The boys walked into the truck stop looking like four terra cotta warriors because of the river mud and clay they had been submerged in. Tex’s dreads had hardened, looking like the limbs of an oak tree and not a tattoo on any of the boys was visible. “Sign says ya’ll have showers,” George said…

When Riley Johansen hit the ground outside the prison he was in full-blown combat mode. Every bullet point he had ever learned about being trapped behind enemy lines kicked in. He knew the guards wouldn’t make their rounds until midnight which would give him a full two hours to cross the twelve miles to the…

Through my time as a sage and teller of tales I have witnessed and questioned many individuals who have personified acts of heroism. Whether it was charging through hails of bullets to rescue a fallen comrade or diving into sub-freezing waters to the aid of a fellow sailor, all of these everyday heroes have a…

The adolescent adventurers, who had only been in Missouri a day, had gone to riding mostly at night to escape the sweltering summer sun. As they rode through the countryside, still reeling about Johansen’s escape, a dilapidated Ford pickup crept up alongside them. The passenger seemed to eye them suspiciously until finally deciding George was…

(see img credit below) Max stood behind the nuns watching them finish the excommunication. He had seen too many movies to know that when the hero left the bad guy to meet his end without witnessing his final destruction the bad guy escaped. At the third ring of the bell Izzy and Fahad both vanished.…

Fahad sat at the back of the nursery and watched the nuns scrambling at the door. The women chanted in Latin with their faces in the eerie glow of the black candle. Mrs. Margaret stood behind them with her arms crossed menacingly. Mrs. Cara could not interrupt this scene in the doorway to get to…

Max took the stairs two at a time and ran to Fahad’s door. Knock Knock Fahad answered the door. “What do you want? It’s after eleven!” “Sorry to bother you, Mr. Fahad, but Mrs. Cara sent me to ask you something,” Max said with all innocence. The calculating criminal was hooked. He opened his door…

Chapter 82 When Max opened his eyes he was looking at the world upside down. The girl who was doubled over backward like a contortionist with no bones stood upright and spit all the glass from her mouth. The priest jumped back in amazement as he realized her light green eyes were now the blue…

Nothing’s happening. Max paused for about twenty seconds. This is stupid. I should have never believed it. I am just standing in a closet. This is a joke. He leaned forward and reached for the doorknob, but there was nothing there. He took a few small steps forward, hands out, and still no door. If…

The motley crew of Max, starched and creased in all of his barely-five-foot order, and Master Legba, with his worn and disheveled seventeenth-century suit and top hat stooping at well over seven feet, made their way up the steps of the old orphanage. They entered the hallway at the far end of the stairwell at…