Lucy sighed, opening her email and seeing all the new messages staring at her, the bold letters proudly staring at her. She opened one, and was greeted with the first message in a thread that split in five different directions.

“Nope,” she said, under her breath. “Not starting with you.”

She closed the email and opened the next one, which was clearly a phishing attempt. She sighed, clicking the “Report Phishing” button, and wondered vaguely who received the notice on the other end.

She worked her way through her emails, coming across more threaded messages, a headache starting to build. She glanced up, around the open floor office, and let her eyes skim across the room. She didn’t want to let her gaze linger too long, in case someone thought she was staring at them. Better to keep her eyes glued to her own computer. The office looked the same as it always did, anyway. Not much changed here.

A robot is turned on for the first time, blinking its eyes, staring at awe at the twinkling lights, the squishy beings standing around it, excited expressions on their faces. Excited. What an interesting idea. How do I know what excited is?

One of the beings stepped forward (a person?), and noise emanated from their direction. “Can… can you hear me?”

Hm. Can I? Hearing is the process of understanding vibrations in the air to indicate sound, and since the being (person, I’m almost certain), since the person made a sound and I registered it…

“Yes,” I say, thrilled at my own ability to speak. “Yes, I can hear you.”

The people suddenly make a lot of noise, and I am startled, uncertain what the noises mean. Joy, I think. I wonder how I know that? What makes a difference between happy noise and sad noise?

“Just walk away, like you always do!”

Jess reared back like she’d been slapped. “Like I do? You’re the one who runs away whenever I try to talk to you about anything serious!”

Jake threw his hands in the air. “Well, when you just launch into things, with no warning, when everything is going fine, yeah, I’m gonna react!”

“Going fine? Going fine?! Jake, are you blind? Things haven’t been fine for a long time.”

“Then why don’t you just leave?”

“Maybe I should!”

Despite the fact that they were sisters, Cornelia and Lydia were reacting very differently to their current situation.

“Lydia, do stop with the weeping and the carrying on,” Cornelia said with a sigh, barely audible over the sound of her sister’s wailing.

This stern rebuke, of course, only made Lydia sob louder and more dramatically. Cornelia rolled her eyes, and began to pace. There had to be a way out of here. There was always a way out, if only one could find it. Even if that way out takes a lot of time and pain, a voice in the back of her head reminded her, and Cornelia shrugged it off. If the time came for that option, she’d deal with it then. For now, there had to be a simpler option.

“Yes, Astaroth?” the Devil himself asked, arching one impressively villainous eyebrow.

“Well, you see, Luci…” Astaroth mumbled, wringing his hands and avoiding eye contact with the Dark Prince.

The Devil sighed, slumping back onto his throne of skulls. “Asti, we talked about this. It’s ‘Your Infernal Highness,’ or ‘My Dark Prince,’ or maybe ‘Lucifer,’ if we’re being informal. Quit calling me Luci, it’s wrecking my image.”

Dylan and Hugh tumbled through the cabin door, laughing and swearing as the storm raged outside.

“I told you,” Dylan panted, shutting the door and shaking her head, spraying water everywhere, “that it was going to rain.”

Hugh grinned, peeling off his sweatshirt. “Yeah, okay, so you were right. But I did say a walk would be invigorating, didn’t I?”

Dylan rolled her eyes, slipping off her sodden sneakers and tiptoeing around the puddles. “Whatever makes you feel better.”

“Are you sure you girls don’t need anything?”

“We’re fine, Mom!” Emily groaned, waving her hands at the door.

“Well, just let me know if you want anything!” her mother chirped, and she gently closed the bedroom door.

“Ugh,” Emily sighed, shaking her head. “Why can’t she get the hint? We’re thirteen, she doesn’t need to hover.”

“Uh-huh,” Addison muttered, flipping through her phone.

“I think she was just trying to be nice,” Nevaeh offered, and she flinched slightly as Emily glared at her.

Riley said nothing. She stared around the room, her eyes taking in the queen-sized bed, the fancy computer, the mountain of stuffed animals.

“Are you sure this party is a good idea?” Minna asked, arms stretched to their limit, dutifully holding up the “Welcome Back!” banner so Joy could inspect the placement.

“Of course it’s a good idea,” Joy said. “A little higher on the left, I think. The other left. Perfect!” She rushed over, taping the corners of the banner in place. “You know Bo, he’s always up for a party.”

“Yeah,” Minna said, rubbing her arms to get the circulation going again. “But he’s coming back from deployment, Joy, not a vacation or something.”

Joy’s exuberance faltered for a moment, before she smiled broadly. “I think I know my own twin. He’s gonna love this.”

Continuation of Choice Words and Missing Words.

As much as she loved having people in the library, and to foster a love of books in her community, sometimes Ms. Millward appreciated the library being closed on Mondays. It gave her a chance to catch up on paperwork, clean, maybe read a little. It was peaceful, walking the aisles without having to dodge children or shush loud guests. And the morning light in the antiques room was really something; the stained glass threw bright spots of light across the room, dancing in a way that seemed slightly otherworldly.

Unfortunately, she still had ink to clean off the ceiling. That cursed bibliodemon had really done a number on the moulding. Ms. Millward stared up at the ink spots, and rolled up her sleeves. No time like the present. The paperwork could wait, and she really wanted to have a clean slate this week. No demons, no serial killers. Maybe a few squabbles at book club, that could be okay.

“Once, there was magic. But not every kingdom or country in the world accepted the practice of magic. In some places, a witch could be thrown in prison, or worse, killed, if she was discovered. There were even some places where people who were suspected of being witches were hunted down. It was a scary time to be a witch.

“There was one kingdom that was ruled by a great Queen, who had risen to power under suspicious circumstances. But no one questioned her rule, because she was the Queen. And besides, who else would take over?