The Parking LotThe money felt dirty in my pocket. It always did, but now was not the time to get a conscience. All I had to do was deliver the package and call it a day.I leaned against my beat-up Honda Civic and watched Steven stumble toward the student parking lot. It was eleven at night, and New Haven High looked like a graveyard. I shivered because, for some reason the energy tonight just felt wrong. I couldn't wait to be done with this. Steven was already high on something. I could tell by the way he walked."You got it?" Steven asked. His eyes were bloodshot.I pulled out the small worn-down purse from my jacket. "Forty bucks."He handed me two crumpled twenties. I gave him the weed. The whole transaction took maybe fifteen seconds. That was how it always went. It was just business; I didn't bond with my customers.Steven walked away without saying thanks. I shoved the money into my jeans and unlocked my car door. The money in my pocket should be enough to buy something to e

Home Is HellRUNEThe apartment building looked worse in the dark. There was peeling paint and broken windows covered with cardboard, graffiti on the walls that made the crumbling stones look even more ugly. I pulled into the cracked parking lot and sat in my car for a moment while staring up at the third floor where a single dim light glowed through our window.Home.The word felt wrong in my mouth. I never saw this place as a home, to me, it was just your walls and a roof that barely kept the rain out. I flexed my fingers on the steering wheel, wondering if I should just sleep in the car and go up. My frost-burned wrist had turned from purple to a sickly gray color that looked infected.I needed to wrap it in something before my parents saw, not that they would notice, or would care.I grabbed my backpack from the passenger seat and shoved the card Aeris gave me into the front pocket, the address was burned into my brain already but I didn't want to lose it. Tomorrow night at eigh

Four Others AERISI stood in the center of the old subway platform. I'd spent three weeks preparing this space; there was training equipment lined the walls, weapons racks, and first aid supplies. I had to stack up everything that would be needed for five untrained teenagers to learn how to fight an ancient evil in six weeks. I coughed into my hand and then my fingers were stained with my blood. My chest burned where the old wound lived, the one that never healed properly because I'd tried to become a vessel twenty years ago and failed. The ritual had rejected me and left me with this slow death instead. I had maybe two months left.But the convergence would happen in six weeks, so it didn't matter. I'd be dead either way. At least thisway I could die doing something that mattered. At least, I could try to save these kids from making the same mistakes I did.I thought about Tiago, my little brother. He'd been twenty three when Grimfall corrupted him during the last incursion. I rem

The truth about GrimfallAERIS I looked at each of them in turn, five broken kids with no idea what they were capable of. "Five hundred years ago there were five families of sorcerers called Etherwind. They controlled the elements, light and shadow, earth, air, and fire. They protected humanity from supernatural threats for generations, the most dangerous threat was something called Grimfall, an ancient darkness that exists outside normal reality. It feeds on fear and despair and it wants to unmake existence itself.""That's impossible," Kaladin said, but his voice shook."You saw the footage of your parents kidnapping people," I replied. "You know something is wrong, you just don't want to admit how wrong."Kaladin's face went pale, and he didn't argue further."The Etherwind fought Grimfall for decades," I continued. "Hundreds died trying to stop it. Eventually they realized it couldn't be destroyed, only contained. Five sorcerers volunteered to become vessels. They trapped Grimfa

Safe or not?RuneEveryone was looking in the same direction. The door. Just underneath, there were shadows. Moving rapidly. It was almost like they were trying to catch us. Waiting for us to step out of that door.“We can't leave,” I muttered under my breath.It was clear that whether we left or stayed, they were still watching us. I could feel something pulsing underneath my skin, more rapidly than usual. Almost like it was beating with the shadows.Wilder groaned as he shook his head.“They're on to us,” Wilder concurred. “It doesn't matter where we are. I won't be shocked if they can sense our energy. We aren't safe anywhere. Here or out there.” I didn't know if I was supposed to be glad that someone was finally seeing reason with me.“At least we had Aeris to tell us what to do if things go wrong somehow,” Kaladin said, looking at Zayan like he was waiting for him to react.“This is bullshit!” Zayan said, and I didn't miss the satisfied smirk that slipped from Kaladin’s lips. He