Novels by PenWang

After scaling a few levels of the roof, they found a cracked window and slipped into an empty guest room, the door to the hall barely ajar to show its lack of a guest.Veronica could see the sliver of a guard's shadow to the left, her hopes withering as she looked back to the window they had come through. But her gaze fell on the boy instead as he whispered a spell into his cupped hands, a small butterfly glowing with golden light fluttering from his palms and out the door.There was a small commotion as the guard to the left spoke with another one, two pairs of footsteps following the enchantment until they grew silent. The boy lead the mission, tiptoeing through the empty corridor until they rounded a corner to face two guards sitting at the end of the hall.Veronica swallowed her gasp, confused as the boy continued to lead her up to them. She heard a noise when they'd gotten close enough, one of the guards letting out a soft snore as his head drooped against the second guard using

Veronica sat on her bed, stuffed like a spring hen but still buzzing with birthday energy. She had only played with one of her gifts throughout the night, a dinged up wooden dagger that she'd managed to hold away from her mother until the gazes of the guests forced her to allow the gift to remain in her hands. She had looked for Mr. Bunny afterwards to show him her new prize, but Horus had informed her of his early departure.She knew that they had planned for today to be their last, but the disappointment lingered nonetheless. She still had one last gift she had hoped to give him.Veronica sighed, grabbing for a fairytale on her shelf instead of the books that had piled from Jackling's tutoring. She had gotten a few new stories to read Cinder before bed, but the phoenix had taken a particular liking to the golden lettering of one title."The Adventures of Locke Lanbrellhande..."She stopped at the small tap that met her ears, glancing at the side of her bed where Cinder was still per

It was all wrong.The corridor was too tight. The guards were too close. Too tall.It was too cold, suffocating.He was meant to be in the room to at least give him some time to think."Are you alright?"The boy snapped to the voice. What was a blink to him, was long enough to land him on the ground, palms to the floor to keep his entire body from shaking. He didn't know how long he had blanked out for, but the king had taken a knee to come closer to him, washed with concern as a few of the surrounding guards hovered over the scene to see where they could offer help."Come lad, can you stand?"His gut twisted at the way he tried to help him up, but with Vera bracing his other side he couldn't very well squirm away from the king. He doubted that he'd even have the energy if he decided to. But he knew now with the scene he'd caused that he would have to respond with more than a nod.Cilvren would have had his translational enchantments up to date, but there was a standing risk of a few

It had been a little over an hour since the nosy boy named Horus had been dragged off. But the silence finally let him work without prying eyes. The size of the pants had allowed him to stitch pockets inside, just big enough for a dagger to hide beneath the folds on either side. Horus had likely thought he was being smart when he hid his old clothes and daggers from him, but the presence of magic in the air always escaped Lumer senses.He pulled them out of a pile of blankets, finding the rest of his trinkets and the invitation to shove in his pockets. With some hesitation, he bounced the black spool of string in his palm, staring at the shiny silver needle and pocketing the whole thing. He had to be preapred to use anything.Hopefully Veronica wouldn't miss the small thing, nor the black cloak he found in her wardrobe.Blue crystals twinkled at his fingertips as he traced his hand down the cloak. He just needed to be invisible from a distance for a few minutes. Most of the guards had

It was the end of the painfullest slumber party in history.Veronica had exorcised her birthday immunity to raid a closet of nearly all its bedsheets, and prop them up as a haphazard blanket fort in her room. It was the perfect mess for the boy to hide in when someone walked in without knocking, but also a tight fit when it came time for sleeping.Veronica had been ushered away at the crack of dawn for the maids to prepare her outfit, which left the boy in Horus' care. He had to get the two of them ready, and hope to the gods that the boy picked up at least half of the common Latos mannerisms he had taught him. But all of that was to the side as Horus stared at the boy tucked into a corner of the blanket fort.Horus didn't know what was weirder. The way he held a few flowered bauble pins out the side of his mouth as he sewed, or the fact that he looked like a seasoned seamstress as he cinched the waist on a pair of pants Veronica had swiped from Adrian. The cut was tall enough for him

The door opened, the boy squatting lower into the tub as Veronica peeked in. She flaunted the tiny beginner's book like a sack full of slivs, tiptoeing up to the tub with a devilish smile."I found it.""You don't have to whisper, we put up a sound block enchantment.""You guys have to teach me!" Veronica piped. She quickly landed on the bar of soap in Horus' hands, putting two and two together at the suds popping in the boy's hair. "Horus, that's soap.""Yeah...""That won't do, it makes your hair all icky." She grabbed a tray full of mysterious pots, smearing at least five of the creams together before her mysterious concoction was complete.No amount of dodging could save the boy from being her test dummy, but the smug way he simply let Veronica rub the bubbly concoction into his hair irked Horus to no end. She grabbed some more of the secret spread, only stopping when not a single black hair could be send through the froth of rose bubbles on his head."You're never going to smell

The mess hall was a complete disaster. Some people had been in the middle of a meal when the breach had happened. There was rotten food and bodies everywhere, tables were flipped and broken, smashed dishes littered the floor. The storage wasn't in much better shape, they didn't even have the stomach to look look in the fridges and large chest freezers. There were rotten fruits and vegetables and moldy bread on the shelves. Searching the room they found some freeze dried nutrient bars, dried fruit, and jerky. Grabbing as much as they could as quickly as possible they stuffed it all into backpacks they had salvaged from a few of the guards.Moving on from the mess hall Angela followed Carter who had memorized the path to the armory. They had hardly spoken since looking through the archives. Carter knew manufacturing supersoldiers was a very real and achievable concept but he didn't think anyone would actually be working on things like that. Not since...His thought was interrupted as th

The forest was silent. Too silent. There should be birds, animals, something. Why was it so empty? Weren't deserted islands supposed to have some kind of wildlife? Maybe not, he hadn't even seen any animals since... Well, it didn't matter. But something was certainly unnerving about the lack of any living creature.It also brought up the disturbing thought of what the animals that howled at night ate. Or what the rotten smell that was getting stronger the deeper they went into the forest could be coming from."Is something wrong?" Angela asked seeming hesitant and uneasy."Why are there no animals?""Maybe this island was never inhabited by anything.""Then what's howling at night? And why does it smell like rotting flesh?""This could be some kind of forgotten base or prison.""It's possible. Doesn't explain the howling though. Something is still alive here.""Maybe it was some kind of offshore mental institution that got abandoned and the patients escaped. Maybe they come out every

Carter lay awake in his cot, replaying the day over and over in his head. He kept imagining Kevin's body hanging lifeless from the tree, he couldn't get the image out of his head. The worst part to consider was how he died.He wished he didn't know, he wished he could be blissfully ignorant and believe it had been a quick death, but he knew better. The way he'd been impaled he had to have been alive up there for hours before he finally bled out. Whatever had killed him didn't even have the mercy to finish the job.Carter hadn't liked Kevin but he certainly didn't deserve that. He came back to the same thought he kept having; what were these creatures? Where had they come from? He wasn't sure he wanted to find out.His thoughts shifted to the moment they'd found him, the way he'd held Emily. He hoped he hadn't overstepped. Emily seemed to trust him and he certainly didn't want to breach that, his protective nature had just broken through, but he hoped he hadn't done the wrong thing. Ev

The second day on the island went by both quickly and slowly for Carter. Everyone was exhausted from not sleeping the night before, but they all acted as though nothing was wrong.Everyone stayed busy and went about their day. As if by unspoken consent they all avoided any mention of Kevin or any of the events that occurred.They gathered more firewood, discussed supplies, but beyond that, no one really spoke to each other. And there was one topic everyone avoided most, the inevitable expedition into the woods that would have to occur when they ran out of food.That night everyone went to bed early as though if they were in their tents when the noise started it would be any less terrifying. Carter wondered again what it was, what had happened to Kevin. And he wondered how long it would take for them to get so exhausted they were able to sleep through it.Carter didn't remember dozing off but he remembered being awoken by a large clap of thunder as a storm hit. Rain began pelting his t

Focused.That's not a word you'd expect to describe someone who had just crash landed on an isolated island after watching a shuttle with 85 passengers still inside get destroyed by terrorists. But focused was the word to describe Carter as he climbed out of the escape pod and took stock of his surroundings.They had landed on the beach of the island about 500 yards from the shore. To his right nothing but empty ocean, to his left a densely overgrown forest. It was warm, humid. But there was a breeze. The air tasted of salt, but there was a faint putrid scent. As though an animal had died somewhere deeper in the forest. They should be careful, there may be predators.Carter watched as the others filed out of the pod and wandered in circles in shock. If they were going to survive they'd need to work together. Carter sighed. And that meant dealing with people. First things first, he needed to get everyone to function. It was so much easier with machines. He didn't know how humans worked

Free. Truly free.Carter walked the ship looking down at the earth below. All of his hard work was finally paying off. He took a deep breath reveling in the moment.They were in orbit now. In just a few minutes they'd be flying to lands uncharted. He'd help build a base for scientists and astronauts to stay at and study the new terrain.He turned in a circle, not for the first time wondering at the size of the spacecraft. With 95 total passengers, it was the largest spacecraft to make it off the ground to date. Carter still couldn't stop thinking about the genius that went into making something so large get airborne.Wouldn't they be leaving soon? Carter was impatient to get away from the planet he called home.The thought was interrupted by a sudden voice coming on the intercom. "Be advised we have just received threats from an unknown party who seems to be against the exploration of foreign planets. We are, at the time, unsure of the validity of these threats but you have orders to