Twilight Ends

In 1779 Kanadasaga, Sullivan's Expedition torches a Seneca village and many others, destroying the Iroquois Confederacy. Awakened from sleep, Pilan and Teka flee their blazing longhouse into the woodlands. After a soldier's bullet thwarts their escape, Pilan vows to meet his beloved Teka again in another life.Two hundred years later in present-day Geneva, New York, historical relics rise. Twilight Ends, a grand Victorian bed-and-breakfast run by the Newhouse family, sits on the property the Iroquois village used to thrive on.After Twilight Ends' long-standing matriarch Tessa Newhouse dies, her daughter and granddaughter, Skylar and Twyla, discover two artifacts under the maple tree in the backyard, and an ancient mystery as old as time begins to unravel.But will they have the courage to follow the path their ancestors did? For as long as I can remember, I've had a book in my hand. At the age of seven, I'd often read to my mother at night around the fireplace. A fond memory I'll forever cherish. My origin is Monroeville, Alabama, but at nine-years-old, I moved to New York City-a stark contrast to my natal roots. The Deep South remains firmly ingrained in my soul as I craft worlds from my city dwelling. Often, I've evoked memories of a carefree girl who climbed trees, ran barefoot on Alabama red soil, lolled on green pastures, and traipsed along wooded paths picking blackberries. When I came to live in New York City with my aunt, an actress and educator, I traded tomboy ways for an artistic existence.I live and work on the Upper East Side of Manhattan where I share my life with family and good friends. But every so often, a familiar aura of sultry breezes, dusk, pitch-black, and haunting Alabama spirits, unseen in the cloak of night, whisper their stories, a place that calls to me when I write. Hopefully, one day I'll capture those experiences on paper. A series by E. Denise Billups