Continue the story - Best Chapter Wins!

I'm gonna read it over again and see if I get an idea.

Oops... I forgot. XD I'll try to remember after I finish my entry for the CoI cover contest.

Aw, feel better soon. I'm almost done, I think I just have to save it as a JPEG and post it.

Here we go. It's only 948 words but I felt it was a good place for someone else to start up.

Garthe drew his blade. It was short, yet lethally sharp, and the metal was dyed black. The unearthly creature raised the sword for a killing blow to Dana's throat. The blade came down, and she braced herself for impact.
"Dana." She felt a light slap on her face. "Dana, wake up."
"Huh?" She slowly opened her eyes and peered up into Craig's blue ones. "What the...? What happened?"
"I'm not sure," he replied, extending a hand to help her to her feet. "You started acting really weird, and then you just... collapsed." She took the offered hand and staggered slightly once she was on her feet, feeling off.
"I... what time is it?"
He glanced at her with a "you're crazy" kind of look before pulling back his sleeve to see his watch face. "Six thirty."
"Exactly?"
"No. It's six thirty-two. Why?"
She didn't answer but simply shut her eyes, trying to remember what was happening at six thiry-two. It was... it was... was it Garthe? Or was it- her thoughts broke off as a new voice spoke.
"Dana, are you all right?" Her eyes snapped open to stare at Merdock.
"Augh!" she cried, throwing up her hands in frustration. "What is going on?"
He went over to the hourglass, kneeling to peer carefully at the star charts on the floor. "Just as I suspected," he sighed, getting to his feet. "The hourglass has-"
His voice broke off as the scene was replaced by Garthe and his creatures. "Oh, no," Dana murmured, lying immobile on the ground as the dark blade swung towards her throat. Suddenly a jet of ocean blue light shot towards them, shattering both the sword and Garthe's glass face. The rest of him vanished into thin air. The creatures parted and turned, allowing Dana an unrestricted view of her savior.
"Craig!" she cried, struggling to her feet. None of the creatures tried to stop her, as they were all too busy staring at the boy, who was too busy staring in utter bewilderment at his hands to notice as she ran towards him. He glanced up as she nearly ran into him.
"Dana- what- I-"
"No time for explanations," she cut him off breathlessly. "Just run. Run!" She grabbed his hand and followed her own advice, tugging him along with her. After a moment he let go of her hand, traveling on his own power.
Craig had longer legs than Dana, but she had better endurance. After just a few minutes of sprinting, Craig had slowed to a jog, breathing heavily, and she matched his pace, albeit impatiently. "Craig, they're going to catch up!" she said, casting a nervous glance behind them.
"Yeah... but I... can't run... fast," he tried to pant out.
"Too bad, move!" The last word was a shriek as she glanced behind them again to see the first of the creatures come into view. "Go!"
She murmured a few words of magic, her palm facing backwards, and a jet of purple light shot from it, (hopefully) hitting the creatures behind them.
But using magic was tiring, and now she was flagging too. "We have to... keep moving," she gasped, forcing her tired limbs to keep running.
"I... I can't," Craig said breathlessly, leaning against a tree. She grabbed his hand again to try to tug him along, but he was like a dead weight and she couldn't go anywhere. Suddenly a familiar rushing sound reached her ears, giving her new strength.
"Come on, Craig, just a little farther. I promise, just a little." He reluctantly complied, following her wearily towards the noise. She pushed through the bushes, her breath rasping in her throat.
"There," she gasped, pointing to the little stream. She pulled him along with her as she splashed through the cold water, which was only ankle deep. The moment they had reached the other shore Craig slumped against a tree again, closing his eyes.
Dana kept her eyes fixed on where they had come from until the creatures began pouring from the bushes, stopping at the very edge of the shore to hover just out of the water's reach with frustration glittering in their tiny red eyes. They couldn't cross the stream, not without dissolving in the liquid. One tried, and a horrible, unearthly scream echoed throughout the forest as he slowly, agonizingly melted away.
Dana turned away, biting her lip. Craig's eyes opened slowly, his breathing even now.
"Dana, what's going on? I... Before, when you were trapped, something happened, and light came out of my hands, and... Oh, God, what's happening?"
"I can't tell you, Craig," she said softly. "Not yet. I don't know everything yet. And they-" she gestured towards the creatures on the other bank "-they can't be allowed to hear. Just trust me. Please. I swear I'll get us through this."
His gaze dropped to the ground for a moment, then flicked back up to meet hers steadily. "Okay."
She took his hand and closed her eyes, praying that this would work. She pictured Merdock and the room with the hourglass, just as she'd seen them last.
"Dana," Merdock breathed. "You're back."
Her eyes opened again to see that she and Craig were no longer standing in the forest with thousands of tiny red eyes fixed hungrily on them. She breathed a sigh of relief, but then it caught in her throat. Her eyes fixed on Merdock, his graying hair, his lined face, his tired eyes. He hadn't been like this before. He'd aged, by at least three decades if she was any judge, since the last time she'd seen him, which had only been a few moments before.
Hadn't it?

Thankerz.

Which is why I figured it was a good place for someone else to start. XD I had no idea what was going on. Ah, the advantages of cowriting.

Awesome! *is impatient to read*

I'm done but on an iPhone so I'll wait till I get home and connect my lappy to the internet.

Ooh... o.0 No way I can continue from this. Especially with NaNo going on.

This is about to close if someone doesn't post. But I really have no idea how to continue from that. Does anyone else have any ideas?

Hmm... maybe. I think I'm gonna take a couple days of a break from writing, though.

Gah... I keep forgetting. Maybe I'll work on it while I'm watching DW or SNL but probably not.

I wrote a little bit but it's not enough yet. I'll do more tomorrow.

This is a little less than 700 words, but I've been working on it for a while now and I don't think I'll be able to get much more out of it, so I hope it's okay that it's a little short.

--

“It doesn’t work.”

“It does,” Dana promised. “Just concentrate.”

Craig shut his eyes and was silent for a moment. Then he muttered the words Dana had taught him. Blue light glowed from his palm, briefly illuminating their faces before flickering out again.

“It’s no good, it won’t work. Why are you even trying to teach me this?”

Her face hardened as the prophecy jumped again to the forefront of her mind. “Because it’s something you need to know.”

“Why, though?” he asked, face twisted with frustration. “If I never learn the prophecy won’t be fufilled, right? I won’t be ‘blue’.”

“It doesn’t work like that. The prophecy will be fufilled no matter what.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I know prophecies.”

“How?”

“It’s not important.”

“What do you mean it’s not-”

She cut him off. “Try again.”

“What?”

“Try again,” she repeated through gritted teeth. “The incantation, try it again.”

“Dana, listen to me. It. Doesn’t. Work.”

“It does,” Dana insisted. “Try again.”

Scowling, he mumbled the words again. A swirl of ocean blue light spiraled away from his hand and into Dana’s. She met it with a violet beam and both evaporated into the air.

“Good,” she said.

“And how exactly is that supposed to help anything?”

She shrugged. “It’s simple and easy. I figured it would be good for starters.”

“If this is easy I’d hate to see difficult.”

“Oh, stop being such a baby. Try again.”

“I already did it. Why do I have to try again?”

Dana rolled her eyes. “Practice. Just do it.”

He frowned and muttered the incantation again. A jet of blue light shot from his palm and burned a hole in the wall.

“Crap. Sorry.”

“Leave it. We’ll deal with it later. Let’s go outside.”

Craig shoved his hands into his pockets. “No.”

“No? Why not?”

“I’m tired of this, Dana. I’m tired of you telling me what to do but nothing else. I don’t understand this, I don’t understand any of it. And you aren’t helping. Just tell me what is going on!”

Craig’s outburst set off the anger that had been growing inside Dana since Merdock had read out the prophecy. “I don’t know!” she yelled. “Do you get that, Craig? I. Don’t. Know.”

“Fine, you don’t know anything about the prophecy. But you know something! What were those... those glass things? Where do our powers come from? Who are you, Dana?”

“I’ll tell you later.”

“No, Dana. You are telling me now.”

“Fine,” she snapped. “Fine. The creatures are called the Vredion. We don’t know where they came from or why they’re here. All we know is that they can’t pass over water and they’re stronger in the dark, especially shadows. They can only die if their faces are broken. Our powers come from the stars, as do the prophecies.” She paused, her eyes searching his face carefully. “You know who I am, Craig.”

“I thought I did,” he said bitterly. “But not anymore. You’re not the girl I used to know.”

“I am, Craig,” she said, a pleading note in her voice. “I haven’t changed, not at all.”

“Then you must have been good at hiding your real self, because the Dana I knew would never do this.”

“What am I doing, exactly?”

“You’re... I don’t know, you’re just... Just leave it, okay? All I want is to go home.”

“Well that’s too bad, because you can’t.”

“Excuse me?”

“You can’t. I’m sorry, Craig, but you can’t go home, not until all this is over.”

“I can do what I like,” he snapped.

“Sure you can. If you want to put your family in danger.”

He looked a little uncertain, but continued, “You can’t stop me. It’s a free country.”

Dana’s face was carefully blank, but her eyes held the echo of an ancient sadness, far older than her. “Not here,” she whispered. “Not here.”

This is going really well. I can't wait to have a winner for this.

Aw, thanks, Dream. I just read that on the freewrite thread, so here's the comment I put there:

OMG, Dream, awesome. Except now I have to continue from that. XD