Yesterday, Kathryn posted her
entry for the fanfiction contest - her version of
Jessica's Summer, which is one of my favorite WIP's that can't seem to get off the ground. Since today is my long day at work, and I don't have the brain power to do up the 12 things post for the Land of the Fallen Rainbow, I decided to share what
I have written for this story.
This book does not have it's own document yet, not sure when I'm going to buckle down and actually write it, but I have this document that I call RambleK, where I just write excerpts from various books that I haven't reached yet but want to write. For instance, there are three stories from Bookania (One of them is Madeleine's painting scene in
Do You Take This Quest? and another is Shira's meeting with her ORIGINAL love interest, before I got her involved with the Locksley family.), and two from Rizkaland. Then there are some random bits from
HaV Academy, Half-Hidden, and
Nine Gems of Virtue.
And I have the opening scene for
Jessica's Summer. I don't know where I'm going next with it - I got bored with it, but I've decided to share it with you. Enjoy!
“Jessica,” called Mrs. McConnald, “Jessica Anne! Where are you?”
“Up here!” answered Jessica, coming down from her tree house, “What do you want?”
“I want you to watch your younger sister while I make an important phone call inside,” answered Mrs. McConnald, “Play tag or something.”
“Tag please, Jessie,” said a very hopeful Gina, “Let's play tag.”
“Oh, all right,” said Jessica, “You'd better run!” She let Gina stay ahead of her. They might as well have fun. Their mom headed in to make the phone call. Gina ran round and round the yard, Jessica never all that far behind, but letting her stay a few steps ahead.
It was a hot day, and soon sweat was dripping down Gina's face, but Jessica, strangely enough, was unaffected by the heat. Well, actually, it wasn't all that strange for her. She almost never felt the effects of heat. In fact, for her, the hotter it was, the better she liked it. She was always absolutely miserable in winter.
Suddenly, Gina turned around, and gasped. “Jessie!” she exclaimed, “Your hair's on fire!”
“What?” said Jessica, looking at her sister curiously, “My hair is what?”
“It's on fire!” Gina repeated, just staring at Jessica as if she had just grown another head.
“It doesn't feel any different from usual,” said Jessica, confusion clear in her voice and face. She put her hand to her head and pulled one of her dark brown curls from her ponytail to where she could see it. The ponytailer snapped and her hair fell down onto her shoulders. Sure enough, little orange and red tongues of flame licked all through it.
“Stop drop roll!” ordered Gina. Jessica frantically followed her sister's advice. When she stood up, the grass was now on fire, and now Jessica's shirt, too.
“Jessica!” cried a strange voice that was somehow quiet and commanding at the same time. It definitely had an English accent. Jessica turned to see two girls running towards her.
“Who are you?” Jessica asked, despite the fact that she was now in the center of a bunch of flames, “and how do you know my name?”
“Stop the joke Jessica,” said one of the girls, the one with waist-length black hair, almost-white skin and piercing blue eyes. She was wearing a shimmery blue shirt and a shimmery white skirt. She had not been the one to speak first, for her accent was low, thick, and mysterious, but not without command, “Or do I need to cool you off. I don't want the ice caps to melt, you know.”
“The what?” said Jessica, “This is Texas. I don't think we could affect the ice caps from here.” She looked down to realize that the flames had by now burned away all of her clothes, but had woven themselves into a dress, that flickered and popped, but was actually quite comfortable.
“Who is this girl, Jessica?” asked the other girl. She had knee-length blond curls, rosy cheeks, and soft blue-green eyes. She was wearing a pink shirt and a grass green skirt. She was the one with the quiet, English accent.
“My sister,” said Jessica, bristling.
“She is not,” said the girl with the blue and white. She bent and kissed Gina on the forehead, then Gina’s eyes went glassy, and she fell stiffly to the ground.
“What did you do to her,” Jessica cried, the flames flicked hotter, although Jessica didn’t notice.
“Tabitha,” said the other girl at the same time, “that is uncalled for.”
“I didn’t kill her,” said Tabitha, with a roll of her eyes, “But she’s human, and it is dangerous to have humans alert when we are around.” She turned her attention to Jessica, and added, “Now for you.” She walked towards Jessica, and where she stepped, the flames spluttered and died away. When she reached Jessica, she put out her hand touched her hair. Suddenly, all the flames, other than the ones that had turned into a dress, flickered and died. The ones in the dress merely froze, turning into pretty much regular red dress. Tabitha’s dress, Jessica noticed, dulled, and stopped shimmering.
She took her hand away. Her face was flushed.
“How did you do that?” Jessica asked, shivering. Tabitha had cold hands!
“How did you start the fire?” asked Tabitha simply, “You used to know, but it appears that something has happened to your memory.”
“What do you mean?” asked Jessica.
“Jessica what has happened,” the blond girl cried, frantically.
“Who are you?” Jessica repeated, “How do you know my name? Why did my hair suddenly catch on fire? What did you do to Gina? What is going on?”
“You used to know,” said Tabitha.
“I am Clara,” said the blond girl, “and she is Tabitha. We know your name because we have known each other for most of our lives. Your hair, probably because you over heated. Gina, is that the girl? Tabitha kissed her. And we would like the answer to the last question just as much as you.”
“What do you mean, I used to know?” asked Jessica.
“Yesterday,” said Clara, apparently choosing her words carefully, “the four of us were together, Sara was with us too, still. Then Tabitha and I were separated from you and Sara, and when we began to look for the two of you, we realized that the two of you had been separated. We looked for her first, and only found her necklace. We then looked for you, and find you with no memory.”
“We need to go talk to Mother,” said Tabitha urgently, “And we need to go now.”
“Agreed,” said Clara, “But with Jessica lacking her memory, this could be complicated.”
“I know,” said Tabitha, rolling her eyes.
“I told Mom I would watch Gina while she made an important phone call,” argued Jessica, “I don’t think she’ll be happy about her current state when she finds out about it.”
“I will take care of this girl,” said Clara, bending over and kissing the girl, “as my kiss is life, not ice.”
Gina stirred and looked around herself. “Jessie,” she said, “I’m so cold. What happened?”
“I’d like to know that myself,” said Jessica.
“You must stay here,” said Tabitha, “sit on the doorstep of your home. We must go to our mother to speak of very important things. You must stay here, and you will never be able to learn of what transpired, as it is not good for you comprehend it. It is beyond your knowledge.”
“What of Jessie?” said Gina.
“Jessica is not your sister,” said Clara, “She must come with us. Very well, we will stay and watch you until your mother comes, but you will not see us.”
“Why not?” asked Gina.
“We are going to turn invisible,” said Clara, “Or at least, we will become as humans can’t see or hear us.”
“Who are you?” asked Gina, looking at Clara and Tabitha in confusion.
“It is not for you to know that either,” said Clara.
Jessica looked down at the charred ground that was around her. “How did I do this?” she asked, still not sure what had just transpired.
“You probably overheated,” said Tabitha, “I wish you hadn’t of, we have just seriously imbalanced the earth’s temperatures, and Mother really doesn’t like it when we do that.”
“How did you do that?” asked Gina.
“Is there any way we can make this girl be quiet?” asked Tabitha, “She asks entirely too many questions.” She turned to Jessica and added, “So do you. You should know everything we are telling you, or at least most of it. You should not be here, making our task harder. This had better not be a joke, or Mother will be most angry.”
“Who is Mother?” asked Jessica.
“We can’t tell you that now,” said Clara, “Not with this girl here. Tabitha, show Jessica how to get home. I will follow quite shortly.”
“I am home,” said Jessica.
“No, you’re not,” said Tabitha with a definite tone of annoyance.
“Yes I am,” said Jessica.
“No, you’re not,” said Tabitha, “and we are not going to have this argument. It is merely wasting time we don’t have. Let’s go.”
“Go where?” said Jessica, her hot temper flaring, and she heard a popping in her hair, as if it were catching on fire again.
“Home,” said Tabitha simply, her voice now seemed filled with ice. Her hair straightened, and stiffened as frost crept through it, “Grab your necklace, close your eyes, and take a step backwards.”
Jessica put her hand to her throat, fingering the sun charm that hung there.
“Good,” said Tabitha, “Now close your eyes and take a step backwards.”
“What is happening to your hair?” Jessica asked.
“Don’t worry about it,” said Tabitha, “I will explain later. Close your eyes and take a step backwards.” Hoarfrost rose out of the ground around her feet, and her shirt and shirt began to shimmer again. Jessica’s dress turned back into flame.
“What is happening?” asked Gina, looking at Jessica and Tabitha with fear in her eyes.
“Oh,” said Clara, “It’s normal. The two of them have been fighting for years. Nothing new at all. Although, usually, it’s not with Jessica minus her memory. Jessica, please do what Tabitha asks. We won’t hurt you, we promise.”
“What are you planning to do with me?” demanded Jessica.
“Nothing that you have never done before,” said Tabitha.
“What are you doing!”
“You are melting the artic,” said Tabitha.
“What are you talking about?” asked Jessica, truly bewildered.
“Please, Jessica,” said Clara. “Please, close your eyes and take a step backwards. You have done it plenty of times before, and if it were going to hurt you, I’m sure it would have already, but as it hasn’t, I would assume that it is quite safe for you. Tabitha and I will do the same as soon as you leave.”
Jessica stared at the ground indecisively for a minute, then finally did as she was being asked. After all, what could it hurt?
She didn’t expect for there to be no ground under her feet and for her to be falling. Her eyes flew open, as did her mouth to let out a scream. She was falling through the air, nothing save the clouds she zoomed past to be seen. Oh, and Tabitha and Clara were there, too, also falling. They seemed much calmer, though. Tabitha also seemed annoyed.
“Use your wings,” Tabitha said, icily.
“My … wings?” questioned Jessica. She glanced over her shoulder as best she could hurtling who-knows-how-fast through the air, and let out a gasp as she caught sight of something red and flame-like sticking out of her back. “I have wings!” she exclaimed, in a mix of amazement and horror.
“Yeah,” said Tabitha, “flap them.”
“Flap …” muttered Jessica. She tried flexing her shoulders … that didn’t work … uh …
“Come on!” exclaimed Tabitha.
“I’m trying!” exclaimed Jessica, glancing down and noticing that ground was rapidly approaching. She squeezed her eyes shut to block the impending doom. Before she could collide with the earth, she felt Tabitha and Clara grab her and her descent stopped almost instantly. Clara’s touch was much warmer than Tabitha’s, but still not as warm as Jessica preferred.
