Howdy!

So, you know how I sounded kind of excited to be doing Camp NaNo this year? Well, as of this morning I’ve written a grand total of 2344 words. I shall be trying harder in the next two weeks to up the word count. Besides being busy with work and reading ALL of the books, I’ve also been editing my novella, Adela’s Curse, for the past two days. In honor of how awful editing is, I decided to share a few bits and pieces with you. I’m also considering doing a few character spotlights in the near future as I get around to the eventual publishing.

~     ~

“Did Estera do your face?” she asked.

“Yes, and I’m trying to get rid of most of it.”

“You can tell. And you can tell that Estera’s almost four hundred years old,” Lidia muttered, taking a brush and adding some light but tasteful lines around Adela’s eyes. “Perfect!” she declared as she re-tied Adela’s sash.

“What would I do without you, Lidia?” Adela asked.

“Become a lonely, grouchy old faery,” Lidia laughed. “You look beautiful.”

“You’re just saying that because you’re my friend.”

~     ~

“Your friend is quite charming; a welcome relief from your constant nagging,” Rafael told Lidia.

“What? You cannot stomach hearing your own voice repeated back to you?” Lidia asked.

“I was not aware that my voice sounded like nails on rock.”

“That’s because no one has had the heart to tell you. No doubt they are too busy swooning and stroking your ego.”

“I have an ego?”

“With a hat like that, who wouldn’t?” Lidia said.

~     ~

“If I had known faeries were this easy to convince, I would have done this a long time ago!” she said.

“Who are you?” Adela asked. She tried to stand, but her legs refused to let her.

“I’m a witch, darling, and I just caught myself a faery.” She touched Adela on the forehead, and everything went dark.

~     ~

“Adela!” a voice broke through. She looked up to see the last person she expected as Damian ran to her side.

“Are you all right?” he asked. She raised a tear stained face.

“No.” Her voice trembled as she struggled to stop the tears.

“What happened?” he asked, concern written on his features.

“I…I can’t tell you,” she said. Damian searched her face for any kind of answer. Maksym ran to his side and pressed up against his leg. He reached down to calm the rabbit and saw Adela’s arm. There was a burn mark.

“You’re hurt!” he exclaimed and gently pushed the sleeve away. “This is a hand mark. Adela, you have to tell me!” He took her hand. She looked at him kneeling by her and found herself pouring out the story. As she finished, she felt his grip tighten on her hand.

“I’ll kill Marek myself!” he gritted. “He has to pay for this!”

“Damian, you know faeries can’t kill humans. It’s forbidden,” Adela said shakily.

~     ~

“It was her, father, I know it!” the boy exclaimed. “She did something!”

“Maybe, lad,” his father said. “But then maybe she didn’t. She’d have to be a faery. And faeries don’t lie.”

~     ~

“I hope…” he stopped. “Look at that,” he said. A rose near Adela had turned from a withered bud into a bloom.

“How did that happen?” he asked. “Everything has been dead for weeks now.”

Adela looked around, wishing she could stop her magic. The garden had sensed her presence without her trying, and the poison was being driven away. Several more blooms had opened up, strange spots of color in the bleak courtyard.

“I don’t know what’s happening,” she said. “Perhaps a change is finally coming.”

He looked at her. “Perhaps it is,” he murmured. “Do you walk very often? I should like to find you here again.”

~     ~

What do you think? Would you be interested in reading more excerpts and finding out more about these characters? Let me know in the comments!!

I’ll also be giving a Camp NaNo update sometime in the next week and you can find out about my slowly moving project! 🙂