I’ve been working on a new book/series/universe for a sum total of two days, and absolutely loving it. It might all come to nothing, but it will, at minimum, get my focus back on the creative and get me out of the slump I’ve been mired in for the last couple of weeks.
The raw, untitled excerpt below is unproofed, unedited, and offered up just for fun. My first present tense narrative, so it is undoubtfully a rough read in places, please be gentle with me.
The girl at the counter is maybe fifteen. Tiny but long-limbed, her multicolored scraggly hair hides her face as she bows her head over a greasy plate of fries. But I’d seen her deep blue, almost violet eyes as she cast her gaze around the cafe upon entering. Her two companions, who couldn’t look more like stereotypical bikers if they tried — leather jackets, beards, and club patches and all — are easily three times her size. Their grip on her upper arms is beyond proprietary.
The violet eyes are as rare as the power the girl has simmering in her veins.
But it’s the glimpse of the raw skin on the girl’s wrists I catch when she pushes up the sleeves of her overly large, ratty sweater that disturbs me more than the eyes or the power I can feel all the way from the other side of the cafe.
I touch the amulet I wear under my own sweater. Unlike the girl’s hand-me-down, my sweater is a luxuriously soft, thin-knit black cashmere, intentionally oversized and tailored to be figure flattering. For spending the day in the car and the cooler weather, I paired it with merino wool-lined faux leather leggings and lace-up handmade black leather boots.
The girl’s legs are bare. And dirty. If she’s wearing shorts or a skirt, I can’t see either. She isn’t carrying a purse nor does she appear to have a phone. Though anyone else her age — magically inclined or not — is usually glued to at least one device at all times, even this deep into the so-called wilds of the Cascadian territories.
The cafe had gone silent when the trio had entered. And the murmur of conversation is slow to pick up in the aftermath of their bombastically noisy arrival. An older woman had hustled out from the back kitchen area, smiling broadly — wearing the expression like it was armor — and nudging the other, young, female server aside to take the bikers’ orders. She — the owner of the cafe, I assume — ignores the violet-eyed teenager.
Everyone ignores the girl wedged between the bikers perching on the stools at the front counter. Their huge thighs press against hers, caging her between them as they mow through their burgers.
The younger server, her curly blond hair streaked pink and pulled up in a bun, sets my Caesar salad in front of me, cocking her hip against the edge of my table, effectively blocking my gaze of the girl and the bikers. Deliberately?
“Thank you,” I murmur.
“Anything else?” she asks stiffly, her pad in hand and expression guarded.
I glance at the salad. It’s taken longer to make and serve than the burgers and fries the trio ordered. Served in a large bowl, the creamy dressing is so thick it’s difficult to discern the green of the lettuce. I should have known better than to order a salad in a roadside diner.
I open my mouth to ask for the bill. But then, my magic speaking for me, I say, “A chocolate milkshake and chicken strips … to go, please,” instead.
The server frowns.
Not completely aware of what I’m doing — born on an innate knowing, the certain to be stupid and utterly foolhardy plan unfolding with each choice I make in the moment — I reach into the side pocket of my bag, pulling out the fold of twenty dollars bills I’d shoved in the side pocket before leaving Seattle. The ‘Wilds’ aka the stretches of neutral, and not-so-neutral territory, between the major cities still prefer cash exchanges. Though the cafe is outfitted with a fairly sleek tablet set to the side of the cash register on the far end of the counter, near the front door. Peeling three green holographically stamped bills from my short stack, I set them on the edge of the table. “I’m actually in a bit of a hurry.”
The server’s gaze flicks over me, then across my table to take in the brand new top-of-the-line phone and the designer sunglasses set next to my elbow. Both items are ridiculously expensive, but though I could, now, rather suddenly, afford such things, I didn’t pay full price for them. I don’t pay full price for anything. Beyond the windows, the sky is gray, rain threatening. But I’d wear the sunglasses in the bright interior of the cafe if I could get away with it. My eyes are perpetually sensitive to light. And for those who know what they are looking at, they firmly mark me as other. In this small outpost, at least. The sensitive sight is one of the drawbacks of the type of power I wield as effortlessly as breathing. The other not-so-effortless castings and manipulations I can do, again a fairly new unlocking of my abilities, come with a far steeper price.
The server is still checking me out, or rather trying to figure me out, shifting her gaze to the large black leather bag on the bench seat beside me. It’s more understated but also worth more than the phone and sunglasses put together.
I add another twenty to the pile of bills on the edge of the table, though it is possible that doing so will make me even more memorable. My actions are being guided by that same flicker of knowing, and unless it comes with a miasma of death and destruction, I usually follow my own innate senses.
Hell, to be completely clear, if only to myself, I usually follow whichever way my magic leads, headlong into mayhem and heartache.
The server sniffs offishly then picks up the eighty dollars and tucks it into her bra in a practiced and minimal move. A tattoo rings her wrist. At first, it appears to be a string of daisies, like those necklaces that some kids make in movies and storybooks. A purely intentional choice, given that her name tag also reads, Daisy. But, hovering at the beginning of what is starting to feel like a major knowing, my unintentional focus reveals a shimmer of numbers hidden underneath, etched into the delicate skin of the underside of her wrist. The numbers are a slave tattoo. The shimmer only someone like me can detect is a twist of fate manacled around her wrist. It’s old and stretched, though she herself is in her early twenties at most, and she’ll wear it — her entire fate anchored in it — until she greets her death.
I look away quickly before she notices and understands what I’ve seen of her.
I shouldn’t have stopped for lunch, pulled so far off the highway. I should have driven straight through from Seattle to Portland and then cut out to the coast. Not because I’m vulnerable or memorable, but because I shouldn’t get involved.
The server tucks her pad in the pocket of her white apron, her gaze flicking to the window, to the parking lot. Two huge motorbikes — the massive noise makers the bikers pulled up on — occupy the spot directly across from the front door, but the server curls her upper lip at the 1972 Silver BMW 3.0 CSI parked in the very last spot adjacent to the windows, to the booth I’m currently occupying, instead.
“Nice ride,” she sneers, either pissed or jealous. Hard to tell.
“My uncle’s,” I say, only partly lying. Mostly because he’s dead, I never met him, and he’d been just a few more generations removed than ‘uncle’ implies.
She snorts, stepping away and crossing around the counter — instead of in front of it, which would put her in arms reach of the bikers — to input my new order on the tablet at the far corner of the counter, next to the cash register. She makes an obvious effort to gaze into the kitchen through the passthrough window, instead of looking ahead of herself while walking. Beyond simply ignoring the bikers and the girl, she’s actively trying to avoid drawing their attention.
I wonder how much market share the local biker club holds in the local slave trade. Then I shove the thought away. Not my business. Really, really not.
I, contrarily, instantly set my gaze on the violet-eyed teenager again, already knowing without actually formulating a plan, that I am about to do something really stupid. I am about to follow a prompt from the universe, snag a thread of fate and twist it to achieve an outcome that isn’t technically mine to direct. Likely more than one thread, and in hindsight, I’d already swayed onto this path rather thoughtlessly, from the moment I pulled off the highway and taken a fifteen-minute detour.
But at least I’d have a milkshake and chicken strips, right? Yeah, I just went with the random requests that occasionally filtered through me from the universe. Well, most of the time.
– Conduit 1, an Alternate Universe Urban Fantasy, first draft
Updated April 27, 2023
Click here for Chapter One, Part Two
Click here for Chapter One, Part Three
Click here for Chapter Two, Part One
Click here for Chapter Two, Part Two and Three
Fantastic!! Can’t wait to read more!!
Ooh, can’t wait for more!
I am reminded of the definition of adventure; something very bad that happens to someone else very very far away. Not entirely sure why I thought that but had an odd urge…
I’m hooked!! Can’t wait for more…please!
Interesting…
I can’t wait for your new series. But also can’t wait for you next book in any series
Love it. When’s the pre-order date? Wishful thinking.
Oh, this is nowhere near that! 😁
Love it!
I wasn’t sure l would like this new series but that except has me intrigued and looking forward to the release
Omg!!! This was beautiful. Please write more about this when you are able? And thank you for the treat MCD!
I will!
Go for it! 😉 I was hooked after the first paragraph.
Yay!!
Love this. Pulled me in right away. Love your writing style. Once again, eagerly waiting for the finished product!
💕💕💕
Interesting! Can’t wait to find out more!
I would like more please! And also now I have to google merino lined leggings!
Love, love, love!!!
Intrigued… and wanting to know more about this new world and characters.
I would definitely love to dive into this new universe/world and am intrigued. I also love this would be a strong female with power (to be discovered) helping the girl even though a price will be paid. There is tragically real slave trade going on irl and this kind of book could explore that in a fictional way. Hope you continue it. Btw, even though I am fully invested in your current universe and characters, I wonder if most authors continue writing the sequels way past their own interest because they are selling well. As a reader, I have found I can tell when authors are just phoning it in and then become disappointed. I find it refreshing that you are looking to possibly create something new to stay fresh and happy in what you do so absolute well.
I love it! Hope something further comes from this because it’s great!
Ohhh, I’m hooked already! I hope you are able to finish it someday. (Is next week too soon?)
Seriously, I already love it. 😍
😜
Okay, you draw me right in, I am hooked. Enjoy yourself writing it.👍
❤️
Wow! I love it. I hope you decide to move forward with this story. Thank you for sharing.
Oh I really like it 😊
I wouldn’t have noticed any ‘lack’ of editing et.al, because I am totally drawn into this story! Wonderful work. Cannot wait (but I will, for years if necessary) Thank you, thank you, thank you!
💕💕💕
Totally hooked! Can’t wait for more!
That was ace! I have little shivers up and down my spine… thank you!
Yup! Already hooked 😉
Well, now I’m interested and want more!
As always, even with it being a rough draft, you manage to draw us into your story. I too want to read more. Thank you for sharing your talent with us.
Wait, you can’t leave it like that! I want more.
Okay. I’ll write more. 😁
Hope to see what happens next!
How do you do that? Not that many words, yet I want to know more about that world, that society, and the people in that scene, what in heck is going to happen – in no particular order. It is amazing, and I hope you can bring it to fruition! Thank you so much for the peek!
I like it! I’m so curious to see what happens next!
Bring it on! Can’t wait to read the whole thing!
Ok, get to work girl. 👍👍👍Grabbed me right away, but then I love everything you write.
Seriously, I would love to see this develop into even a singleton but a series it your character sings to you.
I like it! Your brain goes to some very interesting places 😍
Intriguing, I can’t wait for more!
Fascinating…as always! Cant wait to read more! How you come up with an unending number of novel characters and plots amazes me. Your inner world must be so dynamic and fun…and dark. Love it! Thank you for sharing it with us 😊
Just a little bit dark. 😂
More please!! Got my attention. Your brain is awesome!
Now you’ve done it…you have to keep going, we’re all hooked.
You always amaze me with your ability to draw me straight into your worlds. Every single one of your books do this. You definitely are a master storyteller.
I am so happy I found your books. Thank you for hours and hours of entertainment Meghan.
You and very few other writers spoil me for those that can’t grab you in the first couple paragraphs. I have far too many books left unread for that reason (and even a few chapters in…) and I’m wishing I could read this one NOW! Thank you so much for sharing your talent! ❤️
Love it!! It’s intriguing and I know you said it was a rough draft but I didn’t spot any issues with it. I already want to read more, and look forward to whatever stupid mistake is about to happen!! Well done you
I love this! When you say this is your first present tense narrative what does that mean? Are your other books not present tense? I’m sorry if this is a dumb question.
No, my other books are first person past tense. ‘I said’ instead of ‘I say’, for example.
Ohh okay I see the difference now. I was thinking of past versus present in a history book versus contemporary way if that makes sense.
Love it! Can’t wait to read more!
More please!! You are such a gifted writer. I am amazed at how you string words together and come out with something so fantastic that lures me in so quickly! Please work on this book, this is an amazing and intriguing start and I want more!!
Oh my, that was like trying a new awesome exotic chocolate bar from your favorite purveyor. I am so amazed with a writer’s ability to create with words. Like everyone above, I’m so totally hooked and want to know what happens. I hope you find this new world as fun to write as Jade’s. You’re so good at strong female lead characters. More, MORE!!
You are so going to get me hooked on another series. . . can’t wait! 🥰
What Barbara, Debbie, Lou, and Jennifer each said above.
Thus far, no-one Goddess has nudged me toward has been dangerous. They need only a smile, an ear, a shoulder—that sort of thing, and I can do that.
But I knew once the milkshake and chicken was ordered, there would be trouble in the next few pages.
Keep talking about this one.
So much fun! Thank you for sharing; you are a sweetheart. I know how hard it is to work while you’re in pain and yet you keep providing us with these wonderful escapes. Your brain would be an amazing place to live😄 Again, thank you
LOVE THIS! Hope it comes to fruition and we get to read more.
Well another winner in the works, and works, and works, and works….I’m glad you made it out of the writing doldrums, with a very interesting new world to play in. I know it will take years of work to get it done, but sooner would be better in my estimation (what everyone else said), great hook, and I look forward to more!
Completely obsessed! No pressure at all if you don’t finish but it’s awesome!
Why a teaser!! Can’t wait for more 🙂
Love this. I also would pre-order this book sight unseen.
Wow! That excerpt sucked me right in and the sense of danger had my heart beating faster! Can’t wait to see the finished story
I need more. I hope she kicks some biker a..! Saves violet eyed teen before her chicken strips grow cold.
Congratulations! Just like that, I’m ok with Emma’s story being ready to end and ready for this one to start. Excellent beginnings. I’m excited to be here from the beginning.
I’m already so intrigued! I can’t wait to read what this becomes.
Oh wow! I love it! I want, no, I NEED more! I’m in awe of your mind! Can’t wait to read more!
Yay!!
What a nice thing to discover when I was catching up on your blog. I have been under the weather (just a cold), so I haven’t felt like reading news or blogs that I follow.
Good luck with the new story it seems like a real winner and just like everyone above I would love to read this in a book form 😁
Oooh! I’m already drawn in! I need to know what happens next!! <3
Loved, love, loved the brand new story draft! Please, please continue with it!