Finished word count: 50,725 words
Written: NaNoWriMo 2011
Revised: ?
Genre: Science Fiction

The synopsis:

After Chloe’s inventor father signs a contract with a ghost-city’s mayor, he’s imprisoned by the very man he just swore to serve. Chloe must figure out what is going on behind the barred gates of the water plant–why her father is so important and why he hasn’t come home–and then stop it, even if it means putting her phobia of water aside.

The main characters:

• Chloe Ani Erila (heroine)
• Milthin Deller (villain)
• Nella Cutt (mentor)
• Savannah Buckle (ally)
• Ray the bullfrog (minor ally)

The story clip:

Water.
My nerves screamed at me to escape. Currents swept through my hair, spun me into the depths. I screamed, choking out the water I had inhaled and only succeeding in gulping in more.
Something scraped into my back, tearing through the skin before the current swept me away again.
I broke through surface of the water, gulping in great mouthfuls of icy air.
“DAD!” I screamed. But water enveloped me again, and I choked in more water.
This was how Mum had died! Just like this!
I bobbed to the surface again. Something hard bumped into my knee. I clutched at my newfound anchor, and the water stopped tossing me around.
My head spun.
“D-Dad?” I croaked.
I heaved myself onto the hard surface, sweatshirt slapping around my waist.
“Dad!” I screamed. The sound reverberated around some sort of cavern, echoing off the walls.
My hair dripped water into my eyes. The realization struck me and I scratched my hair away from my face, fingernails digging into my forehead.
Water! Water was on me! Water was–
I abandoned the thought and yanked my sweatshirt off like a sopping rag, flinging it to the ground. Away from me.
“Daughter of Raymond Erila.”
I froze.
“Please don’t litter.” It was the mechanized voice again.
Litter?
I snatched up my sweatshirt with quaking fingers, trying to ignore the water running down my neck, puddling in the toes of my sneakers, soaking into every bit of me.

–Copyright 2011 by Haniya