SHENLIGHT is a story about four kids who discover that their home, Sandshadow City, is in extreme danger and it's up to them to learn how to use their special powers in order to protect the innocent people from the Peaceguards--a ruthless robot police force that patrol's the alleys of the desert city.
I blog the entire novel right here, and highlight each chapter with commentary about my process and inspiration for the story. If you enjoy it, drop me a follow and let me know what you liked!
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The sound of the wheels of a cart on stone woke me up.
My body ached, everywhere, like it usually did after pushing myself on a job. I looked outside. The sun would rise over the east wall any minute now. I breathed in sharply and reached down to gently feel the bandage on my leg. It stung as I touched it. Mother had noticed when I came home yesterday with blood, sand and sweat all over me. She had looked a little worried, but didn't say anything.
I stretched my arms and argued with my legs until they finally slid out and bent to the floor. I sat up. There was sand sprinkled across the bed and swirled on the floor. I made a mental note to put more cardboard over the holes in the wall. Again.
I pulled on pants and a fresh shirt and stood. I took another deep breath and straightened my back.
There it was.
The sphere sat on the chest in the corner. I hadn't even remembered to hide it before I crashed into bed.
Blast.
I crossed the room in two steps and picked it up. It still shone like it had the day before, and it still looked like a ton of money. Then I remembered the job. I had to visit Bones today. He owed me a little something.
I smiled as I tied my shoes on. This job should pay enough to last a while. I could probably go three or four weeks without dealing with the thieves. I shook my head as an image of the runner from last night getting blasted by a silver robo popped into my head. Things could have gone so wrong. They got themselves into trouble more than I cared to think about, so it was always good to stay away as much as possible.
But I guess things had ended up alright yesterday. I placed the sphere in a dirty sock, and the sock in a shirt and stored them under the bed.
Pulling aside the sheet that hung over the doorway, I stooped under the low-hanging ceiling and went down the stairs. I turned the corner and found mother and father in their places-mother over the stove and father asleep in his chair by the front window. Mother's apron was dirty and her arms smudged with something green. Her black hair was tied with a yellow string but it was untying itself strand by strand as she worked. She moved an arm to toss the contents of a steaming pan on the stove.
Father snored. He wore the shirt he had fallen asleep in last night. His hands hung from the sides of the chair.
"Ketcher, I left you an egg," said mother, taking off her apron and wiping off her arms and hands. Under the apron she had on her uniform.
"Thanks," I said. "Another extra shift?" Today was the day she usually didn't work.
"Mmm," she said as she reached over to taste the food she was making. She took a moment to figure out what it was missing, and added it. I sucked in my stomach and slid in between the table and the wall, releasing it as I sat. There was a fried egg and some bread on a white plate. I started on it hungrily.
"You're going to work yourself until you end up like him," I said, pointing at Father with my fork. I shoved another forkful of egg in my mouth.
"Nonsense. I will be fine." She glanced his way and said, "He had a long night." She sat down with a sigh, undid her apron and wiped her hands and arms. "Anyway, we need the money."
Not for very long, I thought.
She stood, took her key off a small hook on the wall near the door and left without another word. Father snored and I glanced his way, deciding that he would be asleep for another hour or so. Good. I had time to find Bones and be back.
I rinsed off my plate and left it in the sink. I grabbed my key off the hook and opened the wooden door. No sand today.
Hopefully we would get a week or so of calm.
I closed the door behind me and started down the dirt path. The city sounded awake and busy. I heard the familiar buzz of people walking and talking. Children playing yelled out to one another. Dogs barked in the background.
My house was built up on the ground that sloped up to the East Wall. We were actually at the top of the hill, so the back wall of our house was built right up against it. Sometimes I would go up to the rooftop, lay on my back and just look up at the enormous red stone cliff. Since our house was a little far away from the more central paths and roads, it took a little time to walk down the winding dirt path that had been pounded into the hillside. On either side of the path there was endless carpet of tiny houses like mine covering the nearby hillsides.
I didn't mind the walk from our house too much because there was a great view of the city and the river from our front window. The path took one final turn through some weeds and boulders, wound around a small house, and bumped into the main dirt road that led to the city.
We lived in the districts, which was a few dozen blocks of all two- or three-story houses. The districts were scattered over and around some smaller hills on the outskirts of the city. Further down the river, and around a few bends, were the farmlands. Beyond the farmlands there were a couple of tiny villages. Then there was nothing.
But I was going in the other direction, today. Into the city.
I turned onto the main path, dust billowing up around my feet. Up ahead the dirt roads that followed the curve of the river would eventually turn into stone lined with large buildings built right up to the street. The buildings there were much taller, and packed in tighter. That's where I could take to the rooftops and get to where I was going much quicker. But out here in the districts the houses were still placed with some land around them, so I couldn't travel by rooftop.
Some children ran out from behind a house to my left and crossed the path in front of me laughing and yelling. They ran between two houses that sat against the river, and splashed into the blue water. I reached up and wiped sweat that had begun dripping from my brow. When the storms came, the winds were strong but at least they cooled you down. On days when the storms did not blow over the top of the canyon, there was very little wind or breeze down in the city.
And it was hot.
I craned my neck and looked up at the blue slit of sky, far above the red stone walls. The sun had just peaked over the east wall. I lowered my head and wiped the tears that came from looking upwards for too long. The heat was intense. But honestly, it didn't bother me too much. I preferred to be outside when the sun shone down into the canyon. I looked around as I walked and saw a lot of people covered from head to toe in whites and tans to keep away the sun. I wore those clothes too when running a job during a storm, but on calm days I had always liked to feel the sun heat my skin. I wasn't sure why, but I just did.
The dirt beneath my feet finally became stone and I was there.
Sandshadow City.
People bustling about filled the streets in every direction. I instantly heard the shouts of vendors selling their bread and other snacks. A few moments later the aromas of their toasted nuts and sauces reached my nose. The smells were tempting but it was usually good to avoid street food.
I turned down familiar streets and passed more people. Older men and women, their spines permanently bent from a lifetime of farm work, waddled slowly through the streets, hauling their herbs and nuts to sell. Some carried large bundles of long, thin, green herbs on their backs. Other pulled rickety, worn-out carts full of nuts over the uneven stones under their slow feet.
Men in work clothes came to and from their shifts in the mines or in the factories. I saw some that looked younger like me. I was… sort of supposed to be working shifts in the mines now too.
And I had tried it. But it didn't last long.
After about a month of sweating in those dark tunnels, cutting out stone and swinging picks, and carting rocks back and forth, never seeing the sun, coming home so exhausted I could only shove food into my mouth and fall into bed, I decided I had had enough. One day a boy in my class slipped me a name and place. Boys in my year were required to begin in the mines during their last year of school. With the tip, I got in touch with a thief crew. I promised the leader, Bones, that I could help out on jobs, and he gave me a shot.
That was last year. I was supposed to be in the mines full time now, but like I said… not my thing.
The first job Bones let me in on was an easy theft that we pulled in the main office of a poorly-guarded mine south of the city. We did it in the dead of night. I snuck along, out of sight, shaded the runner-Scrapes, I think they called him-and we pulled off the job without any problems. From then on, Bones always told me the next location he would use as base for a month or so. Sometimes I went to him for work, sometimes I didn't. When we did a big job, it paid more than a month's wages in the mines, so as long as I went to Bones and got in on a job at least once a month or so, I had been able to stay out.
And in any free time I had, I ran the rooftops. By now I had pretty much memorized the entire city.
My feet shuffling along the stone, as if eager to get up and off the ground, I found an alleyway I liked using because of a line of old windows that had been boarded up that lead straight up to the rooftop of the three-floor building. I climbed up the window sills to the top.
Really, I didn't have the entire city memorized. Just most of it. Every day I found alleys and streets that seemed new, and every day I traveled a little further down memorized routes. Some routes I had for getting places quick, other routes I used for the challenge-and thrill-of the obstacles along the way. Only occasionally did I walk the streets of Sandshadow like the rest of the people. Mostly, I stayed on the rooftops. It was quicker, more efficient, and I could always be above everyone else. Always see the action from the highest perspective.
I took off in a slow sprint across the concrete rooftops, jumping the gaps as I came to them. Here I knew all the right ones to jump-the ones that weren't too far apart. I had to make turns to the left and right occasionally when buildings in my direct line of travel weren't close enough to jump, but less often as I went. I was heading toward the Market Sector so, the general layout of the city became more and more compact. I now felt a small breeze that cooled me down and flicked my hair almost playfully, like a friend daring me to run faster, and I picked up the pace.
Smiling, I ran and jumped.
See? I thought to myself. The rooftops are mine.
Sure, people used them, of course. They lived underneath them, and most rooftops were used to store crates of food for the restaurants, or house the chickens or ducks in cages, or hold the clotheslines to dry the washed clothing. But no one else used all the rooftops like I did.
That was why I needed to find this black-clothes-kid and find out what his deal was. It was strange to find someone else like me up here. I needed to know what crew he ran for and if I should be avoiding him or following him.
But that would have to wait. I saw the roof of the base Bones was currently using up ahead-a bar. I jumped one or two more buildings and stopped on the roof of the bar itself. The roof had a stairway in one corner that disappeared down into the floor beneath, like most did. I ignored the stairway and walked over to the edge of the building where there were some metal pipes I could use to climb down. I swung over the edge and drooped my body over the rim of the roof, hanging on to the pipes with my hands.
Without going any further, I started shading myself. I knew Bones had these places watched, and even though he told me he would never sell information about my "skills," and that we were a family now and that 'families stick together' and whatever else, I was always careful. In fact, Bones had never even seen me use my ability in person. The first time I met the man and convinced him to let me tag along on a job, I told him I would follow his runner at a distance, from a good vantage point, and not interfere in any other way. And I promised him as long as I was near, his man wouldn't be seen.
He hadn't believed me at first, and I had to offer the first job for free to convince him to let me go. But after his runner came back going off about how he could go anywhere and no one even glanced his way, and that it was like he was invisible, Bones believed me and let me work on jobs whenever I wanted.
But that only meant he knew he could use me. It didn't mean I should ever trust the thief.
So I climbed down the pipes, shading myself as I went, and jumped the last few feet to the alley floor. My feet landed in a puddle of water mixed with some other fluids. A cat lounging on a crate jumped and growled at the air, since it heard me land but couldn't see me. I raised my hand to plug my nose. In one corner of the alley there was a metal bin overflowing with old, rotting vegetables and there were other piles of the mess strewn around it.
I carefully left the back alley and circled the building until I was standing by the main entrance. The sign above the door read OPEN ALL NIGHT. I wondered why the place didn't have a name, or if it did, why it wasn't on the sign. I decided the spot wasn't too worried about impressing customers. It was a rougher neighborhood.
I waited a few minutes off to the side of the bigger alley, invisible and silent, watching men in dirty jumpsuits come for a drink, eager to empty a bottle before going home for the night.
A minute passed.
A few men left, some with women on their arms. Others entered, tailing women that entered just before them.
Finally, I decided it was safe and I waited for the next group. Three men rounded the corner and entered the alley. As they went to open the front door, I quietly stepped up behind them and caught the door after they went through. As smoothly as I could, I passed through the doorway. If anyone had been watching, they only would have seen the door hang open for an extra second, instead of a door opening and closing by itself.
Instantly I was plunged into darkness.
Why was it always so dark here in the middle of the day? I wondered.
I guessed they must have boarded up all the windows for privacy. Some stores did that, offering their customers relief from the blazing sun. I quickly stepped around some tables and people eating, drinking, and laughing loudly. I grimaced and slowly made my way to the back of the room. The place was dirty, and everyone inside it looked dirty too.
Looking around me on all sides, I watched for anything or anyone that looked suspicious.
As I wound around the tables, I spotted Bones sitting alone in a booth at the back, eating a plate of steaming meat and vegetables. He looked around the room at the groups of people in between bites of food. I smiled to myself as I silently approached him. This was my favorite part.
I stepped up to his booth, then backed up until I was standing just behind him and to the right, just out of his line of vision. I checked around me to make sure no one happened to be looking my way, and became visible. Quickly, I stepped up to his table and whispered, "Bones!"
He spit-sprayed a dark colored liquid onto the seat in front of him, and somehow managed to spill some out of the cup he held onto the front of his shirt at the same time. I bit my cheeks to keep from laughing out loud. The man could never figure out how I snuck up on him so easily.
"Stars, kid!" he said, loud at first, but then bringing down his voice to a whisper and looking left and right. "You're a rat, you know! Can't approach a man respectfully, like everyone else." Bones was a short man, whose face and hair was always as dirty as a street dog, but somehow always dressed too nice for whatever he was doing. I saw today was no different.
His hair looked like it hadn't been combed in two days, or washed in five, and the stark white, nicely ironed shirt he wore under a sleek black vest seemed a little much. His face and fingers were smudged with blue ink and some black sauce.
Or maybe it was blue jelly and black ink? I couldn't tell.
"Oh get over it Bones, you know I do my job well," I said, trying to sound confident and look neither directly at him for very long, or around the room too much. I casually sat down across from him in the booth. "Alright, let's make it quick. You know what I came for. Pay me and I'll get out of your hair."
"Alright then, son. You sit yer backside patient like a good boy, and I get you what you be wanting," he said, suddenly with a new accent, and much deeper than his normal voice. He changed his accent every time he changed bases. He claimed he was a 'master of blending into his surroundings.' But the accents weren't any good. They sounded to me like he just spoke in his same fake-low voice, and bit a different part of his tongue or cheek each time.
I sat quietly as he rummaged around in a bag that sat on the chair next to him. The bell dinged as someone entered the bar. We both turned and looked by reflex. A large woman walked in. She was dressed in a green dress so tight I was sure the fabric seams were cutting into her skin. She made her way to the bar, apparently trying to look elegant. I turned back to Bones who was very obviously staring at her, his hands frozen in his bag.
I waited another moment, and when he didn't come out of the trance I picked up a small crunchy piece of bread from his plate and barked as I tossed it at him, "Bones! Let's go!" He snapped back and continued moving things around in his sack, muttering to himself in his normal high-pitched, whiny voice something about 'blasted kid' and 'respect true beauty,' or something.
He finally pulled some wadded up bills out of his bag, and handed them to me. I casually counted them under the table, noticing it was short what he had promised.
"Bones, you forgot some. You promised me two-eighty, there's only two-twenty here," I said.
"That's cuz there-" He started talking in his normal voice, then remembered the fake accent, cleared his throat and continued in the deeper voice. "That's cuz there was… complications in the job. Scars-err, my footman whose secret name you can't be trusted with, says to me he almost gots right up shot by two blastin' robos! For failing to comply with the rules we's set on the beforehand… you know… everythin' about you promisin' to make my footman invisible, and never be seen, and all that… you git less," he said, his eyes once again glued on the round woman in green.
"Bones, don't be a slug! You know that was the biggest job we've pulled in months!" I shot back. "Without me it couldn't have been done! Did your incredibly bright footman tell you about the other pair of robos that passed him by as he sat hidden, right under their noses? You know I made this job possible."
He said, a little sheepishly, "Yes. Sca-err my footman, does say to me 'bout the other robos that gone and walked right past 'im. But anyways… later on, you got caught asleep! So that's what you gone and earned."
"Bones, you know I need that money, and you need my… services. So pay up! Don't be like this!"
He looked at me for a second and I thought I was going to walk out without all my money. I noticed he was once again glued to the woman in green who this time-it appeared-had finally noticed her admirer in the clean, fancy clothes, and was walking directly toward the table where we sat.
Bones said in his normal, whiny voice, "Fine! Just get outta my base." He hurriedly pulled another bill from his bag and shoved it into my hand. He looked up again at the woman who was only a couple tables away, clearly pretending to be occupied inspecting the little bottles of salt and spices on a table. Bones looked nervously at her at smiled, trying to get her attention. "Just get out of here kid! I'll be here for twelve more days. You know where to find me. Now 'git!"
"Fair enough, Sparky," I said, standing and tucking the bills into my pocket. "See you later."
I left the booth and as fast as I could, got out of the way of the not-fancy fancy woman who had once again resumed her path toward Bones' table. I reached the front door and as I stepped through it, glanced over my shoulder at the over-confident bandit leader as he finished straightening his vest and stood up to talk to the woman. I rolled my eyes and left the bar, asking myself once again why I had to find the lousiest bandit crew of all lousy bandit crews.
Maybe one day I would find a fancy crew with more fancy equipment and a real base and footman and crew leaders that were more… well, fancy.
I carefully crept around the back of the building-shading myself of course-and climbed up the same pipes. At the top of the building, I swung myself over the top and landed softly on the roof. I inhaled a couple of deep breaths and began retracing my path back to the districts to hide the part of the money I wanted for myself, and sneak the rest of it into Mother's stash.
Just before I started sprinting back home, I realized that a fancy thief crew like that probably wouldn't be a thief crew at all. I guess I should expect less from thieves. I chuckled and began the long run over the rooftops as the sun dropped toward the west wall.
In Chapter 3, I introduce Ket's family, and make it clear that they are not rich. I show that Ket doesn't really have a fantastic relationship with his parents--none at all with his father, really (You'll see why later).
Then, I show a little more about the city. Sandshadow City is a massive desert city built in the shadow of a giant dam in order to hide from the constant sandstorms in the region. The desert around Sandshadow Canyon is called the 'Topworld' by the citizens of the city. I wanted to create a really energetic, busy city, but in this remote loction because I needed the characters to NOT KNOW anything about their world besides what they can see in Sandshadow. Most people in Sandshadow City believe there isn't anything else left in the world outside of their little canyon.
The Sequence with Bones was kind of fun to write. SHENLIGHT is the first novel I wrote, so I was just learning I wanted to write dialogue and make the characters sound. This was an important sequence, too, because it's the first real conversation in the book. I wanted to show that while Ket is just a kid, and doesn't know a ton about the world around him or what makes it run, he does have an amazing ability and he's learning to be confident and hold his own against a minor threat like a thief lord (He'll soon run into some foes that aren't as easy to trick as simple Bones).
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