Too much work and not enough sleep make Joey go crazy...crazier...
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Maxine
Rodgers had been a stubborn old lady with wiry white hair and brown eyes that
seemed to be able to pick out trouble makers a mile away. The ex-English teacher
had always been strict but fair with the odd folk who treated her home as a
sanctuary. When it came to her granddaughter, however, she had always spoiled
her rotten. Especially after she had basically kidnapped her granddaughter away
from her daughter-in-law until the courts had given her custody.
It
had been her that had encouraged Twilight’s imagination and her belief in the
magic of the world around them. That had encouraged the girl’s creative mind and
helped her through the bullying and the teasing that had occurred during her
time at school. It had been her grandmother who had encouraged her to take up
writing as a career, reminding her that she did not need to worry about her
future as there was always her job at the library to fall back on and she had a
home in Seaview for as long as she needed it.
Then
one day Maxine had collapsed while Twilight had been at college and by the time
she had raced home, her grandmother had been gone and the big old cottage had
been hers and hers alone.
At
least until her immortal friends have come over to offer support and the
concept of turning the house into a Haven had come up and everything had kind
of spiralled from there. It was very rare these days that she was alone in the
house.
This
week was the exception. During Handover there was not any time for the nature
immortals of the Crystal Compass to relax. Everything had to be just right for
the changeover between the two seasons. Of course while in the north, Spring was
changing to Summer, the southern hemisphere was switching from Autumn to
Winter. Sam had probably taken the only five minutes he had had spare to check
in with her, so she felt a little guilty asking him for a favour and dropping
her bad news on him. She just had not been thinking when she had mentioned it.
Still
she could handle herself for a couple of weeks while the seasons kept on
turning and it was not like the Dark Compass would be too active. Generally
even the dumbest of their number were smart enough to stay hidden during the Handover
fortnight when every member of the Crystal Compass was wound tightly enough
that the slightest thing could make them snap.
As
guilty as she felt for relaxing while her immortal friends were working their
hardest, she actually really enjoyed the four Handovers. For her they were a
vacation time as they were the only four times of the year where she got her
home to herself and could completely unwind.
She
planned on making the most of it as she pulled her doorstop sized wedge of
notes out of the safe that was hidden away in her study. Everything within the
wedge was related to a tale she had heard from her frequent guests and she
planned on converting them to story form. She reckoned she had another six books
worth of writing to pull from it after she had worked out how to rewrite them
as children’s stories.
She
would not get all of that done in the next couple of weeks of course, but
breaking them down into their tales and working out the basics would put her in
good stead for writing the next couple in the series around dealing with her
frequent guests. It was something that would help her relax while she prepared
for her final exams.
She
could not wait for university to be over. She had mostly enjoyed it, but she
was looking forward to the stress being over. This last year had driven her
completely bonkers. She was not the only one who was losing the plot over her dissertation
and final major project. Most of her classmates were going much the same way.
Still
final hand-in was next week and then all she had to worry about was a presentation
and one last exam and she would be free as a bird. She was considering going
away for a couple of days since she had booked off the entirety of the week
following the exams, she just had not decided where to yet.
Taking
the pot of tea through with her, deciding she would need the caffeine to keep
her going, she plugged her phone in to charge and settled at her desk and
started working through the pile of papers, silently cussing her system for
organising them. Or rather the lack of system. All the parts of the tales were
together, but they were in no real chronological order and occasionally
referenced each other despite not linking together in any other way.
“Alright
Twilight.” She told herself as she started separating out the notes, “Let’s see
how we can make this work.”
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