8 Anava had never interacted with another entity or another person in dreamtime, besides the spoken guidance of Rana or her teachers. Until now, she had not interacted with another consciousness here. Or at least an interaction that included eye contact. She instinctively replayed her inner directives to herself: Stay confidant. Stay strong. Stay here. …
6 “Who is this young cadfly? Shoo! You are shutting out the light!!” As soon as he entered the threshold of the small and cramped gallery space, an old woman seated near the entry started yelling at him. “Out, I say! Out!” She was the oldest woman Zerian had ever seen, and he gave pause …
5 Zerian slipped out the back alley and into the throngs of mercantile shoppers and shopkeeps, many of whom were milling about during midday meals. He was nervous, but it didn’t deter him. It needed to be done, no matter what his mother had warned him. Stay away from the Body Readers. They will not …
“I’ve been here before,” she whispered under her breath. She stepped through the rocks and moss and cushiony undergrowth carefully. The trees were gallant and tall. Birds chirped from far away and sunlight glittered through canopy cracks, trickling down to reach the dead leaves and rotting trees below. Familiar and foreign, the landscape seemed to …
3 “There was a story I heard one time,” Bess began, “about a grey-haloed woman who should’ve but shan’t.” Bess’s favorite story. Again. Bess had some favorite sayings and creative stories, but none as strange and nonsensical as the story of the ‘Doorway Witch.’ She recounted it a lot, and always took the performance very seriously. …
2 Zerian grumbled. The hot sunlight was creaking its way into his eyelids, and he couldn’t fight it anymore. He felt so sore and exhausted. He wasn’t sleeping well lately. He rolled out of his lumpy bed and onto the rug to stretch. He glanced around at his little apartment above the shop. He stood and …
Amie Zor 