A Halloween Treat
Something scary to whet your appetite for Halloween: a tidbit from my upcoming novel, Deadly Wish! Our favorite ninja, Kata (familiar to readers from Deadly Flowers) has a spooky encounter when alone on the street at night….
This street held craftsmen’s homes: cobblers and potters, a basket-weaver, a man who made clogs and another who sold combs. One building showed the dim light of an oil lamp through a screen, with a shadow cast on the rice paper. Someone was working late. The hunched figure behind the screen rose and stretched, as if to ease an aching back.
I turned away. Time to keep moving. As I did so, I heard a soft sound from behind me, something between a pop and a crunch.
The sound of a paper screen breaking. I spun around.
The light from the house I had noticed earlier was brighter now, because two or three panels of the paper screen had been broken. And coming toward me, outlined against that light, was a shape on two legs—but not a human shape.
Oh, no. Not here, not now…
My knife was in my hand as I backed up carefully, putting distance between myself and the thing approaching me.
The creature should have been awkward, balanced on two legs, but it was not. Lithe and muscled, as tall as my shoulder, it stalked toward me, lamplight brushing soft gray fur. It let out a soft, hungry meow.
Two tails waved, helping the thing keep its balance. Its ears were flattened, its whiskers swept back; the green-gold eyes were narrow and hungry. A double-tailed cat, a neko-mata.
I’d been pleased to have finished my mission, to be out in the night, to be done acting like a timid and stupid servant girl to fool stupider men. And so I’d gotten careless. How could I have forgotten to be on my guard at every moment? Had I let myself believe that there was nothing in this darkened city more dangerous than I was.
Careless. I’d pay for that carelessness now.
The neko-mata faced me and pulled back the corners of its mouth back in a snarl. Its teeth were half the length of my longest finger.
“Mine,” it whined, an unnatural sound, human words forced out of an animal’s throat. “Mine, mine…”
Its back legs flexed as it drew itself together to leap.
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Scary Stories!
Want to give goodies for the brain as well as the sweet tooth this Halloween? Drop a mini-flyer into the treat bags and kids can go online to discover more than a hundred scary stories by fabulous children’s book authors. Visit Trick-or-Reaters to print flyers and learn more!
Review of Deadly Flowers
Children’s Literature has a nice review of Deadly Flowers. Lovely to be compared to Lloyd Alexander! Do kids read him anymore? It seems like I spent half my childhood in Prydain.
Read MoreRather than trusting no one, [Kata] learns to decipher who is trustworthy, and instead of blind obedience to a master, she starts to wonder if freedom from any master is possible. This journey through feudal Japan and its hero folklore is reminiscent of some of Lloyd Alexander’s works. Ninja fans and others will fall in love with this daring, determined, and silent warrior.
Nopperabo
A nopperabo reveals its true nature at the appropriately dramatic moment.
Not a terribly threatening demon, but certainly disconcerting. The nopperabo often disguises itself very successfully as a normal human being. Your friends, colleagues, even husband or wife might well be a nopperabo in hiding. But at a well-timed moment (these bakemono have a keen sense of the dramatic), a nopperabo will wipe all of the features off its face, presenting a blank and empty countenance to the viewer (and later, presumably, laughing itself silly over the reaction it gets).
Read MoreSarah L. Thomson
A children’s book author publishing award-winning nonfiction, poetry, picture books and novels including…
“Readers will treasure the blossoming friendship between opposites in this whimsically illustrated tale. Short chapters and plenty of action make for an accessible and appealing reading experience. . . . Touching and inspiring.”
—Kirkus Reviews