Yup, it’s snippet time for Paranormal Academy, Yeah!!!!
Did you read yesterday’s snippet for Snakes and Shadows? I hope so! Today is a sister tale, Paranormal Academy! This one takes place in America, and has a very snarky duo! You won’t want to skip this one.
Paranormal University First Semester snippet:
“No way!” Claire’s head whipped to the right, desperately searching for whoever had just stripped the purse from her shoulder.
The man’s head barely came up to the waists of those around him.
Claire saw him barreling through the crowded amusement park, and a thought raced through her mind.
Is he a midget?
Claire gritted her teeth as she watched him flee. Doesn’t matter how tall he is! I’ve got $16.53 to my name, and every bit of it is in that purse. She couldn’t even afford to be in this amusement park, except her friend Rachel had offered the ticket.
Claire took off after the thieving bastard.
“What are ya—” Rachel called, but Claire lost the words as she rushed forward.
She’d find Rachel when this was all over. Right now, she had to get her freakin’ purse and the twerp who took it.
Claire reached the crowd the little man had thrust himself into, which immediately slowed her down. She pushed on, moving people out of the way with the confidence of someone much older than her eighteen years.
“Hey! Watch it!” someone shouted from her right.
Claire paid them no mind.
She’d always had sharp eyes, and right now, they searched for any kind of quick movement—someone trying to bolt. The man was actually short enough to hide inside the crowd.
Is he a man? Or a kid?
There!
Except, what Claire’s mind thought was movement was actually a brief flash of light. She thought she might have heard someone else yell about it too.
What the hell? she wondered, slowing for a second. Doesn’t matter. I’ve gotta get my purse!
She pivoted and rushed forward, slicing through gaps in the crowd as they appeared before her.
The freakin’ joker was getting away! He’d made it out of the crowd and was heading deeper into the park.
How is he that fast?
Claire glanced ahead of him and saw the bend in the road. If he got there, he could slip into the wooded area lining the street and simply hide until she gave up.
“Not happening,” she vowed under her breath. She lowered her body some and surged forward, breaking free from the crowd.
Now they were in a flat-out foot race. Claire didn’t know this man, but she knew he didn’t want to be in a race with her.
The wind blew through her hair as her feet pounded the pavement. She was gaining on the jackass, although he was fast, faster than most people Claire had ever come in contact with.
She was fifty feet away when he turned around to check on her.
What the heck? Her feet kept moving though her mind froze in disbelief.
His face looked green! Not like he’d just vomited or something, but actually green.
Doesn’t matter, she thought. He could be Neapolitan ice cream-colored, he wasn’t getting away with her purse.
Claire was ten feet away when they hit the bend in the road. The man kept his head down, hurtling forward as if his life depended on it, and mayhap it did because Claire was beyond mad now.
He banked a right and headed toward the woods, obviously hoping he could lose Claire since he couldn’t beat her in speed.
“No, you don’t!” She leapt forward.
Claire grabbed the little man by his shoulders and roughly threw him to the ground.
He rolled onto the grass, flipping head over foot. Claire’s purse flew to the right, but she didn’t even glance in its direction. The money honestly didn’t matter right now. She wanted some freakin’ justice. This man tried to rob her.
He turned one last somersault and landed on his back, staring at the sky.
Claire trotted over to him.
And there she froze.
Claire Hinterland was staring at a green man.
No. Her mind spun in defiance. He’s not a man. He’s a freakin’ leprechaun!
***
It turned out the thief’s name was Frank, and also… He most definitely was a leprechaun.
Over the next six weeks, Claire learned a lot about Frank, but the two most important things were this: he liked beer, and he liked bowling.
In that order.
Turns out, Frank wasn’t such a bad guy. A thief, yes, but he was also pretty nice once you got to know him. Just…Well, if he ran out of beer, he might try robbing someone.
“It’s not exactly easy to get a job,” he’d told her. “Trust me, I’ve tried.”
Claire had rolled her eyes, knowing that was a lie. “You’re an alcoholic, Frank.”
“That’s not possible,” he’d responded with a wink and a sly grin. “I’m a leprechaun. We can’t be alcoholics; it’s a rule.”
The two of them were now inside Frank’s favorite haunt, a rundown bowling alley called Midtown Pins.
A plate of fries sat on the table in front of Claire, a glass of beer opposite for Frank. She dipped her hand down to the plate and grabbed a fry, hearing the now-familiar crash of Frank hitting a strike as she tossed it into her mouth.
“Badda-boom!” he shouted, shoving his hand in the air and twirling to look at her. “I tell ye, if all ye humans weren’t trying to murder me, I’d be the number one bowler in the country. Probably the entire world.”
“Frank, no one is trying to murder you,” Claire told him with a sigh. “You’ve been going on about this for a week, but look around.” She lifted her next fry, taking in the entire bowling alley with a wave. “No one is here. Just you, me, and Charlie over there making my fries and your beer. It’s like this every time we come.”
Frank walked back to the table and picked up his beer. He took a long pull. When he pulled it away from his mouth, he belched, then turned to her. “That’s your problem, lass. Smart as you are, but you don’t listen to your elders. I’m over six hundred years old, and you think you can tell me my business of staying alive? I’m being followed.”
Claire grinned as she took another fry. She popped it in her mouth and chewed in silence as she studied the mythological creature.
It’d been a shock to see Frank lying in the grass six weeks ago, his big green nose pointing at her like an oddly shaped pickle.
She understood now what was happening, as did the rest of the world. The news had been covering it constantly since it broke about a week after Claire met Frank.
The “Mythological Invasion.”
Claire thought that last part, the invasion piece, was just the media creating hype. Frank wasn’t invading anything besides a brewery.
There were all kinds of theories about what was happening; Claire didn’t know what to believe. She understood only a few things, but that was because of her relationship with Frank.
It looked to her like not everyone could see the mythological beings, at least not at first. For example, Charlie, at the front of the bowling alley, viewed Frank as just a short, odd-looking man. He didn’t see the green skin or the large nose.
To Charlie, Frank was just weird.
Claire had heard of a few more sightings. Some kind of rainbow-colored snake in Australia. A Chupacabra that got loose in a zoo and hurt a bunch of animals.
That one had really made Claire sad.
“So who is it, Frank?” she teased. “What do these people following you look like?” Claire liked needling him about this.
Frank picked up a bowling ball and turned around to look at her. “Men in black cars without kind faces, little lady. Zeus help me, she thinks she knows better than Frank!” He shook his head, turned around, and rolled the ball down the lane without hardly looking at the pins.
Another strike.
He twisted back toward Claire and spread his arms out to the side in a “What can you say?” gesture as he walked back to the table. “I might be the best bowler ever.”
“Isn’t Zeus from like… a different mythological era or something?” Claire asked with real curiosity.
“Sure. But I’ve met him.” Frank swigged his beer as if that was the most normal statement in the world.
That he’d met Zeus, a Greek god.
“Frank, you ever consider yourself an exaggerator?” Claire tossed another fry into her mouth, grinning at his reaction as she chewed.
“This wee little lass! Zeus!” He took a deep pull on his beer, nearly finishing it. He sat it down and leaned against the table, meeting her eyes. “Is he a mythological creature? Zeus?”
Claire said nothing, only kept the grin going.
“I’ll take your silence as knowing you were bested. Yes, he is a mythological creature, as you humans call us, and yes, I’ve met him. Every once in a while, he comes down from Mt. Olympus and takes a break from his shagging proclivities. He’s a nice enough guy.” Frank leaned back and burped again. “Deep voice, though.”
Claire laughed. Sometimes it was still hard to believe all this stuff, even though she was staring at a drunk leprechaun.
Frank turned to look at the pins being set back up. He wasn’t swaying yet, but Claire thought he might begin to soon. He’d still hit his strikes though, probably even if he was falling over.
The doors to the bowling alley opened.
______________________________
Ok, are you as excited as I am about both books? If you missed the first one, then click on Snakes & Shadows to see the first snippet! Don’t forget, it comes out later this week so keep an eye out for the release announcement!
