Today I’m taking you behind the scene of Noland taking Achaia up onto a cloud to flee from the shadows- terrible demons- in book one of The Kingdom Come Series, Transgression. I’ll be talking about some fun facts, and what all went into creating this moment with the characters.
First, the scene!
“Achaia NO!” Noland yelled from behind her.
She heard the difference in the distance; he’d fallen back. She flew upward, reaching the tops of the trees. A dark cloud of shadows formed on her right in the branches. At first Achaia had thought they were birds, but they were too large to be birds. They barreled toward her like a wave. She raised her arms to shield her face as they collided into her.
The creatures were small but muscular, they had faces with twisted sadistic features. Their hands were small and tipped with claws like razor blades. They reminded her, unpleasantly, of the flying monkeys in The Wizard of Ozthat had terrified her as a child. Only the shadows were worse. They weren’t comical in their special effects shrewdness. Her back slammed into branches, slicing her face, and her arms. The shadows slashed at her, cutting through her clothes, ripping open her skin.
Her ears were flooded with dark whispers that sounded like things you couldn’t see moving in a dark room. Slithering sounding hisses, and creaking laughs, like rusty hinges. They were thick in her ears, a deafening hum. Her mind began to feel like a haunted house, full of invisible terrors.
She couldn’t hear Noland yelling her name. All she could hear was the darkness they whispered; things she had thought herself a thousand times, things she knew to be true: She was a burden, an outlier, unwanted, worthless, unloved… an abomination. Her father wanted to leave her, chose to, he didn’t want to be found. She was going to fail, they were going to kill her, rip her to pieces. She was weak… ignorant, superfluous.
She thought of her dagger she’d dropped in the snow. She fought back, kicking, clawing, punching, they drew back but there were more of them. She hit more branches, her wings getting caught in their twigs, she dropped a few feet, flew higher, she had no idea which way was up. All she could see were the shadows. She screamed in fear and frustration. She tried to beat her wings, to take her higher, but nothing happened. Then she was falling.
Achaia landed on her gut, bent over a tree branch, the wind knocked out of her. A cluster of the shadows yanked on her legs, causing her to lose her balance, she slipped off the branch, slamming her face against it as she fell. Her back cracked against another branch as she hurdled toward the ground in an uncontrolled summersault, slamming into branches, and shadows as she went.
Then, there were arms around her yanking her what felt like up. She pushed against her captor screaming.
“Stop, Achaia. Stop!”
The shadows swarmed thicker than ever as they cleared the trees like a dense thundercloud, blocking out the sun. She was carried higher. The demons clasped and cut, like lightning striking her arms and face.
Achaia kicked out at them. She was falling again.
Achaia was dizzy with disorientation. She squeezed her eyes shut. She wasn’t falling. She was. She was falling up. Her stomach turned. There was light.
She opened her eyes and realized that Noland was holding her tight, pulling her into him. He flew upward. They were way above the trees yet he kept going. The shadows were still in pursuit. Achaia tried to focus on something, anything, but her mind could not slow down.
She closed her eyes again, pinching them tight. She buried her burning face into his neck as the bitter air tore into her cuts. Then they stopped. Achaia looked back, the shadows were retreating.
It was freezing, Noland let her go and put her on her feet. Achaia looked down, there was no ground, only white. Only droplets of rain. Achaia grabbed on to Noland’s arm with an intense grip. “What the…” Achaia began. Noland grabbed hold of her waist to steady her. “Are we on a—cloud?”
“Your powers of observation are amazing.” Noland said dryly. “Demons can’t come this close to heaven.” He was holding her close, examining her face. She could feel the droplets of blood cascading down her brow.
She released his arm, and looked over his shoulder at his massive wings, beautiful large white feathers that seemed to be coated in silver shone in the unobstructed sunlight.
“WINGS?” She yelled, pushing him hard in the chest. “We have WINGS?” Her temper was showing, but she didn’t do a thing to shut it down. “And you didn’t tell me?” She grabbed at the cloud and was pleasantly surprised to collect a dense chunk of it which she threw at Noland. It splashed against him like a big wet cotton ball.
“It never came up!” Noland said backing away from her.
Achaia advanced, punching his chest, and slapping his arms, which he held over his head as he ducked away. “WINGS!” she yelled. Stopping and staring at him incredulously. Noland continued backing to the edge of the cloud. “You MAKE it come up!” She advanced again.
“Okay!” Noland held still, grabbing at her wrists, and stood back up straight. “Okay.” He said catching her second wrist, and holding her arms down. “I should have told you!”
“Hell yeah, you—” Achaia glanced quickly around her. “Heck yeah, you should have told me!” She corrected herself, but her voice had lost most of its anger.
Noland chuckled. “Did you just check around to make sure no one heard you say ‘Hell’ this close to heaven?”
Achaia looked at his straight face. There was no denying it. “Yes? Yes, I did.”
“You just checked a cloudfor eavesdroppers?” Noland was cracking up laughing. He hunched over and held his stomach.
Achaia had never heard him laugh like that before. He had a hearty laugh that came from the diaphragm. It was a strong happy sound that seemed out of place coming from him.
“Seriously?” Achaia said, again looking around. More out of habit, embarrassed.
“That was so worth the trip.” Noland laughed looking up at her.
“We almost died!” Achaia yelled, staring at him in disbelief.
“So,” Noland tried to catch his breath, “worth it.”
“You’re ridiculous.” Achaia shook her head, but couldn’t help but to chuckle, herself.
Noland’s eyes shot up, there was a loud rumbling that shook them. He grabbed onto her tightly and dove, with her, into the side of the cloud that billowed up next to them. He landed on top of her in the cloud and pinned her still.
Achaia was too stunned to resist, she felt as if she were frozen into a cube of ice cold Jello. Not even Noland was enough warmth for her inside the forest of frigid droplets.
After the tremors ceased Noland pulled her slowly from the heavy fluffy droplets to stand once more on the cloud. Soaked, and freezing Achaia felt like a drowned rat.
“What is wrong with you?” She pushed him away as hard as she could, but he barely moved. Her teeth were chattering too much for him to take her seriously.
“Could you imagine being on a plane, looking out your window and seeing a couple of teenagers standing on a cloud? We’re trying to keep a low profile—” he explained. “You’re lips are purple,” he said, taking his jacket off. He grabbed hold of her waist. Achaia slapped his arms away from her.
“Don’t touch me!” Achaia fussed, though her teeth were still chattering too much for it to sound intimidating.
“Stop me.” Noland challenged, grabbing a hold of her waist and pulling her into him. He wrapped his arms around her, covering her with his jacket as she pushed off of his stomach and chest trying to pry herself away. He squeezed tighter, resting his head on hers. Achaia gave up, and gave into the warmth.
Excerpt From: Brandy Ange. “Transgression.” Apple Books. Copyright Brandy Ange 2017.
This scene is near and dear to the heart of The Kingdom Come Series because it is it’s genesis. This was the moment that started it all.
You see I had the idea for Transgression (because at the time I wasn’t sure if I could write a full book let alone an entire series) on the plane home from Mexico. I was zoned out looking out the window at the topography of the clouds ruminating on the idea that it could be a world of its own- with secrets and stories we mortals knew nothing about. The idea occurred to me that it would be so funny if one were flying on a plane, to look out the window and see a couple of teenagers (which I was myself one at that time) chilling on a cloud.
From that silly idea which made me giggle, I began to ask myself questions like:
- How were they able to stand on the cloud in the first place?
- What were they doing there?
- What does one converse about on a cloud? Or do to pass the time?
- What would the cloud feel like?
- Would hanging out on a cloud subsequently even be a desirable thing to do?
Achaia and Noland had yet to take on true form and personality- but I knew that these would be two characters that opposed one another in the most beneficial ways. They would sharpen and challenge each other. It wouldn’t always be pretty, but they would each become better for having met the other. There is a Hebrew concept found in the book of Genesis (see what I did there!) when God created Eve from Adam. She is called an Ezer Konegdo- The help that opposes. Ezer meaning to rescue or save- and Konegdo meaning opposite or corresponding. I think of this kind of like a buttress to a wall. If it didn’t oppose the wall (in a necessary and helpful way) the wall would fall.
They reflect and retract from each other. Depicted in Noland’s gift of fire and Achaia’s fiery hair/demeanor- contrasted by Achaia’s cool complexion and Noland’s steady character. They are each other’s similar opposite. As the series progresses, we watch them take on what they learn from the other, as they grow. It’s a compelling and beautiful dynamic, to me.
After my plane landed back in the states, I darted through the Houston airport to my connecting flight; which I very nearly missed. The plane was literally backing out of the gate while I was still trying to find my seat. My assigned seat was occupied by some seat-thief, leading me to the only available seat, next to some guy who was on his way home from Alaska. Funny how plan routes work, eh?
While we flew from Texas back to North Carolina, me and my unexpected seat mate exchanged stories from our trips. He asked me what was the most exciting thing to happen on mine, which was that my friends and I had lost a volleyball tournament and unbeknownst to me, I was the bet. My friend had told the other team that if we lost, one of them could take me in marriage… (Thanks Nate!) Obviously I wasn’t wed to a Mexican Volleyball champ. I explained that my mother was a terrifying woman, and that she would come for me, and nobody wanted that! lol. When I returned the question he said that on his trip, one of his friends had been mauled by a bear.
He won.
(Side note: she was doing okay, just still in the hospital- I think I might have been sitting in her seat…)
By the time we landed in Raleigh, the flight felt too short. I had bonded with this seat mate, and wanted to hear more about his life and travels. That is the power of story, I thought. It helps us to connect, share ideas, but more importantly, perspective. I can never experience life in another’s shoes, not really. But I really think reading fiction is the closest thing we can get to walking a mile in someone else’s shoes. Not only as readers, but even more so as writers.
I was 19 at that time, and still trying to figure out who I was, let alone who I wanted to be. I decided that writing a story, and living out some crazy scenarios just might be what it took to figure that out.
I had no intention of ever publishing Transgression. I didn’t even know if it would ever become a full length book, or if it would be a long short story or a novella. I guess it took longer than I imagined to figure out who I wanted to be. Writing Transgression was my process. And it all started with a cloud, a bear mauling, and a pen.
brandyange.me 
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