[Note - this section contains an alcohol-induced gap in Caden's memory with ambiguity around what happens during that gap, referenced later in the story. In case this is upsetting to some readers I'm giving warning here.]

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The intercom buzzes twice before Hale's voice crackles through — "Who is it?" — the same baritone Caden had heard on a hundred conference calls, smooth as poured bourbon.

"Caden Voss." His voice comes out softer than he intended, vowels rounding at the edges.

A pause. The static hisses.

"Sorry?"

Chapter 5

For the moment, there wasn’t much that Marilyn could do. The two inspectors were making sure that when any tiny bit of information was discovered, it was placed in context and recorded. Everything needed to be kept in eleven murder books, one for each victim, as a trial may just pick one, with the others submitted to the judge before sentencing.

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.

Bonnyread Island
A Short Story
2026 Summer Island Getaway Challenge
By Maryanne Peters

Where the Sunflowers Grow
By
Rebecca Anna Coleman

-9-
Eden, Mississippi

Chapter 28 December 25th 2025

There were times in Whit’s life when he saw himself in a photo, or a video, or in the mirror, and for a brief moment he saw her instead of him. Eventually he gave her a name, Sarah. Over time he realized that Sarah could be a great person, far less reserved than Whit. Sarah didn’t define her life by what she avoided. Whit imagined Sarah living a rich life full of new friends and experiences.

All Sarah ever needed was a chance…

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, or they'll set the gender-bending spores on D.C.

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.

Join Jody on a mind-bending adventure that begins when the weirdly realistic dreams he has had since his childhood start coming into the real world! Follow along as Jody figures out what is actually real and as he explores his confused sexuality.

Chapter Fifteen
Memories of Salem

Cassandra nodded in agreement. “I did say at the time I thought the curse was too strong a measure.”

Tichiba however, did not share their remorse. “Strong measures were needed then or maybe you two have forgotten Salem and the rest of our sisters who lost their lives at the hands of mortals?”

Torn from his own world and stuffed into the body of a villainess, facing the end of a doomed route he himself wrote, "Amelia" must navigate a world she really should know - too bad she was never great at worldbuilding.

Stuck in a world she (maybe) created, Amelia quickly finds that reality has filled in the details she failed to describe. The characters who were so flat when she wrote them now have nuance, and motives. The kingdom she wrote into existence is experiencing internal strife she never even thought about. And let's not even get into the complexities of the magic system, or the demon that forced her into this situation to begin with...

Oh, and then there's the fact that she's about to be arrested and executed... but surely she can come up with a way to write herself out of that, right?

...Right?