The problem with locator spells is that they can go where humans cannot. Not having form, they can travel through and air and water for far longer than those using them can follow. Spells need to be tethered on a sort of reciprocating line so they see whe…

I don't remember everything about how it happened. I do remember waking up. I remember that abject terror of not knowing where I was or how I'd gotten there.

And I remember the light. At 14, it had reminded me of comic book images of radioactive sludge.…

Story is marked as mature

My dreamcatcher failed.

Saw mommy again.

I hope that I can find a proper manner

To make new friends and treat them as they’d choose,

So they feel safe and cheerful ‘neath my banner

And not be overwhelmed, creeped out, bemused.

-

I know there’s something wrong, but no one tells

Just where I erred…

"So this is it?" she asked, "one drop in here and it's all over?"

A short pipe stood up from the floor of the dark warehouse, twisted metal piled haphazardly around like so many broken bones. She peered through it into an incomprehensibly large tank. The…

Forswear sesquipidalian garrulousness, communicating antidisestablishmentarian memoranda.

Orthael stopped by a small crossroads, the signpost and its accompanying shrine to the Fire covered in a sick, black tar. It oozed away from the point of Judgement, peeling back wetly when he swung it close and returning when he lifted it away.

Distantly…

The party was for Valerie. She was departing for warmer weather. It made sense. Despite being a programmer and board gamer, she loved to surf.

Me? I was a quintessential nerd and living proof that making a girl laugh, doesn't mean she will be attracted t…

Today I was tutoring a young writer in Thinking Small; writing about small details to open up their writing. She then pondered the value of a penny.

When you are one penny short, you cannot buy an item. The penny seems very valuable; an unattainable goal…

"He's just standing there. At the bar. Drinking. Shots. Shot after shot after shot."

Her companion nodded, dark glasses concealing blind eyes. "You're sure?"

"Yeah. I've never seen anyone drink so much milk."

Captain Chessington stood behind her desk, her face stern as she listened to the report from the Quartermaster.

"You are quite sure, Mr Jones," she queried, willing him to retract even a sentence of the report he had just made to her. "I'd best do this i…

If you've never seen a Time Timer before, it's a big timer with a red wedge instead of hands on its face that shrinks as the time nears zero.

Lucy sat quietly wriggling. She pulled at strands of her hair, lifting them high behind her head and shaking her…

An explosion echoed outside. The pair, seasoned veterans both, were in motion without a word. Beckton drew his pistol and ducked behind a workbench. Newkirk joined him a moment later, handing him a Springfield rifle which he took gladly. Both men watched …

She is tied to a rack. The ropes at her wrists and ankles dig cruelly into her skin. Her fingers and toes have long since gone numb. She barely notices. This is as it should be.

Figures move in the shadows around her, checking her bonds, adjusting her ga…

I drove by the bar at least once a week, but never stopped. It was too painful to think about the memories.

I wasn't sure what to do next. Should I wait for him to come to me or should I go? I sent a few texts, funny stuff I knew he liked. Sometimes I go…

You were at my side in an instant, an angel of light and beauty so magnificent that even now I cannot put it to words. You fell to your knees and cradled my head in your lap. I barely heard the slight pop of a vial being uncorked, but a second later a liq…

Tom woke up with a yawn: NINE O'CLOCK??

Seeing this, he went cuckoo. He quickly got dressed in a frantic dash, zoomed down the stairs, burst into the kitchen, gobbled up his breakfast, sprinted to school as fast as a cheetah and arrived just in time f…

"What were the specs that didn't work?" asked the purchaser. He turned to gaze out of the high rise window.

"At 2% vectoring and 5% elasticity the data remained firm," my boss began but he was interrupted by the bored purchaser.

"But you found that to b…

It's the strangest thing.

My dog, a little Pekingese cross I got about a month ago, isn't eating. I've tried everything to get him to eat, but nothing I try works. Dry food, wet food, he just turns up his nose. In the last three weeks, I've bought over $…

"Sensei," I knelt and bowed low, forehead touching the mat before the master. I sat up and he regarded my face and my demeanor.

"What troubles you, child?"

"I keep trying and failing to execute my new move."

"What makes it new?"

"I've been adding an e…

Detective Hawk reached a gloved hand to the light switch. In the moment before the room was bathed in light, she braced herself for a scene of unknowable atrocity. It was not difficult to kill a muse, they are quite delicate, but at times the results can …

It's swirling around them, this confusing mass of tendrils, burning asphalt anger, hot and painful to touch. Fuse has never been safe. They've always been sharp and lean, a knife trying to cut through Spire's water, but now they're hot, steam against Spir…

I stand on the gently rocking deck, facing the east. The clear sky is still dark but beginning to brighten. The breeze is brisk but it's coming from the right direction and if it holds, I'll make good distance today.

Months of preparation are done and th…

When I was younger I used to sneak up into my grandparent's attic to where they kept the old records. Next to the old wobbly bookcase was a wooden crate that held all of my grandparent's favorite songs. I would sit up in that attic listening to the reco…