The Good Vampyre (522 Words)
‘You knew she was a vampire.’
‘I swear I didn’t.’
She met his wild glance with pain of her own.
‘Then why are you here?’ she asked. ‘Robin? What are you doing?’
‘I found out as you did. If I had known, could I have kept it from you? Have I hidden anything from you? Sissy?’
Dragon Sim (200 Words)
“One day,” said Michael, “they’ll invent machines that are so good they aren’t even machines anymore. Then we won’t have to do this kind of thing.”
Jen glanced at her companion. He crouched on the floor of their transport while the other two trainees, across from her, looked out the windows with faces like stone.
“Get up, Micky,” said Jen. “If we fail this exercise I’m gonna kill you.”
Thinking Stone (516 Words)
The day after her eighteenth birthday, Princess Tana’s parents told her that it was time to marry. Because their daughter’s happiness was everything, they promised she could make her own choice with one caveat.
“If you aren’t in love within three months,” they said, “we will choose your husband for you. It is for your own good, Tana. You don’t want to die alone.”
Lady Melodia (200 Words)
“Mom, why are we here?” said Katy.
“Hush, Katy.”
Katy was tired, carsick, and she just knew the hotel they were staying at wouldn’t have Wi-Fi. She couldn’t believe this was happening. Sure, the break-in at their house was unexpected, but this was an extreme response.
“I think it’s stupid,” she said, glaring at the green cliffs rolling by. “And whoever built the roads here needs their head chopped off.”
Uninvited but Not Unwelcome (99 Words)
Bats are whispering, fluttering creatures. Their furry bodies, their reptilian wings, are such a contrast of the charming and repulsive that they catch the unready mind off guard. For dragons as much as humans, bats are a surprise.
“You’re not a little dragon,” said Smoak, “and you’re not a mouse. What are you?”
Never Buy an Online Restaurant (148 Words)
It seemed like a deal too good to be true. Mick’s dreams of running his own restaurant seemed so immediate and so real that he closed the deal on Ebay and dropped out of school.
He thought twice too late. The “restaurant” had clearly not been used for years. Mick doubted if there were even electricity.
Painting in the Window (280 Words)
I always wondered who put the picture there. It had been hanging on the bedroom wall when we moved in, and neither Cal nor I seemed to want it down. It surprised me that Cal didn’t complain. He was always a little impatient of art, calling it frivolous and fanciful. As an artist myself, I took his criticisms in stride with a few remarks of my own about the ship models that were all his pride and joy.
