Friday Snippet #31

February 1, 2013 Monica La Porta#FridaySnippets, small excerpt from a YA dystopian novel, writing for fun, writing once a week4 Comments

The sun is shining upon this small stretch of Northwest. I’ve been dieting and exercising the whole week and I didn’t have a single headache. I haven’t checked my weight on the scale—according to the app I’m using, I’ll be three pound less in two years anyway—but I do feel lighter. Since the day promises to get better, after lunch, I’ll go out for a walk with Nero.

From X:

Allegra was already out of breath and looked at the steep climb with dread.

“To the right!” Julius pulled her out of the path and they fell on the ground and were swallowed by the tall grass. “Stay low.”

Heart pummeling against her ribcage, she kept her eyes on the brown dirt. “What is it?” Then she cleared her nose and the scent of the looters reached her nostrils. They were coming from the Royal Palace, but still on top of the hill. She was scared, but didn’t want her aura to show it. She forced her lungs to work and breathed in and out a few times before saying, “Did I tell you lately how thankful I am I got paired with an unseer?”

He squeezed her hand. “Of course you are.” If he had said out loud, “Good try,” it wouldn’t have been clearer.

The looters were descending, running toward them, but apart from the noise their shoes stomping on the ground made, no words were spoken. It was unsettling.

Julius pulled her closer to him. “They won’t find us.”

She smiled against his shirt at his attempt of calming her. A small pebble pocked her right tight and she focused on the discomfort rapidly morphing into pain. The ache grounded her in the moment and didn’t let her think of what would happen if the looters saw them.

“The grass is tall enough to cover us,” he whispered in her ear.

The sound of approaching steps made her heart skip several beats.

Friday Snippet #30

January 25, 2013January 25, 2013 Monica La Porta#FridaySnippets, friday snippet, small excerpt from a YA dystopian novel, writing for fun, writing once a week6 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 #28

January 11, 2013January 11, 2013 Monica La Porta#FridaySnippets, friday snippet, small excerpt of a YA dystopian novel, writing for fun, writing once a week5 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 #27

January 4, 2013January 4, 2013 Monica La Porta#FridaySnippets, friday snippet, small excerpt from a YA dystopian novel, writing for fun, writing once a week6 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 #21

October 5, 2012 Monica La Porta#FridaySnippets, friday snippet, small excerpt from a dystopian YA, writing just for fun, writing once a week2 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 #18

September 14, 2012 Monica La Porta#FridaySnippets, friday snippet, small excerpt from a YA dystopian title, writing just for fun, writing once a week6 Comments

This week I’ve posted on time and every day. I’m feeling rightfully entitled to boast about my accomplishment.

From X:

“What are you doing?” She felt Julius’s aura pushing her anxiety away and she didn’t like it. “I told you I need to be in control.”

“Your heart rate is too elevated. You won’t be in control for long.” Sometimes, he acted without consulting her. They had huge rows about it once or twice a month.

“Not now, please.” She didn’t want to argue with him, but her sense of smell was already dimming. “You’re blinding my nose.”

“It’s okay, your olfactory power is stronger than mine anyway. You can function even at reduced capacity and still sense more than a normal human being.” He was calm as usual and forcing her to calm as well. “Yield. It’s pointless and you know it.”

She did know. It was how she had passed all her finals with flying colors. She was prone to panicking when under pressure and he couldn’t bear to feel her anxiety building. He had let her have her way only once and she had regretted it. “Just to prove a point,” he had explained to her, when calming her down after failing an important test. But someone who she thought was her father was hiding from her just meters away and she didn’t want to listen to Julius, even though she knew he was right.

“Allegra, reason.” The pressure on her arm increased, until it was uncomfortable and at that point he repeated her name.

“You won.” Allegra emptied her mind and let his aura invade hers. For the briefest moment, she saw blue circles playing behind her eyes, then a sense of calmness descended slowly on her. Wave after wave of blue light covered her until she was in control of herself once again.

“Better?” Julius massaged the spot where his fingers had left a mark on her skin.

“Yes.”