Fairy Crosses
- Reads 658
- Votes 98
- Parts 11
MatureComplete Tue, Apr 30, 20241h 45m
Entry for the Open Novella Contest, 2024
Prompt #36: "Fairy tales are real," and there couldn't be anything worse.
After the death of her husband, Charlotte seeks a fresh start in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Georgia. She wants to do two things: work her mundane job and spend the evenings at her cabin talking to her husband's ghost. All her hopes and dreams stayed behind in Atlanta. Now, she just wants a quiet place to live alone.
Right when she settles into mountain life, she finds a quarter-sized stone outside her door with a black cross etched in its center. She brings it to a library where she learns about the fairies that left it there for her. Her research leads her to an ancient Cherokee hunting trail where winged, fairy-like creatures dance among blue ghost fireflies and sleep in the branches of oak trees centuries old.
Charlotte is sure that her discovery is nothing more than a vivid dream. But as her obsession with Appalachian fairy tales grows, she only finds more fairy crosses outside her door, along with startling evidence that the Faye still roam the ancient mountain valleys.
This is a story about magic and age-old legends, but even more about how obsession can offer relief from difficult circumstances, although at the price of true healing.
Coauthored by Rowan Carver and C.B. Mokedi
Cover made by OmletteDanish (SleepDeprivedArt on Etsy) and C.B.Mokedi
All Rights Reserved
Join the largest storytelling communityGet personalized story recommendations, save your favourites to your library, and comment and vote to grow your community.
You may also like
The Rapunzels
Confined to the family's estate since birth, three sisters have never seen the outside world. Taught they are unable to leave home due to their long hair, Lexi, Lulu, and Fia secretly envy their volatile father and narcissistic mother whose short locks allow them to come and go whenever they wish. Raised believing their grandparents live in the TV set, the young women's knowledge about the outside world is skewed. On the eve of Fia's eighteenth birthday, life as they know it is altered when the girls find a young man unconscious in their yard. Believing he is an angel, they hide him in the guest house. Soon Fia's feelings for the man bloom and she finds herself sneaking to the guest house to be with him. When the lies the sisters have been told begin to unravel, Fia decides she will do whatever it takes to escape. The only thing holding her back is her long dark hair. Dogtooth x Rapunzel x The Castle of Purity Warning for abuse, swearing, romantic themes, alcohol addiction, blood, and typical Christine darkness. There is no SA. Best rank: #1 IN OPENNOVELLACONTEST2024 I started writing this story for the ONC 2024. Due to work and life, I could not finish it for the contest. Which made me sad...but I continued...at a snail's pace. Thanks to everyone who kept reading!Complete![Mirror Mirror [ONC 2021 Version]](https://img.wattpad.com/cover/258566422-256-k157115.jpg)
Mirror Mirror [ONC 2021 Version]
[ONC Shortlist | ROUND ONE Top 5 Winner | Based on ONC2021 prompt #13] What would you do if you woke up in a fairytale? A young, fourteen year old Ruby-Rose wakes up in a medieval castle unsure how she got there. But soon, with the help of an unexpected chambermaid and a scary dwarf who isn't a dwarf, Ruby discovers the world is none other than that of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Except, this is not exactly the fairytale she's grown up with. Snow White isn't the sweet, innocent Princess but the Evil Queen herself, her seven dwarfs are in fact fearsome knights, and Ruby-Rose isn't your average human. [This is the first, original draft of this story, written for the ONC 2021. Coming SOON, the expanded version as 'Ruby Rose'.] FEATURED IN: Round One Top 5 - ONC 2021 Round Two Qualifier - ONC 2021 @classicauthors - Grimm Retellings and Other Fairytales (March 2021) @retold - Fractured Fairytales (May 2021) @retold - Book of the Month (May 2021) ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Eva Acharya, 2021. Cover made using Canva Pro.Complete
The Cunning Man || ONC 2021
🔸️ ONC 2021 Shortlist & Honorable Mention 🔸️ In 1884, an accusation of witchcraft sent Cade Pellar running to Wyoming. A decade later, he's accused again by his own mail-order bride. The problem for Cade is that the accusations are only false because of a technicality: His magic's not witchcraft. It's Cunning. But either way, semantics are the least of Cade's concerns. Problem #1 is Mrs. Nora Pellar and the magic in her touch. Problem #2 is the Pinkerton that's been resurrected from his past. Problem #3 is that to solve the first two, Cade needs to embrace his magic. Which leads to Problem #4: He'd sooner die than become a Cunning Man. || Primary Prompt: #22 || Secondary Prompt: #63 ||Complete
Heart of Stone
To make ends meet now that her husband has died in combat, Patrice accepts the only job going in the small town-backbreaking work picking fruit for the local farmer. When the farmer asks Patrice to move the cows into the lower field, she thinks nothing of it until one cow decides to go on an adventure through the wrong gate. After moving the cow, Patrice notices a glowing gem in the long grass. Patrice decides that it has to be returned to its owner and assumes that the shadowy figure in the distance is that person. Transfixed by the stone and its magical powers, Patrice chases after the mysterious figure, forgetting about the world behind her. The true owner is Jarek, a merciless elf king who has little time for the games that the crystal is playing. Jarek's plans for returning to his world after the battle to save the humans in their global war are thrown into disarray when he realises that the stone will not return to him. Jarek has no choice but to do everything within his power to get it back. Without the crystal, he will die. One small stone will cause chaos for Jarek and Patrice when it binds itself to her and refuses its rightful owner. Determined to get his crystal back, Jarek takes Patrice to his world. He knows that the clerics will have an answer. Neither Jarek nor Patrice will be pleased with what they offer. With time running out, they must do what is necessary to save a king with no heir. © This story is copyrighted. No part may be reproduced by any process, nor may any other exclusive right be exercised, without the permission of T.M. Watkins (xMishx) 2021Complete
The Taste of Iron
Humanity is struggling to survive in a world that's no longer theirs. Liv, a scavenger leading missions to the edges of the city for food, medicine, and iron, knows things are getting worse. Every trip feels more desperate than the last. Humanity has an expiration date-the forest, and the creatures that dwell there, just have to wait them out. When a mission turns out to be a trap and Liv wakes up on the wrong side of the tree line-alone, disoriented, and for some reason not dead-she learns the forest doesn't just kill people or take their souls. It changes them. She doesn't know what she's becoming. Only that it's something way stronger than what she was. And that killing things never felt this good. Murderbot meets The Cruel Prince-with a whole lot of psychological horror My entry for onc2025, based on prompt 125: I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain. - Frank HerbertComplete
Raven's Heir | ONC 2021 honourable mention
Sandrine is reluctant to take the job as a ghost hunter, despite her ancestral gift. And when she meets her boss and future partners, every fibre of her being tells her to quit-but she needs the money. How hard can it be to dispel the ghost of a bird? Soon, she finds herself fighting the advances of a medieval playboy, targeted by a flock of ectoplasmic ravens, and trying to solve the puzzle of the cottage in the lake. With disaster waiting around the corner, she truly has no time for a budding romance, right? ~ ~ ~ My entry for the open novella contest 2021. Prompts: No 5: There is a terrible drought ravaging the land, but when the waters recede from the local lake/reservoir, they reveal something no one expected to find. No 64. What should have been a simple task for a trio of ghost hunters quickly becomes something for which the term 'Worst Case Scenario' is the mother of all understatement. No 61. I would've lived longer if it weren't for Lorraine. There's only one issue... who's Lorraine? Words according to Wattpad: Chapter 1 - 1495 Chapter 2 - 1455 - milestone 1 reached Chapter 3 - 1469 Chapter 4 - 1552 Chapter 5 - 1563 Chapter 6 - 1620 - milestone 2 reached Chapter 7 - 1564 Chapter 8 - 1700 Chapter 9 - 1637 Chapter 10 - 1797 Chapter 11 - 1605 Chapter 12 - 1561 Chapter 13 - 1690 - milestone 3 reached Chapter 14 - 1842 Chapter 15 - 1762 Epilogue - 233 Total words published: 24545Complete
Flickering Creatures | ONC 2024 Longlist | ✔︎
When Bryony -- herbalist extraordinaire -- goes missing, Bella knows one suspect stands above the rest. The village's aspiring second witch, Daphne, comes from a family that's tried to take Bryony down before, and Daphne seems determined to carry on that legacy. For someone who's always been terrified of Bryony, she's a little too keen on looking into the disappearance. There's just one problem. Bella's insufferable fellow familiar thinks the kid is innocent... and he's been right about worse things before. If Daphne herself is to be believed, clues on the disappearance lead a whole lot closer to home than Bella would like. As the evidence mounts, Bella must choose to either stand by her values and the woman who raised her, or seek what might be a truth she would rather not uncover. Prompt #81: The town's witch has gone missing and no one is looking for her but her two familiars - a crow and a black cat, plus the teen who has always been scared of her. ❖❖❖ Written for Wattpad's 2024 Open Novella Contest. Longlister. Complete. Comments and critiques are both welcome and appreciated. I write characters from many different backgrounds, with many different experiences. If you share those traits and find that I have misrepresented anything, please let me know! I am feedback-friendly and here to learn :)Complete
The Bond || ONC2022
[The Ambys 2023 Winner in Diverse Lit. Category] Bhallar, a young doctor with a hidden agenda to take down the ruthless Pharaoh: the supreme ruler of the New Kingdom, finds himself in a tight spot when Mayeen, his sister, whom he thought to be dead, ends up on a 'WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE' poster issued by the royal house. As bounty hunters from all over the kingdom gear up to take down the young girl and take home the prize money, Bhallar has no option but to change careers. He abandons his scalpel and takes up a dagger, unaware that just like him, all her life, his sister too has been hiding something from him, something that had led her to the Pharaoh's harem. Will Bhallar be able to save his sister? Or will they die, trying to escape the man their father had warned them about before passing away due to a mysterious ailment? Written for ONC 2022 Prompt used: 69 Start date: 27th February, 2022 End date: 28th April, 2022 This is an original story written specifically for the Open Novella Contest 2022. No part of this ebook may be reproduced. Copyright ©️ 2022 All rights reserved by GandalfofspaceAnliComplete
Confined to the family's estate since birth, three sisters have never seen the outside world. Taught they are unable to leave home due to their long hair, Lexi, Lulu, and Fia secretly envy their volatile father and narcissistic mother whose short locks allow them to come and go whenever they wish. Raised believing their grandparents live in the TV set, the young women's knowledge about the outside world is skewed. On the eve of Fia's eighteenth birthday, life as they know it is altered when the girls find a young man unconscious in their yard. Believing he is an angel, they hide him in the guest house. Soon Fia's feelings for the man bloom and she finds herself sneaking to the guest house to be with him. When the lies the sisters have been told begin to unravel, Fia decides she will do whatever it takes to escape. The only thing holding her back is her long dark hair. Dogtooth x Rapunzel x The Castle of Purity Warning for abuse, swearing, romantic themes, alcohol addiction, blood, and typical Christine darkness. There is no SA. Best rank: #1 IN OPENNOVELLACONTEST2024 I started writing this story for the ONC 2024. Due to work and life, I could not finish it for the contest. Which made me sad...but I continued...at a snail's pace. Thanks to everyone who kept reading!
More detailsContent Guidelines