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A wraith from the in-between
Entered my edits and notes for Chapter 8 through Chapter 16 of Part One and Chapter 1 of Part Two. I had less time to work on the novel today because of annoying adult responsibilities like having to make food and wash dishes. The struggle is real.
I’m thinking of calling my recent Joshua/Dominic or Joshua & Dominic writings Red, after the color theme that’s emerged across the images and text.
Dominic catches Joshua before his legs give out and lowers him to the ground, prizing the blade from his hand to set it on the dirt beside them.
The light is gone. Joshua feels a tingling throughout his body, stronger in his head, and then he doesn’t hurt anymore. The pain from the car accident injuries is gone. He touches his forehead, exploring. His fingers still come back sticky with blood but it doesn’t seem to be flowing and he can’t find a cut.
It’s not until Dominic waves a hand in front of Joshua’s face that he realizes Dominic is speaking, that Dominic has been speaking this whole time. There’s a buzzing. Now that he’s aware of it, it’s all Joshua can focus on. What is it? There’s nothing out here except for their wrecked car and the smoldering remains of whatever Joshua just killed.
Abruptly, it’s gone.
“Can. You. Hear. Me?”
“I can now,” Joshua says. “What just happened?”
“You absorbed the power of a wraith from the in-between.”
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Then the red light comes
Working full time and going to bed early really get in the way of finishing a novel. I’ve input my edits and comments for the first seven chapters. There are several chores that I would normally have handled over the weekend that still aren’t done. Looking at my upcoming weekends in bulk, I have a lot of plans that are going to get in the way of my novel. It looks like it’s mostly going to be evenings after work for a while.
Before I forget what I envisioned happening next from my Joshua/Dominic (or maybe Joshua & Dominic) blurbs:
The scream it gives is bone piercing. I fall to my knees, almost pass out again from the way it digs into my headache. It’s fear that keeps me conscious. Not fear of this beast because it’s already dissolving to ash, but fear of whatever is making Dominic shout at me.
I can’t make out his words though and I don’t know what he wants me to do. Then the red light comes, emanating from the dead thing’s remains and pouring into…me.
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About that novel of mine
I’m sooo fried. Thursday aside, I’ve spent a huge chunk of my long weekend reading my novel from beginning to end. 363 pages today, because I suck at dividing things up, apparently. 1/4 on Friday, 1/4 on Saturday, and 1/2 today. My novel is literally divided into three parts. I could have done one per day but that would have made way too much sense.
The good news is that the first third is looking really good and the last third is looking pretty good. The middle third though, it’s got definite issues. I don’t know how to fix them all. Yet. I’m determined to get there though.
That’s all I’ve got for today.
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Update to Chapter Five of the Way of Attrition
I’m submerged in my novel today, reading it after too long away to get a sense of what is left for me to do. I decided to take a break to post an update to the end of Chapter 5. I literally just did this earlier today so there may be typos.
This happens right after Eyan is given the memory as punishment:
The Council allows us to leave.
<I’m going to find Mara,> I tell Carson. <I’ll meet you at home.>
<All right,> he agrees.
We part ways on the street, him heading toward my house and me toward the one Mara shares with her amari. From the way her amarim greets me, I don’t think she knows I assaulted her daughter, who she tells me is at the park.
I find her walking under the trees with Yhuri. They stop when they seem me approaching.
<Good afternoon,> I say to them both.
They don’t return my greeting. She’s clearly told Yhuri, who rightly shows none of the warmth she did when I went to the hospital to see Carson.
Recognizing that I have no right to ask to speak with her alone, I get to the point. <Mara, I apologize. I was trying to help Carson, who lost hi-> I stop myself with the shake of my head. I sigh. <I didn’t come here to give you excuses. I just wanted to say I’m sorry that I harmed you.>
Mara and Yhuri exchange a glance. Mara
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With claws and fangs and three sets of wings
Joshua opens the car door and staggers onto the dirt by the side of the road. Somewhere beyond the pain are grunts and shouts, clangs and clatters. He wipes the blood from his face, grits his teeth, and tries to focus.
Dominic is fighting something enormous and red, covered in feathers, with claws and fangs and three sets of wings. He’s wielding a silver blade. There’s another one on the ground a few paces away. Dominic must have started with two. The creature is blocking Dominic’s attacks with its claws, snapping at him with its teeth.
Joshua picks up the fallen blade without thinking about it. The motion makes his headache flare and he almost falls, blotches of darkness obscuring his vision. He blinks several times, squints his eyes. The creature has its back to him. His attention is drawn to the base of its wings. They’re vertically stacked on its back and between them is an opening where he sees no feathers, just fur.
Fluidly, as if he meant to do it from the moment he saw the blade, he raises it above his head and swings it down with all his force, straight into space between the thing’s wings.
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The screech and force of an impact
I got an SSL Certificate for my website and installed it, so now there won’t be any more warnings from browsers that my site is not secure. Though, in my defense, I’m not actually collecting sensitive information here.
I also went back and updated the tags on a bunch of my posts to be consistent with the (improved) tags I use now. I was hoping to finish that process tonight but it’s taking a while what with my posting tons of tiny posts instead of a few longer ones.
This is going back to the snippets from the last few days. It occurs to me that I need to find some way of referring to them, like I did with the Don’t Bleed and Unheired Prince ones. Unfortunately, nothing is occurring to me at the moment so I’ll have to think on it.
The only time Joshua was in a car accident, he saw it coming. Not for long – just a second or two – and certainly not long enough to avoid it, but enough to know it was coming.
That’s not the case tonight. The car is racing smoothly through the night and suddenly – terrifyingly – there’s the screech and force of an impact and Dominic and Joshua are thrown forward into expanding airbags.
Joshua must have blacked out because the next thing he knows, he’s blinking through sticky moisture, taking in shattered glass and crumpled plastic, metal, whatever cars are made of, and the absence
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117 years
A continuation of yesterday:
“What happened?”
“Two warlocks surprised me at home.”
Joshua gives him a beat to continue. He doesn’t. “I’m sorry about Tsubasa. You had her a long time, right?”
“117 years.”
“Shit. Really?”
“She wasn’t exactly a dog. A lot like one in spirit and love and joy – still a pack animal – but even smarter, more loyal, and with some magical abilities. She was a baby when I got her.”
“When I was 7 my cat died. Got hit by a car. I bawled.”
Dominic doesn’t say anything but his hands seem to spasm around the steering wheel.
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A long string of sharp sounds
A continuation from Sunday:
“Why would you think that?” He enunciates each word slowly.
Joshua sighs. “Oh, stop that. I’m drunk, not stupid. You missed our meeting time. I went to your place and found… A lot of blood and guts in the living room and… Tsubasa – or however you pronounce that dog’s name – with a knife in her heart. I- I tried calling you but then I found your phone…shattered and also covered in blood. What the hell was I supposed to think?”
Dominic lets out a long string of sharp sounds that grate at Joshua’s ears. He strongly suspects that his friend is swearing in a language so dead that the world has forgotten its name, if ever had one. “Let’s get out of here, we’re drawing attention.”
Joshua glances around and doesn’t see anyone whatsoever looking at them. He doesn’t argue, though. He follows Dominic to his car, climbs in, and sits silent for several minutes as they pull out of the tiny parking lot and onto the road.
“I’m sorry you had to see that,” Dominic says suddenly, tone uncharacteristically soft, “and that you thought you were alone in this.”
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The Way of Attrition: Chapter Five
Finally posting Chapter 5 of my novel. Other chapters are here:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4Chapter 5
We return to the Shelter once my conscience gets the best of me. I leave our reentry to autopilot and all goes as planned.
<Back to the house?> Carson asks on our exiting to an empty room, the ceiling already back in place.
It’s still but that won’t last. <Or as far as we make it.>
He shoots me a quizzical glance. Before I can elaborate, Davonte and several others – the Council, I realize with some surprise – enter. It’s a crowded fit for such a small space. I resist the urge to quip about a road trip.
Davonte is all in black except the yellow sapphire pendant that makes me look at her eyes, ablaze with that fury I know so well. Face rigid, she advances, flinging an avalanche of anger. It hurls into me with such force that I stagger back and gasp, temples pounding. Carson remains steady. Not a loss of control then. A focused explosion, the equivalent to a punch.
<Explain yourself,> she commands icily.
<It’s my fault,> Carson interjects. <I wanted to collect my mom’s Imprint and Eyan helped me.>
<As admirable as that motive is, it does not excuse attacking a fellow Chosen, stealing this Shelter’s only ship, and risking that ship’s destruction, or worse, capture by the DOH!>
Each word is a pulse of pain. I wince, grateful
