[[ONC 2026 LongList]] 25-year old Lee still hasn't figured out why they could not form any long-lasting relationships, even friendships for that matter. Aside from family members, which they are obligated to talk to, there is no one else Lee had even come close to calling a friend. Well, maybe except for one. -------- Submitted for ONC 2026 @OpenNovellaContest Using the following prompts : 29. You will meet many people in your life. Many will come and go, but some will leave footprints in your heart. 104. While wandering in the woods, you dismiss the rustling behind you as nothing more than wind through the trees until you turn around and realize it isn't the wind at all. 106. After waking at 3AM to a freezing room and a door you're certain you closed, you find wet footprints and melting snow leading from your bedroom into the hall. Realizing someone or something is inside your home, you follow the trail to uncover the truth. ------------- © 2026 J. Lee Kennedy. All rights reserved. Cover design © 2026 J. Lee Kennedy. Images used in this work belong to their respective copyright holders and are used under license or in accordance with applicable Creative Commons terms. Edited or altered images are copyrighted by the author in their final form.

Some loves are written in the stars. Theirs was woven into the fabric of reality. In a world that seems perfect-Theo and Lyra live parallel lives marked by quiet, growing dissatisfaction and a longing neither of them can name. Everything feels wrong. They have the wrong careers. The wrong rhythms. As though they are the wrong versions of themselves. And yet, somewhere beneath the dull drums of their days, something pulses. A thread. Invisible. Unbreakable. Pulling. Theirs. As chance encounters begin to feel like destiny and dreams echo with impossible familiarity, they are drawn toward each other. But love is not always simple, and fate is not always kind. Some paths must be forged in fire. Some connections must be earned. Because in the vast and delicate weave of existence, even a single thread can change everything. Wattys 2026 Participant 🏅 ONC 2026 ROUND 1, 2 AND 3 QUALIFIER 🥇 Urban Fantasy/Fantasy Category winner - The Rogue Muse Awards 2026

A covert government operative sent to surveil a famous footballer accidentally becomes the nanny to his six-year-old son, forcing her to choose between completing the mission that could destroy him or protecting the unexpected family she has begun to love. ◈ ◈ ◈ Grace Anna Sumer has always craved freedom. That hunger is what led her into the shadows, working as a covert field operative for a little-known government agency. Officially, she gathers intelligence. Unofficially, she removes problems. Pulled from a coveted assignment in the Congo, Grace is reassigned to Paris to surveil the family of Hermes Mansi, an international football (soccer) star whose career is tightly controlled by a powerful and corrupt league that profits from obedience. Grace is told to watch him. To observe. To wait. What she does not expect is a twist of fate that places her inside his home, hired accidentally as the nanny to his six-year-old son, Drax. Under the safest cover imaginable, Grace enters Hermes' life with one objective, gather evidence and prepare for a quiet takedown. But the longer she stays, the harder it becomes to remember where the mission ends and her feelings begin. As secrets unravel and loyalties fracture, Grace must choose between completing her assignment or protecting the fragile and unexpected family she has found. ◈ ◈ ◈ This novella was written for the Open Novella Contest 2026, based on Prompt #33: "It doesn't take long before everything in your life spins out of control. One moment you're a secret assassin, and the next you've somehow been hired as a nanny and you're not entirely sure how it happened."

ONC2026 Long Listed! A forgotten amulet. A whisper of fate. A princess it commands, but at what cost? Maela, princess of the Seelie Court, can't sit through court affairs to save her life. To avoid another royal meeting, she takes a new path through the forest, stumbling upon ancient ruins. The secret within their shattered walls sets her on a path she must find the answer to--before it's too late. Main prompt: ~ 93. Buried beneath the ruins lies an artifact that whispers memories of an ancient being. The first memory it reveals is a warning and it's meant for you. Sub prompts: ~ 16. =And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul= Quote by John Muir ~ 11. The daughter of the most powerful witch(changed to Fae) is nothing like her mother. ~ 104. While wandering in the woods, you dismiss the rustling behind you as nothing more that wind through the trees until you turn around and realize it isn't the wind at all.

Harit is rizzless. He is also a vampire. As far as he knows (from the tons of vampire lore he has consumed), he is nothing like his peers, or so he believes, for he hasn't come across his kind ever; he hasn't lost hope, though. Rudra the shifter (who loves frolicking around as a parrot) and Harit's immortal companion, after taking care of a fumbling, bumbling mess of a vampire for a hundred years, has made up his mind to go his separate way. However, he is sure that his friend can't fend for himself in this big, unforgiving, cruel world. He, thus, decides to take matters into his own hands or wings, depending on his form at the moment. Rudra's plan is simple: enroll his auraless friend in a course that can make him what turning into a vampire should have made him: alluring, confident, and irresistible so that he can feed himself once he is gone. Ayank Tripursundara is the best personality, speech, and drama coach in the state. He takes coal and turns it into diamond, or so his mother has heard everyone say everywhere she goes. He is rich, cultured, and handsome but slightly depressed because of his recent falling out with a friend. But as fate would have it, Ayank might just be the one Harit needs to be the best version of himself. Manik is a thousand-year-old vampire. He is also Harit's sire. Now, after a hundred years of waiting, he has found a reason to find the one that got away: Harit. Tying their lives together is the stolen melody of a heart, a millennia-old curse, and a hundred-year-old spell. Will Harit get his rizz? Or will he fall prey to his sire before the forgotten melody finds him? [Written for Open Novella Contest Prompt No. 81: Unalluring and bumbling, your character is the world's worst vampire. Prompt No. 37: Your hateful stare fixes on the smug bird. It has beaten you once again.] Start Date: 27th, February, 2026 By: GandalfOfSpaceAnli

Multiple rollicking romances, and unexpected twists in the world of espionage as viewed by telepathic cats who twice save the world from a nuclear Armageddon. A fun read, just ask your cat.

Inez Xue Ran, an escapist, found herself tucked between the pockets of the living, the dead and a past. Faced with the surge of reality, Inez clawed her way for survival as her reputation preceded the mask she had put on for two years. Caught between the polished lover, Julian Wei Chen and the elusive jewel, Rahel Valies Seo Xuan, Inez was forced to explore the depths of the seas she so carefully tucked away in the attic of her heart and soul. The fragments of her past began to unravel at the least expected moments of her life, forcing her to commit to herself. As the battle trampled further into her life, Inez realised that more events were boiling close to her than her past. Blinded by the comfort offered to her, Inez knew she had to place her trust in the right person to secure her future. A past exposed to be vindicated only by law. Will she choose the polished lover or the elusive jewel? || This story can be found only on Wattpad and is written in conjunction with the Open Novella Contest 2026.||