The river was an especially brilliant green that night. Paula preferred the pink hues of late summer, but green was a nice change for a mid-winter bloom. She imagined the magi would be out in force at midnight to harvest. To her, it was a welcome spectacle and a break from the dreary browns of the season. To the magi, it was life and currency and the root of all they lived for.

Rolford wagged its bony little tail as Evelyn walked up the staircase. It barked its silent little bark, sending a chill and a whisper through the air. Evelyn grinned and crouched down at the landing, lifting her skirts to keep them from the worst of the dust.

“Who's a good boy?” she asked.

Samantha ran a brush through her hair, cursing at the wind-born snarls. It was bad enough with the damp weather. She plucked another handful of broken strands from the brush's teeth. There was no way she was going to get it orderly in time for dinner. Resigned, she grabbed a hair tie and pulled it back.

“Time to go to bed, dearie,” Gramma said. The smell of her evening tea crept through the cabin. “There will be more time for stories tomorrow.” She began to stand from the chair by Henrick's bed.

“But I wanna know what happens!” Henrick complained, as he did every night.

It was fifty years ago today that the Rock appeared in the sky. That's what I'm told, anyway – it was long before I was born. My friends and I don't remember a time when it wasn't hanging there, day and night.

Ow. I had expected to be sore, but not this sore. I might have had an inch or two of my body that wasn't bruised, but you'd be hard pressed to find it and it was probably somewhere impolite.

“Place your badge, watch, and knife on the desk, Fairchild,” Commander Harrison said. His tone was flat, but his face was a mask of barely-contained anger. “You're done here.”

The rain continued to pour down in sheets. Lisbeth curled her sodden cloak tighter around her and watched the water slowly creep up inside the small cave. It should have stopped by now.

A shriek of brakes erupted from behind them. Kendra almost pulled off into the shoulder as the truck bore down on them. She was glad she didn't.

Blast it all to Hell! This was not how this was supposed to go. Every little step had been planned out. Kaley was in place. The guards were distracted by the mob outside. The flares had gone off from the towers, so everything was set upstairs. But where in the blasted halls of perdition was Orick?

“Knock, knock,” said a nasal voice, in conjunction with knocking on the already opened door. “Time police.”

“I,” Gerald began, punctuating each word with a deep breath. “Really. Need. To. Work. Out. More.” He barely stayed on his feet on the last stair. He mounted it with great ceremony and then promptly collapsed to his knees. He was here. Finally.

“That's it,” Jenny screamed. “I'm done!” She yanked her jacket from the coat-stand, knocking the whole array to the floor.

“Wait,” Henry said. His voice and hands trembled together. “Please. We can talk -”

“It's time to turn back the clocks,” Marigold said. She stood outside, beating a carpet against the front porch to loosen the dust.

“Already?” Killian asked. “I thought we just did that.”

So it turns out the squid really are aliens. Not invaders or anything like that. They were apparently just left behind some ridiculous amount of time ago. Presumably by whatever seeded life on earth to begin with. Or maybe not? We're similar enough to them it seems likely.

The power went out last night. It was about as big a disaster as you might expect. Nobody expects it in an age of multiple redundancies, buries lines, and robot-managed power systems. It's amazing how many things people take for granted rely on those electrons zipping around. There were accidents. People shouting in the streets. It was really on the border of a riot.

The power was out for five minutes.

So much to do. Guests would be arriving within the hour. The cooks were barely on schedule. A single slip-up in the kitchen and there would be no appetizers ready for the first arrivals. But Gwen didn't have time to supervise them. She would just have to trust that Mal had things well in hand.

I went to war today.

I didn't, y'know, actually fight or anything. I'd just always wondered what one looked like, so I dropped by. I brought a blanket, a little picnic lunch, and sat down on a grassy hill near a picturesque battlefield.