UPDATED WEEKLY: Meet Death - Dee, for short - the queen of the underworld incarnated into the form of a young woman who has taken up residence in a Portland hospital. With a killer attitude and a playlist to match, she spirits away the souls of the dying for their journey to the great beyond. The only problem? She's been housed in the same host body for centuries, and she's growing restless waiting for the next great disaster to strike. Enter Aria, a precocious young patient who challenges her perception of humanity, and Lux, a handsome stranger with an advanced form of cancer. Soon Dee finds herself locked in the struggle of her "life." Will she follow the path that the Book of Fortune has set aside? Or will she go against the Fates and begin to write her own destiny, compromising her heart in the process?

Marina Lewis is understandably intrigued when she finds a glowing stone nestled between two pebbles in her backyard creek. As a child with a wild imagination, she spends her time playing with flower fairies in the stream and with house ghosts who live in the fireplace. What Marina doesn't realize is that a deeper series of events is unfolding around her, and she's found herself right in the middle of it all. Her stone is a fallen star... but it's not the only one. Stars are beginning to plunge to Earth with frightening frequency, which will soon result in a starless sky, and the extinction of the magical creatures Marina is so very fond of. The Darkness is coming and young Marina unwittingly finds herself as the presumed savior of the magical world. What ensues is an adventure that teaches Marina about bravery, responsibility, and the power of imagination.

This is the product of Wordsmith Wednesday challenges from the Writing Collective. Members are challenged to write a story or micro-fiction using 5-6 randomly chosen words. I liked where my first one was going, so I'm stringing all of the challenges into one story!