The gray morning sky clouds hovered over Nantucket. Howard Benson, a local fishmonger, drove down the street to his family’s shop, Howard and Son. Jeremy was already waiting for him. He and his father caught local fish for the store with help from Sawyer, a family friend who owned a boat. On Tuesdays, it was ...

“Stop!” All the tranquility of our grotto snaps in an instant. The grass physically recoils in fear, like a hundred frightened children, and the greenery dulls. Pollen grows stale on my tongue, and he wind grows still. I’m on my feet in a second. Quince stands just beyond the birch tree line, eyes stormy. Hawthorn ...

When I was fifteen, the harvest that year was richer than in previous years. Old Shu even seemed to grow younger with so much joy, and realized we needed a bigger barn. He and Jacob asked for the Mage’s aid. Two days later, they roamed the village.  I was summoned to be the cook’s helper ...

Drunk. He was so gods-damned drunk and it took a lot for a god to get inebriated. If he wanted, he could will it away. That would not happen. Not tonight. Not after what he’d just done.    Trembling fingers still ached from the heat of her immortal soul. He’d squeezed until he was sure it would burst, but it wouldn’t. Immortality made the soul impervious to mortal wounds. Only the body remained mortal. They popped into their pantheon’s afterlife, stayed ...

The entrance to Barrier Island’s lab is not unlike that of a hospital. Shattered glass doors lead into a dark lobby, now covered in moss. The stench of neglect lingers in the forgotten hallways. We click our flashlights on in tandem, illuminating the corridor ahead. Something slithers underfoot, and I shiver. “It’s awfully quiet in ...

Snow had covered Manhattan for three straight days. As the sun rose, Lacey woke up already weighed down by the past few weeks. She felt like she hadn’t left her apartment in ages, though it had only been a few days. As she walked through the living room, she glanced at the couch. Brooke had ...

Riley and I froze when we heard someone singing Billy Joel’s You May Be Right, off-key. “…I may be crazy…Hey it just might be a lunatic you’re looking for…you may be wrong, but you may be right…” “Oh, hey, watcha doing over there? Playing I spy?” Curt. “Shhh!” we both said. The yacht was now ...

A flower pushed its way through the soil toward the sun. It coils upwards, then, just before blooming, tilts down and sheds its petals. “Damn,” I say. Hawthorn smiles with a flash of disappointment in her eyes. “You got close.” “Not close enough.” “You’re being too hard on yourself. It took me months to get ...

The happiness I clung to blinded me to her absence. Dim, flickering lights suffused the moment with a ghostly breeze, and I surrendered to it. The atmosphere thickened, every barrier dissolving with the seductive mist. My mind shifted to the problem unfolding before me. Did I do something wrong? The instruments kept playing, mirroring the ...

Persephone   A maelstrom of emotions whirled through her—confusion, anger, longing—as she stalked through the Underworld. Souls scurried away. Lamia, the blind snake-woman, hissed venomously. Thanatos and Erebus snickered, elbowing one another. Even Nyx, Hecate, and Cerberus, who were having tea together in the residential cavern, watched her as she went. Each was surprised to see her; she never left the throne room cavern. She didn’t care what any of them thought. Not ...