Chapters

B stands for Bailey. It was the goth, part of the trio of friends who were talking to me on a regular basis at university. Bailey was engrossed in whatever they were doing on their computer. I was suddenly very conscious of the armour that surrounded my face. Had they recognized me? If they had, […]

I had my armour on, so I couldn’t feel the concrete under my knees or the metal of the gun against my head, but in some way that mattered I could feel the weight. Perhaps it was all in the implication of a swift and easy end. The room was lit with two floodlights, left

I slowed my pace as I drew near to the partially built building B was in and began to hear the crows. I didn’t see very many perched on the outside of the building, yet the noises emanating from within would have been right at home in some witch’s house from a fairytale. They must

Do you want to be a woman? Nell’s earnest question rang in my head like a bell that couldn’t be unrung. After I grew used to the noise being there, my first reaction was anger. Why would she ask me that? Was I not doing a good enough job? It irked me. Aaron, Richard, Chase,

The next day I skipped class to go to the dance studio. Anjali was between teaching classes so she let me use the space while a few stragglers from the last class had some free time to practice. I put my headphones in, faced the window, and let my eyes unfocus. The music swelled and

I watched Nell assist in putting out the fires on the roof of the building by creating ladders out of the trees that grew on the side of the building. The Gamblers had created a line to ferry buckets of water along from a nearby rainwater basin. Trails of smoke curled up into the sky

I waited for the world to stop spinning before I attempted to get up, planting my armored palms on the rooftop that emanated heat like we were inside an oven. Everything hurt. Bits of my armour fell away as I stood and dared to test my neck. Good, nothing broken. The Goblin watched me patiently

The Goblin stared at me expectantly, the rumbling noise filling the room like I was staring down a territorial lion. I glanced over to Flux’s crumpled form. There was a compulsion inside me not to make any sudden moves, lest I set him off somehow. I wet my lips and spoke, “I’ve never met you,

I could make out that it was a man and a woman that were standing near a concessions counter and there were line dividers between us, metal poles connected by ropes. The nasally voice laughed. “Damn, Feint. You knocked her out clean. Guess Witches aren’t so tough after all.” The woman who had just spoken

The impaled man’s eyes rolled back into his head and he went limp. Dead. “Ger,” Jessie said in disbelief. “Sniper!” Graham shouted, his voice jerking everyone back to the present danger. The Gambler’s Ring sprung into action, moving to take on their assailants. I grabbed Nell roughly and moved her out of the way as