Frog positioned herself between Elaine and the stairs. Once there, she claimed the space; she spread her arms, hands slightly in, elbows out, effectively obstructing any easy route past her to Elaine. She took a deep breath and waited. The safari hat shaded her eyes from view, but she held a steady gaze on Casey’s … Read more
And predict she did. Hadaly slid between the incoming missiles like a burning butterfly—the sentry droids were fast, but she was so much faster. She felt giddy with alacrity. The first one went down in a shower of sparks when she tore through the rusting support struts beneath it. Predictors displayed a wild field of … Read more
[Invincible by Kyt Dotson is a short story in the Black Hat Magick series. If you would like to skip this and move on directly to chapter 7 click here. Otherwise enjoy!] — “Hadaly! LZ is hot!” Elaine shouted into the phone as she raced up the stairs, taking them two by two. “I repeat, LZ … Read more
Larry began to ask them what they’d like, but paused mid-word when he noticed Frog’s dark sunglasses and flat expression. His eyes slid from her and onto Elaine, where they hung for a moment on the goggles poking from her hair. Elaine noticed how he looked totally unprepared for them, from the dazzled look in … Read more
Frog started to protest and folded her arms across her chest. “Just because the dean doesn’t know how they’re doing it, doesn’t mean that they’re not cheating through conventional means,” she stabbed a finger at the page. “I’ll concede, though, that this sure seems similar…” Elaine lifted and squared her shoulders and sketched a practiced … Read more
Elaine watched stoically as Frog’s class let out and a flood of students torrented past, breaking like a stream in front of her and reforming behind. They looked tired, as if worn down by the proceedings within; some of them carried sheets of green-lined scrap paper, folded neatly or crumpled in their fists, others had … Read more
“There’s a lot of reasons people cheat,” Frog said. She tossed a lock of her green hair from her shoulders and shrugged dramatically. “In high school all the cheerleaders cheated in one way or another—no, not me, you know that. I didn’t have to… Though, I did go through the motions. You were expected to … Read more
The dean made a long show of feigned disinterest as Frog and Elaine exited his office. Although he stared intently at the terminal on his desk, Elaine could tell that he kept his attention raptly on her as she walked away. Comparing his body language to previous encounters, she surmised that Frog would have hypothesized … Read more
“As I intimated,” he said, settling back into his chair again. “I want to hire you. I will pay you for your services—no academic favors, if you’re going to work for me, you must do so as an outside party and not a student under my jurisdiction. Of course, I cannot offer you the resources … Read more
Frog fell heavily into one of the stiff, thinly upholstered chairs and crossed her legs. She leaned back with all the bravado of someone just along for the ride, but stopped short of putting her sneakers up on the dean’s desk. Elaine pulled the remaining chair a little closer and angled it so that she … Read more