The
Devil's Tree
by
Susan McCauley
Genre:
YA Horror
Kaitlyn
didn’t believe in ghosts—not until one killed her boyfriend and
her best friend. Now she must stop the spirit haunting the Devil’s
Tree, or she could be next.
Seventeen-year-old
Kaitlyn wants to escape her drunk mama and her trailer park home life
to enjoy a Saturday night off work. Instead, her boyfriend, Hunter,
convinces her to go with him and their best friends, Dylan and
Keisha, to photograph a desolate tree with an evil past. A terrifying
presence chases them from the tree, killing Hunter and Keisha. Left
alive with Dylan, Kaitlyn must struggle with her unexpected romantic
feelings for him, come to terms with her loss, and face being trapped
in a dead-end town. Kaitlyn is desperate to put the past to rest, but
when their friends’ spirits begin haunting them, she and Dylan have
no choice but to seek help from a Catholic priest and attempt to set
the trapped spirits free.
Reviews:
“Susan
McCauley delivers a poignant and frightening tale of love and
redemption against a backdrop of evil, both supernatural and not.
It’s a fast and exciting read filled with demons, ghosts, and
stolen kisses, and it does an excellent job of reminding us that both
revenge and love can be eternal desires. This is one teens and adults
will both enjoy.” ⎯JG
Faherty, multiaward- nominated author of Hellrider,
The Cure,
and Cemetery Club
“Evil
is not always the only enemy you should fear . . .
Fast-paced and deftly written, with emotional depth from the darkest
of characters, this is a ghost story to savor.” ⎯Peter
Adam Salomon, Bram Stoker Award®
nominated novelist, author of All
Those Broken Angels and Eight
Minutes, Thirty-Two Seconds
Hunter’s gaze was transfixed on the rearview mirror.
Lights were reflected there. Headlights.
“Where’d that car come from?” My voice sounded like a stranger’s, deep and totally freaked out.
“I don’t know . . .” Hunter’s voice was frantic, afraid. “It just—just appeared. Out of nowhere.”
“Oh, God . . . Oh, God . . . Oh, God.” Keisha’s voice rose with each syllable. “It’s just like what happened to the boys who came to visit from up north . . . Just before they were run off the road and died!”
“Shut up, Keisha,” Hunter growled, and gunned the accelerator.
“Just get us back to town,” Dylan said, forcing calm into his voice.
The rattling thrum of an engine revved behind us. I looked in my side-view mirror. A black truck had pulled up right on our tail.
“Go faster,” I whispered. “Can’t you go any faster?”
“I’m trying.”
The speedometer reached sixty-five, but the road ahead curved. The posted speed was thirty-five. Hunter’d have to hit the brakes or we’d crash.
“Slow down,” I screamed.
“I can’t.” Hunter’s white-knuckled hands gripped the steering wheel. “My foot—it’s—it’s stuck on the accelerator.”
“Oh, God,” Keisha cried.
Tears streamed down my face. My hand slid over the door lock. Maybe I should jump?
The trees whipped by. No way. I couldn’t jump. I’d never survive. Hands shaking, I tugged on my seat belt. Buckled it. Crap—Hunter didn’t have his seat belt on. Did anybody else?
The speedometer read seventy. Hunter took the curve.
A big tree. Coming fast.
Time slowed.
Our tires squealed and my world turned upside down. Glass. Metal. Wood. Splintered. Screaming. Broken.
Silence.
Susan
McCauley was born and raised on the gulf coast of Texas, not far from
Houston. She spent several years in Los Angeles, California acting,
writing, and teaching college English. In 2002, she moved to London
to further explore professional theater. While in London, her stage
adaptation of Nikolai Gogol's "The Nose" was performed at
the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art's George Bernard Shaw Theatre; and,
scenes from her play The Prisoner: Princess Elizabeth were performed
at HMS Tower of London. She returned to the U.S. in 2005. In 2007,
she was the line producer of the Emmy Award nominated Civil War short
film Now & Forever Yours: Letters to an Old Soldier. She has had
short stories published in several anthologies, and her short story,
"The Cask," was made into an award winning short film.
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