Havok Publishing

Category - Staff Saturday

The Dream Eater

“Baku-san, come eat my dreams.” Woozy with exhaustion, I laid my head back on the clean white pillow to wait. But not to sleep. I could never sleep until the mission was over.
Outside the window of the tiny hotel room, a neon sign flickered in the endless city lights of Tokyo.

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Cats of the Hermitage

The air smells like history, old paint, and other cats.
Your stomach flips as you look around the basement, the human who carried you down already retreating back upstairs. Cats of varying breeds mill about, lounge atop antique pipes, and nap in the crumbling nooks and crannies of the hall, a patchwork of…

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Vacation Troubles

An ordinary person only has to worry about a delayed plane, lost luggage, and the like interrupting their vacation. Me? I had to deal with a cryptid making headlines.
While I love the hubbub of NYC, I was ready to shut my mind off of work for a while. After several years, I’d finally…

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When in Roam

Gentle, green hills rolled before me. I raced across soft grass. Ancient white statues veiled in a delicate blanket of moss adorned the pastoral landscape. Behind me howled a wild horde of giant, chittering, angry, club-wielding prairie dogs bent on my destruction.
Eleanor Thornhail, what have you gotten yourself into now?
No matter what

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In the Clouds

A month ago, I wouldn’t have entertained the idea of staying in a foreign national park after operating hours. Now, I was following my sister down a winding trail in the sunset. “Jess! Are you sure about this?”
She didn’t break stride, simply glanced over her shoulder with a smile. “Trust me, Liz.”

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The Samurai and the Tanuki

Netsu wiggled deeper into the ferns surrounding a momiji tree and tugged at the orange and red fabric of his haori. Maybe if he burned the fabric with his bearing gift, he wouldn’t have to go in this—What was the right word for this garish garb?
“Shiny.”
Netsu spun around, coming face-to-face with…

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Raðljóst

I shuddered as a troll’s roar filled the air. Ocean spray slicked the deck, causing me to slip. I ducked under the swinging fist of another troll, barely visible in the night. My heart drummed against my chest.
We were dead men.
Three hulking trolls surrounded our ship, gripping the masts and…

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The New Librarian

I flapped my wings, soaring into the clouds. The sun felt glorious warming my scales. Mountains spread below, among them the labyrinthian castle complex of the Infinite Library. Broad skylights glowed in the sunlight.
Suddenly I was inside, still in dragon form. I tried to sort a stack of books, but I kept clawing…

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The Stars

“I still don’t understand why you had to drag me out here to the literal middle of nowhere,” I muttered, staring out the window at the expense of the Namibian desert.
There was nothing to see for miles but sand, a few trees and bushes, and an occasional animal that might have been…

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The Red Heart Canopy

Excitement skitters across my limbs as I peer over the tops of all the other trees. I can see six-year-old Ruby Sue get off the school bus in front of her house and run straight into the woods. Toward me. Her friend.
Here in the easternmost part of the Berkshire Mountains…

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Garden of Stars

“Hades, why was my mother even in New Orleans?” Persephone’s gentle voice tickled Hades’ ear as she threaded her arm through his.
Crowds upon crowds pulsed near them, swaying to jazz music. The sweet aroma of beignets swirled through the air, only adding to the nausea swelling in Hades’ stomach. His uneasiness grew…

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