Excerpts From My Novel, “The Star of Juino” // Wednesday Whatevers

Hello everyone, I hope you’re having a lovely morning, afternoon, or evening! I’ve been working on a novel since August 2018 (going on four years!!), so I decided to share some excerpts with you! I’m really weird about sharing my writings with people for some reason. Still, I thought, “Hey, since I’m working on publishing this, I might as well dip my toe into the water of other people forming perceptions and opinions about me and my talents!” ʰᵒʷ ᶠᵘⁿᵎ 😃
Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

P.S. to read more about my book, click here!

>> Chapter Titles <<

Okay, first, I just thought I’d share some of my favorite chapter titles. They just make me giggle.

Chapter Three || So Just Because “I’m Twenty” and “A Functioning Part of Society” I Don’t Get Gold Star Stickers?

Chapter Six || That Moment When You’re Chilling In An Escape Pod With Legolas Kirk of Queens, New York, While Having An Existential Crisis.

Chapter Nine || Time To Try New Things, Like Messing Up Adages and Assassinating Dictators.

Chapter Ten || “Let Them Eat Iced Bread” – Marie Antoinette (probably)

Chapter Forty-Six || Ew, This Book Has Forty-Six Chapters? Disgusting Number. Absolutely Intolerable. -10/10.

>> Some Fun Little Excerpts <<

1 || Chapter Thirty

Suddenly, a door slammed open, and a fellow in a black suit strode in. Idos guessed he was one of the overseers. He flicked a battered and dented knife between his fingers and glared at each of the prisoners through a single pale yellow eye. His skin had a warm tint, and he had white hair and fangs. Little stumps peeked out from underneath his curly hair. Were those horns? Idos had never seen any fellow like this. He looked Irielan vaguely, but still, Irielans have two eyes. Behind the one-eyed fellow entered a woman wearing a black suit. Her solid black hair was pulled back in a tight, glossy ponytail, and her fully-black eyes flicked around the room, daring someone to make a move so she could slice them up with her claw-like hands. Idos now understood why Keau advised him not to mess with them. But… he was still probably going to.

He was Idos Rakai Iskar; it was part of his brand.

“Ah, the newcomers are awake,” the white-haired fellow said in a tinny, raspy voice. He squatted in front of Idos and scoffed. “Yeah, this kid won’t last a week.”

“I will literally sweat myself out of these handcuffs,” Idos replied with a serious tone.

He could feel the tension in the air rise; it almost made him smile. Keau inhaled sharply beside him. Idos didn’t break his gaze, but he could tell the other prisoners were just as astonished that this scrawny little kid spoke back to one of the seers.

“What?” The fellow seemed more confused than angry.

“You heard me. Just wait ’til I start perspiring.”

“I have chair disease!” Hila called out in a silly voice.

The confusion and tension in the air only seemed to heighten as Idos tried to stifle his laughter. He honestly wasn’t sure how their sense of humor crumbled into nothing but letters and random words, but it provided a great distraction. Idos had learned a while ago that if you act insane or stupid, more often than not, the bad guys won’t hurt you as bad.

“What’s wrong with these two?” The male overseer looked around the room at the others, then settled his eye on Idos again. “Who are you?”

“H.”

Hila started cracking up, but the female seer shot him with a stun gun. The one-eyed man grabbed Idos, detached his chain from the wall, and dragged him into the center of the room.

Bingo.

Thank you for making my escape a lot easier, sir.

The seer threw Idos to the ground, slapped him in the face, and stood over him, glaring.

“Who are you?” He repeated.

“Idos Rakai Iskar.”

“No, you’re not. Don’t test me.”

“Okay, then who would you like me to be?” Idos asked sweetly. “Call me whatever you want, hot stuff.”

“Sylvan, stop wasting your time on him,” the woman spoke up.

Idos moved his head and looked around Sylvan at the woman. “Um, excuse me, we’re talking here, babe.”

“How dare you—”

The woman started toward Idos, but Sylvan put his hand up, stopping her.

“Vera, I’ve got him.”

Sylvan yanked Idos up and forced him to sit. He grabbed his knife and began circling Idos, holding the blade up to his jaw. “You’ve got a lot of nerve talking to your superiors like that.”

“I wouldn’t say superiors—”

“I could kill you right now.” Sylvan squatted in front of Idos again. He let the knife drag across the nape of his neck until it rested beneath Idos’ chin. “It doesn’t seem like you understand that.”

“What are you gonna kill me with? That little knife?” Idos taunted.

“I’ve got tricks up my sleeve.”

“So do I.”

Idos slipped his hands out of his bonds and grabbed the knife handle. He couldn’t wrench it out of Sylvan’s grip, but he could overpower him just enough to twist the blade under his opponent’s neck. Keau saw his chance to help and hooked his legs around Sylvan’s free arm, trapping him. The woman, Vera, brought out the stun gun and shot Keau, knocking him unconscious. So much for that.

However, two other prisoners joined in and kicked the back of her knees, knocking her to the ground, then pinned her under their legs. She struggled against them, but they were able to hold her down. One fellow even began choking her with his leg. How? Idos had no clue, but he wasn’t exactly complaining. Sylvan tried to use his free arm to grab Idos, but Idos kicked his elbow, causing him to lose his support and fall. Idos pinned Sylvan to the ground with his legs and left hand and jabbed the knife closer to his neck with his right.

“How did you do that?” Sylvan struggled to remove the knife from under his neck.

“I guess I’m a sweaty boy.” Idos smiled.

2 || Chapter Forty-Two

Hila looked around the room, trying to ground himself. His eyes rested on the clock display to the left of the mirror.

12:07

Sonel’s words floated to the top of his mind.

“There’s always something worth fighting for.”

“What is it?” Hila asked aloud. “What is worth fighting for? What is there to see? To feel? To hold on to?” He asked desperately.

Hope. There was always hope. His best friends were gone, but that doesn’t mean his hope has to be gone, too. His life may be in shambles, he may be irreparable, but that didn’t mean that there wasn’t any hope that it might get better. What had stopped him from letting go before? What had made him hold on for this long? Hope. The future. The faith that things can and will get better. He didn’t know exactly what that future held, but he just had to hold on, never let go, and see for himself.

The future holds so much hope. He had to remember that. The future holds so much hope, relief, healing, and happiness. He just had to hold on. Hold on long enough so that he could see that future. So he could see the day where he looks back at this moment and says: “I did it. I made it.” He was gonna make it through this. He had to.

Just because life seems awful doesn’t mean you give up. It simply means you just have to find your hope again and remember the future. The past is in the past, the present soon becomes the past, but the future is always ahead, always unchanging, and there’s a plan for something a lot better in that future.

Why did he have to suffer so much? He had to experience the darkness to see just how bright the light is, how bright the light can and will be. Once he hit rock bottom, there was only one way from there. Up. He just had to be bold enough to make that choice. To make that choice to grow, to take that step on the road to the future.

He decided to take that step. With the firm, hopeful belief that life can and will get better, that he will get through this, Hila Rami Hellin lifted his head up and looked in the mirror.

“I will make it. I am strong enough to succeed. My future holds so much, and I’m gonna live to see it.”

3 || Chapter Forty-One

Idos opened the hatch fully, and the boys stepped into the Nekarian ship. They climbed out into a large room the size of a warehouse. Storage crates and mechanisms covered in large tarps lay strewn about throughout the area. The monochrome grey ceilings lay far above Idos’ head, and he didn’t realize until that moment just how large this ship was. It’d be harder to find this human than he thought.

Hila walked a bit ahead, and his footsteps were silent due to the padding on the bottom of the suits. That was one good thing. With a room this big, Idos knew that the smallest noise would echo throughout the entire space, alerting every Nekarians nearby of their presence.

“It looks like we’re in the storage unit,” Hila whispered, walking back toward Idos and Jelson.

“Oh, yeah?” Jelson smiled. “What makes you say that?”

Hila hesitated for a moment, then gave him an exasperated expression. “Yeah, whatever.”

Idos chuckled and looked around the room more, thinking about how they would manage to find a tiny human in such a large ship. He brought up a geo-scanner on his wrist and waited a few seconds as it surveyed the ship’s layout. A hologram soon popped up and floated above Idos’ wrist, displaying a model of the Nekarian ship. Idos studied, and Hila and Jelson looked over his shoulder. Idos moved the hologram around, zooming in, trying to get a bearing of where each room was. Around the entire blueprint—milling about here and there—were thermal blobs. They were all blue except for one reddish-orange lump lying still on its side. That must be the human.

“That’s the human,” Idos announced quietly. “They’re lying on their side, most likely on a bed. I hope it’s not too late.”

“We gotta get going then,” Jelson pursed his lips. “Better late than never.”

“Who’s going, who’s staying?” Hila asked. “Someone’s gotta go, someone’s gotta stay and be ready for takeoff. Then there’s an extra fellow.”

Jelson nodded to a nearby vent in the wall. “Iddy, you’re the only one that’ll fit. Hila and I will stay here and guard the ship.”

“Sounds good,” Idos nodded in conclusion and closed the holographic map.

“Be careful,” Hila said as Idos walked over to the vent.

“‘Careful’ is my middle name,” Idos began cutting open the vent.

“No, it’s not. It’s Rakai.”

“Yeah, and that literally means ‘careful’ in Naidin.”

“Huh.”

“Look at that?” Jelson smiled. “You learn something new every day.”

“That is actually such an accurate statement,” Idos finished cutting and yanked off the vent cover. “Fun fact: Jelson, I just learned that you’re albino.”

Hila and Jelson stared at Idos.

“Idos, you’re a jicking idiot sometimes, dude,” Jelson smiled.

“How did you not know that?” Hila asked.

“Well, I suspected, but I didn’t wanna say anything.”

“I have white hair and magenta eyes!” Jelson whisper-yelled.

“Well, yeah, I know. But some Feisarians have magenta-ish, purplish eyes.”

“I’m not Feisarian!” Jelson laughed. “Idos, you’re Feisarian! How…”

“Bro- you- I’m doing my best, okay?”

“Well, your best is clearly not enough, bro,” Hila teased, causing Jelson to have to stifle more laughter.

“Ah, shut up,” Idos smiled.

“Alright, boys, we’ve got work to do,” Jelson said, recomposing himself but still grinning. “Idos, be careful, don’t mess up. We’ll be waiting right here.”

Idos brought Jelson and Hila in for a hug.

“I love you, guys,” Idos said.

“Love you, too.”

There you are! I hope you found this post helpful or entertaining. Let me know your favorite part (or chapter title) in the comments below! I wish you a wonderful rest of your day or night. Keep on inspiring others and loving yourself!