Hello and well met, dear readers! NaNoWriMo is in full swing and I am already feeling the stress of a full time job and the task of writing a 50k word novel in a month. I know I say it every year, but I will finish it this time!
Dang it.
If you’ve taken a look at my Instagram or Facebook, you’ve seen my most recent word count and my cover art! I will admit, I made the cover art before I had a full blown premise for the novel itself. I’m not married to the blurb on the cover about the noble family, but I also feel kind of honor bound to stick with it, you know?
So the question remains: what is the dark secret this family will die for? Is the main antagonist related to the protagonist, and this relation is what the family matriarch is struggling with? Is the family divided into a light and dark side and that’s why Haven can never have peace?
The things that keep me up at night, I tell you what.
Here’ a short snippet from my novel so far. I’m not done with the family history yet, but I hope you enjoy!
“What did you mean, this history? What the hell is a Keeper, and why is it specifically of Haven?”
“Just walk and listen, my dear,” Lydia sighed. “The role of Keeper has been passed down to the first born of every generation in our family for as long as I can remember. My mother told me this story and her mother before her. I told my son when it was his time to take on the mantle of Keeper, and as long as he was alive, he served it faithfully. The day he married your mother was the happiest of his life. The second happiest was the day you were born.
“Unfortunately, Haven is a wondrous place, and holds many secrets. Some good secrets, some bad. But there are many who would kill for these secrets. The Warden is one such man. He sought to bypass the laws of Haven and invite an army inside our borders.”
Belinda could not help herself: “But how could he do that? Isn’t the force wall just a barrier? All barriers can be broken, right?”
Lydia glanced at Belinda out of the corner of her eye. “When you passed through the wall, did you not feel the shock on your skin?”
“I felt a tingle, sure.”
“That tingle–shock, whatever you want to call it–is a less intense version of a portal. It transports the traveler into the pocket realm of Haven. We are now inhabiting a pocket dimension that exists everywhere and nowhere all at once. There are many bridges, many ports, that lead to different areas of Haven. All eventually lead here, to this town square.” They had reached the furthest end of the square. Belinda could see a shipyard and docks through the alleys between the buildings. But Lydia did not venture beyond their stopping point. She continued, “When the Warden left the first time, we thought he had taken his shady behavior with him. But he returned with a few men, who then went out and recruited more men. Soon they had a small army squatting in the square. They refused to move. Your father, as Mx and Keeper, tried to negotiate peace with these men. But they would not listen. They wanted the secrets our travelers had left during their visits, each line transcribed in our Vaults.
“Your father would not give them up. He had the Vaults sealed and sent your mother with you to the world outside Haven. There was a brawl and the Warden killed your father, then went after your mother. He searched for years until he found you, barely three years old, in an orphanage. He founded the estate to keep you prisoner.”
Belinda sat down on the stone walkway. If this was true, then what had happened to her mother? Why did the estate have so many other kids in it? Were any of them real? Did the Warden actually care about any of them, or was it all just some ploy to make sure she cooperated?
Thanks for reading!
R E Powell 
Leave a comment