I wake to the same unfamiliar dampness, the boxers riding up. Emily's side of the bed is empty.

I ball the boxers in my fist and drop them in the hamper. Stand there a moment. Then go to the bathroom.

I flip the toilet seat up by reflex. Stand there looking at it. The medicine cabinet mirror gives me back my own face - same as always from the chin up - and below the waist the whole absurdity of what I'm about to attempt. I spread my feet, plant them shoulder-width apart, and try.

The elevator opens and I step into the office. My shoes squeak against the linoleum, too loose, and my hips move with each step in a rhythm I'm not choosing. The receptionist gives me her usual nod.

Alex had a terminal Cancer diagnosis and thought she would die before she got to be the girl she always was inside. That all changes when she's in the wrong place at the right time and gets transported to another world and into the body of a girl. So what if she's not human, she's alive and a girl. Now if only she had her sister with her to navigate this new world and her new responsibilities. Wait, she's here too? The passage of their souls between worlds may have doomed the Earth to apocalypse, but Alex and Michelle won't be there to see it and they have enough problems on their hands.
 

Acidalia XXV
By Amanda D.

The next morning, our space suits arrived. All eleven of us were all together when we were trying on the suits. Our group of eight simply tried on the suits, without catheters, and made sure they fit. They were set aside for our return to Earth. The other group got fully ready for flight, with a near pass of their target to the station just an hour from when the suits arrived.

Chapter 10 — "Snow, Snacks, and Small Quests."

*Location: North of High-Forge*

*Weather: Frosty with light snowfall*

In the morning, we stripped and showered. There was a private bathroom in our room. I went first. Sputty was standing there stark naked and not hiding her body from me in the least when I came out and she went in for her turn.

The late afternoon sun hung low, casting long shadows across the cracked pavement as Eric Whitmore walked home from school. His slight frame and delicate features—long lashes framing gray eyes—drew stares, as they always did. At thirteen, he was used to the whispers, the assumptions, but they still stung like salt in an open wound.

Chapter 51: Cabin in the Mountains

The house had felt too quiet that morning. Every footstep echoed in the hallway, the silence heavy and unyielding, as if the walls themselves mourned the absence left behind. Shadows lingered in the corners, and even the morning light seemed reluctant to touch the spaces where laughter used to live.

Chapter 9 — “Frostspire Departure.”

Scene 1: The Road North

Walking the Blue Line.
Every rookie police officer knows the dangers of the job by the second week under their training officer. By the end of their training every rookie understands that there are something they can’t control, and not all crimes will be solved. Though all rookies share the same dream. Their first assignment following training. For 21 year old Officer Joe Cartwright of the Baltimore PD that dream is to be a member of the Mounted Patrol. What he got would lead to a life changing path.