Today marks the almost first week completion of Camp NaNoWriMo, and I'm doing much better than earlier this year! I'm not quite at what I need to be, but I'm only a little behind; according to my profile stats as long as I write 822 words each day for the next three weeks I'll stay on track. That SOUNDS simple enough, but I know I'm going to be getting stuck somewhere along the way (did I mention this is the end of Glenbrook I'm writing?). There's a lot to make sure I include.
Anyway, I thought I would post an excerpt. This is part 1 of Chapter 4, and if you missed it the first three chapters are already on Wattpad!
**unedited first draft**I didn’t want to try and explain to Neeson why I was quitting my job without notice and taking a trip to the Yukon. He probably wouldn’t have approved, which is why I decided to call him at the airport. There was no way he was going to be able to stop me there, as I sat in the plane with Jared next to me.His phone rang a few times before the voice mail picked up, and I found myself breathe a sigh of relief. It made me wonder how hard it would be to tell him I was going into Shadeland.When the tone beeped I said, “Hey Neeson, I’m going away for a while. Tell Dad I’m fine, okay? I’m just working on getting Luke back.” I paused, glancing at Jared beside me. There was a very thin aisle between us, and he seemed distracted by reading the safety pamphlet, but I wasn’t sure if he was listening. “Love you. Bye.” I hung up and turned the phone off, shoving it into my pocket.“You really like things short and sweet, huh?” Jared asked.I shrugged and stared forward at the television screen a few seats ahead, pretending it was fascinating. “Easier that way.” Only when we were finally in the air, and the seatbelt light was off did I notice Jared had his gun on him. The silver pistol caught my attention as he stretched, and it revealed itself beneath his black leather jacket. I couldn’t help but gape a little.“How did you get that onto the plane?” I asked. It seemed impossible, even with his fake ID’s. They might work on senile old women, but airport security?He flashed me his fake SILC badge, a new one I hadn’t seen, and winked at me. “They let you do just about anything if they’ve only heard of you in newspapers,” he said. “That, and having confidence helps.”Sometimes I thought Jared was a little too confident, but I didn’t say that to him. “Are you going to ignore me the entire time?” Keiji questioned. I turned to face him, sitting quietly beside me. “I paid for Business class for you two, and you aren’t even going to act like I’m here?”“Calm down,” Jared ordered. “We woulda survived just fine back with the common class. Besides, at least you don’t have to sit beside this thing.” He sent a glare to Azazel who lay quietly in his cage next to Jared. Honestly I wanted to keep Azazel close, because he hadn’t seemed too keen on the idea of a cage, but after witnessing Jared and Keiji’s behaviour, I thought it best they stay separated. Still, I felt bad Azazel had to be locked up two-fold.Keiji rolled his eyes, and I wondered how he could afford Business class. He dressed like a punk, with large black boots, metal band tee-shirts and mussed up hair to match. Keiji didn’t look like someone that would be sitting beside me, sipping champagne and glaring at Jared like he was a bug.“Did your clan pay for this?” I asked.He sighed. “I have an allotted amount of money,” he explained. “They’re being lenient on me, since Kat disappeared.”I flinched.“Sorry,” he said, “since Kat passed away. When I first left Japan it was to find him—we were still hoping he was alive.” Keiji twisted the flute between his index finger and thumb, his eyes narrowing in thought.I looked to Jared to see his reaction, but he was pretending to be interested in something in another pamphlet. The guilt still weighed him down, I knew that; it weighed me down too. And it wasn’t just Kat’s death on my mind. It was Melody and her grandfather, Utah, and Charlie, and Amber. I rubbed at my temples, a headache forming.“‘Scuse me,” I mumbled as I stood. I hurried into the bathroom while Keiji began to go over the finer things that came with his “executive” status, as he called it, with Jared. If my head didn’t hurt so much I might have thought they might kill each other while I was away.The bathroom wasn’t as small as I thought it would be, but it wasn’t exactly comfortable. The sweet smell of name brand soaps filled there air along with the sounds of the engines. It was quieter there compared to sitting between Jared and Keiji, but it didn’t make my head feel better.In a haze I bent over the sink and turned the cold water on. I splashed it onto my face, ignorant of how it soaked into the collar of my shirt and sweater, or how it got all over the counter. I didn’t care. My head pounded.I groaned quietly, grinding my teeth hard in hopes of not alerting anyone. If Jared got wind of this I was certain he would somehow force the plane to land. Liv? a voice asked. Liv, I’m sorry.“Luke?” I whispered. I could feel him in my mind, just like when I’d talked to him outside the police station. He was putting his thoughts in my head, but I wasn’t sure how. Wasn’t he in Shadeland?I’m in trouble, he said, bringing another onslaught of pain. I fell to my knees, gripping the counter but failing to hold myself up. There’s nobody else again.“Where are you?” I asked through another groan.Shadeland, he replied. They need—help—it’s not—He cut out, along with the pain. I blinked my eyes a few times, unsure if the pain was really gone or I was just dying. I stood on shaky legs, feeling my hands sizzling with the residual connection to Luke, to Shadeland. A fine pink mist drifted from me and dissipated into he air. I watched it a few moments until it stopped and I knew it was safe to return outside.If only my hands would stop shaking.I didn’t understand much of Luke’s message, only that he was in trouble. The more I thought about what he said, the more I couldn’t figure out. If he was in trouble, why would they need help? Who was “they” exactly?I shook my head and dried off with paper towels. They were smooth against my skin where I imagined they would have felt scratchy. I sighed, another reminder of my not-so-human half.“Mom,” I whispered, “what’s going on?”
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