NaNoWriMo Chapter One Excerpt

Please check out my National Novel Writing Month profile page here!

This was the first excerpt posted from my novel, Found in Time.

“Hold on a moment, dear. Jimmy is done resting. Come to our room to collect him.” George told her with a smile.

Ella’s heart brightened up, and she nodded with a smile of her own. Although she and Jimmy had only been separated for a few hours, she had missed his presence greatly. Ella followed George and Jane down the hallway to their room. George quickly went over to his nightstand table and picked up a small, wooden box. It would have been plain save for the intricate golden swirls engraved into it. Ella took the box when George offered it to her.

“He should be well for some time now.” George explained.

“Thank you.”

The clock in the room chimed. It was fifteen minutes past the witching hour. Weariness began to fall upon Ella again. She did her best to fight it off. There was still a little bit more she wanted to do.

“Goodnight child.” Jane said to her, hugging her and giving her a kiss on the cheek.

“Goodnight nana.” Ella replied, hugging back.

She bid goodnight to George as well before leaving to head towards her own room. Taking the stairs to the third floor two at a time, Ella quickly reached the upper hallway and her room. Once she sat herself down on the edge of her bed, she opened the clasp on the box.

Inside was a frog that yawned when the lid was open. If Ella hadn’t known any better, she would have thought that he was real. The truth was he was simply a toy brought to life by George.

“Good morning dear Jimmy. Did you enjoy your rest?”  Ella asked.

Jimmy moved as if he were stretching his muscles before jumping out of the box and onto her lap.

“I never do enjoy being put into that box, but I will admit I feel much better. We let the amount of power in me run too low this time. It was getting hard to move.” Jimmy replied.

His mouth did not open, but Ella heard every word as if he had spoken. He was actually communicating to her telepathically. Ella loved Jimmy’s voice. George had told her that Jimmy’s body was shaped in the form of a white-lipped tree frog. Since his kind was indigenous to Australia, his voice had the accent. Ella had to just believe it was true since she hadn’t met anyone from Australia before.

“I’m sorry about that. I should have asked grandfather for help sooner.” Ella apologized.

“Not to worry. Even if I did stop working, I would be fine once your grandfather re-infused me with energy.”

“I suppose.”

“So, I assume the child was born then?” Jimmy changed the subject.

“Yes. It was a girl. Father and mother named her Sadie.” Ella explained.

“That is a beautiful name.”

His voice quieted as he finished the sentence. Ella’s eyes had drifted away from him. She stared intently at the floor, her face hard as she tried to keep any emotion from coming through. Ella sighed inwardly. No matter how hard she tried, it was impossible to keep a fake face in front of Jimmy.

“What is wrong?” he asked.

“I messed up again. I spilled a tray of bloody water. My sleeves are ruined, and because I had to get a towel to clean it up, I missed another birth.” Ella offered for explanation.

“Well, fixing your sleeves is easy.” Jimmy pointed out.

He hopped onto her right arm and placed his front feet on her stained sleeve. A faint glow appeared around her wrist. Within seconds the stain grew fainter and fainter until it disappeared altogether. Jimmy moved to her left arm and proceeded to do the same.

“Thanks.”

“Now tell me what’s really wrong.” Jimmy said before Ella had even finished the word.

Ella thought Jimmy would be satisfied by her lie. She knew he would have seen through her deception, but she had hoped that he would let the real reason slide. That was not his way of doing things though. Between them, no secrets were to be left unspoken. Ella slumped a little and looked away again.

“Ella.” Jimmy said commandingly.

“I don’t want―”

“Tell me.” he demanded, once again interrupting her before she could finish speaking. Ella sighed, a real one this time. Silence passed before she finally spoke.

“Sadie has already shown signs of power. When great-grandfather tried to hold her, I don’t know if he scared her or if she doesn’t like him, but she used a flash of Light to hurt him.” she explained slowly, “It blinded me, but no one else of course. You know, great-grandfather hated that father and mother were having another child. Now he thinks she’s going to be really special. He believes that she will make up for the lack that comes from me, although he didn’t state it quite so openly.”

“I thought I’ve taught you to stop paying attention to that nasty old prune of a man.” Jimmy said after taking the information in.

“I don’t pay attention, or at least I try. It stills hurts. But, it’s not really what he said that bothers me. It’s…” Ella trailed off.

“It’s that your newborn sister already possesses what you want so badly.” Jimmy finished the thought for her.

Ella nodded. She turned around to look at the potted flower on her windowsill. Placing Jimmy on the bed, Ella went over to it. With a forceful tug Ella ripped the flower out and threw it away.

“This again?” Jimmy asked, almost impatiently.

“Yes.” Ella answered without hesitation, “I know you and everyone else don’t believe me. I was supposed to show signs of powers before I turned two, and since I didn’t it was decided that for whatever reason I don’t have any at all. You think it’s my imagination, but I feel as if I have something in me. It’s as if there’s something bubbling below a barrier. Maybe if I keep trying hard enough, then my powers can break free.”

She placed the now empty pot on her nightstand. In the drawer was a packet of flower seeds. Ella took a couple and planted them in the soil. She closed her eyes, placed her hands on the rim of the pot, and began to concentrate. Jimmy hopped next to the pot.

“Your family has done everything to sense power within you. Even Charlie, whose ability to sense such things is the strongest that anyone has ever seen, can’t feel anything radiating from you. Even if there were powers being blocked for some reason, we would at least be able to know they were there.” Jimmy started.

Ella ignored him and closed her eyes tighter. She pressed her skin harder against the clay and concentrated. She imagined warmth flowing from her hands, the seeds sprouting, and beautiful flowers growing. So great was her determination that she almost believed what was happening was real. Still, her eyes remained closed. Jimmy spoke to her softly and sadly.

“I don’t tell you the truth to upset you, but I don’t want you to fill yourself with hope only to be crushed when the reality grabs hold of you.”

Her muscles loosened, and Ella opened her eyes. Nothing had changed. There was no sprout, let alone a flower. She dropped her hands to her sides and looked at Jimmy.

“I know.” she spoke just as quietly and sadly, “I just want to ignore reality for a little longer.”