The Invitation (Uncollected Anthology: Mystical Maps Book 32)

By Annie Reed

For one twelve-year-old wizard in training, a mundane chore on Christmas Eve Eve transports him to a magickal world beyond his imagination. A world populated by impossible ships and talking specks of light.
A world where he encounters things he never thought possible and people he long since stopped believing in.

As far as Tommy’s concerned, a wizard-in-training shouldn’t have to trudge through the snow to take out the trash, especially not on Christmas Eve Eve. Especially when a stubborn piece of paper sticks to the bottom of his boot.

Except this isn’t just a regular piece of trash. It’s a magickal map complete with something that looks like an X marks the spot.

When Tommy and his best friend Eugene ask the map to show them where it came from, the map does one better. It transports them to a world where specks of light talk, a pirate ship floats above the sea, and someone waits for them on board.

Someone who invited Tommy to visit.

The last person in the world Tommy ever expected to see.

“Annie Reed is a master short fiction writer.”
Kristine Kathryn Rusch

• Language: English
• Publisher: Thunder Valley Press
• Release date: Dec 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215432617

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.

Book preview

For one twelve-year-old wizard in training, a mundane chore on Christmas Eve Eve transports him to a magickal world beyond his imagination. A world populated by impossible ships and talking specks of light.

A world where he encounters things he never thought possible and people he long since stopped believing in.

As far as Tommy’s concerned, a wizard-in-training shouldn’t have to trudge through the snow to take out the trash, especially not on Christmas Eve Eve. Especially when a stubborn piece of paper sticks to the bottom of his boot.

Except this isn’t just a regular piece of trash. It’s a magickal map complete with something that looks like an X marks the spot.

When Tommy and his best friend Eugene ask the map to show them where it came from, the map does one better. It transports them to a world where specks of light talk, a pirate ship floats above the sea, and someone waits for them on board.

Someone who invited Tommy to visit.

The last person in the world Tommy ever expected to see.

Annie Reed is a master short fiction writer.

Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Copyright Information

_________________________________

The Invitation

Copyright © 2023 by Annie Reed

Published by Thunder Valley Press

Cover and Layout copyright © 2023 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 © grandfailure/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.

This book was written and produced by actual people without the involvement of AI in the creation of the text or images used herein.

Table of Contents

Copyright Information

The Invitation

THE UNCOLLECTED ANTHOLOGY

UNCOLLECTED ANTHOLOGY MEMBER WEBSITES

The Unexpected Series

NEWSLETTER SIGN UP

also by Annie Reed

About the Author

The Invitation

Tommy found the map on his way inside from taking out the trash.

Taking out the trash was a ridiculously mundane task for a wizard-in-training, but Tommy’s mother insisted. No son of mine, wizard or not, is going to scrimp on his chores, she always said.

Fine. Okay. So his mom was a full-fledged wizard with a secret job and what he imagined must be a ridiculously high security clearance—Tommy wasn’t sure exactly what she did since all she would say was that she couldn’t talk about it—but still. Was taking out the trash on Christmas Eve Eve really a thing? A thing that absolutely had to be done, snow or no snow?

Yes, apparently.

Tommy shivered inside his coat. Someday he’d be able to cast a spell so he’d always be warm, but at least he had the coat he’d always wanted, not some dumb thing like all the mundanes who didn’t care about magick wore.

His coat was cool and totally wizardly. His first duster, it was long and black and thoroughly too lightweight, his mom said, to be a winter coat. Tommy didn’t care. Wizards wore dusters, or at least all the ones he read about in books and saw on television and in the movies. His mom didn’t wear a duster, but she was kind of like an undercover/secret agent wizard, so that didn’t count. He’d never let anyone know his coat didn’t do much to keep him warm on a day when the snow was coming down thick and heavy and his breath puffed out in front of him like smoke from a dragon’s mouth.

Or what he imagined breath from a dragon’s mouth would look like. He’d never actually seen a dragon—they were pretty damn scary—but he had a good imagination for a twelve-year-old. Or so his mom said.

She also said that someday his imagination was going to get him in trouble.

Tommy always figured that was just something moms had to say because they were moms.

Right up until he found the map, and his world turned completely upside down.

The map stuck to the bottom of Tommy’s boot.

At first he thought it was just a piece of trash that had somehow escaped the bag he’d dumped in the bin.

That would be just like his mom. She could cast a spell with the flick of a finger that would trap