NaNoWriMo!

WOOOOOO

WOOO! I MADE IT! YEAR SIX, BITCHES! IN A ROW! SUCK ON THAT, PROFESSOR "Maybe you just aren't that good at creative writing" !!!!!!! YEAH!

OK, maybe my novel isn't good. But I wrote it. I believed in myself enough to write six goddamn novels. So there.

Thpffffft!

BOO YAH.

"Well, that is all I need from you this evening, my dear. Head for your dormitory and get some sleep, all right? I want you in at your usual time in the morning."

"Yes, sir." Jaspa hauled herself to her feet and picked Myertek up off the desk where he had apparently crawled. Shtaa twitched her tail at them.

"Good night, Jaspa."

"Good night, sir."

The walk back to the dormitory seemed even colder and longer than usual. Jaspa sighed as she walked. What a night. Usually her tasks for Kalishk were interesting -- she had even met an assassination student once while on assigmnemt -- but they usually did not involve her fighting a group of armed men.

Jaspa got back to her room, unlocked the door, and walked inside. Everything was comfortingly familiar. She kicked the door closed and gently set Myertek on the bed. as she changed into her sleeping tunic, she realized she ached all over, and had skinned her knees on the wall. "Dammit." She hung the clothes up to air out and pulled her sleeping tunic over her head.

When she got into bed, she expected to lie awake for a few minutes at least, rehashing the fight, but as soon as her head hit the pillow, she fell right asleep.

WOO

Chugging along. Wrote over 3k today, yay. Finished the main storyline and am now beginning a short little adventure for Jaspa to go on to fill up the remaining few thousand words. Wheeeeee. Today's excerpt comes from the big final battle. :)

Professor Tindall and Master Kalishk were both working their magic, but it was taking time and Jaspa feared they had al too little of that. The creature began to slither towards them, and Jaspa clutched Myertek and prayed that help would come.

"What in the seven hells is that?"

Jaspa looked at the source of the voice: it was Grevastie, who was staring at the creature in utter horror. Wufle whined and cowered behind him.

Kalishk and Tindall ignored the interruption and continued their magical workings.

"Chancellor," Jaspa whispered, "be quiet, we have to make sure it does not notice us!"

Grevastie seemed not to hear her, and he summoned a large fireball and threw it at the creature. The monster held up a tentacle and caught the fireball, and threw it back towards Grevastie. Jaspa threw herself to the ground and bolstered her shields as the fireball bore down on them. Grevastie barely managed to deflect it, and it flew down into the courtyard and singed the grass, leaving a large circle of charred ground. Grevastie curled up, trying to hide behind the wall.

The creature slithered up towards them, its tentacles reaching up the wall. Jaspa watched in horror as a tentacle reached for Grevastie. She drew her everyday knife and charged it with power, and swung at the tentacle, slashing it deeply. The creature roared.

Several things seemed to happen at once.

Professor Tindall increased the energy she was putting out and the circle she had created expanded greatly, its pale blue glow brightening to the point that Jaspa could not look at it.

Master Kalishk held out his hands and threw a magical net over the creature. It settled over it and he drew it tight with a gesture, then raised his hands. The creature floated in the air, its tentacles writhing madly against the magical net. For a breathless moment, Kalishk stood, straining to raise the creature into the portal, and then it shot upwards and into the glowing circle. Kalihsk called out "now!" and Tindall gestured to close the circle.

Both of them sat down, their backs to the wall, breathing heavily.

Jaspa crawled over to them. "Sir? Professor? Are you both all right?"

They nodded, and Kalishk said, "Is that Grevastie over there?"

Jaspa nodded. "Yes, sir. He threw a fireball at it." She rubbed her arm, which felt cold. "The creature tried to get him so I cut it with my knife." she held it up. It was deeply etched by the creature's ichor.

"Good work, as usual." Kalishk hauled himself to his feet and looked over the wall. "It looks as though we have dealt with everyone out there. Flegen was eaten by the Larmen, and the mercenaries are all dead." He turned and looked at Grevastie, who had finally managed to stand up but was still white as a sheet. "Ah, Chancellor Grevastie. How thoughtful of you to join us."

"Kalishk - what - that - thing -" he trailed off.

"I would suggest that you return to your office and call a general meeting in the main hall so that Professor Tindall and I can brief everyone on what has happened. Run along, now." He made a shooing motion and then turned his back on Grevastie.

w00t! 36k!

Makin' progress! I'm somewhat irked that my clever way to fill time didn't last longer. I'm already to the part where Flegen is going to attack. Gah. This had better be the most epic battle EVER.

When Jaspa awoke the next morning, it was fairly early. She could tell from the angle of the sunlight in her room that it was early enough that breakfast would still be available in the dining hall.

Myertek, wake up! She got up and dressed quickly, pulling on her regular working robes, which were dusty brown, and then washing her face before putting her warm winter cloak over the top. She slipped her arms through the arm holes and picked myertek up, then went out to breakfast.

The dining hall was nearly empty, so Jaspa was able to dart into the kitchens and grab a pasty and a couple of old apples for later, which she shoved into her hip pouch.

It was a bright, clear morning, chilly but not windy, and Jaspa decided to go up on the walls before going over to the library. She darted up the stairs. Myertek launched himself off her shoulders to take advantage of the opportunity to fly a bit. Jaspa leaned on the wall as she munched on her pasty, which was stuffed with unidentifiable meats.

Jaspa, look at this, Myertek said, and sent her what he was seeing. He was high up in the air, and could see what looked like a large group of men approaching from the West.

Jaspa gaped. We have to tell Master Kalishk! She jamed the rest of the pasty in her mouth and ran as fast as she could toward the library. She blew through the doors, Myertek barely landing on her shoulder in time, and she took the stairs two and three at a time, ignoring Myertek's claws digging into her shoulder. Kalishk was at his desk, looking a bit groggy.

"Master Kalishk! they are coming!"

Everyone in the library stopped and stared at her.

"What?" he asked softly.

"Myertek saw Flegen's army. It has to be him, who else could it be? they are coming from the west, they are only an hour or two away, I think!"

I killed Cliff Brooks today, yay!

WOO! 33k!

If you don't know about Cliff Brooks, go here for an explanation.

"Well, all right then. Let me think of a better story. I am afraid that I am not much of a storyteller, really." After a few moments, he said, "Well, you may have heard about the time that the sorcerer cliff the Black attacked the Collegium?"

Jaspa's eyes lit up. "Oh, yes, of course! I have heard that if you walk the walls late at night, you can see his ghost."

Kalishk smiled. "Well, that was only a few decades after we got started here. He did not like the fact that we had ammassed as many books as we had and were unwilling to share with anyone not a student here. So, he gathered a small number of sorcerers who felt similarly, hired a few mercenaries for good measure and arrived in the middle of the day to find us ready. At that time I was sufficiently paranoid that I kept sentry spells maintained all around the countryside in the area, and was perfectly aware of everyone who came and went within a ten mile radius."

"Why did you stop doing that?" Tindall asked.

"It became tiresome. This is a much more populous area now. I would have to spend more time following up sentry alerts than working on the library itself. At any rate, cliff appeared with his small army of mercenaries and sorcerers. We let him come, and stood on top of the walls. [Back then, the Collegium was a good bit smaller, truthfully, so ] Myself and the Professors, two of whom were founders in their eighties, took the lead, and were backed up by the scholars and students."

"Students?" Tindall looked surprised.

"There were only," he paused and counted in his mind, "five professors and four scholars at that time, plus myself. We needed everyone who could so much as throw a force sphere. We taught combat magic more thoroughly early on back then because we had to worry about attacks a lot more. The students could shield as well as Jaspa can now after their first year.

"So," he continued, "cliff was a little taken aback, but he took a stand and demanded that we agree to share the library with any sorcerer that wished it. I told him that the chances of that were approximately the same as the chances of me deciding to become a eunuch, and he replied that in that case, they would be taking the library from us by force.

"It was quite a battle, truly. The mercenaries had been shielded by Cliff, and fairly well at that. We fought them for over an hour, and finally defeated them. But one of the students was killed, and nearly everyone was injured. It was a difficult fight."

woo! crossed 30k!

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! I figured out a way to pad wordcount without stepping outside the story! See today's excerpt.

I'm getting a much better feel for the characters this time through. although I'm not at all happy with the narrative flow, I'm starting to enjoy the process more, which is nice. I just really enjoy these characters a lot. I'm not doing a very good job of making their voices sound different, but then, this year's goal has been downshifted from "write 50k words that don't suck" to "reach 50k in spite of dealing with wedding planning and assorted health problems" so it's ok.

"Remember how the bounce back shield is soft and springy? This one is hard and slick. The casting technique is approximately the same, just keep the different properties in mind. Give it a try."

Jaspa nodded and held her hands up. "Past me, past me, all harm must slide past me!" As she said the last phrase, she drew on her connection with Myertek and shaped the energy into a pointed shield around them both. It shimmered like ice, and she grinned.

"Very good for a first try," Professor Tindall said approvingly. "However..." she tossed a small force sphere at it, and the shield shattered and melted, "perhaps you have taken the icy concept too far. It needs to be strong, like the ice on a pond in the dead of winter."

Jaspa nodded. "I see what you mean, I think."

"Good. Try it again."

Jaspa cast the shield again, this time remembering the times she had played as a child on frozen over ponds back home. the shield was thick and hard to see through when she was using her magical sight, and this time when Professor Tindall threw a small force sphere at it, the sphere slid past Jaspa and onto the floor.

"Much better! I want you and Myertek to practice this shield the way you practiced the other one. When you're not using it, keep it tucked away so it is ready to be deployed at any moment."

"Yes, professor. Thank you! This shield is really interesting!"

"You are very welcome. I pray that it will not be necessary, but I would rather have you over protected than under protected."

"You and me both, professor." Jaspa grinned, and went back to the window to practice.

It was a long day. jaspa became surprisingly proficient at the deflection shield under Professor Tindall's tutelidge, [and Master Librarian Kalishk and] Professor Tindall finished charging up the wands, and Master Librarian Kalishk did quite a bit of research on Larmenic defence spells. By early evening, they were all fairly tired and took a break..

"Master Kalishk?" Jaspa asked between bites of bread.

"Yes, Jaspa?"

"How will we know when Flegen gets here? Do you think he will send a messenger with a challenge or something like that?"

"I doubt it. I expect to know he is here when the sentry spells I put up last night alert me." He sighed. "This sort of thing is very irritating. I would much prefer to be left alone to tend to my books."

"How many times have you had to defend the library, if you do not mind me asking?" Tindall asked quietly.

Master kalishk thought for a few moments. "Heavens. This must be the fourth or fifth time I have had to do battle to defend the contents of the library. The Collegium Sorcaeum itself has been under attack more times than that of course."

Sorry, been having network troubles.

But here I am, at 25,009! Yeah! halfway there! FINALLY!

There was a flickering in the center of the circle, which Jaspa nearly missed as she was reloading the censer. With a sudden flash and a loud bang, the demon appeared. Its leathery body gave the impression of immense size, though the circle was only a few feet across and its shaggy, horned head did not touch the ceiling. Fangs poked out of its mouth, and its eyes blazed red. It reached its hands up as though to grab Kalishk, and was prevented from doing so by the circle. It pounded closed fists on the barrier and roared.

“Now, is that any way to behave?” Kalishk admonished it. “My lord, I am grateful that you have come but time is of the essence.”

“Hmph,” the creature grunted. “Kalishk, eh? And that sniveling girl back there must be your apprentice.” It laughed. “My, how times have changed. The last time I saw you, you were what, twelve?”

Kalishk bowed. “Your memory is superb, my lord.”

“What do you need?”

“I need the exact location of the sorcerer Flegen and his army, as well as where they are heading.”

“What do you offer?”

“As much of my store of incense here as you would like.” Kalishk gestured at the box next to Jaspa. “and none of your loophole seeking, either. I mean that jar next to Jaspa, and what it currently contains, not what it may contain after I have refilled it.”

The demon laughed again. “You have learned quite a bit, haven’t you? Very well. May I have leave to go find your information and then return?”

“You may,” Kalishk said politely, and the demon vanished with another pop.

Jaspa opened her mouth to say something, but Kalishk held his hand up to silence her. She obediently shut it, and checked the incense again.

That was intense, she thought to Myertek.

I’ll say. Please feel free never to summon anything that big, ever.

You got it. She suppressed a shudder.

WOO 15K!

15,011. Rawk.

Jaspa felt her teeth clench.

Don't do it, Myertek warned her, He's a little bastard but Kalishk told us to stay out of it.

But even if I didn't know about the political angle I'd stand up for him. Won't it look weirder if I don't?

She tapped Osred gently on the shoulder. "Who might that be, Osred? You talking about the Chancellor again?"

He turned to look at her, and the eyes of the half dozen students he'd been holding forth to follwed his gaze. "Why, Jaspa, no, I'm talking about your favorite member of the walking dead. Kalishk is a disgrace. I heard aboutr how the last budget meeting went, and he should be ashamed, talking to the chancellor htat way."

"Right, becaus eyou're such a shining example of how one should behave toward the Chancellor yourself. How many Collegium rules have you broken this week, Osred? You're usually breaking at least a couple ever few days or so."

"We're not talking about me," he said icily, "we're talking about your pet vampire."

Jaspa couldn't help herself. Her fist moved as if of its own accord and slammed into Osred's face, a small force shield keeping her from breaking her knuckles on his cheekbones. He dodged, but she still caught him with enough force to spin him around. The students nearby gasped, and she heard someone say "get 'im, Jaspa!" at the same time as someone else said, "Don't take that, Osred!"

Osred righted himself and brought his hands up. They each backed up a little and soon were deep in the throes of a magical battle. Jaspa used an absorbent shield, knowing that if she rebounded anything toward Osred and missed, she'd be in deep trouble.

I knew it, Myertek said as he helped her keep the field up while throwing force spheres. You're going to get it big time now.

Shut up, Myertek, and help me fight!

OH YEAH

11,413! After a weekend of ZERO words. Go me. Crossed 10k and everything. Rawk. 'course, I'm not terribly excited by most of what I wrote today, but Oh Well.

It was a miserable, rainy day, and Jaspa and Roarian were holed up in Jaspa's room with their familiars, trying to study. It wasn't easy, though, because the weather was making them feel as dull and gray as the sky outside. The quiet sound of the rain falling on trees and grass and the roof lulled them into a torpor, and they wound up sprawled, Jaspa on her bed and Roarian on the floor, staring at the ceilling. The white plaster was crisscrossed with marks of age, from water marks to faint burns to unidentifiable splotches, lines, and spots. It made for interesting gazing when one was bored.

"You know what I miss most about before I came here?" Roarian asked.

"What's that?"

"Curling up with a cup of cocoa and a good book of fairytales with my Mum and reading by the fireplace on days like this."

Jaspa sighed. "On days like this I usually had to stay inside and help with handicrafts. Blech. At least we had a nice fire so we were dry. But my brothers were jerks. i was terrible at sewing and knitting, even at making baskets. Bleh."

Jaspa rolled onto her side and looked at her friend. Roarian came from a privileged background and even though she was just another student, her family connections still showed. Her robes were made from deep blue material that was incredibly warm and soft. Her cloak, currently hanging on a hook by the door, was warm and lined with lambswool. Jaspa had perfectly decent robes and a good cloak as well, but she had to work for her money. Roarian just got presents from her parents and cousins. Roarian hauled herself up into a sitting position and pulled out a comb to work on detangling her hair.

"I wish we didn't have homework. I mostly just want to take a nap right now."

"Yeah. I want to sleep until this damn rain goes away," Jaspa moaned, rolling back onto her back and staring up at the ceilling some more.

CROSSED 9K, BITCHES!

YEAH! And I'm starting to have fun again, probably because I took some Excedrin to get rid of the headache I've had every goddamn day this week except when doped up or first thing in the morning.

Well, and it probably helps that I'm writing fun scenes. Kalishk taking on Grevastie, and Jaspa pondering about books. Rawk.

As the papers made their way around the table, there were hushed mutterings and a few gasps. Kalishk ran his eye down the list quickly, looking for the library's allotment. When he found it, he felt his face harden, and Shtaa, sensing his anger, sat up and looked at hiim.

"Grevastie," he said calmly and clearly, "what is the meaning of this?"

Grevastie's eyes twinkled but his face was calm. "Of what, Master Kalishk?"

"You have cut the budget allotment for the library by more than half. This is barely enough to keep the books we have in good repair, let alone enough to purchase or copy new ones." There was a ripple of reaction to that as people looked at the sheets to see for themselves and whispered reactions to each other.

Master, you are creasing the paper.

Kalishk forced his hands to relax as he waited for Grevastie's reply.

"Well, yes. I did a few calculations and a little research, and with allowances for inflation, this is more in like with what the founders of the Collegium set aside. the past few decades you have been getting more than your fair share of the Collegium's resources, and thus depriving other departments of money they could put to good use." His bland smile showed a hit of teeth, and Kalishk found himself filled with the violent urge to tear the man's throat out.

Kalishk forced himself to reply civilly, "Chancellor Grevastie, you have been here less than a year and already you are claiming to know better than the Chancellors of the last century? Surely that is a bit... self-aggrandizing."

"I think not. I am simply more attentive to the bottom line and the big picture than others have been. If you feel that your allotment is not enough, perhaps the library should liquidate some of its ... less necessary volumes?"

The room fell silent at that. One of the other professors said, "Are you suggesting that Master Kalishk sell some of his books?"

"Yes, I am."

The room erupted, with the more angry professors standing up and pounding on the table. "This is outrageous!" Tindall said, and cries of "yes! Outrageous!" echoed her.

Progress ahoy!

6633 words total today! Yay! Still sadly behind, of course, but it's progress.

Woot! Crossed 5000!

Yeah, I only wrote 1,207 words today, but I hit a mini-milestone. I am now going to go play Guitar Hero II.

"Up for a little competition, Jaspa?" Osred's voice slithered into her ear, and she felt her face wrinkle.

She kept her relaxed feel and didn't even turn as she answered him. "Sure, why not? Roarian, you keep score."

"You got it, Jaspa."

"What? She's biased!"

"Oh, shut up, Osred. You just want someone to stack the odds in your favor. Fine, pick someone to keep co-score with her."

Osred shrugged. "Fine. I'll keep score myself too, though, so Roarian, don't even think about cheating."

Roarian rolled her eyes.

Jaspa grounded herself and gathered a small amount of magical energy to herself. She shaped it into a sphere, then reached mentally for Myertek. He fed her power through their bond, and she poured it into the sphere. She felt it grow in her hands, and projected the illusion of color onto it. When she felt ready, she looked up at the target, a jagged rock a stone's throw away. It had concentric rings painted on it in white.

She raised her hands and held them up in front of her, palms facing, the sphere between them. Then, gathering her energy, she brought her palms around the sphere so they faced toward the rock, thumbs together, and sent the sphere hurtling toward the rock. with a soft grunt. The sphere hit the rock with a satisfying crack, leaving a red smear just to the left of the dot right in the center. Jaspa grinned and turned to Roarian. "Four points, right?"

Woo.

Man. Had several days there with no writing at all. Gah. However, managed to write more than the daily minimum today, so that's something. Yay.

Shtaa opened one eye and looked up at Grevastie. She flicked her tongue at him, then closed her eye again. Kalishk finished writing something and looked up at Grevastie. "Chancellor Grevastie," he said coolly, "what a ... surprise. What can I do for you?"

"I'm doing a little research, and would appreciate it if you had one of your assistants bring these books up to my chambers." He handed over a small square of parchment. Kalishk took it in one pale, thin hand, and raised an eyebrow as he read it.

"I'm afraid that's impossible," he said with a hint of a smile. "These are all books which are not permitted to leave this floor of the library."

"But I am the Chancellor!" Grevastie said with a 'just us boys' conspiratorial smile. "Surely you don't expect me to let them come to any harm."

"No. But I do expect you to abide by the rules. You are more than welcome to come here during regular library hours and read any of these here." He handed the list back.

Grevastie's back stiffened, and Jaspa glanced around the room to see how the other students were reacting. At least one of them had not noticed at all, but others were watching covertly the way she was. She caught the eye of one of Kalishk's assistants and they exchanged "what in the hell!" expressions. Nobody dared challenge Kalishk, but the air in the room felt electric.

This could get interesting, Myertek said.

Depends on how stupid Grevastie is.

Here we gooooooooo!

Woot! 1674 words! AND I got my plot finished. I knew I only needed a little downtime to really focus. :D

Jaspa chewed her oats resignedly as Osred approached.

"Well, Jaspa," he said when he reached them, "what a pleasant morning." he brushed an invisible speck of dust off his maroon velvet robes.

"Is it?" she said lightly. "I hadn't noticed."

Ulline, Osred's familar waddled up behind him. She was a cormorant, much to Osred's continuing irritation. He had bonded with her quite closely when she was a tiny black chick, but had been horrified to discover as she grew that she was one of those large water birds the commoners used for fishing. He had done his best to train her to be graceful, but there is only so much training can do to overcome nature.

"I don't suppose you've mastered that reflexive shield yet, have you?" He put a foot up on the bench in front of him and leaned forward with one elbow on his knee. "It isn't all that difficult, but it did seem to be giving you trouble."

Jaspa took a deep breath, and felt Roarian put a restraining hand on her leg under the table. She glared up at Osred. "I was having a bad morning, if you must know. I didn't thave to practice much to get the hang of it. You can tell it's easy, though. I mean, you picked it up in just a few minutes."

Osred flushed a bit, and sneered. "I'm surprised at you, Jaspa. Trying to pretend you didn't spend over an hour last night out in the field practicing."

Jaspa's jaw clenched. Her eyes flicked to the professor's table, where nearly all backs were turned to them. Only professor Tindall was facing in a way that she could see them, but she was deep in conversation with professor Ailiet. Jaspa cupped her hand under the table as she turned her attention back to Osred. "Honestly, Osred, I don't know why you keep needling me about these things when you know I can beat you at just about -" she raised her hand and flung the ball of magical force that she had shaped in it at him, "everything else in Tindall's class!"

It was a tiny ball, so small she hadn't even needed Myertek's help to fashion it, but it bonked into Osred's head with a satisfying pock! He reeled back, one hand coming up to cup his temple.

"You she-dog!" he gasped, and flung a quickly-gathered sphere at her. Jaspa was able to dodge it, just barely, and she leapt to her feet as it knocked over the bench behind hers with enough power to crack it.

"Shut your mouth, arselicker!" she bellowed. Myertek directed a stream of power to her, helping her to shape a larger ball of her own to throw at him. Get him, m'lady! she heard him caw in her mind through their connection.

"Jaspa! Osred!" Professor Tindall's voice lashed out, startling them both. She had made it across the room and came the rest of the way over, her hands up. "Don't you dare," she said. "I think that's quite enough."

DONE

I did it! I finished!

OK, the story itself isn't actually quite done - it's about 100 words shy. I will probably write that tomorrow. Huzzah. I did the last 3k or so today. Go me.

It was really hard writing Talianna's funeral, oddly enough. Maybe it was because I was at a writein, which is a festive atmosphere, and the funeral was really sad. Oh, well.

One evening, Ayla, Terron, and Claric approached Evran at his desk He ignored them until he finished the line he was copying, then said "what?"

"We want to ask you something, if you're not too busy."

"All right." He set down his pen. Shtaa, who was draped across the top of the desk, looked up at them. "Go ahead."

"We think you should consider opening an actual school here. There are so many books, and you're a good teacher." Ayla looked nervous but was steeling herself to speak.

"I'm no teacher. I'm a librarian."

"Well, yes, but you give good advice. Maybe we could persuade one of lady Talianna's friends to come and teach more formally."

Evran felt his face harden. "Only if they live somewhere else. Nobody lives in the tower but me."

Day 27

Wordcount: 46,130!

Almost there... almost there!

I got to 43,345 yesterday, which was impressive enough. Then I wrote almost 3000 words today at the writein! Go me! Wow! Downside: I have already hit the climax of my novel and I have 4000 words left to go. Crap. Well, I'll figure something out. If all else fails, I can add an epilogue. Or go back and pad or something. Yeah.

I've changed the Big Bad Guy's name to Cliffron (it was Osred, which is a name way too good to waste in a character-building exercise like this one, heh), which has the added bonus of finally letting me kill someone named after Cliff Brooks. I didn't get to do it last year, so it was nice to do so again. Here's his death scene...

FWIW, Gral is a duelling sorcerer who is leading Evran and the other student sorcerers after Cliffron, a nasty sorcerer who killed Evran and the others' teacher in a big battle. Cliffron was wounded, but he's too unpleasant to be allowed to crawl off and lick is wounds, so the good guys are tracking him with magic so they can finish him off.

They rode on in silence. Finally, they neared a bend in the road, with a stand of trees in the curve. Gral held up his hand again. "Let's dismount and leave the horses here." The trail was bright in front of them.

They tied their horses to a low branch and walked slowly around the curve, ready for anything. Evran had his blade out already, and the others walked close together, ready to grab hands and feed him what little power they had left.

Evran could sense everything - the blades of grass rubbing against each other, the wind whispering through the trees, even the heartbeats of his companions. He relaxed and let his senses run further, and found he could hear another heartbeat just ahead. He whispered, "he's just ahead," just as they came around a curve and found Cliffron, his back to them, limping onward.

Gral motioned for them to stop, and the three students joined hands and started to raise energy. Cliffron turned, and Gral pulled up the shield in front of them.

Evran felt Shtaa feeding him power, and then a tendril from the others found him, and he was overwhelmed with the rage he had felt since seeing Talianna's body hit the ground in the keep. With a wordless cry, he focused all that power and emotion into a ball in front of him, a sphere of power with the sole purpose of shattering Cliffron's body. He raised his hands and threw it at Cliffron before the other man had a chance to complete the spell he was trying to start, and he went flying. His body slammed into a tree across the road and slid down to the ground.

Gral looked at Evran and gave him a quiet nod. He dropped the shield temporarily and led them over to the fallen sorcerer. Cliffron was sitting, his back to the tree, and except for the rather sickening angle of one of his arms he looked rather normal. He coughed and spattered blood everywhere.

Evran could smell the blood, and fought down the side of him that still wanted to drink his enemy dry, to feel the hot blood course down his throat and listen as his heart faltered to a stop.

"Damn you," Cliffron said. "I just wanted… the library."

"Go to Hel," Evran said, and he could hear the venom in his voice.

They stood there in silence as Cliffron's breathing grew more and more ragged and finally shuddered to a stop with a few last gasps. His last breath hissed out in a terrible sigh, and Evran closed his eyes and listened to the sorcerer's heart fade away as well. He leaned forward and closed the two eyes which had already lost their focus.

"It is finished," he said in a soft voice. "Finally."

"What do we do with the body?" Claric asked.

"Drag it into the woods and leave it for the coyotes?" Evran asked.

"If I thought that were safe, I would agree," Gral said. "We need to bring it back and burn it, then scatter the ashes."

Turkeyday!

Wordcount: 38,012

Woo, I got wordcount even on Turkeyday! Go me. I'm still behind, but only by 2k, so that's not too bad. Maybe I can write a little after I get home from feasting with the 'rents. The trick is not to run out of plot. As usual, the lack of a fully formed plot on Nov 1 has translated into not quite enough Stuff to take up 50k words. *sigh*

When Evran woke, he went down to the courtyard to look for the other students, but found no one. Light spilled from one of the doors onto the courtyard, and he went in. Talianna looked up at him as he entered. She was kneeling netx to a cot with a groaning man on it, while the other three students and Roger tried to look unobtrusive.

"Evran, good. This is Gral. He's injured. I need you and Shtaa here to help with the healing. The others will learn by watching - they don't have a fine enough touch to help me with this. Stand there." She pointed across the cot from where she knelt.

"Yes, my lady," Evran said, and Shtaa flapped her wings unsteadily as he quickly moved into position.

"I have to untangle the enchantments that are trying to kill him. They are weaving around his organs, choking the life out of him. Look at him with your magical gaze, can you see them?"

Evran took a deep breath and tried to see what she was talking about. There were indeed glowing threads tangled around the man's insides, and Evran gaped as they tightened and slithered before him. "What do I do?"

"I will do the untangling, but I will need you to hold the ends I free up. You and Shtaa need to create tongs of power, you can't use your hands on these or they will try to attack you as well. Can you do that?"

Bleah

Quick update! I'm at 35K, just barely, and am v. tired. I didn't write Saturday, Sunday, OR Monday, gyeesh. O Well. I'm only a little behind now. Wrote 5000 words today.

Am going to bed now.

Wooo!

Wordcount: 30,003

I am making progress! Go me! I was only up to 27, 411 yesterday, so I made serious headway today. Rawk. AND I added some plot stuff so that I'm not quite so close to the end of my outline as I was. :D Huzzah.

Evran awoke in darkness. He blinked, and realized that he could see his surroundings in the dim light - he was on a cot in a small alcove. Just as he was about to wonder where he was, he abruptly remembered the events of the night before. He cautiously ran his tongue over his teeth and felt the fangs that had grown while he slept. His jaw was faintly sore. He closed his teeth together experimentally and found that they actually fit together nearly as they had before. His fangs fit over his lower teeth quite nicely.

The next thing he became aware of was the smell of books. He had often closed his eyes to enjoy the smell of the library, but it was so much bigger and more complex a collection of odors now that it almost overwhelmed him. As he came more fully awake, his mind was being filled with sensory information - the faint sounds beyond the curtain, the scents of each book, the tangy smell of the wood furniture and the ash in the hearth, smoke from the hearth fire, the delicate fragrance of Talianna, the musty odor of the cloth around him, and even the taste of his own mouth flooded through his mind and he struggled to rise above the mass and form coherent thought.

You awake, sir? Shtaa's voice sounded in his head. She was on the pillow next to him.

Yes, he thought back. Everything is different.

Day 16...

Wordcount: 26,704

Well, at the write-in last night, I reached 26,046. Go me.

"The theory here is simply to feed all the power to one person, who will then generate and direct the blast itself. Let's have you all rotate through being the focus. Evran, you will go first. Do a few practice blasts first, all right?"

They had practiced simple magical attacks -- fireballs and force bombs and so on. Evran lobbed one of each he could think of at the rock, and was pleased to see them all hit home.

"Now then, the rest of you join hands." They did so, Ayla in the middle. "Claric and Terron, you two hold hands as well." The three of them made a small circle. "You will be feeding your power to Evran, who will use it."

Evran felt the power hit him. It was exhilarating. He took aim almost casually and formed the power into a huge sphere of magical force. He sent it toward the rock, and watched in an almost detached way as it hit and split the rock in half.

Nice one, sir! Shtaa said in his mind.

The power stopped suddenly as the others were distracted by the effects of their sphere.

"By the blessed gods!" Ayla whispered. "Did we do that?"

"Yes, you all did. Imagine what you'll be capable of once you all have familiars and more power available to you."

Day 14

Wordcount: 22,023

Well, I made good progress on Sunday but didn't get to write at all on Saturday, so... yeah. Still behind. But only by 1300 words, so that's something. I'd try to make it up now but have run out of time and energy, so... yeah. Maybe tomorrow.

That night, Evran and Ayla slept in the workroom as usual, while Osred and Iain were put in guest quarters just off the courtyard. Evran and Ayla stayed up longer than they probably should have chatting, speculating about Osred, but eventually fell asleep.

They were awakened by an explosion of light and their teacher's voice thundering, "what do you think you are doing?"

Evran bolted out of bed, his blade at the ready, and saw Talianna pointing her own blade at a very startled Osred. He was standing on the steps up to the library, and had actually made it about halfway up to the trap door. A bright sphere of light was hovering over Talianna's head, lighting the room as if it were noon.

Evran glanced over at Ayla, who like him had leapt out of bed. They exchanged "ah-hah! We were right!" looks.

"I merely wished to consult the text to see if I was remembering something correctly. I did not wish to wake you." There was a note in his voice that made Evran think of spilled oil waiting to trip an unwary foot.

Talianna shook her head. "If you think to convince me with a half a story and a bit of magic, think again, Osred. You and your apprentice are no longer welcome in my keep. Get out."

Osred turned to face her, his expression grim. "I beg your pardon?"

"I believe I made myself clear. I want you both out. Go fetch him and leave. Your horses are in the stable. Don't try to do anything baleful; I am not by nature vengeful but I do protect my property."

"Surely you don't think I intended to steal your books?"

"No, I think you intended to see if they were as numerous and varied as you had heard, then kill the three of us in our sleep if they were." A flicker in his face, almost a wince, told Evran that she had hit home with that one. "Yes, Osred, I am also skilled at reading minds, and I have servitors who are far more skilled at reading than you are at hiding. Do not attempt to deny it."

Woo, two in one day!

Wordcount: 16,636

Yep, I logged some more writing time, go me. 'course, then I decided that a big chunk (read: almost all) of what I had written needed to come later in the story, but that's okay, right?

The horses thundered into the courtyard, Evran's father in the lead. They slowed down as they neared the tower, and Evran's father drew closer than his men did. He stopped his horse and looked down at the two sorcerers. He was an imperious man, Evran's father, with the same straight black hair and piercing eyes. But where his son was pale he was tan from time spent on the road, and where his son was slender he was bulky and muscular.

"Evran! So those villagers were telling the truth after all."

Evran gave his father a nod of acknowledgement. "Father." He turned to Talianna. "My lady, may I present my father, the Baron of Oakhaven. Father, this is my mistress, the sorceress Talianna."

"Your mistress, eh?" The way his father said it put chills down Evran's spine. "I'd say I'm pleased to meet you, sorceress, but I'm hardly pleased to see the trickster who has stolen my child."

Day 11: holy crap

Wordcount: 15,607

Wow.

I just challenged myself to see how many words I could write in half an hour. The answer?

1,590.

Wow. I feel really macho right now. Also, my left wrist hurts like a SOB, so I'm going to post this and go eat lunch.

Evran smiled. "I'm glad you are helping me to achieve my goal, my lady."

"Evran, you're my apprentice. I want you to be able to accomplish your goals, provided they are reasonable. This is on the outside edge of what is reasonable, but since we know there are breeding miniature dragons alive in the world, I see no reason not to at least try to get you one. We can do the coincidence spell tomorrow after we have both rested a bit. Actually, I think I want you to do most of it." She stood up and went over to one of the shelves. She pulled a book down from the shelf and brought it over to him. "The spell is in here - I want you to read it carefully and make a list of the ingredients we need. Then I want you to pull them all down in the workshop. I'll check them in the morning while you are helping Roger. Yes?"

"Yes, my lady. Thank you, my lady!"

Evran's mind churned as he watched his teacher go down to the workroom. He tried to focus his mind on the spell and found it difficult. It was a strange spell, not at all what he had been expecting. There were no demons here. The spell was centered around charging some peculiar herbs with one's intentions and then incinerating them like incense. Apparently the smoke was supposed to disperse and carry the spell out into the world. It was an interesting idea, and Evran looked forward to trying it out.

He fingered his sorcerer's blade, the nine-inch-long, double-edged dagger he used in spellcasting. It was so satisfying to realize how far he had come, and in defiance of his parents, no less. Abruptly, he wondered what his parents were doing. Not much, he thought. He'd been gone long enough that they'd probably stopped looking, and no doubt were back to their usual routine; business and entertainment. He snorted.

But then he heard something that sounded an awful lot like hoofbeats. He went to the window and stared out at a sight that sent a shock through him like a bucket of cold water dumped on his head. It was his father on a huge bay horse, followed by several retainers.

They were armed, and riding up to the gate.

Day 10

Wordcount: 14,017

Meh. Hardly wrote anything yesterday, so depressing.

However, wrote about 2k today, so that's good. Any day where I write more than the minimum is a bonus, right?

My wrists are acting up a bit... thank heavens for that break reminder program I have, which makes me stop typing every so often and take a break.

On to today's excerpt...

Evran helped her set up the protective circle, which had to be a bit more powerful than the ones he had learned so far, then stood to one side with the large hanging censer, ready to drop incense onto the now-smoldering coals when she gave him a signal.

He watched Talianna do the invocation, slightly awed. He had heard about this sort of spell working, but had never seen it or even read a detailed account. The sorceress stood in front of the small binding circle she had prepared in the middle of their larger, protective circle, and raised her arms. She chanted words in a language that was harsh and grating. He knew it was the old, formal language of demons, necessary in spells like this but fortunately no longer necessary for communicating with the creatures once they'd been called up.

Evran was so lost in the sound of the chant that he was incredibly startled when the demon actually appeared in the small circle.

Day 8

Wordcount: 11,010

Man another backdated entry. Apparently I am teh suck at updating. Oh, well.

Evran walked swiftly out to the tower door and opened it smoothly. On the other side he saw a youngish woman, probably about thirty, one hand raised as if she'd been about to knock. She looked incredibly startled.

He gave her a polite bow. "Mistress Tolends, my lady will see you now. This way, please." He held the door open for her and gestured. She followed him into the inner room, where he closed the door behind him and said, "My lady, Mistress Tolends."

Talianna was standing to one side of her desk. "Please, Larna, be seated." She gestured toward a chair she'd set to one side of the table. Evran moved quickly to his post and put his hands behind his back, trying to look inoffensive.

Larna brushed a lock of her dark brown hair out of her face. "My lady, is he..." She didn't finish the question.

"He is my apprentice. He's quite new but absolutely trustworthy. Don't worry about him, Larna, I can vouch for his discretion."

Day 7

(Yes, I backdated this because I forgot to update yesterday. I am a cheaty bitch, apparently.)

Wordcount: 8,554!

Didn't get to write at all over the weekend. Argh. But I wrote a lot today, so that's a start on catching up. I think I'll hit the Mountain View writeup Tuesday to try and catch up. Sadly, a lot of what I wrote today was really, really boring. I have to find a way to have my main character learn magic without every chapter being a huge lecture from his mentor. Plus, I was really tired yesterday and therefore not bothing to try, say, actually writing well, so most of my prose is crap. Makes it hard to pick an excerpt to put here.

Evran nodded, and closed his eyes. He could see the sphere in his mind, stretching from just under his feet to just over his head. As he pictured it, he said the words. "Safe as earth, clear as air, pure as fire, hard as ice."

He felt that same odd shiver in the air, and when he opened his eyes he could almost see the sphere around him. He grinned. "It worked!" But just as the words left his mouth, the sphere vanished.

Talianna smiled at him gently. "Setting the sphere up is one thing; keeping it there is another. Once you can set it up and hold it even while being distracted, I will start to teach you other things. In the meantime, though, I want you to practice shielding as well as your meditation, all right? In fact, it would be a good idea to shield while you meditate."

"Yes, my lady!"

Still chugging along

Wordcount: 6,739

I'm still on track with my wordcount, which is nice. I'm also having a good time, which is important. It helps that things are quiet at work, so it's easy to clear my mind on my lunch break. Now if only I could keep from getting distracted by the internet. It takes a lot of discipline to avoid taking breaks from writing by looking at web pages. Oy.

"What about familiars?"

"Ah, I was getting to that. Familiars aid us in drawing energy from our surroundings. They help to ground us and provide backup in case of an emergency."

"Do you have a familiar?"

"I do indeed, and he is in my room. Wait here." She went into her quarters and brought out a largish-lump. Evran stared.

"That's a tortoise!"

"Well, yes. What were you expecting, exactly?"

"I don't know... something supernatural. A cat or a raven or something along those lines."

"Any creature with the right mentality and temperament can be a familiar, Evran. T'lach here is perfect for me because he is slow, patient, and, of course, tortoises live a long, long time. Because of his close work with me, he is likely to live significantly longer than a normal tortoise would. That's important, of course, because the bond between a familiar and a sorcerer is so strong that the death of either is a great psychic blow to the other."

"Of course. So if you had chosen something short-lived, you would have to go through that shock more frequently."

"Yes. Whereas with T'lach, I don't have to worry about it for another hundred or two hundred years. He has been with me since the beginning, and while he's getting slower he's still quite perky." The tortoise's bullet head swung around to look at her with what Evran could have sworn was amusement.

Day Three

Wordcount: 5,017

Yanno, I think that it's the artificial deadline of NaNo I need to write. Even though I felt less than enthusiastic about writing a damn thing today I still churned out my 1,667+ words without too much trouble. So what it is that stops me from doing this at other times of the year? Why haven't I written that Jaspa novel properly yet? Or re-written the Theremin novel I wrote last year?

Sheesh.

Evran woke the next morning feeling more than a little confused. He was in a strange bed in a strange place and he was very cold. Bright light shone through a window onto his face, and he blinked until his eyes cleared and he could see around the room. The sight of the tables and cabinets brought his memory back: he was an apprentice to a sorceress now! He felt a thrill shoot through him as he ran the previous day through his memory. The fact that his new mistress was a vampire was a little unsettling, mostly because he had never met one of the undead before. However, he was determined to be a flawless apprentice, and once he set his mind to something it was as good as guaranteed that it would happen.

He got up and stretched, reaching stiffly for the ceiling. After years of sleeping in a comfortable bed, sleeping on a rickety cot had been an adventure. At least he had tired himself out with all his walking the day before, which made it easier to fall asleep. He went to one of the windows and looked out through the small panes of glass. The sun had just cleared the horizon. Time to head down to the courtyard and find Roger so he could report for his morning assignment, and hopefully get some breakfast.

Day Two

Wordcount: 3,372 Wooo!

So far, so good. Excerpt below.

"Come with me. Up here is the library. Until I think you are ready, you are not to come up here without me. Do you understand?" She did not appear to be angry, but was deadly serious.

Evran nodded. "Yes, my lady."

"Very well." She led him up the stairs, which curved around to another trap door. This one was locked, and she crouched to press her hand against it. She closed her eyes briefly and Evran felt that same tingle on his skin again, then she pushed the trap door open.

The first thing that hit Evran was the smell. He had always loved the smell of books, the way the paper, ink, leather, and glue blended odors into a unique scent. Books had a whole range of smells, too -- new books and old books smelled different, as did books made from slightly different materials. The smell in this room was like a symphony, rich and deep. He took a deep breath and looked around. There were books everywhere. The walls were lined with shelves which ran floor to ceiling and were nearly packed with books. Evran turned around slowly to take it all in, from the tables on opposite sides of the room to the odd circular shelf that enclosed the pillar in the center of the room.

The books were all sizes and thicknesses, their covers in a wide variety of colors. Some of them were new-looking, their bindings glossy with the sheen of new leather; others were so old that the lettering on their spines could barely be read. One book sitting out on a table was easily three feet high and a good four or five inches thick. One of the tables had several books in very poor condition on it. One was lying out and open with leather tools scattered around it as though someone had been working on it and been interrupted.

Evran clasped his hands behind his back to help fight down the urge to touch the books that were everywhere.

�How many are there?� He turned to face Talianna, who was watching him with a faint, bemused smile.

�How many books, you mean? Two thousand, four hundred, and sixty-seven. But I�m always working to add to my collection.�

Done!

Yay!

There was another awkward silence, and then Millicent stood up. "Well, I guess I had better get going. Thank you again, Mister Theremin. For everything."

Johnny smiled. "No problem. Thank you, actually. This case was definitely interesting enough to make up for a million boring as hell cases."

She smiled and he stood up and opened the door for her. "Have a good day, Millicent. I hope you'll give me a call if you need me again."

"Of course," she said. "Good bye, Mister Theremin." She stood up on tip toe and leaned in to kiss him quickly on the cheek. Then she was out the door and down the hallway and gone.

Johnny closed the door and went back to his desk. He carefully filed the huge folder of Maverick information, then sat down and went back to looking at the job boards. This was easily the weirdest case he had ever worked on, but that wasn't an excuse to take time off. The rent was still going to be due at the end of the month. Life went on.

Whee!

No excerpt today, I'm updating from a teacher's comp while subbing but writing on my laptop.

Hit 47k at the write-in yesterday, which went great until the live music (?!) started. *sigh*

Today, am at 48698, yay! Subbing is the best job in the world when it comes to NaNo. Sadly, I have finished the story and must now add about 1,300 words of padding. *sigh* 'course, most of today's wordcount was padding and I'm only up to chapter three on my second pass, so there's hope.

sloggin' along...

Still hanging in there. Just not feeling terribly creative at the moment. It all feels draggy. Damn denouments. And I'm just sure I'll have to spend the last 2000 words or so padding stuff I wrote earlier. *sigh* Oh, well. At least I made it to 44,422 today.

She gave him a lazy smile. �I should really go. A girl needs her beauty sleep, after all, and I�m over due for a shower. Or maybe a long, hot bath.� She reached up and slid her hand around the back of Johnny�s neck, then pulled him toward her and planted a lazy kiss on his lips. �Guess I�ll see you around, Johnny. Take care of yourself.� She gave him one last sly smile and turned around to walk to her car.

�Good night, Belladonna,� he said. She waved at him over her shoulder without turning around.

He shook his head at his own impulse to run after her. That would be profoundly stupid, he knew. He�d met plenty of gals like her, women a guy would give his eyeteeth for. Women who made a man start talking like one of those old dime store paperbacks.

He could tell. He was doing it now. The last thing he needed was to be around a woman like that all the time. He was already more than close enough to being a caricature of himself. He really didn�t want to go all the way and start talking out of the corner of his mouth, chain smoking, and tipping his fedora rakishly to one side.

Whew.

Man. SO not feeling it today. I was cookin' yesterday, though - churned out 2000 words in an hour and a half. Go me.

Once the van was underway, Johnny looked over at Belladonna. �You seem pretty calm for someone who just shot a guy,� he observed.

She shrugged. �It wasn�t the first time, and frankly, he deserved it.�

�I suppose,� Johnny said. To himself, he thought she was awfully cold. But then, she was a femme fatale.

Getting there...

Woo! 39,054! Go me!

I'm worried, though, that Morris is becoming too sympathetic. I mean, I'm required to kill him off (see the epilogue). Oh, well. He IS kind of a jerk, really. I mean, he fantasizes about rape, beat Johnny over the head, and is fairly stupid.

Brakak turned on him. �Morris Glanz, you useless pile of droppings!�

Great, he thought. Just great. �What?�

�There are vessels approaching our base! They are coming here! We have no idea why they are coming or what they want! You will come with us to communicate with them!�

Morris thought longingly of his bottle of Scotch, tucked away in his quarters. �Why me?�

�Because you are human, fool, and we would prefer that they not speak to us directly. We cannot expose ourselves any more than necessary!�

Morris followed her toward the base command center. �But what am I supposed to say to them?�

Brakak was waddling next to him, clucking to herself. She glared up at him. �You will say exactly what we tell you to say, fool. Do you think we would trust this kind of vitally important interaction completely to someone like you?�

Morris ground his teeth. He had originally thought that he would just get used to the way she insulted him but somehow it just kept annoying him. He was used to being insulted by his bosses, but somehow being insulted by a four foot high chicken was just too much. He sighed and kept following her. He had never actually devised an escape strategy for this gig, and it was clearly way past time to do so.

hanging in there...

Made it to 37,070 today, yay!

Am tired. But it's fun going into the big climactic sequence. Should be cool.

What's tragic is that I'm having to fight the urge to start plotting next year's novel already. Gah.

�So you knew you were supposed to be here?� Millicent was wide-eyed.

�No, of course not. If the history books had said who we were, we�d have been influenced. We had to be here for other reasons.� He shrugged. �The sucky thing about time travel is that it kind of makes the whole free will thing a bit problematic. I mean, for free will to work properly and without causing tons of paradoxes, it has to be predestined to at least a certain degree. It�s tidy as hell for historians but kind of crap for us travelers.�

�Plus it makes the guys who run the machines a little smug sometimes. Like the guy who sent us � he figured out before we did that we were the three Chrononauts from the history texts and was all smug as hell when he sent us here. We only just figured out why. Bastard.�

Brand chuckled. �We�re why the record vanishes, too,� he said.

Jim and Reynold stared at him. �What?� Reynold said.

Jim held up a hand. �No, man, it totally makes sense! Think about it. I mean, really think. We knew the record was going to go missing, right? But that it was just this one, the one we wanted. That�s why we came here. And we�re the reason it goes missing � it went missing because we took it! Of course!�

Reynold rolled his eyes. �My brain hurts,� he moaned.

Yay!

Wrote 3000+ words at the write in yesterday and over 2000 today. I guess my Break Reminder software really works - my wrists are doing just fine. Plus, having minideadlines all the time seems to help me keep the pace up.

I'm at 35,036 now! Yay!

"What?" Millicent said, "you want one of my records? Why?"

"We collect Raymond Scott Quintent music and in our time nobody has an original seventy eight rpm recording of 'Dinner Music for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals' where we can get at it. They're worth millions of credits, and we don't have that kind of money."

"So you thought you'd just steal it from me?"

"Well, your copy is supposed to go missing some time around now so we figured it would be okay. We checked really carefully and there's no record of your copy turning up again. We figured it was probably destined to be lost or burned or broken. That's the ideal, really, for rescuing a recording of music."

Millicent shook her head. "You're unbelievable!"

"Look, we're just here for the album, we'll leave if you just let us go."

"I don't know about that," Millicent said. "I've had a lot of trouble with people breaking into my home lately. I suppose I could just press charges against you. What would you do then?"

"Um, trigger our pickup. We're supposed to get back then as soon as possible anyway."

"You expect us to believe you're really time travelers?" Johnny demanded.

Belladonna laughed. "Time travelers are no weirder than most of the other crap we've dealt with today, Johnny," she said. "I just think it's funny that this trio of slackers are able to travel through time."

"We bribed a grad student," he said. "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

The Ow Continues

But I wrote 1,738 words tonight. Go me. Am now at 29,311. Yay!

Someone knocked on the door, and they both flinched. Millicent got up to answer it and found herself face to face with what looked like aliens in trench coats and fedoras.

She stared at them.

They stared back.

She said, "It's a little early for Halloween, guys."

The one in the middle said in a soft voice, "We are not children in costumes, Miss. May we come in?"

Millicent was so taken aback that she simply said, "Of course," and moved aside so they could enter.

Still Owie

Still hanging in there. Managed to cross the 25k mark. Yay! Wrote 2k today bc I was subbing. w00t.

Johnny looked at his watch. It had been two and a half hours. He sighed and fished around in his glove compartment for a spare piece of paper. He wrote a note on it for Belladonna:

B - waited until 8:30 pm. Hope you're all right. Call me. -J

He folded it in half and hung it on the steering wheel of her car, which he then locked. He stashed her monitor on the floor of the passenger side, then shut the door. As he got back into his car and shut the door he couldn�t help wondering one more time what had happened to her. It seemed awfully odd that she'd just gone silent like that. He looked out over the lake, its black waters barely disturbed by the light breeze.

Everything seemed cold and dark and miserable, and his engine took two tries to catch when he started it. He backed out, half hoping to see Belladonna in his headlights as he did so, but the lake remained cold and lifeless.

owie, part deux

CTS flareup worse. tingling in hands and everything. typing while wearing ice packs and taking looooong breaks every 100 words.

Only wrote about 1k tonight. :( Am at 23517. Must nurse self back to health pronto, so am calling it a night now. Feh.

owie

Made it to 22456 before wrists gave out. typing with two fingers now to prevent further damage during update. Will now go to bed and rest weary wrists.

It was odd to think that Theremin had been right and there really was a mysterious base lurking down here in the depths. She swam as close as she dared, trying to get a good set of photographs. She wasn't completely sure that photos would convince the authorities, but it would be a start.

Unless this was a government operation to begin with. That thought sent a chill through her bones, and she started looking for any kind of insignia on the building, praying that it wouldn�t be United States Navy owned and operated. She didn't find anything like that but did eventually spot what looked like an outline of a chicken. She stared at it for a moment, then took a quick photograph of it.

This was just too bizarre for words. She made her way carefully toward a window, swimming as far beneath it as she could, hoping to stay hidden by the plants. She couldn't see any movement inside, which boded well. When she got up to the window and peered in, what she saw threw her for a complete loop.

There was a giant chicken in there.

Belladonna stared at it for a few more moments, hoping it would make sense.

Then the chicken moved.

w00t

Finally caught up yesterday and reached 21,672 words while hanging out at the boyfriend's. I swear, having an SO who does NaNoWriMo is a HUGE help. We both know what the other person is going through (more or less; our writing styles do differ significantly) and don't have that imbalance that I bet one gets in a relationship where one does NaNo and the other doesn't.

"They're odd, aren't they?" a low voice asked from behind him. He flinched, spinning around to face a woman who clearly had to be Belladonna. She was tall, easily within half an inch of him. Her long, black hair was loose and flowed down her back in a way that made him want to describe it in overly flowery terms. Her eyes were such a dark blue that they looked almost purple.

She held out one hand. "Belladonna. I believe you're expecting me."

"Johnny Theremin. I sure am. Dick sent me."

"I know." She nodded toward a table. "Shall we?"

He followed her to the table, wishing desperately that she were less attractive. There were entirely too many women like this in a private investigator's life. Femme fatales weren't just for movies, he knew, and he also knew from experience that getting involved with them, while tempting, was almost always a very bad idea.

Woo-hoo!

I rock. Wrote a jillion words today AND figured out a plot bit that had me stumped. Woooo!

Since they'd gotten back on the right track, Brand, Reynold, and Jim found themselves in much higher spirits. They'd been debating what their group should be called. So far one or another of them had rejected The Time Musketeers, Guys Outside Time, and Men from the Future.

"Come on," Jim said, "I thought The Time Musketeers was pretty good."

Reynold laughed and Brand made a face at him.

"Okay, okay. What about� The Mysterious Music Collectors?"

"Lame," Reynold observed. "I think we're� The Men Without Fear!"

"The Men Without Tense, more like," Brand observed between drags on his cigarette.

"Men Without Tents?" Reynold asked. "What, like, guys who're made because they lost their tents and can't go camping?"

"No, you moron," Jim said. "Men Without Tense - 'cos we're from the future, so we have trouble with verb tenses."

Yesterday's info

Subbed yesterday and then was too busy to update. Whoops. Reached 15,037, yay me.

"I know a woman who is a fantastic diver and not exactly unaccustomed to breaking the law. She's sneaky, careful, and meticulous with details." Dick smirked a bit. "You'd like her, I think. She'd have made a fine investigator if she hadn't gone into � her rather unusual line of work."

Johnny took a thoughtful sip of whiskey. "Then I'd say I should meet her. Maybe I could outsource this if it's to the right person."

"Oh, I think you'll find that she's the right person," Dick said with a gleam in his eye. "I'll give her a call and set up the meeting for you. It's no problem."

Gah.

So tired. Too tired to write properly, at any rate. Argh. And I have a crapload of stuff to do tomorrow, too. Grrr. I'm only at 12, 104. I suck.

Brakak and some of the others were waiting for him when he got into the hallway. They looked up at him, feathers sleek. Not for the first time, he wondered why they called themselves the Faceless Chickens when they had perfectly ordinary faces. Well, ordinary for chickens, anyway. Their beaks made them hard to understand when they spoke, but he'd finally gotten the hang of it.

"You have the glove?" Brakak squawked at him. It sounded more like "You hagh the glogh?" but Morris was so used to the way she talked by now that he just heard what she meant.

Day seven!

Well, Friday I was subbing all day, yesterday I was incommunicado. Today I went to a writein. So... yeah. Friday I was at 7106, Saturday I hit 8,835, and today I wrote 2.5k at the writein and hit 11,349. Yay! I'm pretty much back on track. Go me.

Today's excerpt includes dinosaur pee, one of the dares for this year. Woot.

"Johnny! What on earth is going on? Who was that many? Why did he steal one of my mother's gloves? What on earth am I supposed to do with this� this dinosaur body in my living room?!"

"Millicent-"

"You would not believe the mess that creature made in here. There's blood everywhere. I have no idea how I'm supposed to explain this to anyone! And it's so big!"

"Millicent!"

"Yes?"

"Calm down. I know some people who can help you with the mess. I just wanted to call to make sure you weren't hurt."

"I'm fine."

"Good. Did the dinosaurs leave?"

"Yes, but I think one of them� urinated on my carpet! I love this carpet and now it's ruined!"

Back on track. Or close enough.

Well, I finally made my word-per-day goal. Sheesh. Cranked out just over 1800 words. Go me. Current count: 7,106. Yay.

Apologies to Antwon for stealing the name Kre'emvax. I couldn't think of anything better.

�Leader, we have registered a temporal disturbance in the area. We believe it was caused by time travelers entering this chronospace.�

Kre�emvax lowered her face into her hands and rubbed at her cranial nodes with her fingertips. �I was having a sufficiently bad day to begin with. What makes you think it was time travel and not just background noise?�

�Two things, leader. First, it was too great an increase in levels to be background noise. Second, when we interfaced with the security hardware in the area, we found this.� He held up a card and Kre�emvax inserted it into her video reader. The images it carried showed three young men walking out of an alleyway.

�And?�

�We scanned back through the security records and could find no image of them going into the alley. It is a dead end alley, a foolish choice for time travelers because it leaves them open to this kind of recognition. But clearly they are young and foolish.�

Yay.

Wrote a little more. Am now at 5268. Go me. I'm subbing tomorrow, which should be a good chance to catch up a little. Provided I don't have technical difficulties or something. [knocks on wood]

Day four

Meh. Things have been rough. Hard to be peppy and write a lot after the election. Gah.

Stilll, I'm writing every day even if it's not much. Cranked out 1000 yesterday and a little over 500 so far today. Go me.

Today's count: 4,535 words.

"Guys! GUYS!!!" Jim bounded into the room, his vintage sneakers squeaking on the vinitek floor. His dark eyes were open so wide they looked like they were about to pop out of his head.

Reynold looked up at him with one eyebrow raised. "What?"

"I got us in! I GOT US IN!"

Brand just raised one eyebrow and set down his comic book.

Jim crouched a bit and gestured at them to lean towards him. "Remember the expedition? I got us an in. I found one of those disgruntled grad students I was telling you about and he's going to help us out. We are set, my friends. We are heading back to get that record!"

Day Dos

Well, I managed to sandwich in a little writing today. Hopefully I'll get home early enough tonight to do some more writing, because I'm only at 2834 right now. Yikes.

Nothing I wrote today was very exciting, so my excerpt is from yesterday's work.

Today's Count: 2,834 words.

Johnny leaned back in his chair and opened the drawer he kept his whiskey in. His father had told him that it was fairly standard for PIs to have hard liquor in their file drawers. Johnny liked keeping files in there, so he kept his in the next drawer up.

He poured himself a glass and wished, once again, that he had a minifridge in his office so he could have at least a couple ice cubes with his whiskey. The liquor burned down his throat and he slid his chair back far enough to put his feet up on his desk while he studied the ceiling and pondered how he was going to make the rent on his office for the month. His last case had gone fairly well but the paycheck from it had only been enough to take care of the rent that was past due. Worse, today a fairly well-off guy had come into his office, discussed a case with him in just enough detail to let him know it was a good-sized but not impossible case, then told him he wanted to think about it a little. In Johnny's experience, that usually meant that they thought he was too high priced or not quite competent enough. Either way, they almost never came back. He looked down at his tie and wondered if he should get rid of it. This was the second time he'd lost a client while wearing this tie.