#FridaySnippets

Friday Snippet #30

Monica La Porta, , , , 6 Comments

Here we are again. The fog is finally gone. It rained. In the attempt of keeping the headaches under control, I started a new exercise regime and I’m checking the daily calories intake. Still alive. My productivity isn’t back to normal, but I’m working on that.

From X:

Her nose caught a scent she didn’t like. “We can’t stay here.”

“Where to?”

“Out.” She pulled him out of the bed and a moment later they were already downstairs, having mindlessly run through the bedroom where they had slept, Clarissa’s bedroom, the hallway, and the stairs.

They were at the main door, when Julius stopped her. He brought one finger to his mouth and then pointed it at the shadows dancing behind the opaque glass composing the door panels.

At the same time, the smell she had barely perceived a few minutes earlier became too strong to ignore and Allegra gagged. She stepped back, her lungs burning and her heart racing. She looked right and left, but when he shook his head, she turned toward the large window overlooking the gardens.

“Yes.” Julius squeezed her hand and they ran to the back of the room.

Allegra was lowering the handle of the back door, when she heard the sound of the main door being forced.

“There must be a treasure inside.” A muffled voice. A crack.

Julius propelled her outside and then tore through the garden, only to stop a few minutes later behind a tall bush. “Looters.”

She had already reached that conclusion. Julius’s house was going to be violated as hers had been. She couldn’t help two tears to escape her control, but was fast in drying her eyes. The sound of broken glasses reached them and Julius startled. She resisted the urge of looking back at the house to see what was happening and looked straight ahead instead. The Royal Palace dominated the view on top of the hill. “Not sure where else to go.” So many questions unanswered and no time to think about anything.

He nodded and she moved forward.

Friday Snippet #30

Friday Snippet #29

Monica La Porta, , , , 4 Comments

The fog is descending upon the houses outside my window. And it’s freezing cold. I don’t think Nero and I will go for a walk after all. Good news is my desk faces a big window. Also, it’s my mom’s birthday today. Have a wonderful 70th birthday, Mom. Love you.

From X:

“I was worried for you.” Julius moved the few steps from the wall to the bed and then sat on its edge, without coming any closer to her.

It wasn’t right. Touching for them was a necessity regulated by guide-and-guided code of conduct. Allegra felt his warmth and longed to reach out and take his hand, but she didn’t, which only increased the awkwardness. “Thank you.” Her voice came out too low.

But he had heard. “Of course.”

Of course he’s worried about me? Or what? “Couldn’t you sleep?”

“No. Do you mind if I stay with you for a while?”

She finally outstretched her hand and found his closer than she expected. “Can you help me relax?”

“Of course.” He moved on the bed to lie side by side with her, his head on the pillow, only a few inches from hers.

It wasn’t the first time they slept on the same bed. Before exams, they used to quiz each other the whole night. Sometimes, they did it just to prove they could without being caught. A few times, Allegra had asked him, like now, if he could ease her tension. Yet, now it was different.

She felt his gentle invasion at the edge of her thoughts. Spring and singing birds. The scent of washed linens drying outside. Warm breeze playing with her hair. Her eyes closed and she let him in.

“Something’s wrong.”

Words echoed in her head.

“Wake up.”

She turned the other side.

“Allegra!”

Hands turned her over.

“Smell the air.”

The request was repeated twice before she managed to open one eye and find Julius sitting on her bed. Memories of a few hours earlier rushed in. “What’s going on?” But she had already activated her senses. “I can’t feel her.” Clarissa’s smell was gone. She inhaled deeply and then shook her head. “I can’t feel any of them.”

Friday Snippet #29

Friday Snippet #28

Monica La Porta, , , , 5 Comments

Days fly by. Lots accomplished, but nothing to show apart from a variegated production of didls. In other and exciting—for me—news, I have a brand new workstation! Also, outside it’s frigid but sunny.

From X. Allegra interacts some more with Julius and his family:

“Why didn’t you leave?” Allegra asked Julius’s father.

“I can’t leave the King alone, and Caterina and the kids didn’t want to listen to reason. I gave the staff permission to leave, but Chef insisted she wouldn’t abandon us. So, here we are.” Carolus’s eyes went back to the mansion.

Only then, Allegra noticed how far into the gardens they had walked. The lights spilling out from the majestic windows illuminated the immediate surroundings, but ahead of her it was barely possible to make out the silhouettes of the topiary. She shivered.

“Let’s go back inside.” Carolus took off his jacket and draped it on her shoulders.

She accepted with a thanks without explaining she wasn’t cold. The darkness swallowing the night had frightened her. Not for the first time, the thought that Julius could only see a black canvas if left alone made her feel hollow.

They walked back to the house in silence. Not a sound interrupting their thoughts.

“Is it cold outside?” Clarissa was at her side as soon as they entered, one hand on hers to steer her away from the glass door and her father. “Come to the fireplace.”

Julius, who was still talking to his mother, excused himself and without faltering reached for Clarissa still looking at her. “You look pale.”

His sister immediately lowered her eyes and Allegra repressed a gasp. Julius had breached one of the unspoken rules among unseers. The act of looking at someone to talk to someone else was considered one of the worst faux passes. He had never done that. He wasn’t the type to forget about social dictates.

And he didn’t seem to realize what he had done. “You look distressed.”

“It was cold outside,” Allegra lied.

Julius left Clarissa and took Allegra’s hand in his. She couldn’t help to glance at the girl and see she was trying to disappear into the background.

His fingers circled her wrist in response to her pulling away.

Friday Snippet #28

Friday Snippet #27

Monica La Porta, , , , 6 Comments

After Nanowrimo, the trip to Italy, publishing my fairytale, and the Christmas holidays, I’m slowly getting my routine back. Journey to the City of Men is under revision and I should be done with it shortly. Then it will be placed in the capable hands of my trusted beta readers. Then, re-writing, editing, proofreading, formatting, copyrighting, publishing, marketing… head spinning, hiding under a rock, etc. Rinse and repeat.

Anyway, Allegra and Julius are still at his parents’ and she has a tête-à-tête with his father. From X:

“Care for a stroll outside?” Carolus took her arm under his in a paternal gesture. “In all of this… we’ve forgotten to enjoy the little things, haven’t we?”

Allegra didn’t answer since she didn’t know what ‘all of this’ meant and looked back at Julius who was several steps behind and engaged in conversation with his mother.

“Shall we?” Carolus gently tugged her and she followed his lead.

Nobody else did and she found herself with the Right Hand of the king all alone, without knowing what was the protocol with a person of his station.

“Allegra, may I call you Allegra?” He looked at her from his considerable height.

She nodded, taken by surprise.

“Good. Allegra, I heard you didn’t find your family…”

She nodded again.

“I wish I could tell you what happened to them, but the truth is I know little.”

There was only one thing Allegra wanted to know. “Are they alive?”

Carolus didn’t answer right away. “If they escaped soon enough, they might be.”

“What do you know, sir?” Little knowledge was preferable to not knowing at all.

“The Malady is something that affects our brains—” Carolus caressed his chin with his free hand. “It makes people see things.”

“What kind of things?” The image of the terrorized boy they had met outside her house came back to her.

“Haunting things. Worse than nightmares.” Carolus’s voice wavered. “People commit suicides to stop seeing those things.”

“What is it?” The boy’s eyes were vacant, but Julius had seen through him and she had felt the horror he had experienced. “How are people infected?”

“We don’t know. That’s why cities are walled and exed. We’re trying everything in our power to stop the Malady from spreading.”

“Why wasn’t Cartaghena walled?”

Friday Snippet #27

Must Post Something Today!

Monica La Porta, , , , , 4 Comments

Pink Paradise InkedHow apropos, it is a Friday. Last week, after writing  a lengthy snippet, I didn’t publish it. Not sure why. X is now 11k and I’m still having fun with it. Maybe it will be my  first serial? Stay tuned.

From X. Allegra has just met Julius’s family and they’re now having a moment of playful respite with his two brothers and sister:

“Can I change the scenery?” Clarissa had her hands on a remote control and was already pushing buttons before one of the brothers could reply. The luminosity in the room changed and the placid sound of waves washing over pebbles came seemingly out of nowhere. “Much better.”

Allegra looked at the ceiling where lazy clouds were floating over a cerulean sky. She could have sworn a marine breeze had carried to her nostrils a tangy flavor. As if to answer her question, a seagull’s cry echoed in the distance.

“I prefer the sound of rain and a moodier setting.” Julius was looking at her.

Allegra knew because Andres who still held his brother was staring at her. She felt a strange satisfaction in the knowledge Julius was truly looking at her. It was new. And then she realized what he had just said and wished they were alone. The memory of a picnic came back to her. It had happened only a few days before the whole madness of the Malady started. The world was a different place then. Boring, always the same, never exciting. It was the end of the quarter, all the finals done, and the weather was terrible. The sun had shone through the whole time they were confined inside to study, and now was freezing and incessantly raining. Allegra felt caged and her mood was affecting both of them. After a few days of listening to her complaints, Julius had enough and organized an outing of sort. He said he wanted to go for a walk and led her to the Winter Garden. If Allegra closed her eyes, she could still hear the sound of the rain hitting the glass walls of the conservatory enclosing the Winter Garden. They had spent the whole afternoon lying on the floor on a plush carpet, their eyes to the ceiling, talking of the silliest things. To this day, the aroma of tangerines was connected to that afternoon. “Me too.”

Must Post Something Today!

Friday Snippet #25

Monica La Porta, , , , 2 Comments

Logbook entry #1. It’s the second day of Nanowrimo and I’m still coherent. I’ve written 4k of TCOM and then applied myself to X. All in all a successful day. Marie got branded and Allegra discovered something else about Julius she didn’t know about. Stay tuned to witness my steady descent into the abyss of nanomadness. It’s going to be fun for you. Although, I’ll let you know that both The Priest and Prince of War are nanobabies. The Priest in its entirety and Prince of War partially. Time to do some editing.

From X, just because I’ve become attached to this project.

“Here we are.” Julius sighed out loud while she looked at one of the biggest houses she had ever seen.

“How distant are you from the throne again?” She tried to be funny, but a feeling of inadequacy was settling in her heart.

“Too distant. Don’t get any ideas. I won’t let you seduce me to marry into monarchy.” He laughed, but she didn’t need his power to read auras to know he was frantic.

“You wish.” She playfully swatted his arm.

They walked toward the granite steps leading to the front door, but someone burst through it before they reached the landing.

“Julius! My baby! You made it home—” A woman in her mid-forties, long dark hair and strikingly green eyes, took Julius in her arms and didn’t let him go.

“Mom, I’m so glad you’re here. I thought you were gone too…” Julius kissed his mother on both cheeks. “Are the others…?”

The woman hugged him even tighter. “No, no, everybody’s here. When they came for us, we didn’t let them enter the house. Papa shot them away.”

Allegra felt an uncomfortable ache in her heart and stepped back to distance herself from the scene. Only then, Julius’s mother seemed to realize she was there and directed her outstretched arms toward her.

“You must be Allegra Lionhead, yes? Thank you for bringing my boy back to me.” A ferocious hug followed her words. “I’m Caterina Blanchard. Nice to finally meet my Julius’s guide. He talks so much about you.”

“Mom?” Can we go inside? We had quite a morning so far and I need to rest.” He made a tentative step toward the door.

Julius must have seen Allegra’s reaction through his mother’s eyes. It hadn’t escaped Allegra he had kept a finger on his mother’s arm the whole time the woman was talking to her. She followed them inside the house, making a mental note to ask him later why he went under his mother’s last name.

Friday Snippet #25

Friday Snippet #24

Monica La Porta, , 4 Comments

Still fighting the cold, I’m now calling it what it is: futile résistance.  Next stage, more or less organized revolution. Finally, fully embraced anarchy. Despite headaches akin to migraines and the inflammation of the trigeminal nerves, I wrote a striking 1k words every day for the last four days. I know it doesn’t sound worth declaring to all and sundry, but I’m not a sprinter. I’m the epitome of a marathon runner. Slow but consistent. Regarding today’s snippet, I couldn’t decided which portion was better suited to stand alone, so I kind of blindly picked. Several time… Then I decided to post the snippet that gave more information.

From X:

Allegra squinted and saw the upper corner of a doorjamb behind a big framed painting portraying some hunting scene—from what she could see of it since it was partially covered by two bookcases. She passed a series of coffee tables covered in books and statuettes, and even climbed over one to reach the other side . Finally, she squeezed between the door and the painting and entered the kitchen, where she spotted the person who had caused the noises and found it was no person after all.

“Kingstone!” Julius outstretched arms welcomed a small beagle who had apparently been gorging himself on what was left inside the oven.

She took notice of how the smell of baked goods wafted in and out of her radar depending on the dog’s mouth being open or not. “That explains why the scent was so fickle.”

“What are you looking at?”

“Just the oven—” She realized he was neither talking to her nor looking through her eyes and turned to face the wall the beagle was now barking at. Kingstone had started without warning, a low growl coming from inside his belly and getting more and more anxious until he leaped out of Julius’s embrace and ran back to the landing.

“Allegra…?” He seemed helpless for a just a moment, but she hated that immensely.

“Here.” She took his hand in hers and automatically pointed her nose after the beagle.

“Can you feel anything?”

“I’m afraid Kingstone was the only sentient being around.” She tried to focus on her sense of smell and shut down all the others, but she had the feeling if anybody was out there he or she must look like the street urchin they had just encountered at her house. And she wasn’t ready to face another of those blank stares and the horrors hidden behind them.

They still made a summary look-around, but were outside in the alley a few minutes later.

“At least we now know that whatever is happening here, animals are immune to it.” Allegra didn’t know if it was important or not, but she needed to say something.

Julius was lost in his thoughts and led the rest of the way to his house in complete silence.

Friday Snippet #24

Friday Snippet #23

Monica La Porta, , 8 Comments

Still under the weather. Last week flu has progressed into a long-lasting cold. Outside the window, fall is in full swing, leaves have found their final resting places on the ground, and the oranges, yellows, and reds have relocated with them. Still, lots of green left standing and with them my hope the universe will re-align itself for my sake.

From X, Julius decides to take a shortcut through one of  Cartaghena’s most talked-about neighborhoods:

Before some of the buildings—the more colorful ones—elaborated signs waved from their poles, some of them sporting cut-outs figurines self-explanatory of the kind of services offered by the establishment. Others were just paintings. Allegra saw a cute rendition of an embraced couple and blushed, her eyes went to the curtained windows and she wondered what happened behind them.

“I was never there. I was told great things about the owner though,” Julius commented.

She opened her mouth, but words failed her and couldn’t help to turn to take a look at him.

He arched his brow, lips turned up in a smile. “You were dying to ask me that.”

“Was not.” She faced the street again.

“I told you I was with a friend.”

“And?”

“She wouldn’t have been happy if I had gone visiting those places.”
“Oh, that kind of friend.” She wondered—and not in kind terms—about that unknown girl who had been free to visit such a neighborhood. At night and with a boy.

“She used to live… right there.” He moved her to face a small cottage on the far left.

“Charming.” She knew Julius was a few years older than her, but she didn’t like he had much more experience. Especially if the way he had obtained such experience hadn’t had anything to do with her. She tried to rationalize her emotions with the fact that guide and guided shared a special bond, but her voice had betrayed something different and she hated it.

“Lucilla’s dad was a renowned painter and her mom was his favorite model. Maybe you saw some of his portraits—” Julius kept her looking at the cottage.

Awful name. “Highly doubt so.” She moved and for a moment they lost contact. Sometimes, she did that on purpose. She wasn’t sure this time whose eyes she was blinding.

Friday Snippet #23

Friday Snippet #22

Monica La Porta, , , 9 Comments

Weather suddenly turning autumny, wet, and cold, I got a seasonal flu with relative headache, itchy throat, and runny nose. Despite adverse conditions, both inside of me and outside of the house, my writing hasn’t suffered. Instead I’m witnessing a moment of intense inspiration. My illustrations for the kids book are taking a considerable number of hours, but I like what I’m doing with them. TCOM has reached 30k and its main characters are about to experience a big change in their young lives. X is slowly but steadily growing into something that could have a chance to become a full-fledged story. Only Notturno is sleeping in its cozy folder. I do feel slightly guilty about that, but not a lot I can do about it at the moment.

From X, because an author must have fun at least once a week.

Allegra blinked once, and then when her eyes showed her the same sight, she blinked again. The big foyer was empty. Floor to ceiling empty; no furniture, tapestries, decorations. Nothing. She breathed slowly. The air inside the room reflected the same state of emptiness by carrying no scents to her nose. She started shaking.

“Nothing?” Julius stepped by her side.

“Nothing.” She knew he would ask her to go visit the rest of the house and started walking toward the end of the foyer before he would say the words. She saw her siblings playing hide and seek with her, their favorite spot to hide a big armoire that used to fill the entire wall she was presently looking at. The dark piece of furniture one of their mother’s whims. Allegra had always thought the armoire ugly, now she was looking at the striped ivory and yellow wallpaper and hoped to see it here, interrupting the pattern. The foyer opened to a corridor dotted with doors on both sides and led to the internal courtyard. She opened the doors as she went—her father’s studio, her mother’s craft room, her brother and sister’s playroom, the small library where she had spent hours dreaming of faraway places —to find exactly what her nose was already telling her. Nobody and nothing was there anymore. They entered the internal courtyard and found the central pool still filled with water, but the koi fish which had resided there as long as she could remember where gone.

Friday Snippet #22

Friday Snippet #21

Monica La Porta, , , , 2 Comments

Fall in full bloom in my neck of the woods, the sun shines over reds, yellows, and oranges. To celebrate, I dyed my hair accordingly and added more purple, because there isn’t enough purple in the world. My vitamin D level to the roof, I’m experiencing a moment of exuberant creativity or maybe it’s the dye trickling down through my hair follicles. In the past, absinthe was used to reach such level of artistic nirvana. I believe in style.

From X:

Allegra lead them to the front door, stepping over the marble staircase with reverence. “I used to play with Mirko and Carina, running up and down these steps, imagining they were an astral portal.” She saw herself and her brother and sister laughing breathlessly. One deep sigh stuck between her aching heart and her throat, Allegra moved them forward toward the entrance.

“Hi.” Julius waved his free hand in a salute; he did that every time he had a glimpse of her. The wooden door, big and polished to mirror-like shine, reflected their images back to them. A tall, elegant boy, and a much shorter and diminutive girl.

Details of their faces were fuzzy, but she knew any other moment he would have accompanied the salute with a big smile. He was always happy to see her. He had just done it to make her happy now. “Hi.” She waved back at him out of habit, then freed her hand from his. “Just a sec.” She looked for the right key among the ones dangling from the ring and once she recognized it she went for the lock.

Julius gently wrapped his hand around her wrist. “Never told you, but I’ve always hoped you’d be paired with me.”

Friday Snippet #21