Word count 31,434

Sybil was lying on her back, the sun shinning down upon her, warming her right through. She closed her eyes and smiled. She was not in this position long before she was interrupted by Hanz and Sarah, who entered the yard talking very quickly.
Sybil opened one eye and watched them as they neared. “The Circle books were by far the best,” Hanz was saying.
“I would agree, though I like Obsessed a great deal.”
“I have not read that one yet.”
“You should, it is really good.”
They stopped over Sybil and looked down at her. She grinned and then closed her eyes, but opened them when Sarah said, “As for Sybil, she has not so much as opened one of his books!”
Hanz gasped and Sybil opened her eyes. “Who?” she asked.
“Ted DeKker, the greatest author ever!”
Sybil rolled her eyes. “I bet he can’t beat Jack Cavanaugh!”
Hanz shook his head. “You have never read any of DeKker’s?”
Sybil shook her head. “No, they look rather, weird.”
Sarah moaned and Hanz shook his head gravely. “You poor girl, not knowing what you are missing out on!”
Sybil looked at the two of them and slowly closed her eyes. “Then tell me.”
Sarah sat down and Hanz leaned against one of the near by trees. “Well, I will tell you about the one I just read, Thr3e.”
Sybil moaned softly and without opening her eyes said, “Fire away!”
“Well, it is about a man named Kevin who one day gets a phone call from a man named Slater. Slater tells Kevin he has to confess his sin or he will blow his car up. Well, Kevin has no idea as to what sin he is to confess, and the car is blown. After that Slater hunts him and his friend Samantha down, threatening them until finally Kevin goes after him. By this time they are being helped by a lady named Jennifer. Anyways, to make a long story short, Kevin finds Slater but his captured. Sam comes to help him and is captured. Slater then tells Kevin he has to kill either his insane aunt or Sam. Then while all this is happening Jennifer shows up.”
Sybil opened her eyes as Sarah paused. She grinned and continued, “Jennifer enters the room to see Kevin sitting on the floor, holding one gun on his aunt and one on his own head.”
Sybil sat up. “What?” she demanded. Hanz smirked because he too had read the book.
Sarah grinned like a loon. “Yes! See, Kevin was Slater, and Sam!”
Sybil shook her head. “What?”
“He had multiple personality disorder…”
“Thanks to his insane aunt!” Hanz added.
“Kind of like Pip and R.K., but this wasn’t just for fun or anything, and he didn’t know he was Sam and Slater.”
Sybil ran her hand through her bangs and moaned. “Man that is weird! But it sounds like a good book!”
Sarah laughed gleefully and Hanz grinned, they both had a feeling that they had run Sybil over. A few days later when Sybil found DeKker’s book, “Black,” at the library, she eagerly got it and read it, quickly. By the end of it she was begging for more, and was a new Ted DeKker fan.
It was about this time that Hanz started a new story, a thriller. Jordaan was upset about it, thinking he would not get as much done in his book, but Hanz fixed him by pinning his cloak to the roof with his sword. Needless to say Prinz was fine with the whole thing, he knew Hanz would not leave them.
Hanz read his story last that day, as the sun was setting, casting its last faint rays through the trees. The meetings were known to run late, merely because they liked to sit out under the trees in the cool dusk. But that night, it was different. Tonight, as they listened to a tale that would knock anyone off their chairs, they could not resist the urge to look over their shoulders as the darkness kept closer.
By the time Hanz had finished they were all gasping for breath and shivering.
“Okay, next time you are reading first! While it is still light out!”
Hanz grinned and Sybil gasped, “I now know the next Ted DeKker!”
Later that night Sybil was delighted to find that Justyne was on the chat room as well as Hanz.
“We should have another battle,” she sleepily suggested. “Have you found your swords Justyne?”
“Yes, one or two of them, now if only my enemies would stop stealing them.”
Sybil pried her eyes opened and yawned widely. She was ready to drop off and so moved to her bed, taking her laptop with her. She lay down and continued talking as the clock neared eleven.
“How is your book coming along Justyne?” Sybil typed, she was having trouble finding the letters.
“Very well, I am editing it you know, I am hoping I have it ready to publish by Christmas.”
“That is what I was hoping for too,” Hanz typed.
Sybil rubbed her eyes. “I nearly have mine written, all I have to do is edit it really, we should try and publish them at the same time.”
Her eyes drooped and she leaned back on her pillow. For about five minutes she drifted off, then woke up with a jump and stared at the screen. A question was staring back at her. “What do you say Sybil?”
Say to what? Sybil quickly read the last messages and grinned. Hanz and Justyne were adopting each other as siblings and wanted to adopt her too.
“That would be fun!” Sybil typed, she felt more awake now.
The three of them spent the next hour working out all the details, and then Justyne went to bed.
“How late are you staying up?” Sybil asked as Justyne bide her new brother and sister good night.
“Not sure,” Hanz answered. “I want to finish this chapter.”
Sybil grinned. Surely one chapter won’t take that long. “I will stay up with you then.”
“Thanks!” Hanz said before returning to his book.
Sybil opened her document and slowly wrote while talking to Hanz every few moments. Around one she felt herself drifting off.
“Maddock drew his sword and…” she drifted off for a moment. “There was a monkey, in a dress. He was coming at Maddock with a pole, a sharp pole, he was going to kill him!”
Sybil opened her eyes and looked at her computer. Once more she tried to write. “And said, ‘Reid you coward! Give me one chance at fighting you!’ Reid…” once more she drifted off. “He was a monster, and he hated monkeys. When he saw the monkey in the dress he was reminded that he hated dresses too, because They had put him in a dress once, and then They laughed at him. That changes a guy. ‘You will die monkey!’ he yelled as he pulled out his pistol. Why bring a sword when you can bring a pistol?”
The wind stirred the canopy on Sybil’s bed and woke her up, it was one thirty. “How is the chapter coming?” she asked Hanz.
“Good, I am now five pages into it, I am shooting for ten.”
Sybil stared at the words until they sank in. “What page are you on?” Hanz asked.
Page? Oh yes, those things she wrote on. She counted, then wrote, “Page three.” She had been on page three at midnight! “It is going a little slow.”
“Oh well, as long as you keep at it!” Hanz encouraged.
Sybil grinned and once more tried to get more written. She was able to keep it up for half an hour, and then she lost it. “Page four,” she sleepily typed. Before this she had warned Hanz, “If I vanish do not panic, it just means I fell asleep.”
She went back to her story, she stared at the words. Maddock was fighting Reid in a duel for Carlyss’s life. It was supposed to be a grand scene. She tried again, and her eyes fell like a ton of bricks. “Reid stepped to the side, avoiding a blow from Maddock’s…” she fell asleep. “Maddock’s monkey. Why did Maddock have a monkey and not a parrot was beyond her, after all most pirates had parrots. Katie wanted to ask him, but she wasn’t sure he would like her too. More then that, she wanted to ask how Maddock had gotten his monkey in the dress.
“Jules was getting suspicious of Maddock, he wanted to be the only pirate in Inklings, in the world! But Maddock was taking over, just like Maddock took over everything. Jules would have taken him on, but every time he glared at Maddock Katie ran to his aid. Her and the monkey.
“The monkey’s name was Molly, she was a sweet monkey who liked to be held and petted. She liked to sit on Maddock’s head and throws nuts at people, and then when they glared at her she would look innocent and blame the squirrels, because everyone knows squirrels throw nuts, even Washington knew that!
“The ride on the ship was long, and Jules would not let Maddock steer, so Maddock was board and had nothing to do but play with Molly, but she did not like his games, she just like to throw nuts and dance, everyone knows monkey’s in dresses are good dancers.
“So, to keep Maddock from loosing his sanity Katie told him her whole life’s story in a slide show…”
Sybil’s eyes snapped open and she came up fighting. She nearly tossed her laptop across the room. Settling back into her bed she looked around, and then focused on her laptop. Hanz had left a message.
“Sybil? You there?” Then a half an hour later. “I guess you fell asleep. Good night non blood sister, see you tomorrow.”
Sybil looked at the clock, it was three in the morning. She moaned, and turning her computer off rolled over and fell asleep thinking, “I should put that dream into a book.”
***
Sybil yawned and swung her feet back and forth as the leaves fluttered about her. Smiling she leaned her head back against the tree trunk and closed her eyes, letting the breeze play with her read hair. Bits of hair had escaped her braids and were tickling her face.
“Sybil?” Ness’s called, unexpected, nearly caused Sybil to fall out of the tree.
Looking down Sybil saw Ness standing under the tree. “I am up here!” Sybil called.
Ness tilted her dark red head back and grinned. “I will be right up!” she called as she grabbed onto one of the branches. The next moment she was sitting on a branch beside Sybil.
“You are early today!” Sybil said with a grin.
“Yeah, Alex was reading and I decided to go for a walk, and I ended up here!”
Sybil giggled. “How is your book coming along?”
“Very well, if Justin would behave.”
“Oh! Has he joined the renegade characters too?” Sybil shook her head as she spoke.
“I am afraid so, although not all the way, there is still hope I think.”
Sybil grinned. “That is good to hear!”
“How about your book?”
Sybil sighed sadly. “I am almost done with it.”
Ness’s eyes widened. “Really?” she asked in surprise.
“Yes, I am afraid so, I am rather sad it is ending.”
Ness nodded her head. “There is something sad about ending a book!”
Sybil nodded her head in whole hearted agreement.
When Sybil announced the nearing end at the meeting a little later, there was a mixture of sadness and joy. Only authors knew how sad and exciting it was to finish a book.
Before everyone started reading Pip stood up and announced, “My uncle has a boat, and he said we could barrow it and go rowing in the pond!”
This was meet with hearty and Hanz, who had been tearing up a piece of paper for know particular reason, tossed the bits into the air and said, “Hurray! Confetti and fanfare!”
“We need to pick a day to do it though so my uncle can get the boat there,” Pip was saying.
“We should do in next week,” Sarah said. “That way we can plan a picnic on the same day.”
After a bit of debating they picked the day and eagerly looked forward to the upcoming event, though everyone cast Beth and Gabrielle glares.
“We won’t push anyone in!” Gabrielle promised. Beth promised the same.
R.K. folded his arms over his chest and muttered, “I won’t believe that until I see it!”
The characters were equally excited over the news and looked forward to the picnic as much as the authors, though some of them did not admit it.
As everyone was leaving Jane told Sybil, “That last chapter was really good! You have really started to torment Maddock!”
“I know, it is fun,” Sybil admitted with a grin.
“Wait till you meet my bad guy!” Jane’s eyes shone with a mischievous light. “I am really going to get Reamann! I am basing my villain after Reid.”
Sybil shuddered and grinned. “I can’t wait to hear it!”
“You two are so evil to your characters,” Justyne scowled as she walked over to them.
“You torment your characters all the time!” Hanz called from a few feet away.
Justyne grinned. “I do, poor Timothy has been through so much!”
“Oh how evil we are, tormenting our poor characters and then laughing over it!” Sybil giggled even as she spoke.
Maddock looked over at Timothy, Reamann, and Jordaan. Jordaan rolled his eyes at the three of them and muttered, “Hey I have it worse then any of you, I am killed!”
“But you die a hero!” Timothy moaned. “I think I die an old man!”
“I die an old king,” Reamann said as Maddock added, “I die an old man too.”
“See, we die in the most dullest ways, Jordaan goes out in a blaze of glory!”
Jordaan grinned slightly, and nodded his head. “That is true, I guess. But you guys really don’t know what it is like to be killed by your author.”
Maddock nodded his head. “That is true. We should be more understanding, and beat Hanz up for his cruelty.”
They all looked over at Hanz who happened to be distracted as he talked with Sybil and Justyne. Reamann realized Jane had left and ran off to find her. Timothy, Jordaan, and Maddock all looked at each other, then back at their authors, and then grinned again.
“We should do something to them,” Maddock whispered to his comrades.
“Like what?” Timothy asked. “They are our authors, we can’t do anything to them!”
“Yeah, if we did I would not be the only character that dies!”
Maddock grinned wider. “Oh ye of little faith. Trust me you two, I think I have a plan for us all to get revenge. And it involves a pond, and a boat!”
Timothy rubbed his hands together and Jordaan grinned so wide it was amazing his teeth did not fall out.
“Now I am REALLY looking forward to the picnic!”
Maddock grinned almost evilly. “As am I!”

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