No good deed goes unpunished.
Marta, a novice witch from 1870 Kansas Flint Hills, knows better than to reveal her magical powers to the religious townspeople, but when a young boy is critically injured, she has no choice. Her reward—the local pastor convinces his flock to burn her at the stake, along with two other suspected witches.
To accomplish this, the pastor blocks their magic with a talisman. Working together, the three witches circumvent the talisman and Marta curses the evildoers to hell. Somehow managing to fry the preacher with his own fire before they escape, they are horrified to find the walking, talking skeleton of the man at their front door. Since he is seemingly indestructible, the witches have no other options but to try to fix him.
One of the pastor’s flock, Sheriff Bourne, was conflicted in his part in capturing Marta as he realizes he feels more for her than he thinks he should. Caught up in a past that is quickly catching up to him, he works to bring a former friend and partner in crime to justice while also trying to protect the witches. As their quest to heal the skeleton progresses, Marta suspects the pastor isn’t everything he claims to be as she deals with her emerging and unwelcome desire for the sheriff. While she tries to unravel the flaming curse, Marta must decide which is more dangerous to her way of life—the preacher or her newfound feelings for Sheriff Bourne.
© 2024 Matthew J. Olson author of dark fiction. All rights reserved.