Elizabeth Jane Morgan

Like many other people who live in southern California, I got to experience Hurricane Hilary on August 20th. I’ve lived in California my whole life and there has never been a hurricane in my lifetime. In fact, the last hurricane I can find that hit California was in 1939. None of us knew exactly what to expect.

I didn’t hear of Hurricane Hilary until a few days before it hit. Then, suddenly everyone was talking about it. We were warned that we might have to evacuate, and to brace ourselves for the oncoming storm. My mom had us move the patio furniture, flower pots, and tomato cages from outside the house inside, so that the winds wouldn’t blow it through windows.

The night before the storm, my brother and I saw clouds rolling in with lightning strikes every minute of so. We never heard the thunder, though. Everyone was tense in the morning on Sunday, August 20th. There wasn’t any rain early that morning, so my brother went to work. A few hours after he left, the rain started. At first, it started off light. It would rain lightly for a while, stop, and then start again.

As we entered into the afternoon, the rain suddenly became fierce. I looked outside and saw some of the heaviest rain I’d ever seen. A little before 2:00pm, my phone started to blare out a warning, saying that we were experiencing flash floods and that all residents should stay were they are. Roads started to close. I couldn’t make it in to work that day. I later found out that the store I work in closed early that day, so all the employees could go home.

A few hours later, my brother got off work and started the half-an-hour drive between his job and home. My mom was worried for him on his entire way back. When he finally do get home, he was wet and relieved to be home. He had to drive through quite a few inches of water and he said that it felt more like his car was swimming, rather than driving. My mom gave him a big hug after that.

By the next morning, the rain was gone, but the mud and puddles remained. Everything has dried out now, but I’ll never forget the terror I felt when I saw the power and devastation of Mother Nature.

Lately, I’ve been working on Silver Storm, the third book of my Silver Rose series. I’d like to share a sample from the beginning of the book. Enjoy!

A long time ago, when Alsmora was new, there lived a good king. His name was Nicholas. Everyone prospered under his rule.

But there was a darkness across the valley.

In the nearby mountains, there lived a dragon, a terrible black dragon. Black as midnight. Trapped in endless slumber by a good witch. But everyone feared the dragon would wake again.

Nicholas ruled his people for ten happy years, with no threat of the dragon.

One day, Nicholas was taking a walk near the mountains, when an astonishing sight met his eyes. A young woman stumbled out of the trees at the base of the mountains. Her dress was torn, her hair was a mess, and she appeared close to collapse.

Rushing forward, Nicholas caught the woman as she fell. Her eyes were closed and she seemed unconscious. As Nicholas lowered her to the ground, her eyes fluttered open and she gasped.

“Nithe. The terrible dragon, Nithe, is waking.”

She slipped back into unconsciousness.

Nicholas took the poor woman back to the castle. For three days and nights, she slept. Nicholas waited anxiously outside her door, concerned not only for her well being, but also her cryptic words.

On the fourth day, the woman stirred. Nicholas rushed to her bedside.

“Where am I?” she asked.

“Elton Castle,” Nicholas answered. “I am Nicholas, king of Alsmora. Who are you?”

“Serena, Your Highness. I must warn you. Nithe is waking.”

“Calm yourself, Serena,” Nicholas said soothingly. “Nithe hasn’t woken for a hundred years. What makes you think he is now?”

“Because I have seen him,” Serena said. “I am a sorceress. Recently, I felt a magical surge coming from the mountains. When I went to investigate, I discovered that the dragon will wake in four days, on the day of the solstice.”

“That’s today. I’m sorry, Serena, but you’ve been asleep for three days.”

Her eyes widened. She opened her mouth to respond, when the ground began to shake. Nicholas and Serena both turned to the window. Outside, clearly visible, was the peak of the mountain. A black dragon had landed on the top and roared.

“He’s back,” Serena whispered. “We’re too late.”

A few months ago, I was approached by another author and asked if I’d like to be a featured reader at a writer’s group. I agreed. On June 8th, I attended that meeting. It was mostly made up of other writers, all much older than me. But that was fine. I was just happy for a chance to read the first chapter of Silver Rose out loud.

I already knew from the author hosting the meeting that there were three featured authors. What I wasn’t expecting was that there was also an open mic available for anyone else to read. In between the featured readers, members of the audience would get up and read their own work. At least one of these readers was a featured author last month.

While I had prepared my first chapter, most of the other readers had decided on poetry. This surprised me, because poetry isn’t really my strong suit. I appreciate poetry, but I’ve never wanted to be a poet. I’m more visual when it comes to poetry. I need to read it myself to get any meaning out of it. I don’t get that from someone reading poetry to me.

When it was my turn, I stood and read from Silver Rose. I started off nervous, but I got into a groove and finished strong. Relieved to be done, I thanked my audience and started to walk away. Before I could take more than two steps, they started to bombard me with questions. They wanted to know if this was set in the real world, how old my main character Penelope was, and why I had included magic. I explained that this was a fantasy story, so no, it was not set in the real world, Penelope is sixteen, and part of the plot involves her learning to control her magic.

They listened intently, some of them even said that their children and grandchildren would love my book. At the end, they applauded me and said that it was accomplishment for someone as young as me to be an author.

This morning, my cat Cannoli was playing with a new toy. We’ve had a couple of helium-filled balloons floating around my house for a few days. Jenny and Cannoli have been playing with the strings. One of the balloons was out of helium and was lying on the floor. Cannoli walked up to it and batted at it. It popped in his face.

Cannoli didn’t know what to do. He and Jenny were staring at it. Slowly, they approached the popped balloon, unsure if it was a threat. While Jenny busied herself with the string, Cannoli batted at the balloon, checking to see if it was dead. Once he was sure he had killed the balloon, Cannoli wandered off, in search of another balloon to play with.

Earlier this month, my cat, Jenny, got stuck up a tree. She slipped outside when I opened the back door. At first, my mom and I thought this would be fine. We were there to watch them and Jenny and Cannoli really do love running around outside.

We were only outside for a few minutes, before Jenny took off running. She really is fast. She ran straight for a tree at the side of the house. Before I knew it, she had scaled the trunk and was on a branch about ten feet up. As I looked up at her from the ground and she looked down at me, I could tell that she was stuck. She kept looking around frantically, searching for a way down. I called to her, but it was no good. She was too scared.

Eventually, my dad came outside to see what was going on. He left to get a ladder. As he rounded the corner of the house with it, the noise scared Jenny and she launched herself back on the trunk and climbed down. She ran back inside, looking terrified.

I’m just relieved that she got down safely. I was afraid she would hurt herself, jumping to the ground. I’m glad that Jenny was smart enough to find a way back down on her own.

We’ve had a lot of rain recently, more so than average. My backyard is blooming with wildflowers. They’re always so pretty.