I swirl through narrowed copper veins imprinted in the underside of one thousand different wings. I feel the butterflies sip nectar from amongst copper and glass petals to take on code. New packets of data swelling each butterfly’s abdomen. […]
Eight year-old Ramsey Arthur Cobb sat bolt upright on the backseat of Father’s car in his houndstooth Sunday suit, the fingers of one sweaty hand kneading the burgundy crushed velvet upholstery until it squeaked, the other clutching the tin replica […]
“Sorry about your dad.”
Liv’s voice slid down my neck like muddy water, the gravel in it catching at my skin. I didn’t want to look up but I could feel her standing there, could see the chipped black polish on her quick-bitten thumbnail from the corner of my eye. […]
What remained of the Virtue’s army marched into the Gates of Ice at sunset. In their red uniforms, the soldiers were a trickle of dirty blood on the flank of the mountain. A few rode skinny, stumbling horses. Others rested in clattering mule carts, […]
We had only three hours to reach the bells of the deep before they rang. If we failed, our civilization would suffer an endless extent—a full peal, no permutation of bells left unsung—that would shake us all to pieces. Our masters knew as little as we did. […]
The carnations are oversaturated. I’m in the shop, stocking dental floss and toothbrushes when I see them at the edge of my vision: a bright matte red. Like an apple in an illustrated book I once had. The drawing had no depth, just the outline of a perfectly symmetrical apple with one leaf coming off the stem and inside it, red. […]