Stories of a Cursed Antique: A Cursed Antique, #1

By Martha Wickham

Have you heard that everything that glitters isn't gold?
Travel through time from the middle ages to our modern day with five short stories about a magically cursed ring. Valinora is an uneducated woman trying to survive. When she finds the ring outside, her luck turns around. Now she must beware of witch burnings. Dutch and John are outlaws looking for a better life. They find it out on the prairie when they see a glow at night. Like everything else, it will come at a cost. When they attempt to destroy the ring it only continues.

Three more stories follow about the ring and its destruction. Liam is a 19th-century aspiring writer from Paris. When he stays with his friends in an abandoned mansion he finds the beautiful ring. But allowing the ring to take over his life is not a good idea. Jimmy is a troubled teenager and when his grandpa comes home with the ring nobody knows why. It seems to be just a gift from grandpa, and poor Jimmy just keeps getting into trouble.

Jessie lives with his dog teacup. Upon finding the ring in an alley he becomes generous. But the night his pup teacup runs away he is left with a mysterious extra ring. This one run-down is not as beautiful as the first. Could you escape the ring?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Martha Wickham
• Release date: Apr 21, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224063840

Martha Wickham

Martha Wickham is an author from OR. She has written 12 books since 2004. Find more at www.marthawickham.com 

Book preview

i 

About the Author

Martha has studied writing with Writer's Digest and has an associate degree in social behavioral science. She has also written poems and songs and even studied screen writing and horror. She still practices writing and likes getting writing prompts. Her favorite author is VC Andrews. She loves curling up with her cat and reading those stories.  www.marthawickham.com

ii

Valinora

Norwich in 16 th century Europe. A town shrouded in mystery, where the rich only got richer and the rest starved and lived miserable existences. 

Here was Valinora. A young woman who inexplicably thrived where everyone else suffered from crippling misery. 

Valinora was not always accomplished and charming, however. The elders of the village talked about how Valinora once belonged to the most destitute of families, unable to make ends meet. 

There was a strange mystery that surrounded Valinora and everything around her. She was the only woman who had a house in her name and seemed untouched by the misery surrounding her. 

People seemed to be afraid of her, almost. Despite her charming nature, no one wanted to talk to her of their own volition. 

When did things change?

A FEW YEARS AGO, VALINORA stumbled upon a ring... a shiny ring that she could not help but look at. Stricken from hunger and poverty, Valinora took the ring. She could sell the ring and perhaps buy a bite to eat and maybe get some new shoes. 

As she walked towards the village, she realized she could not sell the ring. She knew that if she tried to sell the ring, people would think that she had stolen it. Valinora took the ring to her hut and decided to figure out what to do with it later.

That night, Valinora slept hungry and cold. 

The next morning when Valinora woke she felt a little strange. She realized that the sky was as dark as the abyss, but it was only over the area where she had lived. It was sunny everywhere but at her place.

This strange occurrence could not occupy her mind for too long, however. She was hungry, and her shoes were torn. She had no money to her name, absolutely nothing that could help her survive.

She could not sell the ring, either. After taking a stroll through the town, trying to figure out what she was going to do, she decided to walk back to her hut and call it a day. 

She had begged and begged, but there were no scraps for her that day. Even Alvin the baker had no heels to spare, no crumbs, no gruel, not even raw grain. 

It was getting dark, darker than usual, but she was so hungry that she did not care. Her frail body was breaking, and she was tired from starving herself like that. She just entered the hut, put the ring on her finger and closed her eyes.

Hours passed when she heard a loud, thunderous crack in the sky. She quickly went outside and saw a massive gathering of clouds with winds that would remind one of Zephyrus himself. Zeus lit up the sky with blue light and during the storm there was wind and lighting everywhere.

Valinora was not really scared, at that time, she could only hope that the winds did not destroy her hut, the