While Chris and Lydia search for answers, Caleb looks to Enchantrix and Bhramari for assistance, with unexpected results. But as they all prepare for their next encounter with the cunning villain Xenos, he readies his trap for them. And he seems to know them even better than they know themselves!

This story is the direct continuation of my previous posting of the novel "The Wounded World." It is actually the second part of a single super novel. Sir Lukasz, aka Eden Blake, aka Mantra, has had a hair-raising adventure that seems to have occurred all in her mind over the period of a few minutes. She has taken Eden Blake's children home and put them to bed. But a few minutes later she has a knock on the door. When she sees who is there, she is very surprised. She's about to go off on a new adventure that will make the last one seem like a piece of cake.

With the stage set and the trap primed, Lilith and her allies prepared to spring into action. They had given Mu'thar enough power to lead them to his home, trusting in his desperation for freedom to guide their path. The path out had been meticulously cleared, leaving only one final step: shaking the ground and releasing the spell that held Mu'thar captive.

The Other Side of Me – Chapter 32
by Lily Rasputin

Mike scooped me up in his arms and cradled me like a princess, smiling down at me with a grin that was both adoringly sweet and slightly lecherous. The arm closer to my butt slid higher, practically vanishing beneath the extremely short hem of my cheer skirt. A second later, I felt his palm cup my bottom, his fingers giving my rump a playfull little squeeze.

The Other Side of Me - Chapter 31
by Lily Rasputin

I was lying on my bed, staring at the ceiling, attempting to parse through the revelation that Katie's bombshell confession had dropped on me.

To be honest, the news that a good portion of Charlene's guilt wasn't her own didn't do a whole lot to make me forgive her for the way she'd behaved in the intervening years. Did it help paint a more understanding picture? Of course. Did it wipe the slate clean, and make what she'd done to Jackson and to her friends okay?

Minsha and I returned to the Queen’s Spire, leaving the fleet behind. The urgency of the battlefield was replaced by a different mission - a personal one. It was time for a crucial conversation with Maninor, the Tragnor leader. The Tragnor home world awaited a unique tradition, the hunt, which would symbolize not just our union but the unity between our peoples.

An assassin's New Year's resolution to himself is to spend more time with his wife. He gets that wish, in a rather peculiar fashion.

"dinner with your family?? like me you and your parents"

I read the text that had just arrived from Murphy. I was still riding the high of what had just happened. I had made a plan and executed it to perfection.

And as much as I hated to admit it, that was very much unlike me. See I never really made plans. I didn't think things through. I certainly never had backup plans for my backup plans like I'd just done.

"And Lucas. Are you busy? I can just tell my dad that you're busy" I texted back careful not to deviate too much from how she typed in previous messages.

Why did I know that? Don't panic. I had to figure this out. I had never been the same person twice and certainly not two days in a row.

My mind darted to her locker code. 14,22,7. I didn't just remember it from yesterday, I remembered it from the start of the school year.

My mind darted from one memory to another before being pulled to focus on the heavy footsteps rapidly approaching my door. A moment later, the door opened with her father peaking through. He looked worried for a moment but his expression slowly dissipated into a neutral one.

When a mountain downpour forces Lydia and Thomas Thompson into a cavern's shadowy embrace, Lydia's touch upon ancient runic inscriptions awakens her latent power and identity. As they emerge to find the enigmatic town of Sælicbrook—a nexus of realms and magic—Lydia is transformed into her destiny as its guardian. But as the cosmic entity Nyarlathotep stirs, intent on unraveling the threads of reality, will Lydia's newfound power be enough to stand against an eldritch horror bent on devouring all? The battle for existence looms, and only the guardians of Sælicbrook can safeguard the world from the impending darkness. Will they triumph, or will everything they know be consumed by the infinite appetite of the Crawling Chaos?

When a mountain downpour forces Lydia and Thomas Thompson into a cavern's shadowy embrace, Lydia's touch upon ancient runic inscriptions awakens her latent power and identity. As they emerge to find the enigmatic town of Sælicbrook—a nexus of realms and magic—Lydia is transformed into her destiny as its guardian. But as the cosmic entity Nyarlathotep stirs, intent on unraveling the threads of reality, will Lydia's newfound power be enough to stand against an eldritch horror bent on devouring all? The battle for existence looms, and only the guardians of Sælicbrook can safeguard the world from the impending darkness. Will they triumph, or will everything they know be consumed by the infinite appetite of the Crawling Chaos?

When a mountain downpour forces Lydia and Thomas Thompson into a cavern's shadowy embrace, Lydia's touch upon ancient runic inscriptions awakens her latent power and identity. As they emerge to find the enigmatic town of Sælicbrook—a nexus of realms and magic—Lydia is transformed into her destiny as its guardian. But as the cosmic entity Nyarlathotep stirs, intent on unraveling the threads of reality, will Lydia's newfound power be enough to stand against an eldritch horror bent on devouring all? The battle for existence looms, and only the guardians of Sælicbrook can safeguard the world from the impending darkness. Will they triumph, or will everything they know be consumed by the infinite appetite of the Crawling Chaos?

They’d Never Believe That in Court
by Lin Dale

Synopsis: Husband and wife, Judy and Ollie, were both barristers. Ollie had built up a good professional reputation and was under consideration to become circuit judge. His wife, Judy, had an even better reputation, incredibly energetic and rarely lost a case. But whereas he was white, middle-class and, of course, male, she was black, female and from a working-class background. No surprise, then, that whilst Ollie was likely to become circuit judge, Judy was still a junior barrister. But earlier that day, Judy’s lovely grandmother had died.

"I called Anson — or I thought I was calling Anson —
and I asked him the age-old question: Who was that lady I saw you with?
and he replied, That was no lady — that was Anson Charpont!"
Ross followed his narration with a throaty chuckle.

A racist, sexist politician learns how the other half lives after he swaps bodies with a young woman as punishment for a lifetime of wrongdoing.

"Here's the thing, Merope," Agent Kirchmeyer said.
"If we take what you said at face value, what do we have? Something about cylinders.
We don't know what these cylinders are. Frankly, they sound like rolls of money.
Which, of course, is nice for him, but not really remarkable,
if you know anything about the Switcher."

Suddenly, I felt a warm, wet tongue give a quick lick to my right ankle.
I yelped and scrambled my way out of the car, clutching the plastic bag.

"Hey, sorry about that!" said a young male voice. "I tried to stop her,
but you know... dogs..." as if the word dogs explained everything.

"A liability?" she repeated. "Is that what concerns you? That he's a liability?
Weren't you and I liabilities for each other?"

"The moment you told the processing people that you accept him as Anson Charpont,
he became for all intents and purposes, legal and otherwise, Anson Charpont. In every way!"

Kapitel 1: Das Amulett der Verwandlung

Unsere außergewöhnliche Reise begann in den geheimnisvollen Tiefen der unberührten Wälder Lateinamerikas, wo wir jenes antike Amulett fanden, das unser Leben auf unerwartete Weisen verändern sollte. Es war eine alte, perlmuttfarbene Schnitzarbeit mit eingravierten lateinischen Mantras, die mit Juwelen besetzt war. Als wir das lateinische Mantra leise murmelten, begann eine ungeahnte Macht von uns Besitz zu ergreifen.