The Highlander Next Door (38 page)

LETTER FROM LAKEWATCH

Dear Readers,

Every so often a character will quietly tiptoe into one of my stories and firmly establish himself (it’s almost always a
him
) before I even realize he’s there. Maximilian Oceanus did exactly that by sneaking into
Dragon Warrior
as a seemingly innocuous tiger; but it wasn’t until he literally came storming back in
Mystical Warrior
that I realized the guy wasn’t going to leave me alone until I gave him his own story.

I really hadn’t intended to expand the magic beyond my Gaelic drùidhs, but here was this mysterious, larger-than-life . . . man messing with my highlanders and causing me many sleepless nights trying to figure out what, exactly, he wanted.

Because don’t they always want something?

It’s a bit embarrassing to admit that Mac remains somewhat of a mystery to me even after eight books. And let’s not forget his father, the great Titus Oceanus, who continues to surprise me seven books after first meeting him. As for Nicholas, from
The Heart of a Hero
, I honestly still don’t know if the mythical warrior is an actual god or not.

Well, guess what? Another mysterious character—this one definitely a god—is right now slowly and methodically entrenching himself in Spellbound Falls. Heck, it’s taken me two books just to learn his name is Telos—which, at this point, is about the only thing I know about him. So if you’ve just finished reading
The Highlander Next Door
, I imagine you have as many questions about him as I do.

Then again, maybe all you’re asking is, who in their right mind creates a new god?

And I say, well, why not? How much fun could I have, I asked myself, if I created a new mythology to exemplify—and exaggerate—mankind’s strengths and weaknesses? We’ve had fun with Mac and Titus, haven’t we? But they’re so ancient-minded. And that had me wondering what sort of excitement a
modern
god might bring to the series—especially if he didn’t always see eye-to-eye with the mighty Oceanuses.

There’s just one little problem; I don’t exactly know a whole lot about Telos. He simply up and manifested in
For the Love of Magic
and has only given me glimpses of himself in
The Highlander Next Door
. And as I’ve admitted to you before, I write books pretty much the way you read them—which is to watch the story unfold one page at a time. I do have a sense of the overall theme before I begin, but I rarely know what’s going to happen as near as the next scene.

For me, writing is an act of faith. If I sit down at my computer with nothing more than a general understanding of my two main characters—who they are, what it is they want, and how they’re planning to get it—I start typing on the belief
they
will tell the story. And if a mysterious person happens to show up . . . well, I have to assume he’s there for a reason.

So I guess reading is an act of faith for you, too, in that you believe I won’t lead you down a dead-end path. Oh, that path might get rather crooked and sometimes even appear impassable, but I seem to recall Titus telling Niall that he “must embrace the entire journey to truly appreciate the destination.”

So I give you my heartfelt thanks for joining me on this particular journey, and only ask that you share my hope the destination will be . . . magical.

Until later from LakeWatch, you keep reading and I’ll keep writing.

Janet