Publication Date- June 22, 2012
Published By- Musa Publishing
Fairytales aren’t real…yeah…that’s exactly what
Bianca thought. She was wrong.
For generations, the Frost family has run the Museum of Magical and Rare Artifacts, handing down guardianship
from mother to daughter, always keeping their secrets to “family only.”
Gathered within museum’s walls is a collection dedicated to the Grimm fairy tales and to the rare items the family has acquired: Cinderella’s glass slipper, Snow White’s poisoned apple, the evil queen’s magic mirror, Sleeping Beauty’s enchanted spinning wheel…
Seventeen-year-old Bianca Frost wants none of it, dreaming instead of a career in art or photography or…well, anything except working in the family’s museum. She knows the items in the glass display cases are fakes because, of course, magic doesn’t really exist.
She’s about to find out how wrong she is.
Publication Date- July 19th, 2013
Published By- Musa Publishing
When joined together, Cinderella's slippers grant the wearer her heart's desire. But whose wish will be granted?
When Cinderella’s glass slipper is stolen, Queen Felicia sends her faithful steward Terrance to the real world to retrieve his love and witch-in-training, Bianca Frost. The power of the glass slipper, when paired with its mate, and in the wrong hands, could ruin the peace of Everafter. Bianca must gather every bit of magic she has learned in the past few weeks to find the slipper and protect her new love.
Together, Bianca, Ming, Prince Ferdinand, and Terrance venture deep into the heart of Everafter to seek clues as to who has stolen the slipper and why. Along the way, they uncover what happened to the Seven Dwarves after Snow White married the prince, but also learn the awful risk of tampering with black magic and the high price that must be paid for magic, even when used for good.
Bianca and Terrance’s relationship is put to the test. Through the pain of suffering and loss, Bianca must determine if following her gallant boyfriend into his faraway world is in fact her heart's desire.
Liz DeJesus was born
on the tiny island of Puerto Rico. She is a novelist and a poet. She has been writing for
as long as she was capable of holding a pen. She is the author of the novel Nina (Blu Phi'er Publishing, October 2007), The Jackets (Arte Publico Press, March 2011) First Frost (Musa Publishing, June 2012), Glass Frost (Musa Publishing, July 2013), Morgan (Indie Gypsy, July 2014) and The Laurel (Musa Publishing, November 2014).
Her work has also appeared in Night Gypsy: Journey Into Darkness (Indie Gypsy, October 2012) and Someone Wicked (Smart Rhino Publications, Winter 2013).
Her work has also appeared in Night Gypsy: Journey Into Darkness (Indie Gypsy, October 2012) and Someone Wicked (Smart Rhino Publications, Winter 2013).
Liz is currently working on a new novel and a comic book series titled Zombie Ever After (Emerald Star Comics, Fall 2014).
Frost Series
Zombie Ever
After
Excerpt from First Frost
Mother and daughter looked into each other’s eyes for a brief moment. She felt ready to fight alongside her mother and actually be of some assistance. Bianca wanted to argue with Rose, but instead she reluctantly obeyed and went upstairs. She made it as far as the top of the steps.
“Come out, you coward!” Lenore shouted.
If there was one thing Bianca knew for sure, it was that her mother would never, ever back out of a fight. She slowly inched her way down the stairs. Rose stepped out of the house and was far away from the safety of her wards. Bianca tried to call as little attention to herself as humanly possible. She duck-walked across the living room until she was directly underneath the broken window. She peeked every now and then to watch her mother in action.
“Where’s the book?” Lenore asked.
“Where is my husband?” Rose demanded.
“How about we make a trade? Your husband for the book,” Lenore said.
Rose remained silent. Bianca knew that somewhere in her mother’s mind she was seriously considering trading whatever book Lenore was talking about for her father.
“You’re not getting anywhere near that book,” Rose replied.
Lenore snarled and contorted her face in anger as she created a fireball and threw it at Rose.
She created a wall of water around her, and the fireball vanished with a hiss. She then used the water that surrounded her and attacked her adversary.
Lenore used an ice spell and froze the water, and caused it to crash all around her with soft clinks.
“You have to learn to control your brat. I can smell her better now that she’s downstairs,” Lenore said and then cackled.
“You shut your filthy mouth about my daughter,” Rose shouted.
“Want to come out and play, little one?” Lenore taunted.
“Bianca! Stay inside the house. Do you hear me?!”
“Mom, let me help,” Bianca pleaded.
“You do as I say!” Rose snapped.
Bianca’s heart skipped a beat as she ducked underneath the window. She knew she was safe inside the house because of the wards. Bianca risked a peek at the battle, and the witches were fighting viciously. They were both putting everything they had into their spells and doing everything in their power to destroy each other.
Lenore had Rose trapped in a small tornado. Bianca could see her bright red hair whipping in every direction imaginable as her mother struggled to counter the spell. It was enough time for the dark witch to reach in and take something out of her pocket. Lenore pulled out a tiny glass vial and drank a black potion that swam inside the container.
What is that?
Lenore flashed her sharp yellowed teeth at Bianca and then turned her attention to Rose. Bianca turned her gaze to her mother and saw that she had finally countered Lenore’s tornado spell. Lenore took a deep breath and then blew black fire at Rose. The dark flames took on the shape of a sinister dragon.
Bianca gasped; she had never seen anything so menacing in her life. The dragon’s yellow eyes zeroed in on Rose. It chuckled as it looked upon her. It launched itself at her mother and wrapped itself around her body. The dragon pried Rose’s mouth open and shoved its clawed hand down her throat.
“No!” Bianca shouted. The blood in her veins froze, her stomach dropped, and her heart leaped to her throat. She watched in horror as her mother did everything she could to fight off Lenore’s monster…and failed.
“Mom!” Bianca dashed to the front door and stopped herself from running into the front yard.
Lenore had kicked Rose in the stomach and grabbed a fistful of her red hair. The smoke dragon took away Rose’s voice. She was now mute. She looked like a fish out of water as she tried to cast a counter spell, but it was no use. The damage had been done. Her mother had lost her voice and the battle. Rose turned her green eyes to Bianca.
“There, now we can have a little chat…no interruptions. Come on out here and sit with me a while,” Lenore said. The false saccharine in her voice was obvious.
Rose shook her head violently. Bianca knew what her mother wanted her to do. She wasn’t sure she could obey Rose’s request to stay inside the house now that she was in danger of losing her life.
I can’t just sit here and do nothing. God…what do I do? What do I do?
“Come here!” Lenore roared as her face contorted with rage, making her look uglier and older than she actually was. Lenore yanked on Rose’s hair so hard she opened her mouth as though she were screaming…except no sound came out of her lips.
Excerpt from Glass Frost
Reluctantly Bianca sat down on a nearby stool; the chairs were so small that she worried she would break them. Luckily for her, they were quite sturdy. Bianca took a seat next to Terrance. Ming eventually joined them and sat beside the prince. Bianca noticed the awestruck look on Prince Ferdinand’s face as he ran his hands along the table.
“Are you okay?” Bianca asked.
He lifted his gaze at her. “Incredible. Isn’t it?”
Bianca grinned and nodded. When she closed her eyes, she could easily imagine a young Snow White living here. A beautiful little girl, scared, with nowhere else to go. Probably relieved to have found a safe place to call home. Someplace where she wouldn’t be abused, threatened, or killed. A steady energy seemed to run through the cottage. It hummed with warmth and love.
The three dwarves joined them in the dining room where they all sat and drank herbal tea. Bianca breathed in the warm and aromatic fragrance of the cloves and cinnamon.
“This cottage was half the size when Snow lived with us,” Collier said.
“Really?”
“Snow didn’t care though. She loved it here,” Howard said. “She helped rebuild the kitchen and planted a vegetable and rose garden beside the cottage. It hasn’t been touched since she passed away, but every year there is a fresh crop of vegetables ripe for the pickin’. I swear every year the roses smell sweeter and sweeter.”
Bianca imagined Snow White helping them build the kitchen and the other rooms in the house. She could picture her with silver-colored nails glinting on the corner of her mouth and a hammer in her hand, ready to do anything to help. Bianca wondered if she helped carve the designs on the walls, and if so, which ones was she responsible for.
“She loved you,” Bianca said.
“Aye, she did,” Knox said. All three brothers nodded in agreement.
“Were you angry with her when she left?” Terrance asked.
“No. Not at all. This wasn’t a place for a beautiful princess. We were sad to see her go, but never angry,” Knox explained.
Bianca was happy to hear that. Did Snow White know how they felt? She liked to think so.
Knox finished his tea and set his mug down on the table.
“Come…follow me,” he said. He grunted as he got out of his chair. “You’ll have to forgive my slowness…these old bones aren’t what they used to be. I am nine hundred and ninety seven years old after all.”
Bianca set her tea aside and followed Knox as he led her up the steps.
“Is it true?” Bianca asked.
“Is what true?”
“That dwarves live until they are a thousand years old.”
“Yes, it’s true.” Knox gave her a single nod.
“Doesn’t it scare you? Knowing that you only have three years left?”
“Death doesn’t frighten me, child. I’m looking forward to being finished with this life. I’ll see my brothers again. I’ll see Snow White once more. I won’t be so tired anymore.”
Bianca had a hard time believing what Knox just said. She had never met anyone that was looking forward to dying. In all honesty, she had never thought about what she would be like twenty years down the road. As far ahead as she was thinking at the moment was her senior year in high school and her eighteenth birthday. But other than that? She had no clue.
Bianca continued to follow Knox up the lopsided stairs. She had to bend a little so her head wouldn’t touch the ceiling. Once they reached the hallway, she studied her surroundings. There were four rooms. Three of them she could peek into, but all she could see was the foot of their beds. The door to the fourth bedroom was closed. That was the room he led her to.
Knox opened the door; it released a soft creak, as though it had been ages since anyone had stepped inside its threshold. It had a higher ceiling than the rest of the cottage. In the middle of the room was a full-size bed with white lace sheets and a single pillow. There was a small night table with a silver candlestick and a single half-burnt white candle. At the foot of the bed was a large wooden trunk. It was a beautiful polished cherry. All Bianca wanted to do was open it and find out what secrets it held.
“This was Snow’s room,” Knox said.
“It’s beautiful.” And Bianca meant it. She was struck by the simplicity of the place. It was elegant. Uncomplicated. Much like the woman that inhabited this space.
“We’ve left it just as it is. We come in every once in a while to dust and clean off the cobwebs.”
He opened the trunk and very carefully placed the items on top of the bed. There was a white dress, a pair of dusty-rose silk slippers, black work boots, a navy-blue and white quilt, and lace gloves that had yellowed with age. Then he tugged on a small piece of rope and revealed a secret hiding place. Patiently, Bianca waited. Knox pulled out a red velvet bag with gold ties.
“Here.” He handed the bag to Bianca.
“What is it?” she asked as she took the bag from him. She couldn’t get over the rich velvet fabric she held in her hands. The fabric felt soft against her fingertips. Bianca had never seen anything so luxurious in her life.
“I don’t know. I’ve never looked inside. She never said what it was or what to do with it. All she told me was that she would return someday to retrieve it. Unfortunately that day never came. And seeing as you’re her kin, I like to think she wouldn’t mind if you had it.”
Knox took the items he had placed on the bed and put them back inside the trunk. He gently closed the lid and walked out of the room. He closed the door behind him with a soft click, leaving Bianca alone to examine the red velvet bag.
She let out a deep sigh. It never ends.
She sat on the corner of the bed. The color on the blood-red bag was still bright. It was as though it had been at the bottom of the trunk for a few days and not a couple of centuries. She undid the knot and emptied the contents on top of the bed.
“Apple seeds,” she whispered.
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