1
Do you think we can be friends?” I asked. He stared up at the ceiling. “Probably not, but we can pretend.Priya Ardis
2
Vane grabbed me. “DuLac, let’s chat.” British-speak for “Stand still while I yell at you.Priya Ardis
3
Vane’s lips tightened to suppress a smile. “Why so hostile, love?”“ You whacked me on the head with a ball! ”“ You deserved it.Priya Ardis
4
I caught his hand. “What do you want me to do?” Leaning down, he kissed the pulse beating on my neck just above the damaged skin. “Tomorrow, I need you to die.Priya Ardis
5
He’d used the amulet to read my thoughts again. I pictured smacking him in the face.Priya Ardis
6
I noticed him right away. No, it wasn’t his lean, rugged face. Or the dark waves of shiny hair that hung just a little too long on his forehead. It wasn’t the slim, collarless biker jacket he wore, hugging his lean shoulders. It was the way he stood. The confident way he waited in the cafeteria line to get a slice of pizza. He didn’t saunter. He didn’t amble. He stood at the center, and let the other people buzz around him. His stance was straight and sure. .Priya Ardis
7
Rough palms cradled my face while my fingers gripped the pillow on either side of his. Lips, teeth, tongue, mingled together. I ate him up and didn’t let go until I had to come up for air.Priya Ardis
8
Matt was almost completely naked. A tattered loincloth and an ugly chain with a yellow diamond were his only apparel.Priya Ardis
9
Everyone knows: people who cross boarders do so for a reason.M.D. Elster
10
When one finds oneself in the kind of strange, unsettling circumstances as I presently find myself, it is only natural, after all, to have a few, unusual, vivid dreams.M.D. Elster
11
Vane grabbed me. “DuLac, let’s chPriya Ardis
12
Why did you wear heels? How are you supposed to fight a gargoyle in what you're wearing?Priya Ardis
13
Well, can you tell her that?" He looked down at his feet. "I will. I will." Guy-speak for, "I plan to keep avoiding her until she gives up.Priya Ardis
14
If I were to lock you up in a dungeon, I guarantee you would not be bored.Priya Ardis
15
You'll get fired if anyone finds out about us! "" So many rules in this century, " Vane muttered.Priya Ardis
16
Plus, I happened to be a history nerd. Why else would I be interested in a guy born in the year 519?Priya Ardis
17
The last declaration he'd made to me hung between us. The L word. The one that had nothing to do with like.Priya Ardis
18
The combination of razor-sharp wit (completely real) and his credentials (completely fake) had won them over in the end.Priya Ardis
19
Someday my prince will come, ” she lamented softly, “too fast.Melinda DuChamp
20
I… I can’t. I wish I were a little bolder.”“ What for?” the Hatter asked. “Being a small rock wouldn’t be much fun.Melinda DuChamp
21
Squeezing her eyes shut, hating every moment, the put a single finger in and moved it around.“ There’s nothing, ” she lamented.“ Go deeper.” Alice did.“ Deeper.”“ There’s nothing, ” she yelled, pulling out her hand in anger and humiliation.“ Of course there is nothing, ” the Hatter said. “Who ever heard of such a ridiculous thing?”“ So why did you make me do it?” Alice demanded.“ Because it was really hot, ” he answered.Melinda DuChamp
22
The hours wear on, while the surreal atmosphere of the asylum does not wear off.M.D. Elster
23
Have I..." I venture, terrified of the potential answer. "Have I gone mad?" "No, no, no." She says. "Okay, oui, peut-être, that depends. Maybe you have gone a little mad, and only for a little spell.M.D. Elster
24
Putting her mind to it, Love would become familiar with his body. She would know him from top to bottom, from beginning to end. Touching this boy would be the death, and life, of her.Natalia Jaster
25
The sound of the gunshot in that narrow tunnel was like being inside a thunderbolt. I held my eyes closed, my fingers still clinging to the barrel." Ow! " the Mad Hatter shouted a distance ahead. "That thing is loud! " I opened my eyes. Nine of Spades lay in front of me. He didn't move." Heh. You've got quite a roar, little lion. I've never seen a lion's roar do that, but I've never seen an elephant fit in a tin can either. .DAVID D HAMMONS
26
I don’t know how much longer I can keep pretending. How long I can contain the storm I am becoming; the emotions pushed aside that grow and strengthen, clamoring for their release. I can resist only so much. One day I won’t be able to fake a smile or weave a lie. One day I am going to explode.Tabi Card
27
How would I feel about hearing that the plague killed another nearby village a month later? Didn’t I tell you stupidity is the eighth sin? Excerpt From: Cameron Jace. “.Cameron Jace
28
Magic. For the first time, she heard the word and felt a twist in her stomach, a little thrill. Having that kind of power, that kind of influence... it was a wicked thing.Rhiannon Thomas
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My days are filled with you, and for that I am more grateful than you could ever knowKennedy Vega
30
The smiting and righteous retribution happens less often than you would think - HadesKennedy Vega
31
Perhaps being Death's companion would not be the most terrible thing in the worldKennedy Vega
32
You have done well so far, my magnificent creature. Soon you will be with me.Dave Zeltserman
33
Things hurt, and don't hurt, and hurt again.Jodi Lynn Anderson
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Some stories aren't meant to be told. The more they get told, the more they change from what they once were, worn down and smooth like pieces of sea glass too beautiful to have ever been broken bottles.Caren Gussoff
35
Did you recently turn into a jerk or have you been one since birth?Priya Ardis
36
Do I look like I want to be involved in your teen love saga? Ask someone who cares.Priya Ardis
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He’s so powerful. Who knows maybe he’s advanced past eatingPriya Ardis
38
My name is Arianna Morganna Brittany DuLac--you can imagine why I went by the name Ryan.Priya Ardis
39
Soft sun shone down on a misty cathedral at the opposite end of a football-field length courtyard. The cathedral had a long pointed tower with beautiful rose and ivory stained glass windows. Pink-petal flowers and deep green ivy climbed the stones from the ground to it’s roof. A large fountain stood in the middle of the courtyard with water falling from several lion’s heads. Between the misty air and rolling slope of the earth, the grounds reminded me of a long lost fairy tale.Priya Ardis
40
Marilynn...passed out black cases to everyone. I opened mine to find an i Pad inside. Several candidates whistled. Despite my agitated state, it impressed me too. Maybe wizard school wasn’t going to be as lame as I had thought.“ All of your schedules and assignments will be done on these, ” Marilynn explained. “The whole school is on these. We’ve had them for awhile now.Priya Ardis
41
Almost immediately, I found the red door into the library. I opened it idly- and the breath stopped in my throat. It was the same room I remembered: the shelves, the lion-footed table, the white bass-relief of Clio. But now, tendrils of dark green ivy grew between the shelves, reaching toward the books as if they were hungry to read. White mist flowed along the floor, rippling and tumbling as if blown by wind. Across the ceiling wove a network of icy ropes like tree roots. They dripped- not little droplets like the ice melting off a tree but grape-sized drops of water, like giant tears, that splashed on the table, plopped to the floor. .Rosamund Hodge
42
Either I'm changing very quickly, and everything is standing still, or I'm the one standing still and everything is changing around me. Either way, I'm out of joint with the world.Bernie Su
43
But the nightmare was a strange comfort to me; in it, I found a sense of escape, and were it possible to go live in that nightmare, I would have, bizzare though that may sound.M.D. Elster
44
My reading and studying and retellings of old stories didn't do anything except help me think better. I was at least thoughtful. Too thoughtful, my friends said. And all I thought about was myths and old paintings that made me feel drunk on wine or struck my lightning but didn't matter to most people.Francesca Lia Block
45
OMG. He's a gift shop, a lamb kebab with mint, /a solar panel poetry machine with biceps. He's the path/through the dark woods, the light on the page, a postcard/from the castle and a one-way ticket there. He's the most/astounding arrangement of molecules ever! / Just look at those tights! An honest-to- God prince at last.Ron Koertge
46
And, they would still be alive today... If they hadn't died, that isRotraut Susanne Berner
47
She started life with a number, not a name. Class: S, No. 13295. She has them memorized by rote, though nobody ever calls her that. The Scientists feel foolish addressing her in long, bewildering strings of alphanumerics. They have told her so themselves. To save time, they simply call her “Snow.Nenia Campbell
48
What you are about to read are based on true events. It will make you laugh, it will make you cry, and it will break your heart. Don't say I didn't warn you.Melissa M. Futrell
49
Like Dinah says, “We can only play the cards we’ve been dealt. It doesn’t do any good to wish about things you can’t change.J.M. Sullivan