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The Blended Lives Chronicles Sides of the Order book I.
Words for alt text:
The cover is a deep, candy apple red, with the title, The Blended Lives Chronicles: Sides of the Order at the top in white text. At the bottom is the author’s name, Patty L. Fletcher, also typed in white. Above the author’s name and below the title of the book is a white skeleton key, taking up about 3/4 of the cover space.
About the Book
Lady Laya MoonWalker is a well respected author and magazine owner and a high priestess in the magickal community. After a drawn-out battle with the forces of dark magik, she has come into her own. She lives and works on Planet Korponious, where she is the owner and creator of an Interplanetary Magazine called “Blended Lives Chronicles.” Her mission is to blend the lines of race, creed, and disability that separate so many and to elevate the recognition of the training and ability of Service Animals of all kinds to a new level. She has just been accepted into the Blended Lives Federation and now hopes to continue her work in a way like nothing known to her before.
Laya has created allot of wreckage along the way through her dark journey into the light, and now she wishes to set this to right. She has just received her best break ever. Frank Prince, the CEO of The Blended Lives Learning Center, has invited her to the Celtic New Year Convention and Witches Ball as a reporter to write a story on the progress of The Blended Lives Planetary Federation. She will be their guest speaker at the opening ceremonies.
When Laya arrives at the Celtic Convention, she finds herself face to face with an old and dear friend, Blended Lives Learning Center Instructor and member of the Order of the Night, Derrick Gibbous. As they begin to connect, causing old sparks to reignite, they are tossed into a nasty battle from which not everyone will escape. People are not as they seem, and not everyone supports the side for which they appear to work.
As their love for one another grows, so does the battle. Despite everything, Laya and Derrick are determined to see their work to unite beings of all kinds succeed.
https://www.amazon.com/stores/Patty-L.-Fletcher/author/B00Q9I7RWG?
The Blended Lives Chronicles:
A LADY MOONWALKER SERIES
BOOK ONE
SIDES OF THE ORDER
By Patty L. Fletcher
Independently published with assistance provided by
Dawn Blythe
Illustrations by Colleen Myles
Editing by Jo Pinto and Dawn Blythe
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, business, events and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Copyright 2023 by Patty Fletcher
All Rights Reserved
ISBN:
Dedication Page
The Blended Lives Chronicles: Book One Sides of the Order is dedicated to those who share the mission of bridging the great chasm which separates the disAbled from the non-disAbled.
And to the late Phyllis Staton Campbell.
Phyllis read the original draft of this book in 2016. When she was finished she said, “I believe you’ve got something here. It needs work but if you put your imagination to the test, I know you can do it.”
For years, this manuscript languished in a folder. It went from computer to computer with me. Then, in early 2022 I woke at 3 AM with a soft voice whispering in my ear saying, “It’s time. Time for you to be brave, and tell the tale.”
I threw off the covers, bumbled to the coffee pot, brewed a cup and began.
I wish Phyllis were here to read the finished product. She’d be well pleased.
Phyllis, wherever you are, I hope you know I finally finished it.
Phyllis was like a mother to me and I miss her as much today as when she passed.
For those who never had the pleasure and privilege of knowing Phyllis you may visit: https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/17252783.Phyllis_Staton_Campbell
Many of her works can also be found on the National Library Services for the Blind and Print Disabled website at: https://nlsbard.loc.gov
The thought of him after all this time, still makes me half-crazy. Though my head was all twisted up for a while, the love and want I felt for him was always real and raw. It still is. I dream about what it would be like to kiss him, to have him kiss me and to feel his strong arms folding round me in a tight embrace. I can’t help it. It’s been a decade since I saw him or heard his voice, but I can still remember what he sounds like. I can still remember his scent. He never smelled like heavy men’s cologne. More like a strong, clean scent of man. That musky male scent that always drove me slightly insane. That smell of gentleness and safety. I’ll never forget the smell of him.
Late at night or during the middle of the day, like now, with the rain drumming on the roof and slapping at the windows, I imagine what having his mouth on mine would feel like. We never did that. Never kissed, even though both of us wanted it. I wanted it then and did right before we parted that day but, in the end, I chickened out.
And I suppose it was for the best.
I imagine how it would’ve been then, and I imagine how it would be now. I dream of such a day as this, with the rain and wind howling around the house, everything quiet and still. Me, sitting here at the computer working.
And suddenly, a knock sounds at the back door. Rising in annoyance at my work being interrupted, I march to the door, my slippers thumping on the floor as I go. My voice leaks out a bit of that annoyance and I ask, “Who is it?” and then, I feel my heart drop, thudding like a tumbling boulder into my stomach as his voice says, “It’s Derrick Gibbous, open in the name of The Blended Lives Federation.”
Flinging the door open, I snarl to cover my nervous thrill of his being there after all this time, “So, Casimian, I reckon they don’t have communicators where you come from?”
With a laugh he takes my face in his hands saying, “Tried to call. Your communicator keeps going to voicemail. Can’t very well call if you don’t ever answer.” Just like that, we’re back into that happy bantering rhythm.
Stepping back, I state, “Well, don’t just stand there, didn’t your momma teach you to come in out of the rain?”
Stepping through the door, shutting it behind him, he turns to me as I ask, “So, what the hell took you so long to get here? I’ve only been wishing for you for a decade. I mean, hell, I know I screwed up but —” Suddenly, without warning, he grabbed me, pulling me into his arms and crushed his mouth onto mine. Completely taking my breath away.
The rain pounded furiously onto the house, the wind howled, and the blood roared hot and pulsing in my ears. For a moment I nearly resisted and then I flung myself into him and we stood holding one another locked into a hot, fervent kiss filled with a heated passion nothing in my wildest imaginings could’ve ever prepared me for.
When we pulled apart he said, “Well, at least now I know how to shut you up.”
Normally, I’d have had a sarcastic retort, but like it or not, he was right. That kiss, that hot, wet, wonderful kiss, had left me completely undone and I could do nothing but stand there with my legs barely strong enough to hold me upright catching my breath and trying, without much success, to calm my thundering heart.
“Derrick, I’ve wanted you for so long. Needed you for so long. Even if you’re only here for an hour, I must have you. All of you. I must know. I must know what you feel like inside me.”
Suddenly a loud crash of thunder shook the house. I sat up with a jerk, popping my neck as I came up from where I’d been laying over on the table where I’d been working. Gods, only a dream. How I wish it were real.
I stood from the chair and started to stretch. I jumped as the communicator rang. “Hello?” I asked, holding the device to my ear awaiting the caller’s reply.
“Good evening, Lady Moonwalker. It’s Frank Prince. How are you today?”
“Hello, Mr. Prince. What can I do for you?” I asked with great trepidation.
He stood watching through the observation window, his back to the wall, as a cacophony of voices speaking in multiple languages and many different animal noises surrounded him. Shuttles had been whizzing in and out of the bay all morning. It was nearing noon Casimian time, yet still she had not arrived.
Once again, he looked at the information he’d carefully written down after receiving his friend’s note from the shuttle port. 10 AM.
Where could she be? Had she changed her mind? Had something happened? Had she found out he would be there and decided not to come? All these questions whirled round in his excited mind.
Gods, Derrick. You’re acting like some stupid apprentice on his first assignment. He laughed nervously, then looked again over the heads of those standing in front of him, waiting on their own loved ones as another shuttle floated up and docked.
His heart skipped a beat when she and the cream-colored Labrador mix came into view, beauty radiating from them in soft, yet brilliant, waves.
She’d grown out her hair since he’d seen her last. He’d looked at photos, but he’d never imagined how gorgeous the long hair would make her. The photos simply didn’t do her justice. He continued watching, barely able to catch his breath, as she swung her heavily loaded tote bag over her shoulder. She nearly knocked a witch, who appeared as an old, frail woman, down in her hurry. The brightly colored retriever parrot on the witch’s shoulder squawked indignantly, and the beautiful woman turned and glared at the witch before commanding the big dog forward through the door. The wind blew her long dark hair, which had come loose from the multi-colored scarf she wore, all around her face.
“Beautiful, isn’t she?”
He jumped as Ken, one of his coworkers, walked up beside him.
“Jumpy, aren’t you?”
“Leave it,” Derrick snapped.
“Aww come on, just messin’ with you. It’s all in good fun. I know how much you’ve wanted to see her. Might just be your lucky weekend too. I don’t think she’s with anyone. Who knows…?”
“Shut up. She’ll hear you.”
Suddenly Derrick felt as if he were falling backward down a lift shaft, his arms pinwheeling for purchase and finding none. He’d known he’d missed her, but he hadn’t been prepared for the reaction seeing her again after all these years had caused.
He’d never forget the first time he’d met her. He laughed to himself as he remembered. Seems to me, she was late then too.
His mind drifted back as she and her Psychiatric/Dog Guide, King, crept down the line of guests and their rowdy animals toward the check-in counter.
She’d been scared to death. Her shuttle had been four hours late that evening. She’d been confused and completely out of her element. It had been easy then to gain her trust. She’d had no idea what to expect. He didn’t think she’d been farther than 300 miles from home in any direction before they’d met for the first time all those years ago.
Now, she was nothing of her former terrified self. Her steps were confident, her voice firm and sure as she turned slightly, looking over her shoulder toward the loudly squawking parrot. “Ma’am, get that raucous thing out of my ear before King here decides he’s waited long enough for lunch.”
As if on cue, King stretched his long neck, lifted his head, and with powerful jaws, snatched a drifting feather out of the air. Derrick and Ken laughed as she gave King a half-hearted correction. “Yes, mommy knows you’re hungry. But you mustn’t eat that annoying bird. Leave it!”
Turning back around, she spoke to the check-in girl who was still scrolling through the reservation information. “Listen sweetie, my name is High Priestess Lady Laya MoonWalker, and I have a large and quite private suite of rooms reserved. My room number—”
“Yes Mam, I’ve found it. Here is your key, and please forgive the slow response.”
“It’s all right, girl. Just learn from it. By the way? Was the dog crate I ordered delivered?”
“Yes mam, it’s in the room.”
Smiling, Laya said, “Very good. Thank you.”
She started down the hall toward the bank of lift cars, following King’s every suggested move.
Turning from watching her go with both a man’s and trainer’s eyes, Derrick saw she’d left her suitcase on the loading platform. He walked over, checked the tag on the handle, then programmed a service bot to take it to her room in 30 minutes.
Hmmm, that ought to give me time to chat with her for a few moments and either get kicked to the curb or allowed inside for an afternoon drink.
He took his portion of the delivery tag and dropped the other part onto the service counter. He glanced at the girl who busily scrolled and typed, greeted guests, and handed out key cards next to him. “Don’t let a Lady, High Priestess or not, rattle you. You’re not responsible for the slowness of your computers. We were all new once.”
“Yes sir,” the young girl answered, looking straight back into his eyes. “I believe, though terse, she said the same. Sir.”
“Indeed, Missy. Just passing a word of thanks.”
Turning his back on the counter, he growled, “Bloody pert girl. Someone ought to teach her some manners.”
Derrick moved quickly through the crowded lobby, filled to capacity with all manner of beings, both human and animal. He made his way toward the lift cars, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible.
He cringed as one of his coworkers called, “She took lift number five. You’d best hurry. She looked like a woman on a mission. You never know; she might already have someone waiting.”
Ignoring the catcalls behind him, Derrick tried to recall lift number five, but it refused him. He growled in frustration as the computer’s voice stated, “I’m sorry, Instructor Gibbous, the lift has departed. Please choose another.”
“Hey Derrick, there’s one coming down now.”
Looking back, he saw that several of his friends and coworkers had gathered and were having a wonderful time at his expense. One of them even went as far as to tip his flask of Casimian Shine at him in a mock toast. He didn’t get a chance to respond to the scene, though, because someone in a power wheelchair, being guided by a miniature horse, came barreling out of a nearby doorway and almost bowled him over on a race to somewhere of vital importance. The horse neighed in extreme protest, and his friends’ laughter faded as he boarded the lift and the door slid closed.
Geez. He breathed out a deep sigh of relief. Horses! Miniature or not, helpful or not, damn things ought to have a speed limit.
Taking a deep breath to clear his thoughts and glancing at the number he’d copied, in a voice more solid than he felt, he commanded, “Room 108D, fourth floor.”
And the lift began to rise.
To be Continued.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this read. If you did, please feel free to share. It would mean a lot to me. In the meantime, here’s more on this series and all my other works.
A headshot of Patty standing in front of a mirror. The light on the wall sits above the wooden framed square mirror. Patty is in the reflection, wearing a brown t-shirt and a black lanyard. Her arms are crossed in front of her and she wears sunglasses. Her hair is short.
*Note*
This photo was taken by the author by using the Metta Ray Ban Glasses, you see her wearing in the photo.
About Patty L. Fletcher
Updated November 2024
Patty L. Fletcher is a woman of passion and exploration.
She studies the art of manifestation and is a seeker of knowledge and the wisdom to know what to do with it when it’s learned.
From April 2011 through September 2020, she owned and handled a black Labrador from The Seeing Eye® named King Campbell Lee Fletcher A.K.A. Bubba. Sadly, after a long battle with illness on September 24, 2020, King Campbell went to the Rainbow Bridge where all is peace and love. In July 2021, she returned to The Seeing Eye® and was paired with a Black Labrador Golden Retriever cross named Blue.
PATTY’S BLINDNESS…
Patty was born one and a half months premature. Her blindness was caused by her being given too much oxygen in the incubator. She was partially sighted until 1991, at which time she lost her sight due to an infection after cataract surgery and high eye pressure. She used a cane for 31 years before making the change to a guide dog.
WHERE SHE LIVES AND WORKS…
Currently, Patty lives and works in Bristol Virginia
Patty is quite involved with The American Council of the Blind – ACB and its community.
She’s a member of Guide Dog Users Incorporated where she serves on the GDUI board of directors, the Election Candidacy Task Force, and is now the chair of the membership Committee.
She works with the Audio Description Project by serving on the ADP Performing Arts Committee.
Patty’s the creator and owner of Tell-It-To-The-World Marketing (Author, Blogger, Business Assist), The Writer’s Grapevine Online Magazine and the creator and host of the Talk to Tell-It-To-The-World Marketing Podcast, which have recently been reconstructed and can all be found in Patty’s Worlds.
WRITING GOAL…
Patty writes with the goal of bridging the great chasm which separates the disabled from the non-disabled.
Patty is also a published author. Learn more at the links below.
LINKS…
All full length published works
Anthologies
Social Media
From NLS:
Pathway to freedom: how a seeing eye dog retrieved my life DB106095
Author: Fletcher, Patty L.
Reading Time: 9 hours, 47 minutes
Read by: Madelyn Buzzard
Subjects: Biography of Persons with Disabilities, Biography, Disability
Series: Broken and healed
Order in Series: 01
The author reflects on how her decision to gain independence by getting a guide dog helped her build a new life she had never imagined possible. She also discusses how she realized soon after that not all was right in her world. Strong language. 2020.
From the back text…
In this, the first book in her memoir trilogy, Pathway to Freedom Broken and Healed: Book One, How a Seeing Eye Dog Retrieved My Life, Second Edition, Patty shares how her decision to gain complete independence with the help of The Seeing Eye Guide Dog school in Morris Town New Jersey reveals to her a glimpse into worlds she had never before known existed.
Once home from The Seeing Eye, she soon realizes all is not right in her world.
Watch your step as you journey down the pathway with Patty and Campbell. For there are many obstacles along the way.
There are triumphs and tribulations, tears, and fears. But through it all that forever guide by her side, King Campbell works tirelessly to keep her safe from harm.