Nanowrimo!

Hi all!! How is Nano going for you?? I still can't believe it's here already, and we're a week through :P How are all your stories going?

I mostly want to get this site going again (it's nanowrimo, the one month we're all certain to be writing. We have to post more!) But I guess I'll post a bit of my story...

I am rewriting last years nano, but it's very very different. I have a completely different MC. This part isn't right at the beginning, but not much has happened yet.

Tyra frowned as she tried to make sense of the directions written on her hand. She’d been sent to pick up Vera, and she was driving alone for the first time in the city. “Why do cities have to be so big?” She muttered under her breath, squinting as she tried to see the street names. She had just made her way past all the big modern buildings made of glass and steel, and now she was in the older section. All the houses were mansions made of stone, with perfectly manicured lawns and gardens. There were parties at several of them, light and people spilled out onto the street. “Finally,” Tyra said, pulling up in the driveway of the house with the number one hundred and seven.
It looked like the party was just starting there, the door was wide open and a little crowd of people stood there welcoming the guests. Limos pulled up to the gates one by one and dropped them off. Tyra caught flashes of tuxes and long dresses and jewelry, but she couldn’t see much more.
Tyra looked over as she heard footsteps. There was a boy near her age leaving the house, he shut the door quietly and started walking towards the road, staying in the shadows. Tyra tried not to stare at him, but it was hard keeping her eyes away. He had messy black hair that flopped onto his forehead and a serious face and was tall and fit--
“EIYAN!” Tyra heard someone shout from the house. The boy froze, grimaced, and continued walking. “Hello?” Tyra looked up at the window, a woman was standing there looking down at her. “You’re here to pick up Vera aren’t you?” The woman asked, frowning distractedly.
“Yes,” Tyra said, watching the boy out of the corner of her eye as he froze again.
“Have you seen my son, Eiyan?” The woman asked. “He’s seventeen and has black hair…” Eiyan was shaking his head no violently, Tyra bit back a grin.
“No I haven’t, sorry,” she said. Eiyan looked relieved.
“Alright,” the woman said, “Vera will be out in a moment, I think.” She walked away and Tyra looked at Eiyan.
“Thank you for that,” he said, smiling. His smile lit up his face. “You have no idea what a long and boring party you saved me from.”
“You’re welcome,” Tyra said, smiling back. She wished she could talk to him like she did with Jagger, one of her best friends at home. But Jagger wasn’t nearly as cute as Eiyan was, and his attractiveness made it difficult to think of anything to say.
Vera came out the door as Eiyan started walking away again, she didn‘t even look tired. “What did they want you to make?” Tyra asked as Vera got in the car.
“An enormous fountain,” she said. “It looks like a weeping willow, and the water parts for anyone who wants to go through. There’s a dance floor inside and candles lining the fountain that never go out of course. It wasn’t hard to enchant.”
“It sounds like it would be pretty,” Tyra said. Vera had a business where she did enchantments for parties or rich people, things like the fountain, or mazes that only took up five square feet but were huge inside.
“It was,” Vera said. “That family is very important. The King and the princess are coming to the party.”
“Huh,” Tyra said. She wondered where Eiyan was escaping to. They drove the rest of the way home in silence, Vera must have been tired after all because she didn’t try to start a conversation. That was fine with Tyra, she was tired too.

It was two days later when it happened. Everyone was in the kitchen, looking through the mail. Macie grabbed an important looking one-- it had the national seal on it-- and ripped it open.
“Hey guys,” she said, her eyes widening as she read, “It’s from the King.”
“The King?” Vera peered over Macie’s shoulder. “It’s to everyone in the city,” she told the rest of them. “There’s going to be an announcement tomorrow in the town square.”
“What about?” Tyra wondered aloud. It seemed unusual to her, and by Jorge’s frown, he thought so too.
The town square was so crowded the next day they couldn’t even see the pedestal where the King would sit. The general family shortness didn’t help any, but Asher couldn’t see it either. Vera quickly set up a magnifying enchantment and soon they could see the pedestal like it was in front of them. Tyra could pick out the Enchanters in the crowd by the little groups of people not pushing and straining to see the King.
Eventually the trumpet sounded and there the King was, he stepped out of a limo, closely followed on either side by bodyguards. None of his advisors were with him, though Tyra caught sight of the princess and her bodyguards right below the pedestal. The crowd’s murmurs died down as the King stood there.
“Before I tell you what I am about to do,” he said, yelling to be heard, “Keep in mind that I am doing this for the good of the whole land.” Whispers broke out again and Tyra saw Jorge and Vera exchange a worried look. The air felt static, like a storm was coming. “I have recently decided,” the King continued, “That magic is dangerous.” Shock rippled through the crowd. Magic had been around for hundreds of years, Tyra couldn’t think of a reason why it would be decided dangerous now.
“Anyone could use it, for awful things,” The King said, his voice booming. He didn’t look anxious about how the people would take it, he almost looked… pleased. “Think of what a tyrant could do if he got his hands on magic. It is not safe to have magic used so commonly. Therefore I am passing a law… from this day forward, other than for the protection of this country, magic is outlawed.”
At that, the crowd exploded. People shouted and screamed, voices rose into the air like a fire leaping. Vera took a step back as if she had been punched in the stomach, losing hold of the magnifying enchantment. Tyra craned her neck to see and caught a glimpse of the King’s bodyguards bundling him into the limo as the crowd surged forward. It was so noisy, Tyra could barely hear the thoughts in her head. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway, they were a confused jumble of questions. She suddenly felt sick, all these bodies pressing in around her, anger flowing over her, urging her to shout along with them. She clamped her teeth down and turned away, she wouldn’t give in to the anger that was building inside of her.
“Let’s go,” Jorge tugged at her arm and she followed him out of the crowd. Macie and Asher and Quinn looked shocked, their eyes were wide and confused. Jorge’s face was pinched with worry. And Vera- Vera was livid, her face like stone as she marched back to the house. She started shouting as soon as they were inside, pacing back and forth as she ranted. Jorge stood there and tried to put in calming words, but Tyra couldn’t stand it. She’d never seen Vera this out of control.
She ran to her room and tried to breath slowly, the silence pounded in her ears. She could still hear Vera shouting but it was so much quieter than in the crowd, there was finally room for all the questions to rise up. What were they going to do? Jorge would still provide for them of course, but he didn’t make a ton of money… How could the King do that to all the enchanters? Was he insane?
Exhausted, Tyra sank onto the bed. One thing she knew for certain, no one was happy about this new law. They would have to revoke it, the advisors would have to overrule the King… if they didn’t, she didn’t know what would happen. She was so angry, and Vera was so much angrier.
It was finally quiet in the house. Tyra left her room and went to the kitchen, Vera was sitting at the table with her head in her hands. Jorge sat slumped beside her. “I’ll go back to Maycomb tomorrow,” Vera spoke suddenly, looking up. “The house wasn’t sold yet. We can move back.”
“Do you think we’ll need to?” Jorge asked.
“You can get your job back easily,” Vera said, “Instead of having to look for one here.” Jorge nodded in agreement, and they were silent.
“Do you want some coffee, mom?” Tyra asked. She wished she could do more to make her feel better, but that was all she could think of. No one would eat her dinners anymore. Vera nodded, and gave her a tired smile. Tyra wished they weren’t moving back because of such a bad thing. She would love being back of course, but somehow she didn’t think they could adjust to a life without magic. She hoped they could convince the King that no one could.


Good luck with nano everyone!
KrazyK