Novels by Mystique

POV: Avalon PierceHe woke up and knew immediately what Today was.The morning sunlight was just beginning to peek through the edges of the curtains, and Selene was still fast asleep beside him. He lay there, completely still, and watched as her chest rose and fell with each gentle breath.Day fourteen.She had marked it down on the kitchen calendar three weeks before, and it was the only thing written on the whole page for December.He got up quietly.Made coffee and waited .She walked into the kitchen at 7, her hair a mess, still figuring out who she wanted to be that day.She looked at the calendar on the wall.Looked at him.“Today,” she said.“Today,” he agreed."I'm not going to do it right away," she said. "First, I need a cup of coffee. I want to be fully awake and alert. I don't want to find out something important when I'm still half asleep, that's just not a good idea. I need to be sharp and focused, and a cup of coffee will help me get there."“Okay,” he said.He made her

POV: Selene CastellanoShe wore the green dress.She had no idea why, but that morning she just knew what she wanted to wear. She opened her wardrobe and there it was, waiting for her. Avalon saw it and said nothing.He caught her eye for just a moment, and in that instant, he got it - no words were needed, he just understood.They left at nine.Dr Okafor's office was warm.December outside, warm inside, the contrast of a room that had been designed to feel like a pause from everything else.Dr Okafor gave a nod as we settled in, "You look ready.""I am," Selene said."Any questions before we begin?""No," Selene said. " You've answered them all."Dr Okafor looked at Avalon."You?""No," he said."Then let's go," Dr Okafor said.The procedure itself was straightforward.Selene had prepared herself for, the task of separating the hope from the mechanics of the thing carrying the hope.Avalon held her hand.As she gazed up at the ceiling, her breath slowed, and her mind began to wander

POV: Selene CastellanoDecember hit San Francisco like it always did.Cold that came in off the bay and didn’t apologize for it. Christmas lights appearing overnight on streets that had been ordinary the day before. The city somehow louder and quieter at the same time.Selene seemed to notice everything a lot more than she usually did this year.She wasn’t sure why.Maybe the trying made everything sharper.Maybe this was just what happened when you stopped waiting for the next disaster and started actually looking at where you were.The foundation has just wrapped up its first year, which came to a close on the fifth.Amara sent a summary document at seven AM.Selene got some time to herself before Avalon woke up, and she used it to catch up on some reading in bed.Kevin Walsh’s program had filled twelve additional beds.Susan Park’s infrastructure funding had allowed her team to take on thirty percent more cases.David Torres started a new way to help people get food, focusing on tr

POV: Avalon PierceNovember arrived cold and fast.The Lorraine Pierce Infrastructure Fund was officially launched by the foundation on the third of the month. It was a low-key affair, with no formal ceremony to mark the occasion. Instead, the foundation simply sent out an email to its community partners and created a new page on its website. The content for the page was written by Selene, while Maya handled the design. Amara, meanwhile, reviewed the page three times to make sure everything was just right.Kevin Walsh called that afternoon."I saw the announcement," he said."Applications are opening on Monday," Selene said, her voice coming through the speaker as Avalon busied himself making coffee in the kitchen. "You've got all the necessary stuff, so you're good to go.""Kevin said he's had the application ready to go for about six weeks now."She laughed.Avalon had never heard her laugh on a work call before.The Nexus board met on the seventh. It was a routine check, the number

POV: Selene CastellanoDr. Okafor’s office was on the fourth floor.Selene had been there three times now and still looked at the wrong door every time she got off the elevator.Avalon didn’t say anything about it.He stood there patiently, waiting for her to find what she was looking for.Dr. Okafor was running ten minutes late.They sat in the waiting room.Avalon was reading something on his phone while Selene looked at the other people in the room.A woman maybe thirty, alone, scrolling through her phone with the expression of someone waiting for something they’d been waiting for a long time.A couple, older, the man’s hand on the woman’s knee, both of them quiet.A younger woman with a book she wasn’t reading.Selene thought about how many held breaths existed in this one room.Dr. Okafor called her name.They went in together.She went over the results from the last couple of weeks, looking at blood work and hormone levels, stuff that Selene had been slowly getting familiar with

POV: Avalon PierceLife didn’t pause for the trying.That was the thing nobody told you.The organization still relied on him, and his role remained crucial. Both the foundation and Nexus continued to depend on his contributions. The board of directors maintained its regular schedule, convening every other Tuesday to discuss important matters. Meanwhile, Amara persisted in sending him documents that demanded his attention, often requiring him to review them before 9:00 AM.The trying just existed alongside everything else.Quietly and persistently.It was like you were holding your breath, waiting to see how long you could keep it in, the moment suspended in time.Friday’s bloodwork was fast.Selene was in and out in twenty minutes.As they made their way back, she gazed out the window.“You okay?” he said.“Yes,” she said. “ You?”“Yes,” he said.On their way back, they decided to make a quick stop at a cozy coffee shop.The organization's management team got together a week later fo