I’m delighted and grateful Fresh Fiction is offering me this opportunity to share a part of my historical fiction. Thank you. Dorothea Hubble Bonneau Excerpt from Once in a Blood Moon: The house has settled for night. Alexandra stuffs her pillows under her blankets to make it look like she’s sleeping in her bed and steps out onto her balcony, deter­mined sneak down to the village and beg Papa to help save her violin teacher, the man she loves. When she dangles her feet over the edge of her bed, an Ahoelra, one of those discontented African ghosts with mischief on its mind, slips into her head. You don’t have the courage to do this thing, the Ahoelra whispers. “I do have the courage.” Taking a deep breath, she touches her toes to the floor, warm and damp under her bare feet, like a living thing that has caught a fever. Pulling her black cloak over her dress, more for camouflage than warmth, she slips into her riding boots and steps out onto the balcony. Taking hold of the dew-slick railing, she feels her way to the back landing, grateful when she sees the porch lantern is still lit. She…