Set a Course — Fill the Sails — Weather Storms — Leave a Wake.
Portersville: From the Shadows - the first sequel to Portersville - follows the original characters to the next phase of life; into a world where seemingly harmless decisions send characters into darkness, both physically and mentally. Forced into conflicts perpetuated by outside forces, our characters rely upon themselves, friends old and new, and even members of the spirit world. Evil forces in the form of "entitled individuals", murderers, and terror from the sea, seek to destroy the goodness of Portersville.
Excerpt...
The vestibule was freezing…so cold that his breath frosted and hovered in the air. The storm raged outside. Wind-driven ice crystals clattered against the windowpanes. Steam pipes clanked and groaned inside the old building.
Today, the mailbox was not empty. Leonidas quickly retrieved the small package, stuffed it in his pocket, and sprinted toward his dormitory.
Light shined under his door while Leonidas stood listening to his heartbeat and to the familiar sounds of dorm life. Laughter, music, and doors slamming reverberated through the empty hallway. A shadow moved across the threshold. Bill Strong was pacing around his room practicing for speech class. With each mistake, he cursed himself. Leonidas listened for a few minutes to his roommate’s voice before knocking on the door. After a blast of profanity, Bill unlocked and snatched open the door. “What? Lost your key again?” Bill growled. The sorrow in Leonidas’s eyes softened his tone. “Come in. You are letting the heat out. No letter?”
“Just this,” Leonidas opened his hand revealing a small package wrapped in wrinkled brown paper.
“Who is it from?”
“I don’t know, but it smells like cigar smoke,” whispered Leonidas. “The address looks like a kid wrote it. I can’t seem to open it. My hands are shaking.”
“Gimme it,” said Bill. “Okay. Post marked New York, so somebody knows where you live.” Bill slipped his thumb under a corner of the package. The paper and cardboard ripped. A locket fell to the floor.
Leonidas’s heart stopped. He reached up to clinch an identical locket hanging around his own neck. Blood rushed from his face.
“There’s something else in here, Leonidas. A newspaper article torn from the New York Times.”
Leonidas bent to pick up the locket as Bill read aloud from the newspaper,
Woman’s body found in East River. Her identity is unknown due to a shotgun blast to her face. This murder is currently under investigation.
Leonidas studied the locket in his hand and grasped it tightly. “This is Charlotte’s locket! This is Charlotte’s locket! Our initials are engraved on the back. This is Charlotte’s locket!”
Leonidas tightened his grip on the locket, turned toward the door and screamed.
More from the book...
August ushered in hurricane season. Warm water in the Gulf of Mexico contained enough heat to drive even a simple thunderstorm into a frenzy. At such times, most boats remained in port or close to shore rather than venture into the gulf.
Thunder rumbled all night. Flickers of lightning across the horizon reflected against mountains of dark clouds. The morning sun presented little light through the grey dawn that shrouded Portersville.
Guests at the Rolston Hotel huddled on porches, entertained themselves in the parlor, and wandered around the dining table where Big Mama placed pastries prepared by Alexi. With fingers and lips covered with powdered sugar, normally polite guests, smacking and licking, were unable to resist Big Mama’s treats. When the supply ran low, Big Mama rolled out another variety of delicious morsels. “Come get some more of this good ole Portersville cooking,” Big Mama yelled. “Chef Alexi has done it again! Go ahead… Make yourself sick. You are on vacation at the Rolston Hotel. Enjoy!”