#(it would be like impossible to swing i cant afford to move out of my parents house)

[zickmonkey]

Gonna say some semi weird shit lmao sorry

[lovelyparkers]

hard as nails (1)

hi hi 50k special!! this is gonna be either two or three parts and it's a lot different from what i've written before but i think y'all are gonna like this anyways so... i hope y'all do enjoy this

summary: being a teenage vigilante can be fun, especially when you're on the bad side and spider-man is your nemesis. 2k words

warnings: swearing, reader is a saucy and spicy little villain, peter is a blushing mess sometimes, angst, fight scenes!! violence!

you never expected to get in the way of queens well renowned hero—spider-man. that is until you had to relocate to queens from the bronx. it was...definitely a change from all aspects. your dad moved out with you, wanting a better place to go to school for you, since you had been leaving home very often for...you know, villainous duties. yet you were an extraordinary student, which led to you being enrolled in midtown school of science and technology. as well as having to scope out queens at night and having several run ins with the spider-man.

the worst part, you know you went to school with the masked hero because you frequently saw him entering the roof of the school in his suit. now you, you were way more careful and you worked alone, besides for a woman in her 30's who had taken you under her wing, trained you, and demanded you commit crimes for her and for yourself. she was the base operation and you did everything she asked, even when you moved, she moved. you were like her little goon. you excelled in combat and had unusually incredible strength due to being caught up between some dangerous radioactive weaponry in your sophomore year back in the bronx. you began junior year at midtown in queens, you made some friends, but knew to keep your distance. spider-man had become your main and pretty much only focus since you arrived. you know what they say, keep your friends close but your enemies closer.

you didn't want to hurt or kill spider-man, you just wanted to make his life absolutely miserable. that's how you worked, manipulate and mess with, not murder. you stole pretty much anything you could get your hands on because well, you were broke. you beat people up, robbed stores, manipulated civilians, and threatened people. yeah. your dad could barely afford meals for you both and lived in a very rusty apartment. but hey that's life and you were making it through. well, illegally. you told your dad you got a job at night in queens when you began showing up with money and clothes and food and god knows what else. it was a perfect alibi for a father who really didn't even give a shit.

and this spider-man, oh this lovely beautiful boy, was getting in your way. you were just trying to survive right? that and doing things for this mystery woman. and gosh did you want to find out who was behind the mask. it was obviously a boy your age. every night you tried to find him, meet up with him, talk and find out about him and of course, fight each other. he never hurt you though and you knew he had a soft spot for you. maybe it was your flirty nature.

and now you were on a rooftop at midnight, sitting with your nemesis.

"violet," spider-man called out, "nice to see you again."

your 'villain' name was violet because of the violet mask you bought from party city awhile ago. it was...fitting. and a pretty name that sounded so good coming from his mouth. you may have had a little tiny teeny crush on him. he looked fantastic in that suit and imagined what was underneath. little did you know he did the same about you. black leather pants and a black and violet zip up top matching your mask.

"hey spidey! catch any criminals tonight?" you asked.

"mmm none yet because you're out here."

"awe baby am i distracting you?" you walked over to him, close enough for him to rip off your mask.

"kinda," he replied, masked eyes slanting down.

"well tell me about yourself before you get in my pants. who is spider-man."

"wouldn't you like to know. is violet your real name?"

you scoffed, "do you think i'm dumb?"

"no i just- no."

you took your hand bringing it up to lay on his shoulder and slowly and teasingly dragged it over his abs.

"you're really ripped babe."

"don't babe me, you know i can take you."

"oh so you think you can take me? what about that one time i had you pinned down outside your school."

"how do you know i go to midtown," he asked in a panic.

"i knew it! so you do go there! i've seen you entering through the roof. watch yourself."

he grabbed your hand, locking it with his own. he stared at your signature red nail polish which made his head run wild.

"i've got you now. you watch yourself."

you twisted your wrist and swept a leg under his causing him to fall, but he caught you and brought you down with him. you fell on top of him with a groan.

"damn spidey. getting right into it are we?"

"shut up," he said and rolled over so he now had you pinned down on the roof.

he twisted his head at you, eyes focused on your face and you neatly done hair in two dutch braids. you noticed his distracted state and smirked pushing him over so now you straddled his waist and pinned his arms to the roof. just like before.

"still distracted i see?"

"well i cant help it sometimes. even though i'm supposed to hate you."

"awe spidey. you're so sweet. but you know i'm not gonna let you go."

you leaned down into him to whisper in his ear, "you're too pretty underneath me."

he strained his neck back, melting because of you, "stop," he demanded.

"no," you said jokingly then pressed a kiss on the cheek of his mask. you didn't know it but the boy was blushing underneath. you got up and let him get up to follow you. you walked to the other side of the roof, showing off your hips.

"don't get into any trouble tonight, whatever your name really is."

"sure thing babe."

he jumped off the roof backwards, watching you then swinging away.

—————————

you arrived to school the next day with a little more intuition about the masked hero. his voice was distinct. it was higher than most boys, and you doubted he used a voice changer because it would have that staticky feedback. and you swore you had heard that voice somewhere, but you couldn't put your finger on it.

"hey y/n," peter parker, you chem lab partner said smiling and sitting down next to you.

you hesitated, "hi...peter."

you gave you a confused smile and opened his books.

you think you have your guy. huh. easy as that. you tapped your red nails on the desk.

you scribbled up a note to spider-man and well, peter. after lab and working closer with peter, you realized his demeanour and actions were very similar to spidey, further proving your hypothesis. you followed him to his locker, close behind him, and waited by a water fountain till he left his locker, then slipped the note in.

at the end of the day peter headed to his locker, opening it when a note fell out. he picked it up and looked around the hall. the note read:

hi spidey. i know it's you. and gosh it's about time. meet me on top of the tall apartment complex on grand central parkway tonight at 9. thanks petey xoxo, violet

it was written in purple ink and adorned with a red heart next to your name. oh shit. he was fucked.

when peter got home he was panicking. this villain went to school with him. a literal manipulative villain. and you were his age! he wondered if he knew you. you obviously knew him.

————————

peter showed up to the spot at exactly 9 pm to find you in your suit. upon his impact, you jumped up, running to greet him.

"oh peter! you made it. i'm so glad because i—"

he grabbed both of your wrists tightly and put his face in yours, "how? how did you find out."

you gulped, "you're not a very careful person peter."

he ripped off his mask, there was no point.

"look at me," he demanded and you gladly did. you bit your lip at the sight of his messy brown locks and stern brown eyes. was he always this hot when he was angry?

"you can't tell anyone. and i know that won't stop you, but guess what? every time we hang out and fight and you flirt or whatever, i could easily rip off that mask, what, is it from the dollar store? or—"

"party city," you cut him off.

"stop! listen to me! i could've easily ripped off your mask at any time. but i don't. i never do. you know why? because you're different. your funny and you don't actually hurt me but i have to stop you because you hurt others. and-and you're so cool but you're a villain. and you're really pretty even though i can barely see your face and...yeah. now that i know you go to my school, i know you're someone like me. you're just a troubled kid who got caught up in the wrong crowd. but you're the bad one. and i'm sorry and i like spending time with you but you can't do this to me."

you gulped again, looking down at your feet. you could tell he meant what he said. and like you had always promised, you never wanted to deliberately hurt spider-man. or peter.

"i-i'm so sorry. i shouldn't have—i'm sorry."

"it's okay, just promise me you won't tell."

you reached your hand up to touch his cheek, red nails stroking his skin, "i promise."

"thank you."

"i should go. i'm sorry peter."

you hopped off the roof and he watched you leave. you had to go meet up with your head lady who was named daria. she told you to expose spider-man and get him off your radar, but you made a promise and now you were kinda scared.

"so, did you find him?" daria asked.

you hesitated, "no, not exactly."

she walked over to you and slapped you across the face.

"i'm disappointed in you. you find him or else i cant deal with you anymore."

you just stood there.

"say something!"

"i cant find him," you lied, "it's impossible."

"you're lying. i know you are boyfriend girlfriend with him. it's all over the news. you get him tomorrow night. nothing more."

"yes daria."

you left her shady apartment and headed straight home, done for the night. she genuinely scared you and you were worried she was going to kill you if you didn't turn peter in. but you couldn't do that to him? could you?

the next morning during chem lab you were late. you joined peter at your table. you had a wicked purple and yellow bruise on your face, which peter took notice of. it was from daria.

"y/n oh my god, are you okay?" he asked pointing to your face.

"'m fine," you replied covering the bruise with your hand. peter watched your fingers cover the bruise. your painted, red, fingernails.

[sugasweetyoongs]

Spring Petals

A/N: I’ve been really wanting to write ff’s for a while science I personally read so much xD. This is my first attempt on it so I’m sorry if it’s sloppy and has mistakes I’ll do my best to proof it of any mistakes.

Genre: Angst(?), Fluff. 

Warning!: Mentions of death. If you are sensitive to this stuff i advise you don’t read it. 

Pairing: Yoongi x Reader (Y/N)

Summary: You’ve been very, really sick for a while and have been avoiding it, after all hospital bill’s just weren’t something you could’ve afforded. With all the pressure from work and stress that has been building up to pay the bills you have been ignoring for what should be about 3 months now ,and not having your boyfriend Yoongi by you has just added to the amount of stress you already had in hand , and only to find out you don’t have much time left, it feels like life just really doesn’t like you.

    It’s been rough, very rough, especially when you go home, only to be greeted by the cold emptiness of your house that once greeted you with warmth when Yoongi was there, the flickering light bulb that swings like it’s almost about to fall, empty bottles of pain killers on top of the wooden coffee table in front of the large TV that lights up the room more than the cheap light bulb. You wouldn’t have been moving here if it wasn’t for the last ass hole of a landlord that couldn’t  wait one more week for your pay day.

   You missed him more than anything, from his lazy warm cuddles to his pouty lips when you teased him. His embrace was all you wanted but that was more than impossible at the moment. He was on tour and has been busy. There was no way you could’ve went with him. Not when the fans were even following them to the restaurant they were going to, to the point where their manager had to ask the fans to back off so that the boys could eat in peace. You were’t the only one under stress ,Yoongi was too. He just couldn’t wait to come home. But what he didn’t know was...  your illness. You didn’t tell him. You didn’t want to. He was under enough stress with the tour and they already were working on the new album. Yoongi had enough on his shoulders already, you knew he didn’t need more, so you just decided to deal with it yourself thinking that the growing pain around your stomach wouldn’t be such a big deal, until you went to the hospital the next day...

   You got up early around 6:30  and smashed a messy bun on your head. Threw on a short sleeve top and light blue genes as it was spring, you favourite season. (It was just that all the trees around the city turned into cherry blossoms and petals of the flowers falling from the trees with the soft breeze that came and went every now and then made it seem like it was raining pink flowers everywhere. It was one on the small things you would enjoy in life.) You didn’t have anything fancy for breakfast(just a chocolate croissant that you got from the bakery that was conveniently on your way) as you were getting ready to go to the hospital in your not-so-fancy car, but you didn’t really care, as long as it took you to our destination with out problems, you didn’t mind.

    It was around 6:55 when you parked your car on the parking lot. Just in perfect time for your appointment that was supposedly around 7:00. You slowly made your way through the antiseptic smelling hallways that had metal seats fixated to the side of the wall for people that were in line to wait for their own appointment, although there were only one or two people lingering around at the time.

  Slowly you knocked on the door that was numbered ‘204′.  You were sure it was this room, it was what was writing on your small piece of paper that was given to you when you came to reserve your appointment. As you opened the door you were greeted by a good looking man, brightly smiling as you enter the room.

“Hi. I came here for the reserved appointment.

“Oh! You must be miss Y/N!” he says with a bright smile on his face lifting up from the list in front of him.

Your heart broke into pieces as the words coming out of Dr.Chanyeol’s mouth pierced through your heart like bullets.

“I don’t think you have more than a month to live Miss Y/N..” says the man standing in front of you, looking at the results of the tests you just have taken trying to find a mistake, but utterly failing to.

“Dr.Chanyeol are you sure the results are accurate?” you say hoping for another answer almost in a pleading way. Only to be rejected and hit by the grim reality of life.

“Unfortunately, I’m positive the outcome is not wrong. The machine has never failed in 4 years.” he repeats, you can almost hear the pity in his voice as even he doesn't know what to do.

“Thank you.” is all you can blurt out in a low tone, your eyes all wet,feeling the heat behind your eye balls rising up as you try to hold the stream of tears back. Turning your back and closing the door as you make a run for your car, not even caring about all the stares you get from the few people around, because what did it matter now anyway...

     Yoongi’s tour was finally over. He was coming back tomorrow and things seemed to get better, as well as they could get at least. It has been three weeks science you went to the hospital After the day at your doctor you really didn’t do much, came home and crying yourself to sleep, waking up 2 hours later only to regret what you just did, as now all you could think was about the limited time you had in your hands. ‘What do people do when the have a few days left to live?’ you thought to yourself, you didn’t really have any family apart from Yoongi and Bangtan. You were adopted only to be left alone into the cruel world to live alone as soon as you were legal by the law and could work for your own. Life was never easy for you. You didn’t live. It always was a hassle for surviving, never have you ever realised how hard you were on your self. Stressing up on every small interaction you had with someone. never once enjoying yourself to the fullest, until Yoongi came into your life. You always had things you wanted to do like try out new food. You never wanted anything fancy so just like that, you quit your job, (which gave big rush of re-leaf because your boss wasn't the nicest person on earth)and went out to admire the city and eat every piece of food you saw and buy every single thing you felt like buying with the money you have been saving up, at least what has remained of it, which was pretty much just enough. 

   You’ve done your best to enjoy yourself these three past weeks but there was pretty much nothing left to do. You fulfilled everything in your bucket list but the ones left to do with Yoongi. Thought it seemed like you weren't... gonna make it another week. Heck. You'd be grateful for a week, the growing pain made it feel like you'd be gone in a few days. All that going around only worsened the cramps you were getting. They only seemed to come and go but they were only signs... of.... 

   At this point you didn't care much about anything and you were fine with the end approaching, but the your biggest worry was... Yoongi. You were scared, no, mortified, even at the thought of not being able to see Yoongi ever again. All you wanted was.. one .last . hug.. His embrace, was what felt like the only medicine you ever need and the only cure for the seemingly never ending pain of missing him. It felt like tomorrow wasn't coming, as if time stopped but was still continuing, so slow, almost teasing.

   That morning... It was clear.. You weren't gonna make it. The cramps were now so bad that you couldn't ignore them, to the state where you couldn't stand up.Tears starting to blur your already not so clear vision, small sobs filling in the room, suddenly bursting into larger ones as you cant hold it in anymore. Was it too much to ask? Life has always treated you like shit and once in your life you finally have something to cherish. Was it a punishment? You ask yourself; What have I done? What was it that i did to receive such harsh treatment from life. The more you thought about it the more anger it built up inside you, to hate anyone or any thing that brought you to this world. The tears streaming down your cheek from your closed eyes as you scream in pain, in the middle of the bed, crying all of your senses out of your mind as if there was no tomorrow.. cause there wasn't.... 

“Why?!... Just... j-Just.. One... last--”

You were startled by the unexpected cotton soft sensation on your cheeks that have become red from crying.

As you turned your back you saw... Yoongi. 

You didn't believe it. It really was him. It just felt so... unreal.

‘Why is my cutie pie crying?’ he says in the most innocent tone he can make. Every word coming out of his mouth giving you all the comfort you could ever ask for, suddenly forgetting all the misery you are in.

‘Y-Yoongi..’ you utter out, shaking under his touch as he pulls you in for a warm cuddle.

‘Shh... babe.. It’s fine you don’t have to explain... I-I know.... h-how hard...’he hesitates as he tries to speak through his tears.

‘It’s been for you...’ he blurts out as more tears roll down his sugar white, silk smooth skin you oh so long to touch.

‘Yoongi, I-I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.. I-I didn’t want t-to~’ 

‘Stop. I know. And let’s not spend the last moments like this. I don’t want them withered away like this.’ he cuts you off before you could explain further more.

‘I love you.. Yoongi..’ you whisper, not having any energy to do anything else as you close your eyes to never open them ever again...

‘I love you too... Y/N.. I love you too...’ he responds, only to recieve nothing more than silence. 

His sobs getting bigger and bigger as he can’t hold them back anymore. He knew you weren't coming back, the realisation only making him feel worse for how much he has neglected you. He never understood why you stood by him, non the less he was still grateful for every moment you stood by him no matter how hard it was for you.

Thanks for reading (✿◠‿◠)  Your comments/notes are always appreciated.

I really wouldn't mind if you have any requests, i really want to write something but don’t have an idea of my own. Could be anything or any member i wouldn't mind.(●´ω｀●)

[lodelss]

Laura Barcella | Longreads | February 2019 | 13 minutes (3,517 words)

The 46th anniversary of Roe v. Wade just occurred on January 22 — but the days of relatively uncomplicated American abortion access are, most likely, numbered. In fact, author Robin Marty believes it’s not a matter of if Roe will be overturned, it’s a matter of when.

For more than ten years, the Minneapolis-based freelance reporter and author of the new book Handbook for a Post-Roe America has been diligently chronicling the twists and turns of both the pro-choice and anti-abortion movements. Ever since Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his resignation, Marty — like many other pro-choice Americans — has been waiting for the proverbial pro-life shoe to drop. Losing Kennedy, the swing voter on a number of major abortion rulings, and gaining Brett Kavanaugh — a long-time pro-life ally — seems to all but ensure the end of Roe, as well as the downfall of abortion being considered a constitutional right.

Indeed, several weeks after Marty and I spoke in late January, Kavanaugh voted with a minority of Justices to overturn recent Court precedent in favor of a law that sought to impose a new form of undue burden on abortion-seekers in Louisiana. The Cut called Kavanaugh’s dissenting opinion something verging on gaslighting. In it, he postulates that perhaps the undue burden — abortion providers being required to gain admitting privileges at local hospitals — could simply be met, when of course providers have already been trying to gain admitting privileges for years. The Court ultimately blocked the implementation of the law, but only because the conservative Chief Justice, John Roberts, voted with the liberals. The margin of safety has grown vanishingly thin.

Let’s consider what that means. If Roe were overturned, it wouldn’t necessarily make it impossible for a pregnant person to obtain an abortion, but it would potentially make an already challenging process even more daunting. As it stands, obtaining an abortion is already far from affordable or convenient for many women, even in blue states with a plethora of clinics. Despite Roe’s current status, and despite the fact that statistically, most Americans believe in a woman’s right to choose, abortion care is still often portrayed as a privilege instead of a right — or as a miserable “worst-case” scenario rather than a straightforward medical procedure.

Marty’s new book (available now from Seven Stories Press) lays out various scenarios for exactly what a Roe-less future might look like. More importantly, it explains exactly how we should prepare for this reality. As Marty writes in Handbook, “While Roe and the cases that preceded it made birth control and abortion legal, they did nothing to curtail the coercive power our government wields over the bodies of those who can give birth.”

For the liberal naysayers who can’t fathom America sinking quite so far into Handmaid-land, Marty reminds readers that not only have anti-choice laws and restrictions been ramping up in recent years, but the pro-life contingent has been emboldened under Trump’s presidency in frightening new ways. In the following interview, Marty further explains the possible dangers of what lies ahead, and how we can start protecting ourselves now.

*

Can you tell me a little bit about how the book came about? It traces back to a Twitter thread, is that right?

Right. Anthony Kennedy announced that he would be retiring. As soon as that happened, my first thought was, ‘Okay, this is basically the end of Roe.’ And even if this isn’t exactly the end of Roe, it’s enough of a push and enough of a change that all the people who had been quiet before and hadn’t seen this as a real threat, finally understand that it’s a turning point.

Part of the reason I started the Twitter thread was because the first two things that I saw people saying as soon as Kennedy announced his retirement were, A) ‘I’m going to donate to Planned Parenthood,’ and B) ‘I’m going to stockpile emergency contraception.’ And my first thought was okay, donating to Planned Parenthood is always good, but there are so many clinics in states that only have one clinic that are not run by Planned Parenthood, and that doesn’t help them. And getting emergency contraception for yourself is always good, but the idea of stockpiling can be done in such a way that it actually harms access.

I talked to a number of people who are very high in the pro-life movement. Many of them assured me that Kavanaugh will be the vote, and that Roe will be overturned as soon as they can get a case up there.

My thought was ‘Here are all these things that you can do that would be better actions than what people are describing.’ And so it turned into…a 30-tweet thread of [suggestions for] places you can donate to and actions you can take instead; groups that you should be working with on the ground.

As I was doing this, I was getting a lot of really good responses. One of them was from … a woman book agent, who said, ‘I think there’s actually a book there; can you write a proposal and I will see what I can do?’

Within about a month, I had a book deal with the understanding that I had to write a book in three months, because they wanted it out before the anniversary of Roe.

I was going to ask you about the timeline because I knew it must have been tight. Was that stressful?

Yeah, it was definitely a challenge. Especially because it was summer, so I had children at home. My first book, Crow After Roe, was sort of … I accepted a proposal with my co-author and we didn’t really expect the first publisher that we sent it to, to say ‘Yeah, let’s do this.’ But they did, and then they said, ‘We’re going to move a book aside so we can run this right away. Can you have it done for us in three months?’

There seems to be something about three months! It’s always three months for me.

But I wrote this book in about eight weeks.

That sounds stressful.

I would like to say I wrote a lot, but most of what I did [for the handbook] was compiling all of the different information that was already out there. And I did that for two reasons — one was so that it was in one accessible place so it’s easy to get to, and the other … was because people don’t always know where to look for this information. We’ve already seen with the Trump administration how information disappears. Health and Human Services re-wrote some of their rules, they disappeared trans language from a lot of things. Nothing on the internet is completely safe, [whether] because of censorship or anti-abortion activists who decide that they want to do some attacks online to try and bring down websites; there’s always the [chance] that you might not be able to get to information when you need it.

Local Bookstores Amazon

How did you get involved in covering abortion care and abortion access as one of your primary beats?

That evolved out of being a progressive blogger. I started anonymously blogging in 2004 while I was working for an investment banking firm. I ended up working for a progressive news site that was setting up state-based news sites. I got more aware of the abortion issue, especially what was going on in [various] states.

In 2009, I ended up writing specifically for a reproductive health website. They picked me up after I was laid off, right after the Affordable Care Act debate and … trying to get all abortion coverage removed from the insurance plans. I had just had a miscarriage, and I had to go into a hospital for a DNC in order to have everything removed. I had this very in-your-face ‘what if’ moment of [wondering], ‘Would that be something my insurance will cover under the new plan?’ Because it was coded in the hospital bills as abortion.

After that I was working for RH Reality Check, as it was called back then (now it’s Rewire News), and I spent a few years tracking all of these bills as they were popping up through the states, and it grew from there.

Can you walk me through the scenarios that you see as the most likely and least likely when it comes to legal abortion access?

If you had asked me a week ago [we had this conversation in late January -LB], I would have said the most likely thing that was going to happen would be that the Supreme Court would keep Roe intact; that it would not overturn the verdict. The court would allow states to pass whatever bills they wanted to pass, as long as they did not explicitly completely ban the procedure.

Can you explain that a bit more?

What I [believed would] happen was that you would have a state like Mississippi, which only has one abortion clinic, and it would finally be allowed to enact rules that would close that one clinic. But because it didn’t actually ban abortion outright in the state, and the state would still [technically] allow abortion, that it would still be considered constitutional.

But now I actually believe that Roe will be overturned completely — and that states will be allowed to make it completely illegal.

Why do you believe that now?

I was at the March for Life [recently], and I talked to a number of people who are very high in the pro-life movement. Many of them assured me that Kavanaugh will be the vote, and that Roe will be overturned as soon as they can get a case up there.

I believe that Roe will be overturned, that we’ll have at least 10 to 15 states that will not have any abortion [access] at all. There will be a number of states that might go completely without abortion or otherwise will pass laws that will make it extraordinarily difficult to get an abortion at all, and then there will be about 10 to 15 states that will have abortion access and will probably expand it.

The problem with this scenario is that all the states that are going to either ban, or are going to make abortion nearly impossible to get, are all in the same place. They’re in the Midwest, and the entirety of the Southeast, except for maybe Florida, will be without any sort of legal abortion. That’s scary and alarming, and something that we have to plan for.

It sounds horrible to say ‘Plan for an abortion now,’ but the reality is, if you are capable of getting pregnant, [planning] is something that you should do.

How do we plan for that? What do you suggest people start doing now?

The first thing that I tell everybody is that the best thing to do is plan for what will happen if Roe is overturned and abortion is illegal. What a person can do is figure out what is going on in their state first — will their state be one that will make abortion illegal or will they have some sort of access? Which is going to be the closest state to you that will have abortion access?

It sounds horrible to say ‘Plan for an abortion now,’ but the reality is, if you are capable of getting pregnant, [planning] is something that you should do. We’re looking at huge travel that will have to happen, and trying to get through waiting periods in some of the states that remain. The clinics that are going to be left are going to be overbooked, and abortion is not going to be covered by insurance. It will be extremely expensive, so if you plan for that and don’t need it, that’s fantastic. But if you suddenly find yourself with an unexpected pregnancy that you don’t want to carry to term, trying to figure all of that out at the last minute is going to be extraordinarily daunting.

People plan for retirement; people plan for all sorts of things in their life. You should also plan for an abortion.

I know there’s no way to explicitly predict this, but what sort of timeline do you think this might happen in?

I would say that Roe will probably be overturned … after the 2020 election. It would be that soon. We have a number of cases already in the federal court system that have circuit splits [in which two federal courts don’t agree about whether similar laws are constitutional]. Any one of those can be taken up to the Supreme Court for them to make a final ruling, and through that can overturn Roe.

Also, something that people don’t understand is that the courts can technically take any case that’s about abortion and use that to overturn Roe. So for instance, the Indiana Down Syndrome ban. Basically every time the court meets again to see if they’re going to take up a case, it could be the one that would overturn Roe, if they chose to use it that way.

But … I don’t see the courts doing it before 2020 just because of election impact. I hate to say it, but our Supreme Court has become so partisan at this point that I see them taking that as a consideration.

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Which state restrictions are you monitoring the most closely right now?

Depending on scenario, heartbeat bans are really alarming because they make it almost impossible to get an abortion before it’s too late to get an abortion. But for the most part, courts have been saying that [those are] unconstitutional.

One of the [other] things really alarming me right now is the idea of abortion restrictions on top of abortion restrictions, especially when it comes to states that are expanding their waiting periods. There’s two different ways that waiting periods work. In some states, waiting periods start from the point at which you call a clinic, and so they’ll give you information on the phone and you don’t have to make two trips into the clinic. But a lot of states are now having them in a way that you have to come in to the clinic, get the information, then walk away, come back and have your next appointment anywhere from 24 to 72 hours afterwards.

When you take a state that has a waiting period of 72 hours or more, has only one clinic, and then the clinic only performs [abortions] up to 12 weeks, then you have basically [created] a situation where a person is going to spend at least a week just going back and forth, trying to get an abortion knowing that there’s a cutoff, plus knowing that there’s an immense wait to get into that clinic to start with.

[This is how] they’re really strangling the system altogether. None of these things on their own necessarily look unreasonable, but stacked on top of each other, they’ve made abortion almost impossible to get.

You recently attended the March for Life. Did you notice a bigger turnout, or more fervency among the pro-life faction there?

Yes, yes, yes. I’ve been to the March for Life four times now. At the march I went to before the 2016 election, abortion opponents thought they had lost. They believed that Hillary Clinton was going to be elected. They believed they were losing the entirety of the Supreme Court, so it was a very dejected feeling there, but [there was] also a sense of ‘what can we do in order to make tiny gains around the edges?’

Being at the march over the last two years, it has changed so dramatically. Their people are in the administration, they’re in the HHS, their elected leaders are everywhere. They have so much right now, and they know that. They feel that Roe is on the rocks, that they are about to have that win.

Also, the March for Life has become increasingly political ever since President Trump was elected. There’s signs saying “Make Babies Great Again” and, like the Covington students, everyone’s wearing MAGA hats. It’s become so intertwined with politics, and especially with the Republican party, that it has in many ways turned into a rally for social conservatives and for the religious right.

If abortion is made illegal again … people are, frankly, unlikely to die  … Our problem now is that abortion … done outside the legal system is going to get you thrown in jail.

You touched on third-trimester abortion a little bit in the book, which is already not readily accessible throughout the country. What will happen to that if Roe is overturned?

We just had New York pass the Reproductive Health Act, which basically removed all abortion from the criminal code, which means that New York providers can now offer third-trimester abortions in cases where there is a significant medical need for it. So if a person is having mental health issues, if a person has a fetus with an anomaly that they can’t or don’t want to carry to term, third-trimester abortion has been opened up as long as there is a valid medical reason for it. And that’s not something that was happening in New York before. Before, we had a clinic in Colorado that would do it, and a clinic in Maryland, and a clinic in New Mexico.

There’s a section of your handbook about privacy concerns. Why was that important for you to include?

One of the things that we’re already seeing when people induce their own abortions or have bad pregnancy outcomes that make the hospitals or the authorities suspect that they induced their own abortions, is that when they’re investigated their computers get seized. Their phones get looked at. One of the things that happened to Purvi Patel, who was arrested for feticide and homicide in Indiana, was that they looked at her text messages and saw that she said she had taken something. That was what they used to prosecute her.

If a person’s going to work outside of the legal clinic system in order to end a pregnancy…we just have to be aware of what sort of information could get out there, especially when a person might be going outside of the legal clinic system, and anybody else who has talked to them could be seen as an accessory in either having helped them obtain medication or [other] ways.

Can you talk a little bit more about self-managed abortion? Were there legal challenges to publishing that particular chapter of your book?

Not specifically, although I did have it vetted by a lawyer. One of the things that’s very interesting about the publisher that I ended up with, and probably one of the reasons that the book exists at all, is that Seven Stories Press actually published a book called A Woman’s Book of Choices by Carol Downer. One of the things she did was explain how to do menstrual extraction. That was considered mind-blowing at the time, that there was a publisher that would actually give instructions on how to make this and do this.

So the publisher was really good about wanting to include all of this information, that this is information that needs to be public. And honestly, all of this information is online; it’s available everywhere, it’s just not compiled in one space. I’m not encouraging anybody to do this, and I think that the best way is always going to be going through the legal system. It’s just, if people are going to do it, they need to have information on how to do it safely.

Do you think we’ll see an uptick in DIY abortions? Is there already an uptick?

My understanding is that there probably is. The fact that we can’t verify that or actually prove that in any way, shape, or form is good because that means that people are doing it the right way, protecting their privacy and making sure that their caches are not being found. When they do speak to people at hospitals, making sure that it’s understood that this is a miscarriage and that’s all the information that a person needs to give.

What are some of the biggest misconceptions that you keep hearing or seeing regarding abortion access lately?

I see a lot of people saying that they still don’t believe that Roe is going to be overturned. I also see people — on our side as well — [repeat] the idea that people [will die] if abortion is made illegal again.

When we go into a post-Roe landscape, people are, frankly, unlikely to die if they get illegal abortions. Because we can get medications online, and these medications have been proven to be very safe. If there is a rare complication, it can be taken care of at a hospital, if necessary.

Our problem now is that abortion … done outside the legal system is going to get you thrown in jail.

We need to, as a movement, make sure that people understand that doing your own self-induced abortion is not medically any more dangerous than a [medically supervised] abortion would be. The only difference is that because this is not legal, people are afraid to report when something goes wrong. And in some cases it’s not even anything going wrong, it’s just too many people don’t know exactly what the process is like, so they think something is going wrong.

We have to make sure that everybody understands what a self-managed abortion looks like; what’s normal, what’s not normal, what will get them in trouble, what will not get them in trouble, what to say to a hospital, what not to say to a hospital.

People need to be aware of all of that because when we go into a post-Roe future … we aren’t generally going to see [people] bleeding out and dying in their homes, but we could see [people] going in for help because they think something’s wrong, and ending up in jail instead.

* * *

Laura Barcella is an NYC-based journalist and author.

Editor: Dana Snitzky

[thekaypack]

Part 1: The Tomb of Nameless King

The pink furred feline stopped in the doorway, giving her eyes time to adjust to the darkened interior of establishment where the meeting was to take place. Thin rays of sunlight streamed through the narrow windows, barely managing to pierce the thick haze of woodsmoke that hung in the air, and softly illuminated a few of the thick wooden tables sparingly placed around the cramped room. The few furre seated in the cafe looked up at her curiously, but quickly went back to their conversations and beverages when they determined she wouldn't make an easy mark. Her eyes finally settled on a dark-furred canine sitting at a deeply shadowed table in the back of the room. She made her way through the smoke and gloom and took a seat opposite canine, making sure her body was between their table and the rest of the guests.

"Kay Katt, I presume", said the canine.

Kay leaned back in her chair nonchalantly and studied him. Grey and white hairs marred the otherwise glossy black fur around his muzzle, and up close she could see a number of scars crossing his body. His eyes glowed like molten gold as they caught the occasional flicker of light from the fire.

"I was told you had an object that my master may find of interest", the wolf continued.

"I do", replied Kay, reaching into her bag and pulling out a small pouch. "I think Felorin may have a use for this". Undoing the drawstring, she let a marble sized object fall onto the table. The object was orange and transparent, flickering with a reddish light from within. At the sight of it, the canine shifted nervously and moved back from the table.

"The Stone of the Seven Fires!" he whispered harshly, eyes darting quickly to other patrons, "That's impossible!". With a sheepish grin, he regained his composure and leaned over the table, confronting the cat. "Why should I believe that this is real? How could you have possibly come across a treasure such as this?"

Kay flashed a smile, the firelight dancing across her face. "Why don't you buy me a dish of the cafe's finest cream and I will tell you all about it"

***

Kay Katt stood atop the sand dune and pulled her wide-brimmed hat down to shade her face. Her blue eyes sparkled in the sun as she looked down at the dark structure made up of black stone half buried in the sand below her.

"We did it. We're here!", she exclaimed, "The Tomb of Nameless King."

A dragon stepped up next to her and, with a thud, fell face first onto the dune. "Finally", he muttered into the sand, "I'm exhausted. I thought we would never make it"

Kay nudged him with her foot. "Get up Load. You are supposed to be the muscle. You cant be the tired one"

With a groan he sat up and looked up at the sun, squinting his eyes. "Maybe we should make camp here and go down to the Tomb in the morning"

"No can do.", came a voice from below. A black and purple fox crested the dune. "We are running low on food and water. We can't afford an extra day of delay. And don't look directly into the sun Load, its bad for your eyes"

"Sorry Kufky", muttered the dragon and turned his eyes instead to the land below them.

The sun beat down on the sands below, giving off a fearsome heat. Each dry gust of hot wind kicked up bits of sand, causing the entire valley to sparkle like a thousand diamonds. Among the sparkles were heavy black rocks sticking up from the sand, black enough that it seemed to darken its immediate surroundings.

"Exactly where my maps said it should be", beamed Kufky.

Load scraped up a claw full of sand and slowly let it fall back to the ground. "What are you going to do with your share of the money, Kuf?", he asked.

Kufky rolled her eyes. "I'm not here for the money, Load", she explained with a sigh. "I want to help people! The Fires, the power of creation. We can cure any illness, heal any injury. Think about it. We can make a difference!"

Kay grinned, "I have my eye on some jewelry. That's what I'll do with my share". She took hold of Kufkys paw in hers and squeezed it lightly. In a low voice, she asked, "You don't really expect to find the Fires here, do you? That's just an old sphinx's tale. But we're bound to find something of value. When we get back into town, we can go shopping. How does that sound"

With a sniff, Kufky pulled her paw away and cast her gaze onto the ruins below, "I know its here Kay. I can feel it"

"What you feel is the sun, Kufky. It's trying to burn us alive", Load grumbled, looking back up at the sun with a squint.

Kufky put a paw over Loads eyes. "A new dress does sound nice though", she said with a smile, "One with a giant bow"

Kay set off down the dune towards the Tomb, "Its settled then. No time to waste".

Kufky nodded and set off after her. Load got up with a groan and trudged off after the girls.

The descent into the valley was treacherous. Sands shifted suddenly and triggered mini landslides regularly, threatening to bury the group. The sun, despite getting lower in the sky, seemed to be getting more intense, not less. The landscape took on a deep orange hue. The blowing sand, glowing like cinders in the dying light, stung their eyes and exposed skin.  But still, the party kept moving until they at last found themselves at what appeared to be a door made of the dark stone. Carved into the rock was the profile of a majestic sphinx, writhed in flame.

"This is it!", Exclaimed Kufky. "Look at this carving. A sphinx surrounded by the fires of creation. Legend has it that this is where the sphinxes were born, you know. From the fires of creation itself". She took out a pad and started quickly sketching the carving.

Kay put her paw against the door and gave it a solid push. Nothing happened. "The door seems stuck. I don't know if we can get in this way. Maybe we can find another way in"

The dragon stepped between the girls and pushed them out of the way, "I believe this is what you brought me for". Load dug his claws into the seam in the stone and pushed. A low grating sound reverberated in the air. Slowly the rock doors slid open revealing a long cramped hallway that disappeared into shadow. Hot dry air, thick with grit and dust washed out over the group.

Kay popped her head into the hallway. "Nice going Load", she said, "But I can't see my paw in front of my face. I don't know how we are going to get anywhere in there"

Kufky pulled the pack off her back and started fishing through it, muttering softly about being prepared. After a few moments, she pulled out a torch. "Load, if you would be so kind?"

"Sure thing Kuf", he said before taking a deep breath and blowing a stream of flames across the end of the torch. After a few seconds, the oil-soaked rags tied to the tip started smoldering and sparking, and eventually caught flame producing a flickering orange light and a lot of smoke. Load took the torch from the fox and started down the hallway. "Follow me, I'll lead the way".

With a nod, Kay followed the dragon, and after a moment to put the bag back on her back, Kufky brought up the rear. After only a dozen paces the group was engulfed in darkness with only the unsteady light of the torch to see by.

Load put his arm out and stopped the party. Everyone stood still. The only sounds were the hissing of the torch and the soft scraping of sand being blown across the rock. "I don't like this", the dragon whispered, "something feels wrong". Slowly, he made his way down the hallway step by step, the girls right behind him. Out of nowhere, a soft click echoed in the still air, followed moments later by a whooshing noise that sounded like a hurricane.

Kay, startled by the sudden noise, jumped back and felt a gust of air sweep past directly in front of her. She landed in a light crouch and something warm and sticky splashed across her face.

The dragon let out an ear-shattering roar and fell back, clutching his shoulder. The sputtering torch, lying forgotten for the moment on the floor of the passage, illuminated a series of blades swinging quickly back and forth across the hallway. Load, lying on his back, held tightly to his shoulder, feeling warmth oozing slowly between his fingers.

Kufky let out a yell and ran to his side, "Are you hurt? Let me see! Kay, help me get him into the light".

Kay nodded and grabbed the dragon by the arm. "I'm sorry Load, this might hurt". Load gritted his teeth and gave a nod, and together the girls pulled him back towards the entrance to the ruins.

Kufky examined his wounds by the dying light of the sun. "I have some bandages in my pack. Hold still". Digging through her pack, she produced a length of gauze and a small jar. "You won't be able to move your shoulder for a while", she said glancing at the setting sun with a sigh, "It seems like we will need to make camp here after all"

"You said we didn't have enough supplies to risk delaying our trip by another night", Kay pointed out.

"That was before one of our friends was injured", Kufky replied with a huff, removing a greasy paste from the jar and rubbing it onto Load's wound.

Load inhaled sharply and pulled away as the ointment touched the gash on his shoulder.

Kufky softly but firmly held his arm and continued to massage the paste into the wound. "We are going to have to make due with what we have. Load needs to rest. We should be able to last a few more days on half rations."

Kay looked over Kufkys shoulder, grimacing at the deep wound slashing through Loads golden scales. "Is it bad?", she asked.

Kufky started winding a bandage tightly around the dragon's shoulder. "He isn't going to have full use of his arm for a long time. Months at least. That's assuming it doesn't get infected. Who knows what kind of crud could be crusted onto a blade like that"

Kay turned away from the pair and stared at the carving, now split in half across the doors to the ruin. Her eyes traced the flame surrounding the Sphinx. "And what if it gets infected", she asked softly.

"That's what the ointment is for. It should stop any infection from taking root", replied Kufky, tying the bandage tightly and returning the excess gauze to her pack.

Kay glanced back at them, "But if it does?"

Kufky closed her eyes and sighed. "Then it will have to be amputated", she said quietly. After a moment she looked up at Kay but instead saw only a dim orange light receding into the darkness.

Kay danced through the swinging blades with a feline grace, never stopping, her footing always sure. She scooped up the fallen torch as she passed by and, when she reached the other side of the trap safely, she carefully blew on the end of the torch to stoke the flames.

The hallway was dark, very hot, and seemed to stretch on for an eternity. "At least I can't get lost", Kay muttered to herself, as she moved away from the swooshing blades. After what seemed like an hour of walking down the shadowy corridor, sweat started to drip off her whiskers and she stopped for a rest. Sitting down against the wall, she took the top off her canteen and took a long pull from the bottle.

And immediately started choking on the water when she realized she was staring directly into the vacant eyes of a skull. Coughing and wheezing she stood up and moved to the other side of the hallway only to back directly into another skeleton. The decaying bones broke apart and fell to the floor, clattering loudly. Heart racing, Kay spun and held the torch in front of her. It was only then that she noticed that, cut into the corridor at regular intervals, were alcoves containing skeletons of various shapes and sizes.

Using the flame from the torch to banish the worst of the shadows, Kay moved slowly down the passage, inspecting the skeletons as she passed. She recognized the profiles of canines, felines, even a few equines and what looked to be some kind of giant birds. Other skeletons were completely foreign to her, and she couldn't begin to guess what species they may have been in life. Lots of the skeletons were full specimens, but many were missing bones here and there, some even entire limbs. The fresh breeze from the open door couldn't penetrate this deeply into the ruins, and the smell of stale dust and rot became thicker in the air.  

Kay had lost count of how many skeletons she passed when she came to a T in the hallway. Directly in front of her was a skeleton, larger than any she had seen, draped in gold chains and wearing a headdress made of ornate red, yellow and blue feathers. In one hand the skeleton, which appeared draconic, held a scepter made of gold and covered in gems. Heart pounding, she reached out tentatively and touched the scepter, mind racing with thoughts of vengeful spirits and ancient curses.

Nothing happened.

With a snort, shaking her head at her foolishness, she pulled the scepter from the skeleton's hand and put it into her bag. "This will fetch a good price at the market," she thought to herself. "Now which way to go". She held her torch high and peered down each hallway, but they looked identical. With a shrug, she turned left and walked on into the shadows.

Kay stopped some later and frowned at the torch, which was getting noticeably dimmer. She tried blowing on the flame, but the increased illumination was temporary at best. She turned back the way she came and peered into the darkness, trying to calculate how much light she might have left and if it would be enough time to get back to her friends.

That's when she heard the clicking. It started softly at first, barely audible in the silent ruins, but quickly grew into an echoing roar. Pinpoints of red light emerged from the darkness. First, a  few. Then dozens. Then what seemed to be hundreds. Kay stared, frozen in fear, and then with a fluid burst of speed spun and ran in the opposite direction, deeper into the ruins.

Kay ran as fast as her feet would carry her. Away from the red lights. Away from the horrible clicking. Until all she could hear was her own heavy panting and the blood rushing through her ears. Her torch was dangerously dim, and she couldn't see more than a few paces in either direction. She stopped to catch her breath. "There's no way," she thought to herself, "that that was what I thought it was. This can't be happening. I'm just being paranoid".

That's when Kay noticed the skeletons in the nearby alcoves had their heads turned towards her. Their eyes lit up with a faint red spark and they moved slowly from their crypts towards her. The canine skeleton on the left made an awkward lunge toward Kay, raking at her with its dirty claws. She lithely sidestepped the skeleton and slammed the end of the torch into its snout resulting in a dull crunch. The canines skull snapped back and fell from its shoulders,  the burning light in its eyes fading. The second skeleton, which she couldn't identify the species of, came lumbering forward at her. Not wanting to risk breaking her torch with another strike, she nimbly slipped past the skeleton and ran further down the hallway.

The once straight path quickly devolved into a complicated maze of hallways crisscrossing each other at odd angles. Kay, breathing hard, stopped for a rest. Everything was quiet. Her torch's flame had burnt down to an ember, barely illuminating the wall in front of her. Kay looked hopelessly down each corridor, each one identical to the last. Then, in the darkness at the far end of one of the hallways, she noticed a faint blue glow. With no other choice, she set off towards what she hoped was daylight streaming into the ruins.

"Kufky would have loved to see this", Kay said with awe, staring at the walls. Instead of an exit from the catacomb maze, she had stumbled into a section of the ruins where intricate glyphs she couldn't read and carvings of various figures adorning the walls glowed with a sharp blue hue. Kay closed her eyes and tried to remember if the walls she passed earlier had similar carvings. "This must be how they were supposed to look," she thought to herself. "Whatever magical energies kept these runes glowing must have dissipated in other sections of the ruins. Too bad the magic on the skeletons didn't share a similar fate," she thought gloomily.

Kay glanced down at her nearly spent torch. "I suppose I can't go back the way I came", she thought. She remembered the skeletons shambling through the darkness and shivered. "Not that I would want to. I guess I better stick to the sections that still have some light". Looking around her, she didn't see anything that indicated an obvious direction to go, so she chose a direction at random and started walking.

The blue light made it easier to see the skeleton as it shambled into view, and cast its features in a garish unwavering shadow. The skeleton was huge, draconic in nature, and was adorned in gold chains, wearing a headdress made of feathers. Its eyes burned with a brightness and intensity that reminded her of the sun setting over the desert. And it was blocking her path. Kay crouched, holding the torch out in front of her, suddenly very aware of the heavy weight of the jeweled scepter resting in her bag. "I knew that was a bad idea", she growled under her breath.  The dragon skeleton moved with surprising speed when it struck. But not fast enough to catch Kay, who did a graceful pirouette and slammed the torch down onto the dragon's skull with a crack.

A crack of the torch snapping in half. The skeleton didn't even seem to notice it had been hit. It swung again with surprising speed and caught Kay as she tried to dodge away. The force of the blow sent her sprawling down the hallway. With the grace of her species, she rolled with the force of the blow and landed on her feet.

And ran.

Directly into another skeleton. This one was smaller and seemed feline in nature. Knowing the dragon was close behind her, Kay didn't even slow. She leaped into the skeletons attack, snapping a paw out and hitting it in the skull to throw it off balance, before executing a graceful spin and snapping her foot into its spine, turning the skeleton into a pile of loose bones that fell to the floor in a satisfying staccato.

Kay continued running through the catacombs, choosing turns at random, trying to put distance between herself and the dragon. Eventually, she was forced to slow. Her ribs felt as though they were on fire. She stopped to examine them, and found 3 ragged slashes through her shirt, dripping with blood. The wound wasn't deep, but her skin was torn up pretty badly. "I should have brought bandages with me," she thought to herself, using a claw to tear off a strip of cloth from her shirt to tie around the wound.

The halls were silent. "At least I lost that thing", Kay thought to herself looking around. "And myself. I don't know where I am, or how I'm going to get out". Wishing she had Kufky and her maps, she chose a direction and started walking, taking turns at random. After a dozen turns, she found herself at a dead end. On the wall was detailed carving of a sphinx surrounded by flame, amidst a sea of sand. The beautifully detailed carving, shimmering brightly in the heavy black stone, was entrancing. So much so that Kay almost didn't hear the slow, sharp, heavy clicks approaching from behind her.

Kay spun around quickly, dropping into a crouch, paws up in front of her. Looming from the darkness, she saw twin embers glowing from a draconic skull, and the faint reflection of light splashing off of the heavy chains draped around the bony body. The dragon silently opened its mouth as if to let out a roar and stalked slowly toward her, leaving her trapped in the dead-end hallway. Kay retreated slowly until she felt her back press against the wall behind her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I might not be able to destroy it, but all I need to do is slow it down", she thought to herself.  Kay opened her eyes and, like an arrow loosed from a bow,  sprang towards the monster. With lightning speed, Kay delivered a series of disabling blows to the dragon, targeting joints in the arms and legs in an attempt to disable the creature. Each strike felt like she was striking her paws against a stone. Each kick left her leg numb from the impact. Still, Kay continued her barrage of attacks with determination. The skeleton, indifferent to the frenzied assault, lashed out with a heavy counterattack that caught Kay square in the chest, slamming her against the wall with such force that the stone cracked.

Kay collapsed to the floor, barely managing to struggle to her knees before another crushing blow sent her bouncing back into the wall with such force that the entire facade splintered and collapsed. Chips of stone and dust flew through the air, choking her, and rocks the size of fists pounded against her body as she collapsed in a heap. Dazed, Kay lay amongst the shattered stone, barely able to focus her eyes enough to determine where she was.

The room she found herself in was enormous, with multiple hallways seemingly converging onto the single area. A bright natural light emanated from overhead, nearly blinding after the hours spent in the near total darkness of the catacombs. The floor was covered in a thick layer of fine white sand. In the middle of the room, directly in the center of a giant pool of crystal clear water, was an enormous golden statue of a sphinx. In its outstretched paws was a lavishly ornate box, decorated in red gemstones set in the shape of flames.

Kay shut her eyes and shook her head. "It cant be. I'm hallucinating", she thought. But when she opened her eyes, the box remained. Kufky's voice echoed in her thoughts, "I know its here Kay. I can feel it". With a groan, she shook off the last of the dizziness.

Kay struggled to her feet and limped towards the statue. Her whole body ached. It hurt to breathe, but not so much that she feared broken ribs. Even at a limp she quickly outdistanced the dragon, who seemed to enjoy toying with her in her weakened state. Splashing through the knee-high water, she approached the box. Kay tried opening the lid, but it was firmly locked. "Who puts a lock on a box after all of this," she thought angrily. The dragons joints grated audibly as it slowly crossed the sands toward her, its movements dripping with malevolence. Softer clicking noises echoed from the hallways around the edges of the chamber

With an edge of panic, Kay fished the scepter from her bag and started slamming it against the wooden lid of the box as hard as she could, hoping that whatever was inside it would help her escape. A large splash alerted her to the gold-clad dragon closing the distance between them. With desperation, Kay brought the scepter down over and over on the box, bending the golden rod into an unrecognizable shape. Sturdy as the box was, it couldn't withstand the onslaught. With a pop and a crack, the lid broke off. Kay quickly reached in and scooped up what was inside.

Her heart sunk in her chest. An ordinary, if pretty, gemstone. Valuable if she could sell it, she had never seen a gem that particular shade of orange, but to do that she needed to get out of the Tomb alive. She looked up. The dragon was only a few steps away, and stalking closer with every moment. Behind it, hundreds of skeletons poured into the chamber. Thousands. The dragon loomed over her, eyes burning brightly, its lipless mouth seeming to pull into a cruel grin. Kay clutched her hard-won treasure to her chest eyes brimming with tears. There was no escape.

"A single blow will be better than being torn to shreds by the lesser skeletons," she thought with a sob. Chains rattled ominously as the horror lifted its arm up to strike. Kay felt a stab of panic, then a hot surge of power ignited within her. Red light burst from her eyes, and the dragon erupted into flames hot enough to boil the water it was standing in. Its mouth again opened wide, although whether it wanted to roar or to scream, Kay couldn't determine. The dragon fell to its knees with a splash, disturbing the sand and silt that had settled at the bottom of the pool.

The power flowed through Kay, hot and pure, with an intensity that caused her to forget her wounds, her aches, her injuries and her pains. She could think of only one thing: Destruction. The skeletons wanted to hurt her. She would hurt them. The dragon, nearly lost within the cloud of steam engulfing it, kept its searing locked with hers. With a flash of white, it leaped forward to attack.

Kay wasn't scared, she didn't even flinch. The power flooded through her, burning away every thought, every emotion that would hinder her. At that moment, she didn't have the capacity to feel fear. Kay screamed defiantly and the dragon was reduced to a cloud of ash. The chains, glowing brightly from the intensity of the heat, sizzled loudly as they fell into the water with a splash. A single red feather floated lazily down and landed softly on the surface of the water. Heedless of the horde, Kay walked out of the pool of water and into the sea of bones. Everywhere she looked,  skeletons fell into piles of scorched bone and soot. By the tens. The hundreds. Nothing could stand against her and the power she wielded.

***

"Wait a second. Hundreds? Thousands? You expect me to believe you stood against thousands of skeletons? And lived?", the darkly furred canine scoffed.

Kay finished her dish of cream and looked the wolf in his golden eyes. "You wanted to know how I acquired it. I'm telling you"

"You are telling me a bunch of nonsense. Nobody could survive all that. Not even with the power of the Stone". The canine leaned back in his chair, though his eyes never left the glowing sphere on the table

Kay smiled and leaned forward, her eyes taking on a  red hue in the glow of the artifact sitting on the table. "That's how I remember it happening".