3seed posts
Posts: 307
Files: 9
29. Lockdown
Update: Unlocked for all patrons.-----The Standing Goat empties of its guests. Since none are Gloop, they can pass through the checkpoint out of No Town. Only the inn’s permanent residents stay, along with Milo, who’s been put into room 301 with instructions to rest.The tables in the common room...
28. Escalation
Update: Unlocked for all patrons.-----Hallon sweeps the ramp leading up to the Standing Goat. It’s early, well before first light, and her mind is like a dog gnawing at a bone; restlessly worrying at the edges of what she knows about the Calamity. How is she supposed to help? With these few—and ...
27. An Intuition of Trouble
Update: Unlocked for all patrons.-----Hallon’s visit to the Scholar’s House proves unremarkable. She’d seen its spirit barrier when she still had her powers, but her investigation doesn’t reveal its source. The interiors are lovely, yes, and the rugs and textiles finely woven, but there’s ...
26. The Above and Below
Update: Unlocked for all patrons.___It’s early; the sun still down and the air chilly. Only a handful of people are out on the street. From the corner of his eye, Milo sees a figure dressed in black collecting the refuse left out overnight. He doesn’t acknowledge the Hidden, and the Hidden doesn...
25. The Burden of Memory
Update: Unlocked for all patrons.-----That night, Hallon dreams of a boy running through a maze of trenches. A flare ignites in the sky to cast a red glow across the barbed wire and earthworks of No Man’s Land. At first, the boy looks like Hallon’s brother Arne, dressed as French soldier, but hi...
24. The Party
Update: Unlocked for all patrons.-----A light shimmers in the gray fog. It feels like a nagging memory just out of reach, and Noor follows it to a doorway. Inside, there are tools neatly organized—chisels, rasps, and saws. A carpenter’s workshop. A man walks into the room behind her. He has worr...
23. Reunions and Separations
Update: Unlocked for all patrons. Three chapters today to keep you all ahead of Royal Road. :)-----The library is small and unassuming, as if the planners were embarrassed by the need for one. Inside, the fixtures are plain, but the librarians have done their best to soften the stone with carpets an...
22. Waking Up Lost
Update: Unlocked for all patrons. Also: editing the novel is going quicker than anticipated; enough so that I can increase the release schedule to two chapters a week. I'll aim for Tuesdays and Saturdays.------A blanket of soft wool. An open window. The room is small, with just enough space for ...
21. Shift's Done
Update: Unlocked for all patrons. Note that this chapter begins Part 2 of the book. Just in case it's not obvious, there's been a time skip.-----The shift whistle blows on the garage’s lone speaker, the sound tinny and cracking. There’s a flutter of laughter as the workers lay down their...
20. City of Shadows
Updated: Unlocked for all patrons. A bonus chapter. :)-----A violet bubble surrounds the Scholar’s residence. Between it and the scarlet cloth shading the busy market, they dye the morning in bright colors. If only it was as pleasant as it looked. The bubble buzzes with a static that makes it hard...
19. The Scholar's House
Update: Unlocked for all patrons.-----They shoo Milo out after breakfast. It was porridge again, but this time Wahid included two round pastries stuffed with dates for later. Milo also received strict instructions from Rahima to stay away from the hospital, but what else is he going to do? He doesn...
18. An Understanding Not Understood
Update: Unlocked for all patrons.____Milo comes downstairs yawning to find the inn’s staff preparing for the day.“You’re up early,” Wahid says. “Hold a jot, and I’ll get you something to eat.”“Anywhere’s fine,” Safi says, motioning to the empty room.The elevator door opens with a...
17. You Live Here
Update: Unlocked for all patrons. I'm publishing a chapter a day this week. Enjoy!-----A nurse checks on Hallon. On her way out, she places a blanket on Milo’s lap. Later, she taps him on the shoulder. “Excuse me, Mister, but it’s time for me to take care of the young Miss. She’ll be wan...
16. Three Seeds
Update: Unlocked for all patrons. I'm continuing to push extra chapters to Royal Road, which means keeping you all ahead. Enjoy!-----Milo wakes up gagging. He turns to the side and vomits onto a pair of shoes. The man in the shoes dances back, but the splatter can’t be completely avoided.“Yo...
15. A Deal to Live
Update: Unlocked for all patrons. A chapter a day this week. :)-----Milo’s insides twist in anguish. The giant pummels at Hallon on the ground, and there’s nothing Milo can do to stop the beating. There are no scenarios in which he can win against even one of the attackers, let alone the giant.T...
14. The Standing Goat
Update: Unlocked for all patrons. I'm publishing a chapter every day this week, so you'll see another tomorrow too.-----The inn is three stories tall with a sign out front of a goat standing on two legs. Its brass-covered double doors are open to let the air in and the lively chatter of its ...
13. Welcome to No Town
Update: Unlocked for all patrons. I'm pushing extra chapters to Royal Road, so you'll see more of these this week. :)-----A long line of carts and trucks waits to pass through the Farmer’s Gate. The wall rises sixty feet above them, mounted with electric lights to flood the area below. A s...
12. Papers Please
Update: Unlocked for all patrons.-----Sand and stone give way to leafy-green orchards of pistachio and olive trees, to fields of onions, tomatoes, and cucumbers. This is the farmland that feeds Dawrtaine, so it’ll be just another hour—a little less, a little more—before Hallon can search for t...
11. Stowaways
Update: Unlocked for all patrons.-----Rain falls on and off through the early morning, but it’s not enough to slow Hallon and Milo’s trek down the mountain. If anything, the rain is a blessing, masking their trail.Hallon weighs the difficult decision of what to do with their soldier uniforms, bu...
10. A Boy and Girl in the Woods
Update: Unlocking for all patrons-----Walking out of the tunnel is like waking from a raucous nightmare. Before them, a steady rain falls on the green limbs of a forest. The water is warm and the air fragrant with the smells of pine, oak, and cedar trees. Nearby, birds chirrup to each other. Hallon ...
9. Traversing the Upper Paths
Update: Unlocked for all patrons.-----The sun is a glowing ball seen through the storm wall, casting wavering shadows across the ice. Stepping out of the cave, Hallon feels like she’s walking on the ocean, the tides constantly shifting under her feet. She holds onto Milo’s arm to make sure he do...
8. The Cave
Update: unlocked for all patrons.-----Nothingness stretches in all directions. There is a realization of movement, but no reference points to help determine speed or direction. A memory triggers—One night, Milo was aboard the university’s dirigible. There’d been a special dinner party for the ...
7. Running
Eratosthenes travels through the gray space between universes following Hallon’s scent, her particular mixture of fire, curiosity, perseverance, and regret; her flashing eyes and hair the color of summer wheat. He knows she’s safe through the connection they share, but the journey is taking long...
6. The Chase
Colonel Fares Abadoun, third son of the House of Abadoun, Commander of Labor Camp 35, frowns at the folding knife in his hands. The blade’s edge is keen and light ripples along its length. The spyglass is older, an antique of uncertain origin, but still working.“The doctor’s in the infirmary,...
5. Labor Camp No. 35
A bonus chapter for everyone.-----The last time Hallon was ambushed, she’d just finished reading Gulliver’s Travels and was in a riverside pub in London hoping to meet the author. Before Mr. Swift could arrive though, there was a disagreement with a drunken sailor—and his drunken friends—and...
Update: Rewards for Level 5 & 10
TL&DR: There are changes coming to patron tiers: Level 5 and 10 patrons will be able to read five chapters ahead starting this coming week.-----The longer, more guilt-ridden version:When writing Eight, I felt terrible about not being able to provide additional chapters to Level 5 and 10 patrons. It&...
4. A Snowy Valley Disturbed
Hallon opens her eyes to a world made of whites and blues. A snow-covered hill rises above her, and atop it is Milo’s Matter Transmission Engine, the mechanical tree piercing the sky. Its inventor is farther down the hill, still unconscious. The parlor chairs and his tools are tumbled in the snow ...
3. The Machine Tree
Author's Note: I've decided to move the publish date to Royal Road up. As a result, I'm releasing a chapter on Patreon early. There'll be another on Saturday.-----By the third day, Hallon’s convinced that Milo Rabbit is insensitive to the spirit world. As a test, she sends a small ...
2. The Journey West
A second chapter to get the ball rolling..._____Hallon stops by the house in London before boarding the RMS Mauritania bound for New York. She looks forward to the journey—a chance to spend some time with Eratosthenes and catch up on her reading—but the passenger liner makes it across the Atlant...
1. The Traveler
The Lions of Dawrtaine begins!------The moon sleeps on her back, just a sliver in the sky. A handful of clouds sail past like ladies in their long dresses. The spirit of a dragon soars among them, flying through their misty garments. The woman he follows isn’t some dainty lady. She runs with a fie...
