04.24 – Echoes in Spirits

Previous | Table of Contents | Next

Isla bites her lip, staring out over the road where the witch had departed. There’s nothing around her but the sound of the river and wind through the grass.

She decides, after a long moment, that she might as well listen to the witch’s advice. Sure enough, in the spot pointed out, there’s a wide patch of dark plants under the shade of a large willow tree, many of which are distinctly blue with broad leaves like the plants the kid had shown her yesterday. She reaches out to touch one–the stem is rough, and it makes her fingers slightly numb. With a grimace, she pulls her hand back and rubs her fingers to bring the feeling back into them. She’s willing to bet a lot that these plants, whatever they are, are poisonous.

She glances back downstream, looking for wherever Lucian went.

“Lucian?” she calls out. “Lucian!”

Continue reading “04.24 – Echoes in Spirits”

04.23 – Words of Wisdom and Witchcraft

Previous | Table of Contents | Next

Isla opens her mouth to protest that she definitely isn’t a witch, only to quickly realize that maybe it’s not the smartest idea to say that directly to a witch with scales and fangs.

“I, uh. Thanks,” she says instead.

The witch sits on an old tree stump to eat her food, and Isla stands awkwardly, unsure of what to do. Obviously, she shouldn’t upset the witch, or she might end up getting double-cursed, but she probably doesn’t want to get too friendly, either.

“You may sit down,” the witch says after a long silence. “Stay a while and chat. Goodness knows I do not do much of that.”

Isla’s sure she can guess why.

Continue reading “04.23 – Words of Wisdom and Witchcraft”

04.22 – Riverside

Previous | Table of Contents | Next

Isla stares at the empty space where Em was only a moment ago. “If they weren’t human, then what were they?” she asks, her voice still a bit strained.

“I don’t know,” Lucian says. “But I don’t think they’ll be back for a while.”

“A while?”

Lucian nods and pulls Isla along down the street. “I’m guessing that light show means they didn’t have a body. It’s a lot harder to kill things that don’t have a body to be killed.”

Continue reading “04.22 – Riverside”

04.21 – Stakeout

Previous | Table of Contents | Next

Lucian glances out the window. “Sunrise is pretty soon. If you’re awake anyways, we should get out of here.”

Isla shakes off her thoughts of the witch and nods. “Okay. Where do we go?”

“Let’s check the abandoned house again,” Lucian says. “The kid lives around there. If we follow them around, we’ll probably find something out about whatever they’re cooking up. If they’re doing anything like that.”

“We’re going to stalk someone?”

“We’re going to tail someone who definitely has your memories, Isla,” Lucian says. “And who’s somehow tied to this town’s messed-up time problem. I’m pretty sure we’re morally in the right, here.”

Continue reading “04.21 – Stakeout”

04.20 – Bare Heart

Previous | Table of Contents | Next

Lucian sighs, then slowly gets to her feet. “So what do we do now?”

“I could…get rid of your artifice marks,” Isla says.

Lucian shoots her a look. “Isla, you told me earlier today that you couldn’t do that. Why are you so gung-ho about it now? Were you just being an asshole earlier? Is that how you get your kicks?”

“No, uh,” Isla says. “I mean…”

“You’re not helping your case,” Lucian says.

“Well…” Isla takes a deep breath and rolls her sleeves up so Lucian can see the broken lines on her arms. “Using magic is doing this to the artifice Aurel put on me.”

Continue reading “04.20 – Bare Heart”

04.19 – Nighttime Conversation

Previous | Table of Contents | Next

With difficulty, Lucian pushes herself up into a sitting position. She rubs her eyes. “Sort of,” she says. “I feel like shit. What’s going on?”

“What happened to you?” Isla asks. “I tried finding you for hours after you left and you were in that creepy house at the east side of town. What happened?”

Lucian groans. “I…I don’t know. Sol felt your memories and we followed some kid there, and…I don’t know. I went upstairs, I think, but I don’t…I don’t remember anything after that. Isla, what happened to my shirt? What were you doing just now?”

Continue reading “04.19 – Nighttime Conversation”