by S. C. Green
Keys rattled in the lock. I didn’t even look up as a guard stepped into the room, his heavy boots echoing on the bare concrete floor.
I held up my arms. “You don’t even have to restrain me. There’s a map for you right here.”
The man laughed and held up a straightjacket in front of my eyes. My stomach flipped. What was going on?
The guard grinned. “You’re not going to be drugged. They have something different in mind for you this time.”
22
May
Happy birthday to me ...
Behind me, the sun began to rise, bleeding into the grey-black sky. With my injured wings, I could only fly for small distances. I spent the night trudging through the cold desert, alternating between a half mile of walking and a half mile of flying. On the horizon, the city blazed with an orange glow.
Red sky in the morning, shepherd’s warning.
Dad had told me I’d been born just as the sun was rising. When I was a kid, I’d toss and turn all night, waiting for the first rays of light to peek over the horizon. As soon as the sky started to brighten, I would race into Mum and Dad’s room and jump on their bed. I’d crawl in between them, and they’d open the curtains. Together we’d watch the sun as it rose over the city.
Inside the dome, Dad used to always work late shifts, so he’d stay sound asleep until mid-morning on my birthday. Dorien used to come wake me just before dawn, and he would sneak into the kitchens and bring back ice cream and chocolates and all sorts of treats, and we’d watch the sunset together from the Compound roof.
That was before. Before the dome turned Dorien’s mind. Before his eyes, and his hands, started to wander. Before I’d trembled in my bed at the thought of his visits in the night. I hadn’t watched the sunrise on my birthday in many years.
It seemed fitting that here I was, alone and broken, marking my journey into adulthood with the tradition of my childhood. There would be no birthday cake or balloons to celebrate my birth. Instead, a smouldering city was my vigil.
In my raven form, I soared close to the ground and watched the souls sliding through the air in technicolour. A rainbow of robbed lives being spirited away from their home, rising up into the heavy grey miasma of the hovering cloud, while fire rained down on the city below. Somewhere inside that great fog, my own lover was trapped.
I drew closer, meeting the main highway, where a line of traffic crammed every single lane. Drivers leaned on their horns, desperate to move even a few inches further away from the burning city. I transformed back into a human and wove my way between the unmoving traffic, my mind blank, my ears picking up snippets of detail about the sheer scale of the damage.
Few of the taller buildings still stood, although most of the government buildings were intact near the eastern suburbs of the city. Fire trucks and army vehicles formed a protective cordon around the major arterial routes. Bodies burned in giant pyres in the streets.
Somewhere in that city, Dad and Mum and Sydney were trapped, if they were even still alive.
I was eighteen now, an adult. I wasn’t sure I was ready to be an adult, but I guessed I didn’t have much choice in the matter. Time kept passing and the world kept screwing everyone over, no matter how prepared you felt.
Everything I’d learned about being an adult, I’d learned from them. From Dad, I’d learned what family really meant, how it was possible to be in a life-threatening situation, and still feel inherently safe, how adults didn’t have all the answers, and how romantic love can be powerful and wonderful, but it can also be bitter and cruel.
From Harriet, I’d learned that strength came from many places, and in many forms. I’d learned the pleasure of being needed, the fire of passion igniting my body, the joy of stealing happiness while the world around us descended into chaos. I’d learned that despite Mum’s absence, and Dorien’s crimes, I was still capable of love. Wild, spontaneous, giddy, joyous love.
From Mum, I’d learned that the people you loved most weren’t perfect, and that it was possible to love someone bitterly and hate every fibre of their being at the same time.
From Sydney, I learned that I didn’t have to do what I was told. All my life I’d played by the rules of the Order of the Reapers. But now, ever since I came out of the Mimir, I knew that the rules didn’t apply anymore. Everything was arbitrary. The only thing holding me back was my own fear.
Dad would tell me to run, to save myself, to get far away from this place and all its evil. He would tell me that Harriet was gone, beyond saving. And if this had happened a year ago, I might have done just that.
But Sydney … she wouldn’t back down without a fight. She wouldn’t let innocent people die if there wasn’t a chance in hell she could save them. And neither would I.
As long as I still drew breath, I would fight for them all. But I couldn’t do it on my own. I needed reinforcements. And I knew exactly where to find them.
TO BE CONTINUED in Fossilised Nation, the new Chronicles of the Wraith book, coming soon from S C Green and Lindsey R Loucks.
Want to read a bonus Petrified City epilogue told from Harriet’s point-of-view? Sign up to the Chronicles of the Wraith mailing list to get it, as well as updates, freebies, and bonus content from the authors.
About the Authors
S. C. Green lives in an off-grid home in rural New Zealand with her husband, a menagerie of animals, and their medieval sword collection. She's the author of the Engine Ward series, and she also writes paranormal romance under the name Steffanie Holmes. Find out more about her work on her website: www.steffmetal.com or join her newsletter: http://www.steffmetal.com/subscribe/
Lindsey R. Loucks is a former school librarian from rural Kansas. When she's not discussing books with anyone who will listen, she's dreaming up her own stories. Eventually her brain gives out, and she'll play hide and seek with her cat, put herself in a chocolate induced coma, or watch scary movies alone in the dark to reenergize.
Join Lindsey's Insider Newsletter: http://bit.ly/lrlinsider
The Sunken
A dark steampunk dinosaur tale by S C Green
In the heart of London lies the Engine Ward, a district forged in coal and steam, where the great Engineering Sects vie for ultimate control of the country. For many, the Ward is a forbidding, desolate place, but for Nicholas Thorne, the Ward is a refuge. He has returned to London under a cloud of shadow to work for his childhood friend, the engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
Deep in the Ward's bowels, Nicholas can finally escape his strange affliction – the thoughts of animals that crowd his head. But seeing Brunel interact with his mechanical creations, Nicholas is increasingly concerned that his friend may be succumbing to the allure of his growing power. That power isn't easily cast aside, and the people of London need Brunel to protect the streets from the prehistoric monsters that roam the city.
King George III has approved Brunel's ambitious plan to erect a Wall that would shut out the swamp dragons and protect the city. But in secret, the King cultivates an army of Sunken: men twisted into flesh-eating monsters by a thirst for blood and lead. Only Nicholas and Brunel suspect that something is wrong, that the Wall might play into a more sinister purpose--to keep the people of London trapped inside.
Read The Sunken now
Sail
A new science fiction adventure from Lindsey R Loucks
Nineteen-year-old Absidy Jones is a ghost magnet, a sensitive person spirits flock to when they can’t cross over.
After her brutal past escaping the hordes of ghosts vying for her attention, she spends her reclusive existence melting down iron into bite-sized pieces. Whether alloy or wrought, ancient paper clips or nails, consuming iron is the only thing that keeps the ghosts away.
But when Absidy’s sister goes missing in deep space, a dangerous place brimming with rogue planets, ship-eating nebulas, and vicious aliens, Absidy vows to find her. She leaves her safe haven and boards the first ship she can that’s on a direct route to deep space
—a ship that turns out to be haunted.
To keep the malicious ghosts from killing her, the alluring bad boy pilot gifts her a small bundle of all the iron on the ship. But their growing relationship is tested with the crew’s prying eyes and hidden secrets.
While the ship sails into deep space, it’s not just her sister’s life that Absidy fears for. It’s her own, as well. Especially since her stash of iron has shrunk to zero.
Read Sail now
l
The Man in Black
A gothic romance by Steffanie Holmes
Love so fierce it transcends even death.
When Elinor Baxtor arrives at the dilapidated Marshell House to settle the estate of her law firm's oldest client, she can't help but feel a little spooked. The creaking gothic mansion is a far cry from her life as an adventurous party girl back in London.
Then she meets Eric Marshell, a man dressed entirely in black with a wicked smile and the ability to float through walls. Eric was the violinist in popular rock band Ghost Symphony until a hit-and-run accident claimed his life. Now he's trapped inside his mother's house for all eternity, and the only one who can see or hear him is Elinor.
Eric and Elinor fight their attraction for each other as they dig into the mystery of Eric's death. But when they uncover a dark and sinister plot that threatens Elinor's life, their bond draws them into a world neither of them understands. Can their love transcend the boundary between life and death?
Read The Man in Black now.
The Grave Winner
Lindsey R Loucks
Leigh Baxton is terrified her mom will come back from the dead -- just like the prom queen did.
While the town goes beehive over the news, Leigh bikes to the local cemetery and buries some of her mom's things in her grave to keep her there. When the hot and mysterious caretaker warns her not to give gifts to the dead, Leigh cranks up her punk music and keeps digging.
She should have listened.
Two dead sorceresses evicted the prom queen from her grave to bury someone who offered certain gifts. Bury them alive, that is, then resurrect them to create a trio of undead powerful enough to free the darkest sorceress ever from her prison inside the earth.
With help from the caretaker and the dead prom queen, Leigh must find out what's so special about the gifts she gave, and why the sorceresses are stalking her and her little sister. If she doesn't, she'll either lose another loved one or have to give the ultimate gift to the dead - herself.
Read The Grave Winner now