The Stakes are Raised

Well, it’s the 22nd, and I’m on excerpt… 8. That promise of daily excerpts kind of went south, didn’t it?

But this is because I’ve reached this period in my NaNoWriMo adventure where I go through this week-long stasis where I don’t write anything. It usually occurs around Week 3, when I just can’t be bothered to open the document and put down something.

Don’t worry, though; while this may seem lazy, it does make my Week 4 considerably more exciting. I work better under pressure: new ideas spring up, suddenly and without method, and I’m carried on this wave of madness to 50,000 words. Or 80,000, as the case may be. And we’ve reached that period. The title of this post has sort of a double-meaning.

In today’s excerpt, Phineas comes to understand why it’s so urgent that people should be able to take things off their heart if they need to. He comes to this conclusion when he finds Virgil, skittish and mad, at Malcolm’s house, just after his chance encounter with Jack Draconi, the most ruthless criminal for miles around. He declares exactly why he has to discover this secret, and Cindy, Malcolm and Virgil, despite their skepticism, are behind him all the way.

Meanwhile, Draconi had assessed the level of threat that Phineas might give him. Initially worried that he’s just going to be a Good Samaritan getting in his way, he thinks that his idea of finding out how to unbond folk’s hearts, unlikely and cockamamie as it may seem, is nonetheless worth looking into. Dirk is Draconi’s closest contact with Phineas, so he’s going to plant him as surveillance.

This excerpt closes on a cliffhanger about what Phineas will attempt to do to get started on this journey, and make no mistake, it won’t be an easy one. But I’m not entirely certain exactly how hard it may be…