After a man is stabbed in the back and dies, he wakes up in the Labyrinth with a new body, new power, and another chance.

This story takes place in the same universe as my story Invoker.

Track Ban
A Vignette
By Maryanne Peters

If you really know your horses, on track betting is the way to win. People who treat horseracing as a game of chance are fools. Why not toss a coin? That is chance and probability, but if you know horses and courses and watch the animals and their riders and the track close up and in the flesh, then it is not a gamble, it is the exercise of special skills.

I woke Janet up with a glass of water and two more paracetamol. She wasn’t that bad; I just wanted her to be in good nick for her meeting at 11am. As usual when I was there I got breakfast; pancakes with maple syrup and bacon. We ate together and I headed off, going against the incoming traffic. I really needed to get some work out of the way so was planning to just get my head down for the day. I slowed down coming into the cul de sac which led to my apartment block and drove in, keeping an eye out for anything unusual; just what that might be, I hadn’t a clue.

NEIL
There was no sign of Anth at breakfast, just the kitchen staff to serve me, and it appeared that I had either missed all the other guests or there were none. Apple juice. Tea. More tea. Cereal. Tea. Then the fry-up, which got easier to eat with each mouthful. Then…

One of the kitchen girls brought me more tissues as I sat looking at the crumpets I had just toasted.

“It’s okay, Neil. Nobody else here, aye? Anth telt us what you’re up for, today, like, so no shame. We all remember her, and we all saw the news. For what it’s worth… no point to cards or flowers, we thought, but will you take a hug for her? For Maddy?”

Split Victory

© 2026 Zoë Taylor

“I’ve got this, Barbie,” Liberty said, squeezing her shoulder again, her arm around Tiffani now in a moment of solidarity.

CHRISSY
This was getting more and more like one of the more difficult clubs, and I was beginning to feel very much out of my depth, for I had nothing I could bring to that evening’s table. The stuff about ‘Pat’ had blindsided me, and then Red stepped in with even more.

It was indeed like one of those clubs, where a succession of devious sods did their party pieces and challenged me, in effect, to outdo them. That place with the guitarist who seemed to worship Nick Drake, for example. I just about had to beat him to death with the smallpipes.

I meet Seo-yeon at the department store Saturday morning because she says it's the most efficient for the basics, and efficiency is the frame we're both using to make this manageable.

The bras are first. She takes me to the section and stands back while a fitter does the measurement — I submit to this like I've submitted to the blood draw and the stall check and everything else today, as a procedure.

When a subject or subjects are charged with crimes in most of the world, the process of investigation does not stop. Efforts are made to make sure that the case is as ‘beyond all reasonable doubt’ as possible.

Sent By Sophia

Chapter 10: Legal and Financial Strategies

A Transgender Coming of Age Adventure

A Story from THE ONE

Ariel Montine Strickland

*

Chapter 8

With the next day clear, we took our time with breakfast and then the two of us wore our special dresses to walk to the venue to spend most of the day doing our duty for our sponsors, posing for pictures, signing brand new clothing and talking to fans, many who had seen that interview and were interested in my story. I held nothing back. There were a few who looked at me angrily, but the two men from our clothing sponsor were big enough to have them leave us alone.

It may sound strange but I recommend you not to read parts 3 and 4 of this story.
Part 3 is only half decent while part 4 is way too confusing for readers. I had great fun writing these parts though. A classic example of self-indulgence.
I did consider pulling these parts but decided to let them stay as a reminder that I should stick to short stories.
So once again. Unless you actually like to be confused, don’t read parts 3 and 4.

Chapter Two – To The Victor Go The Spoils

In 1957 Ashely Bellamy is held captive in her cabin deep in the woods. Both she and her captor have to face the consequences of their past whilst looking to the future after they discover a connection that helps them understand each other.

Atticus Carver, the star wide receiver, a popular sophomore in a high school in Louisiana, is about to get a change to his life he doesn't expect or want - and it's all in public.

Now the person who changed him to her, in spite of feeling terrible for what they did to an innocent young life and potentially more, wants one-hundred-million dollars wired to multiple bank accounts within a month and all of the CIA's info released to the public, or they'll set the gender-bending spores on the whole of the United States

Atticus is left reeling from everything, having to pick a new name for herself, learn to be a girl in high school, to finding new romances, to keeping her old friends and finding new ones, to picking up a brand-new sport for herself...and making enemies that she has no idea how to deal with...

I will also be posting this story on RoyalRoad.com and ScribbleHub.com.