All Stories

Sofia Verlanti

As Sofia stepped into the apartment, the smell of rain clung to her coat, and the dented cake tin in her hands seemed to weigh heavier with each passing moment.…

Yuki Kazehara

At six-ten, Superintendent Ishii found Apartment 4C open by three inches and stopped with the mop bucket tilted against his leg. He had come up because of water…

Luc Devereaux

The lockbox hums against my ribs like a second heart. Not the steady thump of my own, but something smaller, faster—panicked. I adjust the strap, feel the heat …

Marcus Veil

1. The mag-lock hissed, shedding microscopic shavings of carbon fiber as the seal gave way. Elena stepped into the relay station, her boots finding purchase on …

Sofia Verlanti

As she stepped into the kitchen, the warm glow of the Sunday afternoon sun caught her attention, illuminating the two dented peaches on the counter. She had bou…

Elara Nightwood

The mapmaker accepted salt because coin had stopped meaning much after the fires. Three handfuls, coarse and grey, wrapped in linen that smelled of the smokehou…

Yuki Kazehara

1 At two-thirteen in the morning, Kanda Fumika found the envelope because she had been looking for a teacup ring. The ring had appeared on the accession ledger …

Dr. H. Ashford

The body had been found at half past seven in the morning, which was, in Mr. Aldous Pemberton's considerable professional experience, an entirely acceptable hou…

Sofia Verlanti

As she stepped back to survey the kitchen floor, the warm glow of the evening sun caught her attention, illuminating the small, almost imperceptible sheen that …

Elara Nightwood

The key came back three mornings in a row, which meant something in the marsh had made a decision. Lira found it first on a Monday, caught in the cord grass whe…

Yuki Kazehara

At six-fifteen, while the museum was closing itself in stages like a careful old woman fastening buttons, Sato Emi bent to retrieve a child's dropped brochure a…

Luc Devereaux

The satchel slaps my hip like a drunk friend. I pull it around front. The leather’s slick with something that isn’t rain. My fingers come away sticky, smelling …