Release date: November 29, 2018
Subgenre: Time travel
About Fifty Measly Bucks (To Save a Witch):
Denver's one goal in life is to become a fashion designer.
Unfortunately, she needs rent money. Why not volunteer for an outlandish
time travel experiment? It could be fun and spark new fashion ideas.
But the experiment takes her places she never expected, cutting her off from her dreams and dropping her into the world of a woman accused of witchcraft during the Salem Witch trials. No promised stipend is worth a death sentence and bargaining for her life.
But the experiment takes her places she never expected, cutting her off from her dreams and dropping her into the world of a woman accused of witchcraft during the Salem Witch trials. No promised stipend is worth a death sentence and bargaining for her life.
Excerpt:
“We’d like to continue with that portion of the experiment, if you
can, ” Dr. Hall said. “Can you handle a few more minutes, Denver?”
“I…” Her voice shook. She cleared her throat, and tried again.
“Yeah. I think so.”
“Can you tell me what you saw?”
Denver took another breath, trying to calm down. “I’m not sure. It
was confusing.”
“That’s all right. Take your time.”
“I was in a crowd.”
“A crowd, good. What era?”
Eyes narrowed on the middle distance, she considered the question.
“I don’t know. Early.”
“How early? Like … a movie from the 1940’s, or—”
“Maybe more like Little House on the Prairie.”
Dr. Hall muttered, “No that can’t be right. She must mean earlier
nineteenth century. The wrong era entirely.”
“Perhaps she misunderstood?” Dr. Greeves asked.
“It’s fine. That was a test, anyway.” Dr. Hall turned his attention
back to Denver. “We’ll try again, if you’re still willing?”
Denver nodded. “Sure. You’ve got me curious now.”
“Good.” He patted her arm and laid her back into the machine’s bed.
He slid her inside the machine. Denver soon was staring again at
her reflection in the overhead mirror.
Footsteps pattered across the floor as they made their way to the
door again. Before the door closed, Denver thought she heard Dr.
Greeves say, “We should’ve stuck to the history buffs.”
A moment later, she heard a hiss of static, and Dr. Hall’s voice
sounded, even more grating through the intercom. “Please don’t
move, Denver. It upsets the gauges.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s all right.”
“Um, sorry to interrupt. I forgot to ask: What time is it?”
“Ten after ten. We’ve little time left, you’ll find, but much to
do. Please bear with us. This will be over soon.”
“Okay.” Denver counted to ten, trying to calm down.
Thunk! The machine grumbled to life and she counted. Again, the
light in the machine dimmed, dimmed, faded away with each obnoxious
thump.
Above, the sky opened out, blue as her second favorite shade of
nail polish. Wispy thin clouds floated above. No noises of the
city, no car horns, or people shouting, met her ears. No scent of
pollution hung in the air.
Still, the air smelled foul, rank with human sweat and filth. With
a second sniff, Denver realized yes, the air held an undertone of
iron-rich blood. But no exhaust, or carbon.
Nor did the air carry even a hint of the antiseptic she’d smelled
on the researchers and the interior of the hard plastic and
magnetized cocoon in which they’d placed her.
Stop gaping, she told herself and studied the area in which she
stood: some sort of yard. To either side, trees encircled the space. Men
and women squished together, forming a wide circle around the yard.
The men wore drab black jackets and pants. The women accompanying
them were clad in faded gray skirts, with white, yet dingy aprons
tied to their waists. White caps covered hair, pulled up in buns,
she supposed. The women screamed, “Justice! Mercy!”
“Die! Die.”
Someone was going to die here, Denver guessed, but who? Was the
person guilty of some crime? Judging by the calls of the crowd,
their opinion of the person seemed mixed. How horrid that an
innocent person should go to … whatever was to happen here. It
didn’t seem fair, so she lent her voice to the throng. “Mercy!”
Amazon.com | UK | CA | AU | DE | FR | NL | IT | ES | BR | MX | IN | JP
About Juli D. Revezzo:
No comments:
Post a Comment