The heat was brutal in the weeks before Ari was captured. Parched Goondiwindi soil baked in forty-degree days and denuded trees stood cemented in place by air that refused to move. Nothing moved in that heat. Nothing but the Southerners hitting a rare breach in the wall—they darted through the streets like wild rabbits, their […]

Mama tells me that growing up, all she wanted was a wraparound porch. Says while those other girls were dreaming of diamond rings and cashmere, she just wanted her wraparound, a way to entertain friends after Sunday services while enjoying all of God’s glory. “No one should be buying diamonds anyway,” I tell her. “There’s […]

Dandelion root. Pulled up from the tired grass. Shake the dirt loose. Rinse in the creek. Chew. Bitter. So bitter. I wonder why I did it… maybe I thought it would taste like the rest of the plant. Like the milky, squeaky stalks that taste like spring green. Like the silky, fluttery heads that peel […]

A Soul of the Earth story Stiletto Sally’s nails scrape the screen of her tablet as she flicks through my medical file. “Yesterday’s results are in. All your bodily functions are in order. And your intelligence test scores were satisfactory. We’ll allow you into the next phase.” She tucks the tablet between her pointy elbow […]

Don’t date a fungus, my sister had tried to warn me. Too eager, too needy, too much of a chance it would smother my body in smelly gray peach fuzz, stealing all the love I was desperate to give it. All true, in the end. On my right foot, at least. My pinky-toe dewy and […]

The sea off Dapit-Hapon holds untold magic. That much I’ve always known. When I was small enough to fit in the crook between her lap and her belly, Mama would tell me of the enchanted waters and the secrets they hold, her golden shell necklace warm against my cheek as she spoke of the sirena […]

The string pulled taut at three AM. Bobby was facing the other way, the sleeping bag corkscrewed down to his feet. Joel lay very still, watching his brother’s shoulders rise and fall, looking at the soft fuzz on the edge of Bobby’s ear illuminated in the light from the fish tank. Then he gently traced […]

Ava stands on top of the monkey bars in a way that doesn’t look possible. Or at least it shouldn’t. Look possible, I mean. Maybe possible isn’t the right word, but either way it doesn’t seem advisable, the way she has her feet planted on the green handholds like it’s no different than the sidewalk. […]

Chapter One There’s this video of Maria João Pires online that I’ve watched a thousand times. It’s 1999 and she’s in Amsterdam, set to perform the piano solo in Mozart’s D minor concerto with Riccardo Chailly conducting. The first few syncopated notes sound from the violins and violas, and as the cellos and basses enter, […]

Second Place Winner of Voyage’s Lucky No. 7 Challenge Gold and sequined, it shone on the rack like a sunrise, bursting like the dawn over a field of muted flannels. It was armor, but nothing like a suit. It was flowing, fluid—a soft shape with hard edges. It signaled protection to the wearer and warning […]

Ella, in the dim, flickering light of the janitor’s closet, could see that the berries had regrown their teeth. Not whole sets—at least, not yet. Cranking the dial on her newly stolen microscope, she leaned over Sebastian, who was prepping a fresh pot of jam on the floor, and she zoomed in on the fruit: […]

“Zachary Kahn-Molina, do you have siblings?” Mr. Rattrazino paused, stub of yellow chalk cinched between his second and third fingers like the suave, self-destructive, chain-smoking lead of a 1930s movie. Rattrazino—mostly, we called him “Mr. R,” though a few smart-asses (usually after they’d bombed a test) muttered “Mr. Rat” behind his back—was old-school that way. […]