Nine By Nine Novels & Stories

His steps were confident like he knew exactly where he was going, which was good, because the place was a maze and I swore at one point we’d gone in a circle. Sitting in a central bar was a man who hadn’t changed a bit in the weeks since I’d last seen him. In fact, he looked the same as when I first met him almost two months ago. Unlike Six, the only difference I saw in Nine was the green eyes I’d seen in Paris versus the brown of Tennessee. “There you are!” Nine gave a broad smile and held out his hand. “So good to see you again.” Six smiled back and took his hand. “How are you doing?”

The man hung his head low, his fingers buried deep in his hair, carefully considering where I might have gone. As his eyes wandered, they suddenly fell upon the trash can nearby. Those pink fragments looked so familiar that the moment he saw them, he felt like he couldn't breathe. He slowly crouched down, not caring that the cream stains would dirty his sleeves. He picked up the pieces from the trash can bit by bit. Then, he carefully assembled them back together. There were exactly 99 reconciliation vouchers. He remembered five years ago, when he had looked at those vouchers and sincerely promised me, "Cecilia, don't worry. I'll never give you a reason to use them."

he said, unable to contain his excitement. Elena and Vanessa turned to face him, their faces lighting up with joy. Vanessa's eyes sparkled with anticipation, eager to witness her father's cupcake-making skills. Elena playfully raised an eyebrow, a challenge in her expression, as if to say, "Prove it!" Not one to shy away from a friendly challenge, Andrea rolled up his sleeves and got to work. He joined Elena and Vanessa at the kitchen table, sharing their laughter and conversation while adding his own touch of cup cake making skills. He skillfully piped frosting onto the cupcakes, creating intricate designs and patterns.

“Mallory, do you really think everyone here is stupid? I’ve used that same excuse nine times. Do you expect me to say it a tenth time too?” Mallory’s expression darkened immediately. She said with displeasure, “As you said, nine times. So, what is one more? You won’t even say something to defend Ruth. Is your love for her even real?” She spoke as if the request were perfectly justified. Over the past two years, ever since Ruth’s adopted brother, Peter Conroy, returned home, we had gotten married and divorced nine times. Every single time, she gambled our marriage against Peter in some bet.

To strengthen his claim as the heir, Kyle pushed me forward in front of all the elders, showing me off like a trophy. "Elders, this is my mate, Althea. She has been blessed with a divine gift from the Moon Goddess!" he announced, his face flushed with a manic energy. "I have died nine times, and every single time, she was the one who pulled me back from the brink of death!" "What?" "Nine times?" The hall erupted in chaos. All eyes were on me—filled with shock, greed, and a disturbing fanaticism. I wasn't a person to them. I was a rare treasure, a magical item that could grant immortality, to be used over and over.

My voice was hoarse as I asked her, "Lucy, are you sure you want to divorce me over a drinking-game challenge? This is our ninth divorce. I won't remarry you again. I'll ask you one last time. Do you really want this?" I remembered how we had gotten together. She pursued me first, staging nine elaborated declarations of love that people still talked about on campus. And yet, on the very night we registered our marriage, she'd asked for a divorce. At the time, I had asked why. She had smirked and said, "I humiliated myself declaring my love for you nine times. Even if I divorce you nine times, you can take it. You owe me this!" That was why I endured all those humiliations, telling myself it

"I see it now. I was arrogant. I thought you'd never leave me, so I kept hurting you. And kept hurting you. And kept hurting you." He pushed himself up on the pillows with the last of his strength and reached for my hand. "Ada. Give me one more chance. Stay. I can't do this without you." I moved my hand out of reach. "Julian. Ninety-nine times wasn't enough? How many more chances do you need?" Julian's fingers closed on the sheet. Tears dropped onto the floor. When I turned to walk out, his mouth moved as if he wanted to say something else. But he didn't.

"Or a secret passage, maybe? This is her weapon, so I guess it shouldn't be that easy to find." [~bzz~] [~bzz~] [Alright! Since you have come here, I assume you want my weapon. Well, I am already dead by the time you reach there, so no point in letting him go to waste. Listen to my instructions carefully.] [Stand as close as possible to the wall, you'll notice 9 dots in 3 × 3 matrix or table. Each dot represents a number from 1 to 9 in the decimal number system. The three dots in the top horizontal row represents number 1,2,3. The middle row represents numbers 4,5,6. And the last row represents numbers 7,8,9]

“Yes, but it’s more than that. Nine is also the number of the human ego.” Aurora grabbed the corner of the laptop, swiveling it around to face her. “Look, I’ll show you.” She typed into the search bar and a list of websites flashed up. When she clicked on the first link a black site with red writing filled the screen. “Look sister, read this.”

Dozens of pages. His grandfather had documented everything. He flipped through them quickly until something caught his eye. One page had been torn out. Cleanly. Deliberately. The missing page had been numbered... NINE. Adrian frowned. "Someone removed page nine." Evelyn's face lost all color. "No..." "What?" "It wasn't removed." "What do you mean?" She slowly closed the journal. "It was taken." "That's the same thing." "No." She looked directly into his eyes. "Page Nine is the First Cipher."