Page 1 of Fired Up By the Mountain Man
Chapter 1
Erika
“Erika, I’m so glad you’re back.”
I smile at my friend Annie. We went all through school together and it really is good to see her again. We are in her room at her parents house and it looks almost exactly the same as the last time I was here. “I’m not back for good.” I say, as I flip through our old yearbook. “It’s just a visit.”
“How long are you staying?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know.”
She sits next to me on the bed, hugging one of her old teddy bears. “I’m sorry you lost your job. What will you do now?”
I let out a dejected little sigh. “I don’t know.”
Annie thinks about that for a moment. Her chin resting on the bear’s head. “Should we go to the Fall Festival together?”
It’s my most favorite time of the year. There is just something magical and exciting in the crisp Fall wind. The crunch of leaves underfoot, I love all the food and get to wear big, bulky sweaters. The Fall Festival is a big event in our little mountain town of Starfall Valley. People come from all over to enjoy the pumpkin patch and hay maze, rides and games. Annie and I always had fun, but like all town events, and high school, it drove home to us that we were not with the cool kids. We were always outsiders.
There are those people in life who are blessed with success. You know the ones, the shiny, happy people. I’m the opposite of them. I have been cursed with bad luck from the day I was born. My Aunt once told me that when I was born I hurt my mom so much that she never got over it. And there must be a spark of truth to that, because when I was three Mom packed up and started a new life with a new husband and three better kids.
Dad moved us here to Starfall Valley when I was six because it was where he could get work as the school janitor. Annie’s dad was the junior school principal so we both bonded over the fact the other kids didn’t want anything to do with us.
We were both chubby little kids who were obsessed with fairies. And because my last name isBreegal, the kids at school thought it was clever to change it to Bug Girl because I used to talk to the trees in the forest.
Looking over at Annie’s bookshelf, I think to myself that things haven’t gotten much better for me as an adult. Jobs I hate, crappy apartments, just a run of bad luck and never feeling settled.
“Annie, remember how into fairies we were?”
“Of course.”
“Do you think there is anything there that could help me? I just need a sign. Something to help me know what I should do next.”
“Oh, I have just the thing.” Annie jumps off the bed and scans her shelves. “And it’s the perfect time of year!”
I watch as she pulls out and hands me a small book with a page marked.
“Is this a spell?” I had been thinking more of a trot reading or something.
Annie shrugs. “More of a cleansing ritual really. That’s what you need.”
I read through the list of things.
Orange candles.
Dried leaves
Essential oils
“Annie! This says I have to be naked!”
“I think that’s important. Like you have to shed the bad stuff so you have to literally shed your clothes. You can do it tonight! It’s a full moon, it will be perfect! I mean, what can go wrong?”
Chapter 2
Carter
It’s my favorite time of year. Patrolling the forest, you can’t help but feel like there is a touch of magic in the air. The October chill, the rustle of leaves, the quiet. The forest has always been a favorite place of mine and as a firefighter I sort of see it as my role to protect it. The only draw back to this time of year is the tourists in town for the Fall Festival. Tourists have a tendency to break the rules and that’s why I’m out here instead of at my parents' family dinner.
