Temp. Haitus

I didn't anticipate this but, life's gotten in the way. So sadly, AP is going on haitus. New webisodes return March 20th, 2008!

Webisode 2: The McCrery Key, Part 2

He looked fierce – but gentle, too. Willa clutched Grammy’s weathered hand. It couldn’t be. It just couldn’t. No way. Not possible. The knight was a myth. And if he wasn’t….if he wasn’t, then Willa had just, she’d just…oh boy.

Grammy dislodged herself from Willa, moving closer to the supposed knight.

He tilted his head. Blonde hair fell over his pale blue eyes, brushing his chin. Willa blushed. Knight or not, he was hot. Self-consciously, she zipped her jacket, trying to hide the Mickey Mouse t-shirt she’d worn to Maddy’s. It made her boobs look big – but it just didn’t seem worth it now. She’d rather have small breasts then be caught wearing Mickey and Minnie in front of this guy. She was also suddenly very much aware of how ratty her light-brown hair was, how small her nose was, how her arms and legs were too skinny.

“We need…” Grammy began, licking her lips. She clasped her hands, rubbing her thumbs together. “To tell you something.”

“What?” He shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans.

“The key, Sir Knight, is missing.” Grammy said. The jowls around her mouth jiggled. Grammy smoothed her long gray hair back. Willa could see she was doing her best to stay composed.

A moment of horrible, terrible silence followed. The kind of silence Willa supposed could swallow someone, make them want to grab the nearest thing pointy enough and stab themselves in the chest with it.

Then he laughed.

He actually laughed.

“This is joke, right?” He asked, grinning.

“It’s not a joke.” Willa said, when it became clear Grammy was too upset to speak.

“How could you lose it?” He demanded, stomping closer.

Willa put herself between him and Grammy. “Back off.”

He grabbed her jacket, throwing her against the wall. Willa screeched, kicking out. He wasn’t prepared – didn’t expect her to know how to fight. Willa silently thanked Grammy for all those martial arts lessons. She rolled out of the way, grasping at the floor lamp. He lunged at her; she smashed the lamp against the side of his head.

Wiping blood from his temple, he snarled, “Where is it? Do you have any idea what could happen if it’s not found! YOU WERE TOLD, WERE YOU NOT? YOU WERE TOLD WHAT COULD HAPPEN! HOW COULD YOU LET IT OUT OF YOUR SIGHT FOR EVEN A SECOND?”

“It was stolen.” Grammy whispered.

Willa had never seen her like this – broken, small. She looked old. Grammy had never seemed old before. She was, of course, very old. Ancient even. But, she’d never seemed it.

“By who?” The knight asked.

“Ma –"

“BY NO ONE.” Willa yelled, over Grammy.

She hated Maddy for teasing her, she hated Maddy for being a bitch and a lousy friend. But she wouldn’t sick this jerk on her. No way. Getting Maddy arrested was one thing – okay so, a terrible thing – but still, sicking this guy on her, it just seemed lots worse.

The knight looked between them. Slowly, he stood. Willa’s hand tightened on the lamp. “I’ll hit you again.” She warned.

“Go ahead. Kill me, in fact.” He whispered, brushing his sleeve across his sliced lip. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to – I lost my temper and when you…fought back, I wasn’t prepared, instinct just kicked in.”

Like she believed that for a second.

“Willa.” Grammy said. “We need to get the key back. If she has it, we must –"

The knight interrupted, “If you know who has it, we need to get it back.”

“No one has it.” Willa said.

“Willy.” Grammy knew now – Willa could tell by her tone, by the use of the nickname. Grammy knew. “What did you do?” Yep, she definitely knew.

“I…” Why was her mouth so dry? Willa licked her lips, staring at the lamp. Her fingers flexed, sweaty. “I…” Just say it! She yelled at herself. Get it over with. “I threw it in the ocean.” She didn’t look at either of them, didn’t want to see the disappointment, the anger….

“You’ve doomed us all.” He whispered.

“Have not!” Willa retorted. Except she probably had.

“We can get it back.” Grammy insisted. “We can find it.”

“I’m going to have to.” The knight said. “Before someone else finds it.” He stood up and walked to the door, limping.

“I’ll come, too.” Willa said.

“I don’t need your help.” He spat.

“I didn’t offer it. I’m not giving you a choice – you can’t decide what I do. I’ll just stalk you if I have to.”

“Just stay out of it!”

“NO!” She wasn’t going to be responsible for the end of the world. That just couldn’t – how could he expect her to sit back and wait after what she’d done?

“It is best.” Said a regal voice.

Everyone turned to the kitchen door.

Another man stood there, with round spectacles on a pointy nose and dark blue eyes. “Were you going to leave without me, Brian?”

The knight – apparently Brian – snarled and left the house. Willa could hear his boots on the stone steps off the porch. Quickly, she nodded at Grammy and followed after him.

“I told you to go away.”

“And I told you I refuse.”

Author's Note: Frequently Asked Questions

Post Last Updated: Janurary 27th, 2008

I'm going to be continually updating this post with answers to everyone's questions.

Who designed this site? I did, using a starter template from blogger. It's not great, but I did it myself, so I'm proud. :)

How often do you update the novel? Every thursday.

Can I sign up for e-mail alerts? Not yet, but I plan to make these avaliable soon.

Why do you have navigation links at the top and bottom of your page? Practicality. Image maps, especially those made with CSS, can be difficult - IE, sometimes they malfunction or stop working, or in some browsers they don't work. Therefore, it's standard, at least when I learned to design websites in school, to include a back-up set of links at the bottom of the page. That way, if the above image-map link navigation doesn't work, there's always an alternative.

Author's Note: Complete Webisode List

For those of you who'd like a table of contents, I'm going to be listing each webisode (from newest to oldest), in this post.

Post Last Updated: Janurary 26th, 2008
Webisode Count: 1

Webisode 2: The McCrery Key, Part 2
Webisode 1: The McCrery Key, Part 1

Webisode 1: The McCrery Key, Part 1

The key. Everything revolved around the key. Stupid piece of metal. Willa McCrery stared at the shimmering silver scrap in her palm. It looked like a coin. The front had a tree imprinted on it; the back the McCrery family crest. According to Grammy's old tales, the crest was proof. The McCrery's were meant to guard the key.

Children’s stories. She’d believed them as a toddler, but it was time to grow up. She could hear her friends laughing behind her, mimicking her grandmother’s husky voice, her serious tone, telling the stories Grammy told. Her best friend Maddy wheezed, “The keys form a sword - one day, a knight will unite them all. Until then, we must guard this key. It is our destiny to do so!” She rose her hands up as Grammy always did, to emphasize the importance of her words. Everyone laughed.

“Stop it.” Willa snapped, crushing the coin in her first. She could feel the metal dig into her palm.

“We’re just having fun.” Maddy said, wrapping her arm around Willa’s shoulders. She smiled, prying open Willa’s fingers, to reveal the coin. “Lay off. It’s crazy and you know it. She’s wacked. I’m surprised they haven’t carted her off somewhere.”

Willa threw off Maddy’s arm. She picked up the beer bottle by her friend’s hip. “Drinking make’s you a bitch.” Throwing the bottle in a trash bin, she stalked out of Maddy’s house, making sure to slam the door real good.

The lights in Maddy’s parents’ bedroom turned on. Willa grinned. Seconds later, she heard yelling. A couple of other kids stormed out of the house. Willa watched them race down the street. Served the ingrates right. She hoped Mrs. Walters had gotten a good look at everyone’s faces.

Wind tugged at the trees as Willa walked. She pulled her coat tighter. It was late. Her grandmother would know something was wrong when she showed up – she was supposed to be sleeping over Maddy’s.

As she passed the cliffs, Willa stopped. Black water bashed against the rocks, sending foam into the air. The stars glittered overhead, just like the coin. When she was mad, or happy, the coin glowed like that. Willa opened her palm. It was doing it again. Glowing.

“It’s all lies.” Willa snapped. “I don’t know what you are. But you’re not special, and you’re ruining my life.”

Great. Willa thought. And now I’m talking to a coin. Perfect way to end the night.

Scowling, she pulled her arm back. “I’M SICK OF THIS!” She opened her hand. The coin flew out. Willa watched it arc, sailing over the cliff’s edge. Soon it was gone, into the sea.

“I’m free.” She whispered to the wind.

She’d tell Grammy she lost it. Or that Maddy stole it. Yeah, she’d tell her that – get Maddy in more trouble. Grinning, Willa pictured the headlines: “FIFTEEN YEAR OLD GETS DRUNK, STEALS PRICELESS FAMILY HEIRLOOM FROM BEST FRIEND.”

When she got home, her grandmother was in her study, smoking a cigar. She didn’t have any lights on. Instead, she’d brought in at least a hundred candles and lit them all.

“That’s got to be a fire hazard.” Willa said, leaning against the doorframe.

“Willy.” Grammy squinted, putting on her monocle. “What’re you doing here, darling?”

“The party got crazy. So I decided not to spend the night.” Willa said, going to sit on the study’s couch. “Booze. I didn’t have any.” That at least, was true. Probably the only honest thing she’d tell her grandmother.

“Good you came home, then.” Grammy put down the monocle. She gave the cigar one more puff, before putting it out. She didn’t like to smoke when Willa was around. “I ruined my lungs already,” She’d say, “But yours’ve still got a chance at a happy, healthy life. Like to keep it that way.”

Grammy leaned back in her cushy chair. “Something else happen?” There was a light in her eyes that Willa didn’t recognize. “Because I’ve got news.”

“No. Nothing happened.” Willa lied. She could tell her grandmother wanted to talk, and she wished she could wait until morning, but she needed to get this over with, “Well, no. Something did happen. I think Maddy may have…stolen the key. I had it when I went over, but I don’t have it now. She’s always teasing me about it. She was really hammered.”

Grammy paled. She pressed her hand to her heart, and immediately lit another cigar. “Special circumstances.” She said to Willa, pulling open a window. Cold sea-air blew in. “This is just awful. We have to go over there and get it back. Now.”

Willa opened her mouth, but didn’t say anything. It would probably be better to confront Maddy drunk, rather than sober, anyway. She’d say something stupid and convince Grammy of her guilt. Willa stood, brushing flower petals off her rump. Her grandmother liked to press flowers, the petals and leaves she didn’t deem worthy enough to save she’d just throw everywhere. Willa had gotten used to it.

In the hallway, Grammy turned to the kitchen, and then looked at the door. “We should tell him. It’s the best thing, being honest.”

“Tell who?” Willa asked, pulling at her split ends. She needed a trip to a salon, bad.

“The knight.”

Willa rolled her eyes. “I’m sure by the time he comes, we’ll have found it.” Yeah right, like he’d ever show up, her grandmother really was – “Who’s that?”

The kitchen door had opened. There was a guy standing across from them.

“That’s my news, dear.” Grammy grabbed Willa’s shoulders, squeezing them. “He’s here. The knight has come.”

Willa’s eyes widened. Huh. So, either Grammy had reached a whole new level of nuts and invited a random teenager into the house, or Willa had just made the biggest mistake of her life.