Picture drafting and a new Silver Crosses extract

 True to my word, I had a break from working on Jon Snow. I also checked him out in daylight and he looks pretty good.

 I also started drafting my next big piece, a picture of Derren Brown. I'm planning to use the same paper as I'm using for Jon Snow, so all I can do is studies and tests.

 Here's a sneak peak:

 And here's that extract I promised. In this one, you get to meet Carl.

Carl had a cool car. It was one of the cooler cars she’d seen in real life, some real Bond type of stuff going on. A 2013 BMW S-series gran coupe, if she wasn’t mistaken.

 Mel was enjoying the ride to Soto’s house way more than she should, given the circumstances.

 “You’ve got to let me try this thing out one day,” Mel said, admiring the mod cons, “I bet it corners like a dream.”

 “It does,” he beamed, “I’ve been really looking forward to winter so I can spend more time driving. It’s a great car to drive through the snow.”

 Mel nodded and perused the file again.

 “So, what do you know about this residential area?”

 “It’s pretty popular among the young and affluent undead, I’ve got a place there. It’s mostly where people live when they settle down, it’s a great place to raise kids, I hear.”

 “Are you anywhere near Soto’s place?” she asked.

 He shook his head as they got off the main road.

 “I’m on the other side, it’s a bit far from the office, so I don’t usually have time to get there between realising it’s late and the sun rising. So I sleep in my office a lot.”

 “You should be more careful,” Mel noted as they turned the corner to get onto Soto’s road.

 “I know I- whoa!”

 Carl screeched the car to a halt as a wheelie bin landed directly in front of the car.

 Mel looked out of the windscreen and gaped.

 “What the hell?”

 Everything that Mel assumed had been on the lawn of the Soto and Ferris household was floating in mid-air. Plants, garden decorations, the hose and one very confused black cat.

 “Shit. If it’s like this out here, what the hell is it like inside?” she said, eyeing the situation through the passenger window. She could see the next door neighbours twitching their curtains and peering at the goings on in the garden.

 “If they’re still having mirrors broken, then it could be even worse,” Carl noted, watching the cat circle, “hell, if it’s in the kitchen...”

 They looked at each other.

 “We need to get them out of there,” Mel noted, slipping off her kitten heels.

 Carl’s grip on the steering wheel as he stared through the windscreen.

 Mel peered over her shoulder, thankfully there were seats in the back. She turned to back to Carl, his knuckles were slowly turning white and he was starting to shake.

 “Carl!”

 He jumped.

 “Come on.”

 He looked at her with scared eyes as he bit his lip.

 She sighed and put her hand on his, “you wanna help right?”

 He nodded.

 “Then let’s go, you’re a tough guy, we’ll be fine.”

 “You sure?” he asked.

 She nodded, “we’ll be fine. Besides, I ain’t afraid of no ghost, and neither should you be.”

 He cracked a smile.

 “Right.”

 “We need to go on three, ready?”

 He nodded again, more determined than scared this time.

 “One.”

 She undid her seat belt.

 “Two.”

 She unlocked the door and looked at Carl, he was following suit.

 “Three.”

 They opened their doors and ducked out of the car keeping their heads down.

 Mel led the way, ducking into the emptiest area of the garden cyclone of doom. Carl followed her, keeping his head down and running low.

 She stopped and put her hand up. Carl stopped behind her. The space they’d gone through just closed up behind them. In the eye of the storm they waited for another gap to open.

 Mel eyed the swirling maelstrom warily.

 Suddenly, Carl pushed at her shoulders.

 “Get down!”

 She let her self be pushed to the ground and looked up to see a deckchair fly over them.

 “You okay?” he asked.

 She got to her knees and caught the barbecue grill that was about to fall on them.

 “Go!” she shouted as the grill pushed down.

 Carl swallowed and nodded, scrambling to his feet as he dodged his way to the front door.

 Mel shoved back and threw the grill away from her, it flew across the garden and landed in the middle of the road. She scrambled to her feet and followed Carl to the door.

 She kicked it open without ceremony and pushed Carl inside, turning around to catch the cat as it flew straight into her chest, knocking her backwards off her feet. She put a hand on it and scrambled backwards.

 Carl slammed the door shut and dragged a shoe rack in front of it, wedging it shut.

 He crouched on the ground next to Mel.

 “Are you okay?” he asked scanning her for injuries and looking concerned.

 “Yeah,” she groaned, “I’m- Ow!”

 “What’s wrong?” he asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

 “It’s this bloody cat!” she pushed at the purring creature, “get off!”

 It jumped off indignantly and stalked over to the wall, sitting down and cleaning itself.

 “Stupid thing was clawing me,” she complained, sitting up.

 Carl held out a hand and helped her up.

 “That’s good,” he smiled in relief, “I was worried.”

 “Yeah well, you don’t need to worry about me, I’m made of tough stuff.”

 Carl nodded but pulled her into a hug anyway.

 Mel swallowed and blinked in surprise for a moment but hugged back anyway.

 “I’m just glad you’re okay,” he said as they separated.

 She smiled at him before something in the corner of her eye caught her attention.