Was there?
The red light at the south onramp waited.
My heart pounded.
What if I didn’t go back? What was the worst that could happen? My mom and grandmother would get upset with me? Pfft. I’d already jumped that hurdle. The worst was over. FIU would have one less freshman to deal with? Camila would consider me lost forever? That might’ve been true anyway.
What if I spent the next year getting to know myself? Macy, Wilky, Mori… What if I sent Savannah another message, telling her that would be so great if I could visit her, explore a new city, learn more about the craft? Find new ways of blending my old beliefs with my new one? What if I could finally allow myself to get close to Wilky? Or anyone, for that matter. See what it would feel like to linger in someone’s arms?
To kiss. And more.
The light turned green. I didn’t move. Behind me, a car honked. I inched forward. It was time—turn onto the onramp. Go home, Vale. Nice thoughts, but I couldn’t push fate. I’d already spent enough time here. The car honked again. I stuck my hand out of the window and told them to pass.
The driver went around, like I was annoying him for the hundredth time today. The guy even raised a hand, cursing me, but I had a counter to his curse—patience of steel. New mindset. New possibilities. You know who’d given that to me? My friends. My sister. My father. My coven.
My mother would understand.
I needed a gap year all to myself.
I drove through the intersection past the south onramp, a sneaky smile plastered on my face. I would not be driving six hours back to Miami today. I’d be driving five minutes. I did a one-eighty at the next U-turn and headed home to Yeehaw Springs.
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Thank you!
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I’d like to thank my Women in Horror Critique Group for beta-reading early drafts of this story: Angela De Groot, Sara Tantlinger, Q.L. Pearce, Miranda Hardy, and Michele Brittany, who gave it a careful proofreading during the last stages. These amazing women are all fantastic authors, podcasters, and academics in their own right, and you should check out their work.
Special thanks to Alejandra Amaris Fernandez, who read my tarot cards while I was still outlining the concept and told me I was about to go deeply personal with a new book, more than I ever had with any other novel. I hadn’t told her about Moon Child yet. Indeed, at the time, I was trying to figure out how much of my own life experiences I wanted to inject into Valentina’s story, and decided, after speaking to her, that I had to go all in. Thanks, my witchy friend.
I send huge love to my family—Michael, Noah, Murphy, and especially my husband, Curtis, for listening to me agonize over imposter syndrome night after night. There comes a time, usually halfway through writing a book, when I tell myself I suck, I don’t know what I’m doing, I don’t understand plot, I’m going nowhere, everyone else is better than I am, and I should quit to go sell balloons at the Magic Kingdom instead. Night after night, Curtis would slap me upside the head and insist that I was a rockstar. Thank you, bebe. I needed that.
Finally, I thank my readers. Without you, I’d still be teaching (a beautiful, noble, thankless career) instead of living my bestselling author dreams. <3
GABY TRIANA is the bestselling author of 20 novels for teens and adults, including the Haunted Florida series (Island of Bones, River of Ghosts, City of Spells), Wake the Hollow, Cakespell, Summer of Yesterday, and Paradise Island: A Sam and Colby Story. She's a short story contributor in Don't Turn Out the Lights: A Tribute Anthology to Alvin Schwartz's Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, a flash fiction contributor in Weird Tales Magazine Issue #365, and the host of a YouTube channel called The Witch Haunt.
Published with HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Permuted Press, and Entangled, Gaby writes about witchy powers, ghosts, haunted places, and abandoned locations. She's ghostwritten 50+ novels for bestselling authors, and her books have won IRA Teen Choice, ALA Best Paperback, and Hispanic Magazine’s Good Reads Awards. She lives in Miami with her family and is currently at work on her next novel.
Books by Gaby Triana
MOON CHILD
PARADISE ISLAND
ISLAND OF BONES
RIVER OF GHOSTS
CITY OF SPELLS
WAKE THE HOLLOW
CAKESPELL
SUMMER OF YESTERDAY
RIDING THE UNIVERSE
THE TEMPTRESS FOUR
CUBANITA
BACKSTAGE PASS
www.GabyTriana.com
YouTube: The Witch Haunt
Facebook: Gaby Triana
Instagram: @gabytriana
Twitter: @gabytriana
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Acknowledgments
About the Author
More Books by Gaby Triana