Rafael Cruz

Vesna couldn't help it. Halfway up the first slope, out of Doru's sight, she knelt by the sled and pried up a corner of the nearest crate lid with her…

There was no time to outrun it. The snow swept the sled away and rolled Vesna down the mountain in a roaring white tumble. She came to rest in the dar…

Two hours up, a light flicked on across the valley, then another. Lanterns. Someone was following her tracks in the snow, moving fast and in a line. T…

I knocked the name cards off the table and turned to leave. The footprints on the floor had multiplied, leading every direction at once, and the stair…

Instead of filming, I followed the kitchen out into a hallway. My lamp found a staircase going up, the steps strangely free of mud. Most of Hesper was…

I froze, and that was my mistake. The four faceless figures crossed the kitchen without seeming to move, and the nearest one pressed its smooth face t…

I knelt by the small plate on the floor. Scratched into the dried silt beside it was one word: STAY. My air gauge clicked in my ear. When I looked up,…

Vesna sees it too late. The woman is lying to make her drop her guard. The numbers were a trap all along, looping her right into Calder's last revenge…

Vesna stops waiting. Under the table she thumbs the small device in her coat, the one that crushes a single second flat. She locks onto Calder's timel…

Calder lets go of whatever was under the table. "You think the target is each other," he says. "It isn't. The second we're both fighting over belongs …

Mira pressed the last key. The eleven notes shot out into the dark like a signal, racing back through three winters to a cold girl on the steps who ne…

Mira didn't open it. She shoved the envelope in her coat and watched the crowd. Someone had to be playing a trick on her. Then she spotted a woman acr…

She played the eleven notes backward. The sound came out wrong and right at the same time. The streetlights flickered. For one second Mira saw herself…

Mara let go of the clock and backed away, heart pounding. The hands kept spinning on their own. A second Mara stood in the shop doorway, soaked in rai…

Mara grabbed her keys and ran. Tomas always got coffee at the corner shop on Tuesday mornings. If she could reach him before noon, she could warn him …

Halloran didn't trust the captain's grin. Before leaving, he flipped to the last page of the notebook. The dead man had scrawled one line: "Don't go a…

Halloran looked into the open hole. At the bottom lay a sealed iron door, and pressed against it from the inside was a pale handprint, far too large t…

He found the church, half-sunk and roofless, its bell lying green in the mud. Ten paces north, his shovel struck wood. He dug fast and pulled up a sea…

Safe on the roof, Wren spoke into the jar with a steady voice. 'Keep your feet on the ground unless you choose to rise.' The green glow settled. Pip's…

The second name was Old Marta, who lived alone by the well. Her jar was pale blue and cold to the touch. The note said she'd wished to 'never feel lon…

Inside, every loaf glowed red-hot and would not cool down. Tomas flapped a towel, his eyes wide. 'They keep getting hotter!' he cried. Wren saw how th…

Mara pulled her hand back. She wasn't going to break something she didn't understand. "Fine," she said. "I'll wait it out." "Good choice," the voice s…

A voice came from nowhere, calm and flat, filling the dark kitchen. "Anomaly detected. One citizen active during Quiet Hour." Mara spun around. No spe…

"I'll forget," Mara said. "I just want to sleep." The man nodded like he understood completely. "Most do." He touched a small remote and the streetlig…

Outside, the air felt thick and still. Mara walked up to the frozen man and waved a hand in front of his eyes. Nothing. But his watch was glowing, tic…

Mara studied the plans, then looked up. "You really were going to do this without me." Theo shrugged. "I hoped I wouldn't have to." They broke ground …

Mara put the letter in a drawer and tried to forget it. But that night she pulled out an old shoebox and found a crayon drawing she'd made at ten: a s…

Saturday, the dock smelled exactly like she remembered. Theo was already there, older but grinning the same crooked way. He rolled out a yellowed map …

Milo tiptoed to the side door, said one last "goodnight" to the shelves, and turned the handle. It opened. He stepped out into the cool dark and gentl…

Milo grabbed his fallen comic and bolted for the front doors. His sneakers slapped the floor, way too loud. Behind him, the breathing stopped all at o…