image from Indy Theatre Habit

This follows after here

My mother’s face blanched. I saw her gaze go blank and feared she would collapse. Ceoir grasped my mother by her elbows and held tight.

“Breathe, sister.” She stared deep into my mother’s eyes and I saw the color return to her cheeks. Tears began to trickle down her cheeks.

“You can’t know.” Her words were barely a whisper. Ceoir tilted her head.

“How could you not see it for yourself, Fionavar? Could you not sense the power within him?”

A far-away look glazed over my mother’s face and her lower lip trembled. Ceoir laid a hand gently under her chin. “You know I speak truth.”

“But how…why…”

“Perhaps it was your love for him that hid that aspect from you. But think about it, sister. Your child alone should have been proof that he was not just a human. No faerie could mate with a human.”

“That doesn’t make sense.” My voice, sudden and sharp, sounded harsh and judgmental. “If faerie cannot mate with humans then how can my father be part-faerie? Wouldn’t someone in his ancestral line have to have been faerie as well?”

I could see that my question destroyed Ceoir’s logic. It was a small victory but one I wanted so desperately to have for my mother’s sake. The guilt over my father’s death haunted her still.

“Does it really matter?” I asked softly. “He is gone. Nothing you can say or do will bring him back.”

My mother smiled faintly and laid a hand along my cheek. “He would have loved you so much.” Her voice was a soothing caress to my troubled spirit. The magic that had begun to course through my body was vibrating. I could sense the danger coming but being in my magical infancy I had no idea what that danger could be. Ceoir and my mother were so wrapped up in their own sibling rivalries and accusations neither were fully aware of anything beyond their own hurt feelings.

“Ceoir, I feel something, a danger perhaps. You had said the glade was in danger.”

My words snapped Ceoir out of her introspection. She nodded tightly and gestured towards the trees. “Quickly, Aemila. Open them up, the way you did the first. We will need all of our people to face what is coming.”

~*~*~

In 400 words or less, write a story or memoir which relates to choices and/or consequences. Because of the word limits, you may choose to focus just on the choice, or just on the consequence. Remember to capture a moment using dialogue, action, and reaction.

It’s been a while since I revisited my faerie tale. I really should get it wrapped up.

Josh paused, glancing over his shoulder at his sister. “C’mon Marj. We have to move quickly.” He began trudging up the steep path again.

“Wait!” Marjorie yelled. “You never said why. I don’t see…”

“The rainbow, Marj. We’re close. As close as I’ve ever been.” Josh stared off towards the bold arch dropping gracefully to the earth, seemingly just around the bend. Marjorie snorted.

“Seriously? A rainbow?” She shook her head and turned to leave. “I’m going home.”

“You’ll regret it!” Josh called after her.

Walking around a small outcrop, a glint of yellow brought a gleam of satisfaction to his eye.

~*~*~

This week’s Friday Fictioneers surrounds the above photo. Find other posts here

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Jacob turned away and swirled into a maelstrom of shadows that disappeared in moments. The alley was silent, only Celice and I remaining.

Celice. My heart raced at the enormity of my task. It was on my shoulders now. She was so small, like a little child. Her heart shaped face turned towards me, her golden eyes calm. A smile danced upon her lips and she began to change. She grew taller, fuller, womanly. Confidence and power radiated forth.

She stated it simply. “It’s easier. Jacob is…it’s easier.” She wrapped an arm about me. “Come, there is much to do.”

~*~*~
Leeroy needs a Revolution! How appropriate since Barbara from Purple Moose Gazette chose just that!

Behind me I could feel the rest of them departing. Celice wove her slender fingers between mine, her touch like ice. Jacob crouched before us and stroked her slender head. She nuzzled his hand and I felt the one in my own warm up significantly.

“Watch over her.” He straightened up. “She’s vulnerable now.”

His words hit me like an accusation.  “Because of…me?”

His eyebrows compressed into a tight line as he shook his head. “No, not because of you.” He paused. “She is such for you.”

~*~*~

Word Nerds Unite! Velvet Verbosity’s 100 word challenge is back (okay it’s been back for a few weeks but I was on vacation)

This week’s word is Fragile

My contribution follows immediately after Pure

“Oh my God…did I just do what I think I did?” She looked across the desk at him, searching his hooded eyes for answers. He firmed his jaw.

“You did what you had to. Don’t-“ A chorus of conflicting pings erupted from the laptop between them. He turned the screen towards him, clicking open a minimized window. A stream of tweets danced up the page, the hashtags all the same.

“Holy shit. It’s already hit Twitter!”

She griped his arm. “What if it wasn’t a lie?”

~*~*~
Oh Leeroy, I’ve missed you so! Linking up to Lance’s 100 Word Song. This week’s song choice is courtesy of k~ : Tracy Chapman’s Telling Stories

A completely stand alone flash this week…but knowing me I’ll get sucked in and expand it

I felt the crowd shift and he moved up beside me, his hand stroking the bare skin of my arm. His voice was low, his breath warm upon my cheek.

“Do not show fear. They can sense it.”

“Who are ‘they’? What’s going on? I-“ His fingers tightened in a vice around my elbow. The two men were approaching. I sucked in my breath as the moonlight illuminated their eyes. Human eyes did not glow.

“Hello, Jacob.” The voice floated through the air and I felt him lurch back as if slapped. He-Jacob-tensed beside me.

“Lucus. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised when you show up.”

Lucus chuckled low in his throat. He and his companion stopped a few feet away. A street light flickered to life, bathing them in a sickly shade of yellow. Lucus flicked the edge of his coat as he observed us. His eyes glowed brighter, a harsh contrast to the milky white tones of his complexion.

“We don’t need trouble. Just give her to us and we’ll be on our way.”

This time Jacob laughed. “Are you serious? In case you haven’t noticed Lucus, there are a few more of us than you.” Shadows swirled behind us. I looked over my shoulder at the darkening mass rising up into the sky, a seething tornado of night.

Winds began to toss my hair across my face. A hand griped my free one. Celice nestled herself in close to me. She stroked my face as she watched Lucus and his companion suddenly begin to fade out.

A howl erupted from Lucus’ throat. “Damn you, Jacob! Damn you to hell!” His words faded to nothing as his body exploded into shards of light that dissipated into the air.

My knees trembled. Celice’s wrist was at my mouth in a moment and I drank, the lightheadedness receding quickly. Jacob cupped my chin in his hand and searched my eyes, his thumb wiping away a trickle running from the corner of my mouth.

“Are you alright?”

“Yes.” I wanted to say more but the words stuck in my throat. He nodded thoughtfully.

“It’s not easy, coming to terms with this.” I shuddered as the tip of his finger traced an erotic path down my neck to the opening of my top. “But you’ll understand. Soon.”

He turned away. I reached out and grabbed his sleeve. “Ja-Jacob? Why did they leave?”

He looked over his shoulder at me, a ghost of a smile tugging the edge of his mouth.

“Evil cannot stand the presence of pure good.”

~*~*~

For this week, I’m offering you this opening line:

“Two men appeared out of nowhere, a few yards apart in the narrow, moonlit lane.”

You have 500 words

Following immediately after Escape

Celice whimpered as I let go. Confusion swirled around me as shadows moved. Everything had gone silent. I opened my mouth but he placed a finger on my throbbing lips.

“Shush…”

A subtle ping reached my ears. I pressed in close, fear filling my senses. The door flew open and I felt myself pushed forcibly out. Moonlight spilled through the exit down the hall.

As I stumbled through the opening I looked up in awe at the full moon hovering above. In the distance, a mournful howl filled the night.

image from #FridayFictioneers

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This story follows after here.

The image is from the #FridayFictioneers 100 word photo prompt.

I’m also linking up to Shah’s I’m A Storyteller prompt:

Write anything for no more than 250 words, beginning with this continuation prompt…

“When the bell rings, run….”

Last, I decided to link up to Story Dam cause it kinda sorta has to do with a moon…

Dam Burst Prompt:

Fiction or Non-Fiction, show us what is waiting for the full moon. Extra points for mixing mystery with romance.

Where to begin? Okay, first up: impressions. This is a luxury ship. The artwork is so amazing. I know I probably didn’t see half of it. Sculptures nestled in little nooks, massive paintings hung in each stair well. It would take hours to comb through the ship to find everything.

tree sculpture on the Promenade

Our rooms were small but adequate (not that you can expect spacious suites on a ship. And compared to some I saw by peeking in from the hall, ours was pretty big). I really really wish I could have brought my mattress home. SO comfortable! I wish I’d asked what brand they use.

Compact but served its purpose

tiny bathroom but the pressure in the shower made up for it! Nothing worse than no pressure!

the balcony

Next up: food! Cruises are all about food. My colleague warned me I could put on 10 lbs if I wasn’t careful. I could see that happening but thankfully I’ve never been a pig-out kind of eater. Sure I eat junk but I try to keep it in moderation. And since I’m vegetarian obviously there wasn’t as much available but I still had choices. The buffet was really well done. The food was fresh (no powdered eggs here!) and if it was supposed to be hot it was hot. We generally ate breakfast there, sometimes just grabbing a plate to take back to the room.

Throughout the ship are numerous little restaurants and cafes to grab small meals or snacks. The Park Cafe had fabulous sandwiches, salads and soup, Sorentos was set up as an authentic New York pizza joint, and the ice cream shop on the Boardwalk had delicious flavors daily.

Don’t forget the cupcakes!

Each night we ate in the Opus Dining room. Service was exceptional and the food…SO good! Every night there was always at least two vegetarian options, sometimes more. And everything I ate was amazingly delicious. I can imagine if I’d eaten rich food like that for every meal then I would have put on some serious pounds. Thank goodness for fresh pineapple and yogurt!

Last: Entertainment. We had a show booked for almost every night. All of the entertainment talent was fantastic. Singers, dancers, acrobats, divers, ice skaters, comedians…you name it, they had it.

First night: Hairspray

Night 2: Diving show at the Aqua Theatre

Night 4: ABBA-cadabra!

Night 5: Fairy tales on Ice (yes, ice. There was an ice rink on the ship!)

Night 6: Come Fly With Me. A singing, dancing, aerial acrobatic extravaganza!

Now, these are just the shows you had to have reservations for. There were also concerts, comedy diving shows, and participant shows all through the cruise. Belly Flop contest, Sexiest Man, Battle of the Sexes, Love & Marriage Game…the list went on.

Other entertainment: swimming pools galore, two rock climbing walls, a zip line, flowrider pools (you can try to surf) and the ice rink  had open ice times. The only thing I didn’t do was rock climb. The weather was sketchy the day I wanted to do it so they closed them down for safety.

I can’t forget to mention the amazing crew. Our stateroom attendant was wonderful. We kept telling him he didn’t have to keep straightening the room but twice a day it was cleaned up and the beds were either made up or turned down. And we had little surprises every other day:

ruff ruff!

The Cruise Director, Ricky Mathews was hilarious. I think his nickname is Energizer Bunny. He just keeps going…I seriously wondered when the man slept!

One of many MC nights for him!

I could go on…and on…and on…but I won’t If you really want to see more pictures I have a set in my Flickr account. Click the link here

I’m still working to organize pictures (ahem, all 2500 of them. Yes, I like to take pictures.) Most of them are multiple shots of the same event like a show we saw on the cruise ship. Most of them are crap due to fast action, low light and my complete inability to use my camera manually. I stuck to Auto, No Flash, and Sports settings with a little bit of Macro thrown in for fun. And looking over said pictures I remember and think back to all the numerous weird angles and odd subject matter I really wanted to take a picture of but didn’t because vacations are busy beasts that keep you hopping and I forgot…sigh…

a glass sculpture outside the jewelery store

Anyway, expect at least one post gushing all about my cruise (it was fabulous. People, if you can do a cruise once DO IT!) and one post about Disney World. Pictures galore plus links to my Flickr sets if you are so inclined.

Now, what did I learn on my vacation? (Yes, I learned some things. We should learn something every day you know ) Well, I learned that even though my kids annoy the heck out of me, I missed them. There were kids everywhere and I kept thinking “Oh, DT would love that!” or “Can you imagine LMC trying that?” Second, I learned that there is truth to the old saying “absence makes the heart grow fonder.” I really missed The Husband. We’d been drifting lately, just going through the motions of day-to-day and as a result, we were taking each other for granted. We’ve made a commitment to each other to not let ourselves get to that place again. It’s all about the little things: don’t let that slide. Say “I love you” just because. Hug and kiss before you leave the house. Hold hands even when you are watching TV. Plan a monthly Date Night.

Welcome Home!

Would I do a vacation away from my kids and husband again? Probably. But two weeks was too long. I think a week max is enough to recharge and refocus. As for the next big vacation, well that will be involving both The Husband and me. We definitely need some R&R together.

The Husband cleaned up my car and left a little message for me Say it with me: “awwwwwww!”

Last, a HUGE THANK YOU to the awesome bloggers who stepped in and kept this place alive. Jessie, SAM, Cam, Kir, Lance, and Tara you all rock. I hope to be stopping by soon so I can get caught up with everything that has gone on in your respective storylines soon. My email inbox and Google reader went a tad psycho while I was away and I had to be brutal and just hit “DELETE” on most of it so it’ll take time to visit. And of course I can’t wait to jump back into all my regular writing haunts. The voices in my head are clamoring to be let out onto the page (err, computer screen).

Stay Tuned…

I hope you have enjoyed the submissions by all the fabulous writers I coerced into participating

~*~*~

image from Google

Minerva glanced around the opening to the cave. The dark frightened her.  Once again, she questioned her sanity over accepting a position on a deep space exploration vessel. Her mother’s voice echoed in her head, You might as well take this job, Minerva. Lord knows you’ll never get ahead with your looks so use the brain God gave you.

She’d been ordered by the Captain to observe an important alien ritual. She wasn’t thrilled with being pawned off to this civilization as the official liaison but it might mean a promotion. One could only take being the designated ‘lackey’ for so long before plotting mutiny.

Treading carefully in the dim light she arrived at a massive cavern. It had been roughly carved into an amphitheater with curved stone seating wrapping around the perimeter. At one end was a raised stone stage and alter. Minerva swallowed, hoping she wouldn’t have to watch some poor alien be sacrificed.

Participants and observers were silently arriving and moving into position. The seats filled and a procession of three aliens marched solemnly down the main aisle to the front. As soon as the three had reached the altar, jarring discordant noise echoed throughout the cave. Minerva fought the urge to cover her ears with her hands. The screeching made her teeth vibrate and she surreptitiously rubbed the goose bumps raised on her arms.

One of the aliens began to speak. Minerva’s training ensured she knew enough of the language to recognize she was watching a wedding. She loved weddings with the mindless obsession of someone who realized they might never get to experience their own. She happily settled back in her seat.

After four hours, Minerva’s ass was numb and her interest had waned. The alien wedding droned on and on.  Nodding sleepily Minerva almost fell out of her seat when a high pitched scream jerked her awake.  The bride unsheathed her talons and slashed across the groom’s throat. His roar was deep and guttural, echoing throughout the dank cavern. Minerva gasped as she saw him retaliate. Four inch long talons flashed out from the tips of his webbed hands. The longer, sharper talons did much more damage than the female’s shorter, more delicate ones and as a result the bride’s head tumbled down the stone steps.

Bouncing a few times it rolled and landed at Minerva’s feet, the bride’s angular blank stare meeting hers. Shaking, she shifted her feet back as far as possible without giving offense. The Captain had lectured everyone on the crew about respecting this civilization’s traditions and to not get involved.

A rasping noise caught her attention. Raising her head she met the gaze of the alien groom. He had slithered silently down to where his former bride’s head landed and was now looking at Minerva. Her heart began to pound. The groom swept his gaze up and down her body, settling on the modest plunge of her uniform neckline. A grunt of satisfaction escaped from his lips and he grasped Minerva’s hand. She found herself dragged towards the altar, suddenly expected to become the new bride.

So much for not getting involved