Haunted by the past, Rhiannon Carmichael returns to her hometown for her father's funeral, only to uncover a web of secrets and a possible murder, forcing her to confront the family she left behind. *** Victor Carmichael, the titan of local construction industry, is dead. Officially, it was his failing liver that finally did him in. Off the record? He's been murdered, and the only one who suspects it is his prodigal daughter. Gaffney, South Carolina, holds the ghosts of Rhiannon's past - the past she desperately tried to escape. Forced to sift through fractured memories and lies, she must expose a killer possibly lurking in the heart of her family. Every smile hides a secret, and every hug is a potential weapon. Whodunnit? Her mother, Lorraine, who seems to hold back more than tears? Her resentful brother, Tom? Then there are Beverly, the enigmatic interior designer with a past as murky as the swamps surrounding Gaffney, and Aubrey, the glamorous influencer whose connection to Victor runs deeper than anyone knows... Each clue, each whispered secret, pulls Rhiannon deeper into a dangerous game. As the idyllic charm of her quiet hometown crumbles, the lines between friend and foe start to blur. The more time passes, the more she realises: her returnal to Gaffney is not a blissful family reunion. It's a deadly reckoning. © 2025 EvelynHail Exclusively on Wattpad Based on prompt 61: "The silence in room is deafening, as though it has a life of its own. It's time to rewrite the fairytale, but this time, the ending will be yours, and it won't be happy."

ONC2025 Round 2 winner, Ambassador Pick and Long List Selection Entry based on Prompt 110. 20 days of freedom and Prompt 77. In a world where art and entertainment are forbidden, you're born to challenge the system and change the world.

Eighteen-year-old Emily is having a challenging first week at university. Her flatmates are into parties when it's not really her jam, there's a thief in the flat whose favourite target is her milk, and all in all she's rather homesick. In the spirit of new beginnings, she agrees to go to gardening club with a new friend, only to find herself trapped inside a shed with only one way out - a door into a land that shouldn't, and soon probably won't, exist. Emily's only chance of getting home is to set out on a quest to save the stolen prince from his tower, in the far reaches of Minaria, Land of the Small Folk. But the world is on the edge of hopelessness, and the clock is ticking. If Emily doesn't fancy falling into oblivion then she should get a wriggle on. Prompt 1: You stumble across a mysterious door made entirely of briars and thorns. As you step through, you're granted extraordinary powers. But with great power comes great responsibility - it's now your duty to save a crumbling kingdom. Title and related quotes are from 'The Greater Celandine Fairy' by Cicely Mary Barker. Original fiction partially inspired by Alice in Wonderland and The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap. ⭐️ ONC 2025 Short List

**When a gruesome prison death reunites an officer with her ex-best friend, feelings resurface as they investigate the deep-rooted secrets of an ancient penitentiary.** After eight years abroad, Lana Lippian has returned to the frozen asteroid of her birth as a Lieutenant in the Intergalactic Disciplinary Organization. It's now her job to police both Fenestra Prison and the surrounding penal colony of Subtus City. But when an ill-fated arrest leads to the death of an innocent teenager, Lana's estranged best friend (and childhood crush), Korona Tallow, begs the officer to imprison her in order to investigate what she believes to be murder. However, dangerous secrets lie behind the metal walls of Fenestra and Lana has her work cut out keeping Kor safe. Especially since the fiery nuisance has never been one to fly below the radar. Soon, sparks catch in the flammable atmosphere as the wary allies discover that both the mystery and their feelings go far deeper than either could have imagined. ||18+ Trigger Warning for Spicy Adult Situations, Language, Violence and Death|| Featured on: @FreeTheLGBT @OpenNovellaContest @ScienceFiction @Wattpad

[ONC 2025 SHORTLISTED] An amnesiac goddess must rewrite her destiny before the evil reaper strikes out her existence. ••• 𝙄𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝙢𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙮 𝙢𝙚𝙚𝙩𝙨 𝙖 𝙙𝙮𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙥𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝙩𝙬𝙞𝙨𝙩. When Ira wakes up in the corner of a dusty room with nothing but glowing rectangles around and no memory of her past, not even her name, she is convinced she has been kidnapped. But it is far from the truth. She isn't kidnapped; she is a new addition to Histoire, another lost character discarded by an author, waiting to be devoured by a vengeful reaper like countless others. Amd the same reaper of Histoire is now threatening to erase Ira forever. Rayer, the hundred-year-old caretaker of Histoire, asks her to drop it and accept her doom because nobody to date has been able to remember their story and rewrite their fates. But Ira isn't someone who would easily back out. Determined not to be forgotten, Ira must unearth the lost pieces of her story and sew them into one before the reaper devours her existence. But as she delves deeper, Ira begins to question her identity and purpose, realising she is more than just a character. WC: 52,000+ CC: Inky

K-pop idol Minjae and eccentric home chef Hana meet at a cooking competition, sparking a simmering rivalry that turns into a recipe for romance - and potential disaster for Minjae's career. ___ As the golden voice of the K-pop group Starlight, Minjae has the world at his feet - adoring fans, sold-out concerts, and a life most people only dream of. Behind the glamour, he craves something more: a chance to be himself. To show off his passion for cooking. But the pressure to conform to his family's wishes and continue as an idol means pushing that aside. When the chance to show his passion literally smacks him in the face, Minjae, under an alias, finds himself in uncharted territory, swapping the familiar stage lights for the stovetops of a local culinary competition. When quirky, fiercely talented Hana turns a friendly rivalry into an unexpected connection, Minjae finds himself drawn to her passion and ability to be true to herself; qualities he has long lost. Worse, as the heat of the competition ramps up, Minjae's schedule becomes difficult to keep up with, and he must decide whether his love for cooking is enough to risk shattering his status as an idol. Can Minjae handle this newfound connection while juggling both the cooking competition and his duties as an idol, or will he fall under the pressure of it all? ____ Prompts: 31 and 36 ONLY AVAILABLE ON WATTPAD Cover by TaeTaeGinger

ONC Longlister || Shortlister || Round 3 Ambassador Pick When the sacred Wind Scepter is stolen, the elven kingdom of Everdaile is plunged into chaos. Varelor, a disgraced prince, must uncover the truth behind the theft but his quest unravels a conspiracy that might paint him as the world's greatest threat. ❥๑━━ In a world on the brink of ruin, two elven brothers are bound by heart but torn by destiny. Varelor, the shadowed one, craves a throne that was never his and a legacy slipping through his grasp. Livian, the golden prince, fights for honor, blind to the darkness growing beside him. Caught between them is Kaelira--her touch, salvation; her words, poison. As kingdoms fall and betrayal cuts deeper than any blade, Varelor must face a devastating truth: to save the kingdom, he might have to destroy the one person he loves most. What makes a villain--the choices we make or the truths we can't outrun? ❥๑━━ ONC prompts used: 121. Unstoppable by Sia 125. Fear is the mind-killer. 126. Because you're you, and I'm me, and we just don't fit. 129. The ink of our souls binds us beyond the pages of time.