I have a screen door that doesn't open. The sliding glass door sit between the kitchen and the backyard patio, little more than a translucent wall. At the edge of the property is a chain link fence that separates my property from a steep grass-covered hil…

Roger had been in the cradle of the Marula tree's branches for three days. Muscles ached unevenly across the map of his back, and in knotty pockets in his thighs and arms. Below, the thick savanna grass moved in waves as if strings in a grand harp played …

Vines and creepers covered every part of the bulkhead's interior. Sickly brown leaves, branches whose mottled bark looked like scales, as well as wicked looking thorns choked the mouth of the doorway. The metal surround it had warped, in some places buckl…

Dana gasped as Don rose up off the floor, power and presence radiating from him like light from a sun. Despite all their efforts, the Azure was sill in him. Had the parasite fought off all the poisons that were now running through Don's veins? His right h…

Grosser looked away. Averting his eyes didn't help. It didn't stop Marnie from flinging his accusations at poor Julia. The woman had seemed near a breakdown after the expedition's second night.

“Where did it go? What did you do with it? Cause I'm damn s…

Story is marked as mature

Jim reached up, fingers searching for the next handhold in the sheer face of the cliff. Large patches of sweat clung to him, gleaming like armor. By his reckoning, it was the last obstacle of this night's Hypnagogia.

Little by little, he ascended.

By …

“Yes, it is but passage through the Dark Kingdoms is always expensive, friend. Guaranteed safety is precious. Few people can be trusted and even fewer have established the necessary oases of safety. Out of all the smugglers that claim to be able to make t…

By the time Kharon showed up, there was virtually no sign of the camp at all. We didn't try to hide the fact that a number of people had been there, but there were no signs of the tents or the campfire. Everything had been packed up and stowed away. Nothi…

I returned to the camp and let them know the good news. “Kharon agreed to help. He hates what the new governor has done as much as we do and will be here momentarily to guide us through a secret way under the walls and back into the palace.”

Civitas stoo…

"Ah that's a real nice boon there, a standout miracle of blessings that any priest-liar's tongue would envy. Many thanks for this warmth, my fiend, that you've bestowed upon me in drink-form. She is a real beauty that touches me loving-like, a whisper tha…

Jorge stretched out his legs until his joints popped. He sighed as he relieved pressure he hadn't consciously felt. It was hard not to fidget on the plastic-y surface of the reclining chair. The rest of the room was antiseptically boring, so sterile it ma…

The mention of a hospital stabbed a spine-shaking spear of coldness through my middle. Gritting my teeth, I powered through the feeling. “No. Wait. I'm better now.”

Veronica had taken a step back from me, putting a little distance between us. Alfie, her …

Two more minutes and she would be free. It had been fifty-eight minutes since Rosa had trapped herself in the hourglass. Like much of her magic, it had been an accident. Spells were tricky like that. Intent and annoyingly detailed description had to match…

Jeremy knelt, his breath catching at the beauty. This find was proving to be an even greater treasure than he'd ever imagined. Using a tiny brush, he dusted up and down the length of the axe. Once this was polished up, it would outshine every other piece …

Light.

It was too hot.

Uncomfortable.

If I could just worm my way deeper into unconsciousness I wouldn’t have to face . . . anything.

Something nuzzled against the top of my head. My skin crawled. Not daring to open an eye too wide lest I see too clea…

The girl took a step back from me, a hand creeping to her mouth.

“Umm, is that normal?” she asked, nodding toward the blood streaks running down the spears of grass.

Normal? I tried to connect anything to that word but nothing came to mind. Trying to th…

I couldn’t help but groan. Standing up had not been a good idea. Everything hurt.

“Do you know that guy?” the girl asked.

An icy spike shot up my spine. Panic swarmed at the edge of my vision like beating wings. I hunched down and grabbed her arm. “What…

An uncomfortable tingling ran across my shoulders and up the back of my neck; the sensation of insects crawling across my grave.

“Where did he go? People don’t just disappear!” I didn’t quite shout.

The girl looked away and said softly, “People disappea…

Each spadeful of dirt opened the earth a little further. It never seemed like much but it added up bit by bit. It always felt like it took forever. Patrick had lost count in the eighties at least three times. His mind was slow now. He supposed this kind o…

Matthews woke up, head flat against his desk, arm curled around a bottle of apricot brandy. It was the scream of the work whistle that did it.

Moving nothing but a shaking hand, as if it were the spider-hourglass emblem of his Ministry of Spies badge, he…

Everything was wrong. I didn't want to be Thomas Tinsley. He looked like a dope. It took effort not to snatch the driver's license back and toss the whole wallet into the woods.

Into the woods.

That thought brought images, feelings, and sounds. Leaves, …

Irritation built as Anders stepped past the perimeter marker of Base Camp Aktina. No matter how loud he turned his music up, the sound of metal on metal always cut through. He was up to seven and still he could hear dozens of knives being sharpened at the…

Bombs.

.

.

.

Rain.

.

.

.

Down.

.

.

.

Trembling, we breathe.

.

.

.

I reread the unfamiliar name slowly. “Thomas Tinsley.” Repeating it three more times, accenting it differently, trying to find a cadence that sounded familiar. It never did. The face next to the name looked even less so if that was possible. Tan-ish skin.…