Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Back to the Start

If any of you saw my blog with a new design, or saw the post I now deleted called "New Design" IGNORE IT! IGNORE ALL OF IT!

I DID change my blog's design, but I missed the old design too much. So I changed it back. But I couldn't remember a lot of things, so it took me a while to figure it out. But my blog is back to normal now! :D I still feel like there are little things off, but for now, this is as best as I can do. If there's something you notice that was different before, let me know, and I'll do my best to fix it.

Also, I have a long weekend :D Four days. I'm planning on working on a sequel to my It's Called a Hug short story.

One Thousand Words - A Poem

The rhymes are not perfect, but I don't care too much.
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Even if it’s torn down the middle
Pulled apart to shreds
A picture’s worth a thousand words
Or so you always said

I was told I could string together words
And use them to paint something beautiful
But my pallet started to dry out
And my eloquence became juvenile

My words were scattered, blown away
Leaving me a picture I couldn’t paint
I tried to find the right words again
But by the time I did, it was too late

I fear I will make the same mistake
I swear to myself I won’t
You’ve already gone down that path
I can’t even beg you “Please don’t.”

It’s too late to take your hand
And I’m left standing here broken
I can’t paint you something perfect anymore
One thousand words go unspoken

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Pushing Up Daisies - Part Two (OLD VERSION)

Done, finally. Kind of silly at parts, kind of serious too, but I'm finally done. This part is kind of fast paced, yes, but it's important. You learn a lot about Thalia's past and family. Also, Soot and Mar are introduced! :D Yay! One last thing: I have changed Thalia's hair color to honey brown with a black streak, instead of black with a blond streak. I didn't want to re-do her whole bio just for this, but yeah. I honestly don't care, though, whether people write her with her new hair color rather than her old hair color. I'll use the new one, but if people choose to use the old one, so be it. And in the third flashback, Thalia has already taken her taken name.  The first two are before then. OK, enough of my rambles, read and enjoy!
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Thalia sighed.  She was bored.  Over the past two days that she had been in this place (Thalia could tell that it had been two days because of her watch), she hadn’t had any other human interaction

She sighed again, closing her eyes.  It wasn’t even a real cell that Thalia was trapped it.  The fluorescent lighting and obnoxiously bright white ceiling, walls, and floor might have just given it away.  And yet here she was, chained to a chair with chains that obviously had binding spells on them.  She was powerless.

A soft click caused Thalia’s eyes to fly open.  The door handle was turning slowly.  As the door began to open, the mind reader couldn’t help feel like she was in one of those cheesy yet terrifying horror movies.  Whoever was behind the door apparently got  tired of creeping out their hostage, because it was suddenly flung open, revealing a young man in his late teens.

Do I know him?’ Thalia thought curiously, searching through her memories.  He certainly did look familiar, with his flaxen hair and gray eyes.

“Surprise!” the man cried out suddenly, surveying Thalia with a boyish grin.  He had an Irish accent.  “It was me all along!  You didn’t guess that, did you, dear?  I know you’re clever, but of all the people it could be, you would never have suspected me.  I’m good, aren’t I?”

“What?”  Thalia looked completely bewildered.  “What!?”

He titled his head, shutting the door behind him.  “You don’t remember me?  Well, it has been a long time since we saw each other, so I guess it’s not that surprising.  Why, we’ve both even lost our Russian accents!”

WHAT!?”  Thalia was seriously freaked out now.  Hardly anyone knew that she had live in Russia when she was little.  Now this stranger was saying that he had known her back then.  But as much as Thalia tried to convince herself that she didn’t know this person, something was gnawing at the back of her mind.  A long buried memory.

“Come on, remember.  Try really, really hard.”

And it all came hurtling back.

***

Two year old Calliope chased her older brother around the backyard.  The snow was deep, reaching up to the young girl’s waist.  So while the eight year old boy was able to run awkwardly, Calliope was struggling to stay upright as she stumbled and pushed her way through the thick snow.

“Give it back!” she cried, reaching her arms out before her in a pleading way.

Finn laughed and held the stuffed cat doll high above his head.  “Come and get it!” he called teasingly.

Calliope sucked in a deep breath.  The boy’s eyes widened, and he seemed to realize that his sister was about to call for their mother.  Which would be very, very bad for him.  Finn held out the cat doll to her.  “Here, here it is.  I was only joking.  Shush, no need to-”

Before Finn had finished, the cat doll was snatched from his hands.  The next thing he knew, he was sprawled on his back in the snow, and Calliope was hurrying off to the house, laughing.

Two years later.
                                                                                                                                 
“Where’s Finn?”

Calliope gazed up at her mother with wide, questioning gray eyes.  The woman sighed, and crouched down, putting her arms around her daughter.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart, but Finn’s gone now.  There’s nothing we can do.”

“The Necromancers took him,” Calliope said.  “Why?”

Her mother sighed again.  She couldn’t keep anything from this mind reading child.  “Someday you’ll be able to understand it better, I promise,” she said, stroking the young girl’s honey brown hair.  “But remember what your father and I have always told you: your family is your greatest ally.”

“That’s lesson number one.  Lesson number two is that your family can also be your greatest enemy.”

Calliope’s mother laughed.  “Correct, dear.”

Seven years later.

Thalia Jane Circe stumbled through the burning house.  She clutched at her sword like a lifeline, swinging it wildly at any vampires that came near her, decapitating them, slicing them open.  Her left arm was broken, her forehead bleeding profusely, but she had to get out.

Her family was dead.  Thalia couldn’t believe it.  Her mother, father, and Fay – all of them.

Thalia burst out the front door, coughing and gagging.  The smoke was clogging her lungs.  Her vision was blurred by blood and tears, but Thalia could still make out Dusk standing at the end of her driveway.  There was someone else too, but all Thalia could make out was short blond hair shining in the moonlight.

The two disappeared way before she had gotten even halfway to them.

***

“Oh my God,” Thalia whispered, staring at her brother in horror.  “Oh my freaking God.  Finn.  Holy crap.”

Finn laughed.  “I thought you’d never figure it out!”

Thalia gritted her teeth and glared at him.  “So.  Sixty-two years after you had Dusk and a bunch of other vampires kill the rest of our family, you decide to kill me too.  How charming.”

“Oh no, dearest little sister, I’m not going to kill you,” Finn said in a hurt voice, his eyes going wide.

“Okay, then, you want to rub it in my face.  ‘Haha, I killed our family, sucks for you.’  Am I right?”

“Nooooope!”

She sighed.  “What, then?”

Her brother grinned.  “Do you wonder why I killed our family?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Thalia said sarcastically, rolling her eyes in an exaggerated manner.  “You’re psychotic, I’m guessing.  Or maybe you just like killing people.”

“Wrong again, sister dearest,” Finn said with a sigh.  “When the Necromancers of our family took me away – to Ireland, in case you’re wondering – our parents didn't exactly fight to get me back.”

“Because mum was pregnant with Fay, and I was only four at the time.”

“Whatever.  I mean, I’m glad now that I was taken away, but I certainly expected more of our parents.  So, I killed them!  Ta-da!” Finn stared at his sister expectantly, waiting to be congratulated.

Thalia looked revolted.  “Uh, yeah.  Finn, you’re definitely psychotic.”

“Stop calling me Finn,” Not-Finn said, pouting.  “It’s not my name anymore.”

“Then what it?”

Not-Finn grinned.  “My name is Bob!”

Thalia burst out laughing.

Bob-Finn frowned.  “Doesn’t that name strike fear into your heart?”

“Pfft, no!  That’s ridiculous!” Thalia managed to choke out.  “Reminds me of Angel Bob from Doctor Who!”

Bob-Finn walked closer to her, his eyes narrowing.  “Well, sorry to disappoint.  But playtime’s over now, sweetie.  I’m not going to kill you yet, but that doesn’t mean I won’t hurt you.”

“Yes, but, here is an example of why I’m glad not to be a guy,” Thalia replied.  She gave him a sweet smile and kicked him between the legs.

Her brother doubled over in pain.  The chains binding Thalia to the chair were a bit loose, so, with a bit of wriggling, she managed to slip out of them.  She felt her powers rushing back to her.  Thalia sprinted over to the door and tried to yank it open.  It was locked.

“Oh, you really thought I’d leave the door unlocked?”

Thalia spun slowly around.  Bob-Finn was pointing a gun at her head.

“This whole thing is bigger than you think it is, little sister.  There’s more to it than just me and you.  And now you’re getting in the way, so you need to be eliminated.  No hard feelings, okay?” he said in a pleasant tone.  Thalia did the only thing she could do, because she was not getting shot – she ran forward and flung herself at him.

Thalia didn’t weigh much at all, but she had caught Bob-Finn off guard.  He stumbled backwards, tripped over the chair, and they went crashing to the floor.  The gun flew from his hand and slide across the floor.  Thalia and Bob-Finn glared at each other for a moment, then both tried to grab the gun at once.  A wrestling match ensued.  Bob-Finn grabbed a handful of Thalia’s hair and yanked her head back.  She responded by punching him in the nose.  They rolled across the floor, exchanging blows and yelling curses at each other.  Eventually, Thalia felt something cold and metal brush her hand.  She grabbed the gun by the barrel and wacked Bob-Finn over the head with it.  He fell unconscious.

“Sorry, dude,” Thalia panted, “But you never were a good older brother.”

She reached into his coat pocket, searching for the key to the door, and pulled out a whole ring of them.  Thalia glared at all the keys.  There wasn’t time to try them all.  So she aimed the gun at the lock on the door and fired.  The lock broke.

Thalia got up and walked to the door, then looked back.  She couldn’t just leave her brother there.  He might kidnap her again.  And there were still the chains…

***

Skyril walked down the stone steps to catacombs.  She was still slightly confused, but at least she knew where she was going.  The girl who had burst through the window had helped her get the information she needed.  The girl had then introduced herself as Soot Featherwing, given Skyril a hug, and then jumped back out the window, leaving a greatly confused Skyril in her wake.

But even so, Skyril now knew at least part of what had happened to Thalia.  Someone had employed the man who ran the cemetery to set up a fake job that only a powerful mind reader like Thalia could complete.  They even went so far as to set up fake stories of people who had failed at the job.  Thalia would come down to the catacombs, the bosses behind this whole operation would send someone to kidnap her, and then she would be moved somewhere else.  That was all Skyril and Soot had been able to get out of the man.

Skyril pushed open the heavy wooden door to the catacombs, and was met with an ear-splitting shriek.  She leapt backwards, about to throw a knife into the room, when a familiar voice called out, “Stay back!  I’m warning you, I have a frying pan!”

Skyril almost burst out laughing.  She pushed open the door and found herself face to face with her friend March Pathway.

“Greetings and salutations Mar!” Skyril called cheerily.  Mar’s face went from fearsome, to confused, to ecstatic, all in about three seconds.

“Skyril!  Hiya!”  Mar flung herself at Skyril, wrapping her in a hug.  She stepped back and grinned, twirling her frying pan in her hand.  “Do you know where Thalia is?”

“She was kidnapped,” Skyril told her.

Mar sighed in exasperation.  “Again!?”

“What do you mean ‘again’?”

“Well…” Mar said slowly.  “There was the time that Sanguine kidnapped us both and tied us to chairs.  We escaped and beat him with said chairs.  And I guess the other time doesn’t really count, considering it was Mir that kidnapped Thalia, and she just put her in a closet.  Mir was mad because Thalia changed her hammer with a rubber chicken when she wasn’t looking and wouldn’t tell her where it was.”

“….Okay,” Skyril said slowly, thoroughly concerned for her friends' mental health and deeply amused at the same time.

“Yeah…well, I found Thalia’s sword and bag!” March declared happily, pointing to a spot on the dusty floor where a struggle had obviously taken place.  True to what Mar had said, Thalia’s sword and bag were lying there.

Skyril walked over and picked up the sword and bag.  She sighed.  The two objects meant a lot to Thalia.  She slung the bag over her shoulder and turned to Mar.

“I think we need to go interrogate the guy upstairs again.”

“Okey dokey!  Off we go!”

***

Thalia pushed the door open, her now chained up brother tucked under one arm.  She blinked.  She knew this hallway.

“Really?  He kept me in the cemetery building thingy?  Wow, uncreative,” Thalia grumbled to herself.  Bob-Finn stirred slightly, muttering incoherently.

“Oh, shut up,” she snapped at him, bonking him on the head with the gun again.  He fell back into blissful unconsciousness.

Thalia started off down the hall, heading to the office of the man who had interrogated her, hitting Bob-Finn when he stirred occasionally.  She reached the office in more time than it normally would have taken her.  She was weak after those two days in that room, and even more tired after her struggle.  Thalia tried the door handle.  It wasn’t locked, but there was something blocking it on the other side.

“Is every door in the world impassable today?” she whined.  There wasn’t really anything she could to do get it.  Her hands were weak and sweaty from dragging her brother through a building and up two flights of stairs, so Thalia wouldn’t have the grip to try to force open the door.

She glared at the door.  She had just had a bad day.  And when Thalia has bad days, she gets violent.

Thalia dropped the gun on the floor and picked up her brother with both hands, aiming his head at the door.  He could be useful for something: he could be an improvised battering ram.

***

Mar placed a chair under the door handle of the office.  She leaned against the wall next to the door, waving around her frying pan threatening, so the man wouldn’t try to escape.  Skyril was interrogating him again, but it seemed like she wasn’t getting any new information.  Mar sighed, and contemplated turning into a turtle, just for the heck of it.

“Skyril, I don’t think this is necessary,” she said.  Skyril looked over, not stopping her poking of the man who ran the cemetery.

“Why do you say that?”

Mar shrugged.   “Not sure.  I just have this feeling that Thalia is gonna turn up soon.”

Skyril opened her mouth to reply, when a sudden banging filled the room.  Mar leapt away from the door in shock.

BANG, BANG, BANG!  The chair started trembling.  Skyril pulled out her throwing knives, Mar got ready to shape-shift into a snow leopard to take out whatever was behind the door, and the man gulped and hid under his desk.

The chair was finally knocked over, and the door flew open, revealing a very disgruntled Thalia.  Her face was drawn into a vicious scowl, and she was holding an unconscious young man.  The man who ran the cemetery peeked out from under his desk and squeaked.  Thalia glared at him.  She tossed her burden down on the floor.

“Happy Halloween,” Thalia spat.  Then she fainted.

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Happy early Halloween, everyone!

Anyway. Soot will come in again later in the story, I think. And so will Mir. And..........well, anyone else who wants to, I guess. If you want to be in the story, just link me to your OC. I can't promise that they'll appear in the next part of the story, or that they'll have a big role. I CAN promise, however, that they'll be there, that they will appear in at LEAST two different parts of the story, and that they will have at least one speaking part in each part they appear in (meaning three or more different parts in the conversation they are taking part in).That is my offer. I can't promise more than this because no matter how hard I try, I can't make everyone a main character. OK. I'm done rambling (again).

Thursday, September 8, 2011

It's Called A Hug

Just a little, silly one shot. Basically what would happen if the usual SP bad guys tried to kidnap me. So my OC isn't in this fanfic, instead it's pretty much real life me. So, a ridiculously annoying and hyper person. Yeah. Anyway. Enjoy!
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“Ah crap, I think I’m screwed.”                             
Thalia – the actual Thalia – peered out the window of her house, before quickly ducking back down, lying flat on the floor.  She army-crawled out of the living room, through the dining room, and into the kitchen, where she reached for the phone.  Then she hesitated.  What would she even say if she called 911?
“Uh, hullo there.  Sorry to bother you, but a psycho vampire, a Texan assassin, some…thing from London that can jump superty duper high, and a zombie from a book series are strolling up my driveway, and they don’t look like they’re here for tea.  D’you think you can, y’know, send over some police men to save my sorry little butt?  Or preferably an Irish skeleton detective wearing a suit and a fedora?  Thank you very much,” Thalia muttered sarcastically.  She snorted.  It didn’t sound very believable even when she told it to herself.
But another quick look out her window showed that what she was seeing was, indeed, the truth.  For some reason that nobody in the universe could fathom, Dusk, Billy-Ray Sanguine, Springheeled Jack, and Vaurien Scapegrace were walking purposefully up Thalia’s driveway.
Nobody else was home.  Her brother was at band practice.  Her dad was at work.  Her mum was taking the cats to the vet, so not even her two insane felines were there to back her up against the usual yet deadly bad guys.  There was never a time that Thalia wished more that Skulduggery Pleasant was there than right now, and she had wished pretty darn hard sometimes.
Thalia twirled a piece of her short, messy light brown hair around her finger – a nervous habit she had acquired over the years.  She had basically no chance.  At a whopping five foot, three inches, and weighing at least sixty pounds less than the lightest of her enemies, tackling them was out.  Her randomly thrown punches and kicks would be of no use.  And as loud as she could scream, she was sure that they had dealt with plenty of screaming victims in their day, so Thalia was even unable to leave them deaf and disorientated.
She clenched her fists.  Well, no matter if fighting wouldn’t be of much use, she wasn’t going down without one.  Thalia crawled hurriedly to her room.  Once there, she stood up, opened her closet, and took out her black cargo jacket.  It was comforting to have on, because it reminded her of her OC, and it made her look awesome.  Thalia glanced at herself in the mirror.  She looked even paler than usual.  Even her freckles had become rather ashen, and her gray eyes looked large and terrified.  She gulped, shut the closet door, and grabbed her hard plastic flashlight.  The doorbell rang.
Thalia crouched back down and hurried back to the kitchen.  Opening the door was the stupidest thing she could do, so she ignored the ringing bell and the fists pounding on the door.  She flung open the medicine cabinet, and grabbed the black metal flashlight as well.  She grinned. Now she had two flashlights, which both doubled as light sources and weapons.
Thalia giggled suddenly.  “Double flashlights all the way across the sky…..” she sang to herself, walking back towards the living room.
Her random mirth was cut off by Sanguine shouting from the outside as she passed the front door.  “We know you’re in there, darlin’!”
Thalia couldn’t help herself.  “You should have said ‘poppet’!” she called back.  “Then I would have thought you were pirates!  And pirates are freaking awesome!”
The door exploded.
Thalia screamed and flung herself to the ground, covering her face as bits of wood flew everywhere.  When the sound of falling woodchips stopped, she warily uncovered her face and pushed herself to her feet.  In the time it had taken her to do this, Sanguine, Dusk, Jack, and Scapegrace had filed into her house.  There was a tension-filled silence.  Thalia decided to break it.
“’Sup?” she said, raising her eyebrows and giving them an acknowledging nod.  They all stared at her.  “Coffee, anyone?”
“Are you trying to be funny?” Scapegrace asked, narrowing his eyes.
“Yup.”
“It’s not working,” he pointed out.
She snapped her fingers.  “Drat.  And I was trying so hard too!”
“Now you’re just stalling.”
Thalia stuck out her tongue at him.
“Now kiddies,” Sanguine said in a soothing voice, stepping in between the teenager and the zombie, “let’s not fight.  Though, this might lead to one anyway.  That depends if our lovely lady of honor decides to come quietly or not.  I’m thinking not, though.  She looks armed.”
“I am, thank you for noticing!” Thalia shouted at an unnecessary volume, waving her flashlights around.  “And who’re you calling “kiddie”, Cowboy?”
Sanguine twitched.
“And this hardly seems fair!” she continued.  Once Thalia started ranting, it was almost impossible to stop her, until she exhausted herself.  “I mean, really!  One, two…four!  Four of you against little ol’ me.  And yes, I did just skip the number three, but that’s beside the point.  Actually, it’s exactly the point!  But not really, which makes perfect sense.  Anyway, who’s your employer, huh?  Whoever they are, they’re obviously pretty scared of my mad ninja skills to have sent all four of you!  Why do you want to kidnap or murder me, anyway?  And why is it that all of you always work together?  What is this?  A Revengers’ Club slash Vengeance Squad reunion?”
Here Thalia paused, breathing heavily.
“How did you know about the Revengers’ Club?” Jack asked.
Thalia snorted.  “I read the books, duh.  You lot should be proud; the Golden God does an amazing job at writing you.  And it’s really a shame you showed up here when you did.  Well, for me anyway.  If I had five more seconds I would have hidden under the bed.  You never would have found me.”
“That was smart idea,” a smooth, velvety voice said.  “Not many people look under beds, these days.”
Thalia jumped around and almost screamed in relief and happiness.  Strolling towards her out of the kitchen was Skulduggery Pleasant, closely followed by Valkyrie Cain and the Spiky Haired Wonder, also known as Fletcher Renn.
“Skul-man!” she cried, flinging her arms around him in a hug.  Skulduggery hesitated, obviously not expecting to be glomped.  Then he patted her head.  Thalia released the skeleton detective and grinned.
“And Val too!” Valkyrie was also blessed (or cursed, whichever you prefer) with a giant hug, but she just laughed and hugged Thalia back.  Finished distributing her hugs, Thalia started jumping around in an overly hyper fashion, shouting random things at the antagonists, mainly calling them a very rude form of ‘idiot’ in Russian.
“What, I don’t get a hug?” Fletcher asked indignantly.
Thalia stopped her jumping.  Sticking her plastic flashlight in one of her coat pockets, she clapped him on the shoulder with her free hand and gave him a serious look.
“Fletcher, you look like someone skinned a golden porcupine and super glued its pelt to your head,” she told him.  “No, you do not get a hug.”
Fletcher frowned.  “My hair is not that spiky.”
“Oh yes it is.”
“Is not.”
“Is too.”
“Is not!”
“Is too!”
“Is not!”
“Is too!  Derek even describes your hair as ‘ridiculous’ in The Faceless Ones!” Thalia shouted triumphantly.  “The Golden God’s word is law!”
Fletcher scowled.  Thalia grinned.
“Can we all stop being childish and just get on with it already?” Dusk snapped irritably.  “We’ve wasted enough time already.”
“I blame Scapegrace,” Sanguine said innocently, causing the Zombie King to cry out indignantly.
Thalia waved her hand around.  “In a moment, Dusk.  I just have one more question.”  She turned to Skulduggery.  “How’d you get in?”
“Let’s just say that your sun porch door has seen better days,” he answered.
Thalia sighed.  “What’s with everyone and exploding my doors today?”
In answer, of course, a hand closed around her ankle and dragged her into the ground.
Sanguine reappeared behind Dusk and Jack, holding Thalia by a shoulder and pressing his razor to her neck.  “Don’t mind me,” he said lightly.  “I’ll just be taking this little lady to the boss.  No need to fret.”
Valkyrie scowled at him.  “We’d like to escort her, thank you.”  She snapped her fingers, a ball of fire flaring up in her left hand.  Shadows curled around Valkyrie’s right hand.
“Ooohh, fire,” Thalia breathed.  Jack bonked her on the head.
“No talking.”  Thalia fell silent, clutching her flashlight in terror and squeezing her eyes shut.
The sounds of fighting started up all around Thalia.  Sanguine whispered in her ear, “Just keep walking backwards and I won’t have to slit your throat.  Oh, and drop your flashlights.”
Thalia did as commanded, feeling utterly exposed as she was forced to give up the two objects that she had been relying on for protection.  She kept her eyes firmly shut as she stumbled backwards down the stone steps outside of her house.  To someone else, someone who was not Thalia, it would have looked like her eyes were closed in fear.  But really, she was concentrating.  Trying not to make a sound, she snapped her fingers repeatedly, attempting to make a fireball, like Valkyrie had just done.  Even though her OC was a mind reader, Thalia had already trying casting her mind around randomly, and had not gained a single thought from anyone.  So, she was attempting to be an Elemental.
Nothing was happening.  Thalia gritted her teeth.  This was her last chance.  She couldn’t fail.
She snapped her fingers extra hard.  Suddenly her hand grew warm.
Thalia’s eyes flew open, and she couldn’t help but grin.  A ball of fire was sitting in her palm.  It was small, yes, only about half the size of Valkyrie’s.  But it was a fireball nonetheless, and a fairly respectable size for her first one.
“Sanguine,” Thalia said.
“No talk-”
Thalia wrenched herself out of his grip, spun around, and shoved her handful of fire in his face.  “Happy birthday!”
Sanguine shouted in surprise and pain.  He made a wild grab for Thalia, but she was already far out of his reach.  Thalia burst back into her house, and snatched up her flashlights.  She hurled one across the living room at Jack, who jumped to avoid it, successfully smacking into the ceiling.  He fell back to the ground in a comical manner, knocking his head on the coffee table.  He didn’t get up.
Valkyrie, who had been fighting Jack, looked over at Thalia in surprise.  “How’d you escape Sanguine?”
Thalia grinned and snapped her fingers, igniting another fireball.  “Fire!  I’m magical!  And don’t ask how I randomly did this, I don’t know.  Maybe I go out and work for the American Sanctuary in my sleep.  It seems likely, given everything else that’s happened so far today.  Anyway.  Where are the others?”
“Fletcher teleported Scapegrace somewhere.  I’m not sure where,” Valkyrie said slowly.  Loud crashes and bangs came from a room down the hallway.  “And Skulduggery and Dusk were fighting and went down that hall, and turned right.”
“…Oh my God…”
“What?”
“They’re in my room!” Thalia grabbed Valkyrie’s hand and dragged her down the hall.  “Come on!”
Thalia leapt heroically into her room, pulling Valkyrie behind her.  She chucked her other flashlight at Dusk’s head.  “Outta my room!”
The flashlight connected with the vampire’s head.  Dusk turned around and growled at her, but then seemed to think better of attacking her now that he was obviously alone.  He jumped out Thalia’s open bedroom window and was gone.
“Well done,” Skulduggery said approvingly to Thalia, stepping lightly off her bed.  He clapped her on the shoulder.  Thalia glared at him.  Skulduggery tilted his head.  “What?”
“This is my room.  Out.  Now,” she commanded.  “Or I’ll eat you.”
Not wanting to risk the wrath of the crazy American, Skulduggery left the room hastily.  Valkyrie followed, chuckling.  Thalia picked up her flashlight and walked after them, whistling.  The trio sat down in Thalia’s living room – ignoring the unconscious Springheeled Jack on the floor – and waited for about thirty seconds, before they heard a soft pop, and the Spiky Haired Wonder re-entered their midst.
“Scapegrace is taken care of,” Fletcher informed them.  “And why is Sanguine running around the front yard with his hair on fire?”
“I set his hair on fire?” Thalia leapt out of her chair and ran to the window, just in time to see a very angry, flaming-headed Sanguine sink into the ground.  Thalia laughed with joy.  “Oh, that’s brilliant!”
You set his hair on fire?” Skulduggery asked in confusion.  Thalia snapped her fingers and small ball of flame lit up in her hand.
“Don’t ask how, I don’t know, but I’m suddenly an Elemental,” Thalia said, noting the surprised look on Fletcher’s face.  “In other words, be jealous of my natural amazing-ness.”
Fletcher opened his mouth to make some sort of snappy response, but Thalia awkwardly put her arm around him, and he stared at her weirdly.  “What are you doing?”
“It’s called a hug.  Appreciate it.” She let go and walked across the room, scooping up her other flashlight and kicking Jack a little, just for fun.
“So,” Valkyrie said in an amused voice.  “What should we do now?  Go back to Ireland and inform the Sanctuary?”
Skulduggery nodded.  “Yes, I think so.  Thalia-”
“I’m coming with you,” Thalia said firmly, cutting him off.  “I’m not safe here, and I have loads of questions for you lot.  Like, how’d you know those guys were gonna attack me?  What’re you doing in America in the first place?  And how do you know where I live?”
“Fine, you can come along.  We’ll answer all of those questions, I promise,” Skulduggery responded.  “But we need to go now.”
“One question?  Please?”
“Fine.  What is it?”
“Why are you all so tall?” Thalia asked sincerely, looking up at all of them.  She tried standing on her tip-toes, but she still wasn’t as tall as any of them.
Skulduggery titled his head.  “But that also brings up the question, why are you so short?”
Thalia shrugged.  “Fair enough.  But I’m not as short as Mir.  Oh, you’ll meet her sometime soon.  And Mar, yes, Mar too.  It’s impossible to know me and not know those two.  The universe might implode.  Anyway, are we gonna go soon?”
“Ready whenever you are,” Valkyrie told her.
“I think I’m good….oh, wait, one moment.”  Thalia ran back into her room and grabbed her cell phone.  She also snatched up a pen and a piece of paper.  She scribbled a quick note on the paper, rereading it to herself as she walked back to the others:

Dear Mum, Dad, Bro, and cats,
I was attacked by a vamp, a zombie, an assassin, and some other thing.  Not sure what it really is.  Doors suffered damage.  I am OK, will be in Ireland with a skeleton detective for an unknown period of time.  I have my phone with me.  Call when you see the note.
Love and hugs,
Thalia

“Perfect,” Thalia muttered to herself.  She set the note on the dining room table.
“Ready?” Valkyrie called.  She was holding Fletcher’s hand.  Skulduggery hand his hand on Fletcher’s shoulder.
“Ready.” Thalia walked over and touched the toe of her Converse to Fletcher’s shin.  She had had enough physical contact with anyone for the day.  “Teleport away, porcupine!”

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Titles? Who Needs Titles?

I couldn't think of an actual title for this thing but I really, really wanted to post it.
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Shay ran.

She sprinted through the crowded streets, ducking and weaving in and out of people.  The cracked sidewalks caused her to stumble once in a while, but, somehow, she managed to keep going.  Her black t-shirt stuck to her body with sweat and rain.  Her breath came in sharp bursts.  Every step caused pain to shoot through her side.  Every second spent regaining her balance meant another second her pursuers had to use to catch up.  She had to keep going.

The throbbing mass of people around Shay became too thick to navigate, with people running in every which way, trying to get out of the rain.  She fought her way to the edge of the crowd, bursting into an alleyway.  It was small, so small that Shay’s shoulders brushed the bricks on either side of her as she hurried through.  Shouts echoed far behind her.

She wasn’t even running for something important.  It was all so ridiculous.  How had she even gotten here in the first place?  The more Shay thought about it, the more things started to click in her mind.  Her sprint slowed to a jog, then to a walk.  The black clad girl frowned.  She didn’t know why she was running.  She didn’t even know what she was running from.

The alley came to an end.  Shay stepped out of her narrow corridor of brick to find herself surrounded by least a dozen men, all pointing guns at her.  For some reason, though, she wasn’t afraid.  The thought of death didn’t send the mind-numbing fear through her heart that it did to most people.  Instead, she was irritated.  Why would anyone try to kill her?  What had she done to these men anyway?  The answer was nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

The expressionless men aimed their guns at Shay’s head.  She glared in defiance.  They squeezed the triggers in unison.



Loud bangs and flashes of light were the last things Shay remembered when she woke up in her bed, drenched in cold sweat.  Which was good.

Because what she could have remembered instead was much, much worse.