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

Thane escorted me back to Incipio, but by then we had returned to not speaking, and neither of us said a word until we had ascended to the top of the Terminal again. There, Thane pulled his hood over his head and blended into the shadows.


"Good luck, Miranda," he said, voice barely breaking the silence. "If you need me, you know where to find me."


He had already vanished. I swallowed and turned away from the ports, heading in the direction of the building's exit. You know where to find me. Did I? Had he meant in the Tumultus settlement? Or somewhere on Incipio?


And did I dare go looking for him again?


The rush of memories and feelings washed over me again, and I turned back to the port with a shiver. Even when I searched the shadows cast by the blue guide lights, I couldn't see him. I pushed my hands into my pockets and walked out the door.


Chapter 27