Guest Blog by Stanislava Buevich #MiddleGradeHorror #MiddleGradeMystery
On a recent trip to Australia, I came across a magical little witching shop in the heart of Melbourne. Jostling through the ground of curiosity seekers, Christmas shoppers, and lovers of the occult, I spotted a large wheel at the back of the room. “Spin me...” It read, “And I shall reveal the perfect spell for the year ahead”. Needless to say, I could not resist. With a firm push on the handle, I waited, holding my breath. The wheel slowed, the golden pointer ticking sharply as it hit the pegs. Finally, it came to a stop. Kit number 7, it said, Breakthrough.
I rushed to the apothecary cabinet with tiny wooden drawers, housing the spells, my eyes hungrily seeking out the number 7. Bingo! I opened the drawer and pulled out a scroll.
Oracle of Breakthrough.
To your inner self, you have been true.
Control and fine character guide victory through.
A triumphant time, spending and new,
Breaks free of all woes and brings honour to you.
The Spell.
Carve your name onto the candle, using a needle or pin. Light the candle and ignite the incense (it smells wonderfully cinnamony, though I can’t attest to what’s inside). Move the Cristal through the incense smoke 7 times. Place the crystal in the herbal charm pouch (Sage) and carry it with you for 7 days.
Even if you didn’t purchase the spell kit from that shop, it is easy to recreate it at home. All you need is a candle, incense stick, ground sage, and Tiger Eye crystal. Tiger Eye is said to bring wealth and prosperity and protect its wearer from the evil eye.
My daughter had gotten a spell of her own, and we need to set the date soon to test out our crystals. Wish us luck!
Clearlake
Stanislava Buevich
Genre: Upper Middle Grade/Teen Mystery Horror
Date of Publication: December 1, 2023
ISBN: B0CMQHGC24
ASIN: B0CMP432S1
Number of pages: 245
Word Count: 73K
Cover Artist: Sabina Kencana
Tagline: Don’t go into Room 214
Book Description:
"Hi, I'm Moon and this is my story. It all started with a terrible cold. When the lady in purple promised my mother that Clearlake Institute would be able to cure me without the use of modern medicine, my mom was hooked.
There was nothing I could do, or say, that could’ve changed her mind. She was determined from the moment we set foot on a remote island far, far away from everyone else, until the moment we were separated, and I was trapped in a creepy, gothic hospital."
Clearlake Institute was hiding something!
Deep beneath the shadows, something sinister was brewing - darkened halls, strange doctors, ghastly nurses that watch your every move, and children who are sent into Room 217 never to return.
Aided by the other children she meets at the institute, Moon Rains embarks on a perilous, suspenseful adventure to uncover the secrets of the Clearlake Institute.
Now, the race against time begins. Will Moon and her friends make it out before it’s too late? Or will Clearlake claim them as its next set of victims?
There will come a time when you wonder, how did a girl like me end up
in a place like Clearlake and mortal danger? Well, it all started with a
terrible cold. At first, it was just a blocked nose. Then a sore throat,
nothing major. About a week later, I got a temperature. And the blocked nose
got worse. Much worse. I lost all sense of smell and the ability to breathe.
Snot kept trickling down from my nostril to my top lip, and I had to
persistently wipe it off with my sleeve or taste the said snot. I had a
headache. A constant, nagging, relentless headache as if a woodpecker was
incessantly pecking above the bridge of my nose.
I was thirteen at the time and missed so many days of school that my
mother got fined by the government. Now, I know what you’re thinking - any
responsible parent would have taken their offspring to a GP if the wretched
illness hadn’t gone away within a week. Well, not my mother.
My mother didn’t trust Western Medicine, you see, particularly vaccines
and antibiotics. As far as she was concerned, those two were the source of all
evil. I count myself incredibly lucky that, so far, I have managed to avoid
catching something particularly nasty like Rubella, Mumps, or Measles. I’ve never
had anything more severe than a cold, in fact. And while most colds went away
without intervention, other than a honey, lemon and gin concoction (which was
surprisingly effective, never mind that I was far too young to take it), this
cold proved to be something else entirely.
About a week in, my mother marched into my room early in the morning.
Loud, insistent stomps woke me up from a hazy, feverish dream. She touched my
forehead with the tips of her fingers and raised her eyebrow, nodding as if
everything was going according to plan.
“Well, I think I know what will finally do the trick,” she said.
I rolled my eyes. Well, not actually. Not on the outside. The outside
she could see. I rolled my eyes on the inside, imagining them going so far
inside their sockets that all that was left were the white bits.
“Beetroot!” she exclaimed, her voice chiming like a Christmas bell.
“Beetroot?” I yawned, and a few tears seeped out of the corners of my
eyes. I wasn’t sure if the yawn caused it or the ever-escalating feeling of
utter desperation.
“A few drops of beetroot juice inside your nose three times a day, and
you will be good as new. I promise.”
She made similar promises a lot.
“If you stick a clove of garlic in each nostril overnight, in the
morning… Poof. Cured. Gone. I promise.”
“Breathing over a pot with hot potatoes and a duvet over your head will
open up the sinuses and unleash the phlegm. All of the gunk will stream out.
You’ll see. I promise.”
“If you do a wee in a little pot and then take some of that wee with a
little pipette that I’ve got here for you and…”
“NO!”
I drew the line at urotherapy, as it was apparently called, and it did
take quite a bit of courage to stand up to my mother. She fussed and fretted
but couldn’t get me to administer urine into my nose.
About the Author:
Stacy Buevich is a British writer and a film director with many award winning short films. She started writing novels during lockdown (wait did that really happen?), beginning with a magical mystery Maya Fairy, that she wrote for her daughter. Since then she has written several more and not planning to stop
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