The house was quiet dark, except for three lights. Two of the lights were always on at night, bright guardians standing at the front and back doors. The bedroom hallway was lit only by snow-reflected moonlight streaming through the window. The third light was coming from under Jenna’s bedroom door. Monserrat hesitated at the door. …
Sarita cried three times at work on Thursday. She got a talking to from Britt for poor attitude, but managed to escape a writeup. When the store closed at nine, Sarita fled. Her phone’s battery was dead, which was just as well. She didn’t feel like dealing with disappointed texts from Astra about not being …
Ginger’s room always seemed smaller when Chun was in it. It was a small room to begin with, there was hardly space for Ginger and her roommate to turn around at the same time. They’d have more space if they stacked the beds into bunks, but Alice didn’t want to be on the bottom bunk. …
5 The sun isn’t moving. The thought struck Mariah, as she was roused from a daydreaming doze by another baby bottle. Her first reaction to the bottle had been that it was far too soon to eat again. The shadows hadn’t moved at all. The bees were still happily humming. The temperature was constant too, …
The munch was at a cute coffee shop. Sarita looked around nervously, on the doorstep. There were lots of comfy chairs and couches, plushies, and a couple of cats. There were only a few people inside. That was a bad sign, the munch should have been in session for ten minutes. Did I get the …
The Mathematics faculty lounge had been an intimidating place the first time Jenna had set foot inside. In looks it wasn’t much, shabby furniture and ill-maintained appliances like any department lounge. Only business and other industry-pipeline departments had nice lounges. Nor were the people particularly impressive to look at. Math people tended to be withdrawn …
Roan woke the next day and listened. Her ears were not the beautiful, silky hound ears she was used to, they were small and naked. Luckily, the changing magic had changed only their shape, not their ability. Her family was still asleep. A peek at the window showed the sun rising. The town was quiet …
The pile of presents grew until even the huge tree couldn’t contain them. Stockings appeared above the fireplace. Packages were arriving every day as the post office struggled to keep up with the holiday volume. The house had transformed into the movie version of Christmas, decorated from top to bottom. Briana was certain that she …
The carnival had the same intoxicating smell they all had, no matter what city it was visiting. Cotton candy and fried food were the top layer of the scent, with machine grease forming a heavy undertone. Each time a breeze blew through the rich smells of apples and fallen leaves would join the mix. Camila …
The hell weekend earned its name several times over by the time Sarita’s last double-shift had finished. Sarita was convinced that someone in marketing at GrrlPower had sent targeted adds to Ardenthill’s entire population of Karens. No customer wanted to leave the store without causing a fuss and harassing the manager. The only upside was …