Gods.
Chapter 10: In the Summertime
I was the first to arrive at the conference room. I had something of an unfair advantage, being the Sister of wind. Someone had even left a window open, which made it easy to slip inside.
Chapter 9: Other Side of the Truth
Mickey’s day had started out half-decently. He didn’t have school today, though it was a Wednesday. It was still the summer, which meant he didn’t have to deal with school for at least a little bit longer. August was disgustingly hot, but it was better than sitting in class, being mocked, failing exams, making his parents angry. Summer school had ended a few days ago, and he had only a few precious days. So, he and his family were going to Madison Square Garden. His father had brought up the idea, and Mickey had gone along with it. They’d gotten into a cab, which was a rare treat. Usually they had to pile onto the subway.
Chapter 8: Legend of the Keeper
I never got the chance to see my father’s corpse. My mother told me she didn’t want me to remember him that way. I’d imagined it, had nightmares about it even, but they remained distant and blurry, more feelings than actual images. I’d always felt I had a terrible visual imagination, and it was a blessing where my father’s body was concerned. I’d imagined claw marks, gore, blood, things that would haunt me forever. Sitting here, now, in my desk, I realized that there were worse fates than being splattered with red food coloring and modeling clay like a horror movie extra. My father’s body probably looked like the tonfa he’d given to me. A simple, broken thing.
Chapter 7: Discover
I watched as Dane sped off, and tried to stand up straight. I took a breath, and the world spun around me, my stomach coiling. I have not needed to eat food in the better part of a century, but there is still a phenomena I’m familiar. When you grow hungry enough, your stomach will hurt. In some cases, this can reach a point where it is difficult to tell whether you’re hungry, or ill. The body links the two experiences together, making you nauseous when you consider eating, despite the fact that eating is the only way to fix what is wrong with you.
Chapter 6: Uprising
Humans are difficult to deal with, because they’re always trying to learn from their mistakes. They are heuristic, which means they apply past experiences to future actions. When a human touches a red-hot stove, they associate all red things with heat, and pain. When a foolish young human boy has once been lied to by a supernatural creature, he may come to mistrust all things he doesn’t understand. He may turn away from those who offer him a second chance, believing it is simply a repetition of the mistakes that brought him where he is today. Without perfect knowledge of what your previous mistakes were, it gives you exciting opportunities to make wholly new errors in judgment.
Chapter 5: Slum Lord
Johnny sat in the subway car, trying not to make eye contact with anyone, his long hoodie drawn over his head. A phone sat in one hand, though it was still showing the lock screen. He’d stolen it when he’d been leaving the crime scene. A spasm of paranoia struck him. Could they track the phone with its GPS coordinates? He considered, for the third time that hour, throwing the thing under the rails the next time he got off the train. But his reasoning had been sound. The phone made him look normal. People didn’t question who you were when you were staring at a phone on the subway. They just assumed you were another self-absorbed prick.
Chapter 4: Humans Are Such Easy Prey
I stalked out of the conference room, frustration boiling inside of me. She was a police officer. A half-decent one, from her records. I’d pulled them up, and they’d all been in order. Li Fang Fen had joined the force in Binghamton about eighteen years ago, and she barely looked like she was out of her 20s. I guess people just didn’t notice these things.
Chapter 3: Reflection
When you reach a certain age, waking up resembles flying a plane. First, there is the awareness of the price that you have paid simply to reach the cockpit. Every night you go to sleep knowing it may be the last time. Waking cannot be taken for granted. Second, there is the preparation. You need to set a trajectory, to plan a course, because without that, your flight may take a terminal direction. And third, there is the pre-flight checklist. Every joint must be checked, every muscle tested, because if any part of your body is not in absolute prime condition, you may crash on takeoff. I went through the movements smoothly, checking for weakness, for tension, and heaved myself up out of the hotel bed.
Chapter 2: Memories in Shadow
I remember when the island of Manhattan was first beheld by human eyes. Ten thousand years ago, when the first men crossed the river to visit that island. Like all great cities, it was destined for its place in history. My sisters Gene and Heather had done it, in the ages before there were men. They filled the oceans, they gouged out the lakes, they ripped open the rivers, and these things made it possible for humans to congregate. Where the earth and water mixed, life was in abundance, and humans could be in abundance too. It was my sisters who had brought humans to this place. But it was I who brought the Europeans.
hellskitchensink 