I have been busy with NANOWRIMO, and I won! This means that I wrote 50,000 words of a new novel.

The question is… what now? Honestly, for the story I worked on for NANOWRIMO, I don’t know. Usually when I finish, I put it aside for at least a month and then take a look at it and decide. So, on that note, that one is being filed away for now.

However, I will share a bit of it. Keep in mind, it is unedited and a very rough draft! So, if you read it, please be nice.

Without further ado, here is chapter one of my NANOWRIMO work…

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Chapter One: How it all started

Hettie and Lily were born seven minutes apart on July 7^th at seven p.m. Their names were actually Heather and Liliana, but no one called them that, not even their parents. As children, they were inseparable. And despite being twins, most people didn’t guess their relationship at first guess.

They didn’t look alike, let alone the same age. Truth be told, they didn’t even really look like sisters. Lily was lithe and wispy. She had pale blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Her skin was white and porcelain.

Hettie had black hair that was curly and never saw a brush it couldn’t break. She had owlish green eyes. Her pale skin was spotted with freckles, and she was short for her age.

As they grew, Lily continued to be a thin beauty, and by the time they were in middle school, she was a head taller than Hettie. All the boys turned their heads when Lily walked by. When Hettie walked by, most people crossed themselves.

And despite their differences, they were inseparable even when their interests diverged, and they started down different paths.

Their parents were thrilled to have twins, especially twins born on such an auspicious date and time. They just knew the power would manifest in their girls.

As the twins’ thirteenth birthday neared, their parents watched them constantly, hoping to see some sign that their powers were emerging. The week leading up to their birthday, the parents didn’t even want the girls to go to school, but the girls pleaded. They couldn’t be pulled out of school just because. People already thought their family was strange, and the girls didn’t like to draw more attention to themselves.

Afterall, they already lived in what the neighborhood kids called the “spooky house.” Their old Victorian house looked decorated for Halloween year-round, but what the towns people took for decorations were actually just the accoutrements of being witches.

“Can you believe them?” asked Lily. She flipped her long blonde hair over her shoulder and adjusted her backpack.

Hettie, as usual, had her nose in a book. She was looking down and not watching where she was going. Lily looped her arm through Hettie’s.

“Earth to Hettie,” Lily said. “I know your book is fascinating, but we need to talk.” She waited for her sister to respond, but nothing happened. She stopped dead in her tracks, causing Hettie to stop too since their arms were linked.

The abrupt stop caused Hettie’s book to drop from her hands. “What is wrong with you?” asked Hettie. “I was reading.”

“You’re always reading,” responded Lily.

“Well, now that I’m not, what did you want?” Hettie asked. She picked up her book, flipping the pages trying to find where she’d last been reading.

“I was just asking if you can believe how Mom and Dad are acting?” Lily asked.

Hettie shrugged and resumed walking while reading her book.

“Hey!” Lily grabbed Hettie, forcing her to stop again. “I want to talk to.” She stepped closer to Hettie and whispered, “About stuff. Family stuff.” Lily hesitated and looked around to see if anyone was watching them. “You know, witch stuff.”

Hettie rolled her eyes. “No one is listening, Lily. Calm down.” She motioned for Lily to walk with her again. “Talk,” she said.

“Well, I was just wondering if you’ve seen signs. You know. About…” she trailed off, not saying what she actually meant out loud.

“Lily. Seriously. If I’d had powers manifest, you would know.” Hettie looked sideways at her sister like she was losing her mind. “When are we ever not together?”

“Well, you know. At school. We have different classes. I just thought…” Lily trailed off again and stopped walking. “I mean, you would tell me, right?”

This time, Hettie also halted in her tracks. “Lily, what has gotten into you?”

Lily shrugged.

“I would tell you,” Hettie said. She shook her head. She reached out for her sister’s hand. “Lily, I would tell you,” she said, making direct eye contact.

That seemed to satisfy Lily, so she nodded and resumed her walk to school, once again looping her arm through Hettie’s.

School was Hettie’s favorite place in the whole world. At home, her parents only ever talked about what things would be like when the twins got their powers. Somehow, despite being focused on nothing but magic, no one in town knew that their family were magic.

Magic was tricky like that. If you didn’t have it, and even if it was used right in front of you, your brain just “fixed” it so you rationalized what you saw instead.

Luckily Hettie and Lily’s parents could use magic without letting the secret out into the world. Hettie though wanted to be a part of the “real” world, as she often thought of everything outside of magic. She loved science, history, and math. She loved the arts. She loved anything and everything made and learned without using magic. At school, she was in all advanced classes. Her teachers had to make extra work to keep her busy.

Lily, who wasn’t the academic like Hettie, also liked school, but mostly just to be around people. She had a lot of friends, was invited to every party, and she was in a club every day after classes.

School was a sanctuary for both of them. And the week of their thirteenth birthday, they needed a place to be away from their parents more than ever. It’s not that they didn’t want to get powers. They both assumed they would. They just didn’t see it as such a great thing like their parents.

For one, it was the nineties, magic was old world. Hettie had dreams of being a doctor, and Lily wanted to be a teacher. Both were practical, normal, non-magical career fields. Those dreams drove their parents crazy.

As they walked up the steps to the school building, Hettie and Lily were joined by their best friends, Jordan and Tiffany. Jordan nodded at Lily and Tiffany as they broke off and made their way to their friend group currently loitering on the steps.

“Hettie,” Jordan whispered, pushing his glasses up on his nose. His glasses were thick and framed in heavy black acetate. Hettie didn’t answer him right away, and he started to hum. He was always humming. Like Hettie, Jordan was advanced for his age, and though he excelled in all subjects, his passion was music. His dad ran a music store in the historic area of downtown. Jordan had spent his whole life in that store. His parents and him even lived in an apartment above the store. Needless to say, music was his life.

Hettie took a seat in their first class and finally tucked her book away.

“Good book?” Jordan asked.

Hettie simply nodded. She didn’t know why, but she didn’t feel much like talking that morning.

Jordan nodded in response. They’d been friends since kindergarten. Sometimes Hettie was less than loquacious. He didn’t take it personally.

In another room, a much different interaction was taking place.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with her sometimes,” complained Lily to Tiffany. “She is so lost in her books that she doesn’t even see how much I’m struggling.”

“She’s always like that,” Tiffany responded. She knew her role as best friend required her to agree with Lily, even though they both knew that Lily wasn’t really mad at Hettie. Lily was just restless, must have been nerves about her upcoming birthday.

“I mean, she could at least talk to me.” Lily sat down in a huff.

“She’ll snap out of it,” responded Tiffany.

“But not before she makes me crazy,” huffed Lily.

Tiffany patted Lily on the shoulder, trying to reassure her.

The school day began like any other, with announcements over the pa system. Kids shuffled in their seats, teachers took roll, and classes began like any other day.

Fifteen minutes after the announcements, both girls sneezed, and that’s when the day got more interesting.

The screams could be heard throughout the whole school. Shortly after the first screams echoed down the hallway, the rest of the school got to its feet and tried to peek out into the hallway. Teachers were scrambling to get students to sit back down.

“What is going on?” asked Hettie, craning her neck, trying to see out in the hallway like every other student in her class.

“Sit down,” their teacher said. “I’m going to go see what’s going on. Hettie is in charge.” The teacher paused at the doorway. “I mean it. Sit down everyone.”

As soon as she left the room, every student was back on their feet trying to see out into the hallway. None of them were brave enough to actually step out past the doorway.

They stood there waiting for what felt like hours but was in reality only a handful of minutes. Their teacher could be seen practically running down the hallway.

“Back in the room,” she yelled as she waved to her students. She pushed them all into the room and slammed the door, locking it when it was barely latched.

“What is going on?” Hettie dared to ask.

Their teacher shook her head. “In your seats, now.” She made her way to the classroom phone and dialed for an outside line.

Hettie could see even from her seat, her teacher dialed 9-1-1. What could possibly have their teacher so scared?

Just as Hettie opened her mouth to ask another question, a growl could be heard. It sounded like it was just outside the door. It was a deep growl that sounded low to the ground. There was a reptilian quality to it. It made the hairs on your neck stand at attention.

Every student in the room froze. Every head snapped to look towards the door. They heard the growl again. This time it was followed by some scratching at the door.

Their teacher didn’t move to do anything. She was still holding the phone in her hand, though it was no longer up by her ear.

Hettie, sitting in the front row, could hear someone on the other end trying to get their teacher’s attention. Hettie could see her teacher was paralyzed with fear. She gently took the phone out of her teacher’s hand and held it up to her own.

“Hello?” she said into the phone.

“9-1-1. Who am I speaking to?” the dispatcher asked.

“Hettie. I’m at the middle school. Something is going on.”

“What is happening, dear. Tell me. Are you safe?”

The scratching could be heard at the door again.

Hettie gulped. “Yes. Sort of. I don’t know what’s going on. I think there is an animal in the school.”

“Did you say an animal?”

Their teacher finally snapped out of her fear. She took the phone from Hettie with shaking hands.

“There is a giant…” the teacher trailed off.

“Ma-am,” said the dispatcher. “Tell me what is going on. We have officers enroute to assist. Are you and your students safe?”

Their teacher swallowed audibly. “I don’t know,” she stammered. “It’s just so huge.”

“Ma-am. Tell me what you think you saw?”

The tone of the dispatcher snapped the teacher out of it even more. “I don’t think I saw anything. I saw a crocodile. A huge crocodile.”

Hettie slowly backed up to her seat.

“No way,” she whispered. There couldn’t be a crocodile in their school. They lived in rural Pennsylvania. There weren’t crocodiles just running about.

Jordan tapped Hettie on the shoulder. “Do you really think it’s a crocodile,” he whispered.

Hettie shrugged. “It doesn’t seem likely,” she answered.

The low growl rumbled into the room, reaching their ears, paralyzing them all.

“Everyone. Get over in that corner,” said their teacher pointing to the far corner of the room. She started shoving her desk from the front of the room towards the door creating a barricade. “Now,” she snapped.

It took a little over two hours, but the cops and animal control were able to capture the beast. A crocodile – of record proportions, walking the halls of the middle school.

At lunch, everyone was talking about it. At their table, the twins and friends were also frantically discussing it.

“It was a crocodile,” said Hettie.

“You don’t know that,” said Lily.

“What?” Hettie asked in disbelief. “You don’t believe me?” Her eyebrows were pushed together, and she was looking at her sister with disbelief on her face.

Lily shrugged. “You didn’t actually see it. You don’t know what the ‘growl’ you heard actually was.” She used air quotes when she said growl.

Hettie didn’t know what had gotten into her sister, but she didn’t like being treated like a liar. “I didn’t see it, but our teacher did. And I heard the growl. If our teacher said it was a crocodile. It was.”

Lily shrugged again, still clearly not believing her sister.

Hettie rolled her eyes. If she had been paying attention, and if she understood human behavior better, she would have realized her sister was mad about that morning.

“Well, whatever it was, it was weird. Wait till Mom and Dad hear about it,” said Lily.

This time it was Hettie who shrugged, and Lily rolled her eyes.

“You two are not getting along today?” asked Tiffany. Though her loyalty lay with Lily, she didn’t like it when the twins fought.

Both sisters shrugged this time. Just as they shrug, a loud buzzing could be heard right outside the window nearest to where they were sitting.

“Would you look at that?” said one of the teachers on lunch duty. She was pointing at the window where the loud buzzing was coming from.

The buzzing increased in volume.

“Is that normal?” asked another teacher.

By this time, most of the children were also looking at the window. Many of them got up from their tables to get a closer look.

Hettie couldn’t be bothered. She was eating and reading a book at the same time. Lily, Jordan, and Tiffany though were more curious.

“It’s bees,” said Jordan. He reached over and tapped Hettie. “Look.” He pointed at the window.

Hettie, despite wanting to keep reading, didn’t ignore her friend and swiveled around in her chair to see what everyone was gawking at.

It was in fact a large swarm of bees. They were all tapping on the window as if there was something inside the room they were trying to get to.

“That is very strange behavior for bees,” said Hettie.

“No kidding,” said Lily.

The teachers were discussing what should be done if anything.

“I guess we should call 9-1-1 again,” said one teacher.

“Can they do anything?” another teacher sounded skeptical.

“Maybe we just leave them alone and they’ll leave,” suggested the first teacher.

One of the teachers went to find the custodian so he could pull the blinds down. The blinds in the cafeteria were rarely closed because it required the use of a pole to reach up to the ceiling and the blinds themselves were old and resisted movement.

All the kids found watching the janitor wrestle with the blinds more entertaining than the bees, though less so than the crocodile. Overall, it was shaping up to be a very eventful day.

Classes continued after lunch. Hettie and Lily had two classes together back-to-back. In science, they were watching a movie. But, in English, they were reading from a play out loud. Each student in the class was assigned a character to read lines for.

The play was Romeo and Juliet. Most of the class found it boring, and didn’t really understand the dated and barely comprehensible language. It was better than the poetry unit they’d just finished though.

Hettie followed the play better than most students because of her love of reading, though even she would admit that she didn’t find all classic literature worthy of study. Lily knew the story of Romeo and Juliet because she loved tragic romances. She’d never read it, but she loved the movie versions.

Despite her love of reading, the play wasn’t holding Hettie’s attention that day, and she snuck another book behind her textbook so she could continue her leisure reading. At the rate the other students were stumbling over the text, she wouldn’t even have a line to say out loud that day.

She got lost in the pages of her book. Her book, point of fact, that was about extinction and ecosystems. She paused in her reading when their teacher said, “This is the good bit.” She listened as two of her classmates read one of the scenes between Romeo and Juliet. When the scene was drawing to a close, both Hettie and Lily scoffed. Romeo wasn’t that charming, and nothing a boy could say would make them fall in love so quickly.

The room was suddenly filled with butterflies. Thousands of them appeared out of nowhere. Not just any butterflies either. They were monarchs. Monarchs were rarely found in this part of the country. And certainly not at this time of year.

The butterflies landed on everything and everyone. Their teacher gasped. “How is this happening?” she asked out loud to no one in particular.

As all the students sat as still as possible, Hettie made eye contact with Lily. Hettie’s eyes were wide as they could go, giving her a scared and bewildered look. Lily pointed at the butterflies and mouthed, “Did you do this?”

Hettie didn’t need to hear Lily to understand what she was asking. Hettie mouthed back, “I don’t think so.” She looked around at the butterflies in the room. It was a sea of black and orange. Despite the addition of the thousands of creatures, the room was eerily quiet. The students and teacher were too afraid to move.

While Hettie was looking around, admiring the butterflies and wondering, like everyone else, where they’d come from, Lily made her way over to Hettie’s desk.

Hettie was snapped out of her revery by Lily tapping on Hettie’s book inside the textbook.

“It was you,” she whispered.

“What?” asked Hettie, glancing down at her books. She’d been reading all day about different animals and what various dangers their environments faced. She leaned back in her chair. That’s when she realized, Lily was right. Every animal that had appeared that day had been one she’d been reading about at some point during that same day.

“I didn’t mean to,” whispered Hettie.

“Well, make them go away,” said Lily.

Hettie shook her head. “I don’t know how. Do you think I would have done this on purpose? This is the kind of thing the council hates.”

Lily pressed her finger to her lips. “Sshh.” They knew better than to talk about the council outside of their house.

“Help me,” pleaded Hettie.

“How?” asked Lily. Neither of them had magic yet, at least as far as they knew.

“I don’t know. Just try wishing it away, I guess,” answered Hettie.

Lilly placed her hand on Hettie’s. Hettie squeezed her eyes shut.

The butterflies disappeared.

Both girls let out a sigh of relief.

“We need to tell Mom and Dad about this,” said Lily.

“They’ll be very pleased,” commented Hettie.

Lily was going to ask more questions, but their teacher was ushering everyone back to their seats.

“Please, sit. I’m going to call the main office from my office. Sit quietly.” She didn’t wait for the students who were standing to listen. She hurried out of the room and into an adjacent room not much bigger than a closet.

Their teacher was gone for less than five minutes before the pa system crackled to life.

“Attention students and teachers. In light of the events today, we have decided to cancel school for the remainder of the day. We are having the police and animal control do a full sweep of the buildings and grounds before we reopen for normal operation tomorrow. If you are normally a walker, you may leave as soon as your teacher dismisses you. All bus riders and parent pick up students report to the gym. Arrangements are being made.”

Hettie and Lily said their goodbyes to their friends and left with the other students who walked.

“Well, that was a weird day,” said Lily.

Hettie looked at her sister like she was crazy. “You seem oddly please about it though.”

Lily shook her head. “Not necessarily. Just hoping this means we are finally getting our magic.”

“Mom and Dad will be pleased.” Hettie halted in her tracks. “Are we sure we want to tell them?”

Lily had stopped too and was starting at her sister like she was crazy. “Of course. If we don’t tell them, they’ll be furious.”

“It’s just, we don’t know if it was one of us causing those events. It could have just been freak occurrences.”

Lily laughed. “You don’t believe that. Besides, it wasn’t me. It was all you.”

“You don’t know that.” Hettie protested.

“You suspect it was though, don’t you?” Lily asked.

Hettie nodded.

Both girls stopped when they reached the steps that led up through the yard and connected the sidewalk to their house.

“Deep breath, Hettie,” Lily squeezed her sister’s hand.

Hettie took another look and scanned the house for any signs that her parents already knew what was happening. The house looked as it always did. It was a large Victorian manor. The first floor had a wrap around porch. One corner of the house had a rounded section, giving it the appearance of having a tower like room. It wasn’t really a tower, just a circular room. In fact, the second story of the rounded room was the twins’ bedroom. The first floor was the dining room.

Aside from being large, their house was dark. It was painted dark grey with black accents. Each window had heavy dark fabric drapes that were usually kept closed. Inside, the rooms were painted a variety of moody colors from floor to ceiling. The wood was dark mahogany, and every room was heavily carpeted with rugs layered on top of each other.

Upon entering the house, the first sense that was assaulted was the nose. The whole house always smelled like whatever their mother was cooking or baking. She never stopped. She made food for her family, but she also made food to donate to various charitable organizations throughout town. She called it “spreading good karma.”

Hettie often wondered if there was more to the dispersal of baked goods than karma. She never dared ask, but she suspected her mother worked magic on the food and used it for various purposes. Not harmful, but still magical.

Today, the house smelled like chocolate and raspberry. It was almost too sweet smelling when the girls walked in.

They hadn’t let go of each other’s hands, and they made their way down the hallway towards the kitchen where they could hear their mother singing Madonna.

They stopped just inside the kitchen door and waited for her to notice them.

Their mother snapped her fingers, and the radio switched off. She stood up and squinted at her two girls standing like they were guilty of something.

“Why are you two home already?” she asked.

“School has been cancelled for the rest of the day,” answered Hettie.

“Why? Did something happen?” she asked as she wiped her hands on her apron still squinting at her girls who were clearly not telling her everything on purpose.

The twins looked at each other, exchanging information without even speaking.

“Well…” Lily trailed off.

“Out with it. Why aren’t you in school?” their mother asked.

“There were some weird things that happened today. And school was cancelled to make sure it was safe for us to be there,” Hettie said.

Their mother twirled her finger indicating she wanted more detail.

“Just tell her, Hettie,” said Lily. Even though she was exasperated with her sister, she still held her hand in solidarity.

Hettie sighed. “Fine.” She told her mother about the strange animals appearing throughout the day. She even added the part about how she’d been reading about those exact animals in her book. She also said that Lily and she had tried to wish the butterflies away right before they disappeared.

Nothing could have prepared the twins for the sound that came out of their mother’s mouth at the end of Hettie’s tale.

“Mom, calm down,” said Lily.

Their mother wrapped them both in a strong hug. “I’m so excited for you.”

“But we don’t know what actually happened,” said Hettie ever the level-headed one.

Their mother still didn’t let go. “I don’t care. It’s the first sign that you have magic.” She sighed deeply.

Hettie pulled away a bit. “Were you worried?” she asked.

“No, of course not,” replied her mother, though her voice cracked when she answered.

“You were worried!” said Hettie. “Why didn’t you say anything to us?” Hettie wiggled out of her mother’s death grasp.

Just then the front door opened and in walked their dad. He stopped when he spotted his daughters and wife standing very near each other in the doorway to the kitchen. He froze.

“Is everything okay?” he asked. He was surprised to see his daughters this early in the day. “What’s going on?”

“They have magic!” their mother yelled, letting them and then clapping her hands. “Isn’t it fantastic?” She kept clapping.

“Mom, calm down,” said Lily. “We aren’t really sure what happened.”

Their dad joined them in the kitchen, and they all took a seat at the table while Hettie once again recounted the strange events of the day.

“This is fabulous news,” their dad said. His smile stretched from ear to ear, and it didn’t falter even when he sipped his tea. “Well, I suppose we should let the council know so they can send out a tester.”

“I’m not sure we’re ready for that,” said Hettie. “If anything, what happened today was an accident. Shouldn’t we wait until we have some level of control to be tested?” She looked worried as she eyed both her parents.

Being tested was a right of passage amongst witches. Simply getting your powers wasn’t enough. Once your powers manifested, you had to let the magic council know, and they would send out a witch or two to “test” your magic. It gave them a vague indication of how strong your magic might become.

As you can imagine, having someone with a penchant for murder with unchecked magical powers was frowned upon. Their test did two things: one, it gave a vague indication of how strong your powers would be, and two, it indicated if you could be trusted. Dark and light magic both exist, and the council had to keep an eye out for strong dark magic users. Of course, most of the witches with a propensity for dark magic didn’t bother getting tested, so one could argue that the act of getting tested proved that you were more likely to use the light. However, the test wasn’t full proof, and sometimes darkness had a way of hiding deep in someone’s soul until it was invited to come out. And, every person, no matter how noble, had moments where they faltered. There was a little darkness in all magic users.

“We could have them try a few basic spells before we summon the council,” said their mom. “It’s not a bad idea.”

Their dad shook his head. “No, the way I see it, the sooner we have them tested the better. The council doesn’t like parents to wait. Remember Atony?”

Their mother nodded as she looked down. She took a sip of her tea.

“Who is Atony?” asked Lily. She looked over at Hettie. Hettie shrugged and shook her head. She had no idea either.

“Oh, you don’t need to know that story,” said their mom in a falsely cheerful tone.

“Maybe they should,” said their dad. “I mean, they are coming into their powers. And, one day, when they have kids of their own…”

“Slow down, Dad,” interrupted Hettie. “We’re in middle school.”

Both their parents chuckled. “Ok sure. I only meant it’s a story that is important because things could have turned out differently.”

“Come on, Mom. Let him tell us,” pleaded Lily.

Their mother’s face was pinched with concern, but she nodded. “Fine, tell them.”

“So, Atony was a boy I grew up with. His family were also witches. He was a few years older than me, but because there were few magical families in our town, he and I ended up hanging out quit a bit.” He paused and took a sip of his tea. “Near his thirteenth birthday, he started to show signs of power, not like what happened today. He made some dishes float, and he made a bonfire sort of explode when he was angry one night. Accidentally using magic during heightened emotional states is normal for witches about to come into their power. However, despite the signs, his parents didn’t let the magical council know right away. Even though there was no doubt in anyone’s mind what was happening.”

“That seems dumb,” said Hettie.

Her dad nodded. “You could say that. But his parents wanted to be sure. Anyway, he kept accidentally causing things to happen. The worst was at a baseball game. He was at bat and struck out swinging. He was furious. He didn’t mean to, at least I don’t think he did, but his anger grabbed ahold of a storm that was enroute to the town and pulled it to the field. Lightning struck in twelve places simultaneously, including the next kid who was at bat.”

Both girls gasped and turned a shade paler.

“What happened?” asked Lily.

“The guy who was struck didn’t make it. No one at the game knew Atony was a witch except my family and his. But that even took a toll on him. He wasn’t the same after. His parents should have notified the council. They didn’t, and he caused an accidental death.” Their dad leaned back as he finished his story.

“How could the council have prevented it though?” asked Hettie. “He still could have accidentally lashed out even if he’d been tested.”

“Sure, it happens. But if he’d been tested, I’m sure his magical strength would have been off the charts. The council would most likely have given him some kind of tempering device.”

“What is that?” asked Lily.

“If a teen tests really high, the council gives them a magical artifact that helps limit their magic until it can be proven that they can control it. Most witches don’t need one because they don’t have that kind of power, but every once in a while, the council has to step in.” Her dad drank the last of his tea in one swift gulp.

“And after what you’ve told me about today,” chimed in their mother, “you two might be those kind of witches.” She was grinning from ear to ear again. “I’m so proud of you two.”