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The Crazies Got Me: Strange and Lovely Blog Tour

@aealbert23

The Crazies Got Me: Strange and Lovely Blog Tour

Beatrice is a Watcher, someone who can see the supernatural, who keeps an eye on the paranormal in Arizona. Too bad her sister had to go to college and now Bea is stuck at home without a partner to go Watching. When Bea's patience and sanity evaporate in the heat, Bea escapes the house only to find herself trapped and face to face with the deadliest--and hungriest--supernatural creature.

The Crazies Got Me: Just a Snippet

by Rebecca Gage

I grabbed my phone and checked the weather. Ugh. Still 98 degrees? Didn’t matter. I’d walk across the desert barefoot if it meant escaping the house.

Phone. Keys. Water bottle. Quick, Bea. You don’t have much time to think about this.

The thing about having a seer for a mom was that you had to be spontaneous. I’d once spent a whole month planning a party at my house when my mother was out of town. It was the thing to do when your parents left, right? Just when the party was getting started, the police showed up saying that the owner of the house had called in a noise ordinance complaint. At her own house. The party wasn’t even close to reaching the daily noise level in the school cafeteria. The police also informed me that my mother, who had called in, had said that if I didn’t get the party cleared out within 30 minutes, she’d call again to report trespassing. Party over. I acted peeved at the party breakup, but I was secretly glad. The party size had swelled and total strangers were waltzing through the front door. My two takeaways: don’t text, “Party at my house. No parents” to your entire phonebook, and “Be spontaneous.”

Or, Bea spontaneous. I allowed myself a smirk. Ha! I crack myself up.

Time to see what was happening tonight.

I strode over to the window then wrenched it open. Hot air blasted my face, slicking my skin with instant perspiration. I forced a smile and tried to dismiss the heat. Tonight it wasn’t oppressive. Tonight it meant freedom. The air hung heavy and the cicadas buzzed frantically. The full moon washed the desert a pale blue. The perfect night for watching. My night for watching.

I inhaled dusty air then slowly exhaled while humming. The song tumbled over itself, swelling, begging for release. As my song faded, the spell rippled outward like silver flooding the desert. I held my breath, waiting. C’mon Scoprio spell. Scopri something for me. I didn’t have to wait long. As the spell reached the abandoned houses, it flared brown. Gnomes. Not fun and not good news for future homeowners, if they would ever finish the houses. Gnomes were really hard to get rid of. And they smelled like stale cheese.

The spell continued rippling outward. Blue flared near some cacti outside the housing development. Sand sprites. As if sensing my spell, a miniature dust devil swirled then died. I smiled. Did sand sprites cause dust storms or did dust storms bring the sprites? If mother’s prediction was correct, there would be droves of them soon.

Nothing flared pink. My tiny hope died. No vampires tonight. Not like I was surprised. Vampires in outer Phoenix? Please.

I gripped the window sill tighter, ignoring the heat burning my fingertips. I continued to watch the song. By now, the song had traveled far beyond the neighborhood and was racing across the open desert. C’mon, just something. Anything. I’ve got to send in a good report this month. No one is going to care about a report on gnomes and sand sprites. I sighed. My last report had been just that. The comments on the top of my returned paperwork had read “Ms. Revelare, The Watchers are a group dedicated to observing and reporting paranormal activity. While gnomes sand sprites do fall under that category, unless they are stringing someone up the nearest cactus, please only report on something worth our time. Sincerely, Deborah Bridge.”

The song skimmed far across the desert. Maybe I wasn’t going watching after all. I sighed. What a total bust. Guess I’d better resign myself to languishing away and having my dead body eaten by wolves. I started to turn away when something flared black in the distance, then vanished. That had never happened before. I sang again, squinting my eyes to be sure. Watching closely, I saw that the song didn’t flare black. It flared with emptiness. Hungry emptiness.

Suddenly I felt cold despite the heat. I had to see what was out there.

My heart drummed in my ears. I’d never gone so far to watch anything, especially something like this. What could be out there?

I shoved my phone in my pocket then slammed the window shut and sprinted to the garage.

Thankfully, being the only child home meant I got sole possession of the car.

I smiled as I jammed the keys into the ignition and the car roared to life. I tore out of the driveway.

“Yeehaw,” I screamed. The crazy was on.

About The Author

Born in California, transplanted to Canada, Utah, then Arizona, Rebecca has lots of stories to tell. She also knows a lot about temperatures below zero and above 110.

Rebecca Gage’s love of reading could only lead to one thing—writing. Of writing she states, “I used to walk into bookstores and stare at the glossy covers on the shelves. It was always a secret dream of mine to find my name among those titles.”

Rebecca taught English for grades 8-10 (8/9th grade were her favorites). She may or may not have cried while finishing studying Tale of Two Cities with her class. She published for a brief time on an unofficial Disneyland Traveler’s blog. Since that time, she has finished her first novel, Wake Not the Dead. Originally it started as a romance paragraph for her writing group but then grew into an entire YA paranormal thriller—romance included.

You can read the rough draft of Wake Not the Dead on http://www.wattpad.com/story/18329362-wake-not-the-dead. To be released 2015.

As a mother of soon to be four children she is adept at embroidery, piano, cake decorating, Star Wars, sewing, painting, Just Dance-ing, waterfights, stepping on stray Legos and of course, bedtime tuck-ins.

Author Social Media links:

Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1ssCXJo

Wattpad: http://w.tt/1mh6QQ3

Blog Tour Schedule: