Beneath the Veil
William McNally
Genre:
Paranormal/Science Fiction/Horror
ISBN: B00CZDVZLI
ASIN:
978-1481953627
Number of pages:
276
Word Count: 44,966
Book Description:
Welcome Beneath the Veil, a Place Where the Dead Have Never Left...
With his life turned upside down, a terminally ill man seeks answers from a
family he never knew. Barry Ryan, a successful sculptor, goes on a journey to
find his roots and the extraordinary family that somehow evades death and ties
him to a terrifying future.
Driven to find answers, Barry is joined by his sister and her boyfriend on the
road to Auraria, a mysterious ghost town where terrible secrets lie hidden
since the days of gold and greed.
All is well until they cross the city limits and fall beneath the veil, a place
where the bizarre rules the living, and the living are prey trapped in an
ever-changing web.
Generations of conflict come to light as these unfortunate visitors struggle to
survive. Echoes of the past are lethal here...in this place where the dead have
never left.
___________
Chapter One
His
headache began again with a dull ache in the back of his head. He walked to the
kitchen, opened a cabinet door and grabbed a bottle of aspirin. Swallowing two
pills, Barry Ryan leaned against the counter and gazed across his loft. The
wood floors were covered with tarps, and chips of stone surrounded a car sized
sculpture of a pyramid. The piece was a commission for an insurance
conglomerate and almost completed after two years of work. He walked around the
sculpture and into a service elevator, then rotated a brass handle and the lift
shuddered to life.
He
descended into a warehouse filled with massive stones and slabs of marble.
Unfinished and abandoned works lined one wall, while a dozen cars lined
another. He pulled a tarp from a 1967 Corvette Sting Ray convertible and then
climbed in and fired up the engine. He drove the car out of the building and
turned onto Spring Street, where the sun shined between glittering high-rises.
After driving twenty blocks he pulled into a garage and parked, then grabbed
his sketchbook from the passenger seat. The streets were quiet as he walked to
a café on a corner. His agent, Peter Harper, sat outside in a tailored suit
wearing gold rimmed sunglasses.
“Morning,
Barry,” Peter said. “How’s the chiseling on the Daecom rock going?”
“Good,” he
answered. “Just about finished.”
“Nice. I’ve
got three more lined up when you’re ready. Word’s out on your work. All these
companies want to enshrine themselves in stone.”
“Need a
break for a while, Pete,” Barry answered. “These will have to wait.”
“I’ll hold
them off as long as I can, Barry, but these are big time offers. I recommend we
jump on them as soon as we can. One bad quarter and these deals are gone,”
Peter said.
“I hear you
Pete. I’ll keep you posted,” Barry answered.
The two men
enjoyed breakfast at the restaurant, built in a former bank building. The
original safe stood empty in the back, surrounded by tables of chatty patrons.
The trees lining the street were beginning to sprout green leaves and birds
were busy gathering materials for their nests.
“So, Pete,
how’s Angie?”
“Well,” he
hesitated. “Let’s just say Angie...is now Pattie.”
“I see,”
Barry replied. “The revolving door has turned again.”
Barry
coughed into his napkin then took a sip of water. He glanced down at the blood
splattered linen, then spirited it into his pocket and stood up from the
table.
“You okay?”
Peter asked.
“I am
fine,” he answered. “Something just went down the wrong pipe. I better run.
Thanks for breakfast.”
About the Author:
William McNally is
a former executive, husband and animal advocate based in the mountains of
Dahlonega, Georgia. Drawn to dark and thought provoking stories, he released
his first book, Four Corners Dark in 2012 and recently followed it with his
second, Beneath the Veil. Visit him online at williammcnallybooks.com for
updates and events.
Look for William's next release, The
Knights of Moonshine, spring 2014.
