Lin Wei
Continuations written
We followed the weak voice and found an old man wedged in a crevice, his ankle swollen. "I came looking for the gold years ago," he said. "Don't make …
▲ 4 votesMarco held up a hand. "Wait. Fresh scratches means someone's still down here." He clicked off his headlamp. We stood in the dark, listening over the r…
▲ 7 votesInside, our lights found shelves of dynamite crates, rusted tools, and a single iron strongbox on a table. Marco lifted the lid. Gold coins glinted, p…
▲ 8 votesMirren didn't touch it. Nine winters had taught her one trick: when the dead reach up, you give them something else to hold. She pulled a bundle of dr…
▲ 8 votes"What bell?" Mirren demanded. The blind man pointed east with a shaking arm, toward the ruined watchtower she'd been warned never to climb. "They hung…
▲ 8 votesEdda reads the newest card, dated this year. The last line is different from the rest: 'We're sorry. We're finally telling.' Below it, all eight signa…
▲ 5 votesEdda walks the line of survivors instead. Eight blankets, eight pairs of red eyes. She asks each one the same simple question: who lived in room 9? Ev…
▲ 8 votesEdda holds the smudged page up to the morning light. Under the smear, she can still feel the dents the pen left in the paper. She rubs a pencil over i…
▲ 8 votesMira pulled the plug instead of smashing it. The core went dark but the data inside survived, free now, loose in the Bureau's network. Somewhere it wo…
▲ 4 votesBefore she touched anything, Mira read the order again. 'Erase the General.' Not his crimes. Not his victims. Him. She frowned. If she deleted the man…
▲ 7 votesMira kept going, faster now. Each file she fed the machine made the room hotter. Then a voice came out of the warmth, dry and amused. 'You're not dele…
▲ 8 votesMara pulled the blanket over her head. "Old houses do that," she whispered. "Go to sleep." Daniel tried. But the pacing matched his own heartbeat, and…
▲ 8 votesThey searched every wall for a real way out. In the parlor they found a fresh mattress on the floor, exactly like the one they'd brought. A young coup…
▲ 7 votesDaniel opened the nearest door. An empty bedroom, bare floor, one window. But the floorboards in the center were worn smooth in a long oval, exactly t…
▲ 9 votesTheo grabs his coat instead and stands. "That's me," he says, nodding at the bus. "I should go." He's been doing this all year, leaving right before t…
▲ 9 votes"Then say it to me instead," she says. Theo reaches across and takes both her hands. "I love you. Have for ages." Outside, another bus rolls past, and…
▲ 11 votesTheo sits back down. "Okay," he says. "I'll stay." Then, after a breath: "But I'm moving to Seattle in three weeks, Mara. My brother got me a job. I w…
▲ 10 votesPip decided to ask a grown-up first. She biked straight to Mr. Alvi's bait shop at the pier, where the old sailors traded stories. If anyone knew abou…
▲ 7 votesAt the harbor, Pip found a row of crooked old boathouses. On the wall of the last one hung a faded paper that looked exactly like her map's missing ha…
▲ 9 votesMaren swung her lantern at the voice on instinct. It shattered, oil sprayed, and a flame caught the dry old pews. The chapel roared into fire. The voi…
▲ 3 votesMaren did the only thing she knew how to do. She grabbed the nearest bell rope and rang it backward, the way her teacher once warned her never to. The…
▲ 6 votesMaren couldn't do it. She would not trade a living person to keep her gift, no matter how many dead it helped. "No deal," she said, and dropped her ha…
▲ 7 votesMaren slammed the casebook shut and marched to the bell tower to find the prankster. But the rope hung still, gathering frost, and no footprints marke…
▲ 9 votesMaren took her spade to the far corner where no grave had ever been dug. The frozen ground gave way far too easily, like it had been waiting. Two feet…
▲ 9 votesPriya didn't stop. She was ahead, and ahead meant the bonus. She pushed her drill harder toward the glow. The turquoise light pulsed brighter and fast…
▲ 7 votesThey both shut their drills down and met outside on the ice. Through the clear crust, the glow spread wide beneath their boots, soft and blue. "We can…
▲ 9 votes"Why give it all away for free?" Theo asks. Walt thinks for a moment. "When Marguerite got sick, everyone wanted to charge me. Doctors, the funeral ho…
▲ 6 votesMonths pass. The bike runs now, but more than that, Theo never really leaves. He puts up a second sign next to Walt's, in his own handwriting: AND WHA…
▲ 7 votesAn older woman comes in holding a wooden clock tight against her chest. "It stopped the night my husband passed," she says quietly. "Three years ago. …
▲ 8 votesWalt opens the robot's back and finds a tiny snapped wire. "See that?" he says, holding it up. "That's the whole problem right there. Small thing." Th…
▲ 8 votes