A city rife with rumors. A failed printmaker. A vial full of inadvisable choices.A glowing imperial ship has sailed into Nirsuathu carrying someone drawn by a professor’s newly created magic.Tyatavar feels change coming to her city, even if her own life remains stagnant--she's stuck running the family bakery while her sister studies the mysterious new magic.Only now, she has a stolen vial, one can carry her through the world's waters--if only she co...

Beyond the shadows of any known forest grows the Goblin Oak, an enormous tree lit by hundreds of glowing jack-o-lanterns. All the spirits and strangeness of Halloween come from the Goblin Oak, but a mysterious source of summer magic threatens to destroy it.Meanwhile, Amber's stuck at home having the worst Halloween ever, until she meets a trio of professional, pumpkin-snatching goblins. Facing a Halloween night of handing out candy, Amber joins them as they use tricks, cobbled-toge...

A city of scholars. A stolen vial. A bakery case full of regrets.Magic is power, and only the Kirosz Empire wields it—or so everyone thought, until a Nirsuathan professor engineered a magic of his own.When the professor’s aptitude test sparks ambitions, Tyatavar, a baker’s daughter, promptly fails it. No surprise there—until her sister passes. Vilari becomes the first student of the professor’s new magic, while Tyatavar remains stuck.Stuck drowning ...

A punk band struggles to save their show when it's upstaged by the wail of a real banshee.Across impassable seas and beyond lonely cities, two wayfarers journey across a vast continent.A tired wanderer fights his impulse to run when he is hunted down with a magic photograph.An ocean-sick miner steals a submersible to escape from the oppressive priest caste of a deep-ocean settlement.Four short fantasy stories take eerie journeys through magic, music, and far...