This is a little spooky and really well written!  I wouldn't have thought Yameneko could be like that.  I really look forward to the next part.

These are really good! Sorry the reply is late. Is Kytleen Marsh still going to come in? Because I feel like she was hinted at a lot in the beginning, and as an antagonist. The writing in all of these is really clear, by the way. I look forward to the next installment. And TOP!

Chapter Nine — Allen

“So,” the cat-thing said softly, her voice like a thousand needles flying into Allen’s ears, “It is down to you. And it is down to me.”

Even in his frightened state, Allen recognized the quote from The Princess Bride. But he couldn’t remember for the life of him what Westley responded. He shivered again.

“Cold, my friend?” asked the cat-thing.

My friend. How could Allen have thought of this thing as a friend?

“Yes. I know what you were thinking earlier. It’s all in these pages. You thought I was a friend. Now you think i am a monster. What changed? I’m still the same person. Why should the sight of my face make you feel any differently?”

How was it possible that this… this monster could be making him feel guilty? Of course he was frightened at the sight of her face. It was all at once the face of a young girl and an ancient entity. She smiled at him, and her teeth were blinding white, even sharper and fiercer than her quiet voice.

“I— I’m not frightened,” Allen stuttered.

“No?” asked the cat thing. “You should be.” The shadows and lights swirled around her once more, but gently this time, so gently that Allen had to squint to be sure they really existed. And then, standing beside the cat-thing that had once been Yameneko, was a woman. Her dark hair fell in a perfect coiffure to her shoulders, gently brushing against the pale lilac cardigan she wore. The woman smiled, and it seemed as if purity and perfection shone from her eyes.

But Allen snarled. “Kytleen Marsh.”

“Yes,” the woman responded, and lifted a slender hand to brush against Allen’s cheek. “You were always my favorite, you know,” she whispered. “So brave, so sweet.” Allen shivered. How long ago had it been that he had longed for his librarian to say such words to him? Only a few years. “You don’t have to die, you know. You’re strong, stronger even than my sweet kitten here.”

The cat-thing growled, and Allen stepped back. “What?”

“Yes. You could help me.”

“I don’t understand. What do you want from me?”

Kytleen Marsh laughed, a gentle laugh, like a stream in the forest. “I’m a villain, dear heart. I want money, power. I want to rule the world. Look in any book. Now ask me a harder question, one I’d have to think about.”

“Um. How do I defeat you?”

She laughed again, of course. It was a silly question. But her laugh was sharper this time. “I see. So you do not accept my offer. How tragic. I had hoped it would not come to this.” She raised her hand, and the lights and shadows swirled around it. A moment of stillness passed, and she closed her eyes, as if thinking. “My kitten,” she said, inclining her head towards the cat-thing, “you may dispose of him.”

But her kitten stood like stone, shocked at something she saw. Her eyes flickered, gold one moment, dark brown the next. Her entire form was struggling, demon to human, as if something was trying to escape. Allen fixed his eyes on the thing and knew what was happening.

“How could you?” he asked, quietly. “She was just a little girl.”

“How could I call on a demon to possess an unimportant girl? How could I turn your puny friends into chapters of a book? I’m an editor, of course. I’m doing it for the story.”

And Allen grinned. He had only second, but he had found her weakness. It was simple, the sort of thing that he could have figured out at any time, if he had only used his mind. He pulled a pen from his pocket, and wrote carefully on his hand, Then, Yameneko escaped from the body of the cat. There were two forms now, a small girl and a demon cat. The cat-thing looked around, disoriented and confused, until it spotted Her. The woman who had trapped her for so long in the guise of a worthless human girl. And the demon unlatched its mouth, and hooked its claws, and swallowed the pretty librarian into its mouth, a void of swirling darkness. In stories, after all, the villain never gets a happily ever after.

Allen looked up. He knew that if he was wrong, if he couldn’t control the story he was living, he would be dead in an instant.

But he wasn’t wrong, of course. Kytleen Marsh let out a long, unbearable scream before she was devoured by the force she could not control. And then, there was nothing but darkness. And in the darkness was words.

Chapter Nine — Allen

“So,” the cat-thing said softly, her voice like a thousand needles flying into Allen’s ears, “It is down to you. And it is down to me.”

Epilogue

“Darling,” your mother shouts, “come on! We have to go! Don’t you want to get to the book store in time for the signing?”

Sighing, you close your book. Of course you want to be on time for the signing. Of course you want to meet Allen Underwood, the author of your favorite series of books, and the head of Sunny Meadows Publishing Company. But first, you want to finish reading the last book in the series. Authors. You rub your hand over the cover. It’s really a brilliant idea. There are ten books in the series, each in different genres. Mystery, graphic novel, fantasy, sci-fi, realistic fiction, historical fiction, poetry, short stories, picture book, and beginning reader. And then, of course, this last book, the book that pulls them all together. Each of the fictional authors, the people whose names are on the cover of Allen Underwood’s books.

Saylor Swallow. Iduna Vance. Myra Ellis. Rencon Elterbert. Katherine Ellis. Altoos Peregrine. Clay Dier. Lola Sage. Yamaneko Iriomotensis. All immortalized forever in print.

“Come on!” your mother shouts again. “We’re going to be late, and I have a meeting in an hour and a half.”

You leap from your bed, clutching your copy of Authors in your arms. Together, you and your mother leap into the car, speeding through the town to the renovated mansion that is now your favorite bookstore, and the headquarters of Sunny Meadow’s Publishing Company. You remember the day when Allen Underwood, stumbled out of the front door of the mansion, holding a pile of papers and spewing a fantastic story about authors, cat demons, and villainous head editors. It was a silly story, the sort that only you, a five-year-old who still believed in fairy tales, would ever credit. You’re older now, and you don’t believe the stories you read in books. None of it could possibly be true. After all, these people that Allen talked about never existed. The police looked into it for months, but eventually pushed the crazy teenager away.

Of course, he wasn’t really crazy, just imaginative, and his imagination paid off. Now, ten years later, he had control of his own publishing company, and was the author of the best books in the world. That’s your opinion, at least.

When you arrive at the mansion, you’re awestruck. It’s the first time you’ve been allowed inside since you were five, and it’s changed, become business-like and nowhere near as fantastical. You allow your attention to wander around, past the iron gate and into the marble entry hall, the only room that was never changed.

Then, you see him. Allen Underwood himself makes his way down the stairs to cheers from the crowd. And maybe you are just imagining it, but it seems as if the smile on his face is meant for you, as if the two of you are sharing some fantastic secret that no one else will ever know.

Done at last. And only a couple of days before NaNoWriMo and a couple of minutes before midnight at that.

It's been so much fun writing this story with all of you, and I think I've grown up a lot as a writer these past few months. I'm glad I've had the oppurtunity to share this with you, and it means a lot to me that all of you have kept this topped for so long, hoping to see more. You have motivated me to finish this, and that is, for me at least, a sadly rare occurance.

Anyway, we're done now, and I'm both sad and thrillingly excited. If you have any questions for me, or suggestions on how I could ever edit this to make it better (and maybe publish it someday, with a lot of changes) that would be greatly appriciated.

Thank you all, and I've been honored to write for you.

<3 

Happy Halloween, my friends!

OMGoodness!!!!!!! This was amazing to read, I'm almost sad it's over! The twist was crazy! I love the ending and everything about it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was amazing!  I loved reading this so much and I'm really sad it ended.  The ending was my favorite part.  Yoru writing was really good to start with, but the later on in the story you got the better your writing became.  I'm very impressed with how well this was written!

If you do decide to publish this I would be sure to include parts about each character.  This way the reader knows more about the characters, their personalities, their historys.  In a RP we have character sheets which takes away the need to write more about each seperate character.  We already know about the characters by reading the sheets, so elaboration on their personalities and historys is not really necessary.  However, in a book there are no character sheets, so you want to be sure to introduce each character and tell the reader more about them.

I think you will do a wonderful job making this into a book.  If you do publish it, make sure to tell us!  Also, I'm curious, who are you?  Will you reveal your usual CB name to us? 

Again, amazing job and I hope to read more of your work some day soon! 

Top