Ethan always prided himself on his routine, a mix of early morning jogs and a quick breakfast before diving into job applications. It was another mundane Wednesday—or so he thought—as he shuffled into the kitchen, half-asleep, his thoughts clouded by the pressure of finding a job. Emily, his sister, had already left for work, her side of the kitchen counter cluttered with her usual chaos of bags and bottles.

Melissa, Zane and Brittany seemed to all be standing like lemons waiting for their baggage to arrive on the carousel. It seemed likely as they were an early check-in, their bags would be last off the aircraft.

Threads of Truth

A Transgender Coming of Age Romance

From the Harmony Aspirant Universe

Chapter 3: Silk and Serendipity

By Ariel Montine Strickland

How will Kiki's medical and legal appointments go in the morning? With modeling the vintage dress in her process, how will her encounter with Julian go?

Copyright 2025 by Ariel Montine Strickland.
All Rights Reserved.

I’d just logged into my LEXIS account when a new email came in from an address I didn’t recognize. Thinking it might be confirming my meeting on Friday on SSDI benefits, I opened it and saw a wall of text – not what I wanted after a long day!

The place wasn’t familiar, of course; the stench of Charlie Cooper was still hanging over every part of the City, but we were out at Winsford, not that far from Neil’s address. Mr Sedgewick had been cheeky, asking specifically if I could possibly visit Gemma’s before the trip, so both Candice and I were carrying several cardboard boxes of pastries in readiness. She had found a pub that did rooms in a place called Little Budworth, as there was sod-all in Winsford, and neither of us fancied a Purple Palace again. She was driving, a works car, because the public transport was also non-existent. At least the HQ had a decent amount of parking. We waited at the desk like good little girls until a civilian came to collect us, and off we went to Mr Sedgewick’s office, towing the consolidated evidence bundle in a non-small pull-along suitcase.

A young New Yorker finds himself in over his head after finding a symbiote that changes him in unexpected ways.

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11

“Come on, up and at ‘em!” Paul yelled as he banged on his son’s door, eliciting a tired groan from the twenty-year-old. “Just ‘cause football’s one step closer ta comin’ home, it doesn’t mean ya can lay around all day!”

“Yes, yes, okay,” the young man grunted through the door as he threw back the covers and sat upright, brushing his messy hair out of his face and shielding his eyes from the bright summer Sun.

“Same goes for you, Luke!” Paul yelled as he banged on his other son’s door.

“Ah. Do tell”

“Prospective Deform councillor?”

“That’s him”

“Well, I traced his Bookface and Twix accounts, and then I redacted the identifying stuff, and took the results to our local experts for assessment. Um, Debbie and Marlene”

“What did they say?”

He didn’t actually turn pale, but his face clearly wanted to.

Chapter 2

The three friends went back to the house and helped tidy up and put leftovers in the fridge. Jacob said that Racheal was back from the honeymoon and was going to bring him to the morning service at St. Marys. The Roses went home to have a quiet cup of hot chocolate before bed, Willow still wondering what the week ahead will bring.

©2025 SammyC