"Mom? Can I go back for some more?" She glanced at her boyfriend's face and saw the look of disapproval, yet another sign this relationship was a huge mistake, before saying, "Sure. Go ahead, buddy." The heavyset 11-year old pushed back from the table then headed for the buffet to fill a second plate as the man his mom was dating watched him walk, shaking...
Coach Klein blew the whistle, signaling the end of practice for the day. Ryan finished his lap in the pool and pulled himself out, glancing around the indoor pool complex. He noticed the rest of his team gathering over in the far corner of the pool, and jointed them. "Okay guys, good practice today," Coach Klein said. "Now I don't have to tell you all about...
Chapter 11: Pain Present day Gabriel led Mariah out of the mansion to the great lawn. The pavement of the walkway felt warm beneath her feet. "Master?" she asked tentatively. Master Gabriel blinked, and didn't respond, clearly lost in thought. After a moment he looked at her. Mariah took a deep breath, realizing that was all the permission to speak h...
Chapter 3: Riviera As he had promised, Animal let Gabriel tend to Rose's wounds. At Gabriel's direction she lay on the couch, trembling. Just as Animal had intimated, her cuts were not as deep nor nearly as dangerous as Gabriel had thought. Except for faded scars the rest of her skin was unmarked. "I'll need clean cotton cloth," Gabriel said. Animal looke...
Chapter 22: Knowledge Mariah remembers A portly, officious looking man found Master Cassender working in a field about two miles to the east of the cabin. "Making your rounds, Jonquil?" Master Cassender said to him. Master Jonquil checked Mariah's chain, then drew Master Cassender away. He looked at Mariah as he whispered, but Master Cassender shook his h...
Chapter 12: Stretched Present day When Jordyn finished showing Mariah the stretches, she brought saddles into the stall. She seemed to assume that Mariah would want to help her clean and condition them. Somewhat to her own surprise, Mariah did not refuse. In answer to Jordyn's question, Mariah struggled to describe where she had ridden with Gabriel ear...
Wednesday, July 15th, 2020 The second year students were sat at their desks in room 69G, discussing the various episodes of their rather hectic and eventful weekends as they waited for their teacher to arrive. Finally, and some ten minutes after the chime of the school bell, the door opened and in stepped Kat Dennings; the buxom brunette carrying a canvas...
Chapter 7: Wounds Present day Mariah held the crook of Master Gabriel's arm. She tried not to lean on it too heavily. She could feel his warmth radiating through his shirtsleeve. He smelled good. Clean, like rain. She had never particularly noticed the smell of a master before, except their breath when it was hot and rancid on her face. The old memory of...
Chapter 1: Stranger The stranger had tried to steel himself to the size of Riviera, or at least what its size had been a century. The first time he looked at the maps in Harmony's library he assumed the scale must be wrong. The elders assured him there was no error. Harmony, with all its outlying farms and valleys, would fit into Riviera's walled land a doz...
Chapter 4: The gift Once Pegasus had rested sufficiently from their journey, Gabriel began taking long solitary rides on the mare. He sought out the uninhabited areas where farmland had lain fallow for so long that it had given way to meadows and young forests. One early morning he saw Stefan, the stablemaster, leading a speckled mare out of the stable, f...