They boarded a small ship on the beaches near Ingrid’s family house. Sigrid and Rionan sat aboard deck and held tight while Ingrid, Helgi, and Bo threw their weight at shoving the stout frame into the water. The sand crunched and shifted beneath their feet. Foam and cold seawater dribbled into their shoes, but the ...

“Tell me what’s wrong Derrick?” Kiara’s gentle voice soothed the jab of loneliness that had cut into his gut. He sniffed and willed the lump in his throat to go down.  “I just miss you,” he said again. “I miss our home.”  “What do you miss most?” He heard her shift on the couch as ...

Reykjavik was on fire. Ingrid scrambled from house to house and pulled people from their doorways and bedrooms. A boy grabbed at his siblings as Ingrid kicked in the door to yank them out. Once assured they were safe, she hurried on. The flames grew higher and higher as she stumbled about, calling for Rionan ...

Snow lay heavy on the ground around their shop, but the cold hardly touched them inside despite the cracked door. Ingrid sat in front of the hearth and warmed her hands while she stirred a bubbling concoction in the pot. As she worked, she hummed.  It was the first night of Yule. A fire was ...

Rionan was assisting her father when Ingrid returned. She stopped in the doorway, confused at the sight of two heads, the first covered in a helmet of red hair and the other blond and balding, leaning together in stilted discussion over something Rionan held gingerly between her fingers. “Curve here?” the girl asked. “Bead have ...

“Do me a favor, darling, and put that box in the kitchen,” Maggie called. Derrick hefted the box onto the dense oak table. Dr. Keirnan’s house was small and cluttered with paraphernalia from multiple eras. Some of it was labeled, but most were sitting on every bit of counter space in piles, boxes, or bags ...

Derrick, Kally, and Taylor rumbled down the road in Taylor’s truck, dubbed Perseus. With every sharp twist and curve of the mountainous backroad, Derrick wished their destination would appear, or the vehicle would put itself out of its misery and break down. He glanced over at Kally, who was stuck between them and clutching her ...

The þræll glared over the railing as Ingrid inspected the bones. They were smooth and clean, in perfect condition. They’d be a nice gift for her father.  “You do good work,” she praised. “I won’t regret buying you.” The girl muttered something and ducked behind the railing. She could sulk all she liked; they would ...

Read Part 2 My Face For The World To See by Alfred Hayes was an awful book in Deirdre’s opinion, but she kept reading it out of morbid curiosity. When she’d finally flipped the last page, thoroughly disgusted with the characters, it landed on Ian’s nightstand.  “That was pointless,” she said, falling back onto the ...

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 One Month Later “Get up, now! Come on, move, move, move!” Alphonse clapped his hands loudly in the hallway and Cassandra opened her bedroom door, glaring at him. “God, I’m up!” she groaned, slamming ...