For those just tuning in, this challenge is about taking a story idea from bare bones idea into a fully fledged story by writing consistently every week day for fifteen minutes. The sentence I end with on one day, is the sentence I start with on the following. Part one was Bob’s story and has nothing whatsoever to do with the story below. Part Two follows a character named Penelope. I have a few basic sentences to act as road marks on her journey. I am loosely calling that an outline. We will see where she ends up by the time the story is done. For now, we start Part two of the 2025 Fifteen Minute Writing Challenge.
Day 162: She looked at her right hand.
She looked at her right hand. She focused on the ring and tried to ignore the fact that her left arm was now twice the size of her right. “It was in one of the bags,” she said.
“May I see it?” he asked.
She looked at her arms and remembered how much moving her left arm hurt. “If you can take it off my finger,” she said. I don’t think I’m up to removing it at the moment.”
“Ah yes I see the problem.” The man leaned forward and lifted her right hand. He reached for the ring and bit back a curse as it shocked him. He dropped her hand and shook his fingers.
“Not trying that again,” he said. “Why don’t you hold your hand out and I will look at what I can see while it is on your finger.”
Penelope held out her hand and the man took out a jeweler’s eye. He fitted it into his right eye and bent over her hand, careful not to touch. He studied it for a moment and then asked her to flip her hand over. There wasn’t much to see in the back and he soon leaned back.
“My guess is that someone died and a load of old costume jewelry was sold or donated and these two were somehow in the mix. It happens from time to time.”
Penelope decided not to tell him about the other pieces of jewelry.
“You certainly got quite the bargain,” he said. I do not know about the properties of the ring and can’t really study it when it is on your hand. I doubt it would let me study it anyway. Often rings that respond like that choose their owner and then aren’t really terribly friendly to other mages. This one seems to like you.”
Penelope looked at the ring and thought about how right it felt to put it on,
“It isn’t dangerous is it?” She asked.
“To you, never,” he told her. “But I would look into what ever else it might do so you aren’t accidentally a danger to others. As for the bracelet,” he picked up the bracelet. Several of the beads were misshapen as though the metal melted.
“They were protective,” he said pointing out the mangled bits. “And all of them did their job. I suspect they were each designed to work individually but when the attack came they worked together and sort of magnified the protection, which is probably why you aren’t dead.”
He shrugged. “I’d have to look at the report from the scene, but I imagine they will find from the residue that whatever this Peter aimed at you it was lethal.”
Penelope recalled the look on his face and nodded.
“The protections are now toast,” he continued when she didn’t say anything. “The other charms are useful still, but the protections will have to be replaced.”
Penelope looked at the bracelet.
Ten til Midnight 