Shadowhunter (Nephilim Quest Book 1) (72 page)

But it did not make me wonder why my wings were different. Not really. People had different skin colors, and came in different shapes and sizes, and so we had different wing colors, and our wings were formed differently.

We kept on floating, and the current slowly took us along the length of the water. I watched the strange illuminated drawings on the cave walls. They had always been there, I was told. Just like the lake. There were pictures of tall people, of swimmers, and markings I did not understand. It had to be some ancient language.

There was an island in the middle of the cave. The current took us near it, and lazily we turned around and swam ashore.

We sat there, dripping with water. The center of the island was flat as if tools had smoothed it. It was a nice place to sit, and the stone felt pleasantly cool under us. Soon we would need to leave, but not quite yet.

Seth turned his head at me and smiled. I smiled back. I trusted him.
 

"My mother's name is Merit," I said and he nodded.

"The beloved. A beautiful name."

We rose to our feet and he took my hand. Time to go, Mut-Bity would be searching for us by now.

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Acknowledgements

I edited the story to the best of my abilities for eight months, and once the first edit was done I knew it was time to find a professional editor – someone who could find the mistakes I had made, and point out what needed ironing.

I found Miriam Bibby who had studied Egyptology at the University of Manchester just like me. I knew she had done editing before, and I knew that being a published author, she had an excellent command of English – I had read her Mistress Meg books and enjoyed them thoroughly (I do recommend them if you like stories of the Elizabethan age). I was lucky – she was busy but she agreed to edit my book.
 

The word schoolmarm comes to mind. She did not simply point out linguistic mistakes – she made me change the order of chapters, rewrite a lot, introduce some characters much earlier than I originally had, and made me write more chapters as a result. Her advice was straight to the point and made me see my story with totally different eyes. She did not let me go easy, and I am grateful for it.

Thank you, Miriam, I am in your debt.

Two people read the original story after my own editing and commented on it. Thank you, Sofia Lodi and Alex Fletcher-Jones. Your comments were appreciated and changes made accordingly. You made a very nervous first time writer believe the story was something people would want to read.

I am an artist myself, but I knew I could not do a professional looking cover for the book. I joined ALLi – the Alliance of Independent Authors – and on their Facebook forum I asked advice whom to contact. Cathy Helms of Avalon Graphics was recommended to me, and after spending a day on her website checking out the book covers she had designed, I wrote to her. I am most impressed at her professionalism, the speed with which she replied to all my emails – and the cover... Well, it speaks for itself. I love it.
 
(The only problem was there were three wonderful options and I finally had to ask Miriam and my husband which to take. They both liked the same cover, so that's the one I chose.) Cathy is one of those people who worked in the corporate world, but quit it to follow her dream of graphic design. "Slow death" was the term she used of her previous job – I so know what that means... If you are a creative person at heart, any other job feels like a prison.

And then there is my darling husband. Not once did he protest when after a 9-5 job I sat all the evenings and weekends by the computer, typing and editing. He spent his weekend mornings getting up after six to read the pages I had written, encouraging me to write. When I lost track of time he reminded me there is such a thing as sleeping at night, and he made coffee for me in the mornings when I made my way to the kitchen half asleep, almost stumbling on the bags under my eyes. He massaged my shoulders when after hours of writing my posture resembled that of Quasimodo. He forced me off the computer and into the gym so I would keep fit, ignoring my mumbles about lost time.
 

All I want to say to him is: I love you, you are the love of my life.

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About the Author

Leena Maria is the pen name of Leena Pekkalainen. She holds the Certificate in Egyptology (2012) and Diploma in Egyptology (2014) from the University of Manchester. She is also an artist and has exhibited her Egyptological paintings in Tutankhamon's Golden Treasures replica-exhibition in Finland twice and her horse paintings have been exhibited in England and USA.

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Copyright

Nephilim Quest 1

Shadowhunter

Copyright 2016 Leena Maria