As requested, here's the rest of the chapter from Beyond The Veil. Thank you guys all so much!! Perhaps now there are 4 important characters here. . .
Hollyhocks tapped her own lip, indicated that JuJuBee clean hers. Once she had, she was pulled unwillingly by her friends and then shoved into the midst of the dancing crowd.
Every bit of gracefulness seemed to disappear as she nearly knocked over several couples, knocking the wind out of others. No one seemed to mind and the music never stopped. They only smiled and danced again.
Hollyhocks laughed and clapped her hands at the edge of the crowd. She watched her friends dance in small circles with one another for what seemed like a long time. Breathless, Shaylee and JuJuBee made their way back to her. "I thought you wanted to join the fun?" Shaylee said.
"I do. I mean I did. Being here is far better than watching from the door. But I know not how to dance."
"All is well, we will not judge you, will we JuJuBee?"
"Why, of course not. Though you must listen to us Hollyhocks. Being in there is far better than watching from here," with that, she pushed Hollyhocks into the crowd.
With a scream, she collided into a young boy and they both fell to the ground. He was back on his feet in a heartbeat.
"Begging your parson," she said, rubbing her head. Hollyhocks looked up at him. With his bare pale skin, his light hair, his misty blue eyes, and his fern-like wings, it was plain to see that he was a sprite and not much older than her. A wide crooked grin spread across his youthful face. Hollyhocks took hold of the hand that was offered her. She tried to walk away, but he didn't let go of her. "I don't know how to dance," she told him.
He still didn't let go. Instead he said with a twinkle in his eye, "Then `tis time for you to learn."
She half expected him to pull her close and dance slowly with her. She half expected to feel lost in the world like she had outside. But he didn't do any of those things. In fact, he did just the opposite. Nearly the whole of the wedding party began forming into a large circle. He clung tightly to her hand as though making certain she was not separated from him. JuJuBee seemed to come from nowhere and took hold of her other hand, Shaylee close behind.
The Musicians began playing a lively dance tune, and those who stood watching clapped their hands and shouted. Hollyhocks was nearly shoved to her place in the circle. She felt her cheeks turn red. She wanted nothing more than to be a spectator. But with her friends holding onto one side of her and the handsome stranger on the other, she didn't even bother trying to get away from them.
Soon the dance escalated and poor Hollyhocks was jostled about by either party. "Fie!" JuJuBee shouted. "Stop treading on my toes."
"I shouldn't be here," Hollyhocks persisted.
"It's alright," said the boy with a voice like smooth glass. "Feel the energy of the music pulsing through you. Allow your body to move with us."
She didn't understand what he meant. Thankfully, some part of her mind did; she found herself swaying to the music as enthusiastically and as gracefully as anyone else. Her feet kicked this way and that, in rhythm to the music. Her lips curved up, matching the smile in her eyes. Her cheeks were as hot as embers now, only this time it wasn't from embarrassment. Happiness beat through her, her ears ringing with the laughter of a thousand voices.
Below is a snippet from Beyond The Veil featuring 3 very important characters in the story. If anyone wishes to read the full chapter, please let me know in the comments!! As for what chapter this came from, it's a secret, shhh. . .
"Hurry up Hollyhocks!" JuJuBee shouted over her shoulder. With the speed of a fox, she ran through the field of wildflowers that lay south of the village. Shaylee rode skillfully yet swiftly upon the back of a vibrant teal dragonfly, weaving carefully through the flowers like a needle and thread. Hollyhocks picked up her pace, her wings carrying her over the tops of the flowers. Soon enough she saw her friends in the flowers below, and easily kept with them.
"We don't want to be late!" Shaylee reminded them.
What could be so important, Hollyhocks wanted to know. Shaylee had been acting so strange all day like she was aching under the burden of her secret, her body about to burst with excitement.
Hollyhocks took her eyes off the flowers below her and suddenly came to a stop. She looked up at the sky, it's beauty taking her breath away. "The stars," she pointed, standing atop the long petals of a white flower looking mysteriously blue in the night.
Shaylee directed her mount next to Hollyhocks, leaving JuJuBee on the ground without a clear view of the sky.
"What do you see?" she called up.
"The stars," Hollyhocks repeated. She was bewitched by the scene around her. The village in the distance was quiet and dark. The river had a strange blue glow about it, the light of the silver moon casting long shadows across the field. More stars than one could possibly count glittered in the heavens, their pure light somehow seeming sacred. A single tree stood in the field, a large willow more splendid than every tree in the Forest. And around it danced a thousand otherworldly golden lights. They moved in perfect rhythm with one another, as though dancing to some silent song only their ears could hear. Some were nearer the ground, some touched the sky.
"It's them," Shaylee whispered.
"Who?"
"What do you see!" JuJuBee demanded.
Hollyhocks couldn't find her voice to answer. Shaylee pretended not to hear her. "Those aren't stars."
Without saying a word, Hollyhocks asked Shaylee what they were.
In reply, she only beckoned Hollyhocks to follow, first swooping down, grabbing JuJuBee by the hand who jumped onto the dragonfly.
They ascended the tree much slower than before. All was silent save for the soft whisperings carried in the breeze that could be heard to accompany the chirping of the crickets. Shaylee was the first to speak. "I told you I had something grand to show you, Hollyhocks."
Hollyhocks held her hands to her mouth, as though no words could express the feeling to go with what she was seeing. The golden lights were not stars, they were fireflies, a pillywiggin on the back of each one.
While one flew up, another flew down, thus creating a figure 8. Only with so many of them, the symbol became an infinity. And that's how Hollyhocks felt. Like the world stopped turning, like time didn't exist, like she herself was frozen there forever, her mind in a place of pure enchantment - a place she could not free herself from and wasn't sure she wanted to either.
Had Shaylee not spoken her name just then, she very well might have stayed there forever.
"What is it?" Hollyhocks asked half absent-minded.
"This is what I wanted you to see," Shaylee said thoughtfully.
"What is it then?" JuJuBee spoke up.
"It's a wedding."
Hollyhocks turned her gaze upon Shaylee.
"A wedding," Shaylee repeated. "I know how taken you are with the village and the humans. A pillywiggin long before our time, a queen whose name is long forgotten, was not so different from yourself. She became so infatuated with their world and wished to see them up close. And so she left the fairy realm behind her. She saw a great many things. But more than anything, more than the people she had encountered or the vastness of the earth she saw or the sense of freedom she felt, she was stricken with awe by their celebrations and dances. It was like nothing our world had ever known. But she made it known. She returned home, took a husband for herself, and held a grand celebration for all sorts of fairy folk. It was the first wedding our world had known, with food and music and dancing."
Upon the word "food", and under orders from JuJuBee, they wasted no time in reaching the tree.
Hollyhocks reached the great willow before the others, pulling aside it's canvas of weeping branches, entering from one world to anther like a massive sublime tent.
Though it was early spring and the grass was a rich lush green, it looked to be dead and brown - but if death could be considered beautiful, surely this was.
Hundreds, maybe thousands of fireflies illuminated the area in a golden glow. Upon soft couches of heather sat an array of handsome cheery faced fairy folk. An assortment of small golden vessels held their drinks. Tables of green dishes and sweet treats and drink stood at the opposite end from where Hollyhocks observed.
In the middle of the room was a fair lady pillywiggin with healthy green skin and hair that shone like the orange skies at dusk, a magnificent gown of small pure white flower petals. Her partner clad himself in leaves; obviously this was the bride and groom. They held on to each other tight and slowly danced, never taking their eyes from each other. It seemed to Hollyhocks that they had forgotten they were not alone, but were, in fact, being mesmerized by nearly everyone present. A soft wind instrument was occasionally accompanied by the musical humming of the fireflies. As the music quickened it's pace, many of the guests began dancing too. The music grew louder and the fairies laughed harder, but they all moved as nimbly and gracefully as ballerinas.
"I'd like very much to join them," Hollyhocks said at last.
"I've been waiting for you to say that," Shaylee said.
Hollyhocks noticed that JuJuBee wasn't with them. Shaylee seemed to read her mind and pointed to the food table. Hollyhocks followed her gaze and sure enough, there was their friend whose chubby cheeks showed that she had filled her mouth with as much food as it could hold, possibly even more.
As she spoke, small particles unintentionally flew from her lips. "I'm glad you two found me, you must try the sweets, they're absolutely to die for!"
Hollyhocks tapped her own lip, indicating that JuJuBee clean hers. Once she had, she was pulled unwillingly by her friends and then shoved into the midst of the dancing crowd...
First off, I apologize for being a day late with this post... XD
I can't believe it's the year 2016 already! So much has happened in the past year, it seems surreal that it's already gone. I want to thank everyone who has stumbled onto my blog. You guys are amazing! In only a few short months I've had hundreds of viewers from around the globe. It amazes and humbles me to know there are that many people who take time out of their day to read what I have written. With that said, I want to touch on a few highlights of 2015 and also share a few of my new years resolutions.
So in the beginning of 2015, I decided it was time for a few changes. I had been so caught up with school and - school, that I hadn't really done much of anything else. I wanted to start reading for pleasure again. I wanted to start writing again. I wanted to start drawing my fairy drawings again. And I did all of those. Here's the list of books I read in 2015 (not including text books):
The Princess Diaries series by Meg Cabot:
1. The Princess Diaries
Volume 2. Take Two
Volume 3. Third Time Lucky
Volume 4. Mia Goes Fourth
Volume 5. Give Me Five
Volume 6. Sixational
Volume 7. Seventh Heaven
Volume 8. After Eight
Volume 9. To The Nines
Volume 10. Ten Out Of Ten
Kissed By An Angel trilogy by Elizabeth Chandler:
Kissed By An Angel
The Power Of Love
Soulmates
14. Evercrossed by Elizabeth Chandler
15. Everlasting by Elizabeth Chandler
16. Everafter by Elizabeth Chandler
17. The Perks Of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
18. The Shakespeare Stealer by Gary Blackwood
19. Shakespeare's Scribe by Gary Blackwood
20. Shakespeare's Spy by Gary Blackwood
21. Paper Towns by John Green
22. A Tale Of Three Kings by Gene Edwards
23. Me And Earl And The Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
24. The Heroes Of Olympus by Rick Riordan
25. The Son Of Neptune by Rick Riordan (still reading)
I personally think that that's a great list. Originally I wanted to shoot for 20 books which is still less than the 40-50 books a year I used to read a long time ago, but oh well. These books are all so amazing, I would recommend every single one of them!!
Also, when I began writing my book again, it felt really really good. As I've talked about in earlier blog posts, I hadn't written really at all in the past 2 years or so. I wasn't sure what exactly I was going to write or where the story was going to go, but let me just say I'm very pleased with Beyond The Veil so far.
A lot happened this past year, so I'm going to try to keep this short. I was so excited for the fall to arrive, because during the summer I worked on math courses so that I could be finished with school and graduate with my AA. of course, when the time came, I decided I wouldn't graduate and go for my BA in English. I'd be lying if I said that there weren't times that I didn't question that decision. During the spring, I got in touch with my half-brother that I hadn't spoken to in probably 17 years - well, actually, he got in touch with me.
I also got a perm. ;) Probably not a big deal, but I was excited about that. Who doesn't want more curls? Yassss... And then come August and I got my hair cut. Not just a short trim, but like, 13 inches taken off. I decided I wanted my hair short, preferably like Camren Bicondova as Selina Kyle in one of my favorite TV shows, Gotham.
And then September came. My family and I started going to a new church. That's definitely been one of my biggest highlights of 2015. This church has been just what I needed, especially after the year before. The first week I went, it was so welcoming. My sister and I had a very long conversation about the church, saying that when we entered the front doors, it was like we could see/feel God's love for His people. The people seemed so genuinely nice and friendly, the worship was really good. So many opportunities arose for my family. I've gotten the opportunity to play my bass a few times on the Worship Team. I've met some great people, made a few friends.
And then 2016 came. I think my biggest goal this year is to finish writing and publish my book. Who else is excited about that?! While the journey is so enjoyable, the research and the characters and those lines that even impress me, there's nothing quite like that satisfying feeling of holding a finished manuscript in your hands. Am I right? Of course I am, I'm always right. ;)
I of course have another list of books I want to read. I think I'm going to reach for 20 books again this year. If you have any suggestions for me to read, that would be greatly appreciated!! Some of the books I have picked out for myself are: The Dancing Master by Julie Klassen, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Idylls Of The King by Alfred Lord Tennyson, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke, and to finish The Heroes Of Olympus series by Rick Riordan. I don't currently own all of these titles, so for those of you who know me *cough cough*...ok, moving on.
One thing I'm going to try to do this year is write down all of the good things that happen to me this year. My sister is doing it too. We're going to write them on small scraps of paper and fill a jar or a box, and then at the end of the year, we will read them. We see and count all of the little blessings we have in a single year. I thought it was a cute idea. I think it will be special when we read them at the end of the year. We'll see how long I stay committed to actually doing it though.
If you guys have any new years resolutions you want to share, I'd love to hear them! Again, thank you so much for reading, hope you all have a great year this year!! ;)
