Just a girl who walks dogs and hangs out in cemeteries. Stay feral, y'all.
For several seconds, neither Jessie nor Gabriel moved. Daniel's voice had stopped, leaving only the faint hiss of the recording. Outside, police radios crackled and doors slammed. Officers were moving through the property, Dr. Vale was in custody, and somewhere near the river Emily Carter and Mrs. Alvarez were being brought to safety. Jessie should... Continue Reading →
St. Catherine's looked smaller than Jessie remembered. That bothered her. Places from childhood were supposed to shrink with age. Schools, playgrounds, childhood bedrooms - the things that once seemed enormous became ordinary when viewed through adult eyes. But St. Catherine's didn't belong to Jessie's childhood. It belonged to a part of her life that had... Continue Reading →
Jessie said nothing. For several seconds, the only sound in Mrs. Alvarez's apartment was the television playing softly behind her. Someone on the screen was laughing, the kind of canned, cheerful laughter that belonged in a completely different universe. Jessie stared at the photograph of Emily and Mrs. Alvarez and tried to make Gabriel's words... Continue Reading →
By 7:42 on Thursday morning, Hannah had already decided the day was terrible. She had slept through her alarm, discovered there was no coffee left, stepped in something suspiciously wet while wearing clean socks, and received an email from her boss containing the horrifying sentence, “Can we chat when you get in?” Nothing good had... Continue Reading →
Jessie Wilson did not frighten easily. Fear was useful. She had learned that young. Fear sharpened the senses, accelerated thought and reminded you that whatever was happening mattered. Panic was the problem and panic made people stupid. Jessie had watched armed men panic. She had watched experienced criminals make catastrophic decisions because somebody unexpected knocked... Continue Reading →
Brooke had been planning the community picnic for almost three months, which meant she had spent almost three months worrying about things no reasonable human being should ever have to worry about. Were sixty folding chairs enough? Would anyone actually eat the quinoa salad someone had volunteered to bring? How many balloons constituted “festive” before... Continue Reading →
Everyone in Briar Hollow knew that Isobel Leach wore gloves. She wore them in summer, when the heat made the roads shimmer and everyone else rolled their sleeves above their elbows. She wore them while buying bread, while gathering herbs beside the river, and even while standing alone beneath the rain. What no one knew... Continue Reading →
Jessie Wilson had spent eleven months learning how to sleep like a normal person. It had not gone particularly well. Normal people, she had discovered, apparently went to bed without checking the hallway twice, without noticing whether the same car had been parked across the street for three consecutive nights, and without waking instantly when... Continue Reading →
Tuesday had never been Clara's favourite day. Monday at least had a reputation. Everyone expected Monday to arrive like an uninvited relative with too much luggage and several complaints. Wednesday had the satisfaction of being halfway through the week. Thursday could practically see Friday from its front porch, and Friday needed no explanation. But Tuesday?... Continue Reading →
In a city that never slept, there was one woman who had been awake longer than almost everyone in it. Her name was Lenora Vale, although it had not always been. Over the centuries she had answered to Lenora, Leonora, Eleanor, Nora, and once, during a particularly inconvenient decade in France, Madame Valois. Names changed.... Continue Reading →
