We lay on the cool grass, blowing on the wishing flowers, the little weeds with the ball of white fluff on the ends. Blowing all of the fluff away with one breath was supposed to grant a wish. I think there were more wishes than flowers that summer, and no one had enough breath. #wildwalkprompt

The old graveyard was ripe for legend tripping; it was one of the oldest in the country. Perched on top of a hill, the craggy headstones and gnarled trees loomed over the town. There were two ways in: the crumbling stone stairs, which legend claimed were one hundred, and a cobblestone road. #whistpr

Thanks @loscon.bsky.social for another interesting year. I keep hoping for the types of panels/ participants from the pre-Covid years, but that energy seems gone. I'm not sure if I'll keep coming back. You keep going in a direction that's not for me, but it's been an experience. #SFF #Conventions

The others begin to dance. The flickering lights illuminate them. The dancers fumble about with distorted features, like glowering gargoyles. She turns away when the light hits their faces. And she felt sick from the blood clinging to her throat and swallowing the murky darkness. #Whistpr

She pretended she did not see the Violangs, with their shiny black wings. When they landed on her she causally brushed them away, like insects. Even when they bit her hands with their pointed teeth, she ignored them. #WildWalkPrompt

This left me without a photographer. I’d been using a college student. She was good, but she wasn’t dedicated. She took my jobs to pay her way through law school, not out of a passion for weddings. But it wasn’t like Hero had been in it for the weddings; she had loved photography. #WIPSnips

She took the opportunity to refill her wine glass and poured a healthy glass for him when he offered his empty glass. “Thanks for the rescue,” she said and took a sip of the wine, and watched him do the same. From the living room, the bad Latin continued. “I’m Julia,” she said. #Vss365

The drug burned down her throat and hit her empty stomach, causing it to clench, wanting to reject the vile concoction. She sucked in a breath. She felt the mantle placed over her shoulders. As the elaborately feathered headdress was placed on her head, the world began to fade. #InkMine

The evening sun filters through the curtains, casting a deep gloom over the apartment. Jack presses the play button on the machine. The message is filled with static. He frowns and turns up the volume replaying the message. He can make out music in the background, and over that a voice. #Penstricken

Someone else was awake and could fill the gaps in her memory – but the mirror had lost the shadow. Did she want the ship to fully wake? Staring at the command, Echo shook her head. She would wait. She would find the shadow on her own and learn if it was a friend or a fiend. #RetroArtPrompt #SFF

“The locals here didn’t tell Cal all their lizardmen stories so she could blab them in the pages of pulp magazines. They told her because she respects the stories and the people.” Helen poked at the embers of the fire, “They knew that if they asked, she’d keep them to herself.” #Vss365

There should have been fog or mist, but there was only the cool night air, clear skies, and the shadow of a hound. Diana’s lithe hound, no longer a gamboling companion, but a sleek hunter, only a shadow on the overgrown lawns as she moves deeper into the trees of Shakespeare’s garden. #VssFantasy

The lights came back on, and I dashed for my room. I was already planning to message my clients to let them know that I needed a night off. I had to get out of the dungeon without looking completely unprofessional because I couldn’t deal with the ghost in the dungeon. #Whistpr

The club was in full swing when she arrived. She found Will at the bar. He was already a few drinks in and looked happy to see her. “Liz,” he grinned at her, “What kind of fun are you looking for tonight?” “Something festive,” she grinned back. #WildWalkPrompt

In the flicker of the candle, she was free, and the beast stood before her, and it had become a man–or partially so. She recognized him. The man in black, the man at the crossroads. The man, who was no man at all. The discordant music-filled whatever space the carousel had taken her to #Whistpr

When the torch was touched to the kindling, she bit her lip. The flames rose quickly, silhouetting the effigy. For a moment, Althea once again heard the rustle of braided wheat and felt the scratch of his straw hands. The others began cheering as the flames devoured John Barleycorn. #WildWalkPrompt

In her mind’s eye, Eve couldn't help but see the pattern of medieval European labyrinths with the change in directions. It made her wonder if she’d been wrong about this investigation; was this a strange holdover of Christian practices? Maybe there was a cult at work, just not a pagan one? #WIPSnips

She stepped out from underneath the blue-painted roof of the porch, and the rain drenched her. She cocked her head, hearing screams on the wind. She peered back into the house, wondering if she had left the radio on. #BlueSkyRelay

Eve nodded for him to continue. She’d heard the stories of the blighted crops, but it wasn’t the blight that interested her; it was the seven-year rule. Seven years, and the number seven was everywhere in magic and the high strange. #VssMagic

When the sun is beaming, tearing through the periwinkle sky, it’s hard to remember the other world. There are a few traces that it even exists. The grass of the parks is not the velvet gray carpet I know, and the pines are stunted and oozing sap, not the twisting towers that I knew. #WildWalkPrompt

I stand and stretch, and head back to my bedroom to change. I still had a storeroom to clear out, and no matter how interesting the plans were, I needed the stipend, and not to build the fabled phone. I could think about what to do with the plans later. #WIPSnips

When they reached the crevasse, it was raining in earnest. Cali went first, clambering into the rock fissure. She’d taken Helen’s backpack, both of them wanting to get the camera out of the rain as quickly as possible. She called down to Helen and Dot to come up into the cave. #WildWalkPrompt

Most of it was what she’d come to expect from European medieval magic. While the book was compiled before her ancestor, it was exactly the type of text he would have used. But the more Kit studied, the more she believed that something was missing #WIPSnips

“Oh god.” She whispered. “Did that happen? Or am I making it all up?” Casey glared at the page. This doesn’t accomplish anything. She flipped the book shut and slid the pen into the spiral binding. The scar on her abdomen still burned with the memory. #WSS366

My legs were too weak for me to rise. I turned my head and watched him stare at me a moment, his inky eyes unreadable. He collected the ghost phone, setting it back on the coffee table. I suddenly understood what he was doing, “don’t.” I started, but he hung up the phone and was gone. #BlueSkyRelay

Del had been the last to go after Chloe had… After the investigation went so terribly wrong. Del hadn’t blamed Eve, not like Anna had, but that investigation had destroyed their relationship. Eve dragged the coveralls on, pushing aside the memory of Chloe’s scream that haunted her dreams. #InkMine

The doctor arched her perfectly shaped blonde eyebrow, “Caitlin, you work in a coffeehouse, how busy can you be?” Casey drank her water. “Well, I’ve been busy with friends. You know how it is, the days seem to fly by.” Casey crumpled the paper cup in her hands. She is not buying this. #VssDaily

Casey tried to ignore the darkness. Wendy always waited for her in the dark corners. Sometimes, Wendy would follow her to work at the coffeehouse. When it was empty inside, Wendy would creep around the shadows under the tables, and if Casey closed, Wendy would haunt the patio. #Vss365

I need to get back on track with my writing. My dating life and work life have gotten in the way. #writesky #queerwriters #writers #lgbtqwriters

The smoke filled the interior of the car. “What happened? What did I actually see? Maybe I overreacted to hitting some kid. Fuck that’s hit and run.” He laid his head on the steering wheel. His hands shook. He twisted the ignition key and listened to the engine sputter to life. #BookishTuesday

Chloe had grown up in the area and knew the local stories, but Del had found the one bigger story - the time the government had bombed the reef off the coast in 1927 as part of an alleged prohibition raid, which didn’t make any sense. After that night, the town was abandoned. #VssMystery

Gliding out of the tangled brambles, she finds herself standing among the snarled mounds of roses grown wild. Wicked thorns are dark under the starlit sky, but she is simply one more shadow as her feet tread soundlessly over forgotten paths. Nothing in this place can touch her, almost. #Whistpr

He saunters out of the shadows of the courtyard, leaning against the wrought iron rail. As usual, a hat shadows his face, but she knows it is him. He is the only viewer to show up in a suit, hat, and trenchcoat – looking like he should be an extra in Casablanca rather than watching her. #WIPSnips

It was Chloe who’d taught her this spell, Chloe who’d wanted to understand why Eva’s response to magic was so different from everyone else’s. But they’d never had the chance. Now was the worst time to let memories creep in, especially memories that could be used against her. #Bonktober

Vicki frowned, wondering what had happened to the note Leila had left in their tent, and pictured Tom joining the group so late. With everyone distracted, it gave him a great opportunity to go through her tent and delete the email. But why? #BookishTues

She looked at the rows of cryo-pods, the lights on each told the story of the shadow man’s crimes against them. The displays told the story of each time the pod had been opened and for how long. So many glittered, telling Echo that she was far from the first the shadow had violated. #InkMine #SFF

“A witch waiting on a cold hillside like prey,” The voice carried through the mists. “I seek the Queen of the hunt,” I stumbled over the words. The unseen riders’ cruel laughter was a balm to my soul. “Foolish witch, you seek the Queen of the Winter Court while she is in decline.” #InkMine

Waiting in the sound between lightning and thunder Cheshire moon grinning madly through Waiting in the sound between the rain and the maelstrom #OXJDailyWords #OXJ

She felt around in her backpack. She had a single candle and a disposable lighter in the bag. She laid the bottle of aquavit on the ground and finally felt her fingers wrap around the candle. She pressed the candle into a snow drift and lit it. #Penstricken

Mercy stared at the Caribbean-born woman. Charity hadn’t decided if the girl was enamored of Tituba or terrified of her. Mercy had certainly seen very few non-Europeans. She wondered how the girl would fare in Spring when her Naumkeag friends once again returned to visit her. #RetroArtPrompt

The flickering shadows on this fresco made Tez’s transformation seem real. The lines of the god appeared to melt into the lithesome form of the jaguar. Every panel was bordered with stylized glyphs to tell the story of Tez's transformation. #UnchainedSymphonies

She set the tray on an empty table and began piling the plates and saucers on top. She smiled at a few regular customers and carried the full tray back to the sink. She slid the dishes into the cooling water. The soap had dissolved, and Wendy stared back from the murky depths of the sink. #Vss365

Talking it out with Audrey had helped. And she was willing to wait and let Georgia speak for herself. For now, she had data to crunch, and nothing kept her brain better occupied. They walked back to the office, and Audrey was immediately swept up into some office emergency #VssDaily

She watched Chacon make a quick gesture as if she reached out to grasp her, yet Soshay felt herself yanked from the room, a brutal pull on her spirit. Her spirit-self blinked, expecting to return to her body. Instead, she found herself in the plaza between the temples. #VssMagic

There was a hex mark over the door to the cabin. But she was on vacation, and this was going to be a real break - especially after the Volos field investigation. She needed it to be completely mundane. No magic, no superstitions, no ghosts, and certainly no witches and their marks. #VssMystery

The whispers weaken as she lights another cigarette. Feeling sick from too much smoke, and the blood clinging to her throat. The smoke drifts in the murky darkness. She toys with the bottle. A figure stands in the doorway, silhouetted by the candles. #Whistpr

With the second bolt, the lights flicker, and by the third bolt, they fail. Sitting in the dark, she watched the clouds roll across the sky, the thick molten masses raging against each other. The clouds broke, releasing torrents of rain. #WipSnips

She placed the recorder and notepad carefully in the inside pocket of her coveralls and zipped it closed. Then she pulled a worn pack of tarot cards from her bag. She shuffled them with a practiced hand, the worn cards shuffling in a blur before laying out three cards. #RetroArtPrompt

When the word “sold” penetrated her foggy thoughts, she decided not to ask. Everyone on a station heard the stories of the bands of Hoodwinkers, those who deceived and sold, usually women and children, as thralls – forced laborers and worse for newly terraformed worlds. #VssDaily #SFF

He set his hammer down, sinking the bit of iron into a bucket of water. Maeve flinched from the steam, but she did not give any space. “Good evening, Lady,” he bowed his head slightly. He wiped his stained hands on his leather apron. “I seem no quarrel with your folk.” #2WordPrompt