Not Just Voodoo
A Paranormal Fantasy Short Story Collection
Margo Bond Collins
Erin Hayes
Aileen Harkwood
L.C. Hibbett
Megan J. Parker & Nathan Squiers
Katerina Martinez
K.N. Lee
Nicole Zoltack
Debbie Cassidy
Alicia Rades
Monica Corwin
Jasmine Walt
Thea Atkinson
Rebecca Hamilton
Something Like Voodoo
Contents
About The Collection
What’s Inside?
Margo Bond Collins
Major Arcana
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
About Margo
Another Freebie from Margo
More from Margo
Erin Hayes
I Wish I Weren’t A Djinni
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
About Erin
More from Erin
Aileen Harkwood
Splintered Magic
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
About Aileen
More from Aileen
L.C. Hibbett
Wicked Witch
Chapter 1
About L.C.
More from L.C.
Megan J. Parker & Nathan Squiers
Journal of Abigail DiAngelo
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
About Megan & Nathan
More from Megan & Nathan
Katerina Martinez
The Witch and the Thief
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
About Katerina
More from Katerina
K.N. Lee
Awakened
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
About K.N.
Another Freebie from K.N.
More from K.N.
Nicole Zoltack
Gavin’s Gamble
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
About Nicole
Another Freebie from Nicole
More from Nicole
Debbie Cassidy
Deadtown
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
About Debbie
Another Freebie from Debbie
Alicia Rades
Visions Among Frost
Chapter 1
About Alicia
Another Freebie from Alicia
More from Alicia
Monica Corwin
The Dying of the Light
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
About Monica
Another Freebie from Monica
More from Monica
Jasmine Walt
Tested by Magic
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
About Jasmine
More from Jasmine
Thea Atkinson
Reaper’s Redemption
Chapter 1
About Thea
More from Thea
Rebecca Hamilton
Leaves Like Magic
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
About Rebecca
More from Rebecca
Thanks for Reading!
Major Arcana © 2017 Margo Bond Collins
I Wish I Weren’t A Djinni © 2017 Erin Hayes
Splintered Magic © 2017 Aileen Harkwood
Wicked Witch © 2017 L.C. Hibbett
Journal of Abigail DiAngelo © 2017 Megan J. Parker & Nathan Squiers
The Witch and the Thief © 2017 Katerina Martinez
Awakened © 2017 K.N. Lee
Gavin’s Gamble © 2017 Nicole Zoltack
Deadtown © 2017 Debbie Cassidy
Visions Among Frost © 2017 Alicia Rades
The Dying of the Light © 2017 Monica Corwin
Tested by Magic © 2017 Jasmine Walt
Reaper’s Redemption © 2016 Thea Atkinson
Leaves Like Magic © 2017 Rebecca Hamilton
* * *
All rights reserved under the International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the authors.
These are works of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
* * *
Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
* * *
Cover Design: Rebecca Hamilton
Editing: Margo Bond Collins
Formatting: Rebecca Hamilton
About The Collection
NOT JUST VOODOO is a limited edition anthology of paranormal fantasy stories curated by New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Hamilton. Some of Rebecca’s favorite authors have donated their stories to celebrate her young adult paranormal romance debut, SOMETHING LIKE VOODOO. So be sure to check out the story that made this free collection possible!
High School can be a witch!
A teen girl with the ability to predict deaths through her drawings shouldn’t need to lie constantly to make her life sound interesting. But that doesn’t stop Emily from spinning stories faster than she can keep up.
After transferring to a new school, Emily’s ’dull’ life is shaken by the appearance of a boy who seems unfazed by her far-fetched stories. A too-handsome-for-his-own-good senior, Noah has some secre
ts of his own. He needs Emily’s special gift to save him from Sarah, queen bee of the school’s It Girls, whose own supernatural abilities have forced him into a life of silence and solitude.
But when Emily tries to free him from Sarah’s voodoo curse, things go belly up, landing Emily on Sarah’s hit list. Soon, Emily and Noah are on a collision course with the It Girls, leading to a shocking revelation that ties them together in unimaginable ways. If their powers remain unchecked, this teenage popularity contest could spell the death of them all...
Romantically charged and eerily chilling, Something Like Voodoo weighs the choice of saving your life versus fighting for a life worth saving. This paranormal romance will put a spell on you.
Learn More and Purchase Today!
What’s Inside?
About the Age Recommendations
12+ clean language, no romance, no violence.
14+ clean language, light romance, some violence.
16+ mild swearing, steamy romance, moderate violence
18+ swearing, more-than-kissing romance, unmoderated violence.
Margo Bond Collins - Major Arcana
Recommended for ages 14+
When a teenage fortune teller in a traveling carnival meets up with an attractive townie, she finds new magic in her tarot cards.
Erin Hayes - I Wish I Weren’t A Djinni
Recommended for ages 14+
A djinni who is summoned by a young man has the power to grant any of his wishes; he simply has to believe her enough to ask.
Aileen Harkwood - Splintered Magic
Recommended for ages 16+
Though Saige McMullins may feel like nothing more than a half-witch freak, when evil with a nasty appetite threatens the beach town of Lost Cliff, she knows she’s the only one who can stop it.
L.C. Hibbett - Wicked Witch
Recommended for ages 16+
Destiny isn’t a good witch. She lies, she cheats, and she dances on the dead. But Destiny has a secret that might just change everything…
Megan J. Parker & Nathan Squiers - Journal of Abigail DiAngelo
Recommended for ages 16+
As a hunter in training and high school student, Abigail DiAngelo would much rather live a normal life than fight monsters with her father, but when an unexpected chance for change arises, it’s up to her to take charge...
Katerina Martinez - The Witch and the Thief
Recommended for ages 16+
When Nicole Harriman receives an urgent prophetic vision, it’s up to her to protect what is hers.
K.N. Lee - Awakened
Recommended for ages 14+
A young witch betrays her darkest secret and risks her crown, life, and soul for the love of a human.
Nicole Zoltack - Gavin’s Gamble
Recommended for ages 14+
Gavin thinks nothing can be worse than having a witch hunter for a father until he experiences possibly magical phenomena...
Debbie Cassidy - Deadtown
Recommended for ages 14+
A pocket of crazy, a town hostage to magic, and a mysterious warlock boss equal a recipe for disaster.
Alicia Rades - Visions Among Frost
Recommended for ages 12+
Crystal Frost can see ghosts and predict the future, but when her friends pull out a Ouija board at their sleepover, it’s up to her to clean up their mess.
Monica Corwin - The Dying of the Light
Recommended for ages 16+
When Charity dies on the first day of her new job she rallies with the help of her new reaper partner, and her eight remaining souls, to take down the criminals responsible.
Jasmine Walt - Tested by Magic
Recommended for ages 16+
Shifter and bounty hunter Sunaya Baine would much rather chase after hardened criminals, but when a child goes missing in her magical city, she’ll stop at nothing to find her before she falls prey to the real things that go bump in the night.
Thea Atkinson - Reaper’s Redemption
Recommended for ages 16+
A grim reaper’s next fare might be her last.
Rebecca Hamilton - Leaves Like Magic
Recommended for ages 14+
A young witch joins forces with a shapeshifting ally in a race against the clock to save her best friend from vampires.
Major Arcana
Margo Bond Collins
1
“Death,” Granna announced, flipping the tarot card face-up and snapping it down on the table between us.
I’d been dukkering for small-town marks—that is, telling fortunes for the patrons of our traveling carnival show—since I was eight years old, but my grandmother had been spending that summer before my seventeenth birthday teaching me to read the tarot cards. Until then, I’d been strictly a “reading palms and crystal balls” kind of girl.
My Granna is a Gypsy—a real, live, from-the-old-country Romani. But my mama married a gadjo, a non-Romani outsider, so the rest of us are just good old-fashioned carnies. Not that Granna ever let that stop her from working on me, trying to get me to keep to the old ways.
One hot, still afternoon in mid-August, she was trying to teach me both the cards and how to be a good Gypsy. We sat at the table inside the motor home my family used in the carnival caravan. Mama was off running one of the rides during the afternoon lull, and Dad had promised Johnny he’d take over his hot dog joint for the rest of the day. Usually, Granna and I would be in the fortune-telling tent, but we’d just about played out this town’s daytime crowd. We were getting ready to pull up stakes on the Northeast entirely, head down south, then maybe out west for a while. I wasn’t sure of the route, though I knew some of the roustabouts had been discussing it recently.
Granna tapped the card with one gnarled forefinger. “Tell me the meanings.”
Usually, I found her deep voice and thick accent soothing. Not today. All I wanted to do was take off and spend an hour or so reading the midway. I was better at it than any other carnie on the lot—I found more dropped change on the carnival grounds than everyone else put together. Lots of paste, too—the cheap prizes the game agents gave out to the locals who “won” the games.
But all I cared about were the coins.
You can’t buy books with paste.
“Kizzie,” Granna barked, and my attention snapped back to her at the sound of my name. No way would I get out of this. Better to answer her questions and look for lost change later.
“Death,” I said obediently, studying the image on the card for the meanings it could offer. A figure in full armor rode a white horse, like the knights in the Minor Arcana—but this one had a skull instead of a face. “He rides over everyone before him, peasant and king alike. He’s the end and the beginning, destruction and creation. This is not necessarily physical death, but indicates the need for change. You must clear away the old to make way for the new. He is transition and transformation.”
“And if the card is reversed?”
“Stagnation and an inability to accept the need for change.”
“Yes. Death is not death.” Granna nodded once, sharply, and flipped the next card onto the table. “The Hanged Man.”
This one I knew—it felt like it could be my own. “A life in suspension.”
Granna narrowed her eyes at me, sensing the sarcasm beneath my response. Without comment, she tapped on the image of the beam from which the man in the image was suspended.
I sighed, then recited her earlier lesson back to her. “There are leaves and vines growing on the branch, and his expression is of peace, not suffering. This is not a card of death or of endings. Nor is it a card of beginnings. It indicates the need to wait in peace.”
Pursing her lips and raising her eyebrows, Granna nodded. “You may go. Gather your coins for your books.”
Without waiting for further confirmation, I leapt up from my seat, then leaned over and kissed her seamed cheek. “I’ll be back before dark.”
To anyone else, her grunt of
affirmation might have seemed gruff. I knew from the glint in her eyes that she was pleased with me.
“You go find some money and get that book you’ve been suffering for,” she said, waving me off with one hand.
I nodded, and was out the door within seconds, jogging toward the midway from the back yard—the open field where we all parked our RVs and pitched our tents. I hoped Granna was right and I would find the rest of the coins I needed buy the collection of Jane Austen novels I’d seen in the local bookstore when we first arrived here four days ago. For once, the shop in the small town where we landed carried a good selection of both classics and new releases. I kept bugging Mama to get me an e-book reader, but she said we didn’t have the money for it. Besides, I was pretty sure you had to have a credit card to be able to order books for those things, and to get a credit card, you had to have a permanent address—and none of us wanted that. So I kept reading the midway, looking for extra money for books, and checking out the local bookstores in every town where we stopped.
It was amazing to me how I could live like this, moving from place to place for all my (almost) seventeen years, never stopping for more than a few days at a time, and still feel like the Hanged Man—always waiting for my life to start. Somewhere deep down inside, I knew that there had to be more to the world than just this. This entire summer as I learned to read the tarot, the still air of rural upstate New York had seemed full of unrealized potential just waiting to burst free. Nothing in my world had actually changed yet. It was still ruled by the rhythm of the carnival—set up, run the rides, play the games, tell fortunes, read the midway, and break down. Travel to another town, and start the cycle all over again.