The domed turrets of the Little Palace blazed a fierce rose-red. The color of magic. The color of a curse.
Mariya had to get there.
But a line of Rusakian soldiers blocked her road, their blood-red shields reminding her of all the lives lost during their occupation of her city.
Read it now
The royal family spent several months every year vacationing at their summer palace. The vast ivory castle sprawled over lush acres of greenery, overlooking the sea on one side and the wild country forest on the other.
The Queen particularly hated it.
Everything about the place reminded her of her ill-fated past
Bang!
My shoulders slammed into their favorite indentations on my locker, and I gazed up into Rex Norman’s baby blues for the fourth time since second period. What does Dino King want this time? He’d already taken all my money, my math homework, and my secret snack.
“Hey, dweeb, homecoming pep rally
Pure, icy silence surrounded the cavern as Kai beheld her. She didn’t say a word. No intake of breath, no movement. Her eyes were the last link of life—two swirling, black pupils attached to a young girl’s body of solid ice. But in those eyes, oh, within those eyes the entire galaxy
Read it now
Hot. Smoky. Sweet with an acidic tang. So fresh-from-the-oven it made your mouth water.
Ginger.
I groaned. So much for Aruba. There’s no way the boss would let me go out of town with a gingerbread man on the loose in Cityville. And after I’d just packed my new swim trunks, too.
Read it now
I revved my motor and slipped out of park, checking the glowing digits of the clock on my nightstand. 2:59 a.m. I’d woken just in time. It’s tough to be a crime-solving teenage car. Sometimes you have to sacrifice a little sleep.
But I had a mystery to solve.
“I hate my job.” Tina scowled at the curtains that separated her from the audience. “I’d rather play bingo.”
“No, you don’t.” Tello, the stage manager, shuffled his cue cards. “And no, you wouldn’t. You hate bingo.” He tugged at her arm. “Come on, your cue’s coming any minute!”
The crunchy bitterness of the riptalion leaf takes a slight edge off my craving. Grasping my swollen stomach, shoulders hunched, I glance back toward the castle, pushing strands of golden hair out of my face. Here in our private garden, my husband and I grow the dark green, large-leafed lettuce
Read it now
I never wanted to leave the luxurious south for the frigid north, but my parents’ decision was firm. I still despised the cold and the frozen landscape. I huddled on my window seat, watching the lone star that illuminated the snow.
“If,” I whispered, “the first star truly grants a wish…”
But I couldn’t voice it.
Mia fluttered through the tower window, her fairy wings leaving a trail of sparkling lights as she circled the room. A spinning wheel stood in the center, surrounded by dirt and straw. Shaking her head, she snapped her fingers. In a flash of light, she became the size of a human.
Read it now
Rank upon rank, we stand ready.
Faces set and stern, wings unfurled, eyes locked forward, swords at our sides—though they will dance like flames in our hands at the first sign of trouble. We have seen battle, terrible and costly, against ruthless enemies. We will leap into combat again, if threatened, if met with resistance.
But that is not our mission.
The call from steel magnate Charles Weldon interrupted my plans to spend a pea-souper of a morning with two fingers of Jack Daniels and a newspaper. But I knew I wouldn’t regret it when I stepped into the tycoon’s home office. Whatever made one of the richest men in California this jumpy was bound to pay well.
Read it now
Recent Comments