I’m releasing The Thorn Path on Kindle Vella. (*Update* The Vella version is no longer available. stay tuned for details about an ebook, or subscribe to my newsletter. I’m leaving the rest of the post, which describes how it was released originally as a weekly serial.)
This means a weekly release of the story, which I’ll compile into a book later. The first three episodes are free (Here’s the link to the Amazon page for The Thorn Path, but you can also find it in the app. I made sure to pack the first three episodes with extra goodies (flashy magic, action-packed scenes) and I made the first two episodes extra long.) But after the first three, you have to start paying coins. You get 100 free coins, and I try to keep my episodes about 20 coins on average.
It’s only twenty cents for an episode! That’s a bargain. What can you buy for twenty cents these days? (Two redfish. One piece of saltwater taffy. Or an action-packed chapter about a girl sneaking into a ghost town?) It’s a good deal, right?
Read on for a sneak peek of Episode 4.
Episode 4 What we found in Garnet Ghost Town
“… should be ready now. Why isn’t it ready yet?”
“I’m working at it, or I would be if you’d stop talking to me and let me get on with it. Val, go stand somewhere else.”
Footsteps moved in my direction.
I held my breath.
“Not out there! Light above! Are you trying to get us in more trouble? We’re not supposed to be guarding this side. I swear if you — and why are you pacing Saber? You’re both driving me up the walls.”
“That would be something. Got any new magic tricks to show me?”
“Verity Valor.”
“Ooh, calling me by my full name.”
“Would you both stop it! Focus on the portal, Sam. Not Val.”
“It should work now. There’s no reason for it to disconnect like that. I’m not a maintenance expert. The magic has a sophisticated coil and I’m trying—trying to determine its … stop hovering over me.”
Well, well, their voices did sound familiar. What were the Westreds doing here in Garnet? Hunting again? I did not want a repeat of our fight.
— I would. This time, I won’t lose.
I didn’t bother to answer her. No fighting with Westreds today. Even if Helena had moved even closer to the door, crouched with her claws fully extended.
The Westreds. The broken ghostwards. A nithgast hiding somewhere in town, and where did Edith disappear to? Who pulled her?
I didn’t have answers. I didn’t know what the Westreds were doing here at the portal and not in school. Didn’t they get detention or something? Did they break the ghostwards? And the portal? It sounded like the portal was giving them problems. It would be if they noticed the state of the building. Seals broken so carelessly.
— Too many questions. Boring. Helena yawned, wide, sharp cat teeth showing.
— Let’s break something.
She lifted her hand, motioning to one of the few remaining glass windows.
— Let’s not.
The Westreds were still bickering inside.
Suddenly, there was a loud CRACK from inside. Splinters of wood came flying out the open door into the street. One window shattered, spilling glass like glitter.
I was on my feet in seconds, bounding inside to see what the hell had just happened.
The Westreds had their guard up, spread out in a trio, and their weapons out. Only this time the twins wore fitted clothing and held swords. Saber with her hair in a sleek ponytail and wearing gray and black body armor that molded to her body, the expensive kind you don’t find at Walmart. While Sam wore all black and a vest that reminded me of fencing armor. Val was opposite them and wore dozens of spells, rings of them, on her wrists and woven up her arms, like chain-mail. She braided her blond hair in all different directions, giving her a spiked yellow halo, like a dangerous sunflower.
The switch in roles confused me. I’d thought the twins were magicians and Val a warrior. They switched sides?
On the far side of the building, a giant black leg stuck through a hole in the old wood. It had a knife-like tip stuck in the floor, slowly pulling back up.
The nithgast! Skinny as knives, Edith had said.
They saw me enter the door. Val twisted.
“What is she doing here?”
“Demons attacking on both sides.”
“I’m not a demon,” I said, my pocketknife in hand. I pointed at the nithgast. “That’s your problem! You can’t use the portal if there’s a monster nearby. And there used to be a seal on the building to protect it.”
They all cringed. The open door had broken the seal.
Crunch. The nithgast stabbed another leg through the hole. It began to splinter more wood, widening it, trying to hack its way inside. A crude way to get inside. Didn’t it see the open door?
— The monster is here.
Helena, oh so helpfully, said to me.
“Stay there!” Sam suddenly told the others. “Keep it occupied. I’ll flank it.”
“Got it!” Val said, arm raised and a spell forming between her fingers, like a static charge. Raven-haired Saber lifted her skinny sword and skipped forward.
Sam ran toward the door as the monster continued its mindless attack on the wall. “Out of my way!” he said as he passed me.
I was right on his heels.
“What are you doing?”
“Going with you,” I said. I had no way of attacking from a distance. And coming at the monster from behind made sense to me.
“You?” He clenched his teeth. He seemed like he had more to say, but changed his mind. “Stay out of my way. Saber, keep it pinned for me.”
“On it.” Saber finished her casual skipping. She was within reach of the monster and lunged, suddenly slamming her sword at the skinny leg. She skewered it, effectively pinning the monster to the wall. It was precision work.
The nithgast let out a jagged SCHEECH EEECH, a hollow, painful noise that set my nerves on edge. It began frantically pulling. The wood wasn’t going to hold long.