Excerpt:
“Tamar?”
Adjusting her
headset, Tamar Steele shifted the microphone closer to her mouth as another
chair flew across the room in front of her.
“It’s
all right. I’m on it.”
There was the
sound of breaking glass above her as a light bulb shattered. Tamar moved forward
to avoid the falling shards, holding her torch out in front of her.
She’s here. I
can feel her.
Her back was
starting to ache. Through the darkness she could see a spirit beginning to
form, long white robes and flowing hair framing a thin figure and pointed face.
Terrified eyes fixed on hers.
“Tamar.” Hana’s
voice crackled in her ear. “You need to get out of there. This is getting too
dangerous. Jason’s worried.”
“Tell Jason to
calm down. I know what I’m doing.”
A newspaper shot
across the floor, scattering pages everywhere. Tamar took another step towards
the spirit girl, holding up her hand, focussing on the energy she could feel
around her.
“Matt, I need
your help here.”
She felt a light
tug on her hair and knew Matt, her spirit guide, had been listening.
“Listen to me,”
she said firmly, holding the girl’s stare. “I can help you.”
Fear. Panic. A
name. Emily—her name is Emily. Died sometime in the 1920s.
“Let me help
you, Emily.”
A sudden rush
forward and the girl was right in front of her, arms outstretched, mouth open,
gasping for breath. Automatically Tamar caught her wrists, keeping the reaching
fingers away from her face as she saw Matt’s blond head manifesting behind the
girl.
“We can help
you,” she repeated, then Matt’s arms were wrapping around the girl from behind,
his face close to hers as he whispered soothing words into her ear.
The girl froze,
then collapsed back against him, her arms falling.
“I don’t want to
be here! I don’t know why I’m here.”
“It’s all
right.” Tamar’s gaze met Matt’s over the girl’s shoulder. “We can send you
home.”
She
concentrated. “Light. Bring light.”
A glowing white
light slowly formed between them, growing until the girl was engulfed. A small
smile formed on her face before, in a bright flash, she was gone.
“We’re done
here, Hana.”
“Okay. Asher’s
on her way.”
Already Tamar
heard the heavy footsteps of their newest team member coming down the stairs
into the cellar. A strong smell of sweet smoke entered the room, closely
followed by a short girl with rose-pink hair in a bob, her tattooed arms
emerging from her T-shirt.
“Hey, Tamar.”
“Hey, Asher.”
Tamar gestured to the space in front of her. “Let’s get the room cleansed and
we can get out of here.”
“No problem.”
Asher moved forwards, holding the burning incense out in front of her. “Another
satisfied customer upstairs.”
“Glad to hear
it—”
Tamar’s voice
broke off as her headset was filled with an ear-splitting scream.
“Fuck!” Asher
gasped. “What was that?”
Struggling to
regain her composure, her heart pounding, Tamar focussed hard on the room,
stretching her energy field outwards, trying to find something…
There was
nothing.
Whatever it had
been, it had come and gone.
What
is it about this book that makes it special?
Working on Spiritwalker was a new experience for me, just as working on the
previous story Tamar Rising was. Tamar Rising was the first sequel I had
ever written, and in Spiritwalker I
now have the concluding part of a trilogy.
When I began the first story in the
trilogy, I Heard Your Voice, my
heroine Tamar Steele was a
downtrodden paranormal investigator being used for her psychic ability by the
team’s celebrity medium, Reed James, while nursing a secret love for fellow
team member Jason. Her ability to attract spirits by singing was what made her
come into her own. Now, in Spiritwalker,
Tamar is a fully fledged medium in a relationship with Jason, but her powers
unexpectedly draw her into a murder investigation and force her to rekindle her
now-struggling relationship to solve the mystery.
I received a lot of feedback from readers
about how they loved to see Tamar perform and also loved to hate Reed, who was
irresistibly arrogant. So in Spiritwalker
we get to see more of Tamar performing as a medium and more of Reed at his
insufferable best, plus Jason in his geeky glory and new character Asher, who
seems to exist to drive Tamar to distraction but whose skills as a smudger
prove pivotal to solving the murder.
I hope you enjoy it!
