Just a girl who walks dogs and hangs out in cemeteries. Stay feral, y'all.
At sixteen, Hazel Bennett had mastered the art of becoming invisible. She knew which hallways at school were the least crowded, which library tables were unlikely to attract conversation, and exactly how long she could pretend to search through her backpack before someone stopped trying to make small talk. She wasn't unhappy, exactly. She just... Continue Reading →
Deep in the desert of southern New Mexico lies a landscape unlike almost anywhere else in North America. Thousands of acres of brilliant white gypsum sand stretch across the Tularosa Basin, creating an extraordinary wilderness of rolling dunes, shifting shadows, and seemingly endless horizons. During the day, the sand glitters beneath the desert sun, but... Continue Reading →
Michael did not speak for almost a minute. Jessie watched him carefully, knowing that silence was rarely empty. People filled it with decisions, calculations, fear, and sometimes lies, but Michael's silence seemed to contain none of those things. It contained absence. He stood beside the long wooden table with both hands pressed against its edge,... Continue Reading →
The trouble began with a lasagna. Not an ordinary lasagna, either. This was a twelve-layer, three-cheese, homemade masterpiece that had taken four hours to prepare and nearly caused a minor electrical fire when the oven decided to express its dissatisfaction with the temperature. According to its creator, Natalie Brooks, the lasagna was an act of... Continue Reading →
Matilda Thistlewick had made a solemn promise to herself. She was going to have a normal Saturday. No spells, no curses, no accidental dimensional portals, and absolutely no magical emergencies requiring government intervention. Just an ordinary, peaceful Saturday involving a little shopping, a nice cup of tea, and perhaps a digestive biscuit or seventeen. After... Continue Reading →
Jessie didn't sleep. At three seventeen in the morning, she stopped pretending she was going to. She sat at her kitchen table with Daniel's cassette player in front of her, the brass key beside it and a glass of water she had poured two hours earlier and forgotten to drink. The apartment was silent except... Continue Reading →
The first thing Claire noticed after her mother died was how incredibly loud the silence had become. It filled every corner of her little house. It settled into the empty chair beside the window, lingered in the kitchen where her mother had once stood making tea, and followed Claire into the bedroom at night, where... Continue Reading →
Deep in the heart of Norway, surrounded by mountains, forests, and picturesque villages, lies Lake Mjøsa, the country's largest lake. Its waters have witnessed centuries of history, from the journeys of medieval travellers to the changing fortunes of Norwegian communities. But beneath its peaceful surface, according to an old and haunting legend, rests a church... Continue Reading →
Jessie had carried the brass key for twenty-four years. She had moved it from apartment to apartment, city to city and identity to identity. It had crossed borders with her. It had survived police searches, hurried departures, one flooded basement and at least three occasions when Jessie had thrown almost everything she owned into garbage... Continue Reading →
The first thing Caroline noticed when she opened her eyes was the sunlight. It was pouring through the curtains in long, golden ribbons, warming the blankets and casting little dancing shadows across her bedroom walls. Somewhere outside, a bird was singing with the enthusiasm of a creature that had never paid a bill, attended a... Continue Reading →
