Rich Odell
Stories
1
Chapters
8
Words
17.1 K
Comments
0
Reading
1 h, 25 m
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Mabel stood between two gods. From the clifftop, the trio watched Charon’s armada slip into the horizon, the moonlight casting silver across the sea. A slow, whispering mist rose to meet the boats—swallowing them, one by one, until none remained. For the longest time, no one spoke. Then Mnemosyne turned to her.“Now I must depart, Mabel. My blessing upon you. From this day forward, the gods shall look upon you as a champion—for evermore.” She reached out. Mabel didn’t…-
17.1 K • Ongoing
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Mabel returned to the shop. Malkin was asleep on the kitchen chair. He stirred at the sound of the back door opening. “Did you remember the fish?” he asked, eyes still half-lidded. “No herring, but a nice piece of plaice,” she replied, holding up the shopping bag. “Fresh from the sea.” “Perfect,” said the cat, stretching slowly into motion. “And what of the mission?” “A good result—if Amos’s reckoning is correct. But I have a problem. One I’m hoping you can help…
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17.1 K • Ongoing
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True love carves its own winding path—be it through the fire of passion or the shelter of protection. In both, the heart offers freely, without promise or expectation. It was a new day, though little felt renewed. Mabel woke depleted—emotionally threadbare. The shop would need opening, and she’d need to wash and dress. She also had to spend the day with Sam. How the hell was she going to cope? The clock read a quarter past five. No deliveries due today—just enough time for a soak before…
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17.1 K • Ongoing
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Every day, she made the pilgrimage—three miles from the grocer’s shop to the coastline, where the path climbed to the highest point of the cliff. The place the locals called Blackmere Point. They say no birds fly over Blackmere Point. That the sea below swallows sound. And that if you stand too close to the edge, you’ll hear your name whispered on the wind—not by the living, but by those who leapt before you. The villagers call it cursed. But the old women who keep to the woods call it something…-
17.1 K • Ongoing
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Easterwich sat a mile inland, the sea ever-present in its bones. Blackmere Point lay three miles east along the cliffs—a place most locals avoided, though no one ever said exactly why. The town had grown in recent years. More streets. More strangers. It hadn’t always been like that. There’d been a time—before the turn of the century, before the quiet exodus—when a certain kind of people lived here. People like Mabel. They were never called by name. Not publicly. But the old families knew.…
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17.1 K • Ongoing
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She knew he would do it. She knew how he operated. He had always been there, more constant than the community around her. He should have returned next week from the visit to her mother. Her suspicions were confirmed that morning, the mewing sound of his arrival, the brush of his body against her legs as she filled the kettle at the sink. Malkin Gra - the ancient one, a Knight of Friþgeard, the king maker, known only to trusted friends as ‘Puss’. Mabel looked down at the grey cat by her feet.…-
17.1 K • Ongoing
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Samuel Gambrill was more than an old friend. Knowing what she was, he had become something else entirely—her protector. Now a sergeant in the local constabulary, he was one of the few in Easterwich who could accept the strange without blinking. He’d stood up for Mabel since they were children, from playground taunts to teenage suspicion. He knew her family’s secrets, had come to terms with a talking cat, and often turned to Mabel when a case drifted beyond the reach of ordinary reason. Today,…
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17.1 K • Ongoing
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Being alone with Sam always stirred bittersweet memories, but she had no choice. Arriving unaccompanied would raise suspicion — better to have a male companion. And Sam was the only one from the ordinary world she could trust. She visited the Inspector on her way home from the Goodwin garden, presented her credentials, and swore him to secrecy. She requested Sam’s presence on the mission, which he could hardly refuse. As directed, Sam arrived in civilian clothing, looking troubled as he pulled…
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17.1 K • Ongoing
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