Chapter 1
Jeni was halfway back to the car when she heard the voice behind her.
"I'll double what you just paid for that statue."
She knew the offer was directed at her. She hadn't seen any other customers inside the convenience store where she'd just purchased a stone statue. And her cousin was the only one at the gas pumps. Still, she kept walking. Even quickened her pace a bit.
The scrape and crunch of gravel on her left warned of the guy's approach before she saw him from the corner of her eye.
"Excuse me. Uh… sorry to bother you, but the statue you just bought? I'd like to buy it. It's important," he babbled while shuffling alongside her. "Look, I'll give you forty bucks." The guy thrust his hand forward with two twenty-dollar bills sticking out.
Jeni's 'stranger danger' reflex kicked her heartbeat up a notch. She glanced sideways, surprised to see a young guy, seventeen or eighteen at most, with copper skin, black hair, and startling blue eyes. Her lips parted and her breath hitched involuntarily. Wow, the guy was super-cute.
Her feet slowed, though her pulse continued to race as a new nervous energy replaced her initial alarm. Maybe she should hear him out.
"Buzz off, buddy. Whatever you want to buy, she's not selling." Her cousin Tyler suddenly appeared in front of her, and Jeni stopped short to avoid running into him.
The guy raised his hands and held them out past his shoulders, the money still clenched in one fist. He gave Jeni a pleading look but took a step backward.
"Tyler, I… he just…"
Tyler grabbed Jeni's arm and propelled her toward the car. She shook off his hold on her. "What's your problem?"
"I saw him offering you money. Just get in and lock the door," he said. "I'll drive."
"Overreact much?" she muttered. Going back to talk to the guy now would be embarrassingly awkward, so Jeni got in the car. She was more than happy to let Tyler drive—it was better than him scrutinizing her newly-acquired driving skills—but he was acting like a jerk.
Not that that was new.
With the door closed, Jeni glanced in the side mirror and saw the guy hadn't moved. Dang. The well-worn jeans, athletic build, and sun-kissed skin added up to rugged hotness—the best kind of hotness in Jeni's opinion. Only his downcast expression was at odds with his outdoorsy brawn. A pang of sympathy struck her as he shook his head and scrubbed his hands over his face.
Tyler dropped into the driver's seat and slammed the door. "Um, maybe you should consider jeans that aren't quite so tight," he said. He started the car and pulled away from the pumps.
"What're you talk…" Jeni hissed out a disgusted sigh as she got his meaning. "You're such an idiot." She dug in the paper bag she'd set on the floor between her feet. After plunking two drinks into the cupholders, she drew out a small stone statue. "He wanted to buy this."
"How would I know that? A stranger waving money at a girl in a parking lot looks pretty suspicious to me. Besides, you went in to buy drinks."
"Puh-leeze, he was probably younger than you."
Tyler shrugged. "What is that anyway? A stone cat?"
"Well, it's not an ordinary cat, that's why I bought it." Jeni held the figure out. "Look, it has horns. And check this out, doesn't it look like it's painted with scales?"
Tyler glanced at the statue and grunted.
"The man at the store called it an artifact; maybe it's valuable. That guy offered me forty dollars and I only paid twelve," Jeni said.
"Try eBay. And I get a cut since I chased the dude off."
Jeni didn't dignify that with an answer. She might be twenty-eight dollars richer right now if Tyler hadn't chased the guy off. The cute guy. Tyler turned up the radio, and Jeni let her head fall back on the headrest. Trees and marsh flashed by on either side of the two-lane blacktop road. An occasional break in the foliage revealed dirt roads cutting through the woods, some which bore signs indicating residences beyond the dense vegetation. Jeni hardly noticed; she'd seen similar scenery back in Michigan—not where she lived in suburban Detroit, but a few hours north where her family went camping.
Something about the incident at the gas station didn't add up. She was pretty sure now that was the same guy she saw on the phone in the back room of the convenience store. At the time, she assumed he worked there. But if so, why would he rush out and try to buy the statue she just bought? It didn't make any sense.
Jeni could still picture his crestfallen face. He'd looked like a kid who had just dropped his science project and watched it explode into a million pieces.
She fingered the statue's cool, stone surface for a few moments, then slipped the figure into her pocket. The encounter definitely put a damper on her enthusiasm for the newest item in her cat collection. When she got back to civilization, she'd definitely Google 'cat with horns and scales' to see if anything came up.
As Tyler turned into Itasca State Park, Jeni thought about the beaded bracelet she'd returned to the rack after she spied the statue. She suddenly had the sinking feeling she would've been better off choosing the bracelet for a souvenir…
…To read more:
THUNDERSTONE is available as an e-book or trade paperback from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBook and more.
About the Author
After years in the corporate world, Barbara found herself with a second chance to decide what she wanted to be when she grew up. Her lifetime love of books and the written word returned one answer: writer. Drawing from her experience with technical writing, she began by writing non-fiction magazine pieces and achieved both regional and national publication.
In addition to Heart of Ice and Thunderstone, Barbara has a few other novels in the works, including a Thunderstone sequel. If she’s not reading or writing, she likes to walk, garden, and sew. She works in a library and lives in Royal Oak, Michigan with her husband, daughter, and their cat—who often acts like a dog. Find Barbara on Facebook at facebook.com/barbara.pietron.19 or visit her website at www.barbarapietron.com.
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