A Shadow in Doubt: Chapter Four - Duty Call

Happy Saturday! Today, I'm sharing Chapter Four from A Shadow in Doubt, where Sam ponders her situation, Jay and Kristoff make her want to gag, and you'll find out who I was listening to while writing that part of the book....

Chapter Four

11/18/2006 - Duty Call

A groan near my head woke me. My hair fell in my face when I lifted my head; I tried to push it out of the way, but it just fell back in the same place. A male chuckled softly behind me - from the sofa - and my heart skipped a beat hoping it was Michael. I rolled over, disappointed it was Kristoff smiling at me from the couch.

I couldn’t figure out how he got there, so I asked, “How?”

He smiled, holding out a can of Pepsi. “Artemis let me in when I rang the bell,” he replied. Because it’s perfectly natural for a cat to answer a doorbell in a secret cavern.

I accepted his offering with gratitude, “Thank you.” Two gulps down, I was awake. “I hope you brought something stronger for Sleeping Beauty here.”

He tapped the travel thermos on the end table next to him. “Never leave home without it.”

“Come on Jay,” I gave her a shove, “it’s time to get up.” Then to Kristoff, “Take the lid off, she’s gotta smell it.”

More Midnight Rambling: Burning the Candle...

It's half past midnight, I'm sitting here, at my desk, taking a break from corrections on A Shadow in Doubt. I haven't been sleeping much the last couple of weeks. Some of that has to do with the heat. The rest, well, I'm doing that thing I do when there is a deadline approaching

I'd rather get some action in the first chapter...

That's not what I meant! But, now that I have your attention....

Side Notes Turned Stories

Here I am blogging again, when I should be editing the sequel to The Shadow Watcher - which I keep calling The Shadow Society, but I already know that's not what the title is.  It doesn't work, at least not yet.  I'll worry about that later.

What's really distracting me?  When I started The Shadow Watcher, I had no clue what I was getting myself into.  The idea was to get away from complicated histories and such - I've got enough of that going on in the Isiterra universe.  I needed a break!  What started with two people meeting in an alley, having a strange conversation, evolved into a complex cast of characters with widely varied goals and motivations.

Those two people are still the core of the story, but I found the need to explore some of the other characters more, because their goals and motivations are equally important.  I've already written some short pieces I'm calling "Fore Shadows" - stories from Future Sam's perspective and from Michael's.  I'm saving the first one for after the second book, possibly will include it at the end.  Probably.

Kristoff wasn't supposed to become a main character, but he's becoming one of my favorites.  He was going to die in the attack, but I couldn't let him.  But, there's another book, so no one's safe!  I spent a couple days working out his back-story a month or so ago, which made me like him even more.

And, yesterday, I started on Tollack Pennington's story.  I knew it vaguely, but when I got into the exact reasons behind his resentment of Daniel Marquet, his best friend's son, things got interesting.  I spent too much time goofing around on the internet, but I did nail down some dates and locations that were still floating somewhere in the general fog of back-story.  I also got a much clearer picture of Samuel's life from 1513 on.

Those will be the future installments of "Fore Shadows."  I was going to include them in the sequel to "The Shadow Watcher", but I think they slow down the plot.  They'll make for interesting reading, but won't be central to Sam and Michael's story.

Well, that's what I've been up to, but now it's pool time.  More writing after the sun goes down!

I hope you're having a beautiful day!
Roari