Author
Melissa Mead
http://carpelibris.wordpress.com/
Imaginary Friends
****Editor's Note: Trigger warning. Loss of a child.**** "Mom! Mom! Can Icya stay for dinner?" Gina turned around slowly. Ryan stood in the doorway, tousled and muddy, his four-year-old face aglow. There was no one on the porch with him. "Um, what was your friend's name again,…
The Last Passenger
The skiff had almost forgotten its purpose. Crossing the Styx, back and forth. Or was it the Acheron? The skiff wasn't sure it mattered. The River of Pain and the River of Woe had no effect on wood that could feel neither. Once, souls had thronged the river's banks, leaving…
Time Machines
The man burst into Jayon's antique store the instant it opened. Actually, he ran into the door first, because he was too impatient to wait for the scanner to register his presence. He plunged toward the counter, waving an advertising holosheet at Jayon. "Is this ad true?" he…
Hunted
"My loyal huntsman," the Queen purred. The Huntsman began to sweat beneath his uniform. He stood straight, then bowed low. "Your Majesty." "So skilled at your trade. You've brought me everything I've asked for. Even the heart of my stepdaughter." The Huntsman knelt to the cold…
Empy
Mission Control programmed the Pot itself. Feed The Travelers, it directed. Do Not Burn The Food. And so the Pot cooks to the best of its programming. It sits in the main dome, in a place of honor by the generator pole, turning ration concentrates into meals. They haven't been…
Moonskin
The Wardens claim it doesn't matter what Moonskin you wear, or which phase you're born under. They lie. A Full-phase Lion is respected even in their human skin. A descendant of the founding Lupines can eat someone's pet poodle while in wolfskin, and the Wardens will swear that a…
Destiny
"No sign of the Duke's men," said the young man. "I think we lost them back at the stream. And this valley is so secluded I don't think they'll find it. Even if they come back with dogs, I can turn them away. I got to know the pack pretty well while working in the stables." "And…
The Depths To Which We Sink
The ocean is a dark place, and cold enough to chill the soul. But mermaids have no souls. We forget that, with our tales of mermaids singing beneath the sea. It's dark there, and the pressure builds until only the strongest souls can bear it. We forget all of that. We think that…
Silenced
The young woman left the tiny cottage on foot, her eyes on the hills ahead, her face set. Behind her, the old couple who had raised her cried and begged her not to go. She didn't look back. She strode past the stone where deformed and defective babies were left to die. She…
Ballgown Road
The only way to reach Ballgown Road is from an overgrown path that local wags call "Knot Street." There's nothing on it but a tree at the end. An old, gnarled, leafless tree with a hollow heart. Women put all kinds of things into that tree. Broken glass. Wedding rings.…
Horseman
It was a nightmare come to life. Seriously. One I'd had ever since a misguided kindergarten teacher insisted on reading "The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow" to a roomful of impressionable tots. An illustrated version. Our young minds just weren't ready for The Headless Horseman. So:…
Rose-and-Thorn
"On her sixteenth birthday, the princess shall prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die." The other fairies stopped their one-upmanship to gape at their rival. "That's true power, not giving silly gifts like beauty and charm," said the oldest fairy. "None of…
Closet
There's a mystery light in my bedroom closet. Kind of bluish-white. It comes on shortly after I turn out the lights. The first time, I turned on the lamp to look around, and saw nothing. I turned the lamp off, and it was dark. After a bit, the light came on again. It's bright…
Sugar and Spice
"It's time to take the children into the forest," said Stepmother. Father winced. "Must we?" he said. I winced too. All the feasting in the world couldn't erase my memory of Stepmother angry, back when she was teaching me and Gretel to call her "Stepmother," and the man…
The Velveteen Rabbit Says Goodbye
There once was a rabbit who had been made of velveteen. For many years now he'd been Real--not just Real in the eyes of the Boy who loved him, but real to the world of grown-ups and rabbits with twitching noses and springy hind legs. The Rabbit's hind legs weren't as springy as…
Scramble!
Humpty Dumpty (according to the name written on the back of his shell) sat on a wall. The King's men, climbing up behind him, snickered. An egg as a lookout! And it was facing the wrong way--inward, as though watching over its fellow eggs instead of guarding them from outsiders.…
Big Bad's Hot Date
BB's date showed up early. He barely stopped himself from howling his admiration. That might be fine for non-anthropomorphic wolves, but Lupina deserved classier behavior than that. This was going to be a date she'd never forget. No mere beast would be able to match it. "You…
Three Wishes
A woodcutter was walking through the forest one day when he heard something howling. It sounded terribly close by, but if he didn't go into the forest and do his work he and his wife would have nothing to eat that day. Soon he came upon a fallen tree, and found a golden Coyote…
A Little Sleep
The princess searched the throne room, the stable, the scullery... no spindles anywhere. Her father had been most thorough. It had taken her a year of questioning every old woman she met just to find out what a spindle was, and longer still to extract the details of the curse…
Puss
"I'll bet you can't transform yourself into something really tiny, like a mouse," said Puss. He winked. "I can do better than that," said the Ogre, grinning. It became a flea, and hopped into Puss' fur. "Oh, brilliant!" said Puss. "Hold on; I need to catch a mouse for Master."…
Swan Song
I still don't talk much. After six years, I seem to have lost the habit. My fingers have never really healed from the years of weaving nettles. The servants think I'm still in shock from my near-burning, and that that's why I seem so unhappy. No one except Raban, my youngest…
Snake Sister
You don't understand. I wanted the snakes and toads. Yes, it feels rather crawly and unpleasant, but it was worth it to avoid my younger sister's fate. The tale-tellers claim that as soon as poor, pretty Bella came home spitting pearls and poppies, Mother hustled me out the door…
Sweet Justice
"May I help you?" said the store owner to the old woman. "Do you sell industrial-strength candy, young man?" "We certainly do!" Hans came out from behind the counter, beaming. "We also carry five grades of structural gingerbread, from Light Gold to Dark & Spicy. If you'll follow…
Subject AT-171
"Let's take a walk while our porridge cools off," announced the largest of the three bears in a voice that carried through the clearing. All three bears left the cottage and settled in the blind to wait. The girl crept out of the woods soon after. "The poor thing's so thin!"…
Hazel Tree
Once there was a beautiful girl whose mother had died. Her father remarried, to a woman with two daughters of her own. The stepmother banished the girl to the kitchen, and made her do all the hardest housework. (Oh, you know this story already? Glass slippers? What glass…
A Hairy Predicament
Mother Gothel heaved another load of hair-compost over with her pitchfork. Curse that couple anyway, with the mother's rampion cravings and their begging the Fae to give their daughter "an endless fall of golden hair." They'd gotten their wish, and then begged Mother Gothel to…
White as Snow, Red as Blood
Snow woke in a glass coffin with the taste of bitter apple in her mouth and a stranger's face staring into hers. A face with alarmingly pointed teeth. She sat up, pressed her hand to her stinging neck, and stared at the two dots of blood on her palm. The stranger broke into a…
Little Red Robin Hood
Once there was a girl whose name was Robin, but everyone called her Red Riding Hood because of the red hood and cape she wore when she visited Grandmother. It was a bit ratty, but the nicest clothing she had left. Grandmother, a sorceress, had no real grandchildren, as far as…
Fool's Gold
"Of course it's fool's gold! You gave me dirty hay, not straw. What did you expect?" Rumplestiltskin left his dissatisfied customer swearing at his pile of pyrite and started for home. Dirty hay had nothing to do with it, but it could be dangerous to say that the gold wouldn't…
Peas, Plots, and Peril
The hardest part was spreading that silly rumor in the first place. I didn't use magic. A dairymaid's pay doesn't cover hiring sorcerers. No, I spent months discretely complimenting the ladies who came to the dairy on the delicacy of their complexions, working my way up to the…
Frog/Prince
The frog basked in the sun. Settled in the soft muck of his pond, he didn't notice the princess until she scooped him up and pressed her hot mouth to his skin. He kicked out with his strong back legs, and tumbled into the water again. Safe! But he wasn't. Something was wrong.…
Electric Company
When my television died I grieved. It had been a faithful little TV, bringing life to the house for many years with its bright pictures and chatter. I'm something of a Luddite ordinarily, preferring non-interactive appliances, but TVs are special. It's been that way ever since…
Inside Things
Over her years of guarding her unseen Mistress, the she-beast has learned many things: Strangers with swords are dangerous. Strangers with books are even more so. Books are inside things, Inside things belong to the Mistress, not to her guard-beast. Outside creatures should not…
Sister
Sister knew about wicked stepmothers. No one warned her about wicked stepfathers. Stepfather only noticed Sister at night, in the dark. When she saw Brother's bruises, Sister declared "Mother's too scared to help us. Let's go into the forest. We'll be safer there." Hours later,…
...And A Bottle Of Rum
The old man set the bottle in its stand, leaned back into his pillows, and sighed. "Perfect. I've still got my touch." A miniature skyship hung inside the bottle, sails turned to catch sunlight, a wizard perched on the crow's nest, following currents invisible to ordinary eyes.…
Flashback
My name is Brian. If you've trained at the New Sander Institute, I may have walked in your dreams. I'm the one who sat behind the screen, teaching you how to turn nightmares into a vision that your patient can control. I'm the man in the white coat, the one the others call…
Tag, You're It
The old devil slouched against a grayish pile of unshaped matter on the storage platform. He suspected his masters down in the Pit and the governors of the paradise beyond the skylight overhead would be equally enraged to find him in this neutral space, but the thought of their…