A Curse of Ash and Iron
Release Date: May 21st 2015
Curiosity Quills Press
Summary from Goodreads:
Benjamin Grimm knows the theater is much like real life. In 1876 Philadelphia, people play their parts, hiding behind the illusion of their lives, and never revealing their secrets.
When he reunites with his childhood friend Eleanor Banneker, he is delighted. His delight turns to dismay when he discovers she has been under a spell for the past 7 years, being forced to live as a servant in her own home, and he realizes how sinister some secrets can be. She asks for his help, and he can’t refuse. Even if he doesn’t believe in ‘real’ magic, he can’t abandon her.
Ellie has spent the long years since her mother’s death under the watchful eye and unforgiving eye of her stepmother. Bewitched and hidden in plain sight, it seems no one can help Ellie escape. Not even her own father, who is under a spell of his own. When she sees Ben one evening, it seems he is immune to the magic that binds her, and her hope is rekindled along with her friendship.
But time is running short. If they do not find a way to break the spell before midnight on New Year’s Eve, then both Ellie and her father will be bound forever.
Excerpt
Ellie entered. She
stopped for a moment, her eyes wary, and her hand against her stomach as if she
were holding in her breath.
“Ellie?” Ben called
her. “Ellie Banneker?
Her shoulders relaxed,
and her breath came out in a whoosh. She paused for another breath before
making her way down the center aisle toward Ben. The door closed behind her
with a muffled thump, shutting out the murmurs of those who remained in the
lobby. The theater dropped into an eerie quiet. Now that they were
face-to-face, Benjamin’s excitement was replaced by overwhelming
self-consciousness. He ran his sweaty palms through his hair, smoothing the
runaway brown locks his mother would say needed trimming. He was suddenly aware
of the way he was dressed―he looked like a ragamuffin compared to the upper
class men Ellie must be used to. Her chestnut hair shone in the light, her
green eyes wary but bright.Ben stopped near the first row, a lump in his throat,
hoping she wouldn’t notice the scuffed tops of his shoes and his frayed shirt
cuffs, and let her approach him.
“Benjamin Grimm? It is
you.” Her smile widened, and it was as if the curtain had gone up in her eyes.
The sadness Ben had seen before lifted, and she became a girl of seventeen. She
reached out to him with her bare hand.
His nervousness
evaporated like morning fog. He wiped his hand on his pants and then grasped
hers tightly, catching the slight scent of soap and rose water.
Ben had expected the
soft hand of the daughter of a prominent banker; hands used to doing embroidery
and playing the piano. But there were calluses on her palm, the nails short and
ragged. Her skin was pink and chapped. His expression must have given away some
of his surprise, because when he released her hand, Ellie tucked it into the
folds of her skirt. “I can’t believe that you… It’s been so long, Ben. You’ve
grown.”
The look in her eyes
made Ben decide to keep quiet about her hands. He was glad she had come in to
see him. Having spent years under her stepmother’s care, he had worried she
might have turned into a snob. “As have you, my lady.” His grin was large as he
bent over in an exaggerated bow.
“Oh, please don’t.
Ben, stop it this minute.” Ellie put her hands to her blushing cheeks, as if
trying to hold back her smile. Ben stood, laughing, and thrust his hands in his
pockets. “I was hiding in the loft above the lobby and saw you come in tonight.
I… didn’t recognize you at first. You’ve, uh, changed.” It was his turn to
blush again as he remembered what he had been thinking about her curves.
“You’ve changed, too.”
She squinted and looked closely at his face. “I can’t see any dirt. So your
mother finally wrestled you into submission about keeping clean.”
Ben didn’t answer,
only smirked and scratched the back of his head. “I tried to think how many
years it’s been since I saw you last.”
“Seven.” Ellie’s reply
was so soft he almost didn’t hear it. “Seven years. The last time I saw you, we
were both ten, after…” she hesitated. “After my mother died.”
Ben’s smile faltered.
“Yes, that’s right.” He felt stupid for forgetting, even more stupid for making
her bring up something so obviously painful. His own mother had cried for days
after her employer’s passing. Ellie’s mother had been a lovely woman, who had
provided him with a seemingly endless supply of sweets.
Ellie shook her head
as if shaking herself free of the edge of melancholy that had dropped over the
conversation. “How is your dear mother? And your little brother? I’m sure he’s
no longer the chubby-cheeked baby I remember.”
Ben shrugged.
“Mother’s fine. She keeps busy running the bookshop. Harry is… he’s a little
brother.” Ellie wrinkled her nose and narrowed her eyes.
“Being as I have no
little brothers, I’ll have to assume you mean you love him dearly and can’t
imagine life without him.” “Not exactly, but I don’t want to ruin your image of
me as a wholesome young man, so I won’t tell you what I really think about him.
It wouldn’t be proper for me to say in front of a lady, anyway.”
“You think I’m a lady,
do you? You might be surprised at some of the words I’ve used when no one is
listening.” Ellie’s gaze wandered over the theater’s ceiling. There was a
teasing note in her voice. “I never thought I’d see you working here. If I
remember correctly, you said if you were going to be in the theater, it would
be in front of the footlights. A magician, I believe it was?”
“I’m still working on
that.” Ben’s reply was touched with defensiveness. “But now it’s illusion
instead of straight magic, don’t you know that? It’s all the rage in Europe.
Until I can find a backer, I need to work. My father, he’s the stage manager
now. He got me the job, said it would do me good to learn a real skill.” He
rolled his eyes.
Ellie raised an
eyebrow. “He doesn’t approve of your career aspirations?” Ben shook his head.
“He lets me keep my workshop, but thinks I’m wasting my time.” He shrugged.
“It’s better than the brickyard.”
Ellie laughed out
loud, a pretty sound that rolled around the inside of the theater. She covered
her mouth and glanced over her shoulder to make sure no one else had heard.
When she stopped giggling, she looked at Ben and sighed. “I can’t stay, Ben. I
don’t want to keep my stepmother waiting.” She glanced over her shoulder and
back to Ben. “It was so good to see you again.”
Ben felt the words
were weighted somehow, like a current pulling beneath the calm surface of a
river. “It was good to see you again, too, Ellie.” There was so much more Ben
wanted to say, seven years’ worth. He didn’t dare ask to see her again, though,
and resigned himself to only having this stolen moment.
About the Author
Christine Norris is the author of several works for children and adults, including the Library of Athena series and the Zandria duology. When she’s not out saving the world one story at a time, she is disguised as a mild mannered substitute teacher, mother, and wife. She cares for her family of one husband-creature, a son-animal, and two felines who function as Guardian of the Bathtub and Official Lap Warmer, respectively. She has also done several English adaptations of novels translated from other languages. She reached a new level of insanity by attending Southen Connecticut State University Graduate School’s Information and Library Science program, so that someday she, too, can be a real Librarian. She currently resides somewhere in southern New Jersey.
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