The door to the classroom swung open violently, causing Skylar to jump in surprise. From the back corner of the room, he stared at the doorframe with wide and curious eyes. One of his classmates, Alton, stomped into the room. His face was a deep red in contrast with his white-blond hair, and his chest rose and fell at an accelerated rate. Skylar debated if he was going to speak up, but he decided ...

Sophia found herself huffing for the umpteenth time since the day began. She wasn’t usually this irritable or antsy, but her current situation didn’t make room for peace. The longer she fiddled with the hem of her dress or twirled the ends of her braids, the worse she felt.

Her eyes shifted upwards to the huge building in front of her, and she tried to settle her emotions. If she charged into the...

All of the air in the dark room seemed to be sucked away as the seconds ticked by. A mess of papers and trinkets littered the floor as Oliver paced back and forth behind his desk. Devon stood as close to the exit door as he could manage and ran his fingers through his flaming red hair as the old man in front of him mumbled to himself. Oliver’s tufts of gray hair were pulled outward, his long eyebr...

The gravel under my bare feet dug into the calluses on my skin, but my nerves felt nothing. Thick liquid ran down several spots of skin, yet the sting of a wound wasn’t there. My hands shook despite my efforts, and my vision blurred the longer I stared ahead.

All the people I once loved—those I vowed to save—laid around me with fear in their eyes. I stepped around them, cries and pleas fading int...

“How do you always know what I’m thinking?”

I glance across the table and took a deep breath. I already had a response planned out, and John’s response played in my mind. I’d already experienced the conversation before it happened. Next, he was going to get up and pull a salad out of the fridge, and of course complain about the diet his girlfriend put him on.

“I understand that she wants to be h...

Land of Origin, the place that started it all, stood tall and strong in word only. The stone streets couldn’t stretch far before they turned to gravel; rubble; a mere whisper of the promises that crumbled long ago. The cities were full of hope for those too immature to understand otherwise. The strongest buildings held more secrets than people, and most turned a blind eye to things they couldn’t e...

The sting of a dagger against my cheek caused my back to stiffen if only for a moment. Harsh winds rushed through my hair as the weapon lodged itself in the tree to my left. I reached up to grab the hilt with my left hand as my right moved my cloak behind my shoulder. With the dagger in hand, I spun around and swiftly sent it back in the direction it came from.

A few words played on my lips as th...

“I need to tell you something, urgently. It’s about your boss.”

Usually, when Elliot would rush in with a new piece of gossip on his lips, I would ignore him. Out of my long list of friends and acquaintances, his lips were the loosest. It was the look in his eyes and the way his hands shook that left me caving. “You remember what my boss looks like?”

“You—“ Elliot shook his head and waved his ha...