Author:
M.J. Swenson has been writing stories since elementary school and earned a B.A. in Creative Writing from the University of St. Thomas, Minnesota. Besides writing and reading, M.J. also enjoys playing music and video games.

I woke up feeling that something had changed.

I blinked twice, waiting for my eyes to adjust, and glanced at the clock beside my bed. It read 6:38, as it did every morning. I slid out of bed and moved to my dresser, where I opened the third drawer and pulled out a dark blue V-necked shirt with short sleeves and a dark blue pair of pants. I changed in front of the mirror and examined myself. I looked just as I had the last time I’d looked in the mirror: long, straight, dark brown hair; blue eyes; an absurdly straight and narrow nose; the slight scar at the edge of my eyebrow. The scar whose origin I still couldn’t remember.

Familiar Assassins

Outside, I leaned against the Terminus brick and watched people pass by. Still the red weapons dominated the hands and sheaths of the Tumultus inhabitants who passed. I kept my eyes on them at first, wondering what the symbols were for, what they were made out of, why I'd seen them on Incipio. But after a minute or so, Thane and Tai's conversation started to heat up, and I couldn't block out their voices.


"You said she'd be an asset!" Tai shouted.


"Orpheus, I swear to God, she's not deserting and she's not going to tell. Have some goddamned faith, will you?" Thane said.


"In someone like that? Someone who doesn't even know whether she wants to be part of this?" Tai asked. "Thane, I'm telling you, they're warning signs. You need to get rid of her."


Chapter 26