“Lizzie?” She realized she’d zoned out of the conversation while her parents were play-fighting. Jules was looking at her, concerned. “Sorry, my head hurts, but I’m okay.” She gave a loose synopsis of the situation, about the old man and the two gunmen. She minimized how close she came to dying from the gun pointed ...

Elizabeth didn’t sleep well. She woke every few hours, either to some noise or because she was uncomfortable. She dreamt of the old man and the ring, a different dream every time she fell asleep. They were in the diner, but it was only the two of them in there. She sat on the ground ...

Across from her, stuck to the bar, was a fragment of bone, glued to the surface by a glob of viscera. It made Elizabeth queasy, but somehow her intense focus on it prevented her from throwing up. The white shard eventually fell. No one noticed but her. The old man snatched the discarded weapons and ...

“Where is Jack Kelly? I know he’s here.” If the man with the gun hadn’t yelled, Elizabeth wouldn’t have heard him; her ears were still ringing. His gravelly voice managed to break her trance on the weapon he held.  He was wearing a black hoodie with a ski mask, burgundy gloves, black track pants, and ...

The city of Tucson took on a surreal atmosphere in the wee hours of the morning. I loved this side of Tucson because it was like being transported to another world when I got off work at 2:30 AM. I hated the 5 PM rush hour traffic drive to work. But the streets took on ...

Who could have guessed an unexpected encounter at a local bar in a lighthearted discussion about horoscopes would lead to the sudden disappearance of Maureen McKinsey? Maureen was spunky and outspoken. She established friendships with her sharp humor and winning smile. Born February 29, 1992, she chose not to celebrate her birthday on February 28 ...

  Several Years Ago Forbidden. Denied. All his life, he felt a calling; something told him to seek out the knowledge hidden deep within the city. And then the voice started speaking, several years into running after the calling. The High Rulers’ Archive has the answer. And maybe it was unwise to follow a voice ...

A long time ago, he stopped believing in the power of the gods and started believing in the power of himself. Kaidyn knew they existed. Whenever Selene cast her spells, she always invoked the power of her deity, and Kaidyn saw Duskfather in his powerful, mystical form. And maybe Kaidyn would be inclined to call ...

“Sometimes I reach out into the sky wishing that maybe just this once the laws of reality suspend and I finally touch a star,” the woman with thick glasses lazily sighed to herself in the back alley. Her arms displayed stories sketched with scar tissue; her features blurred her age to be somewhere between twenty-five ...

The nefarious nighttime monster stepped out from the portal, and an evil smirk possessed his face. The vile red-eyed beast never knew where the gateway would end up, nor did he care. All that mattered was making a kill—and receiving a reward of a whole-body judder when the human’s heart ceased. The forceful vibration sent ...