A Child Named Loveless Preview (Chapter 3)

Chapter 3 - The Tower (Part 1/4)

Hi guys, I'm back! I'm here to give you guys a little sneak preview of my second novel, A Child Named Loveless. It's kind of like my Elliot Crow preview, just a chapter divided up into four parts. Furthermore, this story actually takes place in the same world as Elliot Crow, so you might see some familiar faces (possibly).

I plan on releasing each part over the course of the next four days, so keep your eyes open!

A little after six o'clock, Rose was still waiting for her aunt in the flower shop. She'd finally had enough and picked up her cell phone. She dialed her aunt's contact and pressed the phone back up to her ear. She got the automatic messenger telling her to leave a message. She hung up, growing a little bit worried. It wasn't like her aunt to be away from the shop for so long. It wasn't like her not to pick up her phone either. She always had it on her.

Coming to a decision, Rose closed up the shop. She knew where her aunt kept the spare key in case she was busy with something and needed Rose to close up the store for her. She turned the sign and decided to head on across the street towards the dinner.

The Blue Moon was a place everyone in town had been to at least enough times that they'd lost count. Rose and her aunt had been there probably twice as much as everyone else because it was convenient and Violet Summers was oftentimes too busy to cook supper.

As soon as she entered, Granny Snow looked up at Rose. Her smile wide at first until she saw Rose's face,

"Hello, Rose. I was expecting you and your aunt an hour ago. Is something wrong?"

"I don't know." Rose admitted, "When I came to the shop, my aunt wasn't there. That's...that's normal sometimes. I mean, I thought she'd left something at home or had an errand to run. But it's been hours and I tried calling her."

"She's not picking up?" She asked with concern.

Granny Snow was a chubby woman with bright blue eyes and reddish strands in her hair which was now mostly white. She was almost always happy. The only time Rose had ever seen her cross was when she'd snuck into the kitchen of The Blue Moon when she was eight. She'd felt so bad after that, that she had been afraid to return until her aunt dragged her back over there for supper a few days later.

"No." Rose shook her head, "I closed up shop, but this isn't like her."

"You're right." Granny Snow agreed, "Your aunt might be a bit silly at times, but she'd never just forget about you. Have you had supper yet? Oh, I'm being silly, of course, you haven't. How about something on the house?"

"Um, okay." Rose agreed. She didn't really have any money on her at the moment anyway, but with her aunt not around, she had a feeling that Granny Snow wouldn't really care about that.

"Erica said that you two became friends, is that right?"

"Yeah." Rose nodded, "We met in class. I was surprised that she was actually your granddaughter. I know it's silly, but I kind of thought your last names were a coincidence."

Granny Snow chuckled at that,

"Well, we don't look all that much alike, do we? She's such a skinny thing. Erica! Erica, your friend, Rose is here. Have you eaten yet, honey?"

Erica came walking out from around the corner. She had an apron on with The Blue Moon logo on the front.

"No...Hey, Rose." She waved to her.

"How about you two order something? I'll make a few phone calls. We'll see if we can't find your aunt, Rose."

"Thank you." Rose said, feeling herself relax a little.