Writer of Short Stories & Tall Tales

  Megan glanced at Darren again, but his dark eyes, angled up at her from the hard plastic chair, betrayed none of his thoughts. It only took one thought of Jon lying alone in the hospital bed, however, to make up her mind. “Let’s wait a little. It shouldn’t be too long.” This time when she looked at Darren, he was looking resolutely at his phone. Fine, Megan thought. Two could play at that game. She and Yongchul took seats across from Darren, and though she largely ignored him, more than once she glanced over to find him staring back, quiet and stern, though he always looked away without so much as a frown. 

  Lisander Dust hasn’t always had the surname reserved for the orphans and bastard children of the Mud District. Of all the last names in Spirea, Dust is the one most commonly spat out in disgust. With a name like that, he’d be lucky to get a job in the drainage trenches, trying to extract enough water from the ground to keep the Mud District from sinking into it. It’s pitched as a noble profession—as noble as a muddie can be—and the pay is good enough to put food on the table at least three nights a week, but with the constant trickle-down of used water from higher districts, it’s ultimately a futile one. When Muddies die on the street, their bodies often simply sink into the mud before anyone can be bothered to pull them out and identify them, but Dusts often seem to simply disappear, as if they never were to begin with. Dust to dust. 

  The house was silent, and despite his loaded pockets, sewn carefully into the seams of his inner clothing, Lisander didn’t make a sound as he walked. The manor’s owners had long since gone to bed, and Lisander added a small coin, likely fallen to the floor from one of their silk garments, to his growing stash. Letter openers, jewellery, and even an ornate serving cup weighed his costume down, but there was one thing in particular he needed to find tonight before he could leave. It was when he paused to examine a portrait that seemed to weigh heavily on the wall that he heard it.