Tick Tock — Someone, Please Stop That Blasted Clock
The ticking has stopped.
Everything is silent for just one glorious moment, and then my world turns upside down.
[name_m]Luke[/name_m] had never been able to hear a thing, which some people who know his family may have called a blessing. The thing is, it was anything but.
Whenever [name_m]Luke[/name_m] was in the presence of his twin brother [name_m]Nathan[/name_m] — so almost all the time — he could hear a sort of tick-tock sound that matched up with the movement of the second hand of classroom clocks all too well.
You may note the past tense… well.
After a horrible accident that almost sends both brothers to their graves, Luke’s deafness vanishes… to be replaced with what looks like a countdown timer seared into his skin, labelled with just one word.
[name_m]Nathan[/name_m].
Adapting to a world he thought impossible while trying to work out how to cheat death itself, [name_m]Luke[/name_m] is pretty sure the least of his worries is how the accident happened. But the natural explanation may not always be the right one.
The shadows call a name, and they are forced to disappear. It’s how it has always been – the rulers of Nitoblis claiming what they are wrongfully owed from Solnox.
And it’s not something that can be changed. Until [name_u]Kiran[/name_u] Luceras hears something he shouldn’t be able to. Until he learns secrets a Solnoxian – much less any important Solnoxian – is not meant to know.
But testing the waters (and grappling with the fact that he can hear the shadows for some inexplicable reason) yields impossibly dangerous results, and [name_u]Kiran[/name_u] finds himself swept along on an adventure he can’t afford.
With the tentative balance between Nitoblis and Solnox growing more and more unstable, and with the shadows claiming their prizes more and more often, it’s only a matter of time before something collapses.
The question isn’t when it will happen, though.
It’s what it will be.
Next:A [name_m]Castle[/name_m] of Storms and Spirits
There are definitely weirder places to drag your children to during the holidays, but a castle that’s technically named for a storm has to be one of the strangest decisions Mum and Dad ever made.
[name_u]August[/name_u] and [name_u]Grayson[/name_u] Rydell have mixed feelings about staying in Farragale [name_m]Castle[/name_m] for one night, never mind a week! But since nobody else in their family seems to have the same qualms, the twins are forced to go along with the idea anyway.
[name_m]Even[/name_m] as [name_u]Grayson[/name_u] argues that it could be worse, though, a storm begins in earnest — and traps the inhabitants of the castle inside for much longer than originally planned.
Exploring Farragale to pass the time, [name_u]August[/name_u] and [name_u]Grayson[/name_u] find new friends quickly enough, two among the living… and several among the dead.
Not every spirit that haunts the castle is a friend, though. Some want the people who use Farragale as a hotel out — or even dead — and the castle’s famed storms may not be quite so natural as people believe…
Next:Fall From [name_f]Grace[/name_f] or The Burning Girls
“The Burning Girls, that’s what you called them, isn’t it?” I wasn’t sure what my answer should be, but I made a guess. “Yes, I’d… like that.”
"Well, they do call this place Scorchgate for a reason, you see. And it’s a very, very strange one."
[name_u]Four[/name_u] girls from Diagate disappeared under incredibly different, but also incredibly mysterious circumstances. All four were found throughout that [name_u]December[/name_u], and all four were determined to have died due to severe burns. It’s how they got their collective name – the Burning Girls.
The thing is, that was ten years ago.
And while the case is nowhere near forgotten, it wouldn’t be forgotten for any lack of trying to make them remember: à la [name_f]Bella[/name_f] and the Wych [name_u]Elm[/name_u], Diagate is covered in taunting graffiti and letterboxes are full of sickening letters describing the murders of the four girls in horrific detail – details that only the killer could know.
It’s when another girl vanishes under strange circumstances, the first disappearance like it in almost a decade, that famed detective duo [name_m]Brandon[/name_m] and [name_f]Hailey[/name_f] Rosser decide that the case is worth opening again, and return to Diagate – their son [name_m]Aled[/name_m] in tow.
And in the end, the case may just need fresh eyes, and a couple of terrifying mix-ups… but the Rossers probably won’t admit any of that.
The world of Oprana may be divided by oceans, but the many queens who have ruled the many islands over the millennia are, for now, pretty much united.
In death, naturally.
There are only a dozen living queens left — to everyone’s knowledge, at any rate — and none of them have a female eldest. It seems, to some, that the reign of the Queens is almost at its close. A close that seems to be approaching like a tidal wave, as one by one the last Queens fall ill.
It might not be one soldier who can save these twelve Queens. It could be several, it might involve pirates and people with the ability to see ghosts or links to the very gods and goddesses who started the reign of the Queens to start with… or maybe nobody can do it.
They’re still going to try, though.
(Yes, this is a somewhat vague retelling idea of ‘The Twelve Dancing Princesses’… and I don’t know where that idea came from. Maybe my recent fairy-tale-retelling obsession.)
Next:Outside The [name_u]Midnight[/name_u] Hour or [name_f]Heart[/name_f] Full of Stars
Ash’s dreams started when he was ten, and six years on it seems like little has changed. The fantastical version of his hometown doesn’t feel any more dangerous than it did when he first found himself there, and while it feels like something draws him into it with a little more force, it seems like the dreams happen a little more often… well, he always wakes up.
But when he finds a boy his age who he’s never seen before (in neither the normal world nor his dream-world), [name_u]Ash[/name_u] is horrified to learn that the stranger found himself unable to wake up one night – and was trapped.
Inside the hours of night, inside the twisted world of colourful gowns and shops built into trees, [name_u]Ash[/name_u] can’t do a thing to help his new friend. Outside the midnight hours, though, he might have some ideas. They’re just not the most… adult-minded sort of ideas.
(Is anything, when it comes from a book of children’s stories?)
[name_m]Can[/name_m] [name_u]Ash[/name_u] turn fairytales into foolproof plans, or is he going to find himself trapped in the dream-world for good?
[name_f]Anneliese[/name_f] [name_f]Grace[/name_f] isn’t quite the ‘last Grace’, but she’s a little too close to the title. With just two siblings left out of what used to be seven, the girl is at a total loss for what to do. And with nobody willing to help her find the answers — not even her own family, or what’s left of it — and remedies to the problem, it seems like she may be miles out of her depth anyway.
What is one girl meant to do about a ‘family curse’ like this?
But it seems like luck might be on her side, for once, when someone finally decides to listen. And yet [name_f]Anna[/name_f] can’t be quite sure… is her new ally really trying to help the [name_f]Grace[/name_f] family, or are they trying to get rid of them faster?
(I was like, half-thinking of another 12DP retelling here, not gonna lie.)
Next:[name_m]Long[/name_m] Past [name_f]Dawn[/name_f] or The Thorned [name_u]Legend[/name_u]
(Fairy tale retellings are pretty abundant right now, I guess – Outside The [name_u]Midnight[/name_u] Hours gives me vague [name_f]Cinderella[/name_f] vibes?)
The Thorned [name_u]Legend[/name_u]
I didn’t decide to act on the old stories expecting anything even remotely like this to happen…
Whispers in Nevercrest are constantly changing, but I don’t make a habit of listening to them – even with my gift of knowing how much truth there is in the old tales, trusting them always feels rather foolish – all that often, usually just leaving such things to my friends. But since the new story sounds like it’s about to reach its climax, I decide to indulge a little.
Being a hero is a rather attractive idea, after all.
Of course, I hardly thinks I could ever wake the sleeping prince of Istovaria… which kind of defeats the whole point of the fairly dangerous quest to save the boy… but hey, there’s got to be ways around magical curses from fairies who should probably already be dead and yet still seem to be kicking around. Right?
And besides, my best friend is crazy enough to come along for the ride. Who knows, maybe [name_m]Kester[/name_m] will have an idea of his own to bypass that whole ‘true love’s kiss’ requirement?
(TL;DR – female narrator forgets that homosexuality is a thing.)
“Esme’s a genius with this, she’s always got the right idea,” [name_u]Jules[/name_u] laughs, whacking my arm with their coat sleeve. “Give it a chance, sparky.”
“That’s why I can’t,” I want to say.
But I don’t.
[name_u]Kit[/name_u] has a secret. A somewhat badly-kept secret, sure, but it’s still close enough to unknown to count. He’s not even quite sure how it happened, or why almost everyone who knows calls his electrokinesis a ‘gift’ when it’s pretty much a blatant curse… whatever. [name_f]Secret[/name_f], secret enough, and far too dangerous.
It would be fine — two friends who don’t know a thing about his ‘ability’ is enough for anyone who plans to stay out of trouble — if [name_u]Esme[/name_u] [name_u]Caron[/name_u] didn’t exist.
With the strangest knack for getting people together, always claiming that she knows everything about the matter of ‘soulmates’, the girl has a reputation. And she’s starting to focus her talent on [name_u]Kit[/name_u].
(Instead of putting her mind to the actual important things, like her mock exams that start in a fortnight.)
Esme’s meddling always seems to work out, but [name_u]Kit[/name_u] can’t see how someone like him is safe to love. Because there is no such thing as a perfect storm.
So what do you do when everyone insists that there’s nothing dangerous about love, and that fear is practically insanity?
Next:Tears of Glass or The Wards of the [name_u]Isle[/name_u]
The Wards of the [name_u]Isle[/name_u]
There once was a set of friends. The friends all went to the same School for the Exceptional. They were [name_f]Katherine[/name_f] [name_m]Williams[/name_m], [name_m]Hanson[/name_m] [name_u]Quincy[/name_u], [name_u]Oliver[/name_u] [name_u]Quincy[/name_u], [name_m]Samson[/name_m] [name_u]Addison[/name_u], [name_f]Zarina[/name_f] [name_m]Davies[/name_m], [name_u]Taylor[/name_u] [name_u]Anne[/name_u] [name_m]Vinson[/name_m], [name_f]Nicole[/name_f] [name_u]Nikki[/name_u] [name_f]Sommers[/name_f], & [name_u]Michael[/name_u] [name_u]James[/name_u] [name_u]Fallon[/name_u]. We are their children. I am [name_f]Penelope[/name_f] [name_f]Nellie[/name_f] Quincy-Davies, he is [name_u]Kayden[/name_u] [name_u]Quincy[/name_u], she is [name_u]Willow[/name_u] [name_u]Quincy[/name_u], they are [name_m]Atticus[/name_m], [name_m]Theodore[/name_m] [name_u]Theo[/name_u], & [name_f]Hannah[/name_f] [name_f]Sommers[/name_f], & last (but not least) she is [name_f]Vivienne[/name_f] [name_u]Addison[/name_u]. Our parents grew up to marry [name_f]Zara[/name_f] & [name_m]Hanson[/name_m] (me), [name_u]Oliver[/name_u] & [name_f]Katy[/name_f] ([name_u]Kayden[/name_u] & [name_u]Willow[/name_u]), [name_m]Samson[/name_m] & [name_u]Taylor[/name_u] [name_u]Anne[/name_u] ([name_f]Vivi[/name_f]), & [name_u]Nikki[/name_u] & MJ ([name_m]Atticus[/name_m], [name_u]Theo[/name_u], & [name_f]Hannah[/name_f]). We are the wards of the isle & this is our story.
(Losely based on The Similars by [name_f]Rebecca[/name_f] Hanover)
Next: “Sh!t”, I mean 'Oh no, this wasn’t supposed to happen"* or I hate dogs!!!
Here’s the deal. I don’t like this genre, not at all, but I’m gonna lose my title as ‘Top Writer’ in this group of I don’t try something for this stupid little contest. I also don’t understand why Wattpad has ‘vampire’ and ‘werewolf’ as genres… but I digress.
I’m just gonna play your stupid ******* game, Yas. Here, have your blatantly stereotypical werewolf/vampire/human romance story.
The [name_m]Law[/name_m] of Chains has existed unbroken for nearly four centuries, never challenged, always endured. It was even said that if it weren’t for the [name_m]Law[/name_m] of Chains, humankind would devolve into chaos and violence and cease to exist. It was taught that the [name_m]Law[/name_m] of Chains was a necessary rite of passage, even an honorable service, for every human being to become a Prisoner of State, from puberty until age 25. That was until [name_m]Brandt[/name_m] Lofts became chained.
[name_m]Brandt[/name_m] was nobody special, but he believed in a better world… a world of youth and innocence and freedom. He thought that breaking the [name_m]Law[/name_m] of Chains would be the impetus of change the world needed to finally break free. He believed it was his destiny. But you know the saying… “be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.”
[name_m]Brandt[/name_m] never imagined that the consequences of his actions would reach all corners of [name_f]Earth[/name_f], and that they would incite such a fervor and rage as the world had never before seen. Did he make the right choice? What is he to do, now that the world looks upon him as either the greatest villain that ever existed, or as the greatest hero? He is, after all, just a 15 year old nobody. [name_u]Or[/name_u] is he?
Next title: [name_f]Serendipity[/name_f] [name_u]Island[/name_u]
“There is an island at the end of the world,” [name_f]Violet[/name_f] whispers, frown deepening almost with every syllable. “And they call it fortune to find yourself there. [name_f]Do[/name_f] you think…?”
She lets the obvious question go unasked, and we leave it unanswered.
Some called it serendipitous when the Blackhurst sisters washed up on the [name_u]Island[/name_u].
Some thought it was predestined.
And some absolutely despised it.
The sisters themselves? Well, they were hardly thrilled — who would be? — but an island that exists on no map and is really only talked about as an old wives’ tale of some kind is very interesting to most children.
It may not be as lucky as they hoped, however. Because ‘Serendipity Island’ is, as most things like it are, hiding something much darker than most of the islanders could ever imagine, never mind the three newcomers…
Shadowfen disappeared from the map fifteen years ago, one year before the strangest things started to happen in the town. Now, the children born during that year are deemed unsafe by those who made the town vanish, and pulled away from the only world they had a chance to know… for no reason that anybody in Shadowfen can see.
Because the Children of Shadowfen aren’t unsafe. They’re children. [name_m]Son[/name_m] and daughters and siblings and cousins and friends to those who remain in the missing town.
As the lost town’s people question what the truth could be – and if the reason claimed could be the real one – those on the outside ask questions of their own. After all, where can anyone find a handful of fourteen-year-old children who know so little about the country they live in, never mind the world? And why do they all act so similar… so blank?
The Children of Shadowfen are a mystery, that’s impossible to argue with.
But are they a solvable one?
Next:The/These Whispering Times or The Banished Academy
Dates come easily to [name_u]Connor[/name_u] Everheart — they’re just not usually particularly important ones, at least to his knowledge. Whispers from voices of people he’s never known, and yet somehow… he thinks he did. Once.
A lifetime ago.
The gift, the curse, whatever the hell it is, it’s hardly useful. It’s not pre- or retrocognition, it’s just whispers. And they don’t seem to be getting closer in time. [name_u]Or[/name_u] further away.
How could they, though?
Years of the voices (seemingly) steering well clear of the twenty-first century have left him keeping the whole thing a secret, however. So when there’s a shout, when the voices overlap and call out a date in the upcoming week… well.
He’s sort of hopelessly unprepared.
And he’s even more so when it comes to what actually happened, happens, will happen… but might also suddenly be over.
Next:The [name_u]Owl[/name_u] in the [name_u]Ice[/name_u] or [name_u]Shadow[/name_u] City
[name_f]Keira[/name_f] is one of the Enlightened, a genetically advanced subspecies of human that have their DNA enhanced with technology. The totalitarian government likes to claim that the Enlightened are perfect — completely ignoring the rumors of the Shadows.
The land’s Elders tell stories of a failed genetic experiment that resulted in a group of “savages” who revolted against the government. While the government claims all the Shadows are dead, the Elders believe in a “Shadow City” where the Shadows still live.
[name_f]Keira[/name_f] never fit in among the other Enlighteneds. She hates the government and holds a deep amount of respect for the Shadows for standing up to them. When the government forces her into a marriage she doesn’t want, she decides enough is enough is enough and decides to run away and find the [name_u]Shadow[/name_u] City, not knowing the horrors that await her past the border wall…
Next: Sound of Exile or Face of the [name_u]Phoenix[/name_u]
Nobody knows what the face of the [name_u]Phoenix[/name_u] — the most well-known of the heroes in Emsville — looks like. It hasn’t stopped people working out that the hero is most likely to be a boy in class 10-K… for some reason, it’s easy enough to rule out 10-D and 10-S?
I mean. I don’t know who the hero is either, but someone said they’ve ‘got to be’ in 10-K at our school, and I guess the other villains just went with it.
But here’s the thing. I have a theory of my own. It can be summed up as ‘crazy’, sure, but… it’s there.
I don’t think his identity is as unknown as everyone thinks.
Almost every child who’s disappeared recently, see, looks very similar. And while the [name_u]Phoenix[/name_u] is still able to throw himself into danger like his really will be able to come right back, I can just about tell that he’s nervous he’ll really be pulled next.
I’m pretty sure there’s one problem with this, though.
How come he’s not actually disappearing, if someone knows what he looks like?
[Uh. Sure. Let’s go with that.]
Next:What You Swore To Destroy or [name_u]Palace[/name_u] of the Stars
To leave that place, [name_f]Mara[/name_f] had to truly abandon it. The people who helped her had warned her to take nothing with her, no object, gift, or memory, that could tie her to that horrible past.
But eleven years after Mara’s death, when her teenage grandson finally got around to going through his mother’s mother’s stuff, a single journal spirals the boy into a world of secrets, zealots, and, above all, power for the the return of a prodigal son.
As it turns out, there are some things you can’t possibly destroy, no matter how hard you try.
“Look, I know we all agree that playing games with the paranormal is… a less than brilliant—”
“We all?” I didn’t like where this was going. “I’m the only other person here…?”
“Eh, you can’t see the others.” What? ”But hey, I’ve only crashed my own funeral twice, right?”
Ryan’s almost certain that this is the third time his twin has died, has had a funeral, and… okay, it is the second time that he has then walked into said funeral. Which wouldn’t actually be too worrying, incredibly enough, if the outcome of the first time a funeral had been held for [name_m]Luke[/name_m] hadn’t led to the other two being open-casket.
All things considered, it doesn’t look good. And third time — well, fourth time, maybe — is always a ‘charm’.
So Ryan’s brother might be playing with the devil, and he might not be able to pull off a third victory against death, which would probably be okay if people didn’t have that awful habit of being fascinated by the boy who’s definitely died three times in dangerous ways.
It’s a good job they’re twins, isn’t it?
()
Next:The [name_f]Secret[/name_f] [name_f]Holiday[/name_f] or Call of the Nights
The [name_f]Secret[/name_f] [name_f]Holiday[/name_f]
“Really, one should always be prepared for strange announcements like this when they live with spies,” [name_f]Maisie[/name_f] laughed. “How did we not see this coming?”
“I don’t know, we’re not spies, or detectives, or anyone who’s meant to ‘see things coming’, as you put it?” [name_f]Ellie[/name_f] shrugged, as if that answered the question better than what she’d said.
I kept silent.
[name_f]Maisie[/name_f], [name_f]Eloise[/name_f] and [name_u]Oliver[/name_u] [name_m]Hastings[/name_m] know for a definite fact that their aunt and uncle are spies – even if they’ve never been explicitly told. And while it doesn’t usually cause anything… well, the summer holidays aren’t a time where the three of them can be relied upon to be safely tucked away at school.
So a surprise holiday is announced, something [name_f]Maisie[/name_f] manages to be incredibly unsurprised by given her lack of eavesdropping, and the siblings are forced to look after themselves more often than not. Which, in the end, leads to the strangest of consequences.
That, really, everyone should have seen coming, but that’s probably the least of everyone’s worries.
)