Tag Archives: Amy

Arc 8.6.0: Revelations

Revelations: Part 8

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Loosening my choke hold, I dropped to the ground, putting Lucas body in the center of the wards Samita had set up on the floor. The Thing That Eats’ head had disappeared, revealing Lucas’ face.

As he lay on the concrete between black lines and symbols that I didn’t recognize, I reminded myself that he had to be alive. I’d choked him correctly, and I’d timed it. The Thing That Eats had a talent for playing on people’s fears. My longstanding one was that I’d kill somebody who didn’t deserve it, and he’d done his best to play on it. Continue reading Revelations: Part 8 →

Arc 8.5.5: Splits

Splits: Part 5

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Amy looked over at Samita. They’d all sat together on one of the hotel beds. “I think that could work. Psychic teleportation should get us around any ward I’ve ever heard of.”

Brow furrowing, Samita’s face went blank. After a little while, she raised her hand to her chin and waited longer. A moment later, she straightened up and lowered her hand. “It should work. There are wards that prevent teleportation, but I think I’d recognize them.”

Amy grinned. “That’s good enough for me.” Continue reading Splits: Part 5 →

Arc 8.5.5: Splits

Splits: Part 4

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Amy froze. Then she all but spit as she talked. “Fuck! They didn’t tell me. It does that kind of thing all the time. In my world, we’ve had a lot of creatures come through interdimensional portals. They’re mostly magical creatures, but every now and then we’ll see some strange mixture of magic and science, and sometimes… Sometimes we’ll see something purely scientific.”

Her face twisted, and then she sighed. “I’ve told you that we’ve fought The Thing That Eats for years, but what I didn’t tell you, because I didn’t know, was that it collected them. We’ve got humanoids called the Elder. Think of them as a cross between vampires and elves. The Thing collected them—along with anything else it could get. Cyborgs? Sure. Centaurs? Definitely. It took anything it could get. Continue reading Splits: Part 4 →

Arc 8.5.5: Splits

Splits: Part 3

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Haley frowned. “I wish I’d heard a real conversation with him. Then I might have better sense of what he’s like. You can learn a lot about who someone is by what they’re nervous to talk about.”

“What I’m wondering is if you could tell who’s in control? Andronicus or The Thing That Eats? That would make this a lot easier.”

She tilted her head, obviously thinking. “If I had some time to observe him, maybe. It’s a good idea. It seems like the kind of thing I ought to be able to do.” Continue reading Splits: Part 3 →

Arc 8.5.0: Crisscross

Crisscross: Part 1

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“Huh. Does that happen a lot? I’d think that they’d want you to succeed.”

Amy smirked. “You’d think that, but a lot of them think I should be staying out of this fight and keeping myself safe so that I can return home. Their logic is that you’ve got people who can handle it, and the kingdom needs me. Why risk the Bloodmaiden for this world?”

I thought about it. “They do kind of have a point.” Continue reading Crisscross: Part 1 →

Arc 8.4.5: Share The Love

Share The Love: Part 10

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“Looks like Haley would like us in the main room,” I said, putting my phone back into my pocket.

“Yeah,” Chris said, checking his own phone.

There wasn’t much of a need to reply since she’d be able to see when we left the lab. She might well be able to hear our conversation about leaving or our footsteps as we walked out the door.

One of these days, I needed to test the limits of her abilities, and maybe everybody’s. One of these days knowing it might save our lives, or maybe just not kill them through ignorance. Either way, the Stapledon program had tested all of us–back on our first official weekend in the program.

I wondered where that information was kept and who had access to it. Continue reading Share The Love: Part 10 →

Arc 8.4.5: Share The Love

Share The Love: Part 2

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Amy met Vaughn’s eyes. “My father said to wait ten years and if I hadn’t heard anything from him to gather together what allies I can find, and take back the kingdom if I can.”

Her voice didn’t waver, didn’t sound apologetic or uncertain. Her accent even edged toward British though it wasn’t quite. In that moment, I could completely believe that she descended from generations of royalty and supernatural guardians, and would get back what was theirs. Continue reading Share The Love: Part 2 →

Arc 8.4.5: Share The Love

Share The Love: Part 1

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Jaclyn’s voice came over the comm. “Not that that’s not important, but there’s one more thing we need to decide. What are we going to do with this guy?”

She stood over the body of The Thing That Eats’ host. “I’ve checked his pulse, and if he’s got one, it’s too faint for me to tell.”

Izzy turned toward the body, adding, “I’m not sure either, but if I had to guess, I’d say he’s alive, but barely.” Continue reading Share The Love: Part 1 →

Arc 8.4.0: Intrusion

Intrusion: Part 10

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I found myself wishing that Amy had told us about the creature’s talent for manipulating people earlier. We would have had time to come up with a countermeasure. Of course, she may not have known it herself. I had the impression that most of what she knew about The Thing That Eats came from past Bloodmaidens. They had to have their own reasons for choosing when to tell Amy what they knew.

Whatever the case, I had to think of something now. Continue reading Intrusion: Part 10 →

Arc 8.4.0: Intrusion

Intrusion: Part 9

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At the same time, lights came on in nearby houses. Hovering above the fog, I noticed something that I hadn’t before. The bigger houses that stood next to the four-lane road were all different from each other. On the narrower streets behind them stood identical, white two-story houses that didn’t quite look Western though I was at a loss as to why.

Thanks to the light, I could see that they were white boxes with green shingled roofs. Even if I couldn’t imagine them in Michigan, there wasn’t anything especially unusual about them.

Pushing aside speculations about the manufacturing process that led to them and what it might say about Turkmenistan’s culture and economy, I concentrated on the glowing, red ward I’d pulled out of my pouch. Continue reading Intrusion: Part 9 →