In which Bethany calls her mother from the boot of Blake’s car.
My plan had been to stay calm while on the phone with her, so I could properly explain what was going on and hopefully avoid a lecture. Instead my voice cracked as soon as I went to speak, making my words come out as a childish, panicky mess. “Mum I’m scared,” I cried, feeling myself teeter on the edge of hiccup-sobs.
Her tone changed from professional to concerned. “Beth, honey, it’ll be alright. I’m sorry we kept the truth from you, but you need to come home so we can keep you safe.”
“I want to, but I can’t!”
“Then--”
“I got kidnapped!” The sobs took over again.
“How? You should still be protected for another…” I could almost picture her checking her watch, “Seven and a bit hours. It shouldn’t be possible.”
“He threatened to kill my friend if I didn’t go with. I had to…”
I heard her sigh. “Now do you see why we warned you about friends? Other people are a weakness.”
“And outside of family the only person I can rely on is myself,” I finished for her. “I know, I messed up. But it’s too late now and I’m not going to let her die for me!” I sniffed back some tears.
Mum didn’t reply.
“Mum, help! I don’t know what to do…”
She sucked in a breath. “You need to get out of there. Nothing is more important than your life, you understand? You’re the one who decided having a friend was worth the risk, whether you knew the consequences or not.”
I let out a sob.
“I know you think I’m being cruel,” she continued, “but your life is my number one priority right now. So please honey, get out of there!”
“No.”
“Stop being stubborn, Beth. Are you willing to die for this girl?”
“Yes.” It surprised me how sure of that I was, even though I’d told Blake previously I’d do anything to survive. It annoyed me that he was right - there were some lines that just weren’t worth crossing. “I’d die for you too,” I added. “I’m not living at the cost of someone I care about.”
Mum went quiet again, probably mouthing a plea to the gods to make me more obedient. It had been her favourite prayer when I was growing up.
“Do you at least know who’s doing this?” she finally asked.
“It’s this guy with Sovereign. But he’s not really with Sovereign, they're forcing him to work for them and I thought he was nice but he did it anyway and--” I took a breath, trying to stop my lip from quivering. “He helped me, Mum, so I thought I could trust him. He’s the one who saved me from the Order, and he helped me find the prophecy and the curse book, and--” we hit a bump and I let out a yelp from the shock of it.
“Oh Beth,” Mum said with a sigh. “This is a mess, isn’t it. Alright, stay where you are for now, and pretend everything is going as he has planned. Joshua is in Melbourne, so I’ll call him and ask him to find your friend and then you. And Beth - don’t lecture me on how you didn’t want any of us there waiting for you, please. He insisted on going and right now I am quite glad he did.”
A wave of relief washed over me. Joshua was good at this sort of thing and knew the right type of people. He would be able to find Faith in no time.
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I cracked 20k words yesterday, which is 7k over where I thought I would be. My adjusted target of 30k is looking more than achievable, and I may actually change it back to 50k. It’s still all editing, which I’m finding a lot easier, but given I have barely any free time at the moment (full time work + baby makes things difficult, even with my husband only working part time), choosing to edit over doing something new was the right choice.
Context for the following: It’s Bethany’s birthday. Blake was magically compelled to kidnap Bethany, and in order to do so he had Faith threatened, promising that if Bethany came with him willingly Faith wouldn’t be harmed. But he doesn’t want his boss to know, as it’ll land them both in hot water if his boss finds out.
Blake slipped his phone under my hair, pressing it against my ear.
“H...hello?” Faith’s voice came down the line.
“Faith! Are you ok? Did he hurt you?” I kept my voice low, not wanting anyone to hear.
“Bee is that you? Oh my god I was so scared! He broke in and Kat tried to fight him and I thought she was going to win for a minute and… oh you should have seen her, she’s so badass, I think I’m in love… but he overpowered her and… and… and I ended up in some warehouse in Cowes of all places and I thought I was gonna die and--”
Hearing her voice settled some of my panic. “Are you ok though?” I asked, cutting her off. “Did he let you go?”
“He did. And I want to go to the cops but Kat is still panicking about that like way worse than you both were on Saturday, even though I’m sure these were different people and-- how did you know he let me go? Are you in trouble? Ohmagod… did they grab me to get to you? Is that fuckface behind this? I bet he is. Do you need hel--”
Blake ended the call mid sentence.
“Get off me,” he said loudly, pushing me away just as his boss yelled out for him. “It’s time to go.”
So this was really happening. I tried to hold onto whatever hope I could find that maybe, just maybe, this wasn’t going to be the end.
“Wait!” I yelled, as he pulled me off the couch by my upper arm. “Boris!” I strained against Blake, trying to reach where Boris had fallen. I couldn’t leave him behind, he was the one bit of comfort I had left.
To my relief Blake grabbed him, pressing him into my hands.
“You don’t have to do this,” I cried, hugging Boris tight. “You know about the magic now, you can fight it, please try, please…”
“Stop!” The pain was evident in his voice. “I can’t save you, right? So just… stop.”
With that, he led me to the plane waiting outside.
Completely unedited, but hopefully this stops people yelling at me about where he’s gotten to, seeing as the last time he was seen he was about to get shot in the head.
A noise from the front door caught my attention, sounding exactly like someone putting a key in a lock. Imogen unholstered her gun, aiming it at the door, and Marcus stood up, pulling out a gun from under his jacket.
Blake staggered through the door, covered in blood and barely able to stand, leaning against the wall for support. At the sight of the two guns pointed at him he somehow seemed to find some energy, straightening up and pulling out a gun of his own.
I scrambled to my feet. “Put them away, fuck!” My unit may have been a shithole, but I didn’t want it shot up. That the three of them could get hurt seemed less concerning, because they were the fuckers with the guns.
All three hesitated until I put myself between them. Finally they all slowly lowered their weapons and put them away.
Blake took a step forward and nearly fell, grabbing hold of the bathroom door frame to keep himself on his feet. I ran the few steps it took to get to him, putting my hands on the sides of his shoulders to help him balance.
“You’re ok?” he asked, his bloodied hands finding my face before settling gently on my jawline and neck. Something smelled burnt and to my horror I realised it was from a large burn on his inner forearm, right near the crook of his elbow.
In light of my little cut compared to his obvious injuries I laughed at the sheer ridiculousness of his question. “Yes. God, yes. What the hell happened to you?”
“I was…” he licked his lips, eyes glazing over for a second. “You were there and then the van pulled up...and then it was like I didn’t know where you were, even though I could see you right there. And then you were properly gone and…”
Were his eyes watering up?
“...and I thought the worst.” He pressed his forehead against mine, staring down at me with relief. For a second I thought he was going to kiss me, my lips parting in anticipation. “But you’re ok. You’re ok.”
He collapsed at my feet.
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I’ve only got 3200 words to go to win NaNo, and I’m doing my best to get there. Today was a good day, managing 2200 words after work. We’re into the meaty
And now the part we’ve all been waiting for/dreading/expecting.
YOU KNOW WHERE THIS IS GOING. Consider yourselves warned.
“Bethany!”
I looked around as I ran, trying to find the source of my name. Blake was nearby, half hidden in the entrance to a mall. I headed in his direction.
The tension he’d been holding in his stance faded momentarily. “Thank god you got away.”
He’d cleaned the blood off his face but there were still specks of it here and there, the wound itself already red and swollen. I went to touch it but he pulled away.
“We need to get you out of here,” he told me as we headed further into the mall. His head darted left and right, and his movements were frantic. I’d seen him be tough, in control and awkward, but nothing had prepared me for seeing him scared.
“What’s going on?” I asked. “What the hell happened?”
He glanced around and shoved a fire escape open. I followed him through.
“I believe you, right. On everything.” His hands covered his face for a moment and he groaned, coming to a halt in the car park outside. “Magic is fucking real. I saw it...I saw it happen.”
“It’s a bit of a shock, I know-”
He cut me off. “[REDACTED] And she got hit by lightning too, out of nowhere. It’s the only reason I even got away from her, cause she definitely wanted me dead.”
“What did she say,” I asked. “Right before she was hit.”
Blake glanced at me, face momentarily blank. “Uh… something about not wanting to kill me. Then boom.”
We were still moving fast, heading down towards the docklands.
“Where are we going,” I demanded. This was all well and good now, but I needed to hide, get somewhere safe and secure before midnight. Marcus and Imogen’s place has seemed safe enough, but if they were the ones after me then I would have been trapped. “I need to get somewhere safe!”
I followed Blake down the side of a building and he stopped, grabbing me by the shoulders. "We’ll run away,” he said. “We'll just... go somewhere, disappear. I can protect you. I'm good at hiding." He was practically begging.
“What about your boss? What he’s got on you?”
Blake glanced over his shoulder, checking our surroundings. “We can deal with that later. Let’s just get you out of here before it’s too late.”
Something inside was warning me to run. I pushed the feeling down and searched his face, trying to work out if he was being genuine. “Ok.”
He smiled. “Come on then.”
Maybe Marcus had been successful at getting into my head and I was just being paranoid, but his smile seemed different this time compared to the others. I hesitated.
“Bethany?” he asked, smile faltering.
My heart started pounding when I realised the truth: his smile hadn’t reached his eyes.
I forced myself to smile back at him and took his hand in my own, hoping my voice wouldn’t betray my nerves. “Lead the way.”
He went to take me further down the alley then stopped, his arm and mine stretched to their limit. “Why aren’t you coming with?” He had a look of confusion and concern, which only made things worse.
My hand fell from his and I stepped back, needing to get away from him.
The concern wasn’t leaving his face, only now that I was looking properly I could see it wasn’t genuine. “Be-“
I turned and ran before he had a chance to say my name.
"I have your friends."
The four words he yelled after me were enough to stop me in my tracks. He'd told me my friends had escaped, they were safe...
No, that was wrong. I grabbed hold of the wall for support, no longer trusting my legs to hold me up. He'd said he'd lost them in the city loop. He'd never said they'd gotten away.
When I turned back around he was still standing where I’d left him, hands in his pockets and that pathetic attempt at concern on his face.
Heart in my throat I forced myself to speak. "You've had them this whole time?"
He actually looked insulted.
"No, we left them alone until today. I'd hoped it wouldn't come to this, but... " he rubbed his face. "You need to come with me or they're dead."
“I don’t believe you.”
He pulled out his phone and sent off a quick message. “Answer your phone.”
It was ringing when I pulled it out of my pocket. I answered the video call, Faith’s face filling the screen.
My world shrunk to the size of the screen. To the mascara running down her cheeks and the gun barrel being pushed into her neck.
The camera panned across to Smitty, who was tied to a chair next to Faith. Then the call ended.
I staggered to the side, gasping for air and struggling to stand until I hit the brick wall. This was too much, too real. It was happening.
“Breathe.” Blake was in front of me, a small frown on his face, holding me by the arms and stopping me from falling completely.
I shrugged his hands off me and slapped him, feeling the burn on my palm.
“I deserve that,” he mumbled, covering the red mark I’d left behind with his hand. “They’ll be fine if you come with me. Once transport comes to pick you up they’ll be let go, safe and unharmed.”
“And I’ll be on my way to my death.” It came out as a whisper, barely pushing past the lump in my chest.
All the colour had drained from his face. “I’m really sorry.”
“I thought you wanted to help me." I started crying, sobs wracking through my body. He’d almost sounded genuine, which made it hurt all the more.
For a moment he looked like he wanted to give me a hug, putting his hand to his forehead and pacing in front of me instead. “I did. I tried. I thought we’d saved you.”
“You could just not take me in. Let my friends go.” I wanted to vomit. He’d threatened this the night I’d met him, I’d known this was possible, only it had never seemed real.
“I can’t. I have to. I-”
“Fuck you and your excuses,” I spat.
How dare he have the nerve to look hurt.
“Fine, whatever.” I waved an arm towards the other end of the alley. “Take me to my death.”
“Don’t be like that.”
‘Don’t be like what,” I snapped. “Sad? Upset? Hurt?” He went to speak only I cut him off. “Are you gonna be the one to do it? If you are, make it quick because I don’t want to spend a moment longer with you than I have to.”
Now he looked like he was going to be sick. It was amazing how good an actor he was and I wondered how I’d never seen it before. Only i knew how; I’d been too distracted by an attractive guy with a stupid smile to listen to what he’d been telling me.
“I’m gonna need your phone.”
I threw it on the ground hear his feet and he stomped on it, shattering the screen.
“Can you wipe your face?” he asked.
“What,” I asked, sniffing. “You don’t want to be seen with a crying chick? Worried people will look at you like you’re a bad guy?”
Despite my protests I did as he asked, not wanting to draw attention to us either. If anyone thought there was something wrong then my friends would die, and I was willing to do whatever it took to avoid that.
We exited the other end of the alley, Blake walking next to me as if we were a couple. He tapped gently on my wrist when we needed to turn, eventually making his way to his car.
I sank into the passenger seat, the tears returning.
Blake started the car, turning his head to the side to look at me. “Seat belt.”
“Fuck you,” I replied.
"Please don't make this harder than it is." He leaned across me and grabbed the seat belt, clicking the tongue into the buckle at my hip.
"You have no right to ask that."
I stared out the window as he drove. I’d thought we’d had something, that he’d actually cared about me, only it had all been an act. It must have been, only what kind of person could fake that so convincingly? I Should have stayed where I was; I’d been safer with Marcus and Imogen.
Only I knew it was possible that wasn’t true either. I’d put too much trust, too much faith in strangers, when what I really should have done was go home to Mum and Dad like i’d promised.
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I said I felt like doing this and it took almost zero encouragement for me to go through with it. Below the cut is a basic summary of Bethany and Blake.
Also, can someone tell me how this turned into a romance novel? That wasn’t the intention.
Bethany Grace Norton
The human embodiment of the dumpster fire gif.
She’s closing in on 25, has brown eyes and brown hair which she gets beached platinum white on a regular basis. She’s unfit, gross, probably an alcoholic and has a terrible diet. The unit she lives in looks like a bomb went off and she’s flighty AF, doing whatever dumb and dangerous thing she can think of with zero regard for the consequences or her safety, because it’s not like she needs to worry.
At 8 years old Bethany was cursed to die on her 25th birthday. When her parents identified that this was a legitimate threat they pulled her out of school, moving to an isolated estate in country NSW in the hope they could keep her safe. Not allowed to do anything that could even be remotely perceived as dangerous Bethany spent most of her youth stuck indoors reading and doing puzzles, both jigsaw and word games. From this she became very good at research and problem solving, with a talent for fast reading and problem solving.
When she was 16, everything changed. On one of her rare trips away from the estate the car she was travelling in was hit by a B-Double, instantly killing her driver and bodyguard. Somehow, despite the truck hitting right at her passenger door, she survived without a scratch. A few secret experiments later she realised what the curse actually meant - being cursed to die on her 25th birthday meant that until then, she was invulnerable.
Armed with this knowledge she ran away from home at 17 so that she can experience life before she dies.
Blake
(Blake started as unnamed bad guy #1 and bullied his way not just into a named speaking part, but into a MC role also.)
Is Blake his first name or his surname? Whichever it is, he’s not sharing, preferring to stay mononymous for privacy reasons.
He looks around 30 but wont confirm his age. Dark brown eyes, short dark hair, constantly disheveled. Attractive and he knows it. Comes across more confident than he is. Even though he has a preference for alcohol and chips he does look after himself and is fitter than people realise, possibly due to an ex-military background he denies having.
Despite not believing in magic Blake has a near supernatural ability to find things, which he uses purely at the behest of his unknown employer. It’s not a bad job - while there is a fair bit of danger he gets a lot of downtime, is paid well, and gets to travel the world. It’s better than the alternative.
Normally he’s sent after rare and desirable objects, so he’s a little shocked when he’s asked to abduct a woman instead. Knowing the consequences of saying no or failing he throws himself into the task. It should be easy, right?
***
There’s a few more people to come, only I’ll add them in once they properly show up in the WIP. Bethany’s already intrigued by one - hello, mystery woman on a motorbike - and the other has already crossed paths with Bethany, she just doesn’t know it yet.
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Not much today because I work full time and prioritized a night out with friends over writing. But meh. life happens.
Anyway, here’s a couple of tiny snippets I wrote before work this morning.
—
(Following on from Blake’s feelings yesterday)
Only I knew how, I just didn’t want to admit it. With the threat of my death looming I’d been doing the same thing. Don’t have feelings, don’t get too close to anyone. They’d only end up hurt.
——
I hadn’t heard from Blake since he’d left. I’d gotten so used to him being here, or showing up unannounced, that it was strange not having him around. It was tempting to send him another text, only Marcus and Imogen had had a point - I needed to focus on saving myself. If I made it past my birthday, which right now still felt like a big if, then I could worry about whatever the hell was going on between the two of us. Up until then though there were more important things to worry about.
——
I grabbed a slice of last night’s pizza and curled up the couch. I should have been getting dressed, heading out, doing something, but the motivation to do anything had fled. Was I really just going to procrastinate away my final days?
——
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Today seems to have gone better than yesterday did. Doubt i’ll have an update tomorrow though, because I have work all day and then a Harry Potter trivia night straight after. I’m hoping I’ll be able to catch back up on the weekend.
Today’s snippet is something different - it’s the plot! Who knew that existed?
This is way unedited and I’m fixing the prophecy once the first draft is done so that I can get the wording right, so please ignore the fact that it’s stupidly basic.
Also, this falls before the angst I’ve been posting over the last few days.
“The prophecy about you links up with a larger one we’ve been trying to stop for a while,” Marcus continued. “If i’m right, someone’s planning a ritual coming on Friday and you’re slated as the sacrifice. If it happens...if you die...then it’ll kick start events that lead to the apocalypse.”
Blake started choking on his sandwich. “You really believe this crap?”
“You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to,” I told him. I knew he didn’t think it was real, but he didn’t need to shit on my beliefs like that.
He leaned against the bench and crossed his arms, taking a sudden interest in his thumb. “Sorry. Continue.”
I started pacing. “Are both prophecies older than my curse?”
“I’ve been able to date the one you found back to about 30 years ago. It’s hard to be accurate. The other’s been around a few hundred years.”
“And I definitely fit them both?”
“They’re always a little open to interpretation, only you seem to fit. It mentions Beth, your birth date, and some other stuff.”
“So…” I started pacing. “What if it’s not actually about me? I can’t be the only ‘Beth’ in the world turning 25 on Friday. Beth could be Elizabeth too, right? So what if someone had me cursed to protect someone else? Someone more relevant.” Maybe I was on to something.
“If there’s only two of you then yep, it’s a possibility. I can have a look,” Marcus said. “You got a laptop?”
“It’s under the couch,” Blake said before I could answer.
All three of us turned to look at him.
“What,” he questioned, pulling a face. “Where else would it be?”
It was so tempting to claim he had powers again.
Marcus reached under the couch. A bottle of rum I’d forgotten about came out from under, which he immediately opened and sampled, then he reached back under for the laptop.
While we waited I took the bottle of rum and had a swig. Blake held out his hand towards me and I went to hand it over, yanking it back out of his reach when he went to grab it. I had another mouthful then passed it over for real.
“There’s 7 women in Aus alone with Beth somewhere in their name that share your exact birth date,” Marcus told me. “So if your theory was correct they would’ve sent him-” he jerked his head in Blake’s direction, “after someone easier to abduct. You’re too well protected right now.”
Imogen drummed her fingers on the table. “The other option is maybe you’re special.”
At that I shook my head. “I’m not special,” I told her.
“You might be,” Marcus said. “Is there anything you can do? Aside from the curse?”
“I can burp the national anthem and say the alphabet backwards when drunk. Does that count?”
I could hear Blake trying to hold back a laugh.
“Seriously, even I know I’m a disaster of a human being. There’s nothing special about me.”
“Don’t discount yourself like that.” At Blake’s words I smiled, feeling a blush creep across my cheeks.
BONUS CONTENT! In which Bethany and Blake yell at each other.
“Yes!” I didn’t realize I was yelling until he flinched. “But my life is over on Friday, and as much as I’d love to see out my final days in a bottle-o with you and no clothing, they’re-” I pointed back down the hall towards my unit, “-my best shot at being able to make it to Saturday. They’re trying to help me.”
“So am I!”
“You’re still trying to kidnap me!”
BONUS BONUS CONTENT!! In which Blake shares his feelings.
“Because I care about you, dumbass! God knows why, but I do.” He leaned against the wall and tipped his head back to look at the ceiling. “You...do all this stupid shit and your life is a mess and the whole magic is real and you’re cursed thing...plus the fact I’ve been sent after you should be a huge red flag for both of us.” He rolled his head along the wall until he was looking at me. “Guys like me shouldn’t even entertain the idea of feelings, because it’s just not worth it. And yet… from the moment of our breakfast I haven't been able to stop thinking about you. You’re stuck in my head and even when I was getting beat up and branded all I could think about was getting back to you. Making sure you were ok. I don’t know why. I just can’t get enough of you.”
My heart skipped a beat. “Our breakfast?” I teased. “You mean your second lamest attempt at a kidnapping.” I wasn’t sure whether to feel excited or insulted by that outburst. “What do you mean about guys like you shouldn’t have feelings?”
He sagged. “Guys like me...we end up in jail, or in an early grave, or the people we care about get hurt. We don’t get a happy ending.”
I felt sick just hearing it. How did he live like that?
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Today was a good day. Cracked 40k words, almost 4000 of which were written today, and I’m reaching the pointy end of my WIP. I could have kept going, only the next bit is really emotional, and I didn’t want to write it just before bed.
It’s getting harder to find bits to share that aren’t blatant spoilers, so i guess it’s time for some out of context snippets which may or may not be in order below the cut.
“You mean...the curse is wrong?” I finally asked. This was what I’d been searching for, a glimmer of a chance of survival. “I don’t have to die?” I held my breath, hoping he’d agree.
***
One word. One word was enough to change everything. I could feel tears welling up inside and I let out a sob of relief, suddenly seeing the possibility of a future flicking past my eyes.
***
Nearby Imogen and Blake were fighting shoulder to shoulder, holding back an impressive number of people. They looked like they were about to be overwhelmed though, and I went to head back to help.
Marcus grabbed me by the arm. “We need to get you away from here” he said, pulling me away from the fight. “You’re the one they’re all after.”
***
(A flashback)
The fire been so beautiful. The way the flames danced with each other and the occasional snap from the logs was exciting, and I’d managed to squish in behind the grate in order to get closer. I’d wanted to dance with the flames too, feel how warm they really were. I’d giggled at the way they’d become one with me, taking over my clothes.
Then Mum was screaming and I was crying and it wasn’t fun anymore.
***
When I woke Blake was snoring next to me.
He hadn’t bothered getting undressed and was face down on top of the blanket, one arm hanging off the edge. It was tempting to let him sleep, as he looked peaceful for a change. Behind all the bickering and the teasing I hadn’t noticed just how stressed he normally was.
***
I stared at the text message, last nights revelation still fresh in my mind. Marcus was right, this wasn’t a conversation I should have while emotional, but with today being my last full confirmed day to live, was I really going to get another chance?
***
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