March Novel Essential Information

Novel Title: Twilight Between

Time Setting: VI1634¹

Genre: Fantasy

Minimum Word Goal: 90,000

Timespan: July–August

Locations: Odalrichsaal, Festungberg Gebiet; Steinadlerhorst, Flüsterstrom Gebiet; Möwestanger, Salzkliffe Gebiet, Zeig

Main Characters: Adler Hiedl, Fürst Torben Reiter, Emma Reiter

Background Information: 

Located on the Weisdrucke Peninsula, Zeig was established as a monarchy in VI301 under König Odalrich I, who, according to legend, was born and raised in caves beneath the mountain called Bärhöhleberg by his cowardly father in the midst of savage fighting among the other chieftains on the peninsula, before emerging as chief of his people following his father’s death and convincing all the war-weary chieftains on the peninsula to accept him as their king or be annihilated by his fresh troops — a method known as Weisdrucke, from which the royal house, peninsula, and kingdom gained their name.

As most nations, it had its own religious system that was widely practised, but in the VI700s a new religion reached the kingdom, and took strong hold in the west, while being cooly received in the north.

In fact, the people of the north were quire determined to exterminate the new religion by killing its adherents. König Theoderich III, however, didn’t think that was justified, as the new religion wasn’t in any way hostile or warlike in its practises, and so, to avoid war, ceded about one third of his lands to the leader of the northern people, which created the kingdom of Deuschbren in VI775.

The people of the west, as the main adherents of the new religion, weren’t particularly glad to know their king had given up land to people who wanted to persecute adherents of the new religion, but that was not their only malcontent with the king either.

As many peoples in the early centuries, the people of Zeig engaged in slavery, but it was completely unregulated; people could arbitrarily enslave others for no reason whatsoever, and the treatment of these slaves was typically abhorrent.

Influenced by the teachings of the new religion, the peoples of the west believed there should be regulation of slavery, and improved treatment for the slaves, to which end they lobbied both König Theoderich III, and his successor, König Odalrich VII, who acquiesced when he was informed that the kingdoms which neighboured his own thought poorly of him for the state of slavery within his borders.

This resulted in the creation of one of the most unique penal systems in Ureonaiea, in which those guilty of crimes not severe enough to warrant a death penalty, were to be sentenced to slavery, either for the rest of their lives or, for lesser offences, a tenure of years.

He did not, however, create any regulations when it came to the treatment of slaves by their owners, which the people of the west had hoped for, so, after lobbying some more, only to have König Odalrich VII refuse to acquiesce, they seceded, taking around one third of the remaining territory under Zeig’s control to create the kingdom of Austößt in VI817.

This displeased König Odalrich VII’s brother, Walherich, who murdered his brother in VI820, as well as slaughtering much of the royal house before establishing himself as king and changing the name of the kingdom to Zeig, and also replacing its flag, as he didn’t believe the name of Weisdrucke had been chosen by the people, but had been applied to the kingdom by its neighbours.

Following his death — as well as that of his sickly son — one of the youngest sons of König Theoderich III, who had escaped the slaughter, successfully reestablished a more favourable line of the monarchy in VI838, although he didn’t, as expected, restore the old name or flag to the kingdom, as most everyone in and around Zeig had just gotten used to the new name and flag, although there are still some people — even if their numbers are waning significantly — who stubbornly hold to the old name and flag.

The matter of slavery remains still the biggest issue in Zeig, and has led to quite a few consequences for the kingdom, including its lack of trade treaties with its neighbouring kingdoms, as none of those kingdoms are inclined to do business with Zeig because of the way its slaves are treated.

Thus, trade with other kingdoms requires long treks, as most of the nations that don’t care about how Zeig’s slaves are treated are months’ — if not years’ — journeys away, meaning that Zeig is also not quite so prosperous as its neighbours.

Most of its neighbours would be willing to trade with Zeig if they would carry out a reform of how slaves are treated, and have even proposed solutions, the most well-known of which is called the Außtöst Munster, as it was devised and put forth by Außtöst as the conditions required for a trade treaty between the two kingdoms, and it has been widely accepted by others as the best solution.

It even has supporters within Zeig’s borders, most of whom don’t actually own slaves themselves — mostly because they’re not in businesses that need them — but there is also a group of slaveowners who have formed the Außtöst Munster Verbund, or AMV, and strive to implement the Außtöst Munster on their individual estates.

The membership of the AMV, however, is at less than 100 people, and only one of their members is of the nobility — that member, unfortunately, however, is not of the rank of Häuptling, which is the only noble rank that controls more territory than their own estates, or has any say when it comes to lawmaking — thus they haven’t been able to do much.

However, the health of the current monarch, König Baldrich IX, is failing, and many believe that his son, Kronprinz Theoderich, might be sympathetic to the cause, as he has spent a greater deal of time associating with the kingdoms that neighbour Zeig than any of his predecessors, but no one can really be sure.

Born the youngest of three sons and sixth of nine children to the Graf and Gräfin von Schönwiese, Adler had a rather unassuming start to his life. As the third son, he wasn’t heir to his father’s title, and since his father had the lowest noble title available in Zeig, he didn’t even live an overly privileged and prestigious life compared to other noblemen’s children.

Despite his father’s low status in the nobility, Adler had prestigious relatives, as his maternal grandfather was the Erzherzog von Wolfsieg, who was a highly esteemed horse breeder, and whose estate was located reasonably near to that of Adler’s father.

As a result, Adler spent a good amount of time at his grandfather’s estate, and was, of all his siblings and cousins, most attracted by the horses, soon becoming involved in his grandfather’s business, soaking up all the knowledge his grandfather could feed him like a sponge until, as an adolescent, he became his grandfather’s right-hand man.

To some people, his position was viewed as significant, as Adler’s grandfather and grandmother had seven daughters and no sons, and all their daughters had married noblemen.

Additionally, Adler’s grandfather had been the only son of his father, and his father’s only brother had been disowned from the family, while all the other possible relatives were married into the nobility.

As a result, Adler, his middle brother, and his male cousins who weren’t the firstborn sons of their parents were considered the primary candidates to receive the title of Erzherzog after their grandfather, as since only the title of Häuptling held any power in Zeig, it was considered foolish and ridiculous for a person who wasn’t a Häuptling to possess multiple noble titles.

Nonetheless, Adler was considered the least likely candidate because he was the youngest son of his grandfather’s daughter who’d married the farthest beneath her. Thus when Adler’s grandfather named him Erberzherzog at his eighteenth birthday party, quite a few people were shocked, including Adler, who’d expected to remain in an employed position to one of his cousins upon his grandfather’s death.

When he, and others, reflected on it, however, it made good sense, as he was the grandson who was most closely involved with his grandfather, and had the same intense passion for the main business of his grandfather’s estate.

Not everyone felt that such things were important, such as the Großherzog von Keilerangriff, who happened to be the father-in-law of Adler’s cousin, Theobald, whom many had expected would be chosen as Erberzherzog because of the fact that he was the second-oldest grandson.

The Großherzog von Keilerangriff was also something of a horseman — albeit not as intensely involved as Adler and his grandfather — so he saw Adler at horse shows often, and every single time he did, he would extol the virtues of his son-in-law, and rail agains the decision to make Adler the Erberzherzog, which annoyed Adler severely.

Nevertheless, Adler strove to ignore the Großherzog, venting his frustrations as needed to the horses, his grandfather, or his sweetheart Relinda, until one day — about a year after he’d been named Erberzherzog — when he didn’t check his temper fast enough and launched into an angry tirade in the Großherzog’s face.

Although it felt good on one hand, Adler also regretted it severely soon afterwards, and so tried to apologise many times over the course of the next year, but to no avail, until he was shocked one day by the arrival of the king’s soldiers, who placed him under arrest for the murder of the Großherzog von Keilerangriff.

Adler was convinced it was all a mistake until he learned how much evidence pointed to him being the murderer, which might’ve made him despair if there wasn’t also a lot of evidence that pointed to his innocence.

Unfortunately, the evidence was such that the jury was hung twice before the decision was made to send the case to the capital, Odalrichsaal, where König Baldrich IX and Kronprinz Theoderich joined the judge in hearing the case, with the trio agreeing in the end that both the prosecution and defence were on the cusp of victory, but neither one had enough evidence to seal the verdict in their favour.

Since murder was a capitally-punishable crime, the fact that the verdict was inconclusive was a problem, and one that König Baldrich IX and Kronprinz Theoderich spent much time thinking on before they presented a bill to the government which established that Adler would be sentenced to indefinite slavery until either the prosecution or the defence could provide the crucial piece of evidence they needed to secure a conclusive verdict.

The government passed the bill, and as a result, Adler has been sentenced to slavery, which will begin as soon as the next of the regularly-scheduled new slave sale takes place and he is sold to his first master.

Born the oldest of six sons and third of thirteen children, Torben had the unique distinction of being born on the same day that his grandfather, the Fürst von Steinadlerhorst, died; in fact, Torben was actually being cradled in his grandfather’s arms when his grandfather died of his lingering illness.

As a result, Torben was christened with both his name and the title of Erbfürst von Steinadlerhorst, while his father stepped into the role of Fürst, and his mother as Fürstin.

Since he was the Erbfürst, Torben was given a thorough and wide-ranging education on everything related to the business of the family estate so that he would be able to help his father in it, as well as to take it over from his father when he died.

Owing to their religious convictions, the Fürstenhaus von Steinadlerhorst faced some unique struggles, as even though they adhered to the new religion — which, by that time, was reasonably commonplace and not particularly new — they owned slaves, which put them at odds with many of the people who had the same religious beliefs as they did.

However, these religious convictions also prompted them to treat their slaves with dignity and do their best to educate their slaves in different jobs and other such things in an effort to prevent the slaves from reoffending once they were freed, as well as giving the slaves skills they could use to provide for themselves, and their families, which put them at odds with many of their fellow slave owners, who seemed to treat and view their slaves as lesser than their horses and other livestock.

Nonetheless, Torben and his father saw many rewards in their work, and found that their estate was more productive than those of other owners who were brutal to their slaves; indeed, some slaves enjoyed working for them so much they asked to be hired on as paid staff following their release.

Upon completing his compulsory schooling in Zeig, Torben chose to take some secondary education in nearby Außtöst, where he faced many questions and challenges about slavery — and his own family’s particular practises — from his classmates, which he was able to respond to because of the fact that most of the questions and challenges were more than familiar to him.

He even invited his classmates to come to his family’s estate in Zeig to see for themselves, and many took him up on the offer, including a young man by the name of Meinrad, who was quite impressed by what he saw, and told his family.

As a result, when heavy snows prevented Torben from being able to get home for the winter break, Meinrad invited Torben to his family estate where Meinrad’s father — a Vizekönig of Außtöst, making him equivalent to a Häuptling in Zeig — peppered Torben with questions, but not so incessantly that Torben was unable to notice Meinrad’s fetching younger sister Alena.

Meinrad’s whole family came to Torben’s family estate because of Torben’s visit, and Torben and Alena started falling in love. Their relationship wasn’t sanctioned by Alena’s father, however, until the AMV — which Torben and his father had never heard of, but were glad to join when they were told of it by Alena’s father — had vetted their estate and granted them membership.

Following their marriage, Torben and Alena started a family, which had reached nine children by the time Torben’s father died of injuries sustained in a horrible carriage accident when Torben was thirty.

Torben and Alena’s family was rounded out with three more children following his inheritance of the title of Fürst von Steinadlerhorst. The birth of their youngest, a daughter they named Emma, was difficult for Alena, so much so that she never had the strength to walk again, and nearly died.

Because of his wife’s weakness, Torben proceeded to carry his wife wherever she needed to go — be it elsewhere in the house, on the estate, or even to social gatherings — and was sternly vigilant about her health and wellbeing.

Unfortunately, his vigilance wasn’t enough to prevent Alena from taking ill when what was typically a common and highly survivable sickness swept through the house. Because of her weakened state Alena was unable to fight off the sickness and died.

Having loved his wife dearly, Torben was devastated, and so was two-year-old Emma, who clung to Torben over the ensuing days, weeks, months, and years.

Indeed, twelve years since, Torben’s closest and most affectionate relationship with any of his children has been the one he has with Emma. He does his best to not neglect his other children either — nor his growing number of grandchildren — but has to admit that much of the time he feels like he’s doing a lousy job, but, for some reason, none of his children will believe him whenever he says so.

Outside of the work on his estate, Torben’s time is largely consumed by working with the AMV to promote the ethical, humane treatment of slaves for the betterment of the entire kingdom.

Because of both the ailing health of König Baldrich IX and his own prestigious rank of Fürst — the second-highest noble rank in Zeig after Häuptling — which makes it easier for him to gain audiences with the monarchy, Torben hopes to do as much as he can to gain a favourable hearing from Kronprinz Theoderich, in the hopes that when the Kronprinz ascends to the throne, the much-yearned-for reforms will finally come to pass.

¹does not correspond to 1634 AD.

Pronunciations:

Odalrichsaal: ohdahlrihkzahl

Festungberg: fehstungberg

Gebiet: gehbeet

Steinadlerhorst: staenahdlerhohrst

Flüsterstrom: fluesterstrawm

Möwestanger: muhvestahnger

Salzkliffe: zahltzklihffeh

Zeig: tsaeg

Hiedl: heedl

Fürst: fourst

Reiter: raeter

Weisdrucke: vaessdrookuh

König: kuhnihg

Odalrich: ohdahlrihk

Bärhöhleberg: barehullberg

Theoderich: taeawderick

Deuschbren: d’oyshbrehn

Ureonaiea: yuhrahnaeah

Außtöst: owstuhst

Walherich: vahlhehrick

Munster: muhnstir

Verbund: fehrboont

Häuptling: hoyptling

Baldrich: bahldrick

Kronprinz: krohnprihntz

Graf: grahf

Gräfin: greffihn

Von: fahn

Schönwiese: shuhnveess

Erzherzog: ayrtzhertzaug

Wolfsieg: vuhlfseeg

Erberzherzog: ehrbayertzhertzaug

Großherzog: grohsshertzaug

Keilerandgriff: kaelerahngrihff

Theobald: taeohbahld

Relinda: rehlihnda

Erbfürst: ehrbfourst

Fürstin: fourstihn

Fürstenhaus: fourstehnhowss

Meinrad: minerahd

Vizekönig: fihtzehkuhnihg

Something Changed: Day 15

Word Total: 90,075

Year to Date: 180,099

Summary of Events:

Luke spent a pleasant afternoon at Ella's house and was very reluctant to leave when the alarm he'd set to remind himself when he needed to head back went off, but he returned anyways and managed to convincingly convey to his dad that he'd had a thoroughly unenjoyable time at the amusement park. Upon arriving home, Luke was asked by his mom how the day had been, so he gave her the same answer he'd given to his dad — a rude hand gesture — which appalled his mother, who slapped him on the face, as she often did when she was mad at him . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

Luke’s cheek stung and he felt as if Mom’s action had just made his anger go from a rolling boil to fully boiling over. He seized her upper arm in response and slapped her back.

“Luke Tristan Warm!” Dad bellowed before he suddenly seized Luke away from Mom to look at him. “You will go upstairs right now, and unplug your video game system, and give it to us. You had no reason to slap your mother, and you’re not playing video games for a month.”

Why? Luke wanted to scream the question at Dad, but he doubted he’d get an answer for it. His parents weren’t listening to him, but he was the one who had to suffer? It wasn’t fair!

He snapped his knee up hard into Dad’s groin, causing Dad to swear and let go of his arm.

Luke didn’t stop to watch Dad crumple to the floor, but instead rushed out of the living room, up the stairs, and into his bedroom, whose door he slammed heavily before leaning against it, his sides heaving.

Instead of calming him, Luke felt like his heavy breathing was feeding air to the fire burning hot within him, especially as he looked at his video game system and the small TV mounted to his wall straight ahead of him, which reminded him of what Dad had said.

After working up what he felt was a froth of rage, Luke surged away from his door and attacked his video games, tearing apart cases, snapping discs, smashing the console as much to pieces as he could by sheer force, tearing wires from controllers and trying to rend the controllers themselves as much as possible.

He punched his TV screen and threw things at it before he eventually seized it with his hands and strove to tear it from the mounting that held it to the wall. He was able to get most of the TV free, but a portion of the back shell remained attached.

Throwing it to the floor, Luke jumped on it several times before he surveyed the carnage, assured none of it would ever again be useable.

A knock sounded on his door.

“Luke Tristan Warm,” Dad said firmly.

Luke picked up the biggest, worst pieces made by his destructive frenzy and placed them on the distorted screen of his TV before picking up the TV and turning toward the door, which was opened by Dad before he could reach it.

Dad’s upset expression snapped into one of shock at the sight of what Luke was bringing toward him.

He managed to return a stern expression to his face by the time Luke reached him.

“You do realise this means you’re never getting a new TV, console, controllers, or games, right?” Dad asked firmly. “If you destroy the ones you have, then you don’t deserve new ones.

“I don’t care,” Luke swore darkly.

He released the TV — which Dad hadn’t taken hold of — causing it to fall to the floor and hit Dad’s toes, making Dad swear again.

Maintaining the stony expression he’d had fixed on Dad the whole time, Luke whipped around and slammed his door before leaning against it so Dad couldn’t come in.

Next Post: 27 February.

Something Changed: Day 14

Word Count: 84,550

Summary of Events:

Luke's parents gave him a waiver form they'd filled out so he could go to the amusement park with the Domino Group, and insisted he should change his plans when he told them he didn't want to go, but wanted to hang out with a friend instead. Luke was upset and hurt by their insistence that he needed to become more extroverted like them, and ready to give in to their demands, but Ella convinced him to sneak away from the group before they could leave for the amusement park and carry on to her house instead. Luke wasn't sure it would work, but surprisingly went unnoticed as he walked through the crowd of waiting kids and on to Ella's house, where he showed Ella his clarinet, which he'd brought along to play for her . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

“Can I hear you play something?” Ella asked.

Luke felt nerves come over him. He’d not actually played his clarinet for anyone other than Finn’s dad since the time he’d gotten the stupid idea to share it with Mom and Dad.

Nonetheless, he had hoped she’d ask, so he opened the case and fitted the pieces together before tuning it with the app on his phone — which Finn’s dad had recommended to him as one of the best and most accurate.

“It does sound cool,” Ella said.

Luke nodded, keeping his mouth on the reed, and started to play one of his most favourite pieces that he’d ever learned on the clarinet. He’d memorised it because he loved it so much.

Even though he had it memorised, however, his nerves at playing for Ella prompted him to stumble a couple of times, but he forged ahead and refused to let himself get flustered.

Once he was done he lowered it from his mouth and looked up at Ella, sure heat was radiating off of his face owing to how hot his cheeks felt.

“That was beautiful,” Ella said. “It has such a cool, kind of creepy sound.”

“It wasn’t as good as it could’ve been,” Luke said. “I was a bit nervous.”

“That’s no big deal,” Ella said. “You didn’t hit any super bad notes, so it still sounded lovely.”

Luke was glad she thought so, because he certainly felt like he should’ve done better.

Springing up from her bed, Ella went over to her desk. Luke set his clarinet aside carefully on the duvet and watched as Ella collected up an artists’ notebook full of heavy paper.

“These are what I’ve been drawing lately,” she said, opening the book.

If Luke was honest, photos didn’t do justice to them, they were even more incredible, detailed, and nuanced than Luke would’ve ever imagined. They looked like they could leap up off the page and be touched.

“These are amazing,” Luke said, turning the page to find rough pencil sketching of a rabbit.

“Thanks,” Ella said, taking the book back and closing it before going over to her closet and drawing out a larger piece of heavy paper. “I’m not done this yet, but because of its size it takes a lot longer.”

Luke’s eyes widened as he looked at the image, which was of a dragon, rather like Smaug as rendered in the Hobbit movies, with a long, serpentine tail, two powerful, somewhat birdlike hind legs, and long, clawed fingers reaching out from the wings, which even had small folds of flesh between them.

The dragon was in a position rather like a bird coming down to land, its hind legs forward, its wings back, its long neck and head drawn up. Only the head, neck, and wings of the dragon were completely coloured, while the rest of the body looked like it had early touches, and the rocky cliffs it was landing on being nothing more than pencilling.

Something Changed: Day 13

Word Count: 78,083

Summary of Events:

Luke learned from Ella that she not only went to the same school as Arsenio and his friends, but had been getting bugged by them lately because of the fact that she was Luke's girlfriend, which upset Luke as he didn't believe Arsenio had any reason to be harassing him in the first place. On Saturday Luke was woken up when his cellphone informed him that he'd received a text from Ella . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

Are you going to the end of school fun day event? she’d asked.

Luke vaguely remembered Vance having talked about it. It was a day that would be spent at the Canada’s Wonderland amusement park that happened to be located in the city on the last Saturday of June. He hadn’t been to an amusement park in years, and there was a good reason for it.

No, he replied. I can get nauseated without an amusement park just fine.

As much as Luke didn’t mind thrills on occasion, getting lurched and launched around at high speeds while eating unhealthy food so as to make himself nauseous was, by no means, his idea of a good time.

Good, Ella replied. I’m not going either.

I really don’t know how people can think those sorts of places to be any fun, Luke said.

I know, Ella said. Would you want to make some alternate plans for that day?

What sort of plans do you have in mind? Luke asked, feeling curious and eager.

We could hang out at my place, Ella replied. If you don’t mind not hanging out with your best friend.

Actually, I think that’d be Finn’s first weekend at work, Luke replied. He’s got a job landscaping, and I think they wanted him to work the weekend to get kind of initiated into the routine and what they do and stuff before he goes to a more 9–5-type schedule, so I wouldn’t be able to hang out with him.

Oh, okay, Ella said.

You’re still good for this afternoon, right? Luke asked.

Yes, Ella replied.

Good, Luke said. I think I shouldn’t have to cancel this weekend.

Are you planning on getting a summer job? Ella asked.

Yeah, Luke replied. I’m going to be prepping my résumé this week and turning it in to a couple music stores. I’d like to get a job at one of them.

Cool, Ella said.

How about you? Luke asked. Do you have any summer work plans?

No, Ella replied. I haven’t really thought about it, actually.

I think you should check out the art stores, Luke said. You know a fair bit about art stuff, after all.

I might, I don’t know, Ella replied. I’ll have to think about it.

Never hurts to start saving money, Luke said. I’m saving up to get myself an electric guitar and a good, compact amp, and once I have that, then everything’s getting put away.

For what? Ella asked.

Going to Europe, Luke replied. Finn and I want to go together.

That sounds cool, Ella said.

You should save up so you can join us, Luke said. You could probably even be our tour guide around Italy and France.

We’ll have to see, Ella said. When are you planning on going?

When we’ve graduated, Luke replied.

Oh, so, like, in a few years, Ella said.

Yeah, Luke said. Not that soon wouldn’t be nice, but we might as well take advantage of the time that we have to make lots of money so that we can afford to go and stay.

Something Changed: Day 12

Word Count: 72,013

Summary of Events:

Luke had planned on meeting Finn and Ella for ice cream — and introducing them to one another — on Saturday, but his parents made him join them on an excursion to the Toronto Islands, to his annoyance. On Sunday Keeley and his friends bugged Luke about having a girlfriend — as they'd seen him solace Ella on Friday — which also annoyed Luke. On Sunday afternoon, however, Luke was able to get over to Finn's house, where he stayed to supper . . . 

Excerpt of the Day:

“What is this?” Luke asked.

“Sausage Stovies,” Finn replied. “It’s a World War Two recipe.”

“Oh,” Luke said.

“It’s really good,” Finn said. “Don’t let its plainness deceive you.”

“If your mom were to ever cook anything bad it’d have to be the end of the world,” Luke said.

Finn — and his dad — laughed.

Finn’s mom came into the room with a clean plate and filled it with a generous portion of the casserole — despite the fact that there wasn’t much left — before placing it in front of Luke, who took up the fork she’d placed by him and stabbed it through some of the potato slices.

“If I would’ve been able to hang out on Saturday I would’ve asked you about your interview,” Luke said. “How did it go?”

“They’re interested in taking me,” Finn replied. “I didn’t get the chance to ask if they might be willing to have you go along.”

“I was checking out music stores this week,” Luke said. “There’s a couple places looking, so I thought I might apply. I mean, working outside would be cool, but being able to see the guitar I want all summer might be a better incentive.”

“Maybe you could even ask them if you could even work toward getting the guitar,” Finn said.

“I haven’t decided which one I want yet,” Luke replied. “Maybe by seeing them every day one would stand out from the rest and I’d be able to decide.”

“I guess that works too,” Finn said.

“And I’ll also hopefully learn a whole bunch about them that’ll help influence my decision too,” Luke added.

“Also good,” Finn said.

“Yes,” his dad agreed. “I’m actually pretty lousy when it comes to knowing good electric guitars.”

“Considering you’re pro-acoustic that’s really no surprise,” Finn said.

“The world has existed longer without the power of electricity having been harnessed by men,” Finn’s dad said. “And it’s going to take a lot of time before the two eras are even equal.”

“I know, I know,” Finn said.

“But electric guitars are a lot of fun,” Luke said. “Not just because of what you can do with the sound, but because of how they look. There’s so many colours and styles, it’s just so cool.”

“I won’t disagree with that,” Finn’s dad said. “But I will say that I’m still kicking myself about that Dalmatian-spotted violin.”

“What?” Luke asked.

“Yes, I was out in Alberta  at a music store and there was a violin that was painted white with black spots over the body and the scroll,” Finn’s dad replied. “I already had a violin, so I didn’t think it would be wise to buy another one, but I wish I would’ve. It would’ve been fun to have. Especially for playing polkas.”

Something Changed: Day 11

Word Count: 66,466

Summary of Events:

The week after their first kiss, Ella gave Luke a note with her phone number and social media names on it; not wanting her to be unnerved when he contacted and followed her, Luke did the same the following week. Because Finn noticed him paying a lot of attention to his cellphone as a result of his texting with Ella regularly, Luke admitted that Ella was now officially his girlfriend. The next week, just before Luke went down to have supper, he saw Ella had posted a drawing on social media that looked an awful lot like him, albeit with a few artistic liberties having been taken. He liked the picture and only looked forward to going to the Domino Group so that he could compliment her on it in person . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

She looked up at him and smiled as he arrived and sat down beside her. Despite the smile, Luke got the sense that something wasn’t quite right. The smile didn’t seem as full or genuine, it seemed almost held back.

“Is something wrong?” Luke asked.

“No,” Ella replied, looking a little surprised, but still like there was, in fact, something wrong.

“I liked that picture you posted today,” Luke said. “It was really good.”

The trouble lurking in the background of her face seemed to creep closer.

“Did you use me as inspiration for it?” Luke asked.

“Yes,” she replied simply, looking almost completely troubled.

“You even had my bracelet in it,” Luke said. “That was what convinced me it was me.”

“Are you offended?” Ella asked.

Her eyes showed fear verging on terror clearly as she looked at him. Luke was confused. What was she worried about?

“No,” he replied, making sure there was a softness to his voice and that it wasn’t flippant. “I’m not offended. I liked it. Like, the artistic liberties you took with my body, I liked them. I don’t know that I’d necessarily make what you imagined on me a reality someday, but making something like that a reality someday is something that I want to do. I wanted to tell you that last week, but then Vance started that dumb game. I’m actually kind of glad that you like — and want — tattoos like I do.”

Ella looked somewhat relieved — but not entirely. “I just couldn’t help it.”

“And I’m okay with that,” Luke said. “Was someone else not or something? I’ve never seen you like this. You look like you’re freaking out.”

“It cost me my first boyfriend,” Ella replied. “He made me delete all the pictures I had of it and burn the original. He’d never given me the impression that he hated tattoos before I drew the picture, but…”

Tears traced trails down her cheeks and Luke immediately put his arm around her and kissed her forehead softly. “I would never do that to you. Never. I promise. I’ve imagined all kinds of stuff with your body in my mind. I don’t want to prevent you from imagining all kinds of stuff with my body in your mind. In fact, considering what you’ve put down on paper, I’d love to know more about what you imagine of me.”

Ella sniffled and Luke wished he had a tissue to offer her, but, unfortunately, he didn’t make a habit of carrying those.

“Do you really mean that promise?” Ella asked.

Luke lifted her head and tilted it to look at him so that he could look her in the eyes.

“Yes,” he replied. “You have every right to destroy me if I break it.”

Ella didn’t necessarily look convinced, but she did looked somewhat settled. Luke hoped that Ella would believe him, and he wished Vance hadn’t interrupted their conversation last week, as he was sure that if he’d been allowed to finish she wouldn’t have had any anxieties whatsoever about what she’d done.

Something Changed: Day 10

Word Count: 60,037

Summary of Events:

For once the Domino Group actually did an event that Luke had done before, and wasn't really chaotic, destructive, or disturbing, as they went and played laser tag. One of the first rounds they did was made boys versus girls, and Luke, to his disappointment, ended up encountering Ella, whom he was very loathe to tag out, seeing how he liked her, although Ella told him that they had to do something just in case their respective teammates found out . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

“Do we just do a quick draw and fire then?” Luke asked.

“We could,” Ella replied. “Or, since the boys are losing, I could give you the kill.”

“But that wouldn’t be fair,” Luke said.

“Oh, it could be,” Ella said.

“What are you talking about?” Luke asked.

“I’d like something in return for giving you the pleasure of killing me,” Ella replied.

“It wouldn’t be a pleasure,” Luke said.

“For your team it would be, I’m sure,” Ella said. “As I’m confident that I’m the one who’s been doing the most killing on my team.”

“Do you do a lot of gaming to practise?” Luke asked.

“Not really,” Ella replied.

“Oh,” Luke said.

“But don’t you want to hear my offer before someone else comes on us and takes one of us out and even tells people we were just standing here chatting instead of fighting?” Ella asked.

“Sure,” Luke replied.

“If you kiss me on the lips,” Ella said. “I’ll let you kill me.”

Luke startled. “Seriously?”

“I’ve been wanting to know what your lips taste like for weeks,” Ella said. “And if I’m going to let myself lose to someone it’d better be for something big.”

Shifting his grip on his gun, Luke wished he had somewhere to holster it so that he could effectively clutch her with both arms, but he did his best and bent down to press his mouth against hers with the passion of exhilaration that her offer had generated within him.

She responded just as energetically as Luke could’ve hoped, and he wished they could’ve kissed for the rest of the night, but all too soon Ella started wiggling against his hold, showing a determination to get free of him.

Reluctantly Luke raised his lips from hers, basking in the lingering sensation of the contact.

“We should get a move on before we’re spotted,” Ella hissed.

“I’m glad I don’t want to be a spy someday,” Luke said. “I’d never be able to kill some girl gone rogue.”

Ella smiled and chuckled. “And at least you’re not literally killing me.”

Luke nodded.

“But you do need to get on with it, if you don’t mind,” Ella said.

With a reluctant sigh, Luke positioned his gun and fired, prompting the lights on Ella’s vest to go out, rendering her ‘dead’ for a minute or two, and netting Luke’s team valuable points that would help them to at least avoid being abjectly humiliated by the girls.

“Now you should get after it,” Ella said. “If you can lead your boys to a win, I might be willing to give you some reward of some sort.”

Luke immediately thought of another kiss and was filled with craving. Ella slipped past him silently and disappeared, leaving Luke to start seeking out girls in an effort to tag them out with his laser gun. If a win for the guys meant Ella would kiss him again — and hopefully a lot less limitedly than she had this time — Luke was resolved to get that win.

Something Changed: Day 9

Word Count: 54,003

Summary of Events:

After having ignored Finn all week in response to his having been annoyed, Luke finally explained to Finn why he'd been upset, Finn had apologised, and Luke accepted the apology. As a result, Luke stayed after his lesson on Monday and once they'd both finished their homework, he recounted to Finn what the previous Friday night's event had been like . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

“Yeah,” Luke replied. “There was eating an onion like an apple versus eating hot peppers seasoned with hot sauce. Our girl got second in that to Ella’s brother Ryan.”

“Ella is this girl you like?” Finn asked.

“Yeah,” Luke replied.

Finn nodded. 

“The next challenge was eating durian fruit or cooked chicken hearts, and Keeley chickened out first,” Luke went on. “Bad thing was that he was on my team.”

Finn swore. “That sucks.”

“The kid who won clearly liked chicken hearts, so for him it wasn’t unpleasant,” Luke added. “He didn’t just eat the heart he was supposed to, but the four hearts that would’ve gone uneaten because they were for the four kids who chose to do the durian fruit.”

“Does that stuff stink as bad as I’ve heard it does?” Finn asked.

“I don’t know,” Luke replied. “Like, something smelled bad, but I expected it to be a more intense, lingering odour, so either they found a way to protect us from the odour, or it isn’t necessarily as intense as I’d expected it to be.”
Finn nodded.

“The next one was drinking raw eggs or drinking one of those old people nutrient drinks,” Luke said. “The girl from our team in that one won too. In fact, I think we actually swept the last four events.”

“Seriously?” Finn asked.

“Yeah,” Luke replied. “The next one was kids had to eat mashed potatoes in an ice cream cone with chocolate sauce on top, or ice cream with ketchup on it and a KFC chicken drumstick without being told the ice cream and potatoes had switched places.”

“That’s not great, but it’s not bad at the same time,” Finn said. “In fact, for the most part these aren’t as bad as I expected, considering some of the stuff that’s happened at the Domino Group in the past based on your reports.”

“Well the next one was horrible, and Ella actually volunteered to go because we’d been alternating guys and girls,” Luke replied. “Either you had to eat brownies and chocolate icing that’d been mixed together and squeezed out of a piping bag onto diapers, or bob for chocolate chunks in a toilet filled with lemonade.”

Finn covered his mouth.

“Ella chose to bob for chocolate and was the only one of the four who did that got all of her chocolate chunks out,” Luke said. “Surprisingly the kids eating the brownies out of the diapers all bowed out by vomiting, which makes me think there was something outside of the brownies and icing in those diapers.”

“But what?” Finn asked.

“I don’t want to know,” Luke replied.

“That is revolting, though,” Finn said.

“I should’ve really stepped up for a challenge sooner — we all volunteered before we knew what the challenges were — but I went for the last one,” Luke said.

“And what was that?” Finn asked.

“Either we had to eat a tarantula like that guy on YouTube we watched, or we had to eat peanut butter out of the armpits of an adult volunteer who’d gone and sweated himself up beforehand,” Luke replied.

Finn put his hand over his mouth again and looked more desperate than before. Luke took his guitar and watched as Finn bolted to the house. It was several minutes before Finn returned looking like he’d lost some colour.

Something Changed: Day 8

Word Count: 48,068

Summary of Events:

Luke and Ella got separated during the first game, but reunited during the devotional time, where Luke was too occupied with Ella to know what was even said. Following the devotional came the main game, where the kids were divided into teams that had to complete disgusting food-related challenges, their only choice being between which of the two things they were given to eat was less disgusting. When Luke's turn came he had the choice to eat a tarantula or lick peanut butter out of the armpit of an adult volunteer who'd deliberately gone and sweated himself up in advance. Luke — and five of the other kids facing the challenge, including one who had an allergy to peanut butter — chose the tarantula. Arsenio and a kid who called himself Brawny chose to eat the peanut butter . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

Vance declared that Seni and Brawny would battle it out for supremacy first, and Luke kept his back to them, too revolted by the idea of eating anything out of anyone’s armpits — sweaty, hairy, or neither — to bring himself to look.

Instead, he looked at the tarantula before him, which he wagered had a diameter of around 15cm and looked as lifelike as ever within its package. He and Finn had watched a YouTube video once of a guy — who dressed in Halloween costumes for the entire month of October — who’d eaten a tarantula while in a nun costume.

The guy wasn’t very athletic — although he was a pretty good comedian — and didn’t strike Luke as being the bravest of men either, but despite his cowardice and the amount of screaming he’d done throughout the video, the YouTuber had, in fact, eaten the tarantula.

If that guy had been able to eat a tarantula, Luke felt that he could too. He certainly felt that he was less cowardly, after all.

He shuddered at the sound of vomiting behind him and saw both Rocky and Boney look a little troubled. Luke chanced a look over his shoulder and saw Seni was the one vomiting, while Brawny wasn’t eating any more either, but was holding a glass of water.

“Alright,” Vance said. “So if anyone can eat their tarantula in less than two minutes, or get closer to eating their tarantula than Seni got to cleaning out his armpit, without vomiting, gagging, or otherwise chickening out, we’ll have a winner!”

Luke looked at the tarantula. He could do this.

“Three! Two! One! Go!” Vance shouted, blasting the air horn.

Immediately Luke tore his package open and broke each of the legs off of the tarantula — which proved to him it was deader than it looked — before shoving the entire body into his mouth.

He made a face, but forced himself to chew and swallow the whole thing before eating each of the eight legs in as rapid of succession as he possibly could. He found the legs somewhat easier to eat than the body, as he could imagine them to be slightly fuzzy French fries owing to their size and crunch.

Once he’d put the last leg into his mouth Luke put both his hands over his mouth and closed his eyes, desperate to suppress the urge to vomit up all he had consumed. Once the desire had been sufficiently squelched, he looked toward Rocky and Boney, and saw they both looked warier than he’d expected, and still weren’t done, while only one of the girls had opened her package so far, and had immediately pounded her fist into the spider’s body to ensure it was dead before she hemmed and hawed over eating it.

Rocky and Boney were both able to eat their spiders in five minutes, but none of the girls did — although two of them did actually nibble a bit off their spiders, the other one never opened the package at all.

“Alright!” Vance shouted. “Our winner is Luke from the Six!”

He grabbed Luke’s wrist and raised his arm in the air while Luke’s teammates cheered. Luke saw a look of admiration on Ella’s face that made him feel like what he’d just done was worth the revulsion and turmoil within his stomach.

Something Changed: Day 7

Word Count: 42,066

Summary of Events:

Luke ended up having his piece of pizza stolen by one of the 'it's friends, whose piece he stole in retaliation before being warned off by a regular, who told him the 'it' — whose real name was Arsenio — was actually a member of a gang, as were most of his friends. Later he ducked out of a game to use the washroom and ended up encountering a young woman he'd been teamed with on the whipped cream night and had thought was cute; he was flattered that she thought him similarly cute, and was grateful to have exchanged names with her. He told Finn about her, and got annoyed when Finn called her his girlfriend — even though he secretly wanted her to become exactly that, and was actually slightly eager for Friday to come. When it did, Luke was quite delighted to find her in the crowd of kids once he'd gotten his pizza . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

“Good to see you again,” she said. “Do you like this stuff much?”

“No,” Luke replied. “Not that it’s the worst either.”
“No, it isn’t,” she agreed. “But it’s certainly not the best.”

“Your mom probably makes that,” Luke said.

“Yes,” she replied.

“My mom, on the other hand, makes the worst pizza,” Luke said.

“Well you don’t look very Italian, I must say,” she said.

“No,” Luke replied. “I don’t really know what kind of heritage I have. I think it’s mostly kind of British, but nobody’s ever told me, nor have I ever asked.”

“My mom’s fully Italian, my dad is three quarters French-Canadian, one quarter Indigenous,” she said.

“Oh,” Luke said. That explained why she didn’t really look Italian.

“Even though she’s not French, Dad says that her sugar pie is adequate,” she added.

“Your mom sounds like the sort who cooks stuff without boxes, cans, and cardboard tubes,” Luke said.

“The first place to look for her is the kitchen,” she replied. “Not your mom?”

“No,” Luke replied. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her make anything from scratch.”
“Not everyone knows how to cook,” she said.

“Her mom does,” Luke said. “I don’t know how she missed the cooking classes, or if she’s just decided it’s easier to buy something in a box and chuck it in the oven than to go through all the work of preparing something different.”

“That’s a possibility,” she agreed.

Luke nodded. He wished Mom would make something different. As much as he liked French fries, chickens strips, fish fillets, and pizza, he had to admit that they could get boring after awhile.

“Do you attend this church?” Ella asked.

“Unfortunately yes,” Luke replied. “I don’t recommend it. It’s like the devo time on steroids with a bunch of endless lighter-waving nonsense songs to make it even longer.”

“Mama wouldn’t let me come,” she replied. “Even if she doesn’t make anyone go to Mass with her every week. We have to go to Mass at Christmas, and I think if any of us were to go to any other church we’d be thrown out of the house.”

“So you probably go to the Catholic school then too,” Luke said.

“I do,” she replied. “I don’t mind it.”

Luke nodded.

“Are you going to get a second piece of pizza?” she asked.

“No,” Luke replied.

“Then maybe let’s consolidate plates,” she said.

Luke gave her his plate, as she didn’t look like she was giving him hers, and a few moments later the young man Luke had seen her with the week before approached.

“You don’t want seconds, do you?” he asked her.

“No,” she replied, handing him the plates.

He departed, discarding the plates he’d been given, and disappearing into the crowd going for seconds.

“That’s my brother,” she said. “Orien.”

“You mean, as in oriental?” Luke asked.

“Yes,” she replied. “He prefers to go by Ryan.”

“Oh,” Luke said, feeling relief he hoped wasn’t showing. She didn’t have a boyfriend; that meant she was just as available as he was. It was even better than he’d guessed it would be.