Snakes and Shadows Read online

  Snakes and Shadows

  Penny and Boots™ Book One

  Amy Hopkins

  Michael Anderle

  This book is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.

  Copyright © 2019 Amy Hopkins & Michael T. Anderle

  Cover by Fantasy Book Design

  Cover copyright © LMBPN Publishing

  This book is a Michael Anderle Production

  LMBPN Publishing supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.

  The distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  LMBPN Publishing

  PMB 196, 2540 South Maryland Pkwy

  Las Vegas, NV 89109

  First US edition, October 2019

  eBook ISBN: 978-1-64202-533-0

  Print ISBN: 978-1-64202-534-7

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Author Notes - Amy Hopkins

  Author Notes - Michael Anderle

  Books By Michael Anderle

  Connect with The Authors

  Snakes and Shadows Team

  Thanks to our Beta Readers:

  Mary Morris, Larry Omans, Kelly O’Donnell, Nicole Emens, Erika Everest

  Thanks to the JIT Readers

  Dave Hicks

  Jackey Hankard-Brodie

  Jeff Goode

  Jeff Eaton

  Deb Mader

  Misty Roa

  Angel LaVey

  If I’ve missed anyone, please let me know!

  Editor

  SkyHunter Editing Team

  This one’s for you, Michael. You told me to write what I know. You told me to write my soul. Well, here she is. I hope she’s as funny, sharp and kind as you envisioned her. I know she’s more than I expected her to be!

  — Amy

  To Family, Friends and

  Those Who Love

  to Read.

  May We All Enjoy Grace

  to Live the Life We Are

  Called.

  — Michael

  Chapter One

  Boots wasn’t an ordinary snake. Mrs. Chu, however, didn’t know that.

  “You tell that scaly thing that if she ever turns up at my restaurant with a rodent, I’ll—”

  “I’ll tell her, Mrs. Chu.” Penny peered into the hotbox of the Chinese takeaway shop, but none of the plastic bags looked like hers. Boots dangled over Penny’s shoulder, almost tumbling off as she tried to get closer to the hot glass. “Am I too early?”

  “Your dinner is out back. Extra dumplings, ok? Keep your energy up. And two Cokes, I know you like that rubbish.” Mrs. Chu vanished from the servery window and reappeared at the door to the kitchen. She stopped to give a regretful sigh and patted her own plump stomach. “You certainly aren’t getting fat from it. You will one day, though!” Regret turned to glee, and she cackled happily.

  Penny took the heavy plastic bag full of square containers, two cans of Coke balanced on top as promised. “Thanks, Mrs. Chu.” She turned to go but looked back when Mrs. Chu called her name.

  Serious now, the old woman wagged her finger. “That man was here asking for you again. And your snake, too! You stay away from him. Men like that mean trouble.”

  Stifling a squirm of unease, Penny nodded. “Thanks for the heads up, Mrs. Chu. I’ll keep an eye out.”

  Mrs. Chu meant well. The problem was, Penny didn’t know quite what to do about it. She knew the stranger had asked about her at the Takeaway shop before, and the pub. She’d never seen the guy in person, and she had no idea what he could possibly want with her.

  Mrs. Chu and Dave, the publican, had both agreed the mysterious stranger was tall, curly-haired, and dressed like a “city boy.” He spoke like a Yank and was polite but formal. Dave swore the guy was a government spy.

  Larrabee wasn’t exactly a bustling town, but with a population of three thousand and growing, the days when everyone knew everyone were long since gone.

  Still, what does he want with me? Penny wondered.

  She yanked open the passenger door of her car and carefully put her dinner in so it wouldn’t slide around. Once she was belted in behind the wheel, she started the car. Then she sat for a minute.

  “Dammit.” She was out of beer at home. The liquor store’s lights twinkled invitingly, a beacon of happiness at the far end of the string of shops. “Screw it. It’s hot as Hades out here. I need a drink.”

  “Stay here, Boots.” She killed the engine and pulled herself out of the car, smiling when the tinkling bell above the liquor shop’s door announced her presence. “Hey, Dave. Got a six-pack in there for me?”

  Dave grinned and gave her a wave as he finished stacking some wine bottles into a display rack. “I’ll grab one for you, mate.”

  “Thanks!” A few minutes and some idle pleasantries later, Penny was the proud owner of a six-pack of beer, although her purse was a few dollars lighter for it.

  She stepped outside and squinted, blinded for a moment by the glaring sun.

  As Penny turned to her car, she heard someone kicking up a stink.

  “You legless bloody skink. I’ll show ‘em!”

  The local drunk’s slurred growl sent Penny’s heart plummeting to her shoes. “I’ll catch ya and stick ya in a box! Then they’ll bloody see you’re not normal!”

  “Oh, shit.” As her eyes adjusted, Penny evaluated her options: dash in and drop the beer, or take a moment to set it down carefully.

  Deciding Boots could fend for herself for a moment if need be, Penny took the second option.

  “Hey, Jerry. What’s up?” she called, trying to buy herself a moment as she dropped her possessions safely on a nearby bench.

  “It’s that fuckin’ snake! I told ya, I told all of ya! It’s not right!” He pointed at the eight-foot-long rainbow serpent that had wrapped itself around Penny’s side mirror. “All rainbow-like and smart. She’s got it in for me, that snake.”

  “She’s just a snake, Jerry,” Penny soothed. “Nothing special about her. I see a bottle of Bundy in your hand, though, and it’s looking pretty empty.”

  “I’m not drunk!” Outraged at the prospect, Jerry drew himself up. Or he tried to. He teetered and tripped toward the car, then flinched away from Boots hard enough to send him flying in the other direction when she coiled up, ready to strike.

  “Jerry? You’re definitely drunk.” Penny approached, holding her hands out to try to calm him. She stepped carefully, knowing rum turned Jerry into an asshole, and that the town’s insistence that he was a crazy old fart had given him a vendetta against Boots.

  Penny didn’t know what the deal was with the glittering multicolored serpent, but she had her the
ories.

  Boots had appeared around the same time as sightings of supernatural beings had started to go crazy.

  Videos online were getting millions of hits, although, from the comments left on them, it seemed only a small percentage of people could see what Penny could. Creatures from myth. Living, breathing legends.

  That had been three months ago.

  As far as Penny knew, she was the only person in Larrabee who could see Boots in her real form. The others in town would call her a tree snake, saying the “pretty green thing” made a lovely pet.

  Jerry saw her real form too, but only when he was utterly shitfaced. Penny would have felt bad for him, but Jerry was a racist piece of shit who had harassed Mrs. Chu for years.

  “I’m not inberiated…inibriabered… I’m not drunk!” Jerry’s outrage had turned to desperation. He stumbled back to his feet and pointed at Boots again. “I can see it! A big-assed fucking rainbow sna— FUCK!”

  Irritated with the pointing finger, Boots had done what any threatened snake would do. She bit.

  Jerry screamed and jerked his hand back, but Boots had a solid grip on the digit. “FUCK! GET IT OFF!”

  Penny jumped in just as Jerry slammed his fist at Boots’ head. He missed, punching the door of the Land Rover instead.

  Penny yelled, “Hey! That’s my fucking car!”

  Boots let go, then reared back and hissed, mouth wide to strike again.

  “Don’t you even think about it!” Penny snapped, turning a warning finger on Boots.

  Jerry saw the gesture and lunged at her. His fat, sweaty hands clutched Penny’s shirt. “You bitch! You know! You know it’s something weird, don’t you?”

  “Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Penny muttered. She really didn’t want to fight Jerry. In his current state, that wouldn’t be fair at all.

  She pushed his hands away, but he swung another punch, clipping her ear.

  It stung. The bright pain wiped all of Penny’s reluctance away, and she let her reflexes take over. Her fists had been itching to swing since the mention of her friendly neighborhood stalker.

  Penny tightened her grip on Jerry’s wrist. Instead of pushing it away, she pulled it toward her as she twisted . A little dip of her foot, some careful weight distribution, and Jerry was flat on his back, gasping for air.

  “You all right, Pen?”

  Penny looked over her shoulder to see Dave leaning on the doorframe of the bottle shop. “Thanks for the help,” she said, grimacing.

  “You looked like you had it under control. How are you feeling, Jer?” Dave clomped over slowly and hauled the other man up by his elbow. “Remember what I told you? Any more trouble and I cut you off. That right there was trouble, my friend.”

  Jerry groaned. “It wasn’t my fault!” he muttered. Having the wind knocked out of him seemed to have done the trick. He let Dave guide him inside, muttering about aliens that looked like snakes.

  Dave already had his phone out to call the local constabulary. “I’ll get Pete to drive him home. You take care now, Penny.” In a town this size, driving the local drunks home was classed as exciting, so Pete likely wouldn’t mind the task.

  Penny nodded, feeling tired after the unexpected confrontation. “Thanks, Dave. Maybe next time he’ll think twice before downing a bottle of rum before sunset.”

  The late afternoon sun beat on the dusty road, bathing the old white Land Rover in shades of pink and orange. Penny jerked the driver's side door open, grabbed a water bottle, and twisted off the top. “Come on, Boots. Let’s get outta here before Jerry wakes up and decides to turn you into a handbag.

  ”Boots glared at the bottle, unmoving. Penny jiggled it. "Do you want me to leave you here?"

  With an irritated hiss, Boots unfurled her long body and stretched her head up to the water. Penny tilted the bottle just far enough that it touched the lip. Boots touched her nose to it, and in a quick, sinuous motion, she slid into the tiny bottle, shrinking her body so she fit comfortably inside.

  Penny nodded in satisfaction. "You didn't have to be so difficult about it, you know."

  The rainbow serpent flicked out her tongue, then bared her long fangs before sliding into the warm car with a soft hiss.

  “I know they usually think you’re just a dumb pet, but a few beers and they suddenly get all open-minded and shit. Then my dinner goes cold while some drunk idiot tries to kick the shit out of both of us. Does that sound fair to you?”

  Boots curled into a tight coil and hid her face beneath a loop of her long body. No matter what she looked like, Penny knew she was smarter than the average snake. In fact, she’d bet her meager life savings on the fact that Boots understood what she said, at least most of the time.

  “Fine, don’t speak to me. I’m not sharing my dinner if you sulk, though.” Penny turned to exit the car but quickly felt something press against her knee. Moments later, the snake had twisted her way over to drape herself across Penny’s lap. “Yeah, I thought so,” she muttered, her hand reaching down to scratch the top of the snake’s head.

  When Penny pulled to a stop in her driveway, she placed a hand on the bag of Chinese food. “Still hot, at least.” She pushed Boots off her lap and reached for the beer on the floor in front of the passenger seat.

  Someone slapped the car roof above her head. Penny jumped and whirled around, half-expecting to see that Jerry had followed her home.

  “Penny Hingston?” The man leaned down to peer in the window, tipping his dark glasses down to look over the top of them. His pressed suit looked uncomfortable in the heat, and his tightly curled hair was streaked with gray.

  She pulled back from the window, one eye squinting at the guy. “I didn’t do it, but I want a lawyer anyway.” She raised her hands defensively. “I wasn’t drink-driving, I swear. See? Still closed.” She hefted the beers, ready to swing them into the guy’s face if she needed to.

  The man chuckled. “I’m not a cop. I have something to give you, is all.”

  His thick American drawl made her blink. Penny had traveled around Australia for a year before coming back home to apply for university. She’d met her fair share of Yanks. She just hadn’t expected to do so in the backwater town she had grown up in.

  He slid an envelope through the crack at the top of the window—she never closed them all the way because of the baking heat, but maybe that was a habit she’d drop from now on. The letter fluttered onto her lap.

  “That all?” Penny eyed the letter as if it were a snake.

  The man nodded. He turned as if to go, then wheeled back. “That’s a Rainbow, right? Where’d you find her?” He jutted his chin toward Boots.

  Penny couldn’t help but lift her brows in surprise. In these parts, it was rare to find someone who could recognize the serpent. She rested a hand on Boots protectively. “Down by the creek.”

  “She’s a nice specimen.” The man nodded once, then strode off.

  Penny sat in her car and watched as he opened the door of a black Cadillac. She didn’t move until he drove away, leaving a cloud of dust behind him.

  “Well, Boots, let’s see what this letter has to say.” Penny snatched the letter up and put it between her teeth, using her hands to pile up the rest of her stuff as she headed toward her front door. Once inside, she put her bags down and tore the letter open.

  Attn: Penny Hingston.

  We are pleased to offer you a scholarship to the March-Blaisey Academy of Historical Re-Emergence.

  This scholarship will not only fund your first semester at the school, but provide free room and board, and eight thousand dollars to mitigate relocation and living expenses.

  Our new campuses offer state-of-the-art equipment and respected industry specialists as your teachers. Upon graduation, you will have guaranteed employment options with the US government, who will reimburse any remaining tuition after three years of service. Alternatively, you will have the option to move into the private sector with advanced academic credentials and world-class qualificat
ions.

  Classes will begin on September 9th. Please arrive at least three days early to secure your dorm room and address any outstanding paperwork.

  If you have any questions about this unique opportunity, please contact your handler for more information.

  Regards,

  Jessica March

  Dean of March-Blaisey Academy of Historical Re-Emergence.

  “A scholarship? Huh. I sure as hell didn’t apply for that.” Penny flipped it over, then picked the envelope up to examine it.

  A brightly colored pamphlet slipped out, showing a luxurious stone building on the front. On the other side, amongst the tiny white text, an image of a group of students caught her eye. They were practicing archery, bows drawn and pointed at something off the page.

  Full access to our unique combination of new and old technology, researched and designed to effectively combat the threat of mythological invasion.

  “’Mythological invasion?’” Penny muttered. “Guess they finally figured out how to make a buck off of it.”

  Penny had only loosely followed the information online. Though she had Boots, Penny didn’t particularly want to be branded as “one of those crazies.” Lately, politicians had been releasing statements confirming that something was going on, although no one seemed to want to state exactly what it was.