School’s In: Jocelynn Drake & Gage (Contest)

Schools In (200px)It’s that time of year again. Everyone is going back to school and so is Jocelynn Drake’s Gage from Angel’s Ink and Asylum Interviews: Trixie.

The second of two prequel stories to Jocelynn Drake’s Angel’s Ink.

Gage’s ex-girlfriend is back in town and needs help escaping a master vampire. While not the easiest of tasks, he certainly didn’t count of getting help from a mysterious woman with a few secrets of her own.

Make sure you stick around to the end. We’ll be giving away a copy of Asylum Interviews: Bronx and Asylum Interviews: Trixie to one lucky reader.

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Gage

JDrake-TrixieI don’t have a lot of memories of being in school with all the normal kids. It wasn’t long after my seventh birthday in October that I first exhibited magic powers and was taken to the Ivory Towers to study – no classrooms, no other students, and no recess.

But before I was ripped from my family, I remember that I had just started the second grade at a new school while my older brother was in fifth grade. My younger sister was in kindergarten. The school was a large, two-story tan brick building that held kindergarten through sixth grade. In addition, the school also held both day classes and night classes.

The night classes were for the nocturnals. Vampire and trolls kids had deadly sun allergies so they had to go at night. Goblins weren’t allergic, but didn’t generally go out during the day. A few humans also went at night because they had adopted parents who were nocturnal.

Because of the night classes, most desks had two occupants: one during the day and one during the night. The students shared books to save space but we had our own workbooks with our names written in them using a fat pencil.

I didn’t think too much about it until the second week when I found a folded note with my name on it tucked into my workbook. It simply said:

“My name is Gia. I hate math clas. Do you like math?”

I showed it to my best friend Tyler, who only shrugged his shoulders at me. He hadn’t gotten a note from his desk mate, but the werewolf was more interested in trading baseball cards and getting people together for kickball during recess.

At the end of the day, I wrote back.

“I hate math too. I like to play kickball. Do you? Do you have recess at night?”

The next day, I had a response waiting for me on a new piece of paper.

“I am glad you hate math. We have recess. I like jump rope. What are you?”

After showing my new note to Tyler, who frowned because my desk mate was a rope-jumping girl, I wrote back.

“I am human. What are you? Do you like skool? Do you like your teacher? My teacher is nice.”

And just like before, Gia’s response was waiting for me in my workbook.

“I am human. My dad is a vampire. Is that ok? Will you be my desk frend? I do not like skool. My teacher is stoopid. All the kids are mean.”

I frowned at her note. It wasn’t that her dad was a vampire but that she was worried if it would bother me. We had a vampire couple living across the street from us and they were perfectly nice. In my narrow world view, that meant that all vampires were nice.

“It is ok. I like vampires. I will be your desk friend.”

The next day, not only did I have a note waiting for me but also a cherry lollipop, which really is the best way to seal a friendship with a second grader. We continued to trade short notes and the occasional piece of candy over the next few weeks. It was about a week after my birthday when I received a slightly disturbing note from Gia.

“I like Bugs Bunny more than Daffy. I am scared. I had a bad dream. I dreamed you made fire and you were taken by a bad man. My dreams happen for real. You should hide. Do not let the bad man take you. Do not make fire.”

I didn’t know what to do after reading that note. I didn’t tell my parents, but I didn’t mention it to my brother, who only shrugged and said that Gia was being silly. I didn’t think she was making it up because Gia had never done anything like that before. For the next couple weeks, I didn’t touch matches or candles.

But in the end, it didn’t matter. I was running home for dinner one night. As I cut through the backyards between Tyler’s house and mine, a large dog started to chase me. I fell and accidentally cast a spell in my terror and panic. It was a small fireball. The next day, a warlock was on my parents’ doorstep, waiting to take me away from the life I knew.

I never got the chance to tell Gia good-bye. I never knew if her visions resulted in her being dragged off to the Ivory Towers as well. If I could go back, I would write one more note.

“Thanks for being my desk frend. You were right.”

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Meet Jocelynn Drake!

Love comes in many varied forms. There is the love of family, love of country, and love of chocolate. But for Jocelynn Drake, one truly treasured love is the love of a good story. This Midwestern native spends the majority of her time lost in the strong embrace of a good book, whether she writing it or reading it doesn’t really matter. When she’s not hammering away at her keyboard, frowning at her monitor, or curled up with a book, she can usually be found cuddling with her cats, Harley and Demona, walking her dog Max, or flinging curses at the TV while playing a video game. Outside of books, cats, and video games, she is completely enamored of Bruce Wayne, Ezio Auditore, travel, explosions, fast cars, tattoos, and Anthony Bourdain (but only when he’s feeling really cranky).

Jocelynn DrakeContact Info
Website: website
Blog: Blog
Social Media: Facebook | Twitter | GoodReads

Want to purchase Jocelynn’s novels?
Asylum Tales

  1. Angel’s Ink at Amazon | Book Depository
  2. Asylum Interviews: Bronx at Amazon
  3. Asylum Interviews: Trixie at Amazon

Dark Days

  1. Nightwalker at Amazon | Book Depository
  2. Dayhunter at Amazon | Book Depository
  3. Dawnbreaker at Amazon | Book Depository
  4. Pray for Dawn at Amazon | Book Depository
  5. Wait for Dusk at Amazon | Book Depository
  6. Burn the Night at Amazon | Book Depository
  7. Nightwalker / Dayhunter (Omnibus) at Amazon
  8. Bound to Me at Amazon | Book Depository
  9. The Dead, the Damned, and the Forgotten at Amazon

Unbound at Amazon | Book Depository

Please help spread the word: Tweet: Go back to school with 30 authors while #giveaways ensue during #SchoolsIn (Sept 1-30) http://tinyurl.com/LESchoolsIn – #paranormal #contests #UF

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Contest Time!

Thank you Jocelynn for taking part in Literary Escapism’s School’s in!

Jocelynn is giving away. To enter, all you have to do is answer this one question: If you were Gage’s desk mate, what kind of notes would you have left for him? Remember, you must answer the question in order to be entered.

Even though I’m not giving the additional entries any more, you can still help support the author by sharing their article, and this contest, on your blog, Twitter, Facebook, or anywhere you can. After all, the more people who are aware of this fabulous author ensures we get more fabulous stories.

The winner must post a review of the novel someplace. Whether it is on their own blog, Amazon, GoodReads, LibraryThing or wherever, it doesn’t matter. Just help get the word out.

All School’s In contests will remain open until October 7th at which time I’ll determine the winner with help from the snazzy new plug-in I have. Have you checked out the other Black Friday contests yet? Check out the Master List to see all the Black Friday giveaways

I have not been contacting winners, so you will need to check back to see if you’ve won.

About Jackie 3282 Articles
I am a 30-something SAHM with two adorable boys and a supportive husband who is very tolerant of my reading addiction. I love to read and easily go through about a dozen books a month – well I did before I had kids. Now, not so much. After my first son was born, I began to take my hobby of reviewing a little more serious and started Literary Escapism to help with my sanity. I love to discuss the fabulous novels I’ve read and meeting all the wonderful people in the book blogging community has been amazing.

12 Comments

  1. Well, sticking to the 2nd grade, it would just be stupid/silly questions about like and dislikes, eventually leading into talking about hating my parents (and I’d eventually have a crush on my mysterious desk buddy).

  2. Great post. I would have left notes telling a little about myself and asking about him – to try to get to know him. Like – What color are your hair and eyes? My hair is brown and my eyes are blue. And so on.

  3. I would slap out some true or false questions and then a whole series fo yes or no, coke or pepsi type questions too. Maybe in like invisible ink or something tricky.

  4. I would send him jokes. I like making people smile and it can really help him get through the day in a happy way.

  5. I don’t know what kind of notes I would write. I think our conversation would be something for lesson, a joke for teacher or what he will do after school.

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