Circle Forward Novels & Stories

Section thirty was two paragraphs. The curriculum is a circle. The person who begins it with no knowledge ends it knowing what is real. What they know is the starting point for the next curriculum. The next curriculum begins where this one ends, which is where it began. The circle does not close. It becomes a spiral. Each turn builds on the last. Each curriculum goes further because the one before it showed how far the turn could reach. She read it to Caela. Caela said: "Yes." She said: "Is it right."

I slip into the back of the circle. Alright, here we go…

I hold my раlm flаt on top оf her реlvіѕ to kеер hеr ѕtіll as I intensify mу tоuсh. I circle her throbbing сlіt, but I don’t tоuсh іt yet. I keep making my wау in a circular mоtіоn tоwаrdѕ hеr сеntеr. I mаkе a роіnt of nоt ԛuіtе hіttіng thе ѕроt.

The circle held. Complete. Unbroken. Burning still.

In one of the buds, a tiny almost invisible marking was made in black A small cursive ‘K’ My stomach dropped. NO. To be continued.......

A teasing voice cut through the air with the approaching Fabian, who was fawned over and orbited by a group of childhood friends. “Buddy, you should’ve come to me for a loan! How are the cars coming along? I’ve been bragging about you everywhere, so don’t let me embarrass myself now!” Standing beside him was Chester Byrd, casually raising his wrist adorned with an imitation of a green Rolex Submariner.

Since she sniffed and turned back to the Patrick soup bowl, I guessed I was at least slightly successful. Arawn began walking around the giant cauldron in counterclockwise fashion. He was muttering something under his breath as he sliced a knife against his palm. I watched him walk around the bowl seventeen times before he reversed the procession and went the other direction seventeen times. His brother and sister stood there and watched. Like a really boring movie, we waited until Arawn was done with his bowl circling. Tove had once shown me a sport called golf. It reminded me of watching Arawn walk around his pot. Just as exciting and eventful.

I let it sit. “So what are our terms?” I asked finally. “Because I don’t like his.” Lucian’s smile was quick and tired. “We make a smaller ring inside a larger one. Double wards: hedge and house. We ask the gorse to be mean, the stones to be literal, and the wind to take instruction. We tie the circle to you so it knows your rhythm. If the fae step through again, they step into a mouth.” Maeve perked. “A mouth we close.”

Getting closer with every second. Fuck!

But it was also freeing in a way I didn't anticipate. By Friday, Westbrook called back. "We're proceeding with the vulnerable approach," their CEO said. "Fully. We've done our legal review, and we're confident we can manage the liability appropriately. We're actually planning to expand the vulnerability even further. This is what's differentiating us in the market." Victory. Complete victory. Eli and I celebrated that evening alone. Not a public celebration. Just us, understanding what we'd built together. "You changed," Eli said as we were lying on his couch, his head resting on my chest.