THE FIVE:
1. What is your earliest memory?
Weird. My earliest memory relates to books! I remember sitting in the loft part of a playhouse my dad had built for me behind the house we lived in until I was four. I had a book up there, and I was reading it (yes, I was one of those freaky three-year-old readers), and feeling like I was hidden from the whole world. I think I love that about books the most: the way you can escape utterly into a place where no one can find you. But where you can find yourself, if you spend long enough there.
2. What would your super power be?
One hundred percent: FLYING. (I’ve actually spent quite a lot of time discussing this question with my sons, who are 9 and 12 years old. Not sure why it comes up so often, but we’ve spent more than few car rides to school debating the pros and cons of different superpowers.)
3. What keeps you awake at night?
Zombies. I mean, I’ve sort of learned to tune them out, but the constant scraping at my window, the moaning for “brains” at all hours, and the smell of rancid, rotting flesh? Potpourri can’t touch it. I gotta go with zombies on this one. If anyone can give me a great way to overcome my “inzombnia,” I’m all ears.
4. What is your most treasured possession?
It’s hard to pick just one, as I discovered last year. We had a fire break out just across the street last year, though. Since we live in a rural, heavily wooded area, and that day had forty-mile-per-hour winds moving from the fire straight toward our house, we had to evacuate! I think it was: kids, then pets, then photo albums and musical instruments. Then the laptops and two enormous paintings I bought in New Mexico.
I know, I know. We could all have been burnt to a crisp, what with all that packing, if the fire had spread faster. But the fire department came and saved the day. Whew!
5. What intrigues you?
Birdsongs. I’m not sure why.
Also, I love palindromes. My favorite short one is “rats live on no evil star.”
My favorite long one? “Doc, note: I dissent. A fast never prevents a fatness. I diet on cod.”
When Lorelei's old school mysteriously burns down, a new one appears practically overnight: Splendid Academy. Rock-climbing walls on the playground and golden bowls of candy on every desk? Gourmet meals in the cafeteria, served by waiters? Optional homework and two recess periods a day? It's every kids's dream.
But Lorelei and her new friend Andrew are pretty sure it's too good to be true. Together they uncover a sinister mystery, one with their teacher, the beautiful Ms. Morrigan, at the very center.
Then Andrew disappears. Lorelei has to save him, even if that means facing a past she'd like to forget – and taking on a teacher who's a real witch.
What Lorelei and Andrew discover chills their bones – and might even pick them clean!
You can order SINISTER SWEETNESS here!
ABOUT NIKKI:
You can find Nikki at her website.
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