“When you get there, make sure you ask the neighbors if this guy has shown any violent tendencies in the past,” Scott ordered.

“Sure thing,” nodded the tall reporter from the corner of the news room, his back against the cool window that looked out over the street below.

“Okay,” Scott turned to the board. “Are we missing anything? We’ve got Frank on the double homicide, Jessica on the fire to th...

“You’ve got the wrong guy!” he shouted, dazed and confused.

The old woman standing over him bared her teeth, her eyes aflame. She shoved her staff into Greyson’s chest, forcing him flat onto the ground.

“No more tricks from you, peasant!” she spat. “Where is that cursed genie?”

Greyson squinted up at her, grunting from the pressure of her staff. He suddenly became aware of a rumbling in the gro...

I do not think of myself as an “alchemist,” but I can see how some could apply that word to my pursuits.

It began simply enough — at least, in comparison to the end goal.

As a child, I was fascinated by energy. I lived near a wind turbine, and was walked through the process of how energy was harvested from the wind. Then there were solar panels, coal, gasoline… I just kept eating this stuff up. ...

A cat, relaxing in the setting sun,

beheld the girl collapsed upon the grass.

Contentedly relaxed, it had begun

detecting something odd about to pass.

Electromagnetism can be read

from anywhere, by anyone — alas,

galactic-level readings hurt the head.

However, Señor Gato seemed to sense

incredible sensations — and a dread.

Just underneath, the earth began to tense;

kinetic energy alarmed the ca...

“I’m going out front for a minute,” Harmony said, quickly getting up. If Lex said anything in response, she didn’t hear him.

Closing the door behind her, she walked out onto the front lawn. No one else was on the street, so she couldn’t see what other people looked like now. But it was a gorgeous evening. As the sun was going down, the neighborhood was bathed in reddish-orange light. The grass st...

Jon stood amongst the damp, shadowy inhabitants of the forest floor: Mushrooms, branches, thorns, toads, insects, all giving an ominous feeling.

But, of course, the most ominous thing was what loomed over that forest floor: a crooked, zigzagged rock pathway leading up to a crumbling, leaning tower, topped with a wooden house. It would be easy to assume it was abandoned... if the lights hadn’t co...

When Harmony reached the bottom of the staircase, she instantly knew that the sound was coming from the darkness in the opposite corner. She pointed her flashlight into it.

She blinked. She moved the flashlight around.

The light would illuminate the walls to the left of the corner and the right of the corner. It would illuminate the floor in front of it and the ceiling above it. But whenever it ...

“What’s that sound?” Harmony asked.

“What sound?” asked Lex.

“That deep, slow ticking with a hum to it.”

“I dunno.”

“Can’t you hear it?”

Lex didn’t answer.

Harmony moved from the window, listening carefully for the sound. She stopped at a door, putting her ear to it for a minute. She opened the door to reveal a dark, descending staircase. She flipped a light switch, but nothing happened.

Lo...

“I have read,” the first voice said, “this fact:

The human body’s rhythms better suit

a Martian’s daily schedule.” “Please extract,”

a second voice responded, “just what fruit

you hope for us to pick from such a claim.”

“I think you know,” replied the first to speak.

A third voice said, “However, you must frame

the issue plainly — for this is unique.”

“I mean,” the first voice answered, “what if...

“I can’t remember when I was born,” Harmony observed, continuing her observations of the empty street outside.

“So what?” Lex countered, not taking his eyes from his video game. “No one can.”

“Why not?” Harmony asked, never looking at Lex. “Why can’t we remember? How do we know that it happened?”

Lex laughed. “How else would we get here?”

“Maybe there are lots of ways.” Harmony’s gaze finally ...