Tag: Flash Fiction

Welcome to Seahaven Arts – A Books of Binding Flash Fiction

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“Are you new?” Jessie looked up from the slip of paper she was reading, her new class schedule. She was finally here, at The Seahaven School of the Arts, where she had been dreaming of going for as long as she could remember. She nodded. “I seem to be a little lost. I’m looking for Room 311B, but I can’t find it. It goes from 311 to 313, but no B.” The girl in the long broomstick skirt and lacy purple poet’s shirt smiled. “That’s because it’s in the old building. All of the classrooms that have a “B” in Read More …

Personal – A Books of Binding Flash Fiction

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“I don’t have this recipe. Are you sure this is right?” Winter frowned as she seeped magic into the thickening crimson liquid while she stirred with her focus object, a graceful oaken spoon thickly engraved with spell glyphs inherited from her great-grandmother. The nascent potion—poison?—had little odor, but the color just looked… malevolent. “Yes. Just keep pouring in power. It’s just about there.” Elspeth picked up her own focus object, a large silver spoon with glyphs elegantly engraved over the handle following the art deco pattern of polished and unpolished metal and began tapping it in a rapid pattern on Read More …

Lead Me Not into Temptation – A Books of Binding Flash Fiction

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“It would be so easy.” Elspeth blinked, confused. She did not remember coming outside. Could not remember anything past laying down for a nap. But here she was, in the cold quiet shade of the clifftop gazebo, staring at Winter’s back with Arariel’s voice in her head. Again. Nothing she did would shut him up. No matter how violent, how painful, she could not chase the demon away. “Just a push. No one is looking. And you’ll have Alerich all to yourself again.” Elspeth’s breath caught. She didn’t want that—did she? To be honest, she did not like the other Read More …

Midnight Feeding – A Books of Binding Flash Fiction

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A plaintive cry pierced the night and woke Etienne from a light sleep. His son, Noel, was hungry and it was his night to tend him. Etienne swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat up, running a hand through his hair, then catching it up in his hand, and securing it with a hair tie from his nightstand. He stood and stretched to his full height, his back popping, and pulled on the pair of jeans he had thrown over the back of the chair when he had gone to bed. As he reached for the Read More …

Musketeers – A Books of Binding Flash Fiction

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“Work in groups of three and be ready to present your project to the class at the next session. I’ll give you the rest of our time to find your groups and get started.” Alerich looked to the desk on his right at Thomas, his roommate and newest friend. Thomas was kind and funny and put up with Alerich’s melancholy and exuberance, both. They had been thick as thieves since the first day of term. “You and me then, mate?” “Yeah, but we’ll need a third, won’t we?” Alerich looked from the chestnut-skinned boy to the other lads in the Read More …

A Difference of Opinion – A Books of Binding Flash Fiction

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Lunch with his fiancé. Alerich stood beside the corral gate, watching Celia’s car arrive. That was going to take some getting used to. Lunch with his fiancé. His grandmother, Hildreth, the matron of both House Ashimar and House Van de Mere, considered it the arrangement of the decade, and it seemed a lot of their set agreed. The congratulations flowed in in an endless stream. Grandmother thought Celia was perfect for him. She was politically powerful, the only child of Roland Carralond, the Archwizard of the Wizard’s Council. With Alerich as his father’s heir, marrying Celia would give their family Read More …

Lively – A Books of Binding Flash Fiction

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“Girls, it’s time to stop playing and help me get dinner on the table. Sorcha, Mirilyn, you two go out to the garden and dig up a basket of potatoes and half a basket of carrots. Winter, you can help me snap beans. Now everyone, scoot!” Winter giggled as Grandma Maria brandished her spoon at her and her sisters, but they all moved to obey. Grandma Maria might look funny shaking her glyphed focus object, but she was also known to apply it liberally to shirking backsides and none of the girls relished a spanking today. Six-year-old Sorcha and Mirilyn Read More …

Tin Lizzie – A Books of Binding Flash Fiction

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“You bought another one?” A shameless smile pulled at the Vampire King’s lips, and he made a sweeping gesture to the shiny black automobile parked in front of the Seahaven Opera House. Under the August sun, the sheen to Erik’s new toy gleamed. “‘Another one,’ Katherine? You’re making it sound like an old nag!” Katherine cast a long-suffering look at Bridget, assuming that her ward would be as tired of Erik’s antics as she was. But the young seer grinned back at her. Apparently not. She smiled fondly at the girl—really a woman full-grown and at the height of her Read More …

Exposure – A Books of Binding Flash Fiction

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“Erik, you have to hold still for this to work.” “I still feel like it needs some adjustment.” Jason rolled his eyes in the direction of the new, breadbox-sized Kodak ‘Brownie’ camera and muttered softly in ancient Greek before raising his voice. “You do know that Katherine’s going to kill you, right?” He returned his attention to the viewfinder. Erik had a bee in his bonnet about getting this… picture… taken and wouldn’t be dissuaded. The Vampire King laughed. “Isn’t that the point of this exercise?” “Hold still. I’m still getting the exposure.” Dammit, Erik had moved again. “We’re going Read More …

Leftovers – A Books of Binding Flash Fiction

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Jessie St. James felt a grin growing as she watched Justin MacDowell toddle around the worn wood floors of Otherworld Books, the stubby felt feathers on his turkey outfit sashaying with each bit of progress he made. She looked at Brian and found him grinning, too, teeth a flash of white against terracotta skin, before he leaned over and redirected his adopted little brother. “It’s hard to believe how much he’s grown in just a month,” she said, and decided to plant her plump butt in the doorway of the stock room to corral him a little. Brian chuckled and Read More …

Things Fall Apart – A Books of Binding Flash Fiction

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He sniffed the air. The scent of burnt bones and under it—blood. A lot of it. And the outhouse smell of violent death. He walked the utility area carefully, reconstructing the deadly dance from a lifetime lived among its devotees. The spatters of brown flecks. The dust-free smears where a body had been dragged, struggling. A broken fingernail caught in the chain-link. The cloying smell of burning hair and garbage, and just a hint of cucumber. Acetone. At least they had destroyed the body, but it meant the attackers were not human. A human gang might have doused the body Read More …

There’s A Monster at the Door – A Books of Binding Flash Fiction

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The little monster crept toward the door of the enormous stone house. Maybe this was not such a good idea after all. Her friends had dared her to come here. They’d called her weak and scared. She swore she would show them that she was made of tougher stuff than they thought. But standing here, at the end of the mile-long drive, the house gave her pause—squatting here on the edge of the world, nothing but water as far as the eye could see on the other side. She eyed the door and tried to summon her courage. It was Read More …

Liminal Space – A Books of Binding Flash Fiction

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Etienne paused within the cold-flame-wreathed rift, within this liminal place between realms. Before him lay the Mortal Realm, and behind him, Faerie. He had spent weeks seeking a rift to pass through. He had wandered alone, his body aching with the agony of knife and fire that still wracked each step. His mind aching with the sting of humiliation, desperation, and betrayal. He had endured it all, looking for this passage—this escape. But now, he paused There was nothing for him among the mortals. Not anymore. Not since his beloved Bess had died. Not since the plague that had robbed Read More …

Uh-Huh – A Books of Binding Flash Fiction

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Elspeth plunked down the last square tile with enthusiasm. “I’m out.” Alerich eyed the pieces, trying to keep the corners of his mouth from twitching into a smile. He waved at the board. “You’re cheating.” Indignation gave her voice an edge. “Am not.” “Elspeth, ‘spong’ is not a word.” “Yes, it is.” “No, it’s really not.” “Yes, it really is.”  She picked at a speck of lint on her blouse. “It’s a potions word.” “Uh-huh.”  Alerich settled back in his chair and took a sip of his bourbon, then motioned at her with the glass.  “Define it.” “A spong is Read More …

Sleight of Hand – A Books of Binding Flash Fiction

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Winter Mulcahy thought the girl by the necklace rack was maybe eleven, probably twelve. She had a bruise peeking out just beneath the collar of her oversized coat, fingermarks if Winter was any judge, and she was an excellent judge of abuse. The girl was heavy in that way that said weight would follow her throughout her life, but she moved easily through the store, caramel eyes flickering constantly towards Winter from behind too-large glasses. The girl was stealing. That wasn’t unusual, though. Homeless kids often stole from the stores in the Historical District, trying to fill empty pockets and Read More …

Seashells – A Books of Binding Flash Fiction

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The boy was crying under a picnic table, but Winter didn’t know why. He was a lot older than her, six, maybe even seven. She crawled beneath and sat down next to him, not caring that her red and white sundress would get mussed. She’d lost her sandals somewhere but she’d managed to hold on to her red hat. Grandma Bridget said it was important so she didn’t burn in the summer sun. The boy looked up at her, his expression wary, and wiped his face on his coat sleeve. It was peculiar, wearing a suit jacket to a family Read More …