Marya stared at the whitish-yellow coffee beans in front of her, shoulders hunched. “Try again,” Dad snapped. Marya bit the inside of her lip. She was trying, but her coffee beans stayed stubbornly un-fermented. She’d never be a proper coffee… Continue Reading
Kelsey draws an invisible line on the kitchen floor, all the way around so that when she straightens, she stands in an imaginary circle. “There,” she says to Kyle, “That’s my line in the sand. Don’t cross it.” Kyle crosses… Continue Reading
Of the thousands rushing down Riwdin’s streets, I was the only one headed for the city center. I pressed close to shuddering walls and waited for lulls to ease forward. Necessity propelled me; I clung to patience. Dust from shattered… Continue Reading
Papa comes home with a large white canvas and a brown paper bag filled with paints and brushes. He closes the cabin door behind him, shutting out the flurries, and shakes the snow from his hair. “Use these,” he says.… Continue Reading
They were coming in, and it was well too late to stop them. Always was, wasn’t it? They swung their metal arms like pendulums, battering indiscriminately the doors, walls, windows. They were dull colossi: fifty-foot-high and steel plated; age-faded logos… Continue Reading
Deirdre flexed her arthritic fingers. Today they’d have to do exercises to move their hands. She wheeled up to the door and shut it. Craft Day could stay outside. A moment later, Gerlinde knocked and walked in. Tall, square-jawed, fine… Continue Reading
“…sounds like his feet ‘re in a cauldron of lye,” said Aunt Belle. Twilight was coming on fast, daylilies closed up like sentinels going off-duty. In the flickering shadows, Astreen could’ve been twelve, or twenty, or thirty-five. She put a… Continue Reading
Jason, a bronze sickle in one hand, glimpsed movement at the edge of the woods and straightened to peer above the golden stalks of barley. At the far end of the field, Dame Stilwell, his teacher, had emerged from the… Continue Reading
The imperial mage let himself into the menagerie long after closing. Merdesac hurried to the bear enclosure and called through the wrought iron fence, “Prince Adrian. It’s time.” A large brown bear trundled over to him. Behind the mage, a… Continue Reading
“Old father, will you tell us a story?” The hall hushed; women settled their children, men settled their drinks. The old man cleared his throat. “I suppose…” he began. Despite his feigned reluctance, he enjoyed these nights, rare moments of… Continue Reading