The few seconds between bungling her over-practiced landing and actually slipping the black ring onto her finger were the most precarious of Hodja's entire life.
Hodja
Many girls in many dimensions, one mysterious piece of jewelry…
Cleo
Cleo, performing a surprisingly effective creativity ritual in her studio…
Fiola
Fiola, visiting her favorite species at an otherworldly aquarium…
Gia
Gia, about to bring the hammer down…
Samara
Samara was charged with protection of the sacred forest. Since early childhood, she had been trained by the Coven in the ancient ways of her peoples' magic. The Dozen Mothers took turns guiding her through the dark woods, each imparting her own share of esoteric knowledge, gradually imbuing her with the power required to hear the breathing of the trees, to communicate in birdsong, to summon lightning from the clouds. Eventually, she began to feel the forest as an extension of herself, or rather, that she herself was an extension of the forest…
Inka
Inka, aware of the Minders for several years now and long past cycling through self-doubt (am I dreaming? high? crazy?), had simply accepted their presence, and the fact that no one else seemed to be able to see them, as a novel fact of her life. For the most part, they just floated around, though it was clear from the get-go that they gravitated toward populated areas…
Macaria
At this time of night, Macaria often visits the morgue…
Angelia
Angelia, waiting to catch a flight home…
Julietta
Julietta was proud of herself for making it up into the tree without injury, though considerably less proud of the reasons that prompted her to climb it in the first place…
Elisa
Elisa, trying to figure out just what, exactly, this random street fair is celebrating…
Dani
Dani often dreamt she was jumping around an inflatable bounce house, but she'd never before woken up in one…