Anastasia Hopcus, author of the teen paranormal thriller Shadow Hills, once again immerses us in the dark and captivating world of Devenish Prep in the novella, Holiday Spirits.
Winter break is fast approaching, and sixteen year old Persephone Archer is looking forward to one weekend at Devenish Prep where she doesnβt have to think about her new supernatural powers or worry about the mysterious affliction that plagues her boyfriend. All she wants is to lounge around with her friends, and, even more tempting, spend some alone time in front of the fire with Zach.
So when the friends are forced to work as stagehands by the schoolβs drama department, the group concocts a prank to convince the Devenish Players that the theater is haunted. The thing they didnβt count on was that the ghost stories might actually be trueβ¦
With spooky happenings, witty repartee, and a sweet romance, Holiday Spirits is the perfect holiday treat.
Holiday Spirits is a 20,000 word, app. 70 page novella. In this supplementary addition to the Shadow Hills series, plot points from the first book are kept as oblique as possible to avoid spoilers, and though it is built on the mythos established in Shadow Hills, it is unnecessary to have read the first book.
Excerpt from Holiday Spirits:
Half of the ghostβs wrecked head was above the stage. The remainder was flattened like a wet clay bowl dropped from a great height. His arms and legs were twisted in impossible positions, and his neck was bent to the side so sharply that, had he still been alive, he could have pressed his ear against his chest and heard his own heartbeat. Vertebrae strained against paper-thin skin, threatening to split him open like overripe fruit.
An icy sensation made my scalp tense, hairs prickling. I looked up. The girlβs spirit hung suspended just below the catwalk, her limbs limp like a rag doll. But her stare was disturbingly intense. The stage beneath my feet undulated and a hollow rushing flooded my head. Logic told me the sound was merely adrenalin-saturated blood pulsing through my veins, but that didnβt hold much sway with me at the moment.
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