Sean J. Quirk

“Earl spun but was not at all prepared for what he saw; something lumpy, black like the water, slid back beneath the surface like ink flowing into ink, and he could’ve sworn that for the briefest of moments he saw a glowing, pale yellow eye.”

“A sense of hopelessness permeated from Hallie’s slumped shoulders. The finality of surrender weighed heavily on Catch too, but what other options did they have? The weaponry being used was highly sophisticated. Their attackers could literally shoot around corners, and what really worried Catch was what would come once the gunmen got bored of pelleted rounds.”

“She sits quietly in the passenger seat, holding Lola tightly in her arms, looking up at the starry sky and thinks about cute, big eyed, little green aliens all sitting quietly behind their desks, pencils in hand, diligently taking notes from their teacher on proper earthly etiquette. The thought makes her smile.”

“Suddenly the door crashed into the room in a cacophony of shattered, splintered wood, revealing Emil standing in the frame, his small beady eyes fixed on Peter. A satisfied smile split his fat face, his lips peeled away from a mouthful of neglected, black teeth. In his right hand was a half empty bottle of vodka, in his left hand was Elena.”

“Peter was dimly aware on some level that with each swing of his arm, the purity by which his youth was defined was shattering all around him, irrevocably so, and he would no more be able to put his soul back together the way it was before than reassemble a broken pane of glass. After tonight, he knew things would never be the same.”

“The man was utterly devoid of compassion, love, kindness, or any other trait that marked the spoor of humanity, and so confident in his own superiority that his disdain for every other human being preceded his arrival like the rain-cooled downdrafts before a big storm.”

“A while later Catch woke to the sound of the bathroom door opening. Hallie emerged wearing a white bathrobe, which hung suggestively low, revealing the slender line of her neck where it met her perfect collarbone. Her hair was damp and her skin shone ethereally in the golden glow of the lamplight, smooth, flawless, like porcelain polished to perfection. She smiled and for a moment Catch was left breathless.”

“He smiled too, but did not hold her gaze. She watched as he put a few more pieces of wood on the fire, and wondered again who he was, who he really was. What happened to you? What could have been so bad? As she watched, she was struck by the undeniable sense that behind his introverted, self-effacing demeanor was a tireless mind churning with thought and memory, self-sustained like the constant machinations of a kinetic engine; and much like his two differently colored eyes, she also sensed that there were two just as different sides to him.”

“CHAPTER 1: Fourteen year old Augustus Tomlin's day started out just like any other—normally. He got out of bed, dressed, brushed his teeth, then headed for the kitchen to join his adoptive parents, Earl and Marge for breakfast. This was the first day of their vacation, and admittedly, Augie (as he liked to be called) wasn't as excited about it as he would've been had Earl and Marge decided to take them all to Disneyland instead, because firstly, he'd been dealing with a paralyzing fear of water all of his life, and secondly, they were staying in a cabin on an isolated stretch of beach in the Florida Keys. Nevertheless, there was no way for Augie to know just then that by the end of the day he'd be traveling in an under-sea carriage drawn by four of the most incredible creatures he'd ever laid eyes upon, heading for destinations untold somewhere at the bottom of the ocean at a million miles an hour.”