Category Archives: Chapter 3

            “I’m sorry, Marin,” Kellin said one afternoon a couple days later.  She and I were out walking along the ward-lines, checking to make sure nothing had happened to them.  I startled, missing a step but covering it in a … Continue reading →

            He looked away, as if unable to meet my gaze.  I touched his shoulder gently, above the bandages that swathed the wound there.              “Who’s hunting you, Phelan?”  And why?             He kept staring off into space, voice so … Continue reading →

            Almost from the moment we got back to camp that night, Thom became near-on obsessed with getting walls up around our settlement.             I suppose that none of us that had been out there that night could blame him, … Continue reading →

            The incandescence died within seconds, leaving us all night-blind and gasping for breath.  I groped around in the darkness for the others.             “Is everyone all right?”  Jacqueline’s voice called tremulously from the barrow.             “Grab a lantern,” I … Continue reading →

            She moved so quickly that none of us had any time to react.  Our boys went flying—Rory scythed through my legs at the knees, toppling both of us as Vammatar grasped Phelan by the collar of his shirt, pulling … Continue reading →

            We set a cluster of lanterns at each of the four points of a compass.  Thom was tasked with the drumming that would lend rhythm to the ritual—one I still wasn’t sure I understood.  It seemed there was a … Continue reading →

            We lit lanterns—flame and battery operated both—and gathered up bundles of herbs, incense from our combined stashes, matches, and other items that Phelan insisted we might need.  Jacqueline added a few things to our list, blushing a little as … Continue reading →

            I watched the sun slip slowly toward the horizon, arms crossed and holding my jacket tight across my shoulders.  It was a chilly evening, as Michigan evenings can be as September gives way to October, slowly but surely.             … Continue reading →