1. Janus

    Dare Never Enough

    The world came back to him in fragments. A jolt. The groan of wagon wheels. The rhythmic snort of the yak pulling them through the night. Each sound reached him as if through water: muffled, distant, unreal. His head lolled against the bench, every breath a tug-of-war between will and weakness...
  2. Janus

    Private House of Wolves

    Janus wanted it to be a physical thing. Something he could strike, choke, burn. Something with lungs to empty and a throat to silence. The thought that it might not be, that the horror whispering in his father’s voice could exist only in his mind, was far worse. His thoughts had always been his...
  3. Janus

    Dare Never Enough

    Rest. The word felt like mockery now, something distant and absurd, belonging to another life. The pain beneath his ribs throbbed like a living thing, and the blood drying on his lips pulled his skin tight every time he breathed. If he’d had an ounce more strength, he might have laughed at her...
  4. Janus

    Private House of Wolves

    The voice rasped again, a cruel mockery wrapped in the timbre of his father. It tried to dig under his ribs, to drag him back into that small, cowering boy who had no say in his own fate. Janus’s throat locked. For a heartbeat the flame in his palm shrank to a quivering ember. It was the same...
  5. Janus

    Dare Never Enough

    It was the most horrifying sound he had ever heard, the splintering collapse of his workshop, the breaking of everything he had built. Janus dropped to his hands and knees, each breath a ragged rasp that dragged copper up his throat. Blood dripped from his lips into the dirt in dark, spreading...
  6. Janus

    Private House of Wolves

    The words scraped across Janus’ ears like rusted nails, and his flame sputtered violently at the sound. Not a draft, not hunger in the shadows—will. Something was shaping the dark. Shaping the voice. His chest tightened. Daniyah was right. That reek...too acrid, too heavy to be lingering death...
  7. Janus

    Dare Never Enough

    The heat pressed against Janus’ cheek, smoke clawing down into his throat as he wheezed, trying to force his legs beneath him. The bench at his back felt steady, but the rest of the world lurched, blurred by the haze of smoke and pain. His head turned toward the voice. Clear, strong, but not...
  8. Janus

    Dare Never Enough

    The workshop was alive with ghosts of invention. Not literal spirits, though a half-dozen jars along the top shelf pulsed with faint lights that might’ve argued otherwise, but the shadows of half-born ideas. Racks of crossbows lined the wall, no two alike: one designed to fire bolts of silver...
  9. Janus

    Private House of Wolves

    "It wants us inside." Of all the emotions and feelings that this forsaken shell of a homestead dredged up from the deepest pits of his soul, and there were many, Janus did not feel the invitation that Daniyah seemed to. He did not want to enter, did not wish to linger in the presence of these...
  10. Janus

    Private House of Wolves

    Janus didn't like the woods. Dense and damp, it reminded him of home. The brushing of mossy bark against his arms as he weaved between the trees was too akin to the feel of rot, too reminiscent of a broken toy, cast aside and beyond salvage. Then there were the animals-- They never spoke to...
  11. Janus

    Janus

    The light was peeking in from underneath the door again. Father had arrived home later than usual, and from the sound of it, he wasn't pleased. Without thinking, I held my breath, knowing I'd get the rod if he found me still awake at so late an hour. It was useless, my insides began to burn...
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