“Peek-a-boo!” As Emma’s peal of laughter filled the sun-dappled air, her parents, Tracy and Eric, turned from the picnic table towards the sound of their daughter’s voice. Tracy gasped. Their daughter stood before an ancient, sun-kissed tree, slowly covering and uncovering her eyes playing the age-old game with— “What is that?” Eric asked, his voice…
Category Archives: Fantasy
There were no more surprises that day until the sky began to darken. She looked to the west. “Oh!” she gasped, as a face formed before her eyes. “Hello!” she called. “I guess the Universe is always saying hello,” she said as the clouds rearranged themselves and the light faded from the sky. “You just…
That morning there had been a lady bug waiting to greet her on the bathroom mirror. It seemed an auspicious event. “Hello,” she whispered to her polka-dotted guest. And though it was not a response she could hear, she felt sure the ladybug returned her greeting in kind. “I wonder what other surprises might be…
She wonders when there will be time again to court her Muse. To take her for long, solitary walks, and plunge with her deeply into dreams, where they dove together without caution, through tempests of color, desires, emotions, only to merge back into the world, no longer ordinary, having been touched by the sublime, having…
“Looks like rain,” Emma’s Grandma Frances said, looking up. Emma squinted up at the vast blue sky, then at her grandmother. “Where?” she asked. “On its way.” Grandma Frances nodded. “Let’s you and I find a place to wait it out.” “A place to hide?” Emma asked, excited by the idea of a new game.…
“Look, Janey, that tree’s yawning,” Emma said, pointing to a tree at the end of the block. “What tree? Where?” Emma ran up to the tree and pointed up. “Right here, see?” Her friend squinted her eyes at the tree and tilted her head. “It’s just a tree with a hole in it, and a…
Her dad caught her arm as she passed him. “Apologize, Ayn,” he said, not letting go. His voice was quiet but firm. Ayn clenched her jaw and turned enough so she faced the iron-haired woman whose lips curled in the faintest of smiles. A burst of heat rushed through Ayn’s chest. She’d only experienced that…
“Ugh,” Ayn moaned. Mearzt was sounding like her brother, Nev, but she had to admit, her idea made sense. “Did you look?” Mearzt asked. “No, I ran to get my phone as soon as I realized someone had been here.” “Well, I’ll stay on the line while you do,” Mearzt said. Ayn groaned. There would…
Ayn wiped her sweaty palms against her skirt, hoping no one would see that or how her knees were shaking. Why was she so nervous anyway? she chided herself. So she had to meet Father Gheraeld by herself. So what? He was just a person. Just the hero who had made it possible for us…
Lettie looked up at her with unreadable blue eyes, and Ayn knew it would be better to be quiet and follow. They entered a sparsely furnished room where several men and women clustered together, talking quietly in groups. Ayn recognized many of them as being other Counsel members. At the far end of the room…
