Wayward Stranger

*** Updated and revised September 2025 - new edition! *** Tressa Rae Gardner- Tessa Jones to ordinary folk- is on the run.Well, the quietest, slowest run possible.After stealing (back) a family heirloom from the Sun-aligned Fae, she's hiding out in the most mundane place to find books- a bookshop in a sleepy Tennessee town. It's an easy cover- being a bookworm helps, and she simply changes the hiding spot of the heirloom every lunar change. She just has to keep her death magic under wraps.But something unexpected is coming: Faerie of both Sun and Moon are closing in- one for the family artifact, the other for the bounty on her head.For now, though, Tressa is blissfully unaware, accidentally falling for the local horticulturist, and trying to make ends meet in this magical-meets-mundane urban fantasy novella series.Wayward StrangerThings have taken a dangerous turn: whatever the shadow creature is in The Woods, it's after Tessa, and it knows her true name. She has little choice but to face it. But with what little power she has, given her damming it up to protect her family, she's going to need a little help.One unassuming letter later, she's hoping someone-- anyone-- will come save her.