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Jason walked alone along the street, not paying attention to anything other than the voices he could hear. Some of the wishes were ones he would never even contemplate fulfilling, because they were selfish or they’d affect someone else adversely, but then there were others, more heartfelt, that tugged at his empathy. Not all wishes could be granted, so he spent much of his time learning about each person he wanted to help. That was what everyone with wish magic did. Every day they heard the voices of the many races of the web and made their choices about which wishes they could grant.

When Jason was a younger he had granted wishes that he probably shouldn’t have done, the way almost everyone with the ability had, because it was harder then to look at every wish dispassionately. All granted wishes were recorded, as were the effects, so he knew that none of the wishes had done any real damage to a person or timeline, as he could hear wishes from people who had lived hundreds of years before him. There were those who could also hear wishes from people in the future. That was why some said that they knew more about the web than the walkers did, but he wasn’t sure that was necessarily true. He would admit that they probably knew more about the people of the web than the walkers did.

Each wish that was granted had an effect on the web and sometimes it wasn’t possible to know what sort of an effect it would be until it happened. Jason had seen some innocuous wishes that seemed as though they couldn’t have any major effect turning one of the worlds upside down, while there were those that could have changed the worlds and didn’t do anything much at all. No matter how much research they did there was no way to be totally sure what would happen, so all they could do was guess and hope for the best.

There were rules about the wishes they could grant, but not everyone followed them, and there was no way to keep track of everyone with wish magic. Jason had first realised he had the ability when he was thirteen, which was the normal age for the races of Siaral to gain their power. He’d thought it was likely because his mother had wish magic and it had missed his older sister. It was something she was glad of, as she’d always wanted to be a unicorn breeder. If he’d wanted to keep his ability to himself it would have been easy enough to lie, because his power didn’t show outwardly, and he didn’t have to do anything to grant wishes.

Sighing, Jason told himself to stop thinking about the things he couldn’t change. When there were rules there were always going to be people who wanted to break them and people who were doing their best to stop those rules from being broken. He had always followed the rules they were given, knowing it was for the good of the web, even though there were times he could have broken them to help people who needed it.

Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.

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“When one of the Nox Gadael disappears everyone else simply assumes that they’ve been caught by the hunters, because that’s normal for us,” Monique said, her voice sad, “and there are too few of us for the memory wiping thing to work.” She tilted her head to one side, looking thoughtful. “Although it does seem as though there are more Nox Gadael than we believe there is, because there are packs here we never knew existed.”

Zoe bit her lip, trying not to compare her easy life to that of the Nox Gadael. “It seems impossible, with the number of humans on Earth, that anyone I knew might end up here.” She shrugged. “I don’t know if I’d want them to.”

“That is understandable, considering what humans are forced to give up when they are brought here by the door. We see it as a positive change in our lives, because we would otherwise still be hunted, but for you…” Monique shook her head. “I wish we could affect the door in some way, to only bring those who need sanctuary to Taithmarin, but no one understands the magic that was used to create it.”

“I don’t regret what happened, but it took me some time to get to understand that. I had no real aim in life if I stop and really think about what I was doing, although I was happy being aimless. Now I’m here I realise that there was so much more I could be doing with my time and I plan on making the most of being here.” Zoe smiled, even though she still felt a little sad about who she had left behind. “Making friends was always something I was good at, so the only thing I need to work on is getting used to the calendar here, and then I can get a job.”

“Do you have any magic?” Isen asked.

“That’s something I still need to find out. Joel, my guide, told me that many of the humans who end up on Taithmarin have the ability to use the magic of the world, but it’s not something I’ve experimented with yet.”

Monique wagged her tail. “We know Joel. He often visits us.”

“I liked Joel.” Zoe hadn’t wanted to like him, but it had been impossible not to. “He wants to meet up once he’s done with his latest new arrival so he can see how I’m getting on.”

“If it wasn’t for his work as a guide he would have several puppies by now.”

“How does that work?”

“We don’t tell everyone this, but often young Gadeal puppies connect with one of the other races and they choose to live with that person. It’s a pack thing, we think, although it’s not something we have a lot of understanding of.”

Zoe nodded. “It’s hardly something that would have happened on your old world.”

“Exactly. It doesn’t happen as much with the older Gadael, who have travelled here from our old world, but a few have chosen to live with other races.” Monique gave Zoe that look that made her think the Gadael was smiling. “There are even some Nox Gadael living with the Alati Felis.”

Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.

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At first all Astrid could do was stare around the room she had found herself in, unable to believe what she was seeing. When she had walked out of the cave she shared with her pack she had never expected to step onto another world and end up… She turned to look at Nerys.

“It’s yours,” Nerys said, wagging her tail. “You do have to pay rent, but here you will always have a comfortable home.”

Astrid’s happiness faded for a moment. “How do I pay rent?”

“Until you are used to Taithmarin and feel capable of working you will be given money each month, as a sort of welcome gift. Once you start working you will earn your own money and have more choice as to where you live.”

“Working?” Astrid shook her head. “This place is so different and I haven’t even had a chance to look around.”

“I know. I felt exactly the same way when I first got here.”

“Okay, tell me what I need to know, Nerys.”

“That’s going to take a while. As your guide I will be here for two weeks to help you get used to Taithmarin, the races that live here, and how our magic has changed.”

Astrid sat down. “I really have stepped onto a different world, haven’t I?”

“Yes, you have.” Nerys stepped forward and touched her nose to Astrid’s. “It’s going to be fine, but getting to know this place is going to get time. That’s why I’m here.”

“How long have you been here?” Astrid asked as their eyes met.

“Just over three years.”

“I last saw you seven months ago.”

“No one really knows how the door works, so I couldn’t know how long it had been for you, but time is very different here.”

“So if anyone else from our pack finds a door then it could be years after I arrived here, even though it won’t be anywhere near as much time for them?”

Nerys nodded. “Are you thinking about your mum?”

Breathing deeply at the reminder, Astrid shook her head. “We believe she was caught by hunters during her patrol, but we don’t know for sure. She just disappeared, so we held a memorial service for her, and…” She sighed. “Of course now there’s the possibility she might be alive here, but I doubt it.”

“I’ll ask around. There have been a lot of new arrivals recently. I was the last guide without an arrival to help, so we’re hoping that there isn’t another one for at least two weeks.”

“Is that normal?”

“Occasionally it happens. We don’t know why, but we do our best to help every new Nox Gadael arrival. If there is another new arrival then you may find them staying here.” Nerys shook her head. “That doesn’t mean your mum is here, but I hope she is.”

Astrid shrugged. “I don’t know if I want her to be or not. I haven’t had time to mourn her, but to me she was gone for good.”

Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.

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“We never knew all the packs,” Nerys explained, sitting opposite Astrid. “In Little Hill we have three of the local packs and then there are Gadael packs from all over the world.” Nerys shook her head. “Until I came here I didn’t have any idea how many Gadael there really were on our old world, but there were more than we thought there were.”

“It makes sense.” Astrid sighed. “Knowing all of the Gadael was impossible when we were all in hiding.”

Nerys nodded. “I’m glad, though. Meeting so many Gadael here had been wonderful, Astrid, and now you’re here I don’t have anyone else to worry about.” Their eyes met. “I think you’re going to be happy here.”

Astrid shrugged, trying not to think about her mother, who would never know what it was like to feel safe, and the rest of her pack. “What’s Little Hill like?”

“It’s interesting. Let me show you to your new place of residence and then we can talk more, because I’m going to be your guide for the next two weeks.”

“Was my arrival planned for?”

“All arrivals are planned for.” Nerys stood. “There is a connection between the door that brought you here and a record book that is kept in Little Hill’s council building. Every town has a record book, watched over by someone at all hours of the day, so they can let the guides know about the new arrivals. With some arrivals we have more warning that others and we were told about your arrival yesterday.”

“Okay…” Astrid looked around and then back at Nerys. “I think Taithmarin is going to take some getting used to.”

As Nerys walked down the corridor Astrid followed her. It was the only thing she could do. She would never be able to get home, not that she wanted to return to a life of fear, and she didn’t know anything about Little Hill or Taithmarin. Having a guide, who was also a friend, was something she was grateful for, so even if it hadn’t been the only thing she could do it would have been her choice.

“Taithmarin, from what I know, is a world that was created purely with magic, so it is a little unusual,” Nerys explained. “The door has chosen a number of different races to bring here, but with some races no one is entirely sure why. Many people have theories that we can never prove, because we can’t ask the door or the race who created it, as we believe they’re extinct. I’m glad it chose the Nox Gadael. It’s keeping our race from extinction.” They stopped in front of a door. “This is going to be your home for the next two years, Astrid.” She pressed her paw against the door and it swung open slowly. “I hope you like it.”

Slowly, Astrid walked into the room, not sure what to expect. The cave she had left behind hadn’t exactly been what she could have called comfortable, but they hadn’t had a choice, and her new residence was going to be very different to what she had left behind.

Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.

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Monique looked very much like she would have smiled back is she could, instead settling for wagging her tail harder. “How long have you been here?” she asked.

“Just over two weeks,” Zoe replied, “but it feels much longer.”

The Nox Gadael all nodded. “We had the same problem,” Isen said. “Our old world had a much shorter day too and getting used to the thirty-six hour day took more time than I think any of us expected it to.”

“When did you all arrive?”

“Monique was the first of our pack to arrive on Taithmarin, then Gerald found a door, and finally I appeared about six months after Gerald.” Isen sat on his haunches. “On our world it was six months. Here it was…” He looked at Monique and Gerald. “About eighteen months, I think.”

“And three years after I first arrived,” Monique continued. “None of us are exactly sure why, because logically it should have been fewer months for us that it was for Isen, but no one here understands the way the door works.” She sighed, her tail no longer moving. “We wish we did, because we’re hoping that more members of our pack may arrive soon.”

Zoe was thankful she’d taken the time to study the Nox Gadael, because it meant she didn’t have to ask what a pack was. “Are there many more of your pack left on your world?”

The three Nox Gadael shared a look. “We don’t know,” Monique replied, looking back at Zoe. “When Isen arrived here there were still six members of our pack alive, but they may all be dead by now.” Monique’s expression made Zoe think of someone biting their lip as they were thinking about what they should say. “On our old world,” she continued, “we are hunted for our magic.”

“That’s…” Zoe trailed off as she tried to find the right words. “I can’t imagine what that must have been like for you.” Part of her wanted to gather all three Nox Gadael in her arms and give them a hug. “I hope that the rest of your pack do make it to Taithmarin.”

“Thank you.” Monique wagged her tail a couple of times. “Taithmarin has been good for us and getting to know other magical races, who don’t want to hunt us, has been wonderful. Although a lot of humans have a problem with talking dogs we have also made some very good human friends here.” Their eyes met. “What did you have to leave behind?”

Zoe thought about the question, trying to find the right answer, but there was no right answer. “My family are all still on Earth, but I stepped through the door with a man I thought I still loved, and coming here has left the naive girl I once was back there.” She ran a hand through her hair. “I haven’t worked out if I miss her yet. I miss my family, because I know I’ll never see them again, but I’m glad they will never know that I’m gone.”

Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.

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This entry is part 19 of 66 in the The World Walkers collection

They’d been together for as long as Liadan could remember. Most days she wished she could have chosen her own mate, but finding a bond mate early seemed the safest thing to do, as there were stories of magic users who had died due to their inability to find someone to bond with. Often it was the parents of daughters, like hers, who went searching for another child, usually a year or two older, to bond their child to, to keep her safe from any harm. It was understandable, even though it was frustrating, and something she didn’t think would ever change.

When choosing a mate gender didn’t matter. Nothing really mattered to the parents of newborns, and Liadan had seen it with her own eyes, apart from making sure their child had a mate. It didn’t really make a lot of sense, because his or her mate were always going to be more important to the child than anyone else, so she thought taking more time to find the right mate made more sense. Getting away from your mate was almost impossible, which meant being mated to someone who could also be a friend was essential, especially as having other friends could be difficult. Mates who didn’t get on were easy to distinguish and it seemed like there were more of those than mates who were friends.

Sighing, Liadan tapped her fingers on the table. Idris had always been a good friend and he’d told her he wanted more, but she knew she would never fall in love with him. She just didn’t want to tell him that. Being with someone else was never going to be an option, even if she travelled to one of the other worlds, because there would always be at least three people in the relationship. Under normal circumstances she knew it wouldn’t be a problem, but she had to think of Idris and she knew that it would hurt him if she chose someone else. There was a part of her, a part she ignored most of the time, that told her to break the bond and run. Breaking the bond would kill both of them, eventually, and she hated herself whenever she found herself thinking seriously about doing it. It was just hard, knowing she didn’t have any real choices.

Liadan couldn’t remember what it had been like on the day she had been bonded to Idris, although she knew the ceremony because she had been going to them ever since she was old enough to walk. Hers had been four days after her birth, and Idris had a few blurry memories, as he’d only been eighteen moons old. She knew that she was bonded to him from a young age, but she didn’t really understand what that meant until she was older. During their early years together they’d often accidentally ended up in the other’s mind, which had been strange enough, and once they had learnt how to control it they had agreed it was something they would only do in emergencies. Of course that didn’t stop the accidents from happening at night, because then neither of them was totally in control.

Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.

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Crystal jars surrounded Elodie. Each one contained a soul that needed to be recorded. It was a strange job, but she grateful for it, because it meant she was unlikely to end up in one of the jars until it was truly the end of her first life. Many of the souls, and she didn’t want to know exactly how many, had died before their time as a part of Caoimhe’s experiments. People who asked too many questions, especially in the hearing of Caiomhe’s right hand man Ruarc, usually disappeared, and Elodie wouldn’t have been surprised if she was told that some of the souls she had recorded had belonged to those who had disappeared.

As she picked up another jar, this one holding a blue soul, Elodie sighed. Her choice had been made long before she even really knew what it was she was making a choice about. If she hadn’t of overheard a conversation between Ruarc and one of the gatherers she never would have known the truth. There were other recorders who were ignorant of how some of the souls were collected, but she would never know for certain who actually knew and who was just keeping their mouth shut the same way she was.

The blue soul belonged to a boy of nine. Elodie bit the end of her quill before writing down the information. In his old life he’d had magic, but he wasn’t old enough to know his abilities. He did know his family’s, so she noted that down, pretty certain that the family’s abilities had been hereditary. Before him she’d recorded his two older sisters, one of whom was old enough to have had her abilities manifest, his mother and his father, so she knew that they’d all had the same abilities. Part of Caiomhe’s experiment was about seeing if magic was something a soul would take with it to another body or if the body holding the soul would manifest new abilities.

Elodie knew the souls of the boy and his family would be in the recording centre again, she just didn’t know when. It was unlikely she’d see them again, but someone would, and their second life would be recorded below their first life by someone else sitting in her seat. Before her there had been a recorder writing about the lives of souls who were coming through the centre again, so she had no doubt there would be one after her, although she had heard rumours about someone wanting to put an end to Caiomhe’s experiments.

When Elodie looked at the soul one last time she was torn. The soul in the jar might have died naturally and using it again in another body was putting it to good use, or it might not have and then… She ran a hand through her hair. Maybe it was better for the experiments to end, even though the souls might just end up floating around uselessly, because she couldn’t understand how anyone could kill a little boy for any experiment.

Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.

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It was three days after Astrid’s mother died that she walked her normal patrol route and found herself somewhere she’d never been before. For a few seconds she stood utterly still, allowing her nose to take in the scents of where she was. With her eyes closed she named each scent as she recognised them, until she got to the one thing she hadn’t been expecting: the scent of other Nox Gadael. She opened her eyes, remembering the stories she’d heard of Gadael who were believed dead because they had just disappeared one day, and knew that she had found them. They weren’t dead, any more than she was, but she would become another one of those stories, and she was grateful she had no family at home to worry about her.

When Astrid heard the sound of paws she sat down, wrapped her tail around her left hip, and waited. There was a part of her, the part that was always on alert, that screamed at her to run, but from the scent she knew it was a female Nox Gadael, which meant that she might get some answers to the questions she had. She had never before had any reason to be afraid of her own kind. It was the hunters that she needed to run away from, but she couldn’t smell a hunter, so she ignored the voice as much as possible.

The walker slowed as she got closer to where Astrid was waiting. It told her that there had been Gadael who hadn’t taken their unexpected journey well, but she wasn’t going to be one of them. There was something strangely calming about knowing she was no longer at home, knowing that there were hunters who wanted parts of her because she had magic, even though she didn’t know for sure that the new place was going to be safe.

Finally the other Nox Gadael female walked into view, around a corner that Astrid hadn’t realised existed until that moment, and wagged her tail. “Hello, Astrid,” she greeted, as Astrid blinked in surprise.

“Nerys?” Astrid said, unable to believe that she hadn’t recognised the scent of someone she had known for almost a year.

Nerys nodded. “I always hoped that one day you’d find the door.” Her tail wagged harder. “We’re safe here.”

“Where is here?”

“The world is called Taithmarin. We’re currently in the town of Little Hill.”

“How many other Nox Gadael are here?”

“Are you asking about the world or just the town?”

“Both would be good.”

“I’m not entirely sure of the world count, because there are already second and third generation Gadael puppies, but I’d say there’s between maybe six and seven thousand. In Little Hill, thanks to the puppies, we have a population of about four hundred.”

Astrid stared at Nerys. “How can there be that many Nox Gadael here? I heard that there were disappearances, but I can’t believe that we lost that many Gadael and there were only rumours.”

Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.

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Magic’s third phase is when it is condensed from ambient magic into core magic. This happens in several ways, depending on the world, who lives there, and how much of an effect the world itself can have on the process. Unfortunately the fae’s old world wasn’t sentient enough to have any effect on the process, so it would have had to relied on evolution and there simply wasn’t enough time when it realised what was happening. Athare has more options. It can rely on evolution: in some cases a species of animal will evolve into a condenser, but this is relatively rare; normally it will be a plant species that evolves, often trees, due to their connection to both ambient and core magic; and occasionally a race of people will evolve. Normal weather cycles, not those affected by the fae, also help to condense ambient magic into core magic, especially when combined with a plant species (or several, depending on the area).

Many of the newly created worlds take the time to evolve races of people and species of plants for use as condensers, because the fae have no understanding of the way the phases of magic work. If they took the time it would have been easy enough to work out, because it was the loss of several species of plant that had a huge effect on how their old world condensed ambient magic into core magic. The races that evolve as condensers can be magical or non-magical, but they often don’t know how important they are to the ecosystem of the world they live on. Without someone studying magic many races also have no idea how important some of the species of plant are with keeping the amount of core magic at safe levels for the world.

Taithmarin, Aerith, and Kankirin all evolved differently, due to the way they felt about being a part of the world web. Aerith and Kankirin had no interest in being a part of the web in the same way as the other worlds, but didn’t go to the extreme that Taithmarin did in making sure that the fae left and never came back. They all share magic with Athare and sibling worlds if they need it, because the magic in the web needs to stay balanced in order for all the worlds to exist.

When the fae use the magic in such a way that it is poisoned there are also species of plants that deal with this. The core of Athare does its best to make sure that it doesn’t allow any poisoned magic in, because otherwise it will affect all the other worlds. If poisoned magic enters the core of any of the other planets via the world itself then they can isolate it until it’s cleansed, but the magic of Athare works slightly differently, as it was Athare’s magic that was used to create the other worlds and the world web, so it’s permanently moving around the web.

Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.

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Riordan never thought that their elder would arrive back from the meeting to say that Queen Mab was seriously thinking about allowing them to create new worlds. It was something their family had talked about before, along with a couple of other families, but it was something they thought they would have to work on in secret, at least until Mab was replaced. Everyone he talked to wanted it to happen sooner rather than later, because she had made mistakes that couldn’t be forgiven. He thought differently. Forgiving his Queen wasn’t something he thought he was going to be able to do, as he’d lost too many people he’d cared about, but he didn’t think they should push her out of her position without giving her a chance to repair the damage she had done.

Shaking his head, Riordan told himself to focus on what he was meant to be doing. Even if Mab said no to their plan they were going to make a start on what needed to be done. Most of the older fae had… he sighed, running a hand through his hair. As the magic of their home had faded into nothing so had many of the people he’d looked up to. They needed to make sure that it would never happen again. Unfortunately, no one knew quite why it had happened. It was obviously because of the fae, as they had been the only race on their old world, but they didn’t have enough information on what exactly had caused the problem.

There were many who thought, still, that it had just been bad luck. It could have happened to anyone. Riordan didn’t agree. When Willow left, taking her fae with her, there had been a time when it seemed as though things were getting better. Mab thought that she’d made the right decision and the elders agreed with her, because none of them believed that they really were using up the magic they relied on. Once it failed again it happened faster than before, killing hundreds before they could even think about what to do next, but by the next day everyone who survived was on Athare.

Now it was just a case of making sure the magic of Athare didn’t fail. Riordan agreed that their only option was to create new worlds with new races, because they could replace the magic that they had used, as there wasn’t time to work anything else out. If he’d had a choice he would have studied the magic and found out why the magic had failed in the first place, before making any decisions. There was every chance that creating the new worlds, using Athare’s limited well of magic, could just destroy Athare, instead of working the way the fae needed it to.

Tapping his finger on the table, Riordan thought of who was going to be asked to work as world creators. He knew, without any doubt, that he would be one of them. It was his experiment they were basing the whole idea on, after he’d created a small town, with the help of one of his close friends, in a box. Now they wanted to create whole worlds and he didn’t know if it could work. Part of him wanted it to work, but there was a tiny voice in the back of his mind telling him that the whole thing was wrong.

Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.

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Silence followed the sounds of battle. For a moment Clio stopped, thinking of those who had lost their lives, but she didn’t have time to grieve for the people she’d become close to. She had to keep moving. That was what she had always been told to do if something happened. It was possible they would kill her, because of who she was, or they might keep her, and she couldn’t work out which was worse. Both were… she shook her head, her hand pressed against the wall as she tried to figure out where she would be safest. Nowhere was the first answer she thought of, but that was pessimism talking.

Read the rest of this entry » )

Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.

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Yellow: creates animate objects

Blue: creates inanimate objects

Green: door magic

White: mechanical magic

Brown: dream magic

Red: enchantments

Purple: potion makers

Black: writing magic

Silver: elemental magic

Gold: time magic

Grey: stone magic

Orange: transformational magic

Mab: paper magic

Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.

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Zoe had always hated lifts. There was no real reason for her hatred, apart from her fear of getting stuck in one. It didn’t matter that it very rarely happened, because the simple fact that it was a possibility was enough to stop her. On the rare occasion she did get in a lift it was for a very good reason. She had a good reason the day she got into a lift with Adam. Normally she would have just walked up the six staircases that would take them to their holiday apartment. Having a large suitcase to carry up those stairs meant it made much more sense just to put her fears aside for thirty seconds.

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Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.

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Sighing, Mab looked down at the table. It would take time to get used to the new elders, who were all much younger than the previous group, but she didn’t have any. The fae didn’t know how not to use their magic and the last thing she wanted was for Athare to fall apart the same way their old world had done. No one had time to find out what their new world was like before they’d moved, because neither she or the elders had wanted to believe Willow.

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Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.

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Lucille stared down at the envelope. She knew what it held, which was why she couldn’t bring herself to open it. Becoming a world walker was the only thing she’d ever wanted to do and she had spent nearly nine years studying each of the thirty-four worlds it was possible for a walker to visit. The exams were there to test a potential walker on their knowledge of all the worlds they wished to travel to, so most would study only the worlds they were most interested in.

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Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.

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