IN HUMAN is a young YA (Tween,) Earth based, contemporary
science-fiction adventure complete in 60,000 words. It can stand alone although
it has series potential.
Protecting the alien who saved her, Fion
struggles to remain loyal, when government agents hold her captive, invaders
blow her out of prison, and the consequences of this friendship almost kill her.
IN HUMAN
CHAPTER 1
BEFORE
“Fion, be
an angel,” Mum said, pushing at the cardboard box that had slipped when we’d
slipped around the last bend. “Calm down.”
I was very
not calm. With my legs over the rails that kept me and the mattress in our place
at the top of the van, I had no room to move. No way to let the tension out. I wasn’t an angel. But I was wearing a white dress – for the first time ever – and we were travelling
up a twisting mountain road, so I entertained myself by seeing if I could get the
hang of the angel thing. I held out my arms and let myself flow with momentum.
“Fionnula Weekes!” Mum said loudly, looking back at
me. “Is that you being angelic?”
I grinned, and I flapped my arms at my side. “Are
we nearly there yet?”
My dad exploded with laughter. “Fion! I’m looking
for the sign. Let me focus.”
Mum turned sideways in her seat. “Can’t you think
calm thoughts – and keep still?”
Peering down to the point where I could see her, I
said, “Just so long as you know calming down is going to get creases in my
dress.”
“I’ll live,” she said. “You could read or something.”
“Or something,” I said, flopping onto my back.
The woven fish I’d taped to the roof were darting from
side to side. My elephant’s wide white eyes made him look confused as he rocked
on his side. I stood him on the shelf with the coconut monkey. Arms folded, Monkey
looked inscrutable when I pushed them together. Neither looked happy when I
propped Sari Barbie and my clownfish next to them.
They all slipped over again when we turned the next
corner. I guessed that was how it was meant to be. We’d travelled through India
and parts of China before we’d driven up the total length of Europe. None of
the places we’d driven through had been blurred by speed. My view, from the van
with the drippy tap, was that the world was enormous. But a little bit all the
same.
