by A A Woods
“How are the delusions today, Tori? Any better?”
Tori smiled as Greta leaned against her borrowed rusty truck, but inside her stomach was clenching. Enough of this, she thought viciously. “Better than yours. Wet the bed lately?”
Greta blinked. Tori saw the flash of rage, the flicker of danger. But she didn’t care. She was done.
It had been the one time Greta had actually opened up to Tori, drunk off her face in the woods, slurring her words, stumbling. She’d confessed that she was lonely, that she wanted to be real friends who share real secrets. When Tori had asked for one, she’d whispered about how she still wet the bed sometimes, when she had nightmares. When Greta had asked for a secret in return, Tori had lied.
She was glad for that now.
“Look,” Tori said to diffuse the molten rage she could see building in Greta’s eyes. Did I take it too far? “Unlike you bunch of privileged jerks, I have a job to get to. So if you don’t mind…”
She’d hit them where it hurt, and they all knew it. It didn’t matter how arrogant and flashy they were, Tori knew they were secretly embarrassed to be rich. That had been her own super-power, before she’d blown it. Tori wasn’t and had never been rich, so the false confidence had been easy to channel. She’d been able to act like she wasn’t ashamed, wasn’t self-conscious about something she didn’t actually have. It had been like a flame to moths, all these idiots drawn to the easy self-assurance over something they were all so deeply uncomfortable with.
Until they learned the truth.
“Hope it pays well,” Greta sneered, shoving off the driver’s side door with a curl of her lip. “This rust bucket looks like it’s about to dissolve.”
“Don’t be fooled. Old Betty would demolish your Mini Cooper without breaking a sweat.”
Greta only sniffed, tossing her hair and gesturing for the football bros to follow her. They did, which told Tori well enough how the power dynamics of the school had changed.
Kicking open the door, she climbed into Joe’s huge truck and slammed it shut. Jamming the keys in the engine, Tori relished the wonderful rumble of the engine beneath her thighs, real and visceral and so much more satisfying than the expensive cars her friends used to drive her around in. She allowed herself a moment to lean her forehead against the steering wheel, not quite sure who she was angry with. Eliza, for creating all this mess? Greta, for being a damn traitor? Or herself, for being cowardly enough to dig the grave she now had to live in?
She snorted. Dad had warned her, when she started to act differently at school, that lies always come home to roost.
Why did he always have to be right?
Sighing, Tori jerked the truck into drive and trundled out of the parking lot. She did have to get to work.
But she had a stop to make first, a stop that she desperately needed.
Because no one could make her smile like Otto.
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A. A. Woods is a Boston-based writer of science fiction and fantasy. She's lived in Montana, Costa Rica, Vermont, and Scotland, which has given her a soul-deep wanderlust that she treats by exploring her own imagination. Her deepest ambition is to make people think.
Find out more at aawoodsbooks.com.
Books In This Series
The Scotstown Heroes Series
For fans of X-Men, Avengers, and Stranger Things, this series features a group of genetically enhanced humans who must face down the dangers of the world, both supernatural and mundane.
The problem?
They're only teenagers.
Vagabonds: Book One of the Scottstown Heroes Series
"Brilliant characters, non-stop action... a book that will keep you turning pages till the end!" ~ Baz (UK Reviewer)
Something's hiding in Scottstown....
Eliza Mason is bored and frustrated by her life at Meru Academy. Her it-girl roommate hates her, her teachers pity her, and the only friend she has is the rich but reclusive Joe, who doesn't exactly share Eliza's yearning for adventure.
But when she accepts a dare to sneak onto the local military base and sees something she shouldn't, Eliza suddenly finds herself in the middle of a dangerous mystery. Desperate to find answers, she puts everything on the line to find out what's going on.
What she discovers will change her life forever.
Runaways: A Scottstown Heroes Novella
Tori Bent has a problem.
It’s not that her school status has gone down in flames. It’s not that her ex-best-friend is making her life miserable.
It’s Otto.
Ever since the fight at Fitzgerald Base, the angriest Vagabond hasn’t been able to use his powers. As he hides out in a hunting cabin, unable to tolerate being close to electricity, Tori does her best to help him through what’s shaping up to be a tough winter. But when rumors spread about a “freak in the woods,” Tori will have to face down her classmates to protect the guy she thinks she’s falling for.
And when a more serious threat shows up, it’ll take everything she has to keep Otto safe.
Books By This Author
Hooded: A Young Adult Fantasy Retelling
Hated.
Hunted.
Hooded.
In a land of myths and monsters, 17-year-old Carlette is a slave. Her power of enhabitation, the ability to control animals, makes her useful to the island’s colonial rulers. Convinced she’s on the right side, she spends her life doing their bidding, awaiting the day she gets to leave it all behind and fulfill her purpose in their war across the sea.
But when an escaped spy forces her to leave the safety of the road, Carlette is plunged into the wilderness with a handsome enemy by her side, rebels at her back, and only her wits to guide her. Among the giant trees of the magical forest, Carlette will begin to realize her world is much more complicated than she’s been led to believe.
Will she learn to see through the lies she was raised on? Will she have the courage to choose heart over duty?
And will she do it fast enough to save everyone she loves?
For fans of Princess Mononoke and Six of Crows, this dark fantasy is Little Red Riding Hood as you’ve never seen it before.
Project Recollection: Book One of the Affinity Series
Project Recollection: Book One of the Affinity Series
Tora has lost everything—her sight, her home, the brother she idolized—to Project Recollection, the behemoth corporation that hooked the world on their memory sharing tech. Hiding out among illegal Gamers, she accepts what jobs she can to keep herself and her memory-addicted mother off the grid. If she’s found, ProRec will take the last thing she has: the neural implant her brother designed to help her see.
But when Tora’s gaming partner doesn’t show up for a critical match, she must risk exposure and join forces with a previous opponent, an alluring newcomer named Anubis. Anubis says she just wants to learn from Tora, but clearly has secrets of her own.
However, as MemHeads and Gamers begin to vanish, Tora realizes that the mystery goes far deeper than the disappearance of her brother. Project Recollection is pushing the limits of cybernetic technology, maybe even the boundaries of consciousness itself. And the key to everything might be the very invention that gives her sight.
All she can do is follow the trail her brother left… right into the belly of the beast.
The Star Siren
Twelve light-years from civilization, Nova’s planet is dying...
Abandoned by Earth and condemned by ever-expanding solar flares, the colony world of Carbide has fallen into war. Nova, a member of the military's elite Sirens, enforces the rule of a dictator, convinced that violence is the only way to keep order on their doomed planet.
But while assassinating a traitorous general, Nova learns that the wormhole that closed 50 years ago has just reactivated. More colonists are coming, bringing with them a way to save Carbide... and all the evils of Earth.
The Sirens are ordered to infiltrate this incoming s
hip and take charge of the technology that will make their world self-sufficient. But in doing so, Nova can’t help but learn about the planet of her ancestors.
And wonder how much she really understands about her own.
For fans of The Expanse and Interstellar, this science fiction thriller will have you on the edge of your seat!
The Face of the Universe: A Short Story Collection
With five brand new, never-before-seen short stories!
From the near-future to distant space to magical alternative worlds, this compilation of science fiction and fantasy tales explores meaning, spirituality, collective responsibility, art, and life.
