New Year's

Wow. Can't believe it's New Year's already. Exactly a year ago I was 12 and...wow.

We're getting ready to go to Houston. Happy New Year's everybody! Here's to 2012.

Happy birthday!

First of all, before the birthday congratulatory wishes come, I'd like to say that I am banging my head against the wall for not writing a post on 11/11/11. I mean, seriously! Bloggers all over the world probably did it, but noooo, I had to forget about my blog completely. Dope. Dope. Dope. Maybe I'll lie and change my time zone so that it'll do something. Wait. That won't work at all. Doh.Doh. Doh. Once in a century. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have a nice, shiny number on my blog and I completely screw it up. Doh. Doh. Doh.

Anyway, I'd like to wish a VERY happy birthday to my lovely mommy! (Yes, I still call her that.) Love you lots. :D x x

I'm going to write after this and wallow in some more self-pity. We're throwing a surprise birthday party for my mom when she comes home from work.

Working on part two...

Well, today I finally finished (if that's what you can call my pathetic attempt) the first part of Cori Deaththorn. I'm going to work on the second part now.

Okay, errm, I'm really hungry and I'm finishing up my last box of White Chip Macadamia Nut cookie dough. Last Wednesday I got my four boxes of cookie dough that I ordered and wow, they didn't last long. We ordered four boxes: Double Chocolate Chip, White Chip Macadamia Nut, Snickerdoodle, and Rainbow Candy. It was for a school fundraiser thing. Each had 48 pre-cut shaped cookie dough. 48 x 4 = 192 cookies. There's like six left in each box and I'm baking the last ones in the White Chip Macadamia. So...yeah. That was fast. (I gorged myself on the cookie dough and I gained a few pounds...whoops.)

Um. Yeah! I'm still hungry. I ate a few Swedish Fish today. And I really need to get out and exercise. Toodles!

Cori Deaththorn, Part 1

Cori Deaththorn, Part 1

It was a hot, summer day in the Life classroom. Students were lazily daydreaming and resting their heads while Moolinda Wu droned on about the importance of focusing all your energy into a spell; they were going into more advanced magic.

Cori Deaththorn huffed in frustration. She tapped her pencil angrily--violently--against her desk. She had learned this lesson ages ago, albeit with a different teacher. She pushed a stray strand of hair away from her face, only to have it fall back. The heat was extremely irritating, and the sweat didn't help.

She was feeling rebellious. "Professor Wu?" She threw her hand up in the air. Moolinda Wu paused in her speech and looked at her exasperatedly. "Yes, Cori? What is it this time?" She looked ready to drop dead.

"I want Sylvia back." At this Moolinda Wu's eyes flashed with anger. "That's it!" she screeched. "Headmaster's! Now!" Most of the students snapped to attention and were looking between Cori and Moolinda Wu fearfully. No one could make Moolinda Wu lose her zen-like calm. Ever.

No one, that was, except Cori Deaththorn. It was amazing, really, how she knew how to set Moolinda on edge. For one, the Life professor hated any mention of Sylvia Drake, the old Life teacher before her; how the students always wished that Sylvia were back and teaching instead of Moolinda. Most students learned very quickly that to mention Sylvia Drake was to ask for an abrupt end. They steered clear of her in any conversation with Moolinda Wu, but it didn't stop the whispers in the hallways.

Cori calmly got up and walked out of the classroom. The other students peered curiously at her as she walked by them, part awe-struck and part incredulous at her bratty behavior. No one quite knew why she had turned into a "bad kid"--she used to be the star-example of what a student should be.

But they had an inkling. She and Sylvia Drake had been close.

Merle Ambrose looked up from his stack of papers as he heard the door open and chuckled. "Why, if it isn't one of my favorite students." Cori couldn't hold back a smile. Recently, Merle Ambrose was one of the only people she could be herself with.

"Have a seat." He gestured toward the plush velvet seat across his desk. Cori plopped down and made herself comfortable. Recently, she had been coming here a lot.

Merle cleared his throat and set his stack of papers aside. "So, tell me, Cori. What did you do this time?" Worry lines creased his forehead. Again, like so many times before, Cori felt a pang of guilt. She shouldn't have been causing all this trouble. It only pained those around her and did nothing for herself, really.

But she was selfish. She needed to let out all the anger and resentment somehow.

She took a deep breath. "Sylvie." Merle nodded solemnly and patted Cori's hands with his own large ones. There were tears in his eyes, and in hers too. Sylvia had been dear to both of them. Merle sighed and wiped the tears out of his eyes.

"I miss her," whispered Cori. Merle shook his head. "I do, too, Cori. But this reckless behavior has got to stop." Cori hung her head. "What good does it do to anyone?"

Merle patted her hands. "Please think this over, Cori. Now, if you'll excuse me, I rather have much work to do..."

Cori walked out out feeling strange. There was only an hour left in the school day, anyway, and after that all the students would be bustling out of the school rooms and into various areas of Wizard City.

She walked back to Ravenwood, heading for the girls' dormitory tower. She opened the door and into Room 113. The tower was magically modified so that when you walked in the door you were automatically transferred to your room, instead of having to walk up endless flights of stairs. Besides, the other option of building up posed safety hazards. This also protected privacy and conserved space.

Cori tried to contact her cousin Sam with her standing mirror. She recited a spell and tapped the glass, which caused it to conjure up an image of him. Sam's back was to her, and he was painting something up on his easel. She knew he had been sick today, but from his posture and constant sniffling it seemed that he had gotten worse as the day progressed.

"Sam?" Sam kept on painting. "Sam!" He turned around, alarmed, before he saw that his Cori was in his mirror. "Oh. Cori. It's just you." He set his pallet down and took off his barrette, which he wore ridiculously. He looked rather down, she realized. From the streaks on his face it looked like he had been crying.

She could guess what had happened. "Sam," she groaned. "Is it Angela?" Sam turned away, covering his face with his smock. "No."

"I know when you're lying."

"No you don't."

Cori rolled her eyes and petted Charlie, her unicorn, who had scampered over. She sat down on her bed. "Sam, what did she do this time?" she asked angrily. Sam looked down. "It's just...I thought she was different, you know? But then I caught her holding hands with Brian GriffinFist in the Commons again and--"

Samuel Shadowhunter had a rather petty romantic life. It was almost comical, how unfortunate he was in the dating department. He had terrible luck with these things and often would only last for a week with a girlfriend. Cori found it all rather amusing, but sometimes he was genuinely hurt.

Now that Sam was out of the way, she could even see what he had been painting. It was Angela Lifeblossom's portrait, her delicate nose pointing up and her long, blonde hair flowing past her shoulders. She groaned.

Just then her whole dorm started shaking. All her pets squealed and ran frantically for shelter. The mirror was knocked on its side and Cori fell off the bed. "Oomph." She was laying on the floor, and the shaking was so violent she had bounced under the bed. In the mirror she could see Sam running out of his dorm. She crawled out from under the bed and ran outside, wondering what had happened.

Her face drained of color. The sky was a menacing dark gray with purple clouds. Lightning struck everywhere, and multiple severe thunder storms were scattered around the sky. There was a tornado tearing through Ravenwood, shaking all the schools' trees violently, but that wasn't the worst of the problem. Students were screaming and running everywhere. Most retreated to inside Bartleby. Some pushed pass Cori and some other gaping students into the safety of their dorms. Others ran frantically toward the tunnel that lead to the Commons.

She could see why.

Malistaire. She couldn't, however, comprehend what she was seeing. Professor Malistaire, the Death professor, was standing tall up on a piece of land ripped out of the ground that was floating high above the schools' roofs. Lightning surrounding him. He held his staff. There was a steely glint in his eye.

"Merle Ambrose!" he shrieked. His voice was magnified so that it boomed as loud as the thunder. Cori couldn't believe her ears. Quiet, gentle Professor Malistaire. Shrieking at the top of his lungs. Standing on a torn piece of land. Conjuring up storms to destroy Ravenwood. "You have not allowed me to use my power to bring my wife back. You have failed to save her. All of you. All of you! Unworthy of learning Death magic! Imbecilic fools! I swear today that I shall get my vengeance, for me, and for Sylvia. I will come back one day, Ambrose, and until then..."

Cori watched, transfixed, as he raised his staff. Lightning shot out from it and surrounded the Death school. It was torn out of the ground and lifted up into the sky. She fell down from the tremors this caused. She couldn't believe it. She never knew he was this powerful. Powerful, sure. But not enough to destroy everything in Wizard City.

"Malistaire," said a deep, slow, booming voice. "Stop this. You will regret it one day. It will not bring back Sylvia," said Bartleby.

Malistaire scowled from his post. "And you. I never liked you, Bartleby." He raised his clenched hand up and Bartleby's right eye was torn out of its socket and flew into Malistaire's hand. "I'll be keeping this." With one final clap of thunder, Malistaire vanished in a flash of light. Suddenly, all the storms evaporated and stopped. The tornado simply vanished. The Death school was gone. Bartleby's right eye was gone. Malistaire Drake was gone.

Cori Deaththorn fainted.

When she woke up again, it was late afternoon. Orange sunlight streamed in from a window on Cori's right and onto her body in streaks. She groaned and lifted up her right arm to look at it. "What--wha?"

"Sshhh, shhh. Rest," said a soft voice. Cori stirred. She tried to sit up and turn around to her left, but the effort it required was surprising. She gave up halfway and settled for having only her head facing the left and her body slumped slightly to the left.

"Professor Moolinda?"

Professor Moolinda set down a tray of green tea on the end table next to the bed Cori was lying on. "Shh, child. You never knew how to be still." Moolinda smiled wryly. She handed blew on a cup of tea before handing it to Cori. She turned again and took it gratefully, although she'd never liked tea. She nearly sloshed it down her front though, because she was drinking it so eagerly. It felt like she hadn't eaten in days.

She saw Moolinda Wu watching her out of the corner of her eye. She felt embarrassed and humiliated about all she had done to torture her. It was wrong, she knew. Moolinda didn't deserve it. Really, she was nice, gifted even. Cori had always felt a need to hate Moolinda Wu; she couldn't really explain it. But she knew it was illogical. Unreasonable. Unjustified. She had been horrible to Moolinda.

And yet here she was, taking care of her.

I'm sorry, she wanted to say. I'm sorry for all I did to you.

But she couldn't force the words out of her mouth. Instead she had to suffice with looking at Moolinda guiltily out of the corner of her eye.

"What happened?" she asked after she had finished gulping down her tea.

"You fainted, Cori. It's a good thing your cousin and his friend Mark had found you, or else you would have been trampled to death by the panicked students. You're already badly hurt from the tussle that followed the death school's...uprooting. You've been out for three days."

"Oh." Her lips formed the word silently.

"What...what happened after? When Malistaire..."

"The headmaster wants to speak to you about that."

"What about the life lessons? Don't you have to teach?"

"All classes have been canceled and students have been urged to stay home. We're...on high alert, see, in case...well. The headmaster will explain. But the classes have been closed until further notice. Don't worry."

Cori sighed and tried to make herself more comfortable. She wanted to go back to sleep. She was too tired to ask questions, really, although in normal circumstances she would have shooting off questions like bullets.

"Sylvia...was a good friend of mine, you know." Cori's body ached every time she so much as breathed, but she whipped around so fast she dropped her cup. "She was?" she asked, eager to learn more about Sylvia.

"Yes," sighed Moolinda. "She was an old colleague back when we were studying in MooShu. When she visited after she graduated it was always 'Cori this' and 'Cori that.'" Cori felt pleased, secretly, on the inside. "She would always joke around about how I should come down to Wizard City and teach Life. She'd always say that I was going to steal her job someday, or at least take it when she was gone or retired. I just...I never wanted it to be like this.

"But Cori, Sylvia was a remarkable woman who was full of love and optimism. She wouldn't want you to be angry and sad about her death. She would want you to move on and keep on living the rest of your life. With gusto and enthusiasm. Not wallowing away mourning something that will never change."

At this Cori flared up. She turned away angrily and took back every apology she had said in her head. Who was Moolinda Wu to think that she could say what Sylvia would think? Who was she to say how she should deal with Sylvia's death, to disgrace it and put it off as if it was nothing and just go on with her life as if nothing had happened, when in reality something had torn away inside of her? Something deep and irreplaceable.

She felt like smashing the teacup on the floor, but restrained herself by gripping it tightly.

Moolinda seemed to sense her distress and dropped it. "Did Sylvia ever tell you about the time she and Malistaire nearly killed Cyrus Drake?" The corners of Cori's lips twitched up.

They moved on to lighter topics; the next lesson in life class, how everyone was doing, favorite artists, books (they both enjoyed world-renowned author Sarah Spritheart and discussed her upcoming new series) and mostly, Sylvia, Sylvia, Sylvia. Her favorite colors (green and blue), her favorite drink (green tea), her favorite spell (seraph), and books, always books. Something Moolinda, Cori, and Sylvia all had in common was their love of reading.

Cori laughed so much that her ribs hurt (although really they were so delicate right now almost any movement hurt them). Moolinda nearly had tears in her eyes.

They talked for hours, until it was lights-out. Moolinda said good-bye to Cori and turned the lights off. Cori waved weakly and soon was out cold.

When she woke up again, she saw the grinning face of Samuel Shadowhunter peering at her. "Cori!" he cried joyously. Cori blinked groggily. She tried to sit up and saw star bursts popping before her eyes. It was hard to focus, but when her eyes adjusted she could see Sam's friend Mark DarkCrafter watching her from a chair next to her bed.

"Wha--what...?" She put a hand to her forehead to keep the world from spinning. She blinked and closed her eyes. When she opened them again the world was clear.

Mark grinned impishly from his seat. "You drool when you sleep." Her face reddened. She looked down quickly at her hands.

Sam ignored him and bounced up and down happily. "Cori, guess what?"

"What," she said flatly. He took no notice of her tone of voice and continued his little dance. "We're going to track down Malistaire!"

She nearly choked. "Wh--what?" She looked at him in disbelief, her face drained of any color. Sam paused and looked at her quizzically. "What's wrong?" he asked. Cori was at a loss for words. How could she explain the feeling of dread at the bottom of her stomach when she could barely understand it herself? She felt a cold, dark fear that made her skin crawl at the prospect of meeting Professor Malistaire again. It was baffling; Professor Malistaire had always been malevolent before this, and she was sure that he had just had a fit out of grief for his wife. It was perfectly understandable, to her.

And yet why was she so scared?

Sam started bouncing again. "Ambrose's picked us to go find Malistaire and talk some sense in to him--you know, bring him back," he said excitedly. Cori felt a rush of belief, although it was small. The color went back in her cheeks. She was aware of Mark watching her intently and was faintly embarrassed--she must have looked like a wreck.

"Why us?" she said faintly. Sam shrugged. "I guess we're his favorites, or Malistaire's, or something. But we get to go to Dragonspyre early!"

Cori wrung her hands nervously. "I don't know..."

Mark smiled lazily, showing his sharp canines. "I can already go to Dragonspyre. It's okay if you guys want to go without me, if my presence is what's bothering you, Cori..." He winked.

Cori blushed furiously. "No, I'll go. Sheesh. When do we have to leave?" She was still sore all over and it would have been a miracle if she could cast an imp. "In an hour," said Sam, grinning widely. He took a seat next to Mark. "Are you kidding me?" she asked in disbelief. "Nope. Want me to help you pack?" asked Mark with a roguish smile. Sam elbowed him. "No hitting on my cousin. Gross." Cori rolled her eyes and sighed. "Am I even allowed out of the hospital?"

Sam nodded eagerly. "They just let you out this morning."

Cori sighed and stepped out of bed onto the cold, hardwood floor. Her feet felt bare and exposed, cold. She stumbled for a little bit and Mark and Sam rushed forward to catch her. She wanted to say thanks, but instead snapped, "I'm fine." She wobbled uncertainly and stumbled again. Mark caught her from behind her and tsked.

"My, my, Cori. At this rate we'll be in Dragonspyre in no time."

She scowled. "Just help me get to my dorm."

Once Cori had changed back into her regular robes, she met up with Sam and Mark in front of Merle Ambrose's house.

Sam greeted her happily. "Cori! There you are!" Mark rolled his eyes. "We've been waiting for forever." Cori resisted the urge to kick him. "Are we going in or what," she grumbled. Mark nodded and knocked on the door. They all waited expectantly.

---

MY GOODNESS. I'M FINALLY DONE!

*collapses*

Yes. I know. It's terribly boring and horrid but I just wanted to post something and get it over with. I couldn't go on with procrastinating this forever. Yeah. It's horrible. I just wanted to sort of end it all. I'm getting really tired of this. And I know it took WAY longer than I promised. I don't have any excuses. I procrastinated. I hardly edited. I didn't do any writing at all between a few days after I posted the preview and now.

I'm eating Swedish Fish.

Ahhh, the Weekend...

I really love the weekends, you know? I really love Fridays. And that's what I love about today, because it's a Friday.

I ended up giving up on the talent show tryouts--yes, I'm a quitter and I wasted time I could have spent writing. O wellp.

Anyway, what I love most about the weekends is being able to spend extra time with my best friend Kiwi (Kimberly SummerSinger) on Wizard101 after school, because she doesn't have a bedtime on weekends so she can stay up longer. Yay! And I can talk to her and all that on Yahoo! Messenger. We can stay up all night and junk just playing games and on the next day, Saturday, we get to spend the whole day together.

Today was especially special. You know why?

BECAUSE I FINALLY MET SARAH SPIRITHEART IN-GAME!

Yes, yes, I know. Exciting stuff. At first we tried to use True Friend codes, but it turned out that both of our friends lists were full--LOL. Whoops. So much for that tactic XD So we ended up just meeting in the Krokotopia Library on Vampire. (Shame, too, because I was looking forward to having her name in my list all special and green. That did not sound creepy at all.)

I would post pictures, but...

I think I over-wrote them by accident. *gets shot* YES. I KNOW. HOW COULD I DO SUCH A THING? *slams head against wall*

I was incredibly boring (typical of me) and she met my best friend Kimberly Summersinger. She and I had a brief PvP with her before she had to leave, going against my little brother's Grandmaster Death. (I won, but I think she was just going easy on me.)

So...yeah. I'll add more when I think of it. Right now I'm hanging out with Kiwi and her sister Brandi on Wizard101. Going to work on Cori Deaththorn more later (I got a comment from Sarah and I died, so expect it to come really, really quick).

Errm. Yeah. The reason this post is rushed is because I'm itching to get back to Wizard101 with my friends. I had to go into "brb mode" so I could type this up.

Peace!

Delays

Hey, guys!

What's that? I promised that part one of Cori Deaththorn and Magician's Daughter would be up by now? Well, I never! I never--

Okay, yes. Yes I did.

But I have good reasons!

No, seriously, I do. It's not the usual procrastinating thing again.

See, tomorrow after school there's this talent show tryout and I've been wanting to join...

Yes, you read that right. Me, useless oaf with no talent, joining a talent show. What will I be doing? Singing and playing the piano, of course. (Unoriginal.) Anyway, for the past few days and today I've been practicing the piano accompaniment. It's going kinda slow. I know the gist of the whole song, but I can't sing along yet, and I can't play the whole thing.

Thank goodness I have no homework. When I remembered I was so glad and happy. The weather outside's marvelous. Nice and really cool, dark, gray, cloudy (probably some more storms later).

Cori Deaththorn is coming along great, by the way. It's...seriously. It's really coming along well. I'm really pleased. So expect it soon after tomorrow :D

Just a little quick update.

Cori Deaththorn, Part 1 (Excerpt)

Cori Deaththorn, Part 1

It was a hot, summer day in the Life classroom. Students were lazily daydreaming and resting their heads while Moolinda Wu droned on about the importance of focusing all your energy into a spell--they were going into more advanced magic.

Cori Deaththorn huffed in frustration. She tapped her pencil angrily--violently--against her desk. She had learned this lesson ages ago, albeit with a different teacher. She pushed a stray strand of hair away from her face, only to have it fall back. The heat was extremely irritating, and the sweat didn't help.

She was feeling rebellious. "Professor Wu?" She threw her hand up in the air. Moolinda Wu paused in her speech and looked at her exasperatedly. "Yes, Cori? What is it this time?" She looked ready to drop dead.

"I want Sylvia back." At this Moolinda Wu's eyes flashed with anger. "That's it!" she screeched. "Headmaster's! Now!" Most of the students snapped to attention and were looking between Cori and Moolinda Wu fearfully. No one could make Moolinda Wu lose her zen-like calm. Ever.

No one, that was, except Cori Deaththorn. It was amazing, really, how she knew how to set Moolinda on edge. For one, the Life professor hated any mention of Sylvia Drake, the old Life teacher before her; how the students always wished that Sylvia were back and teaching instead of Moolinda. Most students learned very quickly that to mention Sylvia Drake was to ask for an abrupt end. They steered clear of her in any conversation with Moolinda Wu, but it didn't stop the whispers in the hallways.

Cori calmly got up and walked out of the classroom. The other students peered curiously at her as she walked by them, part awe-struck and part incredulous at her bratty behavior. No one quite knew why she had turned into a "bad kid"--she used to be the star-example of what a student should be.

But they had an inkling. She and Sylvia Drake had been close.

Merle Ambrose looked up from his stack of papers as he heard the door open and chuckled. "Why, if it isn't one of my favorite students." Cori couldn't hold back a smile. Recently, Merle Ambrose was one of the only people she could be herself with.

"Have a seat." He gestured toward the plush velvet seat across his desk. Cori plopped down and made herself comfortable. Recently, she had been coming here a lot.

Merle cleared his throat and set his stack of papers aside. "So, tell me, Cori. What did you do this time?" Worry lines creased his forehead. Again, like so many times before, Cori felt a pang of guilt. She shouldn't have been causing all this trouble. It only pained those around her and did nothing for herself, really.

But she was selfish. She needed to let out all the anger and resentment somehow.

She took a deep breath. "Sylvie." Merle nodded solemnly and patted Cori's hands with his own large ones. There were tears in his eyes, and in hers too. Sylvia had been dear to both of them. Merle sighed and wiped the tears out of his eyes.

"I miss her," whispered Cori. Merle shook his head. "I do, too, Cori. But this reckless behavior has got to stop." Cori hung her head. "What good does it do to anyone?"

Merle patted her hands. "Please think this over, Cori. Now, if you'll excuse me, I rather have much work to do..."

Cori walked out out feeling strange. There was only an hour left in the school day, anyway, and after that all the students would be bustling out of the school rooms and into various areas of Wizard City.

She walked back to Ravenwood, heading for the girls' dormitory tower. She opened the door and into Room 113. The tower was magically modified so that when you walked in the door you were automatically transferred to your room, instead of having to walk up endless flights of stairs. Besides, the other option of building up posed safety hazards. This also protected privacy and conserved space.

Cori tried to contact her cousin Sam with her standing mirror. She recited a spell and tapped the glass, which caused it to conjure up an image of him. Sam's back was to her, and he was painting something up on his easel. She knew he had been sick today, but from his posture and constant sniffling it seemed that he had gotten worse as the day progressed.

"Sam?" Sam kept on painting. "Sam!" He turned around, alarmed, before he saw that his Cori was in his mirror. "Oh. Cori. It's just you." He set his pallet down and took off his barrette, which he wore ridiculously. He looked rather down, she realized. From the streaks on his face it looked like he had been crying.

She could guess what had happened. "Sam," she groaned. "Is it Angela?" Sam turned away, covering his face with his smock. "No."

"I know when you're lying."

"No you don't."

Cori rolled her eyes and petted Charlie, her unicorn, who had scampered over. She sat down on her bed. "Sam, what did she do this time?" she asked angrily. Sam looked down. "It's just...I thought she was different, you know? But then I caught her holding hands with Brian GriffinFist in the Commons again and--"

Samuel Shadowhunter had a rather petty romantic life. It was almost comical, how unfortunate he was in the dating department. He had terrible luck with these things and often would only last for a week with a girlfriend. Cori found it all rather amusing, but sometimes he was genuinely hurt.

Now that Sam was out of the way, she could even see what he had been painting. It was Angela Lifeblossom's portrait, her delicate nose pointing up and her long, blonde hair flowing past her shoulders. She groaned.

Just then her whole dorm started shaking. All her pets squealed and ran frantically for shelter. The mirror was knocked on its side and Cori fell off the bed. "Oomph." She was laying on the floor, and the shaking was so violent she had bounced under the bed. In the mirror she could see Sam running out of his dorm. She crawled out from under the bed and ran outside, wondering what had happened.

Her face drained of color. The sky was a menacing dark gray with purple clouds. Lightning struck everywhere, and multiple severe thunder storms were scattered around the sky. There was a tornado tearing through Ravenwood, shaking all the schools' trees violently, but that wasn't the worst of the problem. Students were screaming and running everywhere. Most retreated to inside Bartleby. Some pushed pass Cori and some other gaping students into the safety of their dorms. Others ran frantically toward the tunnel that lead to the Commons.

She could see why.

Malistaire. She couldn't, however, comprehend what she was seeing. Professor Malistaire, the Death professor, was standing tall up on a piece of land ripped out of the ground that was floating high above the schools' roofs. Lightning surrounding him. He held his staff. There was a steely glint in his eye.

"Merle Ambrose!" he shrieked. His voice was magnified so that it boomed as loud as the thunder. Cori couldn't believe her ears. Quiet, gentle Professor Malistaire. Shrieking at the top of his lungs. Standing on a torn piece of land. Conjuring up storms to destroy Ravenwood. "You have not allowed me to use my power to bring my wife back. You have failed to save her. All of you. All of you! Unworthy of learning Death magic! Imbecilic fools! I swear today that I shall get my vengeance, for me, and for Sylvia. I will come back one day, Ambrose, and until then..."

Cori watched, transfixed, as he raised his staff. Lightning shot out from it and surrounded the Death school. It was torn out of the ground and lifted up into the sky. She fell down from the tremors this caused. She couldn't believe it. She never knew he was this powerful. Powerful, sure. But not enough to destroy everything in Wizard City.

"Malistaire," said a deep, slow, booming voice. "Stop this. You will regret it one day. It will not bring back Sylvia," said Bartleby.

Malistaire scowled from his post. "And you. I never liked you, Bartleby." He raised his clenched hand up and Bartleby's right eye was torn out of its socket and flew into Malistaire's hand. "I'll be keeping this." With one final clap of thunder, Malistaire vanished in a flash of light. Suddenly, all the storms evaporated and stopped. The tornado simply vanished. The Death school was gone. Bartleby's right eye was gone. Malistaire Drake was gone.

Cori Deaththorn fainted.

When she woke up again, it was late afternoon. Orange sunlight streamed in from a window on Cori's right and onto her body in streaks. She groaned and lifted up her right arm to look at it. "What--wha?"

"Sshhh, shhh. Rest," said a soft voice. Cori stirred. She tried to sit up and turn around to her left, but the effort it required was surprising. She gave up halfway and settled for having only her head facing the left and her body slumped slightly to the left.

"Professor Moolinda?"

Professor Moolinda set down a tray of green tea on the end table next to the bed Cori was lying on. "Shh, child. You never knew how to be still." Moolinda smiled wryly. She handed blew on a cup of tea before handing it to Cori. She turned again and took it gratefully, although she'd never liked tea. She nearly sloshed it down her front though, because she was drinking it so eagerly. It felt like she hadn't eaten in days.

She saw Moolinda Wu watching her out of the corner of her eye. She felt embarrassed and humiliated about all she had done to torture her. It was wrong, she knew. Moolinda didn't deserve it. Really, she was nice, gifted even. Cori had always felt a need to hate Moolinda Wu; she couldn't really explain it. But she knew it was illogical. Unreasonable. Unjustified. She had been horrible to Moolinda.

And yet here she was, taking care of her.

I'm sorry, she wanted to say. I'm sorry for all I did to you.

But she couldn't force the words out of her mouth. Instead she had to suffice with looking at Moolinda guiltily out of the corner of her eye.

"What happened?" she asked after she had finished gulping down her tea.

"You fainted, Cori. It's a good thing your cousin and his friend Mark had found you, or else you would have been trampled to death by the panicked students. You've been out for three days."

"Oh." Her lips formed the word silently.

"What...what happened after? When Malistaire..."

"The headmaster wants to speak to you about that."

Cori sighed and tried to make herself more comfortable. She wanted to go back to sleep. She was too tired to ask questions, really, although in normal circumstances she would have shooting off questions like bullets.

"Sylvia...was a good friend of mine, you know." Cori's body ached every time she so much as breathed, but she whipped around so fast she dropped her cup. "She was?" she asked, eager to learn more about Sylvia.

"Yes," sighed Moolinda. "She was an old colleague back when we were studying in MooShu. When she visited after she graduated it was always 'Cori this' and 'Cori that.'" Cori felt pleased, secretly, on the inside. "She would always joke around about how I should come down to Wizard City and teach Life. She'd always say that I was going to steal her job someday, or at least take it when she was gone or retired. I just...I never wanted it to be like this.

"But Cori, Sylvia was a remarkable woman who was full of love and optimism. She wouldn't want you to be angry and sad about her death. She would want you to move on and keep on living the rest of your life. With gusto and enthusiasm. Not wallowing away mourning something that will never change."

At this Cori flared up. She turned away angrily and took back every apology she had said in her head. Who was Moolinda Wu to think that she could say what Sylvia would think? Who was she to say how she should deal with Sylvia's death, to disgrace it and put it off as if it was nothing and just go on with her life as if nothing had happened, when in reality something had torn away inside of her? Something deep and irreplaceable.

---

Hey, guys. I'm back today with another post. As I looked over this draft quickly I realized that it was going to be a LOT longer than expected, and it would take more than just a day to finish. Since I felt bad about not meeting my deadlines (and I'm procrastinating practice...*cough* Curses. Why does it have to be so hard?) I decided to post an unedited excerpt in all its not glory for you guys to read.

Errrm. I don't know what I was thinking.

But back to practice, I guess. Running out of time and still haven't accomplished anything...

Neglecting my website...

I've been neglecting my website's blog. It's really sad. And not just the blog, the whole website. I love my website. I really do. But I've been on a writing lag for the past year and since my website is all about writing, there's nothing really to do. I haven't been writing the blog entries on my website and transferring them to Blogger either, like I said I'd do. I've been lazy. Curse my indecisiveness/indecisive love. I like Blogger a lot too, and I really like using it, so...sigh. Ramble ramble.

Today's been really gloomy outside, raining and foggy as it is. I actually like this type of weather, even though a lot of people don't. So...yeah! I like all kinds of weather, actually, unless it's really hot and hot and just hot. (Especially if it's humid or arid.) As I am typing this up, my mother is ironing her white shirt. It's really cool.

Errrm. This is one of my babbling posts about my day. Tomorrow I have church and church school. I'm playing Wizard101 and talking to my friend Brandi. I'm listening to "The Sword and the Pen" by Regina Spektor. I have to go to sleep soon. I'm reading one of my friend's writing on Google Docs. Living the dream.

I have to set a deadline for writing. I'm going to set a resolution where I have to write more. So, as my first assignment, I'm going to post up the first chapter of my novel, Magician's Daughter, by September 21st. On September 24th I'll have rewritten the first chapter of my Wizard101 fanfiction, which was the whole reason for the existence of this blog in the first place. Man, I really need to stop procrastinating on that. It's been a year since the file's been lost, so it'll be good to start writing on it again.

Thirteen

Okay, okay, I know, long overdue post. I planned to post this on September 12 or 13 so the date would look nice and shiny on my posts but, alas, it didn't happen.

Maybe next year ,when I turn fourteen (dreading that even more than I did thirteen, which is weird--no special occasion number thing, I guess? Thirteen is a big deal, but fourteen doesn't seem as special).

Errrm. Moving on.

I turned thirteen, as you guys might have guessed. The end of the world didn't happen, surprisingly. It...wasn't as bad as...well, it wasn't that bad. But it's probably because my brain (which selfishly values its sanity above all else) hasn't processed this information yet.

On my birthday, we didn't do anything because my mom was busy at work, so we celebrated it on the 13th at Steak & Shake. 'Twas fun and yummy. We ate my cake on Wednesday though, because when we got home we were all full.

I'm still eating the cake by myself on this Friday. Getting kind of sick of it, but oh well.

So--presents! I guess most kids get presents, but this year I got only two--two homemade presents from my cousin Maxine and my best friend Tracy. Maxine recorded herself singing a song and sent it to me. I died at the end when she said, "Happy birthday Teresa!" Really. I died. My best friend Tracy compiled a video for me and IT WAS SO AWESOME. I loved these presents so much.

My other best friend Kiwi is gifting me something on Wizard101 from the Crown Shop--a mount of my choice, which will come in handy, considering I'm the only one in our group of friends without a mount.

I love all these people so much. *hugs everyone*

I guess that's it. Can't wait to get back to the joys of blogging again.

By the way: New layout! :D

Going on hiatus

Okay, guys, so as many of you don't know, my birthday is on September 12! Lucky me, am I right?

Well, no, actually, non-existent audience. (I'm talking to myself...again.)

I have this weird, irrational fear of turning thirteen. And of aging in general (I was mortified when I turned twelve, and gave up my precious eleven-year old years), ever since I was eleven and a half. And...thirteen. Wow. I'm going to turn into a teenager. I won't be a kid anymore. Maybe I'm terrified of growing up?

And I guess that I'm terrified because I haven't finished my novel yet. Stupid, and vain, and shallow, I know. But...I've had this dream for along time. And though originally I hated turning twelve because then I wouldn't be published at eleven (I know, I know, shallow and stupid) I matured and grew to realize that it wasn't just that young author thing that made me terrified of growing up--it was losing my kidhood, too.

I'm really going to miss being a "kid." In a month I'll be a teenager.

So, I'm going on a month-long hiatus. I'm going to try and finish the first draft of Magician's Daughter before my birthday. I'll come back the day after, September 13, and tell you guys how that worked out. I think I'm taking a break from all Internet-related things.

New layout

Okay, okay, I know. "Make up your mind already, woman!" But for now, I'm just going to keep experimenting with these color themes. I like this green one, but I just might change it again--like back to hot pink, only with a different background.

You didn't even get to see the orange one in effect for more than a day--o wellp XD

Thank goodness for the old days

Haha, okay, ignore the lame title :D

BUT I CAN ACTUALLY POST NOW IN THE "COMPOSE" TAB IN BLOGSPOT! YAY!

It's kind of sad (okay, it really is sad) that it took me so long to figure this out. I went to settings and switched to the old post editor (screw the new one!) and now I can post normally again! Yey! Which means I can also finally comment on my favorite blogs again.

And, errm, ahem. Excuse my pointless celebration over something so minor.

Also, I changed the layout of the blog! :D It's all orange now instead of coral-hot pink (awwhh D: It was hard to choose). But rest assured, peeps, that green is still my most favorite color ever, despite my blog's color theme.

Nancy Yi Fan

This, my poor deprived children, is Nancy Yi Fan. I mentioned her in my previous post.

She wrote "Swordbird" and "Sword Quest," books about peace and freedom, with a cast of bird characters.

Nancy spent most of her life in China, until she moved to the United States when she was nine. Yes, English is her second language, but she speaks it fluently, learned quickly, and was able to publish her book at 12, first starting at 10, only a few years after she started learning English. She can also speak Chinese (not exactly sure what dialect) fluently and translated her book into Chinese herself. The video explains the rest.

Like I said, I really admire her, and she's my inspiration for writing. She's actually the one who got me into writing in the first place.

I first saw her on Oprah, one late night. I was in the living room at my grandma and grandpa's. My aunt and uncle were picking out curtains for their new house (I helped them pick) and I was lounging on the cough with my dear grandma while my grandpa was reading the Vietnamese newspaper on the other couch.

It was an interesting show: the world's smartest kids. I'd only seen Oprah a few times before and it had all bored the heck out of me. I was around nine at the time, and then Nancy's segment came on. And, since I was nine at the time, I was determined to do something to be famous. I wanted to "beat" her, so to speak. (It's okay if you want to beat my nine-year old self with a pipe by this time. I want to now, to.) "If she published at thirteen," I thought, "why can't I do it? And I'm nine, which is a lot younger than her!" Really, I was watching the whole show determined to find something to do better than the person featured, because I was convinced I had to be a World's Smartest Kid. And I was convinced writing a book like Nancy and publishing it was easy--the things I thought as a kid, honestly. (But even then, I was more mature than teens these days who are looking to publish their books and thinking it's so easy--seriously. It's sad.)

And so I got down to writing. My first ideas stank and were rip-offs of Barbie movies, to be honest, but I was still better than what most teens write today, surprisingly. Heck, I probably had better grammar, too, and I actually noticed from books how to write proper dialogue. ("Hi," said Bob. I figured out pretty quick it wasn't "Hi." said Bob, or "Hi." Said Bob.)

As I got older I developed a sense and love for writing, and instead of hating Nancy's guts and viewing her as competition (*hits nine-year old self with pipe*) I know view her as a source of inspiration and admiration. Really, Nancy is awesome. Go Nancy Yi Fan!

From digital to traditional...again

So a while ago I went school supply shopping (I very much love school supplies, by the way). And while there, I bought an extra binder, notebook paper, and 5 subject notebook. I also bought extra pencils and my aunt fixed my Hello Kitty mechanical pencil for me.

And lately I've been thinking about writing Magician's Daughter (current project) with paper and pencil instead of on the laptop.

This isn't really that concerning; I make this decision every time I get new notebooks and pencils XD

Yesterday I wrote some of MD in the binder and I think I just might make the switch, edit anything with red pen, and then write the final draft/second draft on the laptop. It seems fun and exciting somehow (but this is coming from me) and I like the idea a lot. And, Nancy Yi Fan (awesome author of Swordbird; I admire her. She published Swordbird at 12) has got me thinking about doing it, since she said that she liked to write in notebooks because on the computer it's really tempting to just hit the backspace bar and delete everything.

I've got my stuff spread out on my bed right now; laptop, notebooks, binder, one Ticonderoga pencil, one Hello Kitty mechanical pencil, pencil sharpener, notebook paper, and dictionoaries and Kindle.

Also, I downloaded "Woe is I" by Patricia O'Connor yesterday onto my Kindle. It's a step up from Woe is I Jr., that's for sure.

And uh...yeah :D

Two Fires Chapter 1, a hunger games fanfic - FanFiction.Net

Two Fires Chapter 1, a hunger games fanfic - FanFiction.Net

Okay, before I start ranting on how awesome this fan-fiction this is...uh. Well. I love it and it's helped me go through the Mockingjay-depression era XD Uh...check it out...and stuff...

Blogspot very much hates me

For some reason guys, Blogger will not let me post anything. No blog entries. No comments. No page descriptions.

Zip. Nadda.

Whenever I post anything at ALL that is in a text field, it doesn't get published. It gets totally erased. And it makes it very frustrating and sad for me :c I can't comment on my favorite blogs at all and every time I tried to post that other blog entry it would be erased and blank. If I saved a draft, it would get erased when I checked on it. If I published, it was still blank. The only reason I could post it was by copying and pasting the blog entry into the "Edit HTML" tab. (I was desperate.)

So, yeah... D:

My existence is very sad right now. Curse you Blogspot.

I am a lazy lazy bum

Haha, everything smells like bunny right now :B

Three new baby bunnies from this lady who I swear was sent here as my eternal punishment. (She gives us bunnies. I have four right now and they're a handful.) A senior bunny named Fatty. Combined, they could produce enough poop to rule the world.

Anyway! I've been on a very long hiatus from writing--too long. It's been seven, eight months since I've written ANYTHING. But, I am slowly coming back thanks to something that fuels me even more than inspiration--hate!

I read the Hunger Games (no, this isn't the rant post/what happened post that I was talking about--I'm procrastinating that, too XD) and I hate. Hate. HATE. The ending. Peeta Mellark. Katniss Everdeen, even, near the end of the series.

I'm writing a Hunger Games fan-fiction as of late, which I've been planning to write ever since I finished THG (twenty-seven days ago). Re-writing the ending and whatnot.

Wish me luck.

----

This is my first post on this blog! Yay! :D Remember when I said I would transfer blog entries from my website to this blog? WELL I LIED. (Actually, I was being a lazy bum.) I've posted quite a few blog entries on my website since creating this blog in May, but either I was too lazy to transfer the entry or I forgot, but now I'll always do it. Don't forget to check out my website, too. Spread the love :B

Tic and Tac around their cage - Roborovski Hamsters

Tic and Tac around their cage - Roborovski Hamsters

Okay, so yeah, kinda weird my first post isn't on writing. But come on--can you resist a face like that? Can you? Can you?