New York and Philadelphia book

This is a virtual copy of the photobook I made for my trip to New York City and Philadelphia. Have a peek!

Click here to view this photo book larger

Visit Shutterfly.com to create your own personalized photobook.

Another Round of Novel Writing

Yes.
It's that time of year again. November is, after all, National Novel Writing Month.

This will be my 7th year participating in NaNoWriMo, and hopefully the 7th time I "win," ending the month with another 50,000-word novel. I'm preparing to block myself from Facebook, lock myself in my dorm room, attempt to avoid any and all distractions, and write like there's no tomorrow.

Call me crazy, but this is my favorite activity of the year. This year I'm doing something totally new: I'm trying the seat-of-the-pants approach. No outline, no extensive worldbuilding, no research. Whee!

So what am I writing? Having been thoroughly inspired by books such as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Airborn, and Leviathan, I'm going all-out Steampunk!

Y'know, like this:

Or like this:

Even though I don't have an outline, I do have a general idea of where I'll be heading with the plot. Here's a short teaser for Silver Sky:

"In an imaginary world where all compasses point to the Queen's palace, an awkward, bookish young woman named Sylvianna is shocked to find that her rich family is actually made up of feuding sky pirates. She's kidnapped by the worst of them all, a man named Sean Fletcher... her long-lost father.



As she reels with this discovery, she struggles against her family history, social expectations, and her own secret desires for adventure. But eventually, she realizes that she must become what she most hates -a pirate- to stop the empire from destroying itself."

Want to join the writing fun? Head on over to the NaNoWriMo website and get yourself signed up!

Fairies: An Altered Book

I'm just finishing up my altered book project, and I thought I would share some photos. I originally made this book as a gift for my younger sister at Christmastime, but now I'm finally finishing it to enter in 4H fine arts at the county fair this week.

I made the book out of a copy of The Thousand and One Nights.

Here's the title page:

Table of Contents:

Since I made the book for my sister, I tucked a note for her inside a pocket:

This is one of my favorite pages. I used a portrait of Queen Victoria that I had kicking around, and gave her fairy wings. :)

On the side of the page, there's a few tags that can be pulled out of hidden slots:

(You flip the center panel to reveal the rest of the page)

Originally, the rest of the book was blank, so that my sister could add to it if she wanted to. But she decided she wanted me to make a "Fairy Treasures" page, with a niche for trinkets and beads, etc. So I glued together the rest of the pages and cut out a shadowbox. The picture is of Ali Baba showing off his treasure, which was in the book to begin with. I just finished this page today. 

See all those nifty treasures?

That's one full book!

Summer Reading

After another long interval between my infamous sporadic posts, I present you with my summer reading piles.

Yes, piles.

First we have my in-progress pile. These are all books that I'm currently reading. I tend to read a lot of books at once. That way, if I get tired of one book, I can put it down and pick up in the middle of another book. I'm a migratory reader.

Starting from the bottom of the pile:
The Life of the Forest, by Jack McCormick - I'm reading this non-fiction book as research for my next novel, Greenheart, which will mostly take place in a temperate rainforest. I want it to feel real, and this book is very helpful and interesting.

Digital Art Revolution, by Scott Ligon - I picked this book up because I love creating digital art with Photoshop, and I'd love to do more with it. It's got tons of weird artwork in it, but it teaches some great techniques and tricks with Photoshop.

Getting Into Character, by Brandilyn Collins - This book on creating three-dimensional characters requires a lot of thought, because each new thing presented is so unique and revolutionary. It's taking me a long time to read it, because I'm trying to fully understand each concept before I move on. I think it will definitely help my writing down the road.

Writing Fiction for Dummies, by Randy Ingermanson - The ingenious "Snowflake Guy" wrote this awesome book for writers of all ages and experience levels. Everything is laid out, clear and concise. Even though I've read almost a dozen books on writing, this one offers some questions and exercises that have made me think about my writing from a different angle. I recommend it!

The Restorer, by Sharon Hinck - I'm re-reading this one because I like it so much. An ordinary mom gets sucked into a fantasy world on the brink of war, and she's expected to become some warrior hero? What's not to like? (Besides, I think Kieran is one of the best characters of all time.)

Emma, by Jane Austen - I've seen several different movie versions of this classic story, but this is the first time I've actually read it. It took me awhile to get into it, because I just didn't like the heroine, Emma. But then I realized that you just can't take her too seriously, and I began to really enjoy it. It's a lighthearted, comedic romance story.

Airborn, by Kenneth Oppel - I bought this book used at my library for about 10 cents. I knew nothing about it. It's amazing! It's an alternate version of history set at the height of airship travel, with sky pirates, mysterious flying mammals, and lots of swashbuckling adventures in the clouds. I love it so far! (I'm really starting to like the "Steampunk" genre)

Start Here: Doing Hard Things Right Where You Are, by Alex and Brett Harris - This is a sequel to the awesome book Do Hard Things. It's full of encouragement, ideas, and practical advice for teens who wish to break free of the low expectations placed on young people today. Teens have raised money to build wells in Africa, sailed solo around the world, made award-winning movies... what will you do? And more importantly, why are you doing it?

As soon as I finish reading all of those books, I'll move on to my to-read pile:

100 Cupboards, by N. D. Wilson

The Unicorn Chronicles book 4: The Last Hunt, by Bruce Coville

Brightly Woven, by Alexandra Bracken

Stravaganza: City of Masks, by Mary Hoffman

Over Sea, Under Stone, by Susan Cooper

Heartless, by Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Adobe Photoshop CS3 Classroom in a Book

By Darkness Hid, by Jill Williamson (not pictured)

And that's just a fraction of the books I'd like to read. *sigh* So many books, so little time. What have you been reading? Have you read any of these books?

Also, I seem to have forgotten to announce the arrival of my free paperback copy of my novel, Bluewillow, from CreateSpace. Here's a picture:

I made the cover, and I'm really happy with how it turned out. My sister agreed to pose as my main character (I turned her hair blue in Photoshop). Sorry that my flash sorta washed things out. It looks better in person.

Now my family is reading it together in the evenings. *gasp* So many people listening to my writing at once! Aaaaahh! Panic attack!! *ahem*

That's all for now, folks!

A Peter Pan Event!

Nina has organized an entire event devoted to Peter Pan! I'm so excited about it! The book by J. M. Barrie has always been one of my favourites. This event is going on RIGHT NOW, and it ends on the 13th. I'm hoping to have a post up in the next couple of days.

Those of you who have been following my blog for ages might remember how much I love altered books. I posted some pictures of my first altered book here and here. Now I'm working on my third project! The theme is simply "Blue."  I connect things with different colors (and I think I have a form of synesthesia), so I thought I'd make a book of those things. Here's the page I did today. You've got circles, ferns, a butterfly, and lots of glazes.  It was so much fun to make! When you take art too seriously, it takes all the joy out of it. Art is supposed to be fun. Do you agree?

Under the Stars (a tag or two)

Melody from Vividry gave me the Music shuffle tag! Here's how it works: Put your music player on shuffle. Then answer the following questions by using the title to each song that plays while on shuffle. 

This might be interesting, because I have so many soundtracks on my ipod… Here goes:

Are you male or female? Remembering Childhood (from Hook soundtrack) 

What do people feel when they are around you? One of Those Days (from Night at the Museum soundtrack) —I'm not sure how to take that…

Describe your current relationship?  O Church, Arise (Keith & Kristyn Getty) 

Where would you like to be right now? Walk Like An Egyptian (Go Fish) - oookay… I guess Egypt it is…

How do you feel about love? Danny Boy (James Galway) - LOL! That's my brother!

What's your life like? Created For This (Go Fish) 

What would you wish for if you only had one wish? Circle Of Life (Lion King soundtrack)

Say something wise: Dubrinium (Pendragon soundtrack) - Is that wise?

If someone says "Is this okay. . ." You say? Presenting the Hook (from Hook soundtrack) - I'll plunge me hook into you, matey!

How would you describe yourself? Here I Am (Spirit soundtrack) - That works, I guess. :)

How do you feel today? Where You Belong/Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus (Newsboys) - That's a good one!

What is your life's purpose? Slaves and Masters (Pendragon soundtrack) 

What is your motto? This One (Michael Pearce Donley)

What do your friends think of you? Jazz Suite No.2 —Waltz (Dmitri Shostakovich)

What do you think of your parents? Alright (Go Fish) - No, really, they're better than just alright!

What do you think of very often? Uranus, the Magician (from The Planets, by Gustav Holst) - Uranus? Why Uranus? In any case, I'm thinking of it now!

What is 2+2? Big Fan (Night at the Museum soundtrack)  - No, I'm not a big fan of numbers…

What do you think of your best friend? Introduction (to "The Prodigal's Sister," an audio book!)

What is your life story? With My Life (Pendragon soundtrack)

What do you want to be when you grow up? The Submarine (Atlantis soundtrack) - LOL! I think my ipod has a sense of humor…

What will you dance to at your wedding? The Banquet (Hook soundtrack) - Does that prove it or what?

What will they play at your funeral? Socca (Equador Mantra) - They're going to play lively South American music at my funeral? Fun!

What is your hobby/interest? That's How You Know (Enchanted soundtrack) - Huh? Know what?

What is your biggest fear?  Lucy Meets Mr. Tumnus (Chronicles of Narnia) - THAT'S my biggest fear? Mr. Tumnus? I LIKE Mr. Tumnus!

What is your biggest secret?  River Secrets, chapter 3 (audio book) - What a coincidence!

What do you think of your friends? One of These Days (FFH) - It's only slightly different from the answer to "What do people feel when they are around you?"

What will you re-post this as? Under the Stars (Lion King soundtrack)

I tag:

Hepzibah

Galadriel

Bethany

Gray

(It's totally optional, but very fun.)

Melody also tagged me with the "Which 8 books would you like to live in for a week" tag.

Eight books, huh? Okay…

1. The Binding of the Blade,  by L. B. Graham. (I'm counting series as one book) I'd love to live in Kirthanin! And it would be awesome to see the events happening before my very eyes.

2. Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis. Who doesn't want to go to Narnia? Of course, I'd probably want to stay there longer than a week…

3. The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien. Another given. Any part of the book would be fine. Except… maybe when they're in Shelob's Lair. *Shudder* I don't like spiders. Especially giant ones.

4. Dragons in Our Midst, by Bryan Davis. I would so want to meet Bonnie and Billy and Prof and the rest.

5. The Blue Sword, by Robin McKinley. Damar is such a cool place. I'd love to hop on one of the amazing horses and gallop across the desert in my pajamas. :)

6. The Flicker Chronicles, by Me.  Yeah… The Inner Realms are all so colorful. I love color. And I'd love to interact with my characters in real life.

7. Peter Pan, by J. M. Barrie. I don't like any of the movies (except for Hook), but I love the book. It has a certain sparkle to it. And I'd love to show Peter Pan a thing or two, and bring his cockiness down a notch. He's not the only one who can fly, after all. 

8. Dinotopia, by James Gurney. Okay, I admit it. I'm a Dinotopia geek. I like books with pictures. Especially colorful pictures of adventurous people living peaceably with dinosaurs on a lost island that no one knows about. How cool is that? And of course, the story isn't half-bad, either.

I just realized that all of these are fantasy. Oops. I was planning on including a few non-fantasy. Oh well.

I'm supposed to tag 8 people for that last one, but I'll be lazy and leave it open. If you want to do it, I tag you.

I'm Editing Right Now

Sorry I haven't been blogging much lately-- I'm right in the thick of National Novel Editing Month, a.k.a. NaNoEdMo. It's inspired by NaNoWriMo, but instead of writing a novel... you edit one.

You can read last year's post about it here. Last year I failed. I didn't make it to the goal of 50 hours, even though I did make quite a bit of progress in my plot. This year I'm working on The Shadow of Rebellion 2-4 hours every day.

Anyway, I should get back to editing now. I just thought I'd let you all know what I'm up to.

Cheerio!

Curse of the Spider King!

It's here. Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper's book, Curse of the Spider King, now has a book trailer! My teammates from the Nightwing Tribe made it all from scratch, including the awesome score and animation sequences. Check it out! (If the video is too wide, here's the link to the YouTube page.)



If you want to know more about the book, click here to go to the book's website, and here are the websites of Christopher Hopper and Wayne Thomas Batson.

Endurance and Victory!

Tomorrow is the Book Bomb!

If you haven't already, go here to join the Rebelution Book Bomb! Tomorrow we take on Amazon.com! Oh, and did I mention that Alex and Brett are giving away prizes to people who order 5 books, 10 books, and the largest order?

Another Rebelution Book Bomb!

Alex and Brett Harris, the founders of the Rebelution and the authors of Do Hard Things, have written another book! Start Here is a companion to their first book, a sort of field guide to the ideas and challenges of the Rebelution movement. It will answer questions, inspire dreams, and help those dreams become realities. It's also full of stories of regular teens who rose above the everyday expectations of the world and how they started to do hard things right where they were. 


And on Tuesday, February 23rd, we're going to drive it to the top of Amazon.com.


Alex and Brett have announced another book bomb. The last time they did this, teens all around the world came together and pushed Do Hard Things to #6 on Amazon. Now they think we can do better.


This isn't about selling a lot of books simply for money, praise, or fame. No, this is to get the revolutionary idea of "rebelling against low expectations" to as many people as possible. If we can get this book to the top of Amazon's bestselling list on the 23rd of February, many new people will notice it and be pulled into a life-changing message.

Click HERE to join the Amazon.com book bomb! Let's do this!

My 2010 Reading List

Last year I read 36 books, from hilarious graphic novels (Rapunzel's Revenge) to non-fiction (Self-Editing for Fiction Writers) to awesome fantasy (Princess Academy, All My Holy Mountain and Curse of the Spider King, to name just a few).

Most of the books I read were children's books, with a few YA and one or two books from the adult section. I've decided that IN GENERAL, children's books are all-around best. They're mostly clean, vivid, fun, and full of action.

Here's the whole list from last year, in the order that I read them:
The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander (5 books)
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Brown and Dave King
Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliet
"Hook" novelization by Terry Brooks
Land of Elyon series by Patrik Carmen (3 books)
Princess Academy by Shannon Hale (read it twice)
Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon Hale
The Restorer books by Sharon Hink (3 books)
IronHeart by Victoria Kasten
Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce
Raising Dragons by Bryan Davis (audiobook)
All My Holy Mountain by L.B. Graham
The Magic Half  by Annie Barrows
The Candlestone by Bryan Davis (audiobook)
From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg
Operation: Red Jericho by Joshua Mowll
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale (audiobook)
On the Run series by Gordon Korman (6 books)
Auralia's Colors by Jeffery Overstreet
Chosen by Ted Dekker
Fairest by Gail Carson Levine
The Curse of the Spider King  by Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper
Night Flying by Rita Murphy

These are just the books I read cover-to-cover, not including unfinished books.

 And here's my tentative reading list for 2010:

The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke (Re-read)
Gone-Away Lake and Return to Gone-Away by Elizabeth Enright (re-read)
The Melendy Quartet by Elizabeth Enright
The Seems by John Hulme and Michael Wexler
Leepike Ridge by N. D. Wilson
100 Cupboards by N. D. Wilson
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
The Dark is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C. S. Lewis (re-read)
The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien (re-read)
The Simarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien
Writing Fiction for Dummies  by Randy Ingermanson
The Pendragon series by D. J. MacHale
The Silent Governess by Julie Klassen (she goes to my uncle's church)
Enna Burning and River Secrets by Shannon Hale

And I'd like to finish reading:
The Bones of Makaidos by Bryan Davis
Getting into Character by Brandilyn Collins
The Swords of the Six by Scott Appleton
Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maas
Volume A of the World Book Encyclopedia
Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper, my pastor.

I will probably pick up more books along the way, but these are the ones that have caught my attention. I may post reviews for some of them, too. Which ones have you read?
Cheerio!

What I Gave for Christmas

Instead of focusing on what I got for Christmas this year, I’ll tell you what I gave to other people, since that was more exciting for me this year.

To my parents, I gave audiobooks that they can listen to while they are driving. Both books are radio drama done by Focus on the Family’s Radio Theatre. To my mom I gave “The Hiding Place,” and to my dad I gave “The Screwtape Letters.” (Did you know that Andy Serkis is the voice of Screwtape? He’s insanely creepy!)

 

For my oldest sister, I got a candle. But this is no ordinary candle. It’s an artificial one that flickers either yellow or blue, and to turn it off, you just blow. And you also blow to turn it on. :)

For my next oldest sister, I made a recipe box, collaged with cooking-themed papers. She’s a great cook and loves culinary arts. I made recipe cards to go with it.

To my brother, who has his blog here, I gave the game Risk, but with a twist. It’s set in the year 2210 A.D. He played it with our cousin on Christmas night (stayed up until 3 in the morning!), and they both like it better than the original Risk game. Then I played with him… and lost. But I will triumph eventually!

And for my youngest sister, Hepzibah, who blogs at Beauty of Christ (among other places), I made an altered book about fairies. The book used to be "The Thousand and One Nights," but now it is all about fairies, with lots of colors and glitter. It’s my second altered book, and I learned a lot of new techniques for this project. This is probably the present I worked on the most. She loved it, and kept flipping through the pages in delight. I’ll try to post some pictures of it soon.

And for the whole family, I made a photobook. The title is "Faces: Looking Closer at the Personalities Around Us." You can view it here.

THE END! And some excerpts!

I'm DONE! Yesterday, I finally finished my NaNoWriMo novel, Bluewillow! I'm so relieved and glad to be done writing for awhile. The final word-count is 76,114, which is only a thousand words over what I estimated it would be. That's almost 200 hand-written pages!

Here's a brief synopsis of the plot:

Bluewillow

The Flicker Chronicles book 2
A girl with blue hair wakes up under a willow tree and can only remember other people's memories. She sets out to find a mysterious inter-dimensional portal that could somehow be the key to her past, but she gets caught up in a struggle between colorful worlds. Will she turn to the true King before it's too late?

Here's the banner I made for the book: 

And here are a couple of short poems from my novel. I wasn't expecting to write any poetry, but these just appeared on the page without me really thinking about it. :) And then I put them to music, and turned them both into songs.

"In the wings of the morning, in the depths of the earth

Ring songs of great value and words of great worth

The birds of the air and the fish will cry out

When the people are silent, even stones will shout."

And then a silly one:

"My honey went away, away, away,

In search of another day, away, away.

My dear sweet girlie

Went all a-twirly

And fell into a portal swirly

And made my head turn gray, away, away."

Later, when I type out my book and start editing (it needs a LOT of editing), I'll post some longer excerpts. But for now, I need to turn my attention to other things, namely Christmas. I enjoy making gifts for my family, but that will require a lot of time and energy, so I'm putting my finished draft aside for awhile. 

Swine Flu and Novel Writing

Yeah... I'm sorry I haven't been posting at all during November. I wanted to keep you guys updated with my word-count goals and excerpts from my novel, but less than a week into the month, I got really sick. I never went to the doctor to get tested, but I had all the symptoms of the H1N1 swine flu. I had a fever for nine days, and felt poorly for over two weeks.

Of course, that didn't help with the novel writing. I've never been sick during National Novel Writing Month before, so it was a frustrating time for me. I wanted to make it to at least 75,000 words, and hopefully finish the whole story, but with several days in there where I didn't write ANYTHING, I was really behind. My parents kept telling me to give myself a break, but it was hard when I've been planning this book for months, and looking forward to NaNoWriMo all year.

It was also hard to accept that I would be writing alone this year. In all the other years of NaNo, my brother was writing with me, and then my dad tried it and my younger sister did it for a couple of years. But this year, the others weren't able to write novels for one reason or another, so I was alone. (And since I was sick, I couldn't go to any write-ins with local Wrimos.)

I did make it to 50,000, though, and then for the last three days of November, I wrote over 5,000 words a day!  Yay! My final count is 70,213 handwritten words. So even though it felt like a terrible month, it was not totally unsuccessful.

And yet, my book is not yet completed. *sigh* Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to write I go... And when I finish, I'll come back and post a few excerpts for y'all to pick on and admire. :)

Ten Titles Tag

Joraiem gave me this tag a looong time ago, and I (in a normal phase of inobservance) somehow missed it. I thought it was fitting to do it right before NaNoWriMo begins...

Instructions: Come up with ten titles for books that have not been written.  (yet)
I'm assuming I can put down titles for story ideas I have. All but one of these titles has an idea attached to it already. Anyone want to guess which one is just a lonely title?

1. MindWrite
2. Twyndyllyng (it's actually a real word, though you might not find it in every dictionary)
3. Titantis
4. Treehouse   (I'm realizing how many of my titles start with "T")
5. The Hotel Girl
6. The Secret Side of the Library
7. SoulWorld Traveler
8. Lira Larc

and for the last two, I have the prequel and sequel ideas for my upcoming novel, Bluewillow:

9. Greenheart
10. Redtail

I shall tag...
Bethany
Hepzibah
and Bracie!

Tomorrow I shall attempt to return with a run-down of the items in my NaNoWriMo Survival Kit!

It Came!

Curse of the Spider King has arrived! I'm thoroughly enjoying it so far. Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper are AWESOME!

In case you haven't heard, there's a cool contest going on to promote their book Curse of the Spider King, and if you haven't yet joined, get thee to this website and educate thyself! We need a few more "tribes" to get the game going, so if you think you could get at least 21 people together to form your own tribe, do it! And did I mention prizes?  Attend a private party with the authors, get a character named after you, and books, books, books! I've also heard that they may be giving away a SWORD! (Tribe leaders seem to get the best of the booty, by the way.) If you want to join or create a tribe, there are a lot of helpful people at the official forum called The Underground, which you can find at http://www.heedtheprophecies.com/ Adventures await!

Quick Update

Sorry I haven't posted much lately. I'm feverishly planning my novel to be ready for NaNoWriMo (which starts in 10 days!), participating in an awesome contest* that authors Wayne Thomas Batson and Christopher Hopper are having in anticipation of the release of their new book Curse of the Spider King, and I DO have lots of ideas for posts, but no time to put them up. So bear with me, and I'll be back this weekend with a couple of posts for the Maid Marian's Wardrobe event (see banner above).

*If you want to know more about the contest or the book, check out Wayne Thomas Batson's website at www.enterthedoorwithin.blogspot.com or the series website www.heedtheprophecies.com.

The First Chapter of My Novel

While I anxiously wait for word about my computer, I'm letting you have a sneak peak at my book, The Shadow of Rebellion. I was in the process of revising and editing it when my computer stopped working, but I printed out the first two chapters before the big crash, so I didn't lose all of my hard work. Please read and comment!

Some background: The Shadow of Rebellion is the sequel to my first completed novel, The Shadow of Greed, a science fiction/spy adventure about a secret academy that trains elite warriors for the galactic government, and how two students are targeted by assassins when they discover a sinister plot. (If you click on the link, you can purchase it at Lulu.com) I wrote the first draft of the sequel last November, and it ended up at about 100,000 words-- the longest thing I've ever written.

Note that while these books aren't explicitly "Christian," they were written by one. I brought up themes that are important to me, such as loyalty, family, truth, and sacrifice. Now, without further ado, Chapter One!

The Shadow of Rebellion

Chapter 1

Kimble struggled against the grabbing mud at her heels. Panic overruled her senses and she gasped in the darkness. They were coming for her! She couldn't run. She couldn't scream. In a wild spasm she broke free and her hand fell on fabric.

A sheet, damp with sweat.

She closed her fist around it and forced herself to breathe in, though the sour air caught in her throat and made her gag.

Light. She unclenched her fingers from the sheet to turn on the lamp. The closet door loomed across from her, draped with a clean uniform. Her roommate's pets shifted in their cages on the wall. Dilly's bed was next to hers, empty.

"Dilly?" she whispered.

No answer.

Kimble shivered. She slipped out of her clammy bed and itched her elbow. Dilly was not in the room. No one was supposed to leave their room after curfew, and Dilly always abided by the rules. She must have had a good reason to risk her good reputation.

Had she left because of Kimble's nightmares? Her dreams often caused her to groan and call out, and Dilly was a light sleeper. Kimble winced and sank to the end of the bed.

The door broke open with a bang. Kimble jerked her head up. Dilly jumped inside and fumbled with the lock for a long moment before it finally clicked shut.

Her friend's face was in shadow, but her sharp breathing betrayed her. Fear ducked into the room.

"What's wrong?" Kimble asked urgently.

Dilly didn't answer right away. She hurried over to her wall of animal cages and knelt in front of one of the smaller doors. She gently pulled out a snoring ball of fluff, which she held to her cheek.

"Dilly--" Kimble began, folding her arms.

Dilly slumped on her bed. "Someone is creeping around the halls out there," she said at last.

Kimble sat up straighter. "What? What are you talking about?"

Dilly looked away. "I-- I couldn't sleep, so I just went out in the hall to stretch my legs. But all the lights went out, and then I heard someone sneak past me in the dark! I'm sure they were up to no good." She twisted her fingers in the animal's long fur.

Kimble frowned. "All the lights went out? That is strange. They're supposed to be hard-wired..." She got up and opened the door.

Sure enough, darkness filled the hall. Kimble looked both ways. To the right, she could see a distant cross-hall with the ceiling panels glowing as usual, but on the left, the hall faded into black. "Weird. No one should have been able to turn them off," she whispered.

Dilly came up behind her, still stroking her pet frantically. "And what about the person I heard?"

"I'll check it out. It was probably just another student, out to stretch her legs or something."

"In the dark?"

Kimble shrugged. "There's got to be a reasonable explanation. Don't worry about it. I'll be right back." She snatched her gun off the dresser and slipped into the silent hall, and began to run. She trailed her fingertips on one wall to guide her, but she couldn't see where her feet hit the floor.

When she came to an intersection, she stopped to catch her breath. Both halls were pitch black. She strained her ears, but her pounding heart drove away all other possible sounds.

Then the lights suddenly blazed to life. Kimble covered her eyes with her palms and groaned. She had to find out what was going on. She had to get to the utility room. She blinked a few times in the intense light, then turned and ran again.

It was odd to be out at this hour, when all the STEW agents slept and all the halls were empty. She felt as exposed as a crater on the moon. She almost wished the lights would go out again and hide her.

When she reached the heavy door to the utility room, she was dismayed to find it locked. She rattled the handle and tried a code in the keypad, but the door refused to budge. She had forgotten to bring her computer unit, so she couldn't pick the lock. She turned and found a woman staring at her. A hall monitor.

"Agent 1121, is it?" the woman said. Her eyes narrowed. "What are you doing? Don't you know the rules? You ought to by now."

"The lights went out in my hall, and I came to check it out." Kimble swallowed. It sounded so trivial now.

The monitor rolled her eyes. "The lights cannot be changed. Even the Headmaster can't turn them off. They're designed to stay on always, even during emergencies."

"Of course I know that, but somehow they were turned off. I was going to check the computer system to see if anyone had hacked into it. Someone was sneaking around the halls--"

"Yes, I noticed," the monitor said, and frowned at Kimble. "You will receive a warning this time, but next time I find you wandering about past curfew, you won't get off so easily."

"But I was just trying to find out what was wrong! At least let me see the utility system!" Kimble hated pleading with the smug monitor, but she had to know what was going on.

The monitor jangled her keys. "I don't have to let you in there. In fact, I shouldn't. I should march you right back to your room and stand guard outside the door."

Kimble clenched her fists. It was all she could do to hold back a sharp reply.

The monitor sighed and motioned Kimble out of the way. She grumbled as she fiddled with the lock until it clicked and the door shifted.

Kimble pushed past the monitor and entered the humming room. She bent over the main computer screen.

The monitor leaned against the wall and folded her arms. "Well?"

Kimble scanned the utility files. Nothing was out of place. The computer registered that the lights were on the entire time. "Whoever it was must have hacked into the computer system," she said. "And they covered their tracks completely."

"Face it, girl, you dreamed it," scoffed the monitor. "The lights can't be turned off."

Kimble shook her head. "I'm not the only one who saw it." She logged out and turned away from the computer.

"Then I'll have to report that several students are experiencing hallucinations. I always knew the pressure was too much around here. Maybe final exams did you in." The monitor leaned forward. A hint of sympathy creased her forehead for a moment, but it was soon covered with contempt. "Maybe I'll be next. Everyone knows I have way too much to deal with in the middle of the night."

Kimble tapped her gun on the wall and glared at the monitor. "I'll talk to the administrator about it tomorrow. This isn't normal."

"You're just paranoid. Now go to your room and don't come back out!"

Kimble watched the hall monitor secure the room again. There was nothing more she could do tonight. She could only go back to bed and hope that her nightmares stayed away for the rest of the night.

*

Kimble focused on her opponent. His lanky form made it difficult to pin him down, and he enjoyed taunting her with glib remarks about her height. He wasn't more than an inch and a half taller, but he was also growing like a vine. He would end up a giant, most likely, and he knew it.

Still, he was several years younger and overly confident. Easy prey.

He dove towards her with his knife extended. She batted him aside as if he were only a rowdy kitten, and hooked his ankle with her boot. He sprawled on the mat at her feet. She touched the tip of her knife to his ear. "Nice try, wise guy," she said. "Your feet are as big as your mouth."

He groaned. "Why do I have to be so clumsy?" He rubbed his shin and frowned.

"I've got to get back to my exams, Danny. We'll practice again tomorrow." Kimble sheathed her weapon.

"Aw, can't we do it just one more time?" His gray eyes grew large. "Please?"

"Sorry, can't do that. I've got to graduate first." She grinned. She was ready to move on to bigger missions as a level five agent. No more decoding endless documents and training first-year students.

Her computer unit buzzed. What now? She glanced at it. An emergency meeting had been called for only select students, and she was ordered to come to the conference room at once.

She looked back at her pupil. Danny was still sitting on the mat, picking at his boot-laces. She snatched up her shoulder bag and dashed out the door without another word to him.

She ran through the halls of the STEW Academy, her bag thumping against her leg every step of the way. A secret meeting! Could this be about a new mission?

She slowed as she passed the library, next to the conference room. Several other STEW agents were already standing in the hall. She stepped towards them, but someone grabbed her arm. "Kimble! Wait!" It was her brother, Angle. She allowed him to pull her into a corner of the library entrance.

"What's going on?" Kimble demanded.

Angle looked into the hall. More agents were gathering by the conference room. "It's about the meeting," he said. "I talked to Banu already. He's really upset." His gaze flickered between her and the other agents.

Kimble put her hands on her hips. "And?"

He rubbed his face. "He wants you to lead a team of agents--"

"That's good news, isn't it?" Kimble said eagerly. "I've been hoping for something like this!"

"No... you don't understand." He closed his eyes. "The M2 document. It's been stolen."

Kimble grimaced. She turned away from him and leaned against the wall. "Great," she muttered. "Just great."

"I know you've been in charge of that project since the Headmaster was arrested," Angle said from the shadows.

"So, it's my responsibility to get it back, right?" Kimble clenched her teeth. "Oh, this is wonderful."

Angle put a hand on her shoulder. She shrugged it off. Then she lifted her head and started towards the meeting room across the hall, but Angle grabbed her again.

"That's not all," he said. "There's something else you need to know."

Kimble folded her arms.

"The document disappeared last night, so few clues have turned up already, but the preliminary evidence points to a notorious thief called 'The Slippery One,' named so for his uncanny ability to slip in and out of the most high-security government institutions without ever getting caught. He escapes without a trace every time."

"And what does all that have to do with me?" she challenged.

Angle's electric eyes locked with hers. "The Slippery One is our father."