Lancelot's Lady (60 page)

A killer whale.

Its gleaming body shone in the opalescent glow of the moon.

I reached out a hand as it slid past me at a leisurely pace. Its smooth slippery skin was like the softest satin. It turned and swam past me again. Then the whale sank into the depths below.

After that, I slept peacefully.

I barely recalled that dream when I awoke the next morning, but many months later I remembered it and wondered if it was some kind of omen.

I know now that it was.

I met Goldie every afternoon in July and we became fast friends and confidants. She had a keen sense of adventure and a great imagination. She loved to tell me stories of her ancestors—legends from ancient times—and I was fascinated by them. From those stories, I learned to appreciate nature and the animals around me. We often saw bald eagles soaring overhead, and sometimes white-tailed deer would wander out from the forest.

One afternoon, she invited me to her house to meet her grandmother.
"
Everyone says Nana is special. You
'
ll love her.
"

Nana was a wrinkled wise woman with the strangest hair I had ever seen. It hung down past her waist, thick and blacker than coal—except for one piece that framed the left side of her face. It was pure white.

She had deep amber-colored eyes that always sparkled. And like a hawk, she never missed anything. She seemed to know things—things that no human should know.

The first time I saw her, she was sitting in a rocking chair with her back to the door. She didn
'
t even flinch when we walked inside. I thought that maybe she was sleeping.

"
Nana,
"
Goldie said.
"
This is—
"

"
Your friend Sarah,
"
Nana finished without turning around.

Casting the old woman a nervous look, I sat down at the table. Goldie passed me a plate of oatmeal cookies and I took one.

"
Take another one,
"
Nana said behind me.

I peeked over my shoulder. She still wasn
'
t facing us.

How did she know?

Without warning, Nana looked at me and smiled.
"
Eat. You
'
re too skinny. I can always make more.
"

The rest of that afternoon, I felt her eyes burning into the back of my head. They seemed to follow me everywhere I went.

"
Told you you
'
d love her,
"
Goldie said under her breath.

I didn
'
t have the heart to tell her the truth. I thought Nana was a bit spooky.

"
Hey,
"
my new friend said later.
"
I
'
ll walk you home.
"

As we strolled along the shore, she told me that Nana was a respected healer. Almost everyone in Bamfield went to her for natural homeopathic remedies. She was knowledgeable about every plant that grew on the island and she could heal cuts and bruises with a few leaves from her garden. Every morning, she made special teas from tree bark and other ingredients that induced sleep or calmed the nerves.

"
And she has a special gift,
"
Goldie said mysteriously.

"
What?
"
I asked.

She told me that sometimes Nana would simply look at someone and prescribe them a special remedy—before
they
even knew they were sick.

"
That
'
s because she sees auras,
"
Goldie said.

She explained to me that auras were colored lights that her grandmother saw around someone
'
s head or body. Few people saw those lights. Only those with
'
the gift
'
.

Nana was a wise woman—in more ways than I realized.

The following weekend, Goldie invited me to stay for a sleepover. We raced back to my place to get permission from my parents. Then we collected my pajamas, toothbrush and some games.

Back at her house, we unrolled sleeping bags in the loft overlooking the living room. The ceiling was slanted and we had to duck in some areas. Once, I forgot and walked straight into the beam. Goldie spent the rest of the night yelling
"
Duck!
"
every time I stood up.

That night, we munched on homemade trail mix and buttery popcorn. We told stories and giggled long into the night—until Goldie
'
s mom yelled at us to go to sleep.

The Dixons were very nice, even when we kept them up until the wee hours of the morning. Mr. Dixon was a commercial fisherman and was often out on his fishing boat. Mrs. Dixon wove beautiful baskets with pictures of animals on them. She sold her baskets in a charming craft shop in town.

Every morning, they left Goldie and her sister Shonda with Nana for most of the day. Shonda was a quiet child. We rarely ever saw her. She spent most of the time with Nana, helping her in the kitchen. The Dixon house always smelled like fresh-baked cookies and warm bread and Nana often gave me treats to take home to my mother.

One day, she taught me how to make bannock—fried bread served warm and dripping with butter and honey. I made a perfect batch, according to her.

"
Are you sure you aren
'
t Indian?
"
she teased in her raspy voice.

She would often comment on my dark coloring and my love for nature. She said that I was part Indian, but that I just didn
'
t know which part yet.

I think she made it her duty to help me find it.

Usually when I slept over, we
'
d have a bonfire outside. We
'
d sit around the crackling fire and roast hotdogs and marshmallows on sharpened sticks.

Nana would tell us incredible stories. Sometimes, she
'
d even act them out. I loved listening to her—especially her old Nootka legends. She would mesmerize us with the adventures of Eagle or Bear. She would scare us with stories of strange and fierce creatures.

Then one night, she told us the legend of Sisiutl.

The School Edition comes with a discussion guides and questions for teachers and students.

You can read the rest of WHALE SONG at
Amazon

You can read the rest of WHALE SONG: SCHOOL EDITION at
Amazon

Visit Cheryl Kaye Tardif
'
s site:
http://www.cherylktardif.com

Acknowledgements

There are so many people I
'
d like to thank, because without all of you, Lancelot
'
s Lady wouldn
'
t exist. So thank you to…

Stan Soper and everyone at Textnovel.com, for giving me a platform to showcase my work on, including Lancelot
'
s Lady.

Dorchester Publishing, for partnering with Textnovel in the
"
Next Best Celler
"
contest, and for giving me a reason to go back to an older manuscript and bring it back to life as my debut romantic suspense.

My fans, friends and family who read Lancelot
'
s Lady, especially those who voted, subscribed, commented and kept me consistently in the top 3
"
Most Popular
"
for the contest.

My wonderful beta readers, who pointed out the flaws in the story: Karen Nicholson, Shell Bryce, Kelly Komm.

Author extraordinaire Gail Bowen, whom I so appreciate for the valuable wri
ting advice and for the cover blurb.

Christiana Cameron, my
"
Next Best Celler
"
pal, for all your encouragement and support during the longest 5 months of my life―and yours too, I know.

Author Karen Wallace, for allowing me the use of her children
'
s book
title, Sir Lancelot and the Ice Castle.

Waheed Rabbani, for participating in one of my contests and supplying me with the name
"
Winston Chambers
"
, for a character I hope you
'
ll all love to hate.

A special thanks to Michael Iwasaki and Philip Louie at
www.24-7PressRelease.com
,
for being my media sponsor for all things Lancelot
'
s Lady
. Your press release services rock!

My agent Jack Scovil, for believing in my career as an author. Thank you is not enough.

My husband Marc and daughter Jessica, for supporting me on this journey and many others. My undying love and gratitude always.

About
Cherish D
'
Angelo

When romance author Cherish D
'
Angelo is not busy relaxing in her hot tub, sipping champagne, eating chocolate-covered strawberries or plotting romantic suspense with scintillating sensuality, she is ruthlessly killing people off in her thrillers as bestselling Canadian suspense author, Cheryl Kaye Tardif.

Cherish
'
s debut romance, Lancelot
'
s Lady placed in the semi-finals of Dorchester Publishing
'
s
"
Next Best Celler
"
contest and went on to win an Editor
'
s Choice Award from Textnovel. Currently living in Edmonton, Alberta, she enjoys long walks on the beach, except there aren
'
t any around so she has to make do with trips around the hot tub or a vacation to a tropical paradise. And margaritas.

Cheryl Kaye Tardif
is an award-winning, bestselling Canadian suspense author. Her novels include The River, Divine Intervention, and Whale Song, which New York Times bestselling author Luanne Rice calls
"
a compelling story of love and family and the mysteries of the human heart...a beautiful, haunting novel.
"

She has finished two thrillers, Children of the Fog, and Divine Justice (book 2 in the Divine series), both of which are in the hands of her agent, Jack Scovil. She also enjoys writing short stories, which has resulted in Skeletons in the Closet & Other Creepy Stories (ebook) and Remote Control (novelette ebook).

Booklist raves,
"
Tardif, already a big hit in Canada…a name to reckon with south of the border.
"

Cheryl
'
s website:
http://www.cherylktardif.com

Official blog:
http://www.cherylktardif.blogspot.com

Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/cherylktardif

You
can also find Cheryl
on MySpace, Facebook, Goodreads, Shelfari and LibraryThing, plus other social networks.