People are noticing Cameron's connection to Garrett and there's an escape plan in the works which puts her in the middle of it, but not without bumps...

Thursday came, and it was doomsday. Danny awoke, dreading what he would have to face after school. He wants to cry, scream, shout, and rage, but he can’t. And if he could, it wouldn’t change anything anyway. He laid in bed, the alarm on his phone going off repeatedly as he kept swiping snooze. Eventually, his mom knocked on his door commanding him to get up. Danny dragged his butt out of bed and hauled it into the bathroom. After using the toilet and brushing his teeth, he headed back to his bedroom to change. However, he was interrupted by a knock at his bedroom door.

Rose looks at the contacts she downloaded from Ciarán’s cell phone. She knew some of the people on his contact list. She knew the people he had on his contact list were well-connected. Rose wonders if the people Ciarán turned to were connected to anyone on Ciarán’s list.

Planters Moon
A Short Story
By Maryanne Peters

I should have thought about it. Crops that grow above ground and lie upon it, like watermelons or pumpkins grow best if you plant on a planter’s moon - on the waxing moon, the night before the full moon. Above ground they grow. I should never have buried Lionel Palin on that night.

CHAPTER 53
I actually felt nervous as I opened the front door. This wasn’t like the interplay between Caro and me, as that had largely been on our own turf, at her place or mine, before… I shut that memory down hard. As I closed the door behind us, Kul called from the front room.

“We’re eating off our laps, you two. Tea’s fresh, though, or there’s some cold ones in the fridge, he hinted in an obvious way”

I led the way into the room, to find the family shuffling seats to leave the sofa free.

Being Samantha Masters

an homage-prequel to Being Christina Chase

Pool Area:
Kassie paces herself as she counts mentally how many strokes it takes her to reach the other end of the pool. When she reaches the other end, she turns around pushes off the wall, and starts swimming towards the other end. She makes sure to take into account how far she glides before counting her strokes again. She knew the wall of the pool was on her right-hand side this time and that the rope that separated her from the other lane in the pool was on her left-hand side.

Hope's Light

Chapter 3

by Erisian

Book 6

Chapter Three - Sin

Languages are magic.

Think about it. By making weird sounds or scribbling strange markings against a surface, we transmit ideas, conjure images the recipient has never seen, and organize the very way we think. And it’s not limited to only verbal or written mediums; there is language in music, in mathematics, in dance and motion, and yes, in the act of making love. They are the tools by which we interact with each other and the universe at large, coordinating our very perceptions into meaning.

Mostly we use language to manipulate the thoughts and ideas of others, but some…well, some use it to manipulate the world directly. And what lies behind it.

Wedding in Paradise
by Lindale

Because of a long lost family relationship, Tom is offered the chance of an expenses paid trip to the West Indies, commemorating the role of a man who not only released slaves, but gave them a proper life as well. Except that he also has to commemorate the role of the man’s bride.

If I laugh or giggle, is he going to get offended?

Pete's Vagina
58. Run/Pass Option
by Erin Halfelven

CHAPTER 51
I opened the front door as quietly as I could manage, and she was there, a small holdall in her left hand. I didn’t know whether I should step forward, or aside, so I did the latter, and she slipped in and headed straight for my room. I stood at the open door for a moment, then closed it, once again as quietly as I could manage, before following her. When I arrived, she simply undid her coat and let it fall, to reveal her pyjamas. I lifted the covers on her side, and as she slipped into bed, I did the same on my side.

Hope's Light

Chapter 2

by Erisian

Book 6

Chapter Two - Paintings

Ever since that moment of radical transformation (or resurrection, if one prefers) back at the start of all the madness - when my name went from Justin to Jordan and personal pronouns flipped on their heads - I’ve had occasion to journey to a scattering of spiritual places. Planes of existence, dreams, realms - call them what you will - they all had a certain commonality. They were formed around an inner core, a nugget of desire or purpose which stabilized the whole and resonated throughout. Some were tied to entire stories sung forth in glorious splendor, others built on specific concrete principles or even emotional states. The more coherent the core, the more cohesive the realm - and all the souls and spirits resonating in sync with that pattern locked-in the solidity even further. Their presence and observations made things more ‘real’ within that domain.

I’ve tasted, touched, ripped, reinforced, and even created such places anew. The planes of Hell were no exception in their properties, and while I’d only visited two of the many available, for various (and desperate!) reasons I’d needed to delve deep into the structures of both to fight against a Chaos-corrupted agent attempting to shred them into incoherent pieces.

The school was a sight to behold, far beyond anything I had ever imagined. It stood before me, a testament to elven elegance and grandeur, its towers and spires reaching gracefully into the sky. Every detail of the architecture seemed to shimmer with the same fluid design I had come to expect from the elven world, but this place was on a grander scale. As we approached the entrance, I, Sam, couldn't help but feel out of place. The courtyard was a sea of elves—tall, graceful, and otherworldly. I scanned the crowd, hoping to see another human, but there were none.

Hope's Light

Prologue & Chapter 1

by Erisian

Book 6

Part One

Prologue - Bargain

“Are you certain this is the right path?”

Two figures crept down a narrow underground passageway, shoes slipping across shallow puddles lining the curved concrete floor. Their coats, one jet black and the other a lighter brown, flickered in the weak light offered only by a white crystal held forward by the taller and much darker-skinned man.

“They didn’t provide a map, Callas. I told you the same instructions they told me, and your memory is as perfect as mine. If you think we’ve misapplied the sequence, you should’ve spoken up.”

“Hmm.”

Cameron knows he's battling two problems - being a specimen in a zoo and what's happening to his body. Is 'Red' there to help or is something else going on?

CHAPTER 48
She was warm, and as my chin settled onto the top of her head, I caught the simple scent of shampoo. Her arms went up my back to hook over my shoulders, and I felt her shudder a little, and I knew.

“No tears. Maz. Not tonight. Tomorrow, maybe, well, we have Sunday, all of it”

“Next weekend as well, Mike”

“Indeed”

“I… I brought some stuff with me. For tomorrow, if we do go out”

“What sort of stuff?”