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22 – Two Steps Forward
The trail finally came to an end at the base of a steep hill. The root they’d been following had come up out of the ground and lay on the surface, its slow pulses making it seem like a sleepy snake on a cold morning. Curt put his hand to his ear, acknowledged something, then pointed at the other three recruits on the East side of the hill, and they moved to join them. One of Brian’s cronies had a bandage around his arm, and bright orange paint had splattered onto his pants. ‘How many?’ Brian asked Curt. ‘One sentinel. Red saw four.’ ‘One conscious,’ Red elaborated, ‘the other three…
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20 – Forest for the Trees
There was an ocean above her head, and she couldn’t breathe. -pond, grandfather’s pond, she must have slipped- She reached for the surface. It was there. So close she could see the ripples in the- So deep, she was going to die- -floating, she was- She reached up, if only to see her hands, to see anything but the darkness- The bottom of the ocean was soft- But there was still so much further to fall- So much more darkness that could- She couldn’t stay- Stef jolted awake. There was darkness, and her heart slammed for a few beats, worrying that for once, she hadn’t escaped from drowning, from- This…
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07 – Mirror to Be
Until Magnolia returned, there was nothing to do but study. Curt read through all of the required departmental books – familiarising himself at least a little with the faces of those people he’d be working with. After going through each of the photos, he required the recruit-accessible versions of the files for the three department heads. He quickly pursued the file for Combat – Agent Taylor – there was only so much you could assume from one photo. Still, Taylor looked like one of those rough-and-tumble guys who played rugby on the weekends. Big, tough. The kind of agent who could punch someone’s head from their shoulders. Red hair was…
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05 – The Boring Bits
Once he was sure he looked as normal as he could – that his eyes weren’t red, that there were no little bits of puke still on his chin, Curt left the bathroom. The boardroom was easy enough to find – as the girl had said, it was labelled. He pushed it open, sure that knocking when expected would be annoying, and the less trouble he was, the less pain he was going to bring on himself. She sat across from the door, working on some huge franken-binder of stuff, with huge folded-out pieces of paper that had to be schedules of some kind. She looked up as he closed…
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04 – Observations
The world went fuzzy. Curt tried to keep his grip on the bag Farnshaw had given him – he wasn’t sure what it contained, but the agent seemed to be under the impression it would be weird if he showed up with nothing but the clothes on his back. At least they were new clothes – the dirty grey t-shirt and track pants had been replaced with the snap of Farnshaw’s fingers – he now wore a short-sleeve button-down shirt, in a dark, Agency navy, which he was grateful for – if the shirt had been white, then his tattoos might have shown through. And as awkward as that would…
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03 – The Oracle
Sometimes, juggling everything she needed to do was hard. Sometimes, it was just fun. Magnolia tried to set her face into a frown, but the grin on Merlin’s little face made it near impossible. His goggles sat on his forehead, a sign that he was willing to interact with the world without a filter – which for him was the first and most obvious sign that he was having a good day. With Merlin, the bad days could really bad, so every good day had to be cherished. It was such a good day that she was having to explain to him exactly why riding a bike around the lobby…
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05 – The Third Path
Ryan watched as ghosts drifted past the window-wall of his office. They weren’t ghosts in the traditional sense, these weren’t the less-than-cogent spectres that inhabited the in between and lost spaces of the world; these ghosts were echoes of memories. A mirrorfall’s parade of ghosts, one of the events that preceded the fall of the dying planet’s heart, seemed to him to be the most bittersweet – in the way of a wake, rather than a funeral. The ghosts, images of those swallowed by their dying planet, were always of the strongest memory that an individual had. It was always amazing to see how beautifully mundane some of those strong…
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01 – Uncertain Parameters
‘What’s that movie?’ Magnolia tried to twist her head towards Screen but was met with a soft wall of boob. There was a laugh from behind the wall of boob. ‘You’re going to have to be a little more specific,’ Screen said. ‘There’s at least…three movies that exist.’ Magnolia sighed and curled up on top of her best friend. There were few softer places in the world than on top of the cuddly Tech, and definitely none in this Agency. She tried to reset her train of thought. ‘The cock is bad. Something like that.’ Screen laughed, and the mirth rippled throughout her entire body, rumbling her like the best…
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05 – Screen Saver
Someone kicked her. She moaned. ‘Get up!’ She could still taste blood and plastic. ‘Get up!’ Screen brought her hands up and felt disgusted when she found her face semi-glued to the carpet with blood. She hadn’t been out – if she’d been out at all, she could remember the passage of time, even though it was fuzzy – for long. ‘Your turn next, you’ve got to get up!’ A fairy shouted at her as he dragged her to her feet. She immediately went to the wall for balance, her head leaning against the window. The room was half empty, and her headache was three sizes too large. Redness filled…
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Grit and Dust
Click to jump straight to the chapter. Darren’s Agency had an inarguably homey feel to it – and despite speculation from some of her friends, it had nothing to do with growing up in and around the building. Magnolia walked past the empty reception desk – it was only staffed until five in the evening, and even then, it was mostly for show – the out-of-the-way Outpost Agency maybe got one or two unexpected walk-ins per week. The public area – the reception desk and a few interview rooms – were the only parts of the Agency that bore any resemblance to the other satellite agencies that she’d seen, and…