Chapter 8

I hadn’t noticed the summer dress causing much hindrance to my fighting style, and I had several in a similar style. I put on a different one and packed a short skirt and tee-shirt combo as alternatives. Mum gave a small smile of approval. I mean the hemline wasn’t that much lower, but it did cross that narrow dividing line on the parental scale between cuteness and indecency. The dress had puff sleeves and a ruffled skirt, which I think helped from the cuteness angle.

Chapter 8

It was dark again when I woke up. Cate had stripped me while I was out to the world and covered me up. I was having dreams about shooting people, only to wake to realise that my dreams were only a reenactment of real life. When I put a gown on and went to the toilet, Cate was there to help me stagger into the kitchen, where she plied me with a fry up.

Thursday came, and it was doomsday. Danny awoke, dreading what he would have to face after school. He wants to cry, scream, shout, and rage, but he can’t. And if he could, it wouldn’t change anything anyway. He laid in bed, the alarm on his phone going off repeatedly as he kept swiping snooze. Eventually, his mom knocked on his door commanding him to get up. Danny dragged his butt out of bed and hauled it into the bathroom. After using the toilet and brushing his teeth, he headed back to his bedroom to change. However, he was interrupted by a knock at his bedroom door.

Rose looks at the contacts she downloaded from Ciarán’s cell phone. She knew some of the people on his contact list. She knew the people he had on his contact list were well-connected. Rose wonders if the people Ciarán turned to were connected to anyone on Ciarán’s list.

Chapter 6

September, 1918

‘Dear Tamsyn,

The outside world is more amazing and more terrifying than I ever knew. Everywhere I look there are reminders of how small and insignificant I am compared to the horror all around me, and yet my love of you drives me forward.

Title

The New Girl at Uskweirs Manor

a pastoral romance by Miriam Robern

Strangers on a Hill

Bath, June 1812

The carriage, like everything else that Ashbourne owned, was well-appointed, suffused in rich fabrics, and, at least objectively speaking, very comfortable.  But Amelia perched at the edge of her seat, back teetering stiffly, a torrent of hasty words spilling out of her mouth.

Hope's Light

Chapter 4

by Erisian

Book 6

Chapter Four - Enemies

When appearing again in front of Krux and all his gun-toting troopers, I’d changed clothes. Gone was the casual jogger garb, replaced with biker’s gear of white leather: boots, chaps over jeans, gloves, and an armored jacket - one with enough pockets to wedge in all the currency I’d just recovered. My bike, of course, was stuck in a galaxy far, far, away - but I knew the pattern of this outfit well enough to replicate it.

Being an angel had certain advantages.

Title

The New Girl at Uskweirs Manor

a pastoral romance by Miriam Robern

Correspondence, Concoctions, and Coaching

Monmouthshire, May 1812

Dearest Mother—

I hope this letter finds both you and Father well and in good spirits.  I myself have been blessed with good health in the last few months.

It shouldn’t be a big deal. All Billy's friends have visited the widow's house and each seemed to come away better for the experience. Visiting her has been a rite of passage for boys in town for as long as anyone can remember.

Billy knows he should want this. The whispers about him have been growing and even his friends are starting to ask questions. Tonight is the night if he's going to end the rumors. Should it matter if it’s Halloween and there’s a full moon in the sky?

CHAPTER 52
That was as far as we took things, each for our own reasons. I knew my own, at least, but could only guess at hers. I dressed in ‘business casual’, as Maz did much the same in clothes produced from her bag, and for too many reasons we faced away from each other as we covered ourselves for the day. I still took her hand as we went into the kitchen for breakfast.

Geeta had done a more than adequate spread, and once it was served, she simply smiled at us while holding her car keys.

Hope's Light

Chapter 3

by Erisian

Book 6

Chapter Three - Sin

Languages are magic.

Think about it. By making weird sounds or scribbling strange markings against a surface, we transmit ideas, conjure images the recipient has never seen, and organize the very way we think. And it’s not limited to only verbal or written mediums; there is language in music, in mathematics, in dance and motion, and yes, in the act of making love. They are the tools by which we interact with each other and the universe at large, coordinating our very perceptions into meaning.

Mostly we use language to manipulate the thoughts and ideas of others, but some…well, some use it to manipulate the world directly. And what lies behind it.

After the initial shock of the changes, I took a moment to thoroughly analyze my body, trying to process everything that had happened. My reflection was almost unrecognizable compared to the person I once was. My hair had grown significantly, flowing down my back in soft waves. Its color had transformed as well, shifting into a beautiful gradient of light blue at the roots that deepened into light purple at the tips. It shimmered slightly in the light, almost as if it had absorbed some of the water's essence.

If I laugh or giggle, is he going to get offended?

Pete's Vagina
58. Run/Pass Option
by Erin Halfelven

CHAPTER 51
I opened the front door as quietly as I could manage, and she was there, a small holdall in her left hand. I didn’t know whether I should step forward, or aside, so I did the latter, and she slipped in and headed straight for my room. I stood at the open door for a moment, then closed it, once again as quietly as I could manage, before following her. When I arrived, she simply undid her coat and let it fall, to reveal her pyjamas. I lifted the covers on her side, and as she slipped into bed, I did the same on my side.

Hope's Light

Chapter 2

by Erisian

Book 6

Chapter Two - Paintings

Ever since that moment of radical transformation (or resurrection, if one prefers) back at the start of all the madness - when my name went from Justin to Jordan and personal pronouns flipped on their heads - I’ve had occasion to journey to a scattering of spiritual places. Planes of existence, dreams, realms - call them what you will - they all had a certain commonality. They were formed around an inner core, a nugget of desire or purpose which stabilized the whole and resonated throughout. Some were tied to entire stories sung forth in glorious splendor, others built on specific concrete principles or even emotional states. The more coherent the core, the more cohesive the realm - and all the souls and spirits resonating in sync with that pattern locked-in the solidity even further. Their presence and observations made things more ‘real’ within that domain.

I’ve tasted, touched, ripped, reinforced, and even created such places anew. The planes of Hell were no exception in their properties, and while I’d only visited two of the many available, for various (and desperate!) reasons I’d needed to delve deep into the structures of both to fight against a Chaos-corrupted agent attempting to shred them into incoherent pieces.

The rain poured heavily as I walked through the dimly lit streets, my thin jacket doing little to shield me from the downpour. I clutched the grocery bag tighter, feeling the cold water seep through the fabric. My shoes splashed in puddles, each step reminding me of how today had unraveled into a string of bad luck. The weight of it all pressed down on my shoulders like the gray clouds above.

CHAPTER 50
Chad was the late arrival at work on Monday morning, as he was busy dropping Vern off somewhere. I didn’t need to know whose place was involved, as long as the lad brought a smile into the office on his arrival.

Ronnie was already behind her desk, and in response to Maryam’s “Morning!” as the three of us walked in together, Ronnie simply said, “Very chipper this morning, Ms Rahman!”, before shutting her mouth more than a second after speaking.

Chapter 4

I watched closely as she matched the speed of the ship and brought us back into the pool. When we surfaced, the doors were closing and I left the sub to reattach the lifting mechanism, which I now noticed had a remote release on it. It would enable someone to release the sub and then get in to drive it.