Chatterbox: Inkwell

Author Solo Write (Part Two)

It is late again. It's almost always late at night when these things happen, the scary, terrible, wonderful things that change your life forever. You are lying in your bed, trying over and over again to fall asleep. The curtains are open, and moonlight is streaming in, silvery and liquid. You have never been able to fall asleep with the curtains shut, not since you were a tiny baby. Even now, it is hard to sleep without the moon. On cloudy nights and new moons, you toss and turn for hours. Now, though, something else is wrong. A feeling of foreboding crawls into you mind, just as a cloud drifts over the silvery orb in the sky, and you shiver, reaching for the book on your nightstand. Looking at the grey, clothbound cover of your collector's edition, you have to smile a little.

There are only ten copies of this edition, bound in silvery silk and autographed by Allen Underwood himself. When you got the email this morning from Sunny Meadows Publishing Company, you could hardly believe it. You, out of all the readers of their products, were chosen to recieve this book. True, you already own multiple copies, but this one, with it's moon colored cover, is special. And now, for the first time, you open it.

The book is perfect, of course, with the loveliest endpapers you have ever seen. With a feeling of anticipation, you flip to the first page, expecting to see the familiar words. "At 11:45 on June 28th, there was already a small crowd gathered around the main office of Sunny Meadows Publishing Company."

Instead, you find a letter.

Dear Reader,

Many years ago, when I was a younger man, still a teenager, really, I wrote a collection of poetry. On the night that I finished it, a night much like this one, I recieved a letter from a woman named Kytleen Marsh, offering to publish it. As you might imagine, I could not resist this mysterious offter, and, on June 28th, I did as was asked of me.

But you know all of this. You have read my book. What I have to tell you is this: It is true. Every bit of it. Over the course of one day, I met and lost eight people, the people who would become my first true friends. Saylor Swallow, Iduna Vance, Myra Ellis, Recon Elterbert, Katherine Ellis, Altoos Peregrine, Clay Dier, and Lola Sage. They were lost to me.

I am asking you to help me find them.

On the 25th of February, please report to the front gates of Sunny Meadows Publishing Company. You know where it is.

And bring the book.

Yours gratefully,

Allen Underwood

You brush your fingers over the smooth, pearly-white page.

It could be dangerous. It could be a trap.

But it will be worth it.

***

To join this solo write, please fill out this form:

Name:

Age:

Gender/pronouns:

Appearance:

Personality:

Background/history:

Luggage:

What color/pattern are the endpapers of your book? Please make sure that it is different for each character:

Shipping:

Other:

This is, obviously, the sequel to the Author Solo Write http://www.cricketmagkids.com/chatterbox/inkwell/node/441520 I will be accepting ten people. Those of you who have not read/participated in the first part may guess my identity. I'm excited to meet your charries (and thanks to John F.Q. for creating Allen Underwood)!