Author: vu minh

Part 1 “Hey Pop, what was your rank back in the stone age? Mess cook third class?” The voice was slick, coated in the kind of unearned confidence that only comes from a body at its absolute physical peak. It cut through the low, familiar hum of the mess hall. It belonged to a young…

Part 1 “Are you deaf, old man? I said move it.” The voice was sharp, like broken glass. It cut right through the quiet hum of the gym, right through the rhythm I’d found. Sweep, scrape, glide. Sweep, scrape, glide. It was a good rhythm. Simple. Honest. The only reply I gave was the sound…

Chapter 1: The Calculus of Survival The smell of Oakwood Preparatory Academy was a distinct mixture of lemon oil, old money, and the lingering scent of entitlement. For seventeen-year-old Lucas Miller, it was the smell of a cage he was about to unlock. It was 11:00 PM on a Tuesday in mid-May. The hallways were…

Chapter 1: The Shadow in the Marble Halls The dawn over Connecticut was cold and grey, pressing down on the landscape like a wet wool blanket. Inside a small, weathered two-bedroom apartment on the edge of town, the alarm clock buzzed at 4:30 AM. Frank Miller’s hand slammed down on it before the second ring….

Chapter 1: The Invisible Boy in the Glass City The wind didn’t just blow through the avenues of Chicago; it screamed. It was a living, malevolent thing, a beast made of ice shards and exhaust fumes that tore through the canyons of steel and glass. It was Christmas Eve, the kind that songwriters crooned about—a…

Chapter 1: The Invisible Boy in the Glass City The wind didn’t just blow through the avenues of Chicago; it screamed. It was a living, malevolent thing, a beast made of ice shards and exhaust fumes that tore through the canyons of steel and glass. It was Christmas Eve, the kind that songwriters crooned about—a…