Ginger, Spice, and everything Not Nice

** Book 1 in Rick Shilling to the Rescue Series **

It's Christmas Eve, and like every other day of the year, Lyra McCabe is baking cookies. However, her idea of the universe is about ready to extend when Rick Shilling, Entity Exterminator, runs through the door, shooting at living gingerbread men.

Time to expand your world, Lyra, and it's way past due!

Rick Shilling to the Rescue Story 1 -- NOVELLA LENGTH

Excerpt

The door to the Cookie Fairy House flew open. The small bell flew off the doorjamb and a blast of cold air filled the hot building. A blue-eyed, brown-haired man wearing a tan Stetson hat, black leather gloves, and a black leather jacket entered the building. A tan satchel hung off his shoulder and neck. But it was odd, because he held onto a gigantic orange and bright lime green water gun. He proceeded to point that water gun at some unseen adversary out the still-open front door.

Lyra McCabe couldn't move, watching the scene unfold before her. The man shot some sort of liquid through the open door, seeming to laugh at the joke. But she didn't see the humor.

"Shut the door!" she yelled, and moved closer to the display cabinet filled with cookies. The temperature was around zero, since it was the day before Christmas in Colorado. Silly man.

He lifted his gun once more and shot the liquid from the water gun. "Duck!"

The guy must be an escapee from a mental institution. He was shooting at nothing, and everyone knew a water gun was no true weapon, especially in sub-freezing temperatures.

Lyra crossed her arms over her apron, still standing behind the display case. "If you don't leave right now, I'm calling the cops. Shut the door on your way out."

He ran around the four-foot display case and stood beside her. "I said, duck!" He kept shooting over the case and toward the floor near the door, but she didn't move or look at his target, disgusted with the guy. She had work to do, but until she got this annoying man out of her shop, she couldn't do anything.

Stetson-man grabbed some of the flour from the container on her worktable and threw it toward the floor near the door. She turned and stared over the display case. The flour covered small gingerbread men, holding bows and arrows aimed directly at her.

She should've looked before now, but didn't consider them a threat. They were, after all, only about six inches tall. What could they do with those weapons, anyway?

"What's that?" she asked and pointed. "Why are there small cookies shooting at you?"

"Not your issue, Toots." Stetson-man aimed and shot again. "Take that, you rotten cookies, you!"

"Cookies?" Even though she knew he was telling the truth, Lyra couldn't believe it. She glanced at Stetson-man and then darted her eyes downward over the case and to the showroom floor. In that instant, a tiny arrow sailed through the air and struck her left arm.

"You've been hit," Stetson-man said.

Lyra stared at the tiny army of gingerbread men, angrier than ever. Her head suddenly felt woozy and she staggered backward.

"Sit down," Stetson-man said. "I'm about out of ammo. Do you have any milk here?"

"Milk?" That was an odd request. He must be thirsty. But in battle? She fell into a chair at the table where she'd been working. "Why?" She felt so dizzy all of a sudden.

"That's my ammo. It makes them dissolve. Haven't you ever seen cookies in milk?"

"Uh-huh." Her life was filled with cookies, but right now, she didn't care. Instead, she watched the mysterious man shoot over the counter, and then duck. Before she could enjoy the show for more than a moment, everything swam in her eyesight. That was all she remembered.