One hilarious moment takes center stage in Astray Mage

Astray Mage may be Book II in Catenarian Chronicles, but there is an absolutely hysterical moment that will make readers do a double take.

If you know about my Renegades Epic shared universe, you’ll know Catenarian Chronicles fits inside it. Taking place in the world of Catenary, one of the five worlds in the Epic, you’ll meet Kaija Jokiharju, a girl who can see and interact with spirits while mastering the water element.

But Kaija’s not proficient in interworld geography because, well, she doesn’t know there are four worlds apart from her own. Inconvenient, right? Not initially.

See, when Kaija reads a “bedtime story” to a little ghost girl she made friends with in Book II of Catenarian Chronicles, Astray Mage, she’s dumbfounded by what she finds. She’s cool with so-called fictional worlds with “some country called the United States” in it. But wow, no Mages?

It’s not that Kaija’s not used to reading books without Mages in them. She didn’t realize she was one until she was a freshman in college. What dumbfounds her is that a book from a Mage library wouldn’t have Mage characters. To her, it was very Moor-like.

As a side note, Moors are non-Mages in the Catenarian Chronicles.

A scene that will draw laughs from readers

Kaija’s indifference about thinking the United States is a fictional country will get readers. As will the fact she knows the book she’s reading to seven-year-old ghost girl probably has some suggestive themes.

But don’t worry about the latter. Kaija already concocted a plan that she’ll just “edit out” the so-called “bad parts.” That’s what you do when you’re acting as a de facto older sister (kind of, anyway) to a girl who died young for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Still, things get darker later on in Astray Mage, so the humor’s short-lived. Kaija stumbles upon another book, one that little ghost girl snatched up and brought straight to her. But ghost girl isn’t interested in Kaija reading that one to her. Oh no. This book holds the key to a dark secret that a friend of hers is forced to keep hidden.

Astray Mage takes a dark turn

If you crave dark paranormal fantasy, then Catenarian Chronicles will pique your interest. But start lite with Cursed Mage, Book I in the series. Here, Kaija befriends a ghost around her age who just can’t bring himself to tell her how he died.

Kaija, having never spoken to spirits in her life, is angry, confused, and wondering out loud why he needs her to help him. But it’s not long until she realizes she has no choice. It has to be her, thanks to a rare ability she was born with that most Mages don’t possess.

Fast forward to Astray Mage when Kaija crosses little ghost girl, and things only get darker. Ghost girl is perfectly fine with showing Kaija how she died. And she’s more than okay with pointing Kaija to the actual perpetrator.

Who is that perp? You’ll meet them in Cursed Mage, so grab your copy now and write up a list of suspects.