Lyric’s quill scratched across his parchment faster than the other mages-in-training, but he was still too slow to keep up with their bestiary professor.
The old man’s robes dragged through phoenix droppings inside the hatchery. He smiled as they reached the nesting trees in the heart of the habitat, where at least a hundred
Bramble Dinkenspry was very good at fixing things. In fact, her entire family was good at it. But when you’re a brownie, you expect nothing less.
“Bram! It’s time!”
Bramble nearly dropped the stopwatch in her nimble fingers. She’d been listening to the gears as they whispered secrets of the device’s inner workings.
“Another human got in.”
Clio yawned and preened one long coppery feather. Annoying humans. “Another? Which portal this time?”
“That’s the problem.” The minotaur shifted his hooves in the sand of the desert zone. “We don’t know how she got in.”
“You’re too soft, Terminus. You should block every portal. How are
We all face certain choices: Life or death, nurturer or destroyer, violence or peace. Each kitsune must choose her own path.
When grown, we travel into the world of Men, choosing a man to bind ourselves to… for the rest of his life. If we choose the path of violence, suffering and death come
Whoever imagined living on a cloud would be comfortable is an idiot.
Now, obviously, I don’t mean a real cloud. Those are just water droplets suspended in the atmosphere. No. I mean the type of cloud children envision: big fluffy cotton balls where naked babies sporting soft, feathery wings hang out and play the harp.
Gentle waves brushed against the rocks of the southern California beach, the sun dipping into the ocean. Seagulls chattered as they pecked over scraps of food left on the empty beach.
Mariana jogged down the worn boardwalk, her bare feet stinging from the fading heat of the day. Glancing over her shoulder,
“Take this,” Mother says, her usually-shining blue eyes muted and sorrowful. “Remember, Lyskkia, you’re not alone. The Allfather is with you, and the land will fight for us as long as we fight for it.”
I accept the staff with both hands, the weight of the ancient, polished wood making this all-too-real.
Although Muir Woods had been closed for a year, I stole through the barricades in the dimness of dawn. No birds sang. No rustling. Only a presence.
As sun rays weaved through branches, so did the whispers. I caught human and woman on the wind’s tongue, and I prayed the forest would reveal what
“You’re telling me that in the future, Australia is overrun by cannibalistic koalas called drop bears?”
I blinked at my large companion—Squatch, our resident bigfoot—as I tried to make sense of the vision that had guided me and my cryptid companions Down Under.
He adjusted his Outback hat. “Yup.
Jenna breathed in the fresh, salty air, preparing herself for the poisonous quest ahead. Would today be the day she told him?
Professor Herbert sat on the sand with his sturdy legs crossed, scanning their surroundings.
The Australian coast spread out like a strip of grainy brown paint. It banked against the trees…
Desire. Need. Hunger. It gnaws at the creature like sand in a gale, consuming every thought of its bestial mind.
Even the gaping wound in its side is forgotten by the needs of its stomach. Hunger.
A thin sliver of motion catches the creature’s eye, and it lashes out with crystalline fangs
“The taniwha traveled in the canoes of our Polynesian ancestors. They were kaitiaki, life-protecting guardians.” The stocky Islander gazed over the water, his slumped shoulders, usually strong, reflecting his regret. “The white settlers, on the other hand, brought the black rats in their boats. Those filthy predators extinguished almost all of our island’s endemic
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