Havok Publishing

Mystery

Liar, Liar, House on Fire

“Wake up!” Mama seems scared as she shakes my shoulder. I hear someone yelling in the kitchen. Mama doesn’t like it when people yell.
“Mama? What’s going on? Why are you scared?”
“Hush, Zephyr. I need you to listen to me closely, okay?” Mama opens the window next to my bed. “I need you

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The Mushroom Conundrum

Dr. Miranda eyed the teenager perched before her. Tilli was a wisp of a girl with hot pink hair and delicate, almost pixie-like features. A lumpy, burlap sack lay by her feet. Though she was curious about the bag’s contents, Dr. Miranda decided to wait for Tilli to explain.
“So, what brought you in today…

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Saved by the Belt

Gravity is merciless. My brittle-boned body—courtesy of decades in the Space Force—hurtled toward what could be a disastrous collision with the floor.
But I was wearing a Belt. Once its sensors registered my loss of balance, its anti-grav went into action, halting my descent and raising me gently until I was again upright.

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Guttersnipe

It isn’t positively raining, but there is a mist in the air that seeps through one’s clothes. A young boy stands beneath a lamppost, staring across the cobbled street. One trouser knee is patched, and the other needs patching. He shrugs his shoulders and buries his cold hands deeper into his pockets.

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Hard Baked Detective and the Sot Sibling

Most people are skeptical when they hear a sentient cake has a PI’s license, but get your picture in the paper enough, and you begin to gain credibility with a capital C. That, and the delicious smell of my chocolate ganache, is how Agatha Vanderbruin Von Marnestein found her way to my office.

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Demon Eggs

Saturday night in the World Capital Hospital’s Emergency Department is often full of surprises. Maybe the biggest came when Earth’s President, Derek Percy, was wheeled in strapped to a gurney after trying to claw his own face off. As the chief resident of the Emergency Department, it fell to me to investigate.

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A Feast of Rats

The rats are disappearing.
Hart Street had the biggest infestation in London. We knew that before we moved in—it’s why the house came at such a low price. But we needed somewhere to lay low, so I assured the Professor we could deal with it. I’ve dealt with worse.
Still, my skin still crawled

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Drool in the Face of Danger

Maximillion’s manners were atrocious. Clarice’s tail curled as she watched drool trail from the dog’s jowls.
“Is my Maxie hungry?” their owner Katy cooed.
He shifted from paw to paw, pressing even closer to Katy’s legs as she stirred the pot on the stove. If she tripped, both she and the stew would likely crash to the floor.

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Dermis

“Have you ever wondered how much skin weighs?” The question floated from my car’s speakers as I raced down the expressway, heading home from college for Thanksgiving break.
I rolled my eyes while answering Madison. “Yes, that question is on my mind all the time.”
She’s used to my snark. “You’d be surprised

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Tiger, Tiger

I don’t sleep anymore.
My apartment is cramped, little more than a closet. Space enough for a few childhood mementos and some clothes, nothing more. No bed.
I was ten years old when I woke one morning to a blazing house and my parents burning alive and myself unscathed in the middle of it all.

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Sweet Dreams

They come to me for the dreams—bubbles of florescent light that pop behind their eyelids and reveal an elsewhere. They don’t even care where they go. They just don’t want to be here.
I understand. With Earth a hair’s breadth away from total annihilation due to alien laser beams, I get the need…

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Along Came a Crowd

Ajani perched on the cart’s edge, his feet dangling, as Baba’s animals ate in their cages. The evening shadows stretched as the sun descended and the troupe packed up their tents.
They should be preparing their acts and hoping for a crowd, not leaving after only a few days. And at night?

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