Casters

2006-03-25T09:55:00.001-08:00

2006-03-25T09:55:00.000-08:00

2006-03-25T08:43:00.000-08:00

10,000 Words

2005-11-19T22:58:00.000-08:00

I've decided to sign up for a 10,000 word weekend challenge so that I can get some motivation to finish this story! Right now I've got 3264 for today. I'm almost halfway done. :o)

I Promise!

2005-11-17T06:43:00.000-08:00

I'll fix it when I get back from Palm Desert, I promise!

Chapter 3: Sometimes Remembering is a Bitch

2005-11-17T06:41:00.000-08:00

Casters
Act I- The Initiation
Chapter Three: Sometimes Remembering is a Bitch

How do our lives ravel out into the no-wind, no-sound, the weary gestures wearily recapitulant: echoes of old compulsion with no-hand on no-strings: in sunset we fall into furious attitudes, dead gestures of dolls.

- William Faulkner, “As I Lay Dying”

“Wes, wake up,” he heard his friend Craig shout. “Wesley, wake the fuck up now!” Wesley Chambers struggled to keep whatever semblance of sleep he had left, but his friend was obstinate. “Come on, man, wake up. Look at where we are!” Wesley opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was bright light. He went to move his hands to shield his eyes from the sun, but only got a face full of sand. He sat up and brushed the sand out of his hair and off of his face.

“What the fuck?” Wesley shouted. He immediately regretted doing that for his felt like it was going to explode. “Oh, my head.”

“Oh, my neck,” Craig said, using his left hand to massage his neck. “And my stomach feels like hell.”

“Gee, I wonder why,” Wesley said, picking up a bottle of Jim Beam that had napped next to them. He tipped it upside to confirm that there was nothing left inside. Craig turned and looked at the bottle and smiled.

“Yep, that would do it.”

“So, where are we?” Wes asked, tossing the bottle away.

“If memory serves correct, we’re in the sand trap over by Hole 7,” Craig stated matter of factly.

“The golf course? We’re on the golf course?” He made an attempt to stand up, but his legs were content on him staying where he was. “When did that happen?” he asked as if he didn’t know.

“Luke’s party, remember?” Craig looked down at himself and realized that he had lost his shirt somewhere. “Oh fuck… dude, do you remember what happened to my shirt or my pants?”

Wesley ventured a look in Craig’s direction and verified that he had lost his shirt. A smile came to his face for he knew exactly what happened to them. They were still at the clubhouse on the other end of the golf course.
Craig’s friend Luke was throwing his 21st birthday party at his father’s course and as parties go, it got out of hand, which is exactly how Luke likes it. Wesley watched as Craig downed three cans of Bud Light, two Coronas, a couple of screwdrivers, and a shot of Jaeger before the clothes starting coming off. The shirt was the first to go. With the group of 20 plus college kids chanting the words, “Strip, strip!” Craig felt obliged to give his audience what they wanted. He climbed on top of the pool table and began to sing the song everyone thinks of when a striptease is in progress. He mussed up his thick brown hair and ran his hands down his chest. At one point he even licked his fingers and rubbed them on his nipples. The crowd clapped while Wes stayed on the border of it, sipping his third screwdriver of the night.
Craig reached down and pulled his red Abercromie and Fitch shirt over his head, revealing his smooth and tanned shea butter torso. He waved the shirt above his head in the usual striptease fashion before tossing it out into the crowd. It missed everyone and landed at Wes’ feet. Wes bent down and picked it up and raised his drink to him.

When Craig started to go for his pants, Wes decided that it was time to go… He turned around and walked towards the front of the clubhouse. He saw Luke trying to chat up some girl in his History class. He could tell that the girl was not drunk enough to even consider doing what Luke was obviously pining for.
He tossed Craig’s shirt on the couch as he walked out of the front door. He sat on the stairs and watched the cars drive by the golf course. He wondered what Uncle Dale was doing that was so important that he couldn’t be there with him. He felt odd being there without him. Dale knew these people when he was college and had invited Wes and Craig to tag along. Craig knew most of the other people there anyway, but Wes didn’t like to socialize much. He didn’t have anything in common with them, other than the fact that they all went to the same university. They all looked like people out of American Eagle and Anchor Blue catalogues. Even though Wes was a good looking guy, neatly combed red hair with the bangs gelled in the upright and locked position, stunning grey eyes, smooth crème coloured skin, no freckles, tall, but not obscenely tall, unlike Craig, Wes didn’t feel like he belonged in the ‘pretty people’ group. Dale would have been the link that would have made him feel a lot more at home with people and with himself.

He took another sip of his screwdriver and decided that he probably drink any more than he had. He set the black plastic Solo cup down on the stair next to him and reached into his pocket to produce his cell phone. His finger rested on the first number of his uncle’s cell number, but lacked the pressure needed to actually push it. It was probably for the best anyway, he’d only whine about how he wasn’t there and other such things. He placed his cell phone back into his pocket.

“What you doin’, champ?” Wes heard a drunken voice from behind him. He turned around to see Craig standing in the doorway wearing nothing but his Joe Boxers. He was holding a bottle of Jim Beam in his right hand and Jack Daniel in the other hand.

“I’m pretty sure that’s not healthy,” Wes said, standing up to relieve Jack from duty. “I guess there’s no need to ask you what happened to your pants.”

“I gave them to Gabe, he seemed to really want them,” Craig said. He draped his left arm around Wes and leaned on him as he left the support of the door frame. “Why don’t you and me take a walk.”

Wes ignored the strong whiskey breath coming from his Chinese friend and tried to sit him down on the stairs. “It’s rather cold out here, Craig, I don’t think a walk would be a good thing in your current condition.”

“Who told you I was pregnant?” Craig joked. “Nah, I’m fine… just as long as I don’t vomit. I just want to walk around.”

“Okay,” Wes consented. “We’ll go for a walk, but first we’re going to find your clothes. You just sit here and I’ll be right back.” He set Craig down on the steps, of course knocking over his screwdriver in the process.
Wesley stepped back inside the clubhouse and began the search for Craig’s clothes. He looked on the couch where he had left the shirt, but it was no longer there. He won’t miss it too much, Wes thought. He’s got like fifteen of them at home. He wandered into the kitchen to find the bulk of the party guests standing around talking and anything and everything. Wes squeezed his way through the crowd, carefully inspecting everyone’s hands for Craig’s pants. He couldn’t see them; not that he expected people to be carry around a pair of someone else’s pants. After searching for about five minutes through the downstairs section of the clubhouse, he couldn’t find them. After thinking about it for a minute, he wasn’t sure if he even wanted to find them… it’s not everyday one get to see their best friend make a complete naked ass of themselves.

He made his way back to the front room of the clubhouse and found Luke and the girl he had been talking to walk out of the bathroom, looking a bit dishelved.

“Wes, it is?” Luke asked, rubbing his bare chest. “You’re Fade’s cousin?”

“I’m his nephew,” Wes said, trying not to inhale for fear he might catch the scent of skank that was no doubt emanating from him.

“How does that work? You guys are almost the same age,” Luke said. He looked back at the girl and saw that she was readjusting her short floral dress.

“My father is his much older brother,” Wes said. “Look, I’ve got to get going.” As much as he liked discussing his family’s mating habits, he really wanted to attend to Craig. “I’ll talk to you later, alright?” he lied. Luke just nodded his head and wished him a good night.

Wes was greeted by the smell of freshly cut grass and a cool breeze when he stepped back outside. A hint of foul smelling alcohol was also lingering in the night air. He found Craig at the bottom of the steps on all fours, kneeling in front of a puddle. “Craig?”

“I threw up,” Craig said. “But I’m feeling much better now.”
Wes approached him and helped him up. “I couldn’t find your pants, sorry.”

“I don’t need them,” Craig replied. “I left all the important shit back in the car. Let’s go over there.” Craig pointed to the course to their left. “I want to go over there.”

Wes started to lead them in the direction he had pointed to when Craig stopped. “What?” Craig walked back to the steps and picked up the bottle of Jim Beam. “Oh for crying out loud,” Wes said.

“Can’t leave Jim, he doesn’t know anyone here. Who knows what they’ll do to him.”
So they spent an hour walking around the golf course taking gulps of Jim as they passed. At one point, they both needed to use the restroom but since none were available, they decided that the seventeenth hole would do just fine.

They had made it all the way to the eighteenth hole when they decided that they should start heading back. This idea lasted until they reached Hole 7. Craig wanted to look at the sand trap and then proceeded to take a leak into it. Wes watched in amusement as his friend fell face first into the deep trap. Laughing and holding Jim at the same time, Wes attempted to rescue his friend, but only succeeded in falling in as well. The two of them laughed at themselves but made no effort to get up.

Instead, they laid in the sand trap and stared up at the stars. Well, for the most part they stared at the stars. Wes however spent most of his time staring at Craig. He listened to Craig wax intellectual about the stars and then the monologue switched from stars to Star Trek, and from Star Trek to the girls in their classes. Just as the conversation was about to switch to the guys in their classes Jim suddenly was empty and Craig fell asleep. Wes smiled and watched him shiver in the cool night air. Wes scooted over to him and held him in his arms to keep him warm. He smiled because he knew that in spite of everything he drank, he knew that he was going to remember every event that took place.

The same smile was on his face when Craig asked him about his clothes. “I don’t remember anything,” Wes lied. “My head feels like someone tried to split it open with a two by four.”

“Mine feels like someone actually succeeded.” Craig succeeded in standing up and reached down to help Wesley up. “Ugh, I’ve got sand in places I never knew I had.”

“You knew you had them last night,” Wes said, voice full of innuendo.

“What?” Craig asked.

“Nothing.” Wes found that his feet had finally agreed to cooperate and he was able to stand up. He looked at his watch and sighed. “Crap… I missed my first class!”

“Fuck that class,” Craig said, trying to make his way out of the sand trap. He had to hunch over on all fours for standing upright was proving to be a problem for him. “I know that I’m going to bed once I get home.”

“You’re not going to make an attempt to find your clothes?”

“Fuck those clothes!” Craig made it to the top of the sand trap and waited for Wes to find his way to the top. “Do you want a ride home, Wes?”

“Hell yes,” Wes said without hesitation. The golf course was on the other side of town for him. The walk would have been hellacious . He thought about how generous Craig was being, but then remember that Craig was the one who brought him there in the first place. What a jerk, Wes thought. He smirked at his friend as he led the way to his car.

***

The car ride was quiet. Craig was still suffering from his headache slash hangover and Wes just didn’t know what to say to a guy who was driving in nothing but his underwear. Craig didn’t ask any questions about what he had done the night before that would warrant him losing his clothes- he just drove towards the future.
The future was something that Wes didn’t like to think too much about because he knew that harder times lay ahead. Whether or not he was ready for them was a different story. He liked to over prepare for any and everything. He considered himself an optimistic pessimist. While he hoped for the best, he prepared for the worst. His credo was that pessimists were the happiest people in the world because they do nothing but doomsay everything. It they’re right, they take pleasure in the fact that they were right while everyone else was too busy being blinded by the light of ignorance and optimism to see the situation for what it really was. If they’re wrong, then they are pleasantly surprised because things worked out better than they expected.

Something about today felt off to Wes, besides the fact that he had woken up in a sand trap with a killer headache beside his naked best friend. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but there was something in the air that was thick and heavy and generally not good. A sense of foreboding struck him and seeped into his brain. Nothing good will come of this day, he thought to himself. Nothing.
Craig pulled up to Wesley’s house fifteen minutes later. “Thanks a lot, Craig, I really appreciate it.”

“No problem, my man,” Craig replied. “We should do this more often!”

“Only if you promise to keep your clothes on!” Wes got out of the car and closed the car door. He watched as Craig’s blue VW Bug went into reverse and backed out of Wes’ driveway. He waved and watched as the Bug drove down Water Street.

He turned and looked at his house. It was a two story house cut pretty much like everyone else’s house in the neighbourhood. It was painted a soft yellow to set it apart from the starchy beige cookie cutter houses that surrounded it. He walked up his driveway and saw both of his parents’ cars were parked there. The feeling that something was off, which hadn’t really left him, moved to the forefront of his mind. They both should be at work at this time. He checked his watch which reaffirmed that they shouldn’t be there. 11:47 am it read. He approached the front door and as he reached for the doorknob he got a chill down which ran the entire length of his spine. Trouble was brewing within, he could feel it. It was as if he possessed Spider-Man’s spidey senses. He hesitated opening the door and tried to reason with himself. Do I really want to go in there right now? I can’t just stand outside forever… He took a deep breath and opened the door. What he found inside made him wish that he had gone to class instead.

2005-11-16T17:40:00.000-08:00

The Slump has arrived!

2005-11-16T17:01:00.000-08:00

So, I've hit 50,000 words! Hooray, but the story is not finished. I have a hard time being able to write my stories within confines. I always go way beyond the limits. I hit it on Saturday night. But now that I have 50k, I've been feeling a big lack of motivation. I can't be bothered to write anymore and it annoys me because I actually want to finish the story! Plus I've gotten really lazy with my postings because I felt like no one was reading it, but I know Sya is and I feel blessed! :-D I've also hesitated posting because I know I'd be tempted to edit them before I published it. I'm going to force myself to post more and not edit so that I can push myself forward. Chapter 3 will be up shortly.

Caught Up

2005-11-15T16:47:00.000-08:00

Well, I have been totally caught by all this writing that I have forgotten to post everything that I have written. I'm think that I just might go ahead and post the chapters on Livejournal because they have cuts. I feel bad for people who have to sift through all of my narrative and it looks really long... But I'm still going to type my notes on this blog and then link to the Livejournal, that make sense?

Big Stride

2005-11-07T11:58:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that I am more than halfway done with the word count requirement! I've just been writing like it's going out of style. Unfortunately, the story is still in the beginning of it. GAHH!!! Why can't I ever keep my story within the confines of the requirements? Oh well!

I've hit a slow point in my novel because a friend in the wrimo dared me to start writing about the villian of my story. The villian, Stark, made a guest appearance in the second chapter, and he will resurface for a bit in Chapter nine where I learned that he has a first name and that he actually has a day job, but I haven't figured out why he wants the "Shiny Thing" and what the "Shiny Thing" will do. I've decided to just follow Wesley's point of view unless I absolutely have to break away. More will be posted later!

Chapter 2: Damn, Nothing is Ever Easy

2005-11-04T11:51:00.000-08:00

Casters
Act I: The Initiation
Chapter Two: Damn, Nothing is Ever Easy

Good men must die, but death can not kill their names.
- Proverbs

Fade watched the staircase as he waited for the someone or something to reveal itself. He thought about hiding behind the pillar once again, but what was the point? It already knew they were there. The possibility of the element of surprise was slim. He could see that Six was contemplating the same thing because he kept looking back at his hiding place and then back at the staircase. Fade wanted to stand face to face with their pursuer but then he thought better of it and hid behind the pillar. Six did the same. They all cautiously peered around their respective pillars and waited.

He listened to the sounds of the footsteps and counted four steps. So that meant that there were two people coming down the steps or that something with four legs was on its way. Either way it was a lose-lose situation. Then the footsteps stopped and silence returned to the station. None of them dared to breathe for fear that they might give away their position. Fade was most curious to see what had been hunting them. He carefully peaked his head out from behind the pillar and saw that there was only a man standing at the base of the steps. This should have brought him some relief, but it didn’t. Fade knew that this man was not what he appeared to be. Viridian and Six looked at the man as well. Fade saw that they were not fooled by this at all.

The man was dressed in a black uniform, a mix between a police officer and a security guard. His eyes darted across the station, scanning for any visual sign of its prey. When he could find them through sight, he took a step forward and started sniffing the air. Fade slowly lifted his right arm and sniffed his armpit. His deodorant was still working. When he lowered his arm, he saw Viridian looking at him with a raised eyebrow. Fade shrugged his shoulders and returned his attention to the man sniffing the air like a dog would a fire hydrant.

He knew exactly what he was dealing with and he knew that this wasn’t going to be pretty. He looked at Six and nodded his head, signaling to him that it was time to play. Six returned the gesture and stepped out from behind the pillar again; Fade was next, and then Viridian last. The man’s black and beady eyes gazed upon them.

“Hello officer,” Fade said, smirking.

“What are you kids doing down here?” the officer asked.

“Nothing, we’re just looking around,” Fade replied. “You know, just doin’ stuff.”

“You do realize that this station is abandoned and has been closed off, don’t you?” The officer took a step toward Fade. Viridian and Six tensed up, ready to spring on him if he laid a finger on their friend. Fade, on the other hand retained his calm exterior.

“Oh, I guess it was,” Fade said. “You know us kids, just always getting into stuff and not really caring to look at anything too closely. You gonna let us go with a warning?”

Viridian looked at Fade with a look of impatience and confusion. Why is he playing games with him? Why is he wasting time? We don’t have time for this!

“Oh, that’s right, you’re just a rent a cop,” Fade said. “Next time, your master should get his official uniforms right. We might have been scared if he actually sent you out in the right costume.”

“Fade,” Viridian said, nudging him. “Don’t taunt the nice demon. It’s just trying to do it’s job.”

The man sneered at them when he heard the word ‘demon’. “It’s not his fault if his master was too much of a coward to come out himself and deal with us.” Fade continued. “Well, shall we get on with it?” Fade checked his watch. “I don’t have all night.”

The man took a step backward and began to roll his neck as if he was stretching the muscles. He turned his head to the right and then to the left. Then a loud pop sounded and the man’s head spun all the way around. Six cocked his head to the right and watched and the man’s head spun back to its usual forward position. The man’s body began to get bigger and longer. The popping sound returned as his bones began to shape their shape. The knees popped and jetted inward. This caused him to drop to the floor and support his weight with his hands. His elbows elongated to create a sharper angle. The black uniform that had been so neatly creased suddenly shredded into thin strips of fabric. The man metamorphosed into a peach skinned panther creature. It’s face was the last thing to change. The skull cracked as more bone was being created. Its new shape was a kin to a dunce cap that had been rounded at the top instead of being a point. The human qualities were replaced by more alien features: wide oval black spots that served as eyes. The mouth stretched to the entire width of the head. Behind the mouth were no doubt several rows of razor sharp teeth.

A normal person would have ran screaming into the night after seeing a man turn into something out of a bad horror movie, but Viridian, Six, and Fade just stood there and waiting for it to finish. Fade imagined himself sitting at a table on the far end of the station sipping tea while the creature that he knew to be called an Unmaker finished contorting itself into its new shape.

“You done yet?” Fade asked. The creature growled in response. “Good.”

The Unmaker jumped onto its hind legs and let out a loud screech that could have probably been heard all throughout the city. Fade and Viridian didn’t waste any time in attacking it. Fade lifted his arms up from his side and pointed them at the creature, palms facing it. With a sudden burst of mental concentration, the creature was lifted off the ground and propelled halfway up the stairway.

Viridian pressed the palms of her hands together and closed her eyes. She started chanting for a brief second and then opened her eyes again. When she pulled her hands apart, a flame appeared between them. As she spread them further apart, the flame split in two. But these weren’t one’s ordinary flames, they were black, dark as the night. She tossed them at the creature and it started flailing wildly in the stairway. It let out another wail, but this time it was one of pain. This brought a smile to Viridian’s lips.

Six stepped forward to do something, but it looked like that it was all over but the screaming. In his deep voice Six said, “You could have at least saved some for me.”

“You’ve got to jump right in there, Six,” Fade said. He watched as the creature burned. Clumps of its flesh began to fall from its body. “Good job, Vee. That’s what, five for you this month?”

“Seven,” Viridian corrected.

That was easy, Fade thought to himself. That was too easy. He had faced creatures like this before and they usually fought with such ferociousness that it was a miracle that he walked away from the battle alive. All he did was hit it with a telekinetic blast and then Viridian hit it with fire and it’s toast? He shook his head. “No, nothing is that easy.” He got back in battle ready stance and stared at the creature. The flames rose and completely engulfed it. It’s not dead. That’s only what it wants us to think.

And Fade was right. The Unmaker was suddenly flying through the air, with its mouth wide open, teeth at the ready. Fade raised his hands and stopped it in mid-flight. It strangled to get free in mid air and snarled. It whipped its body from left to right, like a cat or a small dog would if it wanted to get out of the arms of its owner. Fade could feel his power draining, this thing was heavy.

Six stepped up and threw three small knives into its abdomen. It screamed again. “Oh shut up,” Fade said and sent it flying into a wall. The Unmaker hit the wall with such intensity that it cracked some of the tiles. The pieces crumbled and fell to the floor, along with the Unmaker.

It hissed something as it tried to stand up. “Give us… Give us…” The creature had successfully gotten back to its feet and glared at them. “Give us the amulet!”

“Funny, all you had to do was ask,” Fade said. “Was that so hard?”

“No more games, Chambers,” said another voice, a man’s voice.

Fade felt goosebumps rise up on his arm. The hair on the back of his neck stood up on end. His master’s voice, Fade thought. “Vee, Six, you guys need to get out of here, now.”

“What?” Viridian asked. “You can’t be serious!”

“It’s Stark,” Fade said. “You two aren’t ready to go up against the likes of him, yet.” He saw a rebellion building up in Viridian’s eyes. She was conflicted, he knew it. She wanted to stay by his side, she was itching to be apart of this. “I’m serious, Viridian. Take Six and get out of here!”

Six walked over to Viridian and took a hold of her arm. “Let go of me.” She wrestled with Six, but his strength – prevented her from regaining the use of her arm. “Six, let go.”

“Don’t, Six,” Fade said.

The Unmaker, making the most of the situation rushed at Fade, but was automatically repelled by Fade and was crushed up against the wall. “Take her out of here.”

Underneath the screaming of the ailing Unmaker, Fade could hear something else coming down the stairway. But he didn’t need to hear the footsteps, he could feel the presence of something darker coming toward them. He was coming and he was coming quickly.

Fade looked back at Viridian with a look that she had never seen before. He had always remained calm no matter what the situation was, but this was the first time that she had ever seen him panic stricken.

“GO!” Fade simply shouted.

Six pulled Viridian away from Fade and steered her towards the entrance. Six was only able to pull her because she allowed herself to be led away. She wasn’t getting a very good feeling about any of this.

Six stopped abruptly as he was about to embark upon the stairs. He gasped and backed away as another Unmaker made its way down. Viscous drool drip from between its teeth. “Nice kitty,” Six said. Viridian turned around to see what Six was talking to. She created another flame in her free hand, but then she saw yet another Unmaker begin its journey down the steps.

“Oh this is ridiculous!” Viridian said. She backed away from the entrance to allow the Unmakers to make their way into the station. “Now can I toast them?”

Fade turned to the Unmaker that he had pinned to the wall. He applied enough mental force on its neck that a loud pop signaled to him that it had broken and it was no longer going to be an immediate threat. He allowed it to collapse to the floor. He then turned his attention to the newcomers and did the same thing to them. With his left hand, he levitated one Unmaker off the floor and threw it against the wall. The same with the other one, only to the wall to his right.

“Okay, the path is clear,” Fade said. “Now take the amulet to the 7-11 and wait for me there! If I don’t come to meet you within 20 minutes, then get to my brother’s house right away.” Six and Viridian nodded their heads, signaling that the order was understood. “And no matter what, don’t stop until you get there!”

“Fade,” Viridian started, but Fade interrupted her with a mental message.

“There’s no time, Vee. Just go and find Wesley.”

Six wasted and hauled ass out the door. Viridian remained behind for a minute and then quickly followed behind him.

Fade waited until he was sure that Viridian and Six had gotten a safe distance away before he released the Unmakers. They snarled and got back onto their feet, but they didn’t attack like the other one had. They growled at him, but they didn’t advance. This was highly unusual… even for them. Not knowing what they were planning to do next, he thought it best to take a safety precaution.

He placed his hands together and closed his eyes. Considering the circumstances, it was a pretty stupid thing to do, but he had a really good as to why the Unmakers weren’t attacking; Stark was coming. His concentrated on his powers and when he felt he had summoned up enough energy he opened his eyes. He pulled his hands apart and a transparent green circle was revealed to be floating between them. The circle began to expand and expand until it encompassed the entire station, inside and outside.

“Good job, Mr. Chambers,” said the same disembodied voice from before.

“I wasn’t sure if you were coming,” Fade said. “It’s about time.”

“Ahh, patience hasn’t always been a virtue of yours, has it?” the voice said.

“You know me better than most, Stark.” Fade starred at the entrance and waited for him to show himself.

“That I do…” Stark finally arrived at the base of the stairway dressed all in black and even sported a shiny black cape. They accentuated his dark brown hair that had been neatly tied into a pony tail. The dark attire also brought out the ice blue colour of his eyes. “That was a nice Tracardian Shield you made there. I am truly impressed.”

“What can I say, I learned from a pro,” Fade said.

Stark stepped into the station and looked around. He looked at his two Unmakers and snapped his fingers. They walked over to him as a dog would its owner. He reached down and petted them. “I see you’ve met my pets.”

“What happened to just getting a dog, Stark?” Fade was disgusted by the sight of someone touching them like that. “I don’t understand what you’re doing. What is the point of all of this? The Talismans… what is this all about?”

“You refuse to see the bigger picture, Mr. Chambers,” Stark said, looking for from his pets. “I’ve over this time and time again. I’m not explaining it again. If you don’t get it by now, you’re not gonna.”

“I guess I’ll never understand crazy people,” Fade said.

Stark let out a short chuckle and then shook his head. “So what now? You know I don’t have the amulet, and you know that if even if I did I wouldn’t give it to you.”

“I know…” Stark said, stepping towards him. For every step that he took towards him, Fade took a step back. “But I know where it’s going and I’ll deal with your two friends when I’m done with you.”

“What, you’re going to sic your pets on me?” Fade asked.

“Oh, them?” Stark turned back to look at them. He smiled at them and then snapped his fingers. The two Unmakers were lifted from the floor and were left to dangle there. They didn’t struggle like the one Fade had fought, but they were moving, slowly… very slowly. It wasn’t until the Unmakers were moved curved than straightened did Fade realize that Stark was sacrificing them. Their bodies twisted completely in half. The sound of their bones crunching echoed through the station. Then the two Unmakers were crumpled up as if they were two sheets of paper. Stark turned around and laughed as their lifeless bodies fell to the floor. “I’ve some more at home, don’t worry. And now for you. I will not have you constantly getting in the way of what I want.”

“As soon as you figure out what that is, right?” Fade asked, trying to keep his cool. But his cool faded quickly as he felt something wrap around his neck. He couldn’t see what was there, but he knew that Stark had begun his attack. He was using his mental powers to crush his neck. Fade clutched at his neck as if to pry the invisible hands away. Stark didn’t even have to extend his arm to throw Fade across the station, flying through several pillars before hitting the back wall. Fade felt the pressure increase on his neck, pushing the air out of him altogether.

Well, this is shiny, Fade thought to himself. I’m going to be taken out by my own mentor… isn’t it supposed to be the other way around? Isn’t the student supposed to go all dark side? This much was certain, Stark was no longer than man he knew and he was also a lot stronger than he remembered him being. This did not bode well. With most of his power concentrating on keeping the shield up, Fade was not going to have enough power to fend off any of Stark’s attacks.

“I’m sorry to have to do this,” Stark said from the other end of the station. “And you showed so much promise. But you chose to stand against me rather than with me.” Fade couldn’t see him, but he knew that Stark was smiling. He could hear it in his voice. “You were one of the chosen ones, Dale. But now I see that you were just a wasted effort.”

Fade had the perfect comeback to that comment, but due to the lack of air, his delivery was stunted. He tried to use his powers to push back Stark’s power, but his opponent only pushed back with twice as much force. His vision was already blurring, but he could make out a dark figure standing off in the distance. He let his hands fall to his side as if he were giving up. This seemed to have amused Stark greatly because he heard him chuckle. You sick fuck, Fade thought.

He could feel his neck beginning to give way. He only had one chance to take Stark out of the “bigger picture”, to steal his phrase. He struggled to keep consciousness just long enough to complete his mission. As Stark drew ever nearer, he drowned out his rant about something about cleansing the world of something, blah, blah, teleblah. Fade was thinking about his nephew Wesley and the party they were supposed to go together that night. I’m sorry, Wes, maybe next time, he thought.

“Mr. Chambers,” Stark said. “Are you listening?”

“Taking notes, sir,” Fade transmitted.

He was close now. It was now or never. “See you in hell!” Fade used the last bit of energy available and created a sphere of blue light in his right hand. The ball shot across the station heading in Stark’s direction. He didn’t know if he got Stark once and for all or at all, not that it mattered much anymore. He felt his neck break and his eyes rolled to the back of his head. He could still hear noises around him. From the sound of it, there was a loud bang and something was exploding. But he wouldn’t be able to piece together the events that took place afterward. He wasn’t long for this world and he didn’t care anymore. The last thought he had was, “Wesley,” and “Damn, nothing is ever easy.”

***

Viridian and Six waited at the 7-11 just off of Grant Avenue. She had seen Fade’s shield go up at the train station and she continued to stare at it from the front stoop of the convenience store. She didn’t say a word since they had left Fade there. She kept thinking about how she could have… should have convinced him to let her stay. What kind of friend was she to let him remain behind?

The sound of slurping interrupted her thought pattern again. She looked to her left and saw that Six was sipping on a cherry Icee loudly. He took a long sip and then smacked his forehead. “AHH, my brain is freezing! It’s freezing!”

“Six, you idiot! You couldn’t have waited until later?” Viridian shouted. Six’s face saddened and he looked like he was on the verge of tears. She forgot how childlike he could be. “I’m sorry… it’s just that I’m worried about Fade.”

“He’ll come,” Six said, rubbing his forehead, under the impression that if he rubbed it, it would warm his brain. “He always does.” He looked at the bright green spherical shield off in the distance.

“I don’t think we should have left him.” Viridian took the Icee cup from him and took a sip herself. “I just wish he’d trust us for once and let us fight along side him. Sure, we may be new to the field, but we didn’t go through months of training to sit on the sidelines, right?”

Six didn’t reply. He just stared ahead. Viridian looked inside the cup and found that most of the cherry syrup had been sucked up already. It was mostly white shaved ice now. “I’d like to give him a piece of my mind when he gets here. We should tell him that we either work together or not at all. I know he’s the big hotshot, but really… Six, you alright? It was only a brain freeze.” She saw that Six wasn’t paying any attention to her. She looked in the direction he was and saw what he was looking at. The green shield was collapsing. It was melting away like water evaporating from a hot surface. Viridian immediately knew what this meant. Once the shield had dissolved completely, a large explosion sounded and a cloud of smoke and fire rose into the air. Viridian’s eyes grew wide as the horror unfolded before her. But the horror of what this symbolized scared her even more. Fade wasn’t able to hold back Stark any more than herself or Six, but he had saved their lives because he was the only one who could. Fade had failed. The train station was gone, but it could be rebuilt in time, but Fade… Fade was gone… forever.

Viridian quickly stood up and threw the cup on the ground. “Come on, Six, we’ve got to go.”

“Fade,” Six started.

“Fade is gone, now let’s move it before we disappear, too.”

“No, we have to help him,” Six said, a tear running down his cheek from his ocean blue eyes. “We have to see…”

“Stark thinks we have the amulet,” Viridian shouted. “He’ll be coming for us next. We have to go now…” When it became apparent that Six couldn’t move, she walked over to him and helped him up. She pulled his arm like he had done hers and pulled him inside the 7-11, only the attendant never saw them enter. As far as he was concerned the door never opened. He didn’t even hear the explosion due to him listening to his iPod as loud as it could go.

Chapter 2 and 3 are done!

2005-11-03T13:59:00.000-08:00

Hooray, I dreaded writing Chapters One and Two because in an attempt at 2005 FallWarmUp, I already wrote something close to this. Chapter One was a bit long so I split it up into two parts. I was kind of bored with it because I had already written it once before and I hate rewriting things... but I finally broke new ground with Chapter Three. I'm really happy about it... the story is finally starting after about 10,000 words of back story.

Chapter 1: Window Shopping

2005-11-01T17:12:00.000-08:00

Casters
Act I: The Initiation
Chapter One: Window Shopping

To the well organised mind, death is but the next adventure.
-Albus Dumbledore

“Are you sure that this is the right place?” Fade heard Viridian ask from behind him. Viridian was a tall black girl with black hair falling just past her shoulders. This cool Sunday night, she wore nothing but black. Fade would have liked to think that it was to conceal herself from any passerbys that might spot them, but she usually wore things of this nature. She was what one would call a goth chick; she even had the dark eye shadow, but Viridian would slap him if he ever called her that to her face.

“Fade’s other companion, Six stood about 5’10 if anyone bothered to measure. He had short brown hair except for his bangs which were bright blue from the dye job he had attained earlier in the day. He was borrowing Fade’s black vinyl pants and a random bandolier with bullets tucked inside that he had found, and no shirt. Fade wanted to ask if he was cold walking around shirtless, but at the moment he didn’t have room to talk.

“Viridian repeated her question. Fade rolled his eyes and wrapped his Trogdor T-Shirt around his fist. He braced himself for the task he was about to pursue. It’s not every day that one breaks into an antique jewelry store. He took and deep breath and plunged his fist through the glass window. The glass cracked and shattered. The glass shards fell to the floor with a loud clatter. Fade looked back at his two companions and grinned sheepishly. “Oh, that was subtle,” Viridian said, folding her arms. The other boy, Six, looked up and down the abandoned street. It was 2:30 in the morning and none of them expected anyone to be up at this time, but one could never be too careful.

“Fade reached inside and felt around until he found the cold brass door handle on the other side. He gently pulled down on it and opened the door. He silently prayed that there wasn’t a silent alarm going off at this moment. He retrieved his arm and unwrapped his favourite T-Shirt. Glass shards fell to his feet as he shook them free. He put the T-Shirt back on and opened the door further so that his friends could enter.

“You’re such a gentlemen,” Viridian said, walking past him.

“I know,” Fade said. He smiled at Six as he walked past him. He made one last glimpse at Grand Avenue before he shut the door behind them. Just for shits and giggles, he locked the door.

“So, do you sense anything,” Six asked, looking at some of the pearl necklaces in the glass display cases.

“Nothing yet,” Fade replied. “But I had cased the joint this morning and it was here on the counter. The amulet was here.” He touched the spot on the display case where he had seen the amulet. “I’m sure they moved it to the back just to keep strange characters from thinking about stealing it.”

“Like us?” Six asked with almost a child’s innocence.

“No, not like us, Six,” Fade said. “We’re not strange characters.”

“Lies,” Viridian said, looking back at them with a smirk on her face. “You two are about as strange as it gets.” She bent over to examine the merchandise on the other side of the display case. Not being able so see without the lights on, she reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone. She pressed a button and a bright white light partially illuminates the area. She places her hands on the case to filter out some of the light. “What exactly does this amulet look like?”

Fade ran his fingers through his newly dyed blue hair as if touch would somehow trigger an image in his mind. “Umm, it was metallic, long, and really shiny.”

“Fade,” Viridian angrily hissed though her teeth. “You realize that that describes just about everything in here.”

“I know, Vee, I was just playing with ya.” Fade hide his amusement of ruffling her feathers… if she had feathers, of course. “The charm was a thin bronze piece with a crescent moon shape cut out of it. The crescent was point downward in a way that made it look like a rainbow.”

“Wow,” Six said, amazed. “That sounded very vivid. I could almost see it in my mind.”

“Fade was going to be a writer, that is until he dropped out of college,” Viridain said, standing up and looking around the rest of the shop. Three other display cases stood next to each other in the center of the showroom.

“You don’t need a college degree to do what we do, sweet cheeks,” Fade said.
Six felt the air chill as he saw the expression on Viridian’s face, from what he could see in almost utter darkness. “Sweet cheeks is an endearment, is it not?” Six asked.

“Not if people want to get their face FedEx’ed to them in a box,” Viridian said, turning her attention to one of the center displays. “Now, will two quit goofing around and help me look for this thing before Stark gets here.”

Fade looked at the door and saw that one last shard of glass was desperately trying to cling to the frame, but Fade raised his hand its direction and the shard fell to the floor. The sound it made hitting the floor startled Viridian for she let out a sharp gasp. Fade quickly lowered his hand and pretended to be surprised. Viridian continued to inspect the display and whispered something about a jerk under her breathe.

Fade wandered to the display case that was farthest from Viridian and took out a mini flashlight. He shined the light to make the jewels and baubles underneath the glass show up better. He could see his reflection looking back at him. His lanky body and pale face looked like it had been trapped inside, like a greedy pirate who couldn’t resist the treasure and got stuck there, in the place where he’d spend the rest of his life. He chuckled at the thought of someone banging on the glass, screaming to be let out.

He examined each piece of jewelry for tens of seconds before he moved on to the next one. If he wasn’t careful he could overlook the amulet and leave it there for Stark to steal later. Too much was at stake for such a mistake to happen.

“I’m not seeing it here, Fade,” Six said. He stood up from the display case housed in the center of the ones the others were searching and stretched his arms. “Are you sure you saw it here?”

“How many times are you going to ask me that?” Fade said, feigning a bit of irritation. The truth was he was being to ask himself the same thing.
They went back and examined each display case separately, and then together. Each of them had checked every display over and over with as much time they saw fit, but the amulet just wasn’t there.

Fade scratched his head in befuddlement. “I could have swore that I saw it here.”

“Fade Chambers strikes again,” Viridian said.

“Okay, I think you’ve reached your quote of pock shots at me today,” Fade counted, sounding genuinely upset. This took Six and Viridian by surprised, but Viridian didn’t let it phase her for long.

“So, we basically broke in here for nothing? It’s the wrong shop?”
Fade walked over to the cashier’s counter and shook his head. “No, this is the right place. I spoke with the old lady that runs this store and she showed it to me. She took it out of this display case and set it on one of those little ring racks and let it dangle there like some kind of pendulum…”

“You’re not orating a novel, Fade,” Viridian said.

“She told me that it was a very rare amulet and that it once belonged to someone important who did something important and then…” He stopped and stared at the display case as if he could see the events that transpired in the very spot right in front of him. “Someone came in and asked about the senior discount on a pair of earrings in the window. When she came back, I asked her if she could set it aside for me.”

“And did she?” Six asked.

“I don’t remember,” Fade said, scratching his head again.

“You don’t remember?” Viridian took a step toward Fade like she was going to tackle him, but Fade stood his ground, still staring into space.

“I think I left…” Fade looked back at the front door and sighed. He saw himself walking out of the shop that sunny afternoon. He stood outside the shop for a moment and looked at his watch. The vision disappeared when he heard the sound of Viridian sighing loudly. “Yeah, I left after she said she’d set it aside for me.”

“Maybe she did,” Six said. “Maybe it’s in the back… or behind the counter?”

“Six, you’re brilliant!” Fade said. He quickly walked around the front counter and looked at all of the little compartments and drawers underneath the cash register. He shined his flashlight in all of the dark little nooks but couldn’t make out anything that looked like the amulet he described. Nothing but crumpled up pieces of paper, cans of compressed air, and a box of staples. He looked at his companions and shook his head. “It’s not here. I don’t even feel its presence.”

“So now what?” Viridian asked, her voice rising slightly.

“Someone must have bought it,” Fade offered, telling her to calm down with his calm tone.

“Bought it?” Viridian repeated, her voice a little louder than before.

“Hey, she’s a little old lady. She’s probably got the memory retention of a goldfish.” He walked back around and rejoined his friends. “Look, it’s no biggie.”

“Did I just hear the word the words ‘no biggie’ come out of your mouth?” Viridian took a threatening step towards him, but Fade held at bay with a look that read, “Don’t try me.”

“When we get back to the Coffee House, we’ll just bust out with the phone book and see if we can locate the amulet.” Fade turned away from Viridian and headed towards the door like he had done earlier that afternoon. “Come along children.” He stopped and looked back at his two companions. Viridian was reluctant to move, but after aabout ten seconds, she moved. Fade unlocked the door and opened it for her. Viridian stomped out if the shop in a gothy sort of way and grumbled past Fade. Six left the shop and shrugged his shoulders, indicating that he didn’t know what to do about Viridian either.

Fade shut the door and started to walk after Six and Viridian for she had continued towards the Coffee House without them. He felt like he had forgotten to do something. He stopped in mid step and thought about what it was he was missing. He looked back at the door with the glass punched out of the frame. Then it hit him. He walked back to the door, reached his arm inside and felt around for the door handle. Once he was successful in this endeavor, he flicked the lock mechanism and retrieved his arm. The nagging feeling had left him so he jogged so that he could catch up with Six and Viridian.

***

Fade slammed the phone book on the café table and let the dust fly into the air. Viridian and Six scooted their chairs back to avoid the dust getting in their drinks. “Okay, who wants to go first?”

“You’re not seriously thinking about calling every single person in this phone book at 2:30 in the morning,” Six asked, eyes widen in fear and confusion. “That’s not a very nice thing to do.”

“I’m not going to call them, Six,” Fade said, pulling up an extra chair. He sat down and opened the phone book to the white pages. “I’m going to scry for them.” Six gave Viridian a look that was begging for clarification, but Viridian was not into making eye contact with anyone at the present time.

Fade fished around in his pockets for a few seconds before he pulled out a cloudy white crystal with a silver chain attached to it. He dangled it in front of Six and smiled at him. Viridian rolled her eyes at the campyness of it all and took a sip of her chai. “I’m going to find the amulet with this.” He opened it to the first page of the A section of the white pages. He waved the crystal over the page for a minute before he gave up and turned to the second page. Six watched patiently as the white crystal swung back and forth over the Abernethys.

“You’re kidding me, right?” Viridian asked after five minutes of this. “With every passing second we sit here sipping tea and shit, Stark could be out there closing in on the amulet- that is if he doesn’t have it already.”

“Stark, Stark, Stark,” Fade said in a mocking tone. “I swear you’re in love with the man. He’s all you’ve been able to think about all night.”

“With good reason, you dipshit!” Viridian said a bit too loudly. Six looked around the café to find that people were beginning to stare at them. He slumped down in his chair as if hoping that the angry glares would pierce Fade and Viridian instead of him. “If you hadn’t just left the amulet there for someone to grab, we wouldn’t have to worry about this, now would we?”

“You need to see someone about that temper of yours,” Fade said, turning the page. “You know black people tend to suffer from high blood pressure. You don’t want to start that too early do you?”

“Screw that noise, Fade!” Viridian finally noticed that people were looking at her and she sat back in her chair. She didn’t even remember standing up in the first place. “This isn’t going to work.”

“I know,” Fade admitted. He closed the book shut and sighed. He covered his face with his hands and let his finger run down the length of his head. “You’re absolutely right. I should have just bought the amulet while I was there… but I didn’t have the amount she was asking for it. For a dinky little shiny thing, it was quite expensive. Do you think I can pull off 65? I could have gotten the senior discount.”

Viridian shook her head disapprovingly, but she couldn’t help but smile. As much as she’d like to, she couldn’t stay too mad at Fade; he was too charismatic. “So now what do we do?”

“Well, we could start from the back and do the Z’s,” Fade said.

“I’m going to get more tea,” Six said, standing from the table. “Anyone else need anything?” He reached for Fade’s cup of coffee when he suddenly froze in place. His eyes darted to the window outside. He looked for anyone that could be watching them from out there but he saw no one. He looked around the café, but people were too busy chatting amongst themselves now that Viridian and Fade had lowered their voices. There wasn’t anything out of the ordinary present, but he felt that something wasn’t right. He looked at Viridian and Fade and found they felt the same way.

Fade and Viridian rose from their seats. “I think it’s time we paid our bill,” Fade said, reaching for his wallet. He picked up his cup and headed for the front counter. Viridian and Six were right behind him. They set their dirty cups on the counter and the barista smiled and thanked them for saving him a trip out to the table. Fade tossed a twenty dollar bill in the barista’s direction and told him to keep the change. Viridian led them to the back door and held it open for the boys to walk through.

“Did you feel that?” Six asked, his childlike voice giving way to the stronger and deeper voice. “The air…”

“Yes, it got colder, didn’t it?” Fade asked.

“I was hoping that I was imagining that,” Viridian said, looking around at the dark parking lot. It was lit by an orange light which sat on top of the post in the center of the lot. Cars sat out in the cold air, not worrying about catching cold. The trio felt the heavy presence of eyes from all directions. Though they searched the lot for them, they were not able to spot them from where they stood. The only thing there was left to do was leave so that the people having a good time inside would not be hurt.

“Where are we going?” Viridian asked.

"Away from here,” Fade said and he began to walk to the corner of Grant and Campbell. “We need to get as far away from here as possible.” Viridian and Six wasted no time in following him.

"Where is it?” Viridian said as she finally caught up with Fade.

"I don’t know, but I don’t care,” Fade replied.

Viridian had never seen Fade walk so fast before in the entire time that they’ve worked together, which wasn’t long. She and Six almost had to jog just to keep up with his brisk pace. Perhaps he felt what she felt, that something was fast approaching. She felt like a dark cloud was forming right above her head and was about to reach down and mess with her head at any moment. The idea that something unseen was following them sent a chill down her spine, but she had to remind herself that she had dealt with many things that went bump in the night before, this was probably no big deal. Just another Monday morning.

Without warning, Fade took off running down the street. Six immediately raced after him. Viridian looked back to see what they were running away from, but nothing but oncoming traffic could be seen. That didn’t mean that something wasn’t there. And if Fade was running, there was no denying that he sensed something she didn’t. Fade was the one with the telepathic powers, not her. Who was she to question him… at this point in time.

“Okay, is it safe to assume that you have a plan now?” Viridian called up to Fade.

“The train station!” she heard him say. She immediately knew the game plan. All she had to do at the moment was concentrate on staying ahead of whatever they were running from.

Fade kept thinking that this wasn’t how he wanted to spend the night, breaking in the jewelry stores and running from something unseen, but it’s just another Monday night. He could tell from the force of the presence that this wasn’t going to be the average run of the mill fight. This fight was going to be one that he will remember for the rest of his life… or in any case it wasn’t going to be easy. He tried to quiet his mind and just keep running. The train station was almost in sight. It was abandoned and wasn’t used for anything else but a shelter for the homeless and the skate kids. There was a less chance that an innocent person would get caught up in the action and get hurt if it all went down at the train station.

He was beginning to get a stitch in his side from all of the running. He was terribly out of shape. Sure, he was skinny and he ate right, but the lack of exercise was seriously taking its toll on him. He can’t run across town, let alone across the street without panting for the next twenty minutes. But life and death situations can so a lot to a person. He pushed himself to keep running. He looked behind him to see that Viridian and Six were right behind him. God, they make this look so easy, Fade thought. The fuckers.

“Are we there yet?” Six asked.

Fade chuckled as the abandoned Amtrak Station came within sight. The stairway to the underground station was almost beckoning to them. Fade gave it his all and sprinted the rest of the way. He hit the stairs hard and jogged down the stairs. He didn’t even stop when he saw that the entrance had been boarded up. He just extended his right hand and aimed it at the boards. With a quick second of concentration, the boards shattered into tiny splinters. He squinted as the dust rose and threatened to obscure what laid ahead.

“Good one,” Viridian said, panting. “Just leave the door wide open.”

“I don’t see you coming up with anything,” Fade joked.

The three of them entered the dark and almost humid train station. There were tile pillars holding the ceiling litter about the station. They didn’t waste any time hiding behind them, waiting, watching and for Six, praying.

Only the sound of their heavy breathe was heard as they sat down on the dirty floor. The dust on the floor had to be at least an inch thick. Viridian hid behind the pillar to Fade’s left. She looked over at him after they had waited for two minutes. “You think it’s coming?”

Fade was too busy trying to suck in all the air he could to answer. He had thought about it. If something was tailing us, it would have been here by now, right? Fade thought. Maybe he was just being paranoid. Maybe this was nothing. But Six and Viridian had felt that something was wrong as well. If he wasn’t mistaken, Six was the first one to feel it. The air temperature had lowered and it felt like Christmas was coming early. But it could have been the air conditioning kicking on. As much as he would have like to believe that he was just being paranoid, he couldn’t ignore the group feeling of wrongness.

Fade turned to look at Six who had his eyes focused on the entrance of the train station. Good man, Six, Fade thought. Always ready to throw down if the situation calls for it. Good man.

They waited for what seemed like an eternity, but nothing was coming or it would have been there already. Fade slowly stood up and looked out from behind the pillar. Nothing stood in the doorway waiting for them. This brought a smile to Fade’s face. They had freaked out for nothing. At least they could look back at this moment as the night Fade freaked the fuck out and sent them all hiding in a train station. The thought of this made him chuckle out loud. Viridian looked at him as if he was going crazy right in front of her eyes.

Fade slowly stepped out from behind the pillar and stared at the door. Viridian quickly stood up and was going to attempt to pull him back behind the pillar, but Fade raised his hand and she stopped. “I think we’re okay,” he said. Viridian opened her mouth to disagree but he turned to her and she quieted. “We’re going to be fine.”

At that moment, the air seemed to thicken and a chill was felt throughout the station. Fade could have swore that he saw the pillars themselves shivered. He looked at Six who had joined him and the look on his face confirmed that maybe he hadn’t freaked out at all; that he was right about this all along. He hated being proved right at the one time he wanted to be proved wrong… They heard the clicking noises that could only mean that whatever was following them was finally coming down the stairs. Fade didn’t know what scared him more: the sound of the footsteps or the fact that the sound of the footsteps indicated that there was more than one.

Midnight Dash

2005-11-01T04:05:00.000-08:00

The Midnight Dash was a big success, I accomplished 3,817 words in about four hours. Not bad if I do say so myself. Bryce sat next to me and started writing his Nano. He of course didn't go to bed until about 2:30. Poor guy is going to be so tired when he gets up for work in about three hours. He blames me, but I was the one who told him to go to bed 14 times. I'll post Chapter One of Casters tomorrow when I finish it... Unfortunately this is going to be quite long... I've been wanting to keep my chapter length down to about 2,000 words, but the funny thing about my work is even though you're reading an awful lot, it doesn't really seem like it. Well, I must be off to bed now. It's like 4 am!

Last Names, In Need of...

2005-10-31T18:41:00.000-08:00

So one of my characters is of Egyptian descendent and I was trying to find a last name that went with the name Kiros... Egyptian surnames are hard to locate on Google, but Bryce found a genealogy site with people searching for their roots. So I'm going to exploit this search and figure out which sounds better. I've found Dimitriadis, Evangelidis, Sekaly, and Tabari... I'm ruminate on this a little more before making a decision.

First Contact

2005-10-31T18:06:00.000-08:00

Character Bios

2005-10-31T12:21:00.000-08:00

Late last night I couldn't get to sleep because all I kept thinking about was writing this story. So I broke down and wrote some last minute character bios... it's not the greatest, but I hope that this will give you a sense of who or what the characters are. The bios are bit long, but you can find them here.

Casters' Cast

I hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween.

2005-10-30T19:06:00.000-08:00

I have posted some other Nano authors who are going to blog their nano! Enjoy. I'm going to post them to the links sidebar now that I know how. (Thanks R!)

Grand Opening

2005-10-28T13:30:00.000-07:00

Hello fellow humans! This is the first entry of my blog novel "Casters". I am very excited to start writing this story because it has been gnawing at me since September. The premise of the story is about a college kid named Wesley who finds out that his uncle Dale was a supernatural investigator called a Caster. After Dale's unfortunate death, his two sidekicks approach Wes to pick up where Dale left off. This proves to be a very interesting journey for all involved! So I invite you to come along with me. :o)