Ander - Epilogue: Subchapter 8
8 - here!" Ander didn't open the front door so much as he _smashed_ it open and tumbled inside like a lunatic. Rufio and Hezzi were already there. Hezzi was pacing up and down in front of the fireplace, and Rufio was relaxing by the open window,...
Ander - Epilogue: Subchapter 7
7 "...aah... naah!" Ander stopped at the sound of that voice. Or at least, he _thought_ it was a voice. It had an odd, wheezy sort of quality he didn't like, similar to an animal slowly dying of thirst. He squinted into the darkness. The moon was...
Ander - Epilogue: Subchapter 6
6 The light was growing soft. The shadows, fuzzy. James took a quiet moment to look out over the field again. The kids had retreated into the shade of an old elm tree and were talking about something in that special way unique to the young, with many...
Ander - Epilogue: Subchapter 5
5 He could hear it up ahead, the sound of the river. It was so different to the roar of a year ago, the thunderous, roiling crash of muddy brown water sluicing through the earth. This sound reaching his ears now, through the trees and the shifting...
Ander - Epilogue: Subchapter 4
4 Standing in the shade with his hands in pockets, James couldn't help but stare at the mountain for a while. It was so different in the summertime. No armour of frost and snow to cover its sheer peaks. No howling wind tearing through the cliffs. No...
Ander - Epilogue: Subchapter 3
3 "Now that was some odd weather," James said, starry-eyed from the memory of those two rushing out of the chapel, not unlike the way he had rushed outside with Emily on their wedding day. The breeze whispered through the sycamore and a smattering of...
Ander - Epilogue: Subchapter 2
2 This tiny little room at the back of the chapel had a massive full-length mirror running up the wall, and it was in front of this mirror that Kiana now stood, just as countless blushing brides before her had done, turning this way and that,...
Ander - Epilogue: Subchapter 1
Chapter 7 Epilogue 1 The sun beat down from a clear blue sky, glinting off the weatherworn gravestones as they stood in their neat little rows. Away in the distance, cicadas chirped their repetitive songs as though in complaint of the baking...
Ander - Part 6: Subchapter 185
185 A deep, low-pitched creaking noise filled the mill. It was the kind of sound you'd hear right before a tree finally fell to the axe. It was the unnerving groan of wood under strain. Mateo had been pushing his shoulder up against what felt like a...
Ander - Part 6: Subchapter 184
184 It was tough, climbing that dusty old ladder with only one good hand. He had to take it slow, despite the voices screaming at him to hurry the hell up, that nobody could keep Banno down for long. And not all those voices were in his head,...
Ander - Part 6: Subchapter 183
183 Luke had thought his nausea was under control, but seeing... seeing all this... it made him want to double over and wretch where he stood. There was blood everywhere; dripping down the stairs and splattered over the walls. There were even...
Ander - Part 6: Subchapter 187
187 Kiana didn't think she had ever been in a formation quite as lopsided as this. She had Hezzi's arm slung over her shoulder, and she, in turn, had her arm slung over Valery's shoulder, whose knees were just about shaking under all the weight. Hezzi...