One More Step Novels & Stories

But still She stepped forward. Slowly. Carefully. Her eyes never leaving his. She reached the doorway. Paused. One step away from freedom. One step away from whatever came next. And then She crossed it.

⸻ And something— ⸻ on the other side— ⸻ finally— ⸻ began to step through.

“If he returns home, and you try this step, and it doesn't work, we will go with the ultimate move.” “Which is?” She laughed, stroking her chin as if she had a moustache. “I will tell you about that when you have tried this move. Remember, student, take everything a step at a time, don't jump in, to get ahead of your teacher.” “I won't!” “Good.” ….

A single step rises from the stone then another. Measured and Intentional. Kael swears under his breath. “Lyra.” I close my eyes for half a second just long enough to decide who I am at this moment. “One step,” I say to Kenny, my voice steady even as my hands shake. “Only one. You don’t cross fully.” He nods. “I know.” Corvin tenses. “If he steps through—” “I know,” Kenny says, not looking at him. “Everything changes.” He looks up at me. “That’s okay.”

I smiled. Step four was underway. Everything was going perfectly, and no one suspected a thing. It couldn’t be going better. There was very little left before everything could finally end. Now I had to take care of a few more matters, and at last step five could begin after all this chaos. And the good thing was… step five would be devastating.

Adrian said, his eyes gleaming with intensity. Clearly, Adrian was about to make a reckless move. He planned to take a single step and leap five steps ahead. They were on the 145th step, but Adrian aimed to reach the 150th step in one go. If he didn’t, they would never catch up to the two Astrals.

I take another step back. He takes one forward. “Can you handle it?”

The door re‍mained closed long aft‍er Evelyn’s​ hand‌ sl​i‌ppe‍d⁠ from the handle. The suite fe‍lt c‌avernous now‍, every polis​hed surface reflecting a vers​ion of loneline⁠ss she hadn’t known existed until tonight. She wa​lke‍d deeper‍ inside, her foo‍tsteps muffle‍d by thick r‍u‌gs‍, each ste‌p remind‌ing h‌er‍ that this place, this m​arriage was r‌eal, no matter how unreal it fe‌l‌t.

Only four words. Phase one completed successfully.