77 Results in the "Burned Cover" category
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Chapter
26 – Prison Break
“I doubt you got visitation approval on such short notice,” Erika said. It was a bit surreal to be seated in a restaurant in the middle of downtown Chicago, happily open on Christmas Eve, while just down the road stood a tall concrete skyscraper with narrow slits for windows—the Metropolitan Correctional Center - Chicago. She had driven past it at least a dozen times, probably more, and knew what it was, but it was still just odd to be sitting here, having a sandwich, while six hundred people were…-
279.2 K • Ongoing
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“Hello!” Erika called out. “Anyone home?” The aged wooden door creaked, long and squeaky, as Erika pushed it open. A darkened foyer greeted her. One musty rug sat on the floor while massive webs clung to the corners. A grandfather’s clock, frozen in time, stood just in front of a set of stairs. A heavy scent of mold hung in the air, thankfully swept away by a sharp draft that blew in from behind Erika. She stepped inside, taking in the environment. It certainly gave off a perfect spooky…
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279.2 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
12 – To Value the Time We Have
Erika sat at the kitchen counter of the Walker rental house. School was out, Thanksgiving was tomorrow, which left several days without her having to worry about pretending to care. She really should just stop going—having a GED meant she wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place—but it was a decent place to meet up with Daniel, hear gossip from Kassandra, and otherwise have some amount of normalcy in her life. She certainly wasn’t getting any normalcy here. Leah—and Erika was…-
279.2 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
17 – Another Brick in the Wall
“This feels weirder than normal,” Erika said as they blazed down the streets of Chicago. Carter bending time wasn’t usually all that apparent. The effect gradually fell off as physical distance increased, leaving a rather large bubble around him where people could get more time per time, thus accomplish more, move faster, or otherwise just experience time a little faster than normal. From her perspective, nothing normally felt different either. She could drive the speed limit from her relative…-
279.2 K • Ongoing
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“Do you know anything about this place?” Erika asked as they slowly drove along the black cobblestone bridge. Now that they were moving, she had a little more mental space for taking in the new realm they were in. Periodic raised archways stretched high into the red-tinged mist, each decorated with tall, inhuman statues made from polished obsidian. A gnawing unease settled on Erika’s shoulders as they passed one particular statue, feeling like she was being watched by the multitude of eyes peering…
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279.2 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
27 – A New Life on Lease
“Wait… we can’t spend the ten million? What the fuck?” Erika stared daggers at the duffel bag now sitting on the Walker rental home dining table. The whole ride back, Erika had been more excited about that than the whole deal with the devil, thinking it was their ticket to buying a real house again, not having to rob ATMs, and maybe slipping a few thousand to Rick until he could get the arcade up and making money—assuming it ever made money. “The money belongs to Harriet Lavender,” The…-
279.2 K • Ongoing
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“Hey, Danny, think fast.” With a light, underhand toss, the small metal cube sailed from Erika’s gloved hand through the air, right to a startled Daniel, who, as reflexes dictated, scrambled to catch the flying object. His hands clasped around it, leaving him sighing in relief. For one brief moment, he started to inspect it, only to pause and look up with a frown on his face. He rubbed at one ear while looking around, turning to Rick, then to Anna. “Can you—” he started, speaking louder…
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279.2 K • Ongoing
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“How, exactly, do you break curses?” Erika’s eyes lingered on the scenery flying past Rick’s van as she considered her response. In truth, she did not know how she broke anything. The exploit was there, a flaw in reality that she—and she alone—could perceive. Physical things were the easiest and most obvious things she could break; Erika had stumbled across her ability to break things like security, both digital and otherwise, as well as break the more metaphysical connections between…
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279.2 K • Ongoing
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Erika checked her watch, mentally counting how long each second took to pass. Normally, time moved at a fairly regular pace of one second per second, but her watch accelerated after she broke things. Starting four hours behind real time, she had until the watch caught up to the current hour before the ripples of her power would propagate, thus becoming detectable to The Mummy. The tests with the cubes had gone on for an hour, breaking all five of the cubes during that time. She had also performed a few…
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279.2 K • Ongoing
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Chapter
31 – i – The Daughter
Delilah staggered through the door to her apartment quarters, following after her mother. The air around them was a noxious cloud that smelled of acrid incense with a metallic aftertaste, clinging to them like a sticky, slimy film. Her shoes left burgundy stains with every step, and she couldn’t bring herself to care. “I’m taking a shower,” Delilah said. “We’re not supposed to use hot water after ten.” Delilah trudged past her mother, grinding the heels of her shoes into the frayed…-
279.2 K • Ongoing
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