They stood in the doorway, framed by the heavy veil of night that blanketed the afternoon. The preacher with his pressed black cassock, the circuit judge with his riding clothes still dirt-stained from the road, and the sheriff with his glinting bronze badge were like a trinity delivering Esther to her damnation. Continue Reading
Aurore is dead from the moment she walks into my shop.
Her entrance is accompanied by a soundtrack of clicking heels and an equally entitled whistle, the shrill notes of “Oh, my darling Clementine” ringing proudly in their dissonance. Continue Reading
The air shifted, with a chill brushing away the warm October night. The scent of snow surrounded Kera, crisp and icy. No, not quite snow, but something harder, less forgiving. Stone, maybe. The air felt unnaturally still, like an invisible dome had encircled the pair and was magnifying yet isolating every sound. Continue Reading
Truth is, I’ve no intention of keeping the brownie. I’d caught it accidentally while raking leaves. But… a wish? That sounds like a sweet deal. Continue Reading
As long as you stroke ‘em right, the scales’re smooth. I could grab ‘em by the fistful, feel ‘em sidewind, solid muscle in my palm. But I ain’t handsy. I like watchin’ ‘em. Continue Reading
I was hauntingly lucky to bear witness as the mermaid of Lake Michigan died. Continue Reading
I pull you into my arms and we tumble into the sand, giggling. I hold on tight and wish I would never have to let you go. Continue Reading
They say it’s the blackness that gets to you. Facing away, all you see is black. The stars are fiction. Continue Reading
She played him once, when he was alive. How could she refuse? Lucio Gresci’s reputation far exceeded her own, and his request was a summons, no matter how much she dreaded it. His studio was in a large detached house, walled and surrounded by gardens with a few fruit trees. Continue Reading
The humming fluorescence of the artificial sun faded, and with it faded Cyril’s motivation to finish his work. Despite the whirring air circulation systems, a stasis suppressed the room in which he stood, surveying rows and rows of growth pods. Continue Reading
Oh it’s simple to freeze people, I grant you that. It’s not at all complicated to kill a human being by transmuting all their molecules into ice or quartz or marble or whatever. But let’s be honest with ourselves: that’s not art. That’s murder. Continue Reading
The Proving Grounds lie in the deep wood, where time slumbers and winds still. A heavy mist of magic and sadness grips the air.
The Grounds are an obstacle course. Continue Reading