The fifteen minute novel writing experiment is an attempt to write a complete (and very rough) draft of a novel by writing for fifteen minutes each day. I have taken a timed writing from one of the daily prompts done in 2021, cleaned it up a little and used it as my jumping off point into a story. Each day I will take the last line of the story written the day before and use it as my sentence starter and write for fifteen minutes, growing the story as the year progresses.
Day 209: He pointed directly at Anya.
He pointed directly at Anya. Anya froze, her eyes going wide as Ramal pointed at her. The old man followed the direction of his grandson’s finger and his eyes narrowed.
Anya swallowed hard, uncertain what to do as he slowly started forward. The old man looked her over.
“Not a ghost,” he mused. “But something…” He circled her, sniffing and squinting.
Anya realized he couldn’t actually see her but merely sense her presence. The boy too seemed to have a general sense of where she was, but couldn’t seem to see her.
“There might be a way,” the old man said. He reached for the bag on his shoulder and Anya decided that whatever he was going to try, she didn’t want to see. She willed herself back to the room with the orb, leaving the pair of them alone in the overgrown courtyard of the Fairweather Estate manor house.
Anya pulled her hand from the orb and realized her heart was beating fast and hard. ‘They saw me,’ she thought to herself. ‘Sort of.’
She was certain they didn’t exactly see her but sensed her. She hadn’t known that was possible. ‘But if they can sense me, maybe others can as well.’
It wasn’t a pleasant thought. Anya was using the orb to look in on others and while she did feel a little guilty for some of her spying, she justified it as most of the people she was spying on were actively searching for her and intending her harm.
Anya backed away from the orb and picked up the blanket she was standing on and clutched it to her chest. She stared at the orb. Deran had said nothing about others sensing her presence when using the orb. More than a little disturbed, Anya turned and left the room of the orb, making her way silently through the hidden passages. She was halfway back to her quarters when she remembered she had not returned to look in on Perov as he visited with the owners of the house where she was born.
Anya paused in the hallway. Half of her wanted to go back, the other half wanted to speak to Deran before she again touched the orb. She stood debating it for a long time and then slowly continued her journey back to her quarters. If someone could detect her presence through the orb, then she needed to figure out why and how. If possible she needed to figure out how to prevent them from sensing her.
‘And I certainly need to figure out a way to keep Perov from sensing me.’
While it was spooky to have Ramel and his grandfather detect her unexpectedly, it would be worse if Perov or another of Lord Mathis’ agents did so.
‘Worse would be Lord Mathis sensing me.’ Anya decided. Not only would he know for certain that she was capable of using magic objects and might possess magic herself, but he would know that she was watching him and possibly realize that she was using an object in the House of the Star. Deran claimed that the Orb was legendary. If the legend was one Lord Mathis heard then he would know she hadn’t left the House of the star. He would know where to find her.
‘And he would know that the Matron lied to him,’ Anya thought. ‘No good can come from that.’
Ten til Midnight 