Havok Publishing

Tag - curses

The Best Laid Plans

I admit I screamed the words: “If there ever was a time to speak up when the minister says that bit about why this couple shouldn’t be joined together in holy matrimony, it was to tell him you’d turn into a rat on our honeymoon!”
“I thought that was just for the people

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The Færie Price

Grandma always told me not to go into the forest alone. “Deep in the woods, where the trees are old as time, færies make their dwellings,” she would say. “And if you aren’t careful, they’ll snatch you and gobble you up!” That part always made me giggle when I was a kid.

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Enyo’s Curse

Hendria looked around the corner, waiting for the guards to pass around the temple wall. She took a breath, then counted to ten. She’d executed everything perfectly up to this moment; now all those months of meticulous planning seemed to be paying off. She’d memorized every rotation and path of the guards.

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Gold Most Curious

An ocean of color floods Damien’s eyes as he steps out of the portal. A blinding array of purple, yellow, blue, and white blooms. He frowns.
Irises? Not what he expected. But little about this search has gone according to plan.
Jerking up his binoculars, Damien surveys the land beyond the field of flowers.

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She Who Holds the Eye

Akiak’s life was a tapestry of legends.
She knew it was Silla, Keeper of Sky, who glazed the night with northern lights when he was lovesick for the Sun. The tears Tapeesa shed for her lost daughter caused the tiny arctic flowers to bloom on the hillsides in the warm season.

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The Leprechaun’s Stein

“Well,” Louisa said, staring at the vast array of cups lining the cave walls, “which one is it?”
Andy turned in place, the assorted accessories hanging from his pack protesting the sudden movement. He adjusted his glasses, bringing the hundreds of wine glasses, champagne flutes, ornate chalices, hefty beer steins, delicate tea cups, and…

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Rascal, Rat, or…Pirate?

“Em! This wardrobe is perfect for your new apartment!” Gillian waved emphatically at a cedar monstrosity.
Scowling at her exuberant friend, Em pointed to deep scratches marring the doors. “Why would I want something that looks like it picked a fight with raccoons and lost?”
“We can sand those out. It’ll look vintage.”

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Out of Order

You arrive that first morning at Cibola High School with low expectations. This is the muggy, muddy, backwater of Florida. The only bright side: you can absolutely dominate the social scene.
So, you enter with a bright smile directed at everyone from that hot basketball captain to the wallflower girl and even the custodian

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An Invisible Picture of a Forgotten Girl

I’d only wanted to disappear for a time, not be forgotten forever.
I grip the chalk with every muscle in my tired fingers. It scrapes my plea against the pavement in a desperate shade of blue. Mom or Dad will notice me this time. I lean back and rub my sore knees.

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The Collector

Nobody knew precisely where the relics came from nor how those with the money and power to assemble such collections managed to locate them in the first place.
Yet Hal was certain of one thing—at some point he had robbed and swindled them all.
“Let me guess. You see yourself as…

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Seaflash

Most who sail the sea are afraid of enduring a storm. I’d not be anywhere else for all the gold on all the islands, because I only see him when lightning strikes the ocean.
Raindrops plummet down my neck, each dying quick deaths in the jade-dark waves. Night thickens around me and my coracle

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The Fountain of Youth

Peter chose a table in the back of the tavern, giving himself a wide view of the entrances. He ordered a drink and instinctively scanned the room. He noted a frail old man watching him across the way. He avoided eye contact, but the man continued to watch him. Was he being followed?

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