ stories in various SF and fantasy universes. She has a bunch of useless degrees in theater, English, film/communication, and writing. Even worse, she has over 100 books and novellas with multiple small presses, in science fiction and fantasy, YA, suspense, women's fiction, and sub-genres of romance. Her official launch into publishing came with winning first place in the Writers of the Future contest in 1990. She was a finalist in the EPIC Awards competition multiple times, winning with Lorien in 2006 and The Meruk Episodes, I-V, in 2010, and was a finalist in the Realm Award competition, in conjunction with the Realm Makers convention. Her training includes the Institute for Children’s Literature; proofreading at an advertising agency; and working at a community newspaper. She is a tea snob and freelance edits for a living ([e-mail] for info/rates), but only enough to give her time to write. Her newest crime against the literary world is to be co-managing editor at Mt. Zion Ridge Press and launching the publishing co-op, Ye Olde Dragon Books. Be afraid … be very afraid.  www.Mlevigne.com www.MichelleLevigne.blogspot.com @MichelleLevigne

Book preview

Ye Olde Dragon Books

P.O. Box 30802

Middleburg Hts., OH 44130

www.YeOldeDragonBooks.com

[e-mail]

Copyright © 2020  Michelle L. Levigne

Originally published 2020, in Christmas Fiction Off the Beaten Path, Mt. Zion Ridge Press.

ISBN 13:  978-1-952345-90-6

Published in the United States of America

Publication Date: December 5, 2022

Cover Art © Copyright Ye Olde Dragon Books 2022

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

snowflake-ice-crystal-ice-cream-2965147/

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No portion of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording or by any information retrieval and storage system without permission of the publisher.

Ebooks, audiobooks, and print books are not transferrable, either in whole or in part. As the purchaser or otherwise lawful recipient of this book, you have the right to enjoy the novel on your own computer or other device. Further distribution, copying, sharing, gifting or uploading is illegal and violates United States Copyright laws.

Pirating of books is illegal. Criminal Copyright Infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, may be investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is punishable by up to five years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

Names, characters and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author's imagination, or are used in a fictitious situation. Any resemblances to actual events, locations, organizations, incidents or persons – living or dead – are coincidental and beyond the intent of the author.

CRYSTAL CHRISTMAS

December 1878

Cleveland, Ohio

Sneaking up on Brogan Ambrose was impossible. Thanks to the song growing between him and Carmen Mackenzie, they always knew where each other was in the tunnel community below the growing port city. The song of the crystal dust and slivers embedded in his face merged with the notes from the crystal rose in the cross Carmen never took off, creating new notes that expanded into the promise of a majestic chord. The growth was as gradual as seeds, smaller than dust, germinating below the snow. That sense of his presence was a comfort, and often a sweet, secret joy.

Even now, when the pleasant sensation had taken on a bit of a mysterious tint. Carmen had the growing suspicion that the bond between them, both of the heart and mind, was being aided by the as-yet-to-be fully understood properties of crystal. Anything was possible. After all, this was the same crystal that had composed the Great Machine that brought their ancestors from the far distant future to the even farther distant past. Lately, she suspected Brogan's thoughts were somehow leaking into her mind. Aided by crystal.

In a few moments, she would have her proof. A hazy picture had formed in her mind over the last ten minutes or so of the children's music class. An image of Brogan coming down this tunnel to meet with Mr. Ransom Wallace. There was no logical reason for the head investigator of the law firm of Endicott, Lewis and MacDonald to come down into the tunnel community in the middle of the day, unless he and Brogan were conspiring about something.

That something had to do with crystal. Carmen was sure of it. The hazy impressions over the last few days had grown clearer, like adjusting the extending sections of a mariner’s telescope until details grew sharp enough to discern. It helped that Brogan had been thinking of her in relation to crystal, and Ransom, and Ess Fremont. Carmen couldn't be absolutely sure, but she thought the focus on Ess came from Ransom. She quite approved of the clever, brave man's growing dedication to Ess, her make-believe childhood friend who had proved real at the perfect moment in God's timing. She found it quite delightful when mentioning Ransom to Ess sometimes made her clever, confident friend lose her train of thought, or even blush.

A soft shimmer of energy from the crystal rose tucked under her shirt tugged Carmen out of her thoughts. She sat up a little straighter on the bench in the alcove here in the knotted intersection of the tunnels, where she was sure Brogan was coming to meet Ransom. A little bit of thought, and the crystal's energy let her see Brogan coming up from