Every Tuesday, I post a teaser for one of my current works in progress. I invite all of my writer buddies to join in!
The rules:
Post a link, image, quote, or excerpt related to or taken from your current WIP.
State the name of the WIP.
Do NOT explain yourself! Resist the urge to wax poetic. This is a hint, not an outline.
No Cage for a Crow
The inside of the carriage was thick and dark after the light of a clear day. Blue and green streaks painted my vision, but through them, I could see a pair of glittering eyes like black beetles fixed on me through the gloom.
I shifted uneasily, aware that my every movement left a grimy smirch on the plush seat, aware that, though we had started moving, I might still throw myself out the door without hurting myself too badly, aware that a third gleam I could see in the dark was likely the metal knob of a cane, which would do a lot of damage if it came toward my skull with enough force.
A monstrous shape heaved in the shadows across from me like a dragon stirring in the depths of its cavern, and it leaned closer. I could smell pomade and cigar smoke. I blinked faster, willing my eyes to adjust, and the shape had almost resolved into the form of a gigantic man when a voice rumbled out of it like thunder. A voice I knew.
‘Ah, Morrigan, I thought that might be you, but I couldn’t be certain from a distance. I can’t say I much like what you’ve done with your hair.’
My brother Mycroft loomed at me, expressionless. He held out his left hand, and a few more blinks showed me a crinkled paper envelope full of licorice. I took a piece, not sure what shocked me more: that I was discovered, or that I was so changed that Mycroft, the cleverest of us all, had taken more than an instant to recognize me.
He sat back with a wheezing, growling noise, rearranging his bulk across the seat, and laced his fingers over the immaculate expanse of his waistcoat. ‘This,’ he said, exaggerated patience failing to conceal a dangerous edge, ‘is the part where you explain yourself, my sister.’