It happened again, like many times. The sheer euphoria of being beside her, the moonlight cascading her bare skin. Her angelic face with a peaceful, serene expression. I brush a strand of auburn hair from her face, careful not to wake her. Her smooth, cream-like appearance radiates in the night. I glance at the alarm ...

Derrick stared at the Hnefatafl piece. Outside, the sky had darkened with threats of a storm. Taylor called him back over.  “We need to leave soon if we’re going to catch the bus back,” he said. Kally booed from the pit where she was once again circling the walls. Derrick wondered what she saw that ...

“I prayed for you,” Rionan said. Ingrid paused, stirring the pot over the flames. It was too early for the sun to have risen more than a sliver over the horizon, and a dim shadow infused the woods around them, but the trees were already alive with birdsong and rustling leaves. Ingrid stared, unsure what ...

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 ...

The night Onacona was born, her father saw a white owl in flight, so it became her name. Some Native American tribes regarded owls as unwelcome souls of the night. The seven tribes of the Cherokee people thought otherwise. In the Cherokee creation tale, the animals inhabited the upper world called Galuntai. Their god ordered ...

They broke down and extended their stay with the doctor. Professor Fraser had taken it well. She sounded mildly peeved at the amount of grading she’d have to do alone. “Tell Maggie she owes me a drink,” she grunted over the line before the connection died and the dial tone took over. Taylor looked at ...

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 ...

When another pageant contestant is murdered, Moria gathers her group of friends to stay safe together, but discovers a terrifying truth.

A scream pierced through the bustling of the pageant. I recognized the scream of my twin sister and shot off the chair to run to her—my stylist’s fingers pulled on my hair, and she stumbled with me until they were untangled. “Moira! Be careful!” she called out to me. I ignored her. People stood in ...

“How old is this piece?”  Kally poked at a sealed bag containing a chipped axe head carved with twining figures that ended in curls or ran to the edges of the metal.  “That,” Mr. Kingsly said while shooing her hand away. “Is a Mammen-style axe head, a little past the period you’re looking for, I’d ...