The Shattered Lands Novels & Stories

she snapped her fingers dramatically. “You’re already a problem, Lola. Just not the academic kind.” She flipped her braids like a diva. “Exactly. Balance is the key.” The fan above us groaned as it turned slowly, like it too was tired of this routine. I let my eyes scan the room. Desks were scattered with wrappers and books half-unpacked. Chalk dust floated through slanted sunlight. Everything looked familiar and slightly drained. Like we were all waiting for the real term to begin.

She startled, then squeezed me tighter and burst into light, breathless laughter. For those few minutes, everything felt simple. Just her arms around me, her happiness bleeding into my back, and the road stretching ahead. I wanted to bottle that feeling. Keep it locked away. But as we neared the compound gates, the peace shattered. Broken glass glittered across the gravel lot like jagged teeth. Two bikes lay toppled on their sides. The main door hung wide open, spilling harsh light into the darkness. I eased off the throttle and rolled in slowly, eyes scanning every shadow. When I killed the engine, Daisy slid off faster than usual and yanked her helmet off. Her hair was a wild mess, and her

Susan Jackson has always aspired to be a successful fashion designer. Unfortunately that dream was beginning to look impossible after numerous rejection from the number one fashion company in New York. Faced with the opportunity to compete with various students for the opportunity to finally become a designer in the Beautyspy fashion company. Susan will do anything to make sure her dreams come true, even if it means working closely with her old crush Joseph Crown, CEO of Beautyspy fashion company and her despicable step sister Amelia Friday.

it tastes like old spells. It’s a ward, she explained. To keep the Empire out. We are almost through. Suddenly, the mist thinned. They burst out of the gray and into a world of jagged black rock and stormy skies. The Shattered Isles. It looked like a mountain range that had been smashed by a giant’s hammer and left to drown in the sea. Hundreds of islands, some no bigger than a house, others miles wide, jutted out of the dark water. They were connected by precarious rope bridges and zip-lines.

The weave begins to shift, casting a massive, glowing holographic illusion into the air above the pavilion. It’s a perfect, shimmering reflection of the Silvercrest mountain range—but the peaks are fracturing. The glowing silver lines reveal the hollowed-out centers of the northern granaries, the empty vaults beneath the palace, and the massive, bleeding red lines of debt connecting the Joyce family treasury to the High Council’s private accounts. The Shattered Mirror is reflecting the exact economic rot Emily intercepted in the dark. It is showing the entire world that the mighty Northern Empire is completely, utterly bankrupt.

Standing in the wind, he looked disheveled and broken, as if he'd aged a decade overnight. Meanwhile, in the Shaw Mansion, Kimberly was happily tending to the flowers that Elmer had meticulously cultivated.

How ironic. "Sure," I replied. My lips curved into a smile, but my gaze was frosty. I continued, "We can start all over, but only if Maxwell and Samuel leave Reelsburg City. I don't want to see them ever again, and you'd better not let me find out you're spending more money on them." Her smile froze on her face, and her silence was deafening. I grabbed the glass beside me and hurled it to the floor. It shattered into pieces with a loud crash. Shards of glass flew in each direction.

"Milo had a vision. She said the territory will be under attack soon. And she said that I might not survive it." I struck the dummy. The shadows ripped through the burlap, tearing a gash across its chest.

"I'll call you tomorrow. We'll work out the details of the agreement." I drove home feeling lighter than I had in weeks. The anger was still there, the hurt was still there, but now there was something else too....hope. Not hope that everything would be perfect, but hope that maybe, just maybe, we could all find a way to move forward without destroying each other in the process. And for now, that was enough.

The world I had known, the one I thought I understood, was beginning to crumble, piece by piece. We pulled up to the cabin, the headlights cutting through the rain and the darkness. Carter killed the engine, and for a long moment, neither of us moved. Finally, he exhaled sharply. "I don’t know what to think right now, Winnie." I turned to look at him. He looked... broken. He always had this unshakable confidence, this calm under pressure, but now, it was like something inside him had cracked. "You don’t trust Langford anymore, do you?"