Category Archives: Free Read

Garden of Knight (Part One) by Dana Rodgers

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It was like someone had picked her up and dropped her on another planet. This planet smelled like cookies and came with a house so big she could get lost.  She dodged Grandma Emily’s favorite chair, a big fancy one with flowers on it, and passed the curio that held Great Aunt Margaret’s spoon collection. Floor to ceiling bookshelves flanked a stone fireplace so big she could stand inside it if she’d wanted to, and she was almost the tallest six year old in her class. She decided Grandma Emily might not like that and moved on, her attention drawn by the gold framed portrait of her mother above it. In the painting Mama looked younger, her black hair longer and dark eyes shining with mischief. She looked like a movie star with her red dress and olive skin. Daddy had called her his gypsy queen. She was as beautiful as a queen, Gemma thought, wishing she looked more like her. She had Mama’s eyes, but Daddy’s blond hair and pale skin. Mama always said Gran didn’t care about them, but why did she have so many pictures of Mama if she didn’t love her?

Still lost in her thoughts, Gemma wandered outside into a huge garden full of trees, flowers and statues. The air was chilly, not as stuffy as in the house. Red, yellow and orange leaves decorated the trees as if they were preparing for a party. It would be Halloween soon. Was Gran too old to celebrate Halloween? Stretching out her hand, Gemma plucked a leaf from a nearby bush. She traced the veins softly but the leaf crumbled at her touch. Just like her parents had in the accident. She swallowed hard as the familiar ache filled her chest. She let everyone think that she didn’t remember, but she did. Every time she closed her eyes she was back in the car. She could hear Daddy’s deep resonating laugh, see Mama’s dark hair blowing in the wind, and then the deer sprang from the woods and into the road a split second before Mama screamed.

Being sad won’t bring them back.

Gemma whipped around. “Gran?” But it was a man’s voice. “Who said that?” Her head swiveled in every direction, but the only one here was a statue of a man with sad eyes wearing strange clothes. He knelt on one knee, holding a giant sword, like a knight. She felt weird, reaching out and touching his cold hand, like someone was watching her. Rather than being creepy, it was kind of nice not being sad all alone.

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The Comfort Boy (Part Two) by Carlene Love Flores

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(Mermaid Note: If you haven’t already, please read The Comfort Boy (Part One) first.)

The plan.  That’s what was crazy.  This man’s plan to stay the weekend while observing her unnatural sleeping patterns and questioning her on why they were.

But what choice did she have?  None.

“This first night, I suggest we set up wherever you’re most likely to fall asleep.  Whether it’s your room or the couch or that recliner.  Wherever, your choice.”

My choice, what a joke.  But she had already condemned herself to participating at all cost.

“Okay, I guess Gram’s room.  That’s where I keep my stuff.”  Six months and she still couldn’t bring herself to claim the space as her own.

Alice followed closely behind, his proximity creeping her out a bit, as they walked the short hallway to the last door on the left, passing Alec and Andrew’s room on the way.  Sanden swallowed her sadness at what had become of their little family.  No one to call daddy, no Great-Grammy to sing them to sleep.

Once inside, she flipped up the light switch and made her way to the farthest side of Gram’s tall bed.

Alice stayed propped in the doorframe, his head only inches from skimming the top.  Would he tell her to lie down?  There was no way she’d be able to fall asleep in this strange circumstance with her mother’s confidant hovering in the doorway.  Was he expert enough to recognize if she faked it?  He couldn’t have that many years of practice, couldn’t be much older than her.  His clothes were too stylish, his brown hair a few strands too unruly and his skin too smooth to be past thirty-five.  The very unsettling way he patiently stood there made Sanden want to climb the wall.  But she wouldn’t let that happen.

She lifted herself onto the top mattress with a hop and then sat feeling uncomfortable in her own skin.

“So I didn’t realize shrinks made house calls.”

“I’m not a shrink.  I’m a sleep therapist.”  Alice paused and for the first time bowed his head as if he was the uncertain one.  “Sanden, I’m here as a favor to your Grandmother.”

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The Comfort Boy (Part One) by Carlene Love Flores

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Sanden’s mother had just finished cleaning the house.  With the room straightened, things looked odd and out of place.  The large, clear vase that had been used as a deposit for stray coins or buttons or anything small enough to toss in until they found a better place for it was now empty.  Sanden shrugged and plopped two artificial flowers and a handful of loosened dirt she had brought in from the backyard into the vase.  Thinking better of it, she tucked the marble she was about to toss in with them into her pocket instead.  She looked up and caught her mother frowning.

The silky, once white peonies, covered in a light shadow of dirt and yellowed by the sun, were the only things that looked right in the room at the moment.  It was clear her mother was on a mission to wipe Gram’s memory clean from the house.  Sanden stood nearby the junk vase and waited for her mother to toss the sopping sponge she was wringing into the sink.  Miraculously, she didn’t mention the fake flowers.

“Well, that’s that.”  Mother paused, inspected the sink as if looking for Gram’s reflection, wiped at the stainless steel basin, and then continued on with a doubtful kink knitted into her brow.  “The boys’ packs are in the trunk like I asked you?”

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Victory Garden (Part Two) by Avery Flynn

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(Waterworld Mermaid Note: If you haven’t already, please read Victory Garden (Part One) first.)

“Bloody hell.” Ethan choked down his confusion.

“We don’t have time to figure it out now. Come on.” Amalee dragged him through the shoulder-high maze in Talbot’s garden.

Ethan’s stride was much shorter than in his own body, he stumbled into the prickly greenery. Strands of his – her – long blue hair became tangled in the bushes. Afraid of losing her in the maze, Ethan yanked the hair free, pocketing the bright tufts into the inside pocket of her jacket. Left. Right. Left again. Finally they arrived at the green house at its center.

The humid air inside made the cotton of his shirt stick to his breasts. Fucking hell, her breasts. Hers!

She paused inside the glass door. “Stay here.”

Glancing around, his gaze took in the riotous colors of blooms mixed in with the deep green of ferns. “You took on Talbot’s guard for a flower?”

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Victory Garden (Part One) by Avery Flynn

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The perfectly sculpted, mushroom-shaped shrubbery at the garden’s edge provided just enough cover that Amalee Watts could scope out Fox Talbot’s property without alerting his mercenaries to her presence. Unlike the birds who’d been chirping since shortly after dawn broke, the power hungry despot’s staff seemed to be slow to rise. That made this the perfect moment to slink across the property line and ruin Talbot’s plans for world domination. If she succeeded, October 18, 1888 would go down as a major success for The Resistance, perhaps the seminal victory against Talbot’s dark forces. If not – Amalee’s jaw tightened. She refused to consider any other outcome.

She untangled her goggles from her electric blue hair and lowered them to cover her eyes, then wound the clockwork gear near the clasp until the temperature gauge blinked. Holding her breath to avoid fogging up the lenses, she scanned the lush green hedgerow maze leading to the garden surrounding Talbot’s country estate. When she zeroed in on the courtyard, five red shadows appeared. One guard per shadow, her kind of odds – if the gauge wasn’t acting up. Again.

“Okay, this is as far as I can go.” Her partner, professor Henry Mogg, twitched, his red nose wrinkling. “You understand your instructions?”

Amalee drew her four-barrel pistol and checked the sights. “Cross the twenty feet of open space without being seen. Hurdle the security fence. Disable the private militia. Sneak into Talbot’s garden. Find the one-inch by one-inch Thurston gear hidden in the conservatory under some flowers and return it to you so you can fix the War Bird. Then, we fly out of here and bomb the train before all hell breaks loose. Easy-peasy.”

“Orchids, it’s under the orchids.”

Gaze locked on the gun, she flicked open the chamber and confirmed the twenty bullets were loaded properly then flicked it closed. “I’m going to kill you after this.”

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Semantics by Alethea Kontis

Alethea Kontis, Free Read, , ,

“What are you doing out here?”

It had taken him long enough to find her. Holly felt Jacob’s touch on her shoulder but did not turn around. Time was too fleeting. She wanted to revel a little longer in the chill of the dark Spring night, the giggle of the creek below her, the crunch of the grass under her feet. Charlie’s mind hadn’t gotten the grass quite right yet.

“I was scolded for talking to the children,” she said. “So I came out to catch fireflies by the water.” She scooped up a lightning bug that had rested on the branch beside her, serenely blinking like an empty street on the day after Christmas. Holly remembered Christmas, and the little girl who had dreamed about it once. Holly had taken her name.

“Technically it’s not catching when you don’t chase them,” said Jacob.

“Technically it’s not chasing when they wait to be found.” Even after so long, it was ever the argument with them.

“It’s not really a creek,” he said.

“It’s not really night either, but you don’t hear me complaining.” Holly opened her palm and let the firefly escape, leaving nothing on her fingertips but wishes and dew.

“I’m not complaining,” he said. “Just stating the facts.”

“Facts have no business here,” said Holly.

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Come Inside Our Garden

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The true beauty of a story is that through the written word we can travel anywhere, be anyone and experience anything.

As Waterworld Mermaids, we don’t normally find ourselves in a garden, unless it’s of the seaweed and coral variety; so, for our first anthology of short stories, we decided to tie each tale together by location and an exotic one to us – a garden.

What will you find in our garden during the next few weeks?

Alethea Kontis brings you a fantasy story of two ethereal beings who live only in dreams, without any of their own, emboldened by love to take the biggest risk of all.

Avery Flynn takes you on a steampunk journey to Victoria City. When the fate of the word is at stake, a freedom fighter and the man hunting her must work together to foil a would-be tyrant.

Carlene Love Flores will envelope you inside a moody thriller. A grief-stricken and sleep-deprived mother struggles against the family who thinks she’s gone mad until a mysterious man comes to her aid.

Dana Rodgers spins a paranormal tale of a lonely girl who discovers her family harbors dark secrets and finds salvation in a knight’s garden.

Denny S. Bryce ratchets up the tension, in the romantic suspense tale of an FBI agent in a post-apocalyptical world hunting an orchid thief who has stolen her heart.

Kerri Carpenter brings you the contemporary world of two long-lost lovers who find themselves together again surrounded by nature’s beauty, wondering if they can find nature’s greatest gift – love.

Robin Covington heats up the garden when lust and the promise of love collide in this steamy tale of when opposites attract.

The Come Inside Our Garden anthology of free reads will last from Oct. 3 to Oct. 26 with something new each day. Please enjoy your time in the Waterworld Mermaid garden and tell your friends about the new worlds you discover.