An Anthology, a Photo and an Update.

Greetings!

Boy, oh boy, I’m a bad, bad girl.  I have neglected this little space here for the last two weeks.  I had a short photo blog planned for last weekend.  Two blogs, really.  One to talk about the anthology and one to showcase a few pictures.  There were a few problems.  One, last Saturday we got busy and I never did get to the anthology blog (part of that is because I let the way things are going to come out – or at least start – percolate and I couldn’t, for the life of me, come up with an opening).  Then Sunday morning…

Well, Sunday turned out to be a really, really bad day.  I’ve talked a bit before about being gluten, corn and soy intolerant.  One of the things I’ve always felt was absolutely safe was jam/jelly.  In a commercial jam you expect to find fruit, sugar (at least two forms), pectin, colouring, flavouring and preservatives.   What you don’t expect to find is a five ingredient jam with the second being corn syrup.  Wal-Mart’s Great Value brand jam is just that.  We found that out the hard way.  I was violently ill for several hours.  So no blog found its way out of my fingers that day either.  It took me two days to recover.  The following two days were spent catching up on my editing of HW2 and being without internet at my home.  (Provider is a jackass)  Friday was… stressful and busy.

I am here now though and I would like to tell you about an exciting project I’ve just taken on.  Kallysten is an author I like not just for her books (which are wonderful, sexy, provocative) but for herself.  I don’t know her personally but everything I see about her, the things she does and the cheer she does them with, make me like her.

Recently she posted a blog about creating a second anthology to sell for breast cancer awareness/research.  I took interest and mulled it over.  It was only a day or two before I emailed her and volunteered. (Why?  Because my favourite aunt-in-law had breast cancer last year.  She had a double mastectomy and a lot of chemo.  She’s thriving now and I’m grateful.)  I don’t expect that she’s going to take ALL of the stories she sent, I’m sure her editor will have a thing or two to say about the size of the book, but I’m going to do my damndest to make sure I make the final cut.

“What will you write about?” you ask.

Good question.

At first, I thought I’d write about Marcus and Chelle, a sexy interlude between the two of them that shows how they feel about one another.  Then I thought about the lady, a very dear person to me, who has yet to be written into the Highland Wolves book, even though she is part of that group that so inspires the characters.  I thought about her enduring love affair with the man who inspired Doug.  And I thought that this is the perfect way to write her into the books.  Make it a Highland Wolves 2.5 novella.  

That, my friends, is that.  It’ll be Doug and McKenna (not so sure about the name as yet) and a steamy story that includes the pink.

I haven’t been taking many pictures.  It’s like the camera in my brain is defective lately but I do have a few.  Most of the pictures I see in my head happen when we’re doing 100 km/h down the highway.  Difficult to take them to say the least.  This one here is my favourite.  It came out absolutely beautifully right from the get-go so all I had to do was tweak the levels just a touch and resize it.  It’s a staple of Ontario summers.  It’s creepy as all hell and yet beautiful in its way.  We call it a mosquito hawk and I have no idea what it’s really named.  It eats the bitey little buggers though so I leave them alone.  This one landed for a rest on the picture window in the living room.

Lovely shot isn’t it? I like the lines. The focus is in the right place. The background is perfect.

The Update:

I do need to speak to my brother about how the website is coming since he hasn’t said anything but I am working on the things that need done.  I’ve been doing the first edit on HW2 so I can write a teaser for it.  It’s funny that I have to reread the thing so I can tell you what it’s about.  I knew the basics but getting a feel for the book again will help write something compelling.  

I will admit that I have been doing two things almost to the exclusion of everything else – the editing and reading J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series.  Man I love those books!  My kids hate that I’m reading them because I get lost in the book and tune out everything else.  ”Mom!  MOM! Did you hear ANYTHING I just said?” is the most common refrain heard from my son.  To me, that’s the hallmark of a great book.  

My point is that the character write ups for Liam, Marcus and Chelle haven’t been done.  I am thinking now that I need to do Doug and McKenna too, if I’m going to feature them in a novella.  That’s okay.  I’m glad of the work.  I do need to poke my brother though.  We need to get this site up and running.  

And we’re off for the afternoon.  We are going to a small outdoor fetish fair – what?  Is it that you thought it was kept to my characters?  Ever hear the adage ‘write what you know’? – and to do some errands.  I’m on a mission to find purple potatoes.  :D

Be well.

Muah.

Excitement!

My website is being built!  I am beyond thrilled and I had to share THIS with you:

 

This is going to be the header for my homepage.

Isn’t it GORGEOUS?!   I did this.  I got the ankh from Shutterstock (along with a three of the upcoming photos) and I figured out how to make the canvas bigger and then how to add the ankh.  I had a little help from my friend Dawn (of Dawn Neil Studios) in getting the colour for the text just right and she showed me a nifty little thing with the Photoshop tool icons – if you click and hold on them there are options for which tool you’d like. It took me two hours to find the right font.

Me?  Picky?

Nahhh…

There will be pages for the Highland Wolves books and the characters.  Plus there will be pages for the NaNo books and the like, should I get to publishing them.   So since I want thumbnails to go with the descriptions, I needed to select photos.

Anna was easy.  Sort of.  There’s a collection of pictures of Heather (the model) to choose from.  I settled on this one.

Looks good doesn’t it? Dawn fixed the hair and the eyes for me.  I love the expression on her face.  My daughter described it as  ”I’ve been through shit, I’m strong, I dare you to take me on.”  (I have a lousy memory so it’s paraphrased.)

It was such a hardship to have to look at dozens of half-naked male models to find Liam and Marcus.  I did finally manage to narrow it down to these two guys.  With the help of a couple of sorely put upon women (*snorts*  riiiight) I found these two photos.

Liam. Mmmm Can totally see why Anna’s lust for him knows no end.

Mmm mmm mmm mmmmmMarcus. Chelle drools over this one constantly.

Yes, we did the hair.  He does, after all, have silver hair.  Very hard to show that in black and white.  Harder still to do it when you have a black and white photo and a model with black hair.  Dawn had to create a new layer, paint his hair black and then invert it and make the blending a soft light.  

She does so much for me.  <3

I wanted a background for the HW book page that evoked the chaos and magic in the books and I think I nailed it with this.

 

I love the lightning against the sky with the wolf silhouette in front of it. It’s beautiful.

I wanted you to know that things are indeed progressing!  I’ve had an insanely busy life this month so NaNo fell by the wayside; I hope to pick the story there back up in one of the summer Camps.  So much to do still this month.  Tuesday is the tribunal that will tell us whether the provincial government thinks I’m a disabled person or not.  I live with 8 chronic health issues, 7 of them related to my spine and central nervous center, you’d think it would be an easy call. 

*shrugs*  What will be, will be.

Have a great night!  

Muah

 

Beheading Creation Myths

Made you look didn’t I?  ;)

Warning:

This is a long post!  It has bits of HW3 in it and me rambling about my newest challenge.

I promised on Saturday that I would share the work I’ve been doing with you… yesterday.  Well, Saturday my ex phoned me and asked me to take GirlKid to dance Sunday morning.  So Peter and I did that, along with a little grocery shopping.  After all that exposure to chemicals this weekend I was fried.  Just… fried.  My brain did not want to work at all.  

Saying that, though, I did manage to create two characters and assign genders to their children. *laughs*

So here I am this morning fulfilling that promise, albeit a day late.

First, the beheading.  As you know, Anna and a small crew are in Ballachulish – Marcus, Doug, Brock and Jules – and already they’ve had some interesting adventures.  Today, (in the story), they are being confronted by the Russian Bear clan sent by Alasdair and Liliya’s familiar, Kristina.  Anna and the gang meet a Naga clan, a Japanese Bear clan and a lone Harpy Eagle.  (Yes, I know a Harpy Eagle is a strange choice but they are vicious hunters, look intimidating and when you make one that’s half the size and weight of a grown man you have a terribly fierce and frightening predator.)  She has just exchanged bows with the - 

Ahem.  Sorry, had to pause and blow bubbles for the cat. Where was I?

Oh yes…

 - head of the Taiyou Bear Clan when we pick it up here.

Anna returned the bow, offering the same level of respect.  “I am honoured to make your acquaintance and to have your assistance, Sadao.  Perhaps, when this is over, we may sit and have a discussion.”

He tipped his head in acquiescence and the bears stood still as Anna found a boulder to stand on to speak to them all.  The air began to ripple with anticipation.  “I don’t know what or who we are facing but I thank you all for answering the pleas of my dear friend Nuada.  May you fight better than your opponent but if they prove superior may you die well and realize a place in your nirvana.”

Marcus held a hand up to Anna as she made a move to step down.  Just then they heard a voice from below and slightly behind them.  “Zdra-stvu-eetee!”

The pair looked down at the wide, flat hill to see a large, stocky man standing at the apex of a loose triangle of large stocky men.  Several more stood on the grass beside them.  Marcus answered, hand lifted in greeting.  “Hello!”  He led Anna forward to meet the man.

Viktor waited for the pair, ignoring the rumblings from his clan.  When the Wolves were close enough he swept a low bow.  “My brother, it is a pleasure to see you after so long.”  He gave an appraising look to Anna as he rose.  “And you, Lady Hybrid, are more beautiful than the rumours insist.”

“Thank you…”  Anna looked at Marcus, brow raised.

He took the hint and hurried to make the introduction.  “My Alpha, may I introduce you to Viktor Mindaugas.  He is my brother of my heart and, I am sorry to say, our enemy today.”

Viktor bowed his head.  “It is true, I’m afraid.  We have been hired to assassinate you.”

Anna stared at him in obvious confusion.  “Then why the confab, eh?”

“I wished to speak with you because I have a request.”  Viktor bowed his head.

“Anything you need, Viktor, you have but to ask.”  Marcus hastened to say.

Viktor lifted his head then looked first Anna then Marcus in the eye.  “I wish for you to kill me and let my family live.”

Marcus gasped and took a step backward.  “I cannot!”

Viktor surged forward in his eagerness and grasped Marcus’s hands.  “Kill me.  Let my family live.  They will tell a tale of how hard we fought.  Let us not fight today.  Kill me now, Marcus.  Do me this honour.  Allow me to do this for you.”

Marcus looked at Anna over Viktor’s head.  She looked at all the people there, all the people who could die, who would definitely be injured, maimed.  And she nodded.  Marcus closed his eyes in pain and nodded.  “For you, my brother, I will do this.”

Viktor stepped back and twisted his upper body before holding out his hand.  One Bear, scowling, brought forth a Russian Imperial sword and handed it to Viktor hilt first, holding the scabbard firmly as Viktor pulled the slightly curved blade out.  The sun glinted off the edge and Marcus and Anna could see that it was wickedly sharp.

Turning back to Marcus, Viktor took one step back then knelt before he offered up the sword, laid across his palms.  “Use this.  It has been in my family for generations and done little but hang on a wall for many years.  It would like the taste of blood again and,” he hesitated, “it would please me.”

Marcus reluctantly accepted the sword and moved to stand at Viktor’s side.  He took a two-handed grip, raised the sword high above his head and brought it down hard on the back of Viktor’s exposed neck.  Viktor’s head flew free and blood sprayed freely for several feet.  It caught all the Wolves to some degree before the body hit the ground and the blood began create a spreading pool in the grass.

 

Chapter Twenty-Six

 

For a long moment there was shocked, horrified silence and then a roar of outrage and pain split the air.  Viktor had not counted on the effect actually seeing him die would have on his brethren.  Pain and grief splashed outward from the Bear clan.  In the next moment the energy changed as men turned to beast in an explosion of fur and blood. 

The energy of shifting rippled over Anna as Marcus, Brock, Doug and Jules shifted.  Anna turned and ran back through the ranks of allies, dodging the shifters as they made their changes. 

She is heading for high ground.  I believe she is seeking to put a quick end to the fight but I think the sun is setting and with that will come something that will make it more difficult.  Or maybe something else is heading their way, something to help the Russians.  

The beheading has been changed because at first it looked like this:

 

Marcus gasped and took a step backward. “I cannot!”

 

Viktor surged forward in his eagerness and grasped Marcus’s hands. “Kill me. Let my family live. They will tell a tale of how hard we fought. Let us not fight today. Kill me now, Marcus. Do me this honour. Allow me to do this for you.”

 

Marcus looked at Anna over Viktor’s head. She looked at all the people there, all the people who could die, who would definitely be injured, maimed. And she nodded. Marcus closed his eyes in pain and nodded. “For you, my brother, I will do this.”

 

Viktor stepped back and twisted his upper body before holding out his hand. One Bear, scowling, brought forth a Russian Imperial sword and handed it to Viktor hilt first, holding the scabbard firmly as Viktor pulled the slightly curved blade out. The sun glinted off the edge and Marcus and Anna could see that it was wickedly sharp.

 

Turning back to Marcus, Viktor took one step back then knelt before he offered up the sword, laid across his palms. “Use this. It has been in my family for generations and done little but hang on a wall for many years. It would like the taste of blood and it would please me.”

 

Marcus reluctantly took the sword and moved to stand at Viktor’s side. He took a two-handed grip, raised the sword high above his head and brought it back down on the back of Viktor’s exposed neck. The sword jammed between the vertebrae and Marcus fought to get it out. He jerked it free and Viktor’s body fell forward, the head rolling grotesquely in bad angles from the head.

 

Chapter Twenty-Six

 

For a long moment there was shocked, horrified silence and then a roar of outrage and pain split the air.

*Obviously* Marcus is strong enough and has enough love for this friend (displayed earlier in the book within a phone call) to get it right the first time.  So I changed it.  I like it much better the first way I showed you.

So, I don’t know if I told you but I am doing CampNaNo.  Yes, I realize it’s completely masochistic of me to do it again so soon but I have been challenged.  And D, the guy Liam is based off of and one of the most important people in my life, won’t do it in November anymore.  I want to face the challenge with him.  I will not be doing it again in July or August though.  I have much work to do on the Highland Wolves books.  

He challenged me to a new genre so I am doing a fusion.  It will be High Fantasy Erotica.   High Fantasy is more difficult than anything I’ve done.  There are layers of story to consider.  A reluctant hero.  An Aragorn-style supporting character who gathers the troops and has his own story.  A great evil, a cool weapon, a cool horse or something, an artifact of doom (which will have its own history).  D is lucky, in this moment, he lives on the other side of the Atlantic.  *laughs*

So far I have the creation myth, the Gods, a most base description of what the reluctant hero is (until she has a name we shall call her RH), I think I have the artifact of doom too.  I do not have a title yet.  I’ll show you what I do have.   I went with the Welsh language to find names for my characters, btw.  I did try to choose ones that weren’t too difficult to remember to pronounce.  There will also be a key in the front of the book to help people remember – whether or not I get this thing published. *laughs*

First, the creation myth.

Creation Myth:

Human myth: Mother & father were in love and wanted to see one another.  With their love they created the sun.  When they wanted to rest but still see one another they created the moon.   They made love, enjoying the sight of each other in the softer light.  The Father loved the way her skin glowed and she loved the strength she could see in his eyes.   He swept some of the glow from her skin and she added his strength to create the stars.  From their union came 5 children (Fire, Air, Earth, Water, Spirit).  The Mother and Father loved their children so much they felt the need to share that love.  They took pieces of each child and put them together to create the world and humans, the smaller incarnation of their children.

Truth:  It was an experiment.  Mother & Father wanted to see if their children could get along enough to look after pets.  The Children prance and preen and prey on humans for sport.

It will be expanded, I think.  Both the Human side and the truth portion, but that’s a good start, eh?  

The Mother and Father  Gods are as follows:

Mother  – SEREN – (sair-REN): 

-          Benevolent, easy-going

-          Slow to temper

-          Willing to believe they are safe

-          Democratic

-          Long suffering, due to the antics of her children

-          Moves with a flowing grace, barely seems to touch the ground (doesn’t, that’s one reason she can travel from child to child)

-          Appearance: Hair like the night sky, black with sparkling highlights, almost to her waist; pale, hairless skin; eyes shift from turquoise to cerulean blue, the colours of the north Atlantic Ocean currents; luscious little mouth with delicate pink lips; lithe, slim body, petite; high firm breasts that stay that way despite being a little on the large side,  sensitive, pale pink nipples, small areole; a bar code style birthmark on the inside of her left outer lip

-          Aggressive masochistic submissive

-          Magic

-          Kinks - 

 

Father  – IORWERTH – (YOR-weth):

-          Dark, except when it comes to Seren

-          Quick to temper

-          Vengeful but often tempered by Seren

-          Rigid and unyielding except, again, when it comes to Seren

-          Strong, warrior (like a Viking)

-          Appearance:  Same pale, hairless skin; dark hair; eyes the colour of Arctic snow; barely 6 feet tall, stocky, slightly tapered body, well muscled; thick cock with a heavy, large sac below, just over 7 inches long, obvious veins and the same type of bar code style birthmark just behind his left ball; looks like a working man with large, thick fingered hands and substantial bundles of muscles throughout his limbs, defined pecs and abs

-          Magic

-          Kinks -

As you can see I haven’t figured out their kinks yet.  And yes, BDSM will be a part of this.  RH is living in a Gorean-style  community (see: book series by John Norman that has become a ridiculously popular way of life).  

So, Seren and Iorwerth’s children are:

Fire – CARWEN – (CAR-wen) Goddess of purity (fire burns all things clean),  eyes like sunset on the water

Air – EIFION – (AYV-yon) God of

Water – RHIAN – (HREE-ann) Goddess of

Earth – EURWEN – (IRE-wen) God of fertility, home, hearth,

Spirit – CADFAEL – (KAD-vyle) God of philosophy, the heart, the mystical, mind-body connection

As you can see, I’ve made a good deal of headway this weekend, despite not being home and it’s shaping up to be something quite cool.  There is more in my head, just have to get it out.  

That’s it for me today, my lovelies.

Muah.

Oh!  I also figured out the back story for Seren and Iorwerth.  :D  You’ll love it.  I’ll share once it’s written out.

Moira’s Fingers

It was days ago that I finished the scene with Moira and Anna’s little machine but I am just now getting around to sharing it with you.  I was quite surprised by the end.  It’s not what I wanted at all but I can’t seem to reconcile what I wanted with what the characters have decided should be done.  

Here, take a look:

Moira paled and tried again, uselessly, to remove her hand from the crusher.  It ran through her head that it wasn’t worth losing her fingers over.  No employer is worth losing body parts for.  She pulled again and again, trying to get her hand out from under that weight.  It didn’t work.  Her breathing hitched, stopped, and then started again with a deep shuddering inhale.  She opened her mouth.  “Okay!  I’ll tell you!”  And she meant it.  She watched as Anna put her left pinkie finger inside that little alligator’s mouth and started hyperventilating.

Anna set the feet very carefully into the joint.  She applied just enough pressure that Moira would know the teeth were there but not enough to feel pain.  “Alright,” she said.  “Who do you work for?”

“Ballachulish Hotel.”  Moira wailed as she realized what came out of her mouth.  “No, no!  Please!  I’ll tell you, really!”  Then she screamed.  Anna had closed the alligator’s mouth with a snap and a thump of the side of her fist on the top of the snout. 

The steel teeth cut cleanly through the joint at the base of the finger, separating the small digit from its owner’s body.  Anna used her blue fire and immediately cauterized the wound to stop the bleeding.  Then she set fire to the finger as Moira, whimpering and sobbing, watched.  “You told me you were ready to tell me, Moira.  Are you ready to try again?”  When Moira nodded eagerly, Anna smiled.  “Good girl.  We’re going to try something different now, maybe it’ll help.”

Anna slid the alligator up Moira’s ring finger and closed the teeth around it, just tight enough to bite.  Then she began twisting a screw that tightened the jaws.  The tighter they got the deeper into Moira’s finger the teeth went.  Anna stopped only when she judged that the teeth were almost to the bone.  Moira was sobbing with little hiccupy screams here and there.  Anna grabbed Moira’s chin and looked at her face.  When Moira’s eyes began to roll back in her head Anna slapped her. 

“Who do you work for, Moira?”

Moira’s head lolled loosely on her neck, even with her head in Anna’s grip.  “Ballachulish Hotel.”  Even Marcus groaned in sympathetic pain.  In the next moment, Moira screamed again. 

Anna pulled the alligator up Moira’s finger, the jaws still tight.  The flesh began to shred.  Strips rolled up into the torture device as Anna braced a hand on the crusher and pulled slowly.  When she reached the middle knuckle she got stuck.  As she pulled on the alligator she asked again, “Who do you work for, Moira?”

“Kristina Gedeon!”  Then Moira threw up and passed out. 

Anna jumped to one side but couldn’t avoid the splatter that covered her shoes.

“Oh gross!”  Brock said.

Marcus’s question was dry.  ‘The finger or the vomit?”

“The vomit.  The finger looks kind of cool.”

“Gods Brock!’  Jules shot him a disgusted look then gazed at Anna in wonder.  “What are you going to do now, Alpha?”

“Fix her finger enough that she’ll avoid infection but in such a way she’ll always remember, clean the vomit off my shoes and then drag you guys along to find this Gedeon.”  Anna didn’t realize that this Kristina’s employers implanted triggers in the minds of their servants that all but destroyed their minds should they betray them.

Months later, Moira was still not all the way there mentally.  It was like something had snapped and broken her mind.  She often babbled about alligators named Kristina but nobody would listen to her stories.  The only thing that disturbs her, because she can’t remember what happened to her left ring finger.  It is missing stripes of flesh, exposing the myofascia, tendons and veins with hints of the bone.  Skin grafts had been tried, and fallen off.  It didn’t hurt, it was just her finger exposed.  When she’d told the police she didn’t remember they hadn’t believed her and investigated every part of her life.  It was only in her dreams that she saw the truth, the whole of it.  And those dreams reminded her that no one was worth keeping her mouth shut, no one earned that amount of loyalty from her.

Moira worked from home now, building tiny alligators out of metal and seed bead weaves.  It was all she could do anymore.

See?  Moira was meant to remember it all.  Anna wanted her to remember and left her finger to be an ever present symbol of her ultimate failure to hold to an oath.  It’s too bad that  neither Moira nor Kristina…well, ultimately Liliya… want her to remember.  

And now, finally, on to battle!  The most awesome thing happened!   Anna got a letter from an old friend, the Irish Fae Nuada (Nuada appears in book two), giving them help in the battle against the Russian Bears.  :D   Fabulous!   There will be a some harpy eagles, a snake or two and… I can’t remember.  Panthers I think.  It’s a good thing I make notes.

Have a good evening!

Muah

Broken

Hi ya.

How’s it going?

Me?  Why thank you for asking.  I am not doing so well, although better in many ways this morning than for the last week.  You all know that a few weeks ago I sprained my hip trying to climb this hill:

Yeah, that one in the middle

Well, Tuesday night we went to our local Munch and when I was showering off the chemicals of public places and other people, a muscle spasm ripped across my lower lumbar and turned the muscles into a pretzel.  

I haven’t  been able to walk, lay down, roll over or sit up without a great deal of pain (and help) since.  I AM seeing some improvements since yesterday though.  On Friday we went to the ER because it took me 15 minutes to move my ass 2 inches.  We were there close to 8 hours while the doc tried to get my pain under control so she could take x-rays.  She said she thought my tailbone might be broken then in the next breath hastened to assure us that it probably wasn’t but she’d do the x-rays to be sure.

So she shot me full of Toradol (Ketorolac Tromethamine), fed me a couple percocets and waited a few more hours.   When I was still all screamy when I had to move to pee (poor Boyfriend has been doing a lot of lifting and fetching and carrying and cooking) she shot me full of an abdominal muscle relaxer called Buscopan.  After that I was less screamy and she decided it was suddenly unncessary to do x-rays.

What the fuck, right?

Anyway, my point is, I haven’t exactly been able to write or take pictures.  Today is, in fact, the first day I’ve been able to sit up without a lot of pain (I’m sitting on a butt donut!) so I am finally giving you a blog.  

I will share with you the fruits of the writing I was able to do early last week AND show you my view of the world these past few days.  

First, the view.

This is me, laying on my side, staring at the wall

Yes, the laptop is tilted.  On purpose.  It’s kind of dizzying watching and reading when you’re horizontal and everything else vertical.  

Speaking of vertical, I have been too long now and it’s starting to make me sick so I’m going to hurry this along.  

I DID manage to get some writing done a week ago.  Anna is being evil in her drive to extract information.  She woke up with ‘Krstinamoira’ scrawled across her forearm and with Marcus and Doug’s help they figured that it was actually two names AND figured out who Moira is – the concierge when they had arrived.  So now the job is to find out who Kristina is.  They have a suspicion that she is Moira’s employer and set about finding out if that’s true.  

Chapter Twenty-Three

 

Moira came around the edge of a densely packed trellis onto the patio and stopped as she spotted Anna.  She scowled.  “What do you want?”

Anna merely said, “Rhombus!” and the Circle shimmered into existence.  “Have a seat, Moira, daughter of Larissa who is daughter of the witch Brighde.”

Moira looked startled for a moment then her expression turned hateful.  “Never!  I will never do anything you say.”

Marcus and Brock slid into place behind Moira and each one grabbed her by the upper arms.  They lifted her off her feet and carried to the chair that was now sitting alone in the middle of the slate patio with the small table off to the side.  She kicked and screamed and struggled as they forced her to sit.  Jules and Doug tied her to the chairs with the rope Anna had pulled from the other Realm.

Anna stood in front of her and Marcus took his place just behind her left shoulder.  Anna crossed her arms and tapped her foot as Moira screamed threats and epithets at them.  Several minutes later, tired of the screaming, Anna crossed the distance between herself and the bound girl and slapped her across the face.  “Do shut up, little girl.”

Shocked, Moira did just that.  The Wolves pulled their fingers from their ears.

“Much better.  Now, tell me who you work for, Moira.”

“Ballachulish Hotel.”  Moira lifted her chin.  She suddenly knew what Anna wanted and she wasn’t going to give it.  Kristina could do much worse than this Hybrid.  Little did she know.

From behind Moira, Doug snorted.  “Really?  That’s the answer you’re going with?”

Anna gave him a quelling look .  “Your true employer, Moira.” 

“Ballachulish Hotel.”  Moira sneered at Anna. 

Giving her a placid look, Anna opened a doorway to the other Realm again and reached in.  Outwardly she ignored the look of shock while inwardly she was grinning. She reached in and pulled out a cylindrical object.  It was soft on the ends, had a ruby red ribbon holding it closed and an had an aura of menace that made the Wolves shiver.

Anna untied the ribbon and slid it open, letting it unroll on to the table.  Steel glinted out of the rich black leather.  Anna asked conversationally, “So, Moira, are you left- or right-handed?”

Caught off guard, Moira answered as she looked at the line of flashing steel, not sure what any of it was.  “Left-handed.”

“Good.  Thank you for your answer.”  Anna reached in again and pulled out a strange contraption.  Made of iron, it had a rectangular frame about fifteen inches long with a center brace running from one short side to the other.  Two posts rose from the middle of each short end with two more rising up on either side of the middle.  Cross bars joined each set of posts, creating two squares.  Each square contained a weight on a sliding bar that was controlled by a vertical crank.  Each weight was a thick wedge, rounded at the top and flat on the bottom and looked far too heavy for the strange, delicate looking frame work.  The whole thing shone with loving care.

Anna gestured to Marcus with her chin and he hurried forward to grab the device, grunting under the weight of it.  He held it while Anna pulled the table up to Moira and settled it over her lap.  “Put the crusher down here, Marcus.” 

Marcus watched Moira from the corner of his eye as he settled the crusher directly down in front of her.  He was pleased to see that she broke into a sweat even as she tried to remain impassive and uninterested.  Anna pulled some clamps out of the seam and secured the crusher down.

 Anna untied Moira’s right hand and lifted her arm.  Moira didn’t resist until she realized that Anna was going to put her hand under one of the weights.  Anna held firm as Moira screamed and jerked her hand arm, flailing in her bonds as much as she could.  Once Anna had Moira’s hand in place she turned the crank until it pressed down, the weight covering the back of her hand.  She turned it just tight enough to make the bones grind and hold the hand in place.

“Who is your employer, Moira?”

Moira spit at Anna, hitting her in the face.  “Ballachulish Hotel.”

Anna tightened the crank.  Moira howled.  “Who is your employer, Moira?”

Moira had tears starting to develop but she looked defiant.  She opened her mouth and Anna held up a hand, waiting until Moira closed her mouth again.

“I should warn you, Moira.  I don’t take kindly to my loved ones being messed with.  I don’t take kindly to liars, thieves and cheats.  You may wish to start telling me the truth right now.”  Anna lowered her hand.  “Speak.”

“Ballachulish Hotel.”

Anna sighed as the male Wolves all groaned.  Jules looked fascinated and horrified at the same time.  Anna reached ran her fingers over the small steel instruments then selected two:  one were a pair of  bright, shiny steel clippers.  The blades were curved and even Moira could see that the blades were extraordinarily sharp.  The second was duller, much older.  Age blackened brass was formed into a pair of large pliers.  The head of the pliers was in the shape of an alligator.  A multitude of sharp serrated teeth filled the mouth of the alligator’s head.

“These clippers,” Anna lifted them, “have diamond edged blades.  They will cut through anything, given enough force.  And the little alligator here,” Anna set down the clippers and picked up the alligator pliers, “is so old I scarcely remember when I got it.  The Inquisition I think.  The second one.  You may decide how you want to lose your fingers.”  She snapped them open and closed in front of Moira’s nose.

Moira paled and tried again, uselessly, to remove her hand from the crusher.

 

As you  can see, Moira’s about to have some trouble.  When I can sit up long enough to write.

I have to lay down again.  I don’t have the patience or time, really, to preview so I hope you’ve forgiven me my errors, this one time.

Muah.

Animals, Contests and Mornings

Cranky.

There are those who will wish you good morning. If it is a good morning, which I doubt. ~Eeyore

I was woken 40 minutes early by cat purring on my face and a dog whining from the living room.  When you get up at 5:30, 40 minutes is far, far too early.  I had to wake Boykid to walk the dog. That was like waking a hibernating bear.  A hibernating polar bear.

The dog isn’t mine, she belongs to my kids and the ex but one night a week the ex goes to his girlfriend’s house in London and because he works in between his house and her’s and has to come back to town here after work he can’t take the dog with him when he goes.  So I dogsit.

The cat and the dog drive me batshit crazy.   

Pardon the language but it’s the truth.  They don’t have enough exposure to each other to completely wear off the novelty so they fight.  Sometimes it’s play fighting.  Sometimes there are yelps.   They tear after each other all over my apartment all day long.  It’s exhausting and nerve wracking.  I’ve tried tying her up but that seems cruel.  I asked Dad for some advice and he said to let them have at each other so today I’m going to grit my teeth until they crack and do just that, hoping they get it out of their system.

Anyway…

I do have a purpose for this morning’s blog.

I am FOURTEEN followers away from 100 for my blog!  And I am, oddly, 14 away from 50 likes on my Facebook page.  I also have a lead on getting my website built.  So here’s what I’m going to do:

When we hit 100 blog followers and 50 likes on my page I will give away THREE personalized autographed copies of Witch Hitlist together with a handmade book thong each.  I may also give away a few other things, I need to discuss that with The Boyfriend since he helps me with these things (like more copies of the books, whatever else we can come up with).  I will see about maybe doing another giveaway when the website is up and running.  

The book thongs look something like this. Each one is hand made and unique.

Have a wonderful day folks!

Muah.

Deer Hunting

Image courtesy of Cryptomundo

Greetings!  (As The Boyfriend is wont to say)  How are you?  

It has shamefully taken me three weeks to write approximately a thousand words.  I finally finished the scene last night and I know it needs work, it needs fleshed out some more. I was working on that this morning but I need to move on so I’m going to leave it to the edit.

January was a long, long month and February is shaping up to be the same way.  However, I am determined to write EVERY day.  There are no days off when you’re as behind schedule as I am.  I have said this before, and failed, but I say it with intent.  Just have to work on the follow through. 

Anyway, I thought I’d share Anna’s first hunt in her new form with you while my cat opens all the kitchen cupboards just to see what’s inside.  Muffin tins in the one he just slipped into…

Oh, just as a point of interest, Anna’s fur colour has changed as well as her demon form, which we saw in Demonizing Anna.  It is now a glacier white with pale silver (is that possible?) tips so she gleams like raw silver in the moonlight.

Have a wonderful day!

Muah.

Chapter Twenty

 

Anna’s wings curled around her body, hiding it from view.  She lowered her head in embarrassment.

Marcus held out a hand.  “Anna, don’t.  It’s a beautiful form.”

You really think so?  Anna’s wings relaxed a little bit.

Though somewhat startled to have her voice in his head, Marcus smiled.  “Absolutely.”  Just then the others raced back into the clearing.  As one they skidded to a halt in a semi circle in front of her.  They stared with almost identical postures and expressions – both ears straight up,, tails hanging down behind them, front feet spread slightly wider than shoulder width apart, noses twitching as they tested the air.

Jules took a step forward and when Anna didn’t move she sniffed all around Anna’s feet and up her legs to the edge of the wings.  Then she sniffed the wings as high as she could reach, making Anna’s giggle reverberate through all their heads.  At the sound, Jules wriggled her nose between Anna’s wings and peered up the length of Anna’s body. 

Anna looked down and giggled helplessly in their heads as her wings spread wide.  Jules took advantage and laid her body against Anna’s legs with a thump.  In the next moment she almost fell over as Brock and Doug added their weight to Jules’. 

“See Anna, you’re beautiful and we love you no matter what shape you’re in.”  Marcus grinned at her.  “Let’s hunt shall we?”

You’re a pain in the ass, she thought at him with a smile in her voice.  Anna rolled her shoulders, thinking about the placement of her wings.  They were attached just behind the mid-point of her collar bone down through to the bottoms of each shoulder blade.  She thought for a moment then spread those wings, tilted them slightly with a shift of the muscles across her upper back and lifted them up.  She pushed the air down beneath them and, to her shock, actually succeeded in lifting off the ground a few inches.  Another, more powerful gesture with her wings and she was well above their heads.  Hunt!

Marcus shifted with a shudder and stood there with his head hanging, panting for a brief moment.  He looked up as Anna lifted above the tree tops and hoped she’d be alright. 

Anna hung there in the air, instinct guiding her motions like it had when she first shifted to her Wolf form during her first hunt with the Pack.  A push with her wings and she drifted backwards through the air until she could no longer see the physical forms.  She blinked, trying to see in the night and to her shock her vision shifted.  Suddenly she could see heat signatures. 

Lots of little purple dots littered the trees.  Anna guessed they were birds.  Two huge masses of orange and white, alongside a smaller one caught her attention and she glided towards them, skimming the treetops.  She started to smell the animals almost immediately and made an adjustment in her flight path to stay downwind as she identified them.  Marcus!  Doug!  Brock  Jules!  She called to them all as she zipped back towards them.  Anna scanned the woods below and caught the large wolf shaped blobs of colour.  She paused, hovering, to look at them.  They were black on the tips of their noses, orange and red on the edges and white in the middle.  Deer!

Anna wasn’t surprised not to get words back but she did get a sense of their interest and hunger.  She took a deep breath in through her nose to see what she could smell.  She caught a snoot full of trees and dismissed it.  She sorted through the rest of it the way a wolf does, compartmentalizing it all.  Birds, their nests and feces.  Owls.  Squirrels.  She could smell the rot of the leaves on the ground. 

As the Wolves veered in her direction, Anna moved back towards the small family of deer.   You’re getting close.  There’s a clearing just ahead to the north and a mountain to the south.  She made another swooping pass.  The large one lifted its head and Anna stopped, hanging there in mid-air.   There is also a path east that they could take.

She watched her Wolves split up and begin to circle the deer family.  Anna dropped down closer and the stag bolted for the eastern path as he scented her.  The doe and fawn followed suit and Anna cursed.  She dived towards them tucking her wings against her body.  She dodged the treetops and shifted a few feet above the ground to land on all fours in Wolf form.  She stood there in the stag’s path, snarling with her fur standing on end.  Her teeth were bared and she stepped forward, stiff-legged with her head down and shoulders up. 

The stag skidded to a stop.  He lowered his head, antlers down as he stared at her.  Anna  growled again, projecting menace.  A long moment passed as the stag debated his odds against the creature in front of him.  Finally, he turned tail and ran back the other way with the doe and fawn racing frantically after him.  Anna followed them, snarling intermittently.  She could feel Marcus, Brock and Doug closing in.  She knew they’d herd the deer towards Jules. 

Marcus and Doug cut the fawn off from its parents and it bolted, crashing through the woods.  The four Wolves chased the stag and doe north, heading for the clearing where Jules was waiting.  The deer broke through the brush into the clearing and Jules sprang up in front of them.  They soon had the deer surrounded by a small pack of snarling, hungry Wolves.

Chapter Twenty-One

 

The stag must have been feeling brave for he lowered his antlers and charged Brock.  Brock charged right back, momentarily forgetting how sharp antlers are.  He ducked under the first swipe and sank his teeth into the stag’s leg and bit down hard enough to crack the bone.  The stag screamed in pain tilted his head and stabbed at the Wolf.  He managed to scrape and bruise Brock’s spine just as an enraged and hungry Jules leapt at his neck. 

Jules tore at the throat with her teeth and the stag whipped his head around, skin and fur hanging from the tines, with another scream of pain.  Arterial blood sprayed over Jules until it dripped from the tips of her fur as Brock let go of the stag’s leg and stood back to watch.  He staggered then stumbled and fell to his knees with Jules still shredding his throat as she worked her jaw up and down and side to side.  She put a front paw on him to hold him down and ripped a huge piece out.  She gulped it down then howled as the stag breathed its last and died.  The other Wolves joined her in celebration of her first big kill in the Pack.

The musical notes wove through the trees then hung over the town, leaving the townspeople cowering inside their homes.  Anna, Marcus, Doug, Brock and Jules ate their fill of the deer and lazed around the clearing in the moonlight.

Demonizing Anna

Hi, my name is Catherine.  I’m a writer and it’s been five days since my last blog.  

I’m sorry it’s been so long, boys and girls.  I’ve been writing and trying to deal with the toxic crap floating into my apartment from the shared hallway.  My landlord has dumped a bunch of scented trash from cleaning the apartment next door and hasn’t yet removed it.  I’m getting more than a little irate but I don’t think he realizes just how much it stinks.  It’s not just that though, the big clear bags and the old furniture are unsightly and a fire hazard.  The Marshall would  be on his ass if he knew.  I really should call but I have this phobia about making phone calls.  :/

I know, I know, “Suck up the phobia, stop whining and call him already.”

Anyway, I have written every day this week and I have a couple of things to share with you. 

In case you’ve forgotten (or I haven’t talked about it) Anna is now in Ballachulish with Marcus, Jules, Brock and Doug.  They’ve done their first bit of wandering around and at this point they’re in a pub for a meal before going out to let their Wolfie selves run a bit.  Marcus overhears a little conversation:

At a nearby table two men were arguing about her and it was all Marcus could do to stay in his chair.  The two men, obviously fishermen, were trying to keep their voices down but Marcus had a wolf’s hearing.  He mentally labeled them Fish One and Fish Two. 

Fish One said, “She’s ugly I tell ye! Reminds me of a banshee what with those scars and that white hair.”

Fish Two scoffed.  “She’s ethereal,” he countered.  (Marcus was surprised at the word.)  “Romantic.  I bet she’s a strong woman who has been through much.  I like that.” 

Marcus decided not to kill Fish Two.

“Them scars are ugly.  Her eyes are freaky and her mouth is a little too puffy.”  Fish One ran his eyes over Anna’s face and Marcus studied her too.  She did have lush lips, often curved in a smile.  The longest scar tugged ever so slightly at the corner of her mouth, giving her the appearance of a slightly cocked grin.  Marcus thought it was charming.  Fish One continued.  “Even her eye colour is freaky.  Have you looked close?  I’ve seen the depths of hell in them.”  He had indeed had the opportunity to look at her eyes, Anna had met his eyes and greeted him with a small nod when she entered and caught him staring.

Fish Two shot to his feet and punched Fish One in the mouth.  He wasn’t too sure why he was being so protective of the woman.  He didn’t know her from the Queen of England but for some reason his best friend’s opinions were making him furious.  “Mind yer tongue!  There’s nowt wrong with the woman!”  He turned to Anna, bestowed a charming, heart stopping smile on her then stormed out, shouting over his shoulder.  “Willie’ll take care of the check, Mable!”

Marcus burst out laughing and quickly smothered it, deciding then and there that Fish One had been properly taken care of.

Fish One and Fish Two… Appellations created solely for my amusement.  I felt that people needed a reminder of Anna’s appearance and this is the way I thought to do it.  I have to admit there’s some repetition in Fish One’s final statements about her eyes but that will be taken care of in editing.

After dinner they headed out for a hike in the forest at the south of Ballachulish so they could run.  Once they’d found a spot to shift Anna pulled Marcus aside and told him she wanted to explore her demon side.  Marcus, of course, objected.  Anna pulled rank and forced Marcus to shut his mouth.  He insisted on standing watch over her while she attempted to make a controlled change for the first time since she got back from Hell.  This is what happened:

Truth be told, Marcus was exhausted from the shifting he had already done that day so he widened his stance and looked as immovable as a mountain.  “I’ll watch.”

“Fine.”  Anna turned her back on him, unwilling to see his face.  She wasn’t even sure if she could accomplish it again.  The first time had been done without thought.  She closed her eyes and turned her focus inwards.  Anna had compartments in her head for the pieces of herself – one for the Vampire, one for the Wolf, one for her memories (that one looked like a library with a card catalogue), special chamber to contain her power and a new one for the Demon.  All those compartments held the bulk of her monsters, the full power of each of them and still small pieces of each made up the whole of Anna.  They were separate and yet one at the same time. 

Anna opened her mind to the visualisations.  The chamber for the demon was locked and Anna stood before that door, key in her hand and took a deep breath.  She put the key in the lock, a simple steel padlock and key, turned it and removed the lock.  The door burst open and the demon was on her in a second.

Marcus took a step forward when Anna staggered and hunched over with a pained grunt as her skin turned ash grey.  The pulsing, moving bulges that appeared over her shoulder blades frightened him.  He stopped when Anna straightened up.  As he watched she stood straight and began her shift.

The Demon burst from her with the same elegance as the Wolf.  The skin colour deepened and wings exploded from her back, unfurling with a snap.  She grew taller, slimmer and her muscles became sleeker, more defined.  Hands and feet lengthened, her middle fingers and middle toes melted together to become one digit, claws sprouted from all the nails. 

Marcus waited as she stood there, head bowed, and took several deep breaths.  He watched as she turned then looked her over from her feet to her hair, gasping at the look of her face.  It was a blend of Vampire and Wolf and wasn’t quite the same face that she came back from Hell with.  Her forehead was prominent and ridged, her eyes were black.  She had a short but definitive wolf snout with long sharp teeth.  Whereas before she was covered in leathery skin this new skin was the colour of the sky just before a thunderstorm and had in fine silver fur that brushed over her torso, thighs and forearms, even the hair on her head shone silver.

“Wow.”  The word slipped out before he could stop it.

Reading over the week’s writing, I have to say it’s not the best I’ve ever done but I’ve been writing and actually getting things done.  I count this as a good thing.  

I will be posting a blog tomorrow, I took some excellent pictures from the pier last week. 

Have a great day!

Muah

PS.  I fixed it.  The double “her eyes are freaky” has been changed.  The second one is now: “Her eye colour is unnatural.  Have you looked close?  I’ve seen the depths of hell in them.”   I don’t think it is quite right yet, needs to sound more uncouth fisherman but it works for now.  IT would have nagged at me!  

Cats, the Weather and a New World

Good Sunday morning folks!

I only have three pictures to share with you today.  This week has been about recovering from the motorcycle supershow last Friday – which doesn’t explain going to the Food & Wine Show in London yesterday *laughs* – and it means that I didn’t get out to get the photography done that I wanted to.  

The first is a little snippet of my life (and here’s picture number 4!).  

This is my desk space:  

Although I have the top half of a pine roll-top desk on it now, behind the monitors.

My laptop sits on a rack now, not a cooling pad and the cat still gets up there behind it.  Tucks himself into the space under the bottom shelf of the roll top and naps.  But the naps don’t usually happen until he’s finished trying to get to anything that may have rolled until the rack which, in my case, can be anything from a pen to a spool of thread to a folding knife.  

It’s total chaos when he does this.  Trying to do anything on a bouncing laptop is impossible.  So I tapped him on the top of the head with my finger and told him to stop while shaking the aforementioned finger at him.  His response?

 He chewed on my thumb. Then whacked me back (not that I whacked the kitty).

Terror the Terrible!  Too bad he’s so cute.  Or rather, it’s a good thing he’s so cute.  Means I haven’t had him stuffed yet. *laughs*

He did calm down and nap eventually but some days this behaviour gets him unceremoniously dumped on the floor.  

It’s been a slow week, lots of pain meds, lots of resting my legs, lots of trying to encourage the muscles and nerves to calm the fuck down and return to normal.  Four and a half hours of walking on concrete floors is a lot for an athlete, never mind someone with as many health issues as I have.  So I did what I always do when I’m having trouble:  I watched TV.  One of the shows I found was called Countdown to Apocalypse on History Channel.  

Fascinating stuff.  They said that on 12/21/12 the sun, earth and milky way were in perfect alignment, (well, they said would be, given that the show was created prior to that date).  It’s an event not seen in 26,000 years and is one that ended the last ice age.  They said it warmed the earth so much that, well, the ice went away.  They also said that the sun has entered its most violent stage and we can expect more, larger, solar flares and storms.  If there’s a big enough storm it’ll basically act as a massive electromagnetic pulse and wipe out all our electronics.

Scary eh?

They theorized that this change in the way the sun, earth and milky way were all shifting to create this alignment has something to do with global warming, possibly more so than anything we’ve done – which certainly hasn’t been helpful!  (We are destroying the planet we need to survive.)  And now that the alignment has occurred, we can certainly expect changes in our weather and quite probably catastrophic earth events.  

Fun.  

You can see it happening already.  Snow in traditionally wet, temperate places on the west coast (just ask Val, who lives in Vancouver or those poor saps in San Diego California who are dealing with a winter storm that dumped snow on them).  

As for us, last week we were dealing with this:

A blanket of snow covered the entrance to the beach.

And yesterday morning I woke up to this view through the kitchen window:

Spring??

 

It looks like March outside!  The temperature yesterday reached 12°C but felt much warmer.  It’s the middle of January.  It is, however, supposed to hit the low of -5°C and snow tomorrow.  

The scientists can say all they want, talk all they feel they need to but nothing is going to change what will happen.  I believe that in addition to the climate changes, possible orbit changes and maybe the poles swapping places the most fascinating thing to happen will be the resurgence of magic.

What?  You didn’t seriously expect that I, Caity Bowman, writer of the paranormal, witch and energy worker, wouldn’t think that?  *chuckles*

Welcome to the new world.

Pain, Life and Work

So today I wanted to get to work.  I wanted to dive right back in there and make myself happy by accomplishing things.  A little writing, a little blogging (oh hey, will ya look at that? Here’s a blog!), little time on my Facebook and trying to figure out what a website should have – content, photos, etc., maybe do some work on filling out my Goodreads profile some more.

Instead I’m sitting in a pain puddle.

Actually electricity hitting water but hey, who wants to be accurate. Photo courtesy of Loreescience.ca

The motorcycle show was awesome and I’d do it again.  Just… differently.  Use my cane, sit more, something. I have been left unable to walk without searing pain in my legs and feet.  Man oh man does it ever blow chunks.  So I’m taking acetaminophen with codeine and ibuprofen to try and cope. 

Unfortunately, with the kids back in school my weekdays start out busy, which means I’ve over done it already.  

I am going to try to work though.  We’re still here in HW3:  

Anna tapped a finger on the page.  “We need to find these people.  And I need Elsie.  Jules, you start with the newest one.  Brock, the one before it.  Doug, take this one,” she handed them out as she spoke.  “Marcus, this one,” she gave him the next oldest, “and I’ll take the remaining.  First though, I need to get Elsie.”  She leaned forward and set the last two books on the low coffee table in front of her then stood up.  “I’ll go to the bedroom.”

A small, grunted chorus of agreement from Wolves already deep into ancient journals reached her ears just as she closed the bedroom door.  She smiled and crossed to the bed and sat down lotus style.  Anna closed her eyes as she rested her hands palm up on her knees with the fingers relaxed.  Three deep breaths later and Anna was deep into a practiced meditation.

Her astral self drifted from her body and she reached for Elsie.  Anna popped up beside Elsie and Alasdair and wavered a little bit before firming up.  “Phew!” she said, “It’s warm in here.”  She looked around the ethereal home they’d fashioned in the valley of the caldera and smiled.  “I like it though.”

Alasdair jumped about a mile.  “Damn ye!  Don’t you ever knock?”

Anna smiled sunnily.  “Hard to knock on smoke walls, MacIain.”

The Laird growled then chuckled.  “What can we do for ye, lassie?”

“Marcus found some journals.  We need Elsie to help us wade through them.”

Elsie stood.  “As you like, young Miss.”  She kissed her husband and popped into Anna’s hotel bedroom as the Hybrid opened her eyes.

“Thank you, Elsie.”  Anna unfolded herself from the bed and went back out to the sitting room, the ghost following closely.  “We’re back,” Anna announced.

“Welcome back, pretty ghost.”  Marcus smiled at Elsie.

“Ah ye young bucks all think with that monster between your legs, doncha?”  Elsie grinned at him.

“Only when one so lovely as you is about.”  Marcus leered at her.

Anna chuckled as the others groaned.  “Marcus you flatterer, go back to your reading.”  She sat down and opened the journal very carefully.

“What do you need help with, Missy?”

“Deciphering this journal for starters.  I took a quick peek before I went to you and I can’t read it to save my life.”  Anna opened it to reveal a page covered in old words scrawled in smudged ink.  It was barely legible, let alone anything Anna could understand.

Even Elsie squinted at it before reading out loud. 

I know what I want to put there… well, knew.  I just have to find it again.  

*rummages*

Ah here it is:

What in me is dark
Illumine, what is low raise and support;
That to the highth of this great Argument
I may assert th’ Eternal Providence,
And justifie the wayes of God to men.
~Book 1, Paradise Lost, John Milton

That will be the start of the very first journal and then Elsie will simply translate the Gaelic, without me showing what the Gaelic text is in the first place.  I can’t imagine trying to figure that all out!  Gods that would be hard.  I’d have to learn the entire language, which would be fascinating but something I don’t have time for right now.  Getting a tutor to learn would be relatively simple I think, given my friends.  But no, I don’t have time.  *gives her head a shake*

My brain is now running on almost all cylinders so we shall see what’s in that first journal.  

Have a great day folks!