A rain came, sudden and hard. Fortune lent them favor as Ilenia and Helaia made it to the forest before the deluge was made all the fiercer by billowing winds. The leaves of the trees here were broader than the usual fare, which gave them some measure of shelter. They huddled together against a thick ...

Part One A knock at the door permeated her dreams. At first, she ignored it, assuming one of the children were playing games or perhaps someone was mistaken. “Ilenia?” questioned a familiar voice. Helaia. Groaning and stretching, Ilenia covered her mouth to stymie a yawn. “What is it?” “Can we talk?” “Is it so important ...

“Somebody help!” A curdling scream came from a young girl’s lips. “Somebody, please! Help me!” The young girl thrashed and jolted in her restraints. She was bound to a metal chair and was screaming at the top of her lungs. Her blonde hair was stuck to her face as sweat came beaming down her face, ...

Paige stood in the middle of the long dirt road with her backside toward her grandparent’s farm. She crossed her arms and gazed upward to observe the darkening mass hovering overhead. Trepidation filled her. Storm clouds had formed a menacing hand with extended fingers that threatened to swoop down and grab ahold of her small, ...

The caves ran deep beneath Telia Un. Endless veins that forked in every which way, and somewhere within lay its beating heart. Cold air blew like the land exhaled a breath it had held for thousands of years. In the darkness, torch fires threw shadows against the damp walls. Men dressed in a full complement ...

The gingerbread cookie realized the sheet beneath his body had cooled to room temperature. He knew it was safe to sit up. His cooled, settled frame meant he was no longer in jeopardy of losing an appendage, or worse yet, his head. He lifted his flat, brown noggin, and looked left then right. His fellow ...

Lately I’ve been thinking about endings. I’m horrible at endings in all aspects of my life. I will wait to read the last hundred pages of a book because I don’t want to leave the characters. I took seven years to read Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows. The endings I have experienced have been ...

She sat at her desk, Wondering if life was Worth living beyond the Contents of her mind, Because she found fantasy Kinder then the reality Beyond her bedroom door Where the shouts and hurt Filled the very air She breathed. Drowning in her loneliness, Her friends were the books On her shelves and the birds ...