Author: Jayce Ran
-
Chapter 19: Crowns And Pitchforks The crowned pitchfork was sprayed across the sidewalk in flat black paint, crude and unmistakable. Apricot stood over it, heart going fast. The pitchfork’s handle pointed up the block toward a sagging auto shop. Grease…
-
Chapter 18: Spilling Tea Outside, the midday sun finally broke through the clouds, but Apricot felt none of its warmth. She stormed down the sidewalk, humiliation burning under her skin. I tried to do it the right way, and I…
-
Chapter 17: Protect Yourself Sleep refused to come. Twenty minutes of staring at the ceiling, and Apricot had slipped out past Jasper, down the stairs, into the night. The wooden gate swung beneath her hand. Beyond it, the suburb lay…
-
Chapter 16: The Dog From The Window The borrowed peace lasted until Jasper went upstairs. Apricot stayed on the couch a few minutes longer while the house quieted around her. Their mother was somewhere over the ocean by now. Their…
-
Chapter 15: Stupid Joy Low chanting filled the spire. Far above the city’s neon sprawl, behind glass and steel that no commoner would ever see, the nobility of Okabe sat in their high-backed chairs. Suits pressed. Masks lacquered. They watched…
-
Chapter 14: Can’t Be Crazy An hour later, Apricot was on her knees in her bathroom, gripping the cold rim of the toilet as her stomach turned itself out. The retching came in waves, each one working through her until…
-
Chapter 13: Simon Says A deep, weathered voice rolled through the chamber. “Report. What have you gathered about Roe’s death.” In the heart of Okabe’s decaying city lodge, two men in suits stood before a gilded throne. Neon from the…
-
Chapter 12: Shelf Life The fluorescent lights inside Ichigari Grocery hummed their usual dead note. Apricot swiped her ID, slipped behind the counter, and clocked in. Her hands hadn’t settled since the walk. The pop song was gone, the headphones…
-
Chapter 11: Morning Light Morning sun came through the blinds in pale bars across the breakfast table. For once, the Signa home felt still in a way that didn’t unsettle her. Winifred had come home. That alone changed the air.…
-
An Instructive Treatise for the Uninitiated Composed by Archivist Mereth Talo, Third Keeper of the Technical Scrolls Imperial Library, Laver You ask me of glythes, and I confess I am pleased by the question. Too few in our age understand…
