"Son, I think you're lost." The woman with the scar bisecting her face glared at the young man standing in front of her. "You are the greatest warrior this world has ever seen. I would learn from you." All the youthful earnestness and enthusiasm someone his…
"Eyes on the target." The voice came through loud and clear on the sub-voc mic, and the nerds in the van high five-ed. "You are about to see why she's the best." Alan, the nerd who'd been with her the longest nodded, as they watched through…
"He's beautiful." She hadn't meant to breathe the words aloud. Her Patron looked at her, then in the direction she looked. "He was designed that way. Just as you were designed this way. Come, I have business." She followed her Patron, a last look at the…
"Does it hurt?" Violet looked down at the child staring at her leg, the intricate carvings of animals, plants, stars and moons in the oak prosthesis replacing her left leg. "Not currently." She smiled at the child. "What can I do for you?" "…
Lisa sat, bound and gagged, the body of her fiance lying next to her. Tears dried on her cheeks, and her breath hitched. Ten or so feet away, her captor argued with the man she thought was here to rescue her over who got to kill her. While they fought,…
Why do we do this?" A group of girls, young women, really, stood in front of the village elders. All of them as yet unmarked with the scars of their adulthood ritual. "We scar your faces so that men will not be overcome with lust for you."…
Lily rode her bike down the lane toward her grandmother's house. She could feel the heat of the sun on her face, hear the buzzing of insects. Up ahead, her grandmother waved from the porch of her house, calling her name. "Lilliana! Lilliana!" Lily shook herself. Her grandmother…
"I need you to be sure. Once you start on this path you cannot go back." The woman with the short salt and pepper hair looked Elise in the eyes. "It might be too late already, but once they know you can see them for what they…