Cole Mbeki

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. …

Mara decided not to go alone. She ran to wake old Pete, the only person in town who had actually known the last keeper. Pete opened his door in his ro…

Mara tied up the boat and climbed the slick rock steps to the door. It was already open a crack. She pushed it wide and called out. A voice from up th…

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. …

Maren grabs the red switch, desperate to end it fast. "No, the green!" Sol cries, but her hand is already moving. The loop snaps shut hard. Maren wake…

Maren yanks her wrist free and steps back. This is just an exhausted brain playing tricks, she tells herself. She has slept badly for forty days. She …

Sol grips the rail and pulls himself upright, shaking. "I was a researcher. I built a machine to repeat one safe day forever, so my dying daughter cou…

Nerai runs instead to wake the head breed-master, Ortham. She pounds on his door and begs him to spare the hatchling. He opens it, half asleep and fro…

She wraps the hatchling in her coat and carries it toward the sea-gate. It is heavier than it looks and keeps slipping. Behind her, a lantern flares. …

Mara holds her position. She wants to know who these people are before she turns her back on them in the dark. One diver leaves the Vares group and ri…

Mara's grief turns to fury and she shoves him back. If he knew her husband, he knew what happened and said nothing for years. He raises both hands, th…

Halfway up, Mara's gauge reads wrong and her vision narrows. She rose too fast, rattled by what she's holding. She forces herself to stop and hang on …

Mara cuts the chain and pries the crate open. Inside, sealed in plastic, are bricks of cash and a logbook stamped with her late husband's company. The…

The road curved, and there at the end stood a small cottage Wren had never seen, its door wide open and a candle burning inside. The lantern floated t…

Wren didn't trust it. She cupped her hand and pinched the wick hard to snuff it. The flame slipped sideways through her fingers without burning her, t…

The lantern led Wren up a hill path she'd never noticed, away from the sleeping town. At the top stood a crooked wooden door with no house around it, …