June Novel Essential Information

Novel Title: Entering In

Time Setting: 2009

Genre: Life

Minimum Word Goal: 120,000

Timespan: May–October

Locations: Paris, Louisville, & Lexington, Kentucky; Prince Rupert & Victoria, British Columbia; Vicksburg, Mississippi; Tallulah, Louisiana; Baltimore, Maryland; Elmont, New York

Main Characters: H. Levi Cavanaugh, Hadia Shannon, Traeton Stasiak

Background Information:

Levi is the only child his parents were able to have, and also the only grandson on his father's side, and as a result of the latter, has lived a life with little obscurity.

His grandfather started a horse racing stable in 1953, as well as a breeding farm in 1958 — when he couldn't bear to sell the horse he'd raced which was then at retirement age — and a riding school in 1966 — when his oldest son wanted to take riding lessons.

The racing stables produces many quality racehorses for his grandfather, or for others via their breeding stables, and some famous equestrian athletes have trained and/or taught at the riding school, which has led to experts estimating the value of the three businesses alone at more than $6 billion.

The three businesses — known collectively as the Spectaculaire Equestrian Corporation (SEC) — are headed up by Levi's grandfather, with Levi's father and two uncles working as presidents over one area each, although the control is still in his grandfather's hands.

Because Levi is the only grandson of his grandfather many are speculating that Levi will either receive the greatest portion of the SEC, or possibly even the whole thing. Regardless, Levi's handsomeness and the fact that he's, at least unofficially, considered Kentucky's most eligible bachelor have made him famous in spite of his association with the prestigious SEC.

Not, though, that Levi lacks talent in and of himself. He's been well known to be an adept horseman, but that's going to be truly put to the test beginning in May.

Levi's father chose to preside over the breeding farm, and allowed Levi to be involved in the operation from a young age. Three years ago, at the age of seventeen, Levi was allowed to pick an entire pairing whose resultant foal's profits would be divided so Levi got half, and his father and grandfather each getting a quarter. Levi picked a mare and stallion who were considered horses with good confirmation and mediocre bloodlines who'd barely had average careers on the track, which has surprised everyone.

The resultant filly, everyone agrees, is beautiful, but considering her bloodlines, no one really thinks she'll do all that well on the track. Levi, on the other hand, is certain that there is something great about this filly, and he can only hope that he's right.

Hadia is the oldest daughter and third child of six living in a generally normal Canadian household. Her father is an RCMP officer, and her mother stays at home, homeschooling all of the children.

She was born in Alberta, but promotions throughout the ranks of the RCMP caused her family to move to BC when she was nine, and they've lived there since then.

In part because her father is an RCMP officer — and because he went on the Musical Ride tour just a couple years before the family moved to BC — Hadia has always had an avid interest in horses, and so has been taking riding lessons since the family moved to BC.

She's not entirely sure what she wants to do with the riding lessons, or if she wants to get into some sort of other horse-related job, but she is certain that her life would be nothing short of pointless if there were no horses in it.

Traeton is the only child his mother had, by his father, and he was born significantly sooner than all of his siblings, having been born when his mother had just graduated from high school. She'd moved to Los Angeles from her native Baker, California in the hopes of going to college, but an encounter with a handsome man on the beach led to his conception and her returning home to her family.

When he was three years old his mother met a trucker from Alabama whose accent won her heart and he took her and Traeton to Alabama to live with him. The trucker and his mother had a daughter together before their relationship fell apart when Traeton was six.

A year or so later, still living in Alabama, his mom fell in love with another man, whom she married, despite the fact that he and Traeton didn't get along.

The man turned out to be a gambler and a drunk, as well as being highly abusive — although he fathered five children with Traeton's mother — and Traeton's life with him was difficult, especially as the disagreements between him and his stepfather grew.

Finally, at the age of fourteen, five years ago, Traeton ran away from home, and since has wandered around the South in a mostly homeless and vagrant way, looking for a place to live, but yet paranoid still that his stepfather will hunt him down and beat him into oblivion for running away, which prevents him from sticking around in any one place for too long.

Pronunciations:

Cavanaugh: kahvahnaw

Traeton: traytin

Stasiak: stahseeack

Spectaculaire: specktackyoul'air

The novel begins June 1.

Trustful: Day 15

Word Total: 90,004

Year to Date: 510,047

Summary of Events:

Rosemarie received one of the dresses Wolfgang had found and sent her own back with the eagle. Wolfgang cut up the dress and sent it back to Rosemarie before packing and helping her get out; Hulda noticed them, however, and managed to destroy the part of the fortress that led to the trigger to open the door down the stairs, but Wolfgang made use of another secret passageway to wake up the ghosts so that they'd distract Hulda, however, one of them ended up wounding him . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"A low groan brought her attention back to Herr Edler, whose eyes opened and appeared to be shining  a bright white. Rosemarie shrieked in fright and turned to flee, but the eagle's squawk stopped her.

She looked into the eagle's eyes. His stare was intense, but nothing short of relieving and reassuring. She suddenly felt that she ought to get out one of the oils and apply it to Herr Edler's wounds.

Although her hands still trembled, Rosemarie did as she felt she ought. Herr Edler's body relaxed; his eyes, wide open, glowed a white-blue, almost the colour of moonlight, Rosemarie felt, for a time before the light faded and his eyes returned to their natural blue colour.

After a few moments his chest seemingly convulsed back into action and he blinked before trying to sit up and look at her.

"Josef," Rosemarie whispered, relief flowing through her.

The eagle took off and Rosemarie pulled Herr Edler to his feet. He looked shaky, but normal.

"Are you alright?" Rosemarie asked.

"All things considered," Herr Edler replied.

"I've got the serving platters, come," Rosemarie said.

She took up the platters in one hand and grabbed his hand with the other. He staggered after her initially, but seemed to regain strength as he went with her.

Rosemarie led him up the stairs, but then stopped. "Now where do we go?"

"It's a gamble," Herr Edler replied. "But I feel there might be another trigger for the door."

Rosemarie nodded while Herr Edler took a platter from her hand and led her out along the causeway to the north, across from the crumbled ruins where her bedroom — among other things — had been.

Seeing a large window and an opulent bed now made visible by the rubble, Rosemarie stopped.

"What?" Herr Edler asked.

"That's the room," Rosemarie said.

"I know," Herr Edler replied. "That's where I found the dresses, come on, the ghosts look to be losing, we can't waste any time."

Rosemarie hurried after Herr Edler, slowing when he slowed and walked more at a normal stride. She heard a grinding of stone before the door opened.

"What made you think there would be another trigger?" Rosemarie asked.

"I don't know," Herr Edler replied. "I just hoped that there was another one. Not that it's to worry about now, come on."

He led her into the corridor, down the stairs to the landing that went to the exit door. Setting his serving platter down, he sat on it.

"We're going to slide down the stairs on serving platters?" Rosemarie asked in disbelief.

"Yes," Herr Edler replied. "The children at court did it all the time. Carpet makes it quieter, but it makes a trip down the stairs much faster regardless."

He carefully slid his platter forward until it tipped down the stairs and rattled off.

Nervously, Rosemarie set her platter down, sat the same way as Herr Edler had, and followed his lead."

Next post will be on May 31.

Trustful: Day 14

Word Count: 84,017

Summary of Events:

Wolfgang tried to think of anywhere he'd been where there was a long stretch of wall that could be hiding a secret door, and then realised that Rosemarie's tower fit the clue he'd been given by the Elven-Lord. Rosemarie and Wolfgang had a long conversation that was somewhat an argument as Rosemarie was frustrated that Wolfgang wouldn't just cut up either her cloak or her blanket to finish off the ladder. Wolfgang decided to examine the stone that opened the secret door to the stairs, and by doing so ended up being spied by Hulda, who pursued him; he got into Rosemarie's room and, while hiding behind the door, discovered several bricks were loose, so he went to see what was on the other side of them . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"Sliding out from behind the wooden object, Wolfgang couldn't believe his eyes. He was, indeed, standing in the very same room Rosemarie had described. He had to be.

There was a long wall to his left which appeared — and only appeared, Wolfgang was sure — to have no doors, and an equally long wall to his right which had a truly immense window in it, right at the head of the bed, which was comfortably dressed.

Beside him — having just been pushed out of the way by him to get into the room — was a wardrobe, above him were horribly cobwebbed rafters, and ahead of him was an incredibly grand fireplace, although the hearth was cold from long going unused.

Quickly Wolfgang turned to the wardrobe and opened it.

He almost wanted to shout for joy and relief. Fabric! He'd found fabric! There were three dresses in the closet fit for the cutting and using in the ladder.

Wolfgang pulled them out of the closet and nearly embraced them with elation. He drew out his dagger, but then paused and looked at them.

These dresses were not made out of plain, undyed linen, but were made out of coloured cotton, and in the closet he also spied a leather corset of the type that peasant women wore on the outsides of their dresses — that way they could make their dresses the size to accommodate them with child, but yet have them appear normally sized when they weren't carrying a child.

So the which room had the Elven-Lord been referring to? Because, with these dresses, Wolfgang could cut up Rosemarie's dress and give her these cleaner, nicer, more comfortable — he was sure, as he'd only touched linen and found it to be quite itchy — dresses to wear, which would make her not look quite so out of place.

Unless the Elven-Lord's riddling rhyme had been referring to both rooms. He could see that, being as both rooms fit the description.

Taking up the corset, Wolfgang felt it. It was tough, hard to manipulate, and rough to the touch. Hulda had oil they could use to soften it up again, they'd just have to do it as they went.

Wolfgang then shifted his jaw. Hulda was still waiting for him somewhere, he was sure. How was he supposed to get out of here with the dresses to get them to Rosemarie, much less get the two of them out of the fortress in all due haste? After all, it would probably be best for them to get out of the fortress as quickly as they could.

But, then again, it might be an idea to wait one more night and then make their escape in the morning; that way Hulda would, hopefully, give up on waiting for him to move, or whatever she was doing, and have let her guard back down a bit so they could make their escape."

Trustful: Day 13

Word Count: 78,003

Summary of Events:

Rosemarie was getting rather bored and frustrated with the fact that Herr Edler wasn't finding any fabric, and even feeling somewhat hopeless that he ever would. Wolfgang was searching for fabric when he came on another secret portal and ended up having to fight some ghosts on his own. Rosemarie was trying to sleep just so that she didn't have to sit around being bored when Hulda came over and started asking her if there was someone else in the fortress, forcing Rosemarie to lie, along with pretending that she was starving . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"Rosemarie felt her body suddenly lifting, but she forced herself not to move, although she felt ill at the fact that she seemed to be moving through the air.

She thought she felt stone move around her in a cold, but smooth sort of way, unlike she'd ever felt stone move around her before.

The floating then ended in softness. Rosemarie laid still and waited. She heard nothing around her, so she opened her eyes and looked around. She was in a room she'd never seen before.

There was a window lighting the room, but other than that she could see no way in or out. She furrowed her brow. She was laying on an immensely comfortable bed, and there was a wardrobe on the one side wall, and small side tables flanking the bed, but other than that there was nothing.

Hearing a sound, Rosemarie quickly closed her eyes. She then heard footsteps on the floor and felt the touch of Hulda's weathered, calloused hands.

Her mouth was opened and a rather flavourful liquid was administered. Rosemarie fluttered her eyelashes, but kept her eyes closed. She swallowed and took more of the liquid, which actually tasted quite good.

After awhile she opened her eyes to see Hulda looking down on her with a rather tense expression.

"You don't seem that feeble of countenance," Hulda said.

"I feel feeble," Rosemarie whispered.

"Surely I've not left you in wont of food for that long," Hulda said.

Rosemarie took another spoonful of the delicious liquid and closed her eyes as she savoured the flavour. She wasn't sure what made it so delicious, but she'd never had it before, and she was sorely disappointed that she hadn't.

Opening her eyes, Rosemarie looked down her body and saw the largest spider she'd ever seen standing on her bust.

Instantly Rosemarie shot up, screaming. The spider landed on the bedclothes and scurried away.

Rosemarie stood beside the bed clutching at her chest and staring wide-eyed at the bed into which the spider had disappeared.

"You also seem to suddenly possess a vitality you didn't before," Hulda said.

"Your medicines are always rather powerful and effective, are they not?" Rosemarie asked. "Have I ever lingered in illness when you've medicated me?"

"I don't know that it's been that quickly, usually," Hulda said.

"Your skill has increased then," Rosemarie said.

Hulda looked at her, seeming rather sceptical.

"Know that you will receive nothing further until you tell me who is the person in this fortress," Hulda said. "You know who it is, and I will have the truth from you."

"I know no one," Rosemarie replied.

Hulda gathered her lips and set her jaw, but said nothing.

Suddenly there was a flash and Rosemarie found herself back inside the tower, much like she'd been flashed into the dining room when Hulda had insisted that she sweep the floor when she'd only just done so."

Trustful: Day 12

Word Count: 72,004

Summary of Events:

When tossing down her braid so Hulda could tie her breakfast to it, Rosemarie accidentally hit Hulda on the head, causing Hulda to refuse her food. Wolfgang was still searching for fabric to no avail when he had to hide from Hulda; he decided to follow her and found a second secret doorway that led to a room where he found another dress, on a corpse, whose ghost nearly attacked him, but the eagle successfully battled and defeated. Rosemarie and Wolfgang tested the ladder's length again and determined that they needed at least one more dress' worth of fabric for it to be safe to use. Wolfgang, guided by a note from the Elven-Lord, found Hulda's account of the demise of the woman whose corpse he'd found . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"After many practises on mine rats to be certain that the extraction would, indeed, be successful, I undertook in finality to secure for mine self the first transferral of the soul of one living being unto the being of another.

It was, therefore, that I took from her body her youthful and vital soul, and sought for it to make entrance unto mine self, that I might have such life as to afford transferring mine soul into her youthful body.

I was not, in all graveness, able to extract mine own soul from mine self, and thus it was that the beautiful young Woman, in all her fair beauty passed, and I am now a woman bearing two souls, which I am wont to hope shall give me a greater and increased life so as to determine for mine self a way in which I shall be able to transfer mine own soul into the body of another, that I might possess the ability to be the Undying Woman.

For such a time as this, I proceed my experimentations upon the rats, and wait for mine self to come upon another opportunity to find for mine self a Woman of youth and beauty so as to transfer mine own soul into her body, and thereby mine self become the Undying Woman.

Closing the book, Wolfgang felt sick. That young woman had been one of his subjects — or, more likely, that of his father, grandfather, or great grandfather; or possibly even from further back generations.

If Hulda had truly managed to do the transfer of souls like she said, then the soul of the woman she'd killed was within her, and it could indeed be possible that she was even older than most Elves ever got as a result.

A sudden thought of extreme sickness and revulsion filled Wolfgang. He flipped open the book to reread the last couple of paragraphs, but found that the text had reverted to its horribly illegible state.

Hulda had written, however, that she wanted to become an Undying Woman by transferring her soul into another young woman — either that, or transferring the young woman's soul into herself — and she had Rosemarie as her captive.

Not to mention, Hulda was nothing short of determined to keep Rosemarie captive, as evidenced by the fact that Rosemarie was shut away in a tower.

All of this led to some pretty solidly conclusive proof that Hulda wanted to transfer her soul into Rosemarie's body, or vice-versa, so that Hulda would be able to use Rosemarie's young body to continue living until she needed a new body and so on for goodness knows how long.

In fact, Hulda might well be trying to live forever and never die, and Rosemarie was slated to be her next victim in that effort."

Trustful: Day 11

Word Count: 66,005

Summary of Events:

Rosemarie had run out of fabric from the first dresses, but shortly received some more fabric from Wolfgang, who'd found her other dresses. Wolfgang cut up the dresses, but found that he wasn't able to get as much fabric from them as he'd expected. Rosemarie and Wolfgang tested the ladder's length once they ran out of fabric and found it was too high for Rosemarie to be safe jumping off of. Wolfgang was down at the subterranean lake looking for supplies when Hulda appeared, but he managed to find a crevice to hide in. Rosemarie was trying to come up with a list of the herbs and products thereof that would be useful in their trip, but couldn't decide how to go about doing it.

Excerpt of the Day:

"Startling violently, Wolfgang looked around. He'd heard something, but he hadn't the faintest idea what it was or why it'd woken him.

He jumped again at what sounded like a great cracking. He was shaking too much in and of himself to ascertain if the mountain was collapsing, and the darkness of the night around him didn't help him to see if anything around him was shaking.

The cracking continued, not to mention there was a great roaring almost like a horrible tempest wind was blowing, the sort that would knock down almost an entire forest.

Getting to his feet, Wolfgang went over to the window. There wasn't hardly a breeze in the air. For all the cacophony, Wolfgang was rather unsettled that the forest was as still as it was.

He looked around for the eagle, but saw no sign. Leaning out the window, Wolfgang looked around again.

"Where are you?" Wolfgang called, as loud as he dared.

The eagle appeared on the windowsill.

"What is going on?" Wolfgang asked. "What is all that noise?"

Turning, the eagle took off. Wolfgang watched as the eagle soared away, a sliver of moonlight reflecting off of its feathers, showing an elegant sort of a silhouette which wasn't entirely a silhouette either.

Once the eagle disappeared from sight, Wolfgang moved away from the window and tried to calm himself. There had to be some sort of a rational reason for what all that noise was.

The cracking still sounded, but it seemed to have died down somewhat, or was being drowned out by the roaring. He couldn't imagine what the roaring was.

Pacing about the room, Wolfgang finally decided to leave and see if he couldn't sight the river himself and find out if it wasn't the source of the noise, or if there was some sort of a warmth-induced avalanche somewhere nearby.

As he strode outside, Wolfgang suddenly felt an ill, horrified feeling. Where were his horses? If it was an avalanche, were they safe? If the noise was causing them to panic, they weren't getting hurt, were they?

Wolfgang hurried from room to room, trying to find some view of the river, or his horses, or snow sliding down the mountainside and leaving a bare, treeless slope in its wake.

Finding nothing and coming on a dead end, Wolfgang headed back hurriedly to see if he could get around the other side of the fortress.

A squawk startled him and he turned to see the eagle holding a writhing fish in its talons.

"The ice has let?" Wolfgang asked.

The eagle nodded.

"All we need is the fabric and then we can get out of here," Wolfgang said, a surge of elation rushing through him.

But as quickly as the elation had come, it faded. He still hadn't found any fabric, and he had no idea where to look."

Trustful: Day 10

Word Count: 60,017

Summary of Events:

Rosemarie got up and was visited by Hulda, who magically lengthened her hair so that she could haul up her food; she was also visited by the eagle who brought a message from Wolfgang she replied to. Wolfgang packed up his camp, moved his horses to a different location, and then swam across the subterranean lake before making his way up the stairs to the courtyard. Rosemarie was elated by Wolfgang's appearance and they discussed plans, including Wolfgang's suggestion that she build a fabric ladder. Wolfgang found Rosemarie's room and cut up the dresses in there to begin the ladder before going the next day back down the stairwell to find the room with Rosemarie's dresses in it . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

"He'd found a flint and steel in Rosemarie's room — as well as a candle, eventually — so he was going to light the candle once he was inside the stairwell. Then he could start looking for the room.

Her note was securely in his dagger's sheath so that he could check inside each room to determine which one was the room that her dresses were being stored in based on the description.

As he approached the door he walked carefully, watching for something to happen that would cause the hidden door to open for him and show him where the stairway was.

It took a long time before he heard a stone scraping, then there was a bit of a sound almost like a rock being pried loose. Wolfgang then saw a jagged line of darkness appearing as the door swung inward.

He moved forward quickly and struck the flint and steel over the candle until finally a flame took hold. Then he started off, carefully shielding the candle against any wind that might extinguish it.

The door started grinding closed as he made his way down the stairs and closed with a rather solid and, admittedly, chilling thud.

After a few moments, however, Wolfgang's eyes were adjusted to the dark and he arrived at the landing that led to the door out, but he continued past that because he knew where it went.

Walking down the stairs, he felt a trepidation that seemed greater than the trepidation he'd had coming up in the pitch darkness before; which seemed odd, after all, he had a light this time around, one would've thought that he would be a little bit more comfortable this way than he'd been before.

Not, though, that he was going to get particular about it at all, he was going to keep going to the first landing, which he could already see, and check to see if the room ahead of him was the one with Rosemarie's dresses in it.

Going down the stairs was far easier than going up, although Wolfgang dreaded the fact that he was going to have to come back up the stairs later yet. His legs felt sore doing movement in general, to do walking up stairs — which had caused them to hurt in the first place — would probably end up making them hurt worse than they even had yesterday.

At the first landing, Wolfgang opened the door and found that the room was filled with dust, as well as all kinds of broken debris that looked quite eerie under the thick coating of dust.

Wolfgang drew out the note carefully and looked at it. She said that the room had a dresser, in which the dresses were stored. There was obviously no dresser in this room. Once he found a room with a dresser inside of it he could probably worry about checking the note again."