Let me tell you a thing.

Yesterday afternoon?

Yesterday afternoon sucked.

That is all.

Great News!

Guess who just figured out where they're going to put their Glee/Hunger Games crossover story?

THIS GIRL.

It's not here, but there will be links!

And this will go WELL dammit, WELL!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

AND HAPPY NEW LAPTOP FOR ME

IT'S THE

 K R I N G L E F U C K E R 

NaNoWriMo Part 2

Never mind.

NaNoWriMo.

I'm entering it.

Wish me luck.

Writing is Fantastic!!

Do you guys remember how in my last holidays I set myself a challenge of writing a chapter a day?

Well guess what!

I've done it again! And it's fantastic! I'm still not going to tell any of you anything about the plot or let you read it (excluding the three of you I've shown this to, naturally) But I have decided that I will show you the chapter headings.

Because they're pretty okay. Each chapter also comes with a theme, but you don't have to listen to, but some of the songs are simply excellent and it's what I would've been listening to as I wrote the chapter.

Prologue – Theme: Wonderland by Ke$ha

Chapter One: Humble Beginnings – Theme: Our House by Madness

Chapter Two: Monday Mornings – Theme: Inside It’s Raining by Art Of Dying

Chapter Three: Family Reunion – Theme: The Reason by Hoobastank

Chapter Four: Regroup – Theme: Bleeding Out by Imagine Dragons

Chapter Five: Back In Business – Theme: You’re On Fire by They Might Be Giants

Chapter Six: No Turning Back – Theme: Until We Get Caught by Hit The Lights

Chapter Seven: Desolate – Theme: The Sky Is Falling by Bodhi Jones

And...

Chapter Ten: Awkward And Charming – Theme: Amaryllis by Shinedown

I'm writing chapter seven tomorrow, and I wrote chapter ten aaaaaaaages ago. Though its chapter number is liable to change at this point in time. It'll probably end up happening WAY later, now that I think about it.

Actually, I strongly recommend listening to Amaryllis simply because Miles was originally going to use it as a theme for a chapter of BFB, but when he showed it to me I listened to it twice and proceeded to write 2,626 words off of it.

Needless to say, it is an excellent song.

18,429 words, 35 pages, 80,683 characters (no spaces), 518 paragraphs, 1,662 lines.

And it's titled Strand #5.

Holy moley I feel grand.

It's Coming.

It's coming and I'm more excited than I think I should be.

Most of you would know that I was born in a little town in Northern California, but I'll tell you guys a nice little thing.

I am so Australian. I talk like one. All of my ridiculous contractions. Things like shouldn't've. I say that. That's not me being a lazy typer, I actually speak like this.

I say "yeah, no", I know the right amount of Vegemite to put on my toast, I yell "Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi" like there's no tomorrow.

It's sickening, how patriotic I've been feeling lately.

It isn't, actually, that'd defeat the purpose, but the point is that I only just figured it out.

I love this time of year in Australia. I love Sydney. I love it to pieces. It's beautiful. Jacaranda trees and eucalyptus on every street.

It's the last week of August and it always is.

Everything gets a little bit warmer, and a soft breeze blows through everything. It carries the smell everywhere.

It's gorgeous.

Admittedly, during summer when that same breeze blows through it makes everything feel ridiculously sticky, but I think I can deal with that.

The thing is, with this smell everywhere, I've learnt to adore this time of year. It happened last year, too. However, the year before didn't have any such feeling, and I have realised why.

The smell makes me think about my old friend, Frog. It makes me feel like walking through North Sydney in shorts and a t-shirt and sandals. It makes me feel like writing. It makes me feel like running on grass until I can't breath anymore. It makes me feel like reading Skulduggery Pleasant.

It was this time of year about four years ago that I started reading SP. It was this time two years ago that I started reading Derek's blog. October 21st of 2011 I first spoke on the blog. I first spoke to Val. November 13th I made this blog and put up my first piece of writing.

These days are closing in on me. And Australia smells like it did then.

But, to conclude.

It's coming, and I'm so excited.

Summer is on it's way.

Changes.

So, you know how I had this whole "Skirmish & Co" idea thingy in the last post?

Yeah, well, that's not happening anymore.

Cause it turns out Skirmish is fucking little shit who should never be trusted under any circumstances.

That is all.

Next Saga of Braginski.

Sparky sat down and leant back in her chair, surveying her new office. She was taking a moment to indulge in her business, when there was a knock at her door.

“Come in!” The door creaked open and Hayley snuck in and leant over the front of her desk.

“I just wanted to ask about the name of the company again.”
“Skirmish & Co?”

“Yeah, it just seems a bit like I’m the head, which isn’t true, cause it was your idea and I don’t like offices.”

“Yeah, well, all of the other names involved give off a bad or directionless vibe. And if you put the names together it sounds bloody awful.”

“Braginski & Co?”
“Doesn’t give direction, like I said.”
“Blood & Co?”

“Echo didn’t want her name up there and it’s a bit foreboding.”
“Inferno & Co?”

“We aren’t all arsonists, Hayley. Not to mention, you have the longest standing professional work in your field and it gives a pretty basic explanation of what we do here.” Hayley leant against the wall and huffed in response.

“Right, a thief, a tracker, a thug-“
“I resent that.”
“And a trap and escape artist.”

“And an independent detective agency in literally the next building.”
“Acid and Áine will not join our company.” She said.
“Don’t bet on it.”

Expect follow up to this in future.

ARGGGH

WORDS. WORDS IN MY HEAD.

I HAVE TO FINISH A HISTORY ESSAY TODAY.

THERE ARE NO WORDS LEFT IN MY HEAD.

Actually, there's a spectacularly large abundance of words in my head, and most of them are intelligent. The problem is that they're NOT ABOUT HISTORY.

RRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAARGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH


In other words the new story has five written chapters and 11,966-

I literally just checked the word count then and I honestly was not aware that I've written over 10,000 words since Wednesday.

NO WONDER I DON'T HAVE ANY WORDS.

Soooooo...

I have been writing, but... You don't get to see it yet (don't kill me)!

You should be glad to know that I've been writing at all, and it hasn't just been the various fanfictions I've thrown myself into.

What's that? Not L4D? Not The Hunger Games?

That's right. Don't get me wrong, I'm still crazy obsessed with winning Zath's competition, and I'm still going to write the L4D one-shot collection.

I've just been focusing on other things.

Like, my goal has been a chapter a day, and for the last three days it's worked quite well.

I'm halfway to my goal number of words today, so I'm just taking a little break right now.

But, the grand total number of words that have been written by me in the past three days is...

*mega drumroll*

Six thousand six hundred and eighty three words!

Honestly, if that isn't an impressive amount of effort in someone my age, I will honestly never be able to please you guys.

Peace out.

It feels like I haven't posted in a while.

So it's story time, naturally.

Sparky entered the Elders Chamber with what she considered to be an appropriate amount of tenacity. She was really only worried because of two things. The first being that she had never actually been called to talk to the Elders before this, only getting a small message of recognition whenever she effectively saved the world or brought in some magical crazy-face who had been terrorising the country. The second was that only a week prior to this meeting Elder Sassk had been… Forced to retire. This, in turn, had caused everyone around the Sanctuary to be quite high-strung of late. She shut the door behind her as quietly as she could and stood in front of the Grand Mage and his right hand Elder.

“You asked to see me?” Sparky said, trying with all her might to keep her voice steady. The Grand Mage nodded solemnly.

“Agent, it has come to our attention that you are a very reliable worker within the ranks of the Sanctuary.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“And, due to a recent spot opening up, higher up the ladder, I conferred with Elder Ramona, and we both decided that you would be the perfect person for the spot.”
“Basically, Grand Mage White and I have looked at your records and gained some references about you. There’s a general consensus among your peers that you have strong morals, you’re a good leader, you think laterally under pressure and you have a reputation for being merciless when your job calls for it.”

“And we would like to offer you the position of becoming the new Elder.”

“W-What?” Sparky squeaked. The Grand Mage winced ever so slightly.

“There is one small thing, though. On one of your earlier missions you we involved in a stake out to capture one Hayley Skirmish.” At the mention of Sparky’s best friend’s name, her stomach drop and her skin went cold.
“Oh god.” She thought.

“Since then, you have had countless opportunities to capture her, and refused, on the grounds that she is your… Closest friend.” The Grand Mage’s voice went hard. “We cannot let you have the position if you value your friendship with her over the safety of the country.” Instinctively, Sparky responded.

“She’s saved the world numerous times herself. Once with the aid of the Skeleton Detective and his assistant.”

“That is not the issue here, Agent. The issue is that she is on our wanted list and you drink coffee with her on your mornings off.” Elder Ramona snaps.
“Wait, are you trying to bribe me? With a job? Are you bribing me into selling out my best friend?”

“Those are not the words we’d choose to describe it-“
“But they are the right ones. I can’t believe I’m working for people as corrupt as that.” Sparky turned on her heel and started heading out.

“Please consider out offer more seriously, Agent. There are a lot of perks to being an Elder. You could even become Grand Mage one day.” The Elder said. Sparky stopped and looked back.

“Shove it up your ass. I quit.”

So, that was made for two reasons. One, I had the sudden urge to have Sparky stop working at the Sanctuary, and two, I've always found it hilarious that people though I would make a good Elder.

So that happened.

Oh, I've also been taking another look at my Left 4 Dead fan fiction, and made an executive decision about it. I'm currently re-writing it, but because that's BORING AS HELL I've chosen to write it as a series of one-shots. So, instead of having one long-ass story that has all the boring bits between things happening, it'll be a stack of bits that you won't get to read chronologically.

So, to start, I'm writing Steph meeting everyone she meets along the way, and from there various things will happen, but time skipping will be something you have to get used too.

And thus, posts with that particular fanfic will be the text itself, and then a small summary of where it sits between other events.

Expect that soonish, cause I'm on holidays and therefore bored as ever!

*hatesmakingtitlesalot*

Friends, romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.

And, naturally, by ears I mean time.

And by time I mean your time to comment.

As in, I'm going to post a teaser paragraph and see if you want to know what happens before and after what happens in said paragraph?

Kay? Kay.

After school Ainsley and I met up with my girlfriend, Alex, and Ainsley’s boyfriend, Chandler, and we went out for dinner. It was when Chandler was driving us home that things really became unusual. Nothing extraordinary happened, it was just Chandler’s car running out of gas that, if anything, was hugely inconvenient. So, basically, the four of us are now walking down a highway in search of a phone or reception. And it’s dark. And it’s raining.

Because life’s a bitch.

Anyway, I’m somewhere between very and extremely jealous of Ainsley right now, simply because Chandler gave her his jacket. I, however, am jacketless because Alex forgot hers so I had to give her mine. I feel her hand link with mine.

“I’m sorry I forgot my jacket, Zoey…” Alex says.

“I know.”
“I’ll remember next time.” She coos.

“I know.”

“How can I make it up to you?” she asks, sensing my speedily worsening mood.

“When we get home, you’re making me dinner. And you’re making a blanket nest around me. And you’re being my servant.”

“Oh, so you’re coming to my place after we get a ride?” she says, challenging me. I look at her and her face immediately drops and she nods.

“Okay.” The four of us walk in silence for a little while longer, but soon enough I’m tired of walking through the rain.

“Guys, the other side of the road is covered, can’t we cross and walk there?” I ask. Chandler shrugs.

“Do what you want, I’m not the boss of you.” Ainsley mutters. I nod and look at the road, checking both ways for headlights before stepping out onto the road. I'm little more than halfway across the six lanes when I hear tires screeching- There aren't any headlights. I'm on the ground. Am I on the ground? Where are the headlight? I can hear someone talking. Or are they screaming? Am I screaming? The ground's wet. Why am I on the ground? Shouldn't there be headlights?

Comment? Deal.

B-Day.

It's my birthday today.

That's right folks, I'm finally fifteen, which means I can watch MA movies at the cinema legally now.

I've been waiting my whole life for this.

Not to mention, I got frikkin ITUNES money. That's basically GOLD.

And two notebooks.

And another Adventure Time T-shirt! It's pyjamas. (Anyone who gets the reference gets a gift)

And red velvet cupcakes. 

And chocolate and I FELT SO LOVED LKJDLSKAFGLIUBF;QOFMCCVAWLRMCFJEABLKNACOP FRGSKRLFHJCNVKBI HUDOSDAJLKSSBFEHIL

So, yeah, that happened.

Filler.

Well, I was just casually sitting on my laptop, aimlessly browsing the internet (mostly Tumblr, DeviantArt and YouTube, typically) casually complaining about how no one's updated their blog recently.

And then I realised that I haven't updated mine in, like, ages, so I felt guilty and ended up here.

Hi.

I know I just had two weeks of holidays, but I literally had not written anything until this morning, except for a small fanfiction of a fanfiction that was inspired by a drabble I wrote a very long time ago.

( http://myuselessshortstories.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/map-pre-stagnant-by-sparky.html )

Confused yet?

But, I do have a leftover first sixth/fifth of the first chapter of the story I was writing last term, which I spent a lot of time building plot/character/setting/other incidental things such as this so there will be a bit more of that in time whether you like it or not.

I may have run into a problem though. My main protagonist plays a purposely small role for the better part of the beginning of the story, so I haven't been concentrating on her very much, and consequentially, another character has taken a more obvious lead role.

...

Whoops.

Anyway, here's a chunk of a bit of the first chapter- No, really, confused yet?- but before that, a link to the Prologue...

http://insidesparkybraginskishead.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/victorious-wins.html

Ah, there, for all those who need their memories refreshed.

I, uh, also made a couple edits, and more edits to the prologue will come, but you shouldn't worry yourself with it unless you're all like: "OH! LOOK, SPARKY, YOU CONTRADICTED YOURSELF, THERE'S A MISTAKE!" Chances are I've gone back and re-edited so that everything suits me with each update.

Yay.

Chapter One

Hunter crept down her staircase, at five in the morning; in her school uniform with her already packed schoolbag slung over her shoulder. Her favourite camera was hanging at her hip from the strap that ran diagonally across her chest and back. She carefully packed herself a lunch, tucked a water bottle into her bag side pocket and grabbed an apple and a muesli bar that she’d left on the counter the previous night. She then snuck out of her house, shutting the door behind her quietly. She pulled her phone out and started typing a text to her parents.

Just left, heading straight to school, I’ll let you know when I get there. Have a good day. –H

She then plugged her earphones and started her walk to school, making sure her camera was set so that she could take a picture the second she saw something worth taking a picture of. Hunter took pictures for the school newsletter, not that anyone ever read it. She also had a small blog set up of some of her better pictures and drawings, but she didn’t know any of the people who followed it. She glanced at the sky and noticed that it was going to rain at some point throughout the day, probably soon. She grumbled something about the only thing she left behind being an umbrella. She picked up her pace slightly, when that urge hit her. It always started with a tingle, in her fingertips. She needed to draw. But she was nowhere near school, or home. She decided to ignore it until she got to school. She assumed that her right hand always began to tingle first because she drew with her right hand, but as the tingle spread up her hand, she could feel the sensation start in her left. She picked up her pace slightly as her hands started to itch. She was tempted to simply sit on the sidewalk and draw there, but she knew that wasn’t an at all safe thing to do, so she stuffed her hands into her blazer pockets and continued walking at her just-too-fast pace.

By the time Hunter made it to school she had to clench her fists to keep them from shaking. She power-walked to her locker and unlocked it, after about seven tries. She shoved her bag in, hung her camera on the hook on the inside of the locker door, grabbed her pencil case and her sketchbook and slammed her locker shut and leaned against it as she started to draw. As she drew she quietly hissed a thanks to whichever god happened to be looking kindly upon her at the time, because there was no one around to see that display. As she was drawing, she didn’t notice a girl walk up and start watching her draw. When Hunter was finished, she finally noticed the girl standing in front of her and quickly shut the sketchbook, before she even really looked at the image.

‘Hey, Christa.’

‘I didn’t know you could draw.’ Christa replied. Hunter frowned slightly.

‘I didn’t know you enjoyed watching people draw.’

‘You’re so focused.’

‘Yeah, well… Don’t go raving. I don’t feel like being anyone’s artist.’ Hunter muttered. Christa nodded, slowly. She turned to walk away but looked back, before she left.

‘You’re really good.’ And with that, she walked off. Hunter watched her go, slotting the sketchbook back into her locker without looking at the drawing before she got her phone out to send a text to her parents.

Like, y'know, two paragraphs, but whatever. It exists.

And it's going to be very Hunter- centric this chapter. Lots of character jumping.

Enjoy!

One Day, A Proper Title Will Be Thought Of.

I promise.

ANYWHO.

I told myself that I would post today, and here I am, posting today.

What do I have to talk about?

Well, lets see, what happened today...

Oh, that's right. At quarter to seven I slammed the boot of my car into my nose.

No, I don't know how it happened. I'm clumsy.

Yes, I basically punched myself in the face. There's a small cut on the bridge of my nose, and my right eye will probably look like I was legitimately punched tomorrow.

So, I've decided to make a tally.

I call it...

Sparky's Injury Count Of The Past Four Days.

Actually, that isn't right.

Sparky's Self-Inflicted Injury Count Of The Past Fours Days.

We're counting back from most recent to least recent, guys, read and fins out just how clumsy I've been this week.

1. Head butted my locker
2. Stood up into the locker door above mine
3. Tripped on chair leg in class
4. Almost dropped TMS in hallway and jabbed myself in the side with my laptop
5. Stubbed my toe while attempting to kick friend
6. Hit self in head with trombone
7. Slammed boot door onto my face
8. Fell out of bed due to tangled sheets

**Pause**

Yes, that all happened today. If anyone's curious as to why I'm still carrying TMS around, I lent it to a friend and she gave it back today.

**Yesterday**

9. Walked into the side of a door
10. Rolled ankle on misplaced shoe in bedroom
11. Tripped on laptop charge cable
12. Opened door into my face
13. Had fight with doorframe- lost
14. Accidentally ran into different doorframe, purple bruise on left hip
15. Legit walked into a wall, I don't even know how
16. Mirror/cupboard door swung into my head

**Pause again**

That's all after school finished yesterday.

17. Someone dropped their lock on my foot
18. Someone beat me with a hardback book for incorrectly quoting Percy Jackson
19. Had chocolate thrown at my head for being possibly too obsessively corrective of an SP quote
20. Walked into doorframe with eyes shut cause I was tired

**Day Before Yesterday**

21. Walked into a different wall, still not sure how that even works
22. Hit head against wall from laughing too hard
23. Made the stupid decision to punch a wall
24. Made stupid decision to kick a wall
25. Made stupid decision to walk in front of a friend fangirling about Clockwork Princess, got kicked in the shins
26. Tripped on shoelaces
27. Stubbed toe on laundry basket

**Day Before Day Before Yesterday**

28. Tackle-Hugged doorframe
29. Opened door into my face
30. Rolled ankle on trombone case
31. Hit self in head with trombone
32. Got tackled
33. Tripped on someones leg

So, yes, I'm having a clumsy week.

And, Jesus H. Christ, MY FACE HURTS SO MUCH.

I RUBBED MY EYES JUST THEN AND THEY'VE STARTED WATERING

IT HURTS SO MUCH

Jeez.

Okay, guys, I need your help.

If you look to two posts ago-

http://insidesparkybraginskishead.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/victorious-wins.html

You'll see a new story.

If you look to the previous post-

http://insidesparkybraginskishead.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/i-actually-finished-chapter-one.html

You'll see the two stories that I'm giving the most attention currently.

So, now, I ask, would you rather Chapter 2 of the fan fiction to be written next, or Chapter 1 of the original story?

Both will take some time because there are details I need to figure out, but I can't decide which one to concentrate on.

So, comment away and say which you'd like!

I Actually Finished Chapter One!

Unspeakable, I know!!

Chapter One

Echo drove back to her house and heard Hayley park her bike in the driveway a few minutes later. Hayley opened the door- it was locked- and walked into the living room. Echo arched an eyebrow at her.

‘You know everyone’s contact details, I know the layout of everyone’s house. By the way, I’ve decided to overlook that you found my number.’

‘Alright.’

‘So, what’s happened?’

‘Well, I was talking to Sparky while she was walking home from work, and a man grabbed her. She tried to shock him, but it didn’t work, because he gave her a sedative and dragged her away.’ Echo stood up, going to get a silencer for Hayley’s gun.

‘Don’t.’ Hayley said, pulling a silencer out of the inside pocket of her jacket. She nearly tossed it onto the wooden coffee table, but stopped herself right before she did. Echo sent her a nod of appreciation and sat down again. There was a moment of silence.

‘It must drive you mad.’ Hayley mumbled.

‘What?’

‘Being able to hear everything. Being able to smell everything, and see every little detail.’ She paused and chuckled, ‘When the neighbours have-‘

‘Don’t!’ Echo interrupted, shaking the thought out of her mind. ‘Don’t say it…!’ Hayley merely grinned back.

‘So, what’s the game plan, then?’ Hayley asked, leaning back. ‘Sparky’s gotten herself into another mess and, as always, I’ve been called in to get her out of trouble.’

‘There may be a small problem with that.’

‘Yeah?’

‘I couldn’t track the kidnapper. It was raining too hard. I can barely stand outside for more than thirty seconds at a time.’

‘So… What do we do?’

‘I’ll show you the way to where she was taken.’ Echo said, standing up and getting her keys. Hayley sighed and stood up after her, picking her helmet up off the ground by the door. She put it on and walked over to her bike and waited for Echo to start her car up. Hayley could tell that it was going to be a long night.

Hayley kept her helmet on when she saw Echo stop, braking on her bike and flipping the kick stand out. She walked up to Echo’s car, glancing upwards at the annoying sound of the rain hitting her helmet, which she could now hear clearly because the engine of her bike had been roaring over the top of it before. She opened the door to Echo’s car and sat inside.

‘Sorry about the water.’ She grunted, her words being muffled through her helmet, which she took off as soon as she finished speaking.

‘That’s alright.’

‘Will you be able to track them once the rain stops?’ Hayley asked.

‘It depends. The rain should be stopping soon, so there’s a chance.’

‘How good is the chance?’ Hayley asked, brushing the water off her arms.

‘Very slim. We may have to bring some other people in.’

‘Like?’ Hayley resisted the urge to groan. Hayley hated people as a rule. They had to earn her good humour, which is something few people managed.

‘Well, for one, I never saw the guy, and he’s probably throwing his scent, so we’d need a psychic…’

‘Who, Echo?’

‘Asche.’ Echo answered. Hayley finally groaned and tilted her head back.

‘Why are you still in touch with her?’

‘We work together.’ Echo said, simply. Hayley shook her head.

‘Nup, nope, I’m going now. Call me at a reasonable hour. Like two in the afternoon.’ Hayley said, getting out of the car and putting her helmet on.

‘But what about Sparky?’ Echo called.

‘She can take care of herself for a few hours. If she was going to be killed, they’d have killed her on the spot.’

‘But-‘ Echo began, but was cut off by Hayley leaning back into the car and pulling her helmet off again.

‘Look, I’m getting supplies. If we’re going to be bringing other people in, we need a method of communication. Not everyone will have a silencer for their guns, and you won’t have enough spares. Different people need different equipment, tailored to their abilities. So while you get them, I’m going to go do what I do best.’

‘And what’s that?’

‘I’m gonna steal that shit.’

The rain had stopped by the time Echo got home, and it was about five in the morning. As Echo walked into her living room, she yawned and pulled her phone out, calling the number of her friend, Asche Inferno. Asche didn’t pick up, no doubt to how early it was and the fact that her job normally didn’t require her to be up in the mornings. Echo sighed and called again. This time Asche replied on the sixth ring.

‘Whaat?’ she grumbled, rubbing her eyes as she got up.

‘I need you to come over.’

‘But it’s our day off, Echo! You know what that means, right? It means sleeping in till noon and not worrying about anyone’s wellbeing for a few quiet hours!’

‘Look, I need you to come over.’

‘Do you want me to blow something up?’ Asche asked, her eyes widening in anticipation.

‘No! No, Asche! I told you, no blowing things up in my house!’

‘Fine…’                                                                                                   

‘Just come, alright? See you soon.’

‘Alright…’ Asche moaned, hanging up the phone. She got up and donned a grey hoodie and some jeans, pulld a pair of scruffy black converse on and patted her pet cat, Felix, before quickly brushing her hair and pulling back into an untidy ponytail before walking to Echo’s house, which was a few blocks away. She opened the door- it wasn’t locked- and kicked her shoes off before walking into the living room and crashing onto Echo’s couch.

‘Now tell me why I’m here.’

‘That girl… Will be the death of us.’ Asche said, gripping her cup of tea, frowning.

‘I’ve been told.’

‘Have you been told today?’

‘Yes.’

‘By who?’ Asche asked, sitting up.

‘Hayley.’

‘Ah.’ Asche sipped her tea, her brow creasing further. ‘Then where is she?’

‘Getting supplies, apparently.’ Echo answered. ‘Anyway, we should be getting to work.’

‘Echo, you know that I can really only see the future, right? I can tell you where Sparky is now.’

‘Then let’s find out where she’ll be.’

Asche was sitting in the middle of Echo’s sitting room, in deep concentration. A scene folded out inside her head.

Sparky was chained to a chair, sitting chest deep in water. The room was closed off and there was a glass window that two hooded figures stood behind, with a control panel in front of them. One of them leaned forward and spoke into the microphone.

‘What’s worse than torture?’ he said. His words came through a speaker in the room with Sparky. Unfazed, she arched an eyebrow.

‘Do you want me to answer this question, because I don’t really want to.’

‘Humiliation. More specifically, humiliating torture.’

‘Oh, so that’s why I’m practically underwater. I think you missed the memo, though. I don’t shock myself anymore.’

‘Only when you’re panicking.’ The man says, grinning widely.

‘Yeah…’ Sparky replied. ‘Look, what exactly do you want? I’m one of those faceless people in the Sanctuary, which I assume you know about because of your protective clothing and knowledge of my magic.’

‘It’s not to do with your job. You have two options. You tell us what we want to know, or we keep you hostage until your friends find you.’

‘What do you want to know?’ Sparky asked.

‘A friends of yours took something that belongs to us. We’d like it back.’

‘Dammit, Hayley.’ She muttered, ‘And I can help you with that because…?’ she asked, flicking a strand of hair off her face.

‘You’re the only person who’s safe to keep in a situation like this who has close ties to Hayley Skirmish.’

‘Safe?’

‘Vulpin Rogue is a dangerous person to keep as a hostage.’

‘I see.’ Sparky pondered it for a moment. ‘So, I’m a lure?’

‘If you don’t tell us where Skirmish is.’

‘Well, in that case, you’re going to have to wait for a while.’ Sparky informed. The quiet man chuckled.

‘We haven’t even started the interrogation yet, Braginski.’ The man said. The quiet man, whom Sparky had already chosen to refer to as ‘Buttons’- Sparky always had an odd sense of humour- flicked a switch on the control panel. A small section of the wall slid away and a miniature platform extended into the room. On the platform rested a glass box, with a large, black spider inside it. Sparky’s attitude changed immediately.

‘Okay, this is a whole world of not okay.’ She said, as the platform stopped, just in front of her shoulder. The spider moved slightly within the box, and Sparky jerked back, uttering a whimper.

‘I will fuck you up, guys, seriously.’ Sparky said. The first man- now known as Rat- spoke into the microphone again.

‘All you have to do is tell how to get Skirmish.’

‘Which you’ll never hear from me.’

‘That’s too bad.’ Rat sighed. He nodded at Buttons who pressed another button, which lifted the lid of the box and the spider started moving towards Sparky.

‘Don’t worry,’ Rat laughed, ‘it’s not poisonous.’ The spider scuttled closer to Sparky who jerked again.

‘No, no, no, no, no, no-‘ the spider crawled onto her shoulder and she screamed, then clenched her mouth shut at the thought of the spider walking on her face. She shut her eyes tight and curled her hands into fists. The spider slowly made it’s way closer to Sparky’s neck. The instant is touched her skin the room light up and Sparky screamed. As soon as the light was gone Sparky convulsed until the dead spider dropped off her shoulder. The room lit up once more and Sparky screamed again. She spent a moment shaking before grunting something and Rat tapped the microphone.

‘I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that.’ He smirked.

‘Please.’ Sparky sobbed.

‘Then tell us.’

The image whipped out of Asche’s mind right as Sparky opened her mouth again, whether to scream or tell was unknown. Now, normally Asche would be the first in line to laugh at Sparky’s phobia of spiders, but watching her friend be filled with such absolute terror was jarring. Echo had been watching Asche silently.

‘Where is she?’ she asked. Asche shut her eyes and thought carefully.

‘I need a map.’

Asche was lying on Echo’s couch, having a nap when Echo finished figuring out exactly where it was Sparky’s going to be. She then got her phone out and checked the time. Seeing that it was now 8:00, she figured it would be safe to call the next person they were going to need.

‘Áine, are you there?’

‘Yeah. Who else would be answering my phone?’

‘Can you come over?’

‘Sure, why?’ Áine asked. Echo considered answering her.

‘I’ll tell you when you get here.’ She said, noticing Asche get up and move into her kitchen.

‘Alright see you soon.’ Áine said, ending the call. Echo pocketed her phone and followed Asche into the kitchen.

‘What are you doing?’

‘Coffee.’ Asche mumbled. Echo watched her walking around the kitchen for a moment.

‘What are you thinking about?’ Echo asked.

‘They’re using Sparky as a lure. She could be tortured five minutes from now, or five days from now, but they’re using her as bait, and I know we’re falling into a trap.’

‘What do you think we should do?’ Echo asked. Asche shrugged.

‘I don’t know, Sparky’s the one who plans everything in these situations!’

 She defended. She poured the coffee into a mug and took a sip from it.

‘Have you considered calling Acid?’ Asche asked, eventually. Echo nodded.

‘I’ll send her a text.’

Acid pulled up to the curb of Echo’s house at the same time as Áine. They looked at each other carefully, before Áine’s eyes widened.

‘Aw, shit. What’s she done this time?’

‘Of course…’ Acid sighed. The pair walked to Echo’s front door and smiled as it opened in front of them.

‘There’s coffee. I think you’ll need it.’ Echo greeted. The two girls’ suspicions confirmed, they walked into the house, looking for the coffee. Echo explained to them what the predicament was as they drank. When she was finished, Áine asked a question.

‘Who else has been called in?’

‘Well-‘ Echo started.

‘How fortunate that I guessed those two would be here when I came back.’ Hayley Skirmish walked across the threshold and placed a box on the kitchen counter. She looked at the four girls in front of her.

‘I hope there’s room for one more person to crash this retrieval mission.’

‘Who?’ Acid asked. The front door opened again and a blonde girl with bright eyes and an equally enthusiastic smile sauntered in. Her weathered combat boots made little sound as she moved, and her jacket sleeves concealed the twin daggers strapped to the backs of her forearms.

‘Really Acid,’ she said, leaning onto the counter, 'The question is "Who else?"' Vulpin Rouge finished, grinning widely.

People misunderstand how not-okay I am with spiders.