Most of the lights in the lobby were off, but Mrs. Jameson was still awake; light from her room illuminated the short hallway leading to it. Derek mounted the stairs, step by tired step, then walked down the hall to his room. He unlocked the door and twisted the knob, only faintly realizing a tin...
The crack grew until the light was nearly blinding. This time, the child advanced with me and the light reached out wrapped around us. “Janus.” The little girl’s voice was laced with power. What started as a wisp of smoke slowly grew thicker and darker until it formed a blinding fog around us. Th...
Henry’s back-to-back bouts of attack coupled with getting shot with a silver bullet had left him exhausted. Darwin’s claws, eyes, and hair were slowly changing back, taking his energy with it as well. As the adrenaline faded, all I wanted to do was lie down and sleep for a week. When we finally d...
When I finally woke, I realized why they were so vivid; I was in Astrid’s bed. Even after months of her absence, it still smelled like her. I did a very good impression of a creep and sniffed her pillow for about fifteen minutes. That was when the door opened and Stephen entered. He was about six...
Eleven of the most powerful beings in the universe formed a sort of half circle, as imposing as all get out. Divina looked like she wanted to come to me, but I knew the best move for her was to stand with her brothers. I needed to be on their side, not draw her to mine. The seriousness that taint...
Her father wasn’t “emotionally stable” enough to continue working after his third wife, the mother of Vivian’s twin sisters, died. Unfortunately, his disability check didn’t take care of the bills, so as the oldest, Vivian had to work and help him take care of her siblings. Vivian’s house was two...
For the most part, at least, since it wasn’t my eyes I was seeing through. “Henry? Are you okay?” The bed I could feel under him was considerably more comfortable than the cot from the council’s cell. In fact, Henry was in a bedroom that was bordering on over-the-top in comfort. Between the rich,...
He soon discovered that the book was the power source of Earth’s magic, and the Guardian of it, Ronez, had recently been killed. Ronez’s twin brother, Kiro Yatunus, found Dylan and introduced himself as Edward to appear human. Because he wasn’t human. In fact, Ronez, Dylan’s father, wasn’t either...
I knew eventually that humans would mature as a race, but magic would never be widely accepted. That was perfectly fine with me; it just meant we could never settle permanently on the planet. Ronez had lived happily on Earth with his magic, but he wasn’t nearly as powerful as his son, he didn’t h...
“You murdered three people and would have murdered fifteen girls if I hadn’t stopped you.” “It was self-defense!” “It was revenge.” I felt pity for Soda, still a child by law at the age of seventeen, for he was mistreated since he was very little. Soda’s parents were killed when he was just a bab...