Havok Publishing

Tag - urban/paranormal

Magpie Boy

Go see a show, Lindsey. Get out of the house for one evening.

My neighbors like to give advice—some of it better than others.

How can I see a musical without Amaliah? That’s like betraying her memory. My fingers clench around Tico’s leash, and he looks up

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S2 Mystery Monday featured image (season 2)

Blind as a Bat

Most students went home for the holidays, but not us boys at the Reformatory School for Troubled Young Monsters. We had to stay and face the longest, hardest exam of the whole year. That’s what we got for being little criminals.

The morning of the exam, I went to the library, 

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S2 Fantasy Friday featured image (season 2)

Shadow Wolf

Genie smelled the roses before she could see the forest. The sweet, fragrant scent danced across the wind, weaving around her like it was greeting her home. As if it were a friend, like it had been when she was little. But it wasn’t. Genie remembered what the roses had turned her grandmother into—

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SS - Staff Saturday featured image

The Wild Hunt

tore through the woods, paws churning up soft dirt. The smell of mud and recent rainfall filled my snout as I raced through the bracken, desperate to reach the castle. Her scent was fading quickly. Soon even my powerful senses would be useless.
But I had to keep moving. Please let me be on time.

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SS - Staff Saturday featured image

Predator or Prey

I sit, enthroned in the branches of a mighty oak. Waiting…
Grandmother had warned us not to gather herbs in the woods. “Beware the wolf who hunts the forest for unsuspecting souls,” she would say.
That day, I forgot.
I should have known better, but I was drawn by a man more beautiful

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S2 Mystery Monday featured image (season 2)

Midnight

Of all the underground clubs in this sodden sponge of a city, it had to be that one.
I tugged my fedora lower over my brows, but it did little to block out the damp chill of the October night. My neck prickled as I surveyed the disturbing sight splayed out on the alley’s cracked asphalt.

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SS - Staff Saturday featured image

A Study in Betrayal

“Are you sure about this?” My stomach turned as I played with the sleeves of my sweater, worrying a few loose threads between my fingertips.

Eastwood paced across the cramped room where we’d been locked away. “We’re in a bit of a pickle here, Rose. I don’t see any other way. 

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S2 Wacky Wednesday featured image (season 2)

Your Nosy Neighborhood Granny

Young folk these days.
I squint between my window blinds. Amelia has another new beau—a tall, brooding fellow. They walk hand-in-hand down the street toward my house, chatting.
I frown. I haven’t met this one yet. Usually she brings them by for my inspection first, just to be safe.
They stop walking, and he leans down—

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S2 Fantasy Friday featured image (season 2)

A Ghost’s Guide to Haunted Hugs

Nobody likes ghost hugs.
This has thus far been the biggest disappointment of my afterlife. Yes, there’s the whole being tied to the dark, dank, dismal cave where I’d met my untimely demise, but—nah, it’s mostly the hugging. Or lack thereof.
I was quite the hugger before I died.

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S2 Thriller Thursday featured image (season 2)

Without Silence

The noise in Thomas’s head was getting louder.
Medical examinations came up empty. Doctors were stumped. It wasn’t tinnitus, they said, or brain tumors, or sinus problems, any other condition they’d diagnosed before. Nothing they attempted, from ear drops to oral meds, solved it. In the end, he just had to deal with it.

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S2 Wacky Wednesday featured image (season 2)

Of Masks and Macarenas

“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!”

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S2 Wacky Wednesday featured image (season 2)

Shadow Side Up

Pale dawn light slanted through the windows when I arrived at the Full Moon Diner. Even this early, the place smelled like stale grease and burnt coffee.
Only four tables were occupied. An old man sitting in one corner, his face haggard. A young couple holding hands. A neat-haired man reading a thick book

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