Morrigan Crow leapt from the Brolly Rail, teeth chattering, hands frozen around the end of her oilskin umbrella. The wind had whipped her hair into a state of extreme disarray. She tried her best to smooth it down while hurrying to catch up with her patron, who was already yards ahead, pelting along the noisy, […]
Istared at the picture of Cronus and me on my Insta wall, the one shred of proof that he was real—that everything we’d gone through was real. All I had left was this picture with 100K likes … and the necklace around my throat. The necklace that would not be removed, no matter how hard […]
“I ONE need you to handle Ruby for me today.” I nearly choked on my coffee. Half of my daily four-ounce ration spilled down my throat in a sudden, wasteful gulp. Usually, I spent my ten-minute break savoring it in careful sips, suppressing the desire to lick the tiny ceramic mug at the end, so […]
Hell hounds outside; hell house inside. What more could we ask for? Human skulls nailed to the ceiling, apparently. It’s been, oh, about twenty-four hours since my twin brother, Logan, and I showed up at a youth leadership conference for supernaturals. We’ve learned so much already . . . leading a small group of our […]
The delicate smell of perfume caught my attention just before a flash of red drew my eye. A pretty young woman opened the door to the bakery, looked my way and gave me an innocent smile before disappearing inside. For a moment, time froze and my vision became clouded. In my mind’s eye, this same […]
The memo stank of barrel-printing ink and bad news. Oh, it began with the usual hurrahs, our boys victorious and finally coming home, but it ordered me to banish sixteen patients from my care by week’s end. I didn’t have ten men who were safe to send home to their families. This could not stand, […]
Never waste a full moon, Nora, even in winter, my grandmother used to say. We’d wander up the Black River under a midnight sky, following the constellations above us like a map I could trace with my εngertips—imprints of stardust on my skin. She would hum a melody from deep within her belly, gliding sure-footed […]
Dawn was teasing the horizon and causing the sky to blush when River made her way silently from the crowded tent she shared with her mother, her two aunts, five cousins, three younger sisters, her mother’s mare and the two geldings who had many years ago chosen her aunts as their Riders. As Rider of […]
THE WAVES MOCKED HER. Discordant laughter swelled in Branwen’s mind and twisted her heart. She couldn’t remain on the ship one moment longer. Her skin itched. Branwen rubbed her thumb along the raised flesh of her right palm, trying to quell her anger. She couldn’t. The gangway creaked beneath her feet as she disembarked the […]
Noooooo!” A little girl’s voice echoed through the hallway. The cry was followed by footsteps, more yelling, and a petulant squeal. “It’s mine! You give it back right now, Connor stupid Keene!” The dark-haired boy stuck his tongue out at her—the tiny blonde he relished torturing—then tore down the hallway, holding aloft the plastic sword […]
jana Paniccia followed the gravel paths through the memorial park. There were no cemeteries on the continent of Thaisia, no individual gravestones, no family mausoleums unless you were very rich. Cities couldn’t afford to waste land on the dead when the living needed every acre that they were grudgingly permitted to lease from the terra […]
While humans slept, monsters raved. Maybe it wasn’t technically a rave. There weren’t any glow sticks or electronic music, or club kids with crazy hair and fluorescent clothes. There were a few dozen shapeshifters and a sprinkling of vampires—and one not-quite witch showing off the mural she’d painted in a literal wolves’ den. I was […]
GU MIYOUNG’S RELATIONSHIP with the moon was complicated, as are most relationships centered around power. Her muscles vibrated with anticipation as she balanced on the edge of the roof. The moonlight made her skin itch, like a string pulled too tight. She breathed deeply to steady her speeding heart, and the stench of rotten trash […]
Every creature in the Murkwood wants to kill me—some for sport, others out of hunger or spite. I leap from tree to tree, outsmarting the branches that slink under my footfalls to trip me up, all of my senses alert. I don’t think the birch, oak, and old ash appreciate being trodden on, but they’ll […]
THE FIRST THING I learned as a hunter was how to hide. There was a skill in disappearing in the trees like the wind and merging into the river like stones; masquerading yourself as something you weren’t was what kept you alive in the end. Most humans didn’t think the masquerade was as important as […]
I DIDN’T MEAN TO KILL Josh Harper. Really, I didn’t. It’s just that I was nervous, and condomsare more complicated than I was expecting, and one thing led to another and—well. Now there’s blood everywhere and he’s dead. I wipe my hands on the rumpled sheets until they’re clean enough that I can pull my […]
“SHELBY, CONCENTRATE.” Uncle Roy’s eyebrows snap together, forcing the skin at the bridge of his nose into a deep wrinkle. I sigh and hold the heavy silver crucifix a little bit higher. Mrs. Collins is chained to the bed, her thin arms stretched across the mattress and secured to the headboard with iron handcuffs. Sounds […]
I HAVE ALWAYS HATED GOİNG to the doctor. Dad had to practically drag me in just for a checkup when I was a kid. It still sucked at seventeen. I turned and paced to the other side of the sterile exam room. White walls, motel art paintings, health posters, and magazines. I hated these rooms, […]
Eyes glued shut with sleep, I scramble around for my techno-pop–blasting cell phone. WITHHELD NUMBER. After a short deliberation, I decide to risk it and accept the call. “Happy birthday, Hayden!” Doreen Arimoff’s sweet-and-sour voice is like a bucket of ice, exorcising sleep from my head. (Doreen is ancient. She’s been in my family’s employ […]
In the beginning, there were two brother-gods: the God of Salt and the God of Sun. On the inner island, the Sun God warmed the soil, shone down on the plentiful foliage, and browned the skin of his chosen children. On the outer island, the Salt God kept the water teeming with fish, the waves […]
