The 777 Challenge | The Villain Who Saved Christmas

Well, look who’s posting two weeks in a row! Earlier this week, Claire posted her snippets for the 777 Challenge, and today, Deborah tagged me for the challenge! Unfortunately, IDIA book 3 is still in the brainstorming stage… but I just got over 7 pages on my Christmas superhero short story, which also now has a title: The Villain Who Saved Christmas! I’m very excited about this story, and I can’t wait to see where it goes. For now, you can add it on Goodreads. First, the rules:

Rules

1. Open your WIP to the seventh page
2. Scroll past the seventh line
3. Copy the next seven paragraphs and paste them on your blog for THE WORLD to read
4. Tag seven people

And here’s my snippet! (For reference, Scott is a supervillain with ice powers named Hypothermia, and Reflex is a superhero, Scott’s archnemesis.)

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Scott studied the three people standing on his porch. He sighed and held open the door. “Okay. Come on in.”

A few minutes later, his visitors were sitting on his couch, holding steaming cups of hot cocoa. Scott pulled over one of the creaky wooden chairs he never used from his bedroom and sat down, facing the three of them. He held the ice cream he had made earlier, but he was so distracted that he didn’t eat any. Slowly their shivering stopped as the cocoa warmed them up. “So?” he finally asked.

He was mostly looking at Poppy—she was the adult, after all—but the little girl was the one who spoke up. “We want to give our sister a white Christmas.” She looked at him with wide, pleading eyes.

Scott looked down at his ice cream. “Yeah, you said that earlier. And why should I think that this isn’t a trap to get me back into the city so Reflex can capture me?” He looked up at them and took in their wide eyes. They either hadn’t thought of that, or all three were amazing actors. He doubted that.

“Well, couldn’t you just do it from here?” Poppy asked, leaning forward, bouncing a little. Her eagerness and curiosity made Scott more uneasy about letting onto any weaknesses.

“Like I can just rob banks from up here?” Scott set down his bowl and stood up. “Look, I’m not exactly the kind of person who goes out of their way to help people. I don’t kill people or anything, but I’m really just out for my own good.” He made a snowball in his hand and tossed it into the air absentmindedly as he studied his guests, trying to figure out how to get them to leave. The little boy’s eyes lit up at the sight of the snowball. “What’s so important about this, anyway?” They had to be desperate, trekking up a mountain to look for a supervillain.

The little girl stood up and walked over to him, her eyes determined and her hands tight on her mug. “My little sister, Becca, has cancer. She thinks this is going to be her last Christmas, and she really wants to have a white Christmas. But this year it’s not supposed to get cold enough to snow.” She held out the empty mug to him. “We hoped you would help her have a white Christmas.”

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So that’s the snippet! As for tagging people, I’m not entirely sure who’s been tagged and who hasn’t… so I’ll tag Sarah, Writefury, Ashley, Christine, Amanda, Madeline, and you! If anyone I tagged is too busy or doesn’t want to share, that’s totally fine! 😀 But if you’d like to do that tag and you weren’t tagged, go ahead! I unofficially tag you.

What do you think? Are you curious to find out what happens next? Comment below! And if you’ve already done the tag, post a link in the comments below so I can read your snippet! (Also, don’t forget about the IDIA Fan Art And Fan Fiction Contest! Submissions are due July 31st, so make sure and get yours in!)