[i'm never going to be anything! i'm never going to go anywhere! i'm the wasp inside your honey jar and i'm never going to make it out] - a collection of poems

Everything has an origin story. A spooky town settled in a dried up lake bed, off the beaten path, idyllic and just this side of wrong; a town built on urban legends and folklore, on nightmares and unease, on one man's mistakes that trickle through the ages. A small town too caught up in each other's business to notice what's rising under their feet. Elijah's just lucky enough to be at the epicenter.

a futuristic world where science is the new god, humanity is legend and technology is the norm. what happens when the most ancient species appears in the system again? © castor may 2019™

He isn't being reserved on purpose. Questions just aren't something he trusts. Maybe she's not a cop trying to lock up another homeless kid or a suspicious clerk at a roadside gas station wondering why he's paying for Slim Jims in grubby singles, but she's still an adult, and he's still a transient and a teenager. Sixteen is the age where everyone suspects you of something. Though for him, big, brown, and ungroomed, it started much earlier. When she turns back to him, her eyes are tired. She can't be more than thirty-five, but her lips, her hands-they've seen more than what three decades should hold. "What you're running from isn't gonna stop. Someday you'll tire out, and Bryce, whatever's chasing you... won't." Bryce can't think of anything to say to that.

Siena can heal wounds with a touch of her hands. A captive since birth, she is used as a tool of war by a Plainsmen tribe. A chance escape into the forest proves successful... and deadly. Rescued by the Forestfolk--a group of people she always thought were nothing more than bedtime stories--Siena remains on edge. Trust does not come easily when persecution is all she's ever known. Keeping her abilities a secret seems like the right thing to do, until a tragic accident renders two Forestfolk spiraling toward death. If she chooses to reveal her abilities, she risks being subjugated again. Treated as no longer human. Maybe even sent back to the Plainsmen. But keeping her talent to herself means ignoring the injured around her, even allowing them to die. The choice seems obvious to Siena, but living with the repercussions of that choice is another matter altogether. A journey of self-discovery, a bit of adventure, and a splash of romance. On the Wattys 2017 Shortlist!