Haunted Halloween 2011: Guest Post - Jennifer DeLucy + A Giveaway!

Pre-Seers Excerpt:

I liked my new apartment. It was small and outdated, but I was fond of the porcelain kitchen sink with scrub marks and the splintery old hardwood floors. The only exception was the electric wiring.

Something was seriously wonky in the walls, because my bulbs burned out far too quickly, and appliances stopped working for no reason at all.  I’d be microwaving some dinner and poof—power gone.

My grandfather’s old buddy, Oscar, was a retired electrician, and he’d come to look at things for me, but Oscar couldn’t locate the source of the problem.  It wasn’t a fuse issue, he knew that much.  And the lights or TV or microwave typically came right back on after a moment or two of deadness.

So, I figured that the wiring just couldn’t keep up with my technological demands and did my best to overlook the power shorts...until one evening.  I'd been at my grandparent's corner-store taking inventory late for the third night in a row, and I was wrecked.  My wall clock read one-thirty in the morning, and believe me when I say that counting packs of Tic Tacs and Trident really leaves your head in a cloudy place, so I was good and ready for bed.

My grandparents had taught me not to be wasteful, so I trudged my exhausted self through rooms, shutting off the last of the lights. I started with the kitchen and ended in the bathroom, before remembering that I hadn't fed my cat, yet. Bless him. Rufus would be starving by now.

"Rufus, come here, buddy. Come on," I coaxed him toward the kitchen, patting my thigh.

My black tabby pranced toward me and weaved his way gratefully around my legs, purring like crazy.  I smiled. The soft rumbling was always reassuring to me. So it kind of threw me off when his purring came to an abrupt stop.

Glancing to the side, I squinted at him. I hadn't even poured his food yet, and now was the time he'd usually start meowing in anticipation, but, instead, he stared out the kitchen door and into the living room at the wall directly across from us.

The only thing I could make out in the dark room was a tiny flash of mirror, but Rufus was frozen in place, staring very fixedly into the darkness.

"Hey, weirdo, what are you looking at?" I said, grabbing his food container and shaking it.

He ignored me completely, which was downright insane, and stalked off toward the living room slowly.

"Cat..." I called after him weakly, shaking my head.

"Fine, then."

After filling his food bowl, I flipped off the kitchen light and stepped into the darkness. My eyes weren't adjusted yet, and several feet into the living room I smacked into something. Unthinking, I circumvented it and then jammed my knee into something else a second later.

"Mother fu..." I stopped, mid-curse, realizing, with improved vision, that something was very off about my surroundings. Helpfully or not, the living room lights chose that very instant to come on. I gasped.

The table was upside down--and the chairs were, too--along with the china hutch, with all of its plates still somehow in place. My stomach took a very woozy turn, and I stuck my hand out, planning to grab onto the book shelf to steady myself. But, much to my increasing confusion, the book shelf wasn't there.

Instead, it was behind me. I had, apparently, smashed my knee into it a moment prior.

"What the hell," I sqeaked out, my mouth suddenly dry. 

With a hard gulp, I fought my sense of panic and tried to comprehend what was happening, but all I could think was that I was having some kind of a hallucination--maybe an optical problem. Then I noted the room's reflection in the mirror and stopped breathing.

Walking closer to it, I stared at the image there, mezmerized to see that, in the glass, my furniture was arranged just as it should be. Everything was in place. I was confused and freaked out, but couldn't take my eyes off the reflection until Rufus wrenched my attention away, jumping with a loud chirp onto the table beside me.  It was right-side up again.

I blinked repeatedly at the room. Everything was in order, nothing was out of place. There were no upside down chairs, the china hutch was righted and the book shelf was tucked back against the wall as it should be.

Rufus made a final meowing noise and then hopped off the table, heading straight for the food bowl.

What in God's name was happening? True, I was incredibly tired. But come on. This was ridiculous. 

Repeating the mantra that I'd be fine in the morning, I quelled my shaking hands and determined to call my best friend first thing in the morning. We could talk it all over logically, then, and maybe plan for a much needed vacation.

Halfway into bed, though, I changed my mind thoroughly about saying a word to anyone. An optical illusion could be explained away. But the awful bruise forming on my right knee could not.

This was going to be a long night.

Seers of Light (Seers, #1) Currently Available from Omnific Publishing!

Synopsis: Lillian Hunt has never truly lived. Always sensing more to the world than is easily perceived, she fears that her instincts are stubborn flights of fancy, or worse, mental instability. But some things disappearing strangers, tangible dreams, and visits from malevolent creatures cannot be ignored. Before it's too late, Lillian is ripped from the only existence she s ever known and thrust into a reality that she always suspected, but could scarcely believe. She must learn the truth about who she is, the powerful beings that wish to destroy her, and the two men who would die to protect her.

Order Jennifer's Books Online:

Amazon | Barnes and Noble

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Enter to win an eBook Prize Pack! ONE winner will receive an eBook of Seers of Light & Whisper of Light - the first two books in the Seer's series!!

Rules and now to enter:

You must be at least 13 years old to enter.

To enter, please fill out the form provided below.

Giveaway open INTERNATIONAL!!

Giveaway ends: October 30th, 2011

Don't forget to stop by and check out who Jessica is featuring today for Haunted Halloween!

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Jen, thanks so much for sharing this Pre-Excerpt from Seers! Loved it! Also, a HUGE thank you for donating the eBooks for the giveaway. So sweet of you to do.

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