Cole Mbeki

I followed him into the square. My other two bodies came with me. All around us, shared sources argued with themselves through hundreds of mouths. Som…

I accepted the missing hour before fear could decide for me. Heat tore through both bodies. I remembered the solar field cracking open under our feet.…

The red outline wasn't on me. It was on Kass. Every door in the chamber locked. The officials just stared at each other, digging through archives for …

I hit writeback before he could stop me. His memory opened inside us. The quiet apartment. The ceremony feed on, never watched. The shame of staying a…

"Don't," Mara says. Just that. Theo and Diane both look at her. Mara's hands are shaking a little. "Something's wrong about this. If he wanted us to …

The tape machine still works. Surprising. The tape crackles, then their father's voice fills the room. Older than they remember it. Softer. "I need t…

I open it. Can't help it. I just have to see what's inside, what made someone write something so desperate.

Three days later same letter comes back. There's a sticky note taped to the front now. Different handwriting: 'PLEASE READ THIS.'

The trains boarded. I got on Vienna. She got on Venice. We were people in the same moment who chose not to share it. Years later I'd wonder if she tho…

The Venice train started boarding. She gathered her stuff. "I should go." "Yeah," I said. She nodded and turned toward the line. I wanted her to turn …

"Not all at once, it's not," I said. She looked at me. "I'm going to Venice for two weeks alone because everyone I rely on is either too tired or too …

Her phone buzzed. She looked at it and her face went tight. "Everything okay?" I asked. "My friend was supposed to pick me up from Venice. She's cance…

I opened my mouth, then closed it. She didn't look at me. Both our tickets said Platform 9 but the board had gone dark. I finally tried: "Weird timing…

We settled on a bench and she just started talking. Bad breakup. Worse job. The trip was supposed to reset her. I told her my version — burnout, the n…

But the dam broke too early. A trickle became a crack became a flood while the Legion was still on the far bank. The soldiers saw the water coming and…

The horn's blast rolled across the valley, and something in the dragon answered it. Three hundred years of hiding cracked open at once. It rose over t…

The boy didn't leave. He sat in the cave mouth, wrapped his thin arms around his knees, and talked. He told the dragon his little sister's name. He to…

The boy reached his village as the sky turned gray. He banged on every door. "They're coming! Wake up!" Sleepy farmers stumbled out with pitchforks an…

Mara doesn't read another word. She shoves the black book into her bag, locks both cabinets, and heads for the door. But a man in a gray coat is alrea…

If her name is in the book, then Mara isn't who she thinks she is. She calls her aunt and asks one question: was she adopted? There's a long silence. …

Edwin decided the slot was a trick, maybe a prank from the new postmaster. He marched next door to ask his neighbor Rosa if she'd seen anyone sneaking…

At noon the newspaper thumped onto his porch, dated the next day. The front page screamed: BRIDGE COLLAPSES ON RIVER ROAD, FIVE HURT. Edwin's stomach …

Mira didn't trust the readings yet. Instead she pulled up the station logs and searched the word 'greenhouse.' Most files were boring. But one was loc…

Mira backed away from the pulsing wall, grabbed a sample jar, and pressed it to a glowing leaf. The light seeped into the jar and stayed there, bright…

Mira ran to the control room and aimed the station's big telescope at the blip. After a long minute, an image sharpened on the screen — not a star, bu…

He followed the woman into a small office. She showed him a wall of photos, all of him, taken on different days, all confused. "You come every night,"…

He decided to search the station instead of waiting. He checked his jacket again and found a folded map tucked in the lining. He opened it and read ev…

The clerk leaned close to the glass. "Veliska isn't a place you find on maps," he said quietly. "It's where people go to remember. Your train leaves i…

Milo stopped. "What happens if I don't pay it back?" he asked. The librarian's gears slowed. "Then a day gets taken instead," she said. "And not alway…

The borrowed day was amazing. Milo's volcano worked, his slideshow ran perfectly, and he won first place. But on the bus home he read the card again. …