Challenge: Books to Discover

Prompt: Books I want youth to discover

Um. Good Lord. So, so many books. Where to even start? 

All right, let me just pick a couple of authors. 

Barbara Hambly: 

• Darwath series. Portal fantasy; H.P. Lovecraft meets J.R.R. Tolkien. Some elements are a little bit dated, but generally not problematic, and it pulls off some moments that I swear to God only a History major with a martial arts background writing fantasy could have produced. 
• Stranger at the Wedding. A spinoff from her Windrose Chronicles, this is the standalone story of a young mage trying to save her sister from a death curse. 
• James Asher Novels. Vampires in Victorian-ish London recruit a former-spy-turned-college-professor to find out who's killing them. The series proceeds from there. 

Martha Wells:
Look, I know Murderbot gets all the attention and I have no problem with that, but her backlist is equally amazing:

• The Ile-Rein books. Beginning with a sort of Three Musketeers but with magic (The Element of Fire) to a gaslight London murder mystery (Death of the Necromancer) to a trilogy of London Being Bombed in WWII (Fall of Ile-Rein, starting with The Wizard Hunters) and featuring portal fantasy elements. The Death of the Necromancer is particularly amazing, but the whole series is good.
• City of Bones.  A pair of hunters for relics of the ancient world are recruited by psychically-empowered Lictors to help solve an ancient mystery that should never have been investigated. Standalone. 
• The Books of the Raksura. Sword and Sorcery, except informed by the Nature Channel rather than the History Channel. Come watch a lost Consort find his place among a matriarchal society of dragon-like shapeshifters. 

(This post is part of the Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge. You can find links to other writers' answers over at Long and Short Reviews.)

Villain: Storm Giant

Name: Mark Thomas Smith
Alias: Storm Giant
Age: 33
Appearance: Ordinarily 6'3" with the thick, heavy build of a boxer; light brown hair in a buzz cut, broken nose, brown eyes, light skin; dresses in anything from sweatpants and a tank top to full suits.
Job: freelance muscle for hire

Mark Smith was working as an apprentice electrician when he accidentally grounded himself to a live wire. The current involved should have been enough to kill him; instead, it triggered his anomalous powers. He found himself larger, stronger, and far more durable... and shortly after that, he discovered that he was charged with electricity, which he could use for ranged attacks. 

He did eventually get his license, and makes a decent living working as a licensed electrician. However, the money available working off the books as an "enhanced" bodyguard or leg-breaker eventually proved too tempting -- especially since he could look like an ordinary man right up until the time came to charge up his powers. He took up the name Storm Giant, and hunted around online until he found a specialized boutique that would provide clothing that could change size along with the person wearing it. 

At age 33, he is content to have most of his income tied to his regular job, and supplement it with the occasional special assignment. For those, he wears a special "ninja hood" of the same material as his clothes, and keeps a powerful, compact battery in his pocket to trigger his powers if another source of electricity isn't handy. He has never tested the full limits of his power; the more electricity he draws, the larger, stronger, and tougher he grows. If there's a limit to that, he hasn't found it yet -- but he's also aware that the bigger the giant, the more of a target it represents.

StV: Fellow Catholics

"Hey, Cat," said Maria, sitting down across from her teammate and opening her laptop. 

Cat was reading Small Unit Tactics, which might have been part of her studies or just something she'd decided to look into. With everything that was going on, Maria was a little jealous that she hadn't thought of it first. She didn't look irritated at the interruption though, smiling as she said, "Maria." 

"You're Catholic, aren't you?"

Cat made a yes-and-no gesture. "My parents are. I'm not very observant, myself." She eyed Maria suspiciously. "Why?"

"Um," said Maria. "I could use some advice." 

"Wow. You have definitely come to the wrong place," Cat told her, but she was smiling slightly as she said it. "All right, Catholic Advice. Approach and be enlightened, Novice Maria. I bring the wisdom of the nuns teaching at St. Peter's primary school, but without the rulers."

Maria chuckled and settled back, strangely relaxed. Catarina Montoya -- Nightfall when they were out in the field -- was... maybe not a close friend, but somebody Maria trusted. If anybody would know where she was coming from, it was Cat. "So, if I found myself irresistibly attracted to somebody -- a boy -- to the point where just being around him was a temptation to sin, what would  the Church expect of me? I'm supposed to avoid temptation, right?"

Cat blew out a breath. "All right. You and I both know that the Church teaches that celibacy is the ideal. If you can't remain celibate, you're supposed to get married because sex isn't a sin if it takes place within the bonds of matrimony."

"Yeah," said Maria. "That's the problem. I'm seventeen; I'm not getting married yet. I've been trying to stay away from the guy, and ignore him when I can't, but... Damn it, I'd like to at least be friends with him, and avoiding him because I really like him just seems... backwards." 

Cat shrugged. "Yeah. Because the Church is very clear about what it expects, but what it expects isn't realistic. 'Be celibate, or get married before having sex' just isn't how people work. And I'd be a hypocrite to support it."

There was a momentary pause as Maria processed that. "You...?"

"Yeah," Cat told her. "I wanted to see what it was like, saw an opportunity, and took it."

"So what was it like?"

"Honestly? It was good. There was a lot of fumbling around, but we took our time and listened to each other, and it... well, it went pretty well. But you don't have to jump in like that. There are all kinds of intermediate stages, remember."

Maria half-shook her head. "I'll have to think about that. Thank you."

"Sure," said Cat, and went back to her reading. 

Music: In The Mood

 Ray Stevens:

Running to Stay Still

This week has been, inexplicably but relentlessly, busy. Secondborn is trying to catch up last semester's Physics plus some late assignments in English -- and today he's having his STAAR test for Algebra, so that's going to keep him occupied -- and I've been trying to stay on him so this gets done and he doesn't wind up in summer school. Work has been -- for no good reason that I can see -- just one thing after another. Nothing particularly catastrophic or unpleasant, there's just a lot going on right now. 

And, obviously, I've tapered off on the writing. Too much else going on; not enough energy left over; body needs sleep and lots of it. 

I'm still working on the Horny Superteens project, which -- while absolutely 100% pulp -- is doing a lot to preserve my sanity; the snippets of things here are me thinking through what's happening behind the scenes, so I guess those would count as bonus content. I'm hoping to jump back into it as soon as my system resets, but apparently this week is for catching up on the real world and Getting Some Sleep. 

Sleep is good. I like sleep. Sleep with long, weird dreams (that would be last night) is so damned refreshing that waking up from it always feels like a bit of a revelation. 

 

Music: Probably Will

Concrete Blonde:

The Climbing Gym

We have, once again, visited the climbing gym. I have, once again, climbed. I am reminded, yet again, of how very much out of shape I let myself become. I have no real idea of just how sore I'm going to be when this post goes up, but my best guess is groan.

The good news is that I am, slowly, getting back into better shape. The bad news is I'm definitely not there yet. And the other good news is that everybody had a really good time, and we were there for about three hours. So, y'know, plenty of opportunity to wear myself out and remind my body of what kinds of things it used to do.  

And it's really not a bad way to exercise, either. Like, it's not impacting the joints; it's working both strength and cardio -- and balance too, for that matter. Even limiting myself to the faces with the auto-belays, there are plenty of different things to try. Plus, y'know, I like being way up in the air. Especially if I can just let go and know I'll get back down safely.

The Great Tree Battle

So, we have this one trash tree in the back yard, which has been extending over the back corner of the fence, and apparently it's intruded far enough to the alley that the trash truck has been hitting it. They got tired of that and started leaving nasty little notes on our trash cans, so tonight Secondborn and I broke out the saw, the clippers, and the step-ladder (from a previous marriage) and we *trimmed* that bad boy. It was an epic battle: tying the stepladder off to the tree so it couldn't tilt backwards, roping the limbs and pulling them aside so they wouldn't fall on the person doing the cutting, clipping things above my head....

The tree -- and the bush tangled up with it, which we also trimmed back -- fought back, launching clouds of pollen into our hair and faces, having new branches spring out to slap us as the cut branches were pulled out of the way, and generally being recalcitrant in all the ways that plantlife can. Jester the squirrel came skittering down from the treetop at one point when neither of us was on the ladder, but he, at least, was too traumatized to offer battle. With a panicked cry of, "My tree! My tree! What are you doing to my tree!" he slipped past us and vanished into the bushes. 

I've never seen such an expression of existential confusion on the face of a rodent before.

Secondborn did amazing work, using the main branch of the tree to stabilize himself while sawing away at the outer branches, explaining his plan for what he was going to if something went wrong, hauling massive branches away once they hit the ground. He had a great time, and got paid for it too; now he's in the bathtub. He says he's glad he was working Core today, instead of doing Arm Day.

I myself had to shampoo my hair twice to get all the Tree Crud out of it, and my shoulders are letting me know that I'm definitely going to feel this in the morning. 

...But by all the gods, it's done.

A Chance Encounter

"Hi," said a cheery voice. "You're the new girl, aren't you?"

Julie Hendrix looked up to see a talking panther sitting on a tree-limb ahead. She gasped and startled back, but the beast didn't move. "Hi," it said again, more slowly, then drew itself up until it was a panther-shaped girl instead. 

"What--" Julie suddenly remembered her manners. "I'm sorry. You startled me."

The beast-girl nodded. "I've been practicing."

"To startle me?"

"No, to startle... people in general. Sorry. People around here tend to be pretty laid-back."

"Yes, well, I'm still getting used to the weirdness." Julie softened her tone. "Did you want something?"

The beast-girl nodded and dropped lightly to the ground. "So, some of us will be having a fire out here on Saturday night. I thought you might like to join us."

"Oh," said Julie, taken aback. "That's... very kind of you. I-- I'll think about it?"

"No pressure," said the girl immediately. "I just thought maybe you could use some more friends."

"...I probably could," Julie admitted. That was the mission, after all. "All right, I'll come join you. Where will it be?"

"Goblin will probably find you, but if they don't just... follow the smell of smoke. You'll see the firelight before too long. I'm Nightfox, by the way. "

"Pebbles," Julie replied.

Metamorphoses and Magic, Part Four

"What should I start with?" asked Abby. "Fire?"

Sophia shook her head. "Fire's unpredictable. Let's start with something simple and safe: air. I'm going to teach you a set of very simple words and gestures. Don't worry about what they mean -- not yet, anyway. The important part right now is for you to fill them with some of your own energy, and then release them into that space you sensed earlier." 

"Um," said Abby. "What's it do?" 

"Just a little puff of wind," Sophia told her. "Enough for me to feel it, though if you succeed we'll feel it in the magic itself."

"Okay," said Abby, relaxing slightly. "Okay, I can do that."

Sophia spoke the phrase and Abby did her best to echo it; it took several tries before she had it down. Then they went through the gestures, and  getting the timing to do them together. 

To Sophia's apparent surprise, a tiny gust of wind appeared on Abby's first try. She shook her head, grinning. "Lyceus was right. You're a prodigy. It takes most apprentice mages weeks to manage even that much -- to make that connection and push it out."

Abby felt herself grinning too. "It helps that I got to feel you and Lyceus doing it," she said. 

"It does," Sophia agreed.  "It helped me, too. But that kind of sensitivity... again, most apprentices will spend weeks -- if not months -- on basic workings like this before they even begin to develop some sensitivity to what they're doing."

"Huh," said Abby. "So my power isn't just changing me, it also makes me sensitive to magic."

"Changing you?" asked Sophia.

"Yeah." Abby looked away. "That's why I was in such a hurry to, um, be with your brother."

Sophia put a hand over her eyes. "I should not know this."

"While I'm still human, or human-looking, I mean. My power's changing me, transforming me into something else. It's slow, unless I get hurt. Then I heal fast, but instead of normal scars my flesh is different."

"Well, that's, um..." Sophia hesitated.

"Terrifying," Abby supplied. "I don't talk about it much. Cat knows, and I have a monthly checkup with Ms. Campbell, but... it would be really nice if it had an upside to it, like letting me do magic."

"Well," said Sophia, "I think we can safely say that it does that."

Challenge: Books from Social Media

Prompt: Books I Discovered On Social Media

So, so many books. I don't even know where to start on this one, and honestly I'm not sure how well I can distinguish the ones I heard about on Social Media from the ones I might have found through other channels. But I'd guess that easily half and probably as much as three-quarters of the books I buy are one I first heard about on social media.

Looking through recent purchases or pre-orders... Let's see...

The Never List, Jade Presley. The four princes of Lumathyst need a mate, and everyone wants a chance...except for her.

The Fealty of Monsters, Volume One, Ladz. Winter 1917. After years on the run from a dangerous cult, twenty-three-year-old Sasza and his father have established themselves among the Odonic Empire’s ruling class. But there’s a problem: Sasza is a vampire, and vampires aren’t supposed to get involved in human governance

Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism, Sarah Wynn-Williams. Sarah Wynn-Williams tells the wrenching but fun story of Facebook, mapping its rise from stumbling encounters with juntas to Mark Zuckerberg’s reaction when he learned of Facebook’s role in Trump’s election. She experiences the challenges and humiliations of working motherhood within a pressure cooker of a workplace, all while Sheryl Sandberg urges her and others to “lean in.”

Twice as Dead, Harry Turtledove. Rudolf Sebestyen is missing, and Marianne Smalls is involved in an illicit affair with the shady Jonas Schmitt. Both cases converge when Dora Urban, Rudolf’s beautiful and mysterious half-sister, and Lamont Smalls, Marianne’s suspicious husband, hire Jack Mitchell, a hard-drinking, chain-smoking private investigator. Dora wants Jack to uncover what happened to her brother, while Lamont seeks proof of his wife’s infidelity. But Dora is a vampire, in a city teeming with creatures of the night.

(This post is part of the Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge. You can find links to other writers' answers over at Long and Short Reviews.)

 

StV: Metamorposes and Magic, part three

"All right," said Sophia, sitting down across from Abby on the floor of one of the training rooms/raquetball courts beneath the gym. "Let's start with some theory. There are three primary ways to approach sorcery, and all of them have their risks."

Abby nodded, her entire attention focused on Sophia. 

"The First Power is to draw on your own energies. For small things, this is the safest approach: all the energy comes from you, so the only consequences are personal. It's more dangerous if you try to approach more powerful effects this way: you can exhaust yourself, age yourself, maybe even kill yourself, if you put too much energy into a spell. This is generally considered the fundamental magic, though, because mastering this ability allows you to access the other approaches. And with time and practice, you'll find your personal energies increasing. Some sorcerers never move beyond this."

She paused, and Abby nodded again. "Magic drawn from your own energies."

Sophia smiled. "The Second Power is to draw on the ambient energies in the world around you. All magic comes back to this, and this is what you're so sensitive to: regardless of how we power them, the effects we create affect the ambient magic in the world around us. That's why you could sense my conjured flame, even though it was a minor effect that I created with the First Power. The Second Power allows you draw from a larger pool of energy while using only enough of your own to tap into it and shape it. It varies in strength depending on your location -- it will be stronger near a ley line, and much stronger at a nexus. Fortunately, this school isn't anywhere near any of those."

Abby frowned. "Fortunately?"

Sophia nodded. "It's best to learn where magic is scarce," she said. "If you only know how to tap into it when it's plentiful, you'll be all but powerless in a place like this. But if you learn here..."

"Ah," said Abby. "Okay, that makes sense. Learn it the hard way, and excel in easier climes." 

Sophia offered an approving smile. "Exactly. The Third Power..." She scowled. "The Third Power has you draw energy -- and maybe even new abilities -- from beings beyond this world. For some sorcerers, it's a supplement to the First and Second; for others, it's their entire path. I avoid it, and I'd advise you to do the same; it requires petitioning or bargaining with things vastly more powerful than we are, which have their own agendas, and may not be entirely trustworthy, and may demand that you pledge complete loyalty to them. I'm not saying it can't be done, but as far as I'm concerned... well, for people as sensitive as us, it isn't worth the risk."

Abby nodded sharply. "Yeah, a big nope-out to that."

"Good," said Sophia. "Enough theory. Let's see what you can do with the First Power."

StV: Metamorphoses and Magic, part two

Abby was sitting on the porch, idly picking at her bass guitar -- nothing too loud, since it wasn't plugged into an amplifier -- when she felt the gathering of forces behind her and rose from her chair to spin around. 

Sophia was standing a few feet behind her, with a tiny tongue of flame dancing above her fingertips. "Di immortales," she breathed. "Well, you're right -- you're really sensitive. Come on, let's walk and talk. I don't share this kind of thing with just anybody..."

"Why not?" asked Abby. 

"Two reasons," Sophia told her. "First, it's the only edge I have out here, so there's a bit of paranoia. But second... it's dangerous. Dangerous to learn especially, but also dangerous to use." 

Abby followed her down the steps and out onto the tree-lined driveway. "But you use it all the time, don't you? I mean, in that fight..."

Sophia nodded. "No, you're right. It's..." She hesitated. "It's dangerous to use in the same way that electricity is dangerous to use. Or maybe guns. If you know what you're doing and you treat it with respect, it's a reliable tool. But the moment you get sloppy, bad things happen. Which is why I have to ask..." They were well away from the porch and the other students now. Off to their left, an impromptu game of dodgeball was forming, and there was a small circle of students reading various roles in Equus aloud off to their right, but nobody was paying them any attention. "...What exactly did Lyceus do that made you realize you could sense these things?"

Abby felt her face heat. She tried to suppress it, but she couldn't. "It was... just a little spell."

Sophia stopped, staring at her. "He didn't. You didn't--"

"We, um, did," Abby admitted. 

Sophia tilted her head back to look up at the sky. "I'm going to murder him."

"Please don't," Abby said. "It was my idea. I asked Cat to introduce us. And he was..." Oh, God. Was she really going to say this to Lyceus' sister? "...it was good. It was exactly what I wanted, and then some."

Sophia hesitated, then said: "I thought you said the two of you weren't an item." 

"We aren't!" Abby protested, and started walking again before they could draw any attention. "It was just one night. And I'm not saying he didn't get anything out of it, but he was doing me a favor."

"Truly?" Sophia settled herself reluctantly. "He wasn't taking advantage of you?"

Abby shook her head. "I like your brother -- genuinely, truly like him. But it's just that. I'm sixteen years old, I'm not looking for a life partner, and I don't have any illusions about how Lyceus feels about me."

Sophia took a deep breath, then said: "I'm probably going to regret this, but... how do you think he feels about you?"

Abby hesitated, casting around for the right word, and finally settled on, "Solicitous. Your brother's a decent guy. I asked him to be my first time, and he did his best to make it good for me. He also made it clear that this couldn't be an ongoing thing, and shouldn't be more than a one-time thing. And he was right about that, I think. It's compelling, and it's easy to mistake that for real connection." She paused to draw a breath, then added, "...And when I felt him cast the spell, he immediately broke off to make a note to put me in touch with you."

"Damn it," muttered Sophia. "You're right, I'm going to have to let him live." 

"What about me?" Abby asked, before the opportunity slipped away. "Will you teach me?"

"I kind of think I have to," Sophia said. "You're so sensitive that you might start finding things on your own, now that you know what to sense for. The gods know what you might stumble into without proper training."

Abby sighed. "Thank you."

StV: Metamorphoses and Magic, part one

"Sophia?"

Abigail Johnson took some comfort in the fact that the sorceress was the same age as her, since she was on Team Dragon and Abby wasn't on any of the teams at all. The extent of their social interactions so far had been one awkward lunch and a double-date, which Sophia had attended with her teammate Wrecker and Abby had attended with Sophia's brother Lyceus. 

Wrecker -- Cedric Johnson, though as far as Abby could see no relation of hers -- was sitting beside Sophia. The rest of Team Dragon was elsewhere, or else Abby wouldn't have approached them. She didn't want to interrupt the team, she just wanted...

"Oh, hi!" Sophia -- Charm, if she was using her codename -- looked genuinely glad to see her. "Sit down, please." 

Abby circled the table, put her lunch tray down, and say. 

"How are things going with Lyceus?" asked Cedric, before she could get a word out. He didn't make it sound like a challenge or an accusation, though; if anything, he sounded... worried. 

How much does he know? She wondered, and then concluded: Not much. "You know we're not really an item, right?" she asked. 

Cedric blinked. "Oh," he said. "Okay."

She glanced at Sophia. "I'm not saying I don't like him, and I enjoyed the hell out of watching Casablanca with you all, but I don't think the two of us are really going anywhere, if that makes sense."

Sophia nodded, eyebrows slightly lowered and lips slightly pursed in a way that could be curious or worried or thoughtful or all three. It wasn't quite a frown, though.  "That's quite a movie choice for people who aren't romantically interested, though."

Abby made her shrug look casual. "I can enjoy the feeling of romance without automatically transferring it to the person I'm watching it with," she said, though honestly she did see some similarities between Rick from the movie and Lyceus here in reality.

"Oh," said Cedric. "Good." 

"Okay, but look," Abby said, trying to get back to the reason she'd sat down with them. "After the movie, Lyceus did something. Something I could feel... and something that apparently most people can't." She focused on Sophia. "He said I should talk to you about it."

"Did he?" asked Sophia absently, and then her expression hardened for a bare moment before she smoothed it over. "He thinks you're sensitive to sorcery?"

Abby nodded. "It felt like a wind moving through the world around me, if that makes any sense."

Sophia hesitated for a long moment. Then she said, "It does." She glanced at Cedric. "I'm going to need you to sit this one out, big guy." He nodded happily. To Abby she said, "Let's get together  after classes tomorrow and take a walk up towards the gates."

"I'll be on the front porch," said Abby.

Dauntless: A Silent Return

It was almost exactly halfway between midnight and dawn when Whisper of Evening Wind slipped over the railing of the ship and dropped into its shadow. She studied the automaton on the poopdeck for a brief moment, but it was turned away from her. Three quick, silent strides and she dropped down into the upper hold, about half of which had been converted to rooms for crew and passengers. She paused a moment to listen, let her whiskers wait for movements in the air, and sensed nothing; what light there was spilled from beneath the cloth covering one of the glow-rods. 

She ghosted her way around the edges of the hold, checking doorways and glancing down halls. The Aarakocra barbarian was either still and silent in his bed, or -- more likely gone. She remembered the sound of his snoring. Kara was asleep in her room, and from the smaller, piping breath behind that door it seemed the Galbra might be as well. The other girls had decided to stick it out, it seemed. That might help. 

The other Aarakocra, the nimble one, was also asleep;  that was good. She meant to keep it that way. Likewise for the charming halfling; awake, she would be a danger. Better that she remained asleep. Whisper hadn't dared to check on the Captain; that one was prone to late nights, and his automaton might have reacted badly if it saw her. 

Most interesting of all was the fact that after these several weeks, the gnome was still with them. Had something gone wrong in the Capital? Did he still have the Amulet? How much had she missed, in making her inquiries here?

She padded further down the hall, to her old room. The door was locked, but it took only a little work to change that. She slipped inside and locked the door behind her, then set her pack in the drawer beneath the bunk and latched it shut. There, now. Nothing to give herself away. 

The bed was even still made. Galbra's work, most like, and it made her smile. She settled under the covers and waited for the ship to depart.

Okay, better...

Made it through work yesterday, came home, and passed out on the couch for three hours. I'm doing better, but my guts are still a little bit shaky and I'm being very cautious about what I eat. Every hour that takes me further away from Monday is a blessed relief. 

Not much to add to that, so let's find some thematically-appropriate music. How about Richard Cheese?

Okay, WOW

So, yesterday was more or less a complete wash-out. I woke up, took my meds, showered, got ready for work, and got as far as putting things in the car when I was hit by a bout of sudden, intense nausea. Like, "thank the gods I hadn't eaten anything" nausea. So I notified work, waited until the nausea went down, and went back to bed. 

...And then promptly woke back up around noon with an extensive, extended case of diarrhea. I signed on from home for a bit and fixed a couple of things at work, then signed off again and basically just sat there playing a video game and drinking fizzy waters. I finally risked eating some macaroni and cheese a little after six -- I was starting to feel kind of shaky -- and had to cancel the evening's D&D game. Which was a pity, because I actually had some events prepared for it.

No idea what set that off. I'm on some new meds, so maybe taking them all at once caused a problem? I'm going back to my earlier 2-stage setup, where I take the really critical ones when I first get up and hope to the gods I remember to take the rest later in the day after I've eaten. Might also have been something I ate -- again, no idea what -- or just some kind of little tummy bug. 

I'm going into work this morning (unless it happens again, in which case I'm calling the damned doctor instead) but I don't know if I'll be there for the full day. Whatever that was, it really knocked me for a loop.

All of which is to say that there won't be any fiction today, and the rest of the week is on thin ice too. 

StV: Awake Again, part four

Julie tucked the phone away, and Ms. Salvatore regarded her for a long moment before asking, "Now... do you have any idea why you were being hunted by the Hounds?"

"Is that who they were?" Julie asked. "That's a government program, right? I remember hearing about it on the news. Something about using the latest technology to protect the country from people like me..." She hesitated, hating what she was about say. "...like us."

"Yes," Ms. Salvatore told her. "That's the one. How did you end up in their crosshairs?"

Julie made a show of thinking about that, then said: "Mr. Lyon. He's... he's our neighbor, and he's crazy. Keeps phoning in complaints about us to the city, calls the police if I go outside for a walk, little random acts of vandalism... He's been like that since this--" She gestured at herself. "--first happened to me a few years ago, and my parents moved me to homeschooling."

Ms. Brigham nodded. "You wouldn't be the first to be victimized that way."

"Do you think they took my parents?" asked Julie. 

Ms. Salvatore frowned. "I wouldn't think so, not unless they thought your parents were dangerous anomalies too, but if you have this neighbor... it's possible, I suppose. Are your parents anomalies?"

Julie shook her head. "No, they're..." She veered away from the word Blessed. "...Ordinary?" 

"Not likely, then," Ms. Salvatore said. "With your permission, we can do some investigating. In the meantime, we can offer you shelter here. Would you be okay with that?"

Julie looked around. "Could I... Could I talk to the girl who rescued me, first? I'd feel safer with her around."

StV: Awake Again, part three

Julie had devoured a plate of scrambled eggs, sausage, and toast, and was wondering if she should ask for another when another woman entered the otherwise-empty cafeteria. Beside her, Ms. Brigham said quietly, "This is Ms. Salvatore. She's the auxiliary headmistress here."

"Um," said Julie. "Okay. Where is here?"

"The Saint Vincent School for Exceptional Youth," said the new arrival, who was tall and slender and moved in a way that projected absolute authority. "Some of our students refer to it as Anomaly Academy, though we do not encourage such liberties." 

Uh oh, Julie thought. Ms. Salvatore reminded her strongly of old Mrs. Hathaway, who had been the strictest and most demanding of her childhood tutors -- and also the most rewarding. She swallowed. "What happened?" she asked. "I mean, I was being chased, and I saw some kids who were like me, but... Somebody shot me with a tranquilizer? Like, for a wild animal? Did I make it to their car?"

"You did not," Ms. Salvatore informed her. "The young man we call Harbinger retrieved you while his sister protected you both."

"Oh," Julie said quietly. It made sense; they thought they were protecting someone like them. Somehow she hadn't expected it, though.

"I'd like to read your mind, if I may," Ms. Salvatore continued. "It will help me better understand what happened to you."

"What? No!" Julie was suddenly panicked; if anybody read her mind, they'd know exactly who she was and why she was here. It had never even occurred to her that that might be a danger, and apparently it hadn't occurred to Mr. Maddox or His Holiness The Prophet either. 

Ms. Salvatore didn't flinch; she just nodded. "As you wish. To be clear, we do not read other people's minds without permission here."

"Uh--" Julie still hadn't recovered from the shock. "Thank you?"

Ms. Brigham glanced at Ms. Salvatore. "Before we ask you about how you wound up being hunted by the CIA's Hounds, is there anybody you'd like to get in touch with? Parents? Friends? People who would want to know you're safe?"

Oh. "Oh," Julie said. She'd prepared for this part, she'd just forgotten about it. Would they be suspicious? "Um. Yeah. Can I call my parents?"

Ms. Brigham reached into her pocket and then slid Julie's cellphone across to her. It was a fake, of course -- bought under a fake name, filled with carefully-prepared numbers that connected to members of the  Age of Rebirth who would recognize her number and knew how to respond. They'd even practiced with it enough to full up the Recent Calls. 

Her real phone was still back at the house; Julie wished she had it instead. This is what His Holiness wants from me, she reminded herself. I am Blessed now. She tapped in her code, then flipped to the phone app and punched the contact for her mother. The phone rang, and eventually went to voicemail; she cut it off without leaving a message and tried her father instead. "They're not... they aren't picking up," she said, distraught. 

They weren't supposed to, she remembered; those were prepared numbers. But right now, she wanted her parents and she couldn't contact them; the distress in her voice was genuine. She tried "Aunt Janice" next, her father's younger sister, and this time the designated Blessed picked up. 

The conversation that followed was awkward and clumsy, and Julie hoped that she came out sounding like a young woman who was genuinely worried about her parents. Her "aunt" promised to get in touch with them, and asked again if she was okay. 

Julie told her she was.

StV: Awake Again, part two

Julie drank some water after she finished crying, and then drifted back off to sleep.

She woke up hungry and still scared, but the nausea had faded and she felt strong again. That should have made the whole situation easier to take, but it didn't. Had she really agreed to come here? Even for the sake of helping the Prophet? Did she even recognize herself anymore?

A red-haired woman was scrolling through a news site on a computer screen, sitting in a comfortable-looking chair with her back to Julie. 

Julie shifted her weight, trying to get a feel for how well she could move, then drew back. Not well, she thought. However much better she felt, she was still sleep-stupid and slow. The back of her right shoulder throbbed with a dull, steady ache.

The woman heard the movements and turned around, meeting her eyes with a friendly smile. "Awake again?" she asked.

Julie hesitated, then nodded. "Who are you?" She coughed and cleared her throat, but the woman answered anyway. 

"Ms. Brigham," she said. "Glimmer stayed with you as long as she could, but we all have to sleep sometime. She said you'd be thirsty when you woke up, and you'd probably want a restroom."

"Um," said Julie. Both those things were true. "Yes, I could use..." 

The woman rose, turned, and approached, settling herself beside the bed. "Do you think you can sit up?"

"Maybe," said Julie, and the woman held out her hand. 

Julie took it and pulled herself upright. The room kind of lurched around her, but it didn't start spinning and once she was upright her head felt clearer.  

"Which first?" asked the red-haired woman. "Water, or bathroom?"

Sitting up had very definitely settled that question. "Bathroom," Julie told her.

Challenge: Characters to Avoid

(This post is part of the Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge. You can find links to other writers' answers over at Long and Short Reviews. I kind of fell off last year, so we'll see how I do with it this year.)

Prompt: Characters I never want to meet...

I mean, let's just start with Hannibal Lecter. I don't think I'd be a likely victim of his -- don't fit the profile -- but who really wants to find that out? I like my liver right where it is. 

I'll just follow that one up with the Witch-king of Angmar. I'm both mortal and man, so I have exactly zero chance of killing him, and unless maybe we've negotiated a nice, fawning interview for Middle Earth News Network there's a pretty decent chance that he kills me very thoroughly, probably without even really noticing. 

Freddy Krueger might find me to be surprisingly difficult prey; I've always had interestingly narrative dreams, and frequently with pretty decent control over the direction of events. But, again, why would I want to risk it? Pass. 

Brooke Augustine is one of the most viciously cruel villains ever written; as a non-super-powered civilian, I wouldn't ever want to come to her attention, let alone meet her in person. Keep her and the D.U.P. far, far away from me.

StV: Awake Again, part one

Julie snapped awake again, unsure of where she was or what had just happened. This was becoming a little too much of a habit. She was... lying on a bed? Still dressed, but with her shoes off; still in the form of a deviant; more than a little nauseated. 

She rolled over on her side, and did her best to settle her breathing. She really didn't want to throw up.

"How are you feeling?" asked a gentle voice from behind her. 

"Bad," she said. 

The unseen voice chuckled. It was a woman's voice, Julie thought, soft and calming. "You got hit with a pretty big dose of tranquilizers. Whoever was after you wasn't being very careful. Do you know who they were?"

"No. No, I--" She cut off then, as fear shivered through her. Several fears, and she couldn't separate them. The people hunting her were supposed to be faking it, but her body had lost track of the distinction even before one of them shot her. Now she was presumably in a school full of the Deviant and Damned -- and since the woman hadn't commented on her appearance, she probably was -- which was terrifying in its own way. What if they realized she wasn't really one of them? What if they already knew?

"Hey. Hey, it's okay. You're safe now." The woman came around into her field of view and squatted down in front of her. Her skin and eyes alike were very dark brown, and she had a variety of colorful beads woven into the tight black braids of her hair. Slowly, carefully, the woman reached out and put a hand on Julie's shoulder. 

Julie started to sob. It would been perfect if she'd been acting -- her mother would be have been so proud -- but no, she was lying on the bed, half-sick and ugly-crying helplessly. Oh God, I'm so bad at this... 

The thought only made her cry harder.