This is actually a pretty awful beginning. I feel like Ylva feels a lot pettier than she really is 

Ok so this story makes it feel like it's going to be something super serious with lots of teeen drama but the actual story is mainly like 90% magic shenanigans and gal pals 

I have to wait until the second chapter to introduce this one character but once I fit her in there she'll be amazing

Anyways have an excerpt, I don't know if the full thing will be done in 5 days lol but regardless it will be out eventually?

HERE YOU GO:

Rain traced the car windows like tears on the face of a young child. It had been nearly two hours since the storm had set in and although they had been driving the entire time it showed no signs of letting up. The entire affair had taken on a gloomy, monotone tone and become an ordeal far larger than a simple car trip. No, this was more like a continuous stretch of the afterlife meant to test those on the line between redemption and eternal punishment, complete with mediocre pop music and country tunes that seemed to blend into each other.

Ylva wasn't sure if any of the afterlives she'd read up on had such a test, but it was a fun yet morbid thing to imagine.

Her mother continued to fidget with the dial on the car, all the while averting her gaze from the face of her daughter. When she finally did turn with a prod of the radio to finally end the torture that had been the last two answers, she spoke only one word: "Ylva."

Ylva stared at the window more intently. At the moment, several raindrops were racing each other down the pane with all of the frenzied excitement of snails on the barn in late summertime.

"Young lady, turn around and look me in the eyes." her mother said, more sternly.

Ylva looked up for a second to fix her mother with a glare so potent that she may as well have been a cockatrice about to descend on its prey, then returned to the window. The largest raindrop was winning, as they often did. She remembered a time that seemed like forever ago when she would bet pennies on raindrops against her younger cousins on rainy days- always making sure to choose the larger one first. They thought she was some kind of witch.

"Are you ignoring me on purpose?" Her mother's tone was shrill. Now that... that was a bad sign. Half of Ylva burned with righteous shame... but the other half? The other half didn't have the energy to care anymore.

"I'm watching the raindrops, ma. It's not like you gave me anything else to do in the car." The perfect reply- sarcastic and right to the point.

Not bothering to turn from the wheel, David said kindly, "Let her be, Erika. This is hard for her too."

It was the first time in the entire car ride that her father had said a word.

Her mother turned the radio back on and Ylva silently prayed that the truck with all of her possessions would fall over and they'd have to go home. She'd be down some furniture, but she could move in with the Alders like she had suggested when her family told her they were going to leave.

Then again, who said they'd go back for it? They obviously had no problem with destroying the rest of her life, surely some stuff meant nothing at this point.

Nothing means anything anymore, Ylva thought grimly.