CONTENT WARNING: Discussion of child neglect, implied/referenced terminal illness
“What was it like when you were growing up?” Astrid asked Finner while he watched her weave some dandelions into a chain. “I know you were raised pretty much alone. Did you ever wish you had friends?”
Something in the pines calls to yet another denizen of a small town.
CONTENT WARNING: References to abuse and neglect
Nobody ever found Blue when he hid in the garden. Among the towering trees and thickets of brambles and flowers, it was easy to feel like he’d fallen into another universe altogether. Time and fear did not exist, and neither did responsibility or shame.
The second thing to hit Olifur was a surprisingly well-placed punch to the shin, followed by “HEY! EYES DOWN HERE!” in an indignant voice. Almost toppling over backwards in shock, Olifur clumsily caught her footing and looked down to see dark skin and a pointy red cap, hands on the little figure’s hips like a small child trying to be stern.
CONTENT WARNING: animal death, people death, non-graphic descriptions of gore
In which a girl talks to something her predecessors left in a box, and things go about as well as you’d expect.
CONTENT WARNING: vomit, descriptions of abuse, light descriptions of injury, intrusive thoughts
“A librarian finds a 9-foot scroll on one of the shelves. When they ask their apprentice ‘How did that get there?’ the apprentice replies ‘I dunno, but it must be a long story.’”
CONTENT WARNING: survivor’s guilt, descriptions of gore, references to harm of children, depiction of flashback, references to murder and torture
He was there again. Just like every night. The sewer system stretched endlessly before him, bathed in dark red lighting and stinking of blood and waste. Out of all the kids, he was the only one who had made it out alive.
One of these days, I’ll make it out.
It wasn’t right. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t okay and it wasn’t acceptable. It was one of the most vile, despicable things Rockpool had ever encountered, and it was his new reality.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: The Fae seen in my works are PURELY FICTIONAL and based on a mixture of legends from actual Celtic cultures. DO NOT use this as a source, that is disrespectful to the original cultures and very much against the author’s wishes. Classification: Divine, subclass of spirit Sentience: Sapient, cognisant Habitat: Tìr Na Neart (once throughout the British Isles as well) Diet: Omnivorous Other names: Faeries, Fey, Fair Folk, Good Neighbors, Faery, Aes Sídhe, Sith, Tylwyth Teg, Tuatha de…