ghosts of my imagination

Riichi Saito had a troubled childhood, but as a young adult they want nothing more than a quiet life far from the angst of their youth.

The universe is not so kind.

They think they have a chance at that peace when their absent mother’s sister leaves them a small house in a teeny community call Blindthicket, but that proves hectic as not only was it not actually from their aunt, their mother turns out to be…

… A fairy dictator? Can nothing be easy in their life?
Mitchell Spring is a Foundling; a human who was kidnapped as young child and replaced with a changeling. He’s not known freedom for a second in his life, but he’s willing to fight for it, and to rally the other foundlings to do the same.
But the fey queens are powerful, and the Changeling Mother dangerous. He needs help to do it. Help on their level. So, when he finds out that the Autumn Queen has a secret child who could take the empty winter throne, he jumps to try to recruit them to help.

But he doesn’t want to force them as they refuse, and he tries to find another way while protecting them from their mother.
_

“Hey, Mitchell!”
“Hm?” I look up at Kyle from my sketchbook. He’s new in my direct command, and I’ve been a little worried he might be bothered by working under someone younger than him, but he’s proven to be pretty easy going.
“I heard a rumor that you’ve been looking for the lost heir.”
… I suppose hoping for actual free time to draw was too much to ask for. I sit the sketchbook aside, and focus on Kyle more completely.
“Where’d you hear that?”
He flashes a pearly white grin at me, “Nina told me. You might want to keep a lid on that girl if it’s supposed to be a secret.”
“No, no it’s…”
I sigh; it is supposed to be a secret, because I don’t want it getting back to Spring, let alone Autumn, but it probably doesn’t hurt for other foundlings to know that. Being raised under the care of The Changeling Mother teaches the value of keeping things to yourself very quickly.
Nina is just very young still, and I’ve sheltered her from the worst of it; she doesn’t know any better.
“… I’ll talk to her about it. Did you have something to say about that though?”
“You’re trying to fill the winter throne, right?”
“Obviously; I’m worried about instability climbing like it has been, and the lost heir is the only chance… not that I’ve been having much luck…”
“What,” Kyle says, his grin so wide it’s like it’s going to split his face apart, “if I told you that there was another?”

The Fair Folk, Prologue, Mitchell

Lucian Darnell was never a normal teenager, with his family’s dark past hanging over him, and the demon attached to his soul tormenting him in an attempt to gain control of his body, but…

His life goes from bad to infinitely worse when another teenager dies, and he’s the one to discover her body. With no memory of how he got there.

Terrified that he may have been the culprit, Lucian sets out to solve the case, if to just prove to himself that he’s innocent, and he finds himself face to face with his family’s past as the roots of this one death go much deeper than he ever imagined.

_

I think I scream, but I’m not sure if it actually left my throat or was just in my head with my demon who’s laughing at me.
“You fucking KILLED her! Oh that’s GREAT!”
She’s- She’s dead- she’s dead. Oh god oh god-
Why- How- what happened?
I quickly pull my feet back from her, pressing as flat against the wall of Don’s Ice Cream Parlor as I can with my knees up to my chest, little strangled half sobs coming with every gasping breath.
This- this isn’t- this can’t- this can’t be – how- how–
“Why do you keep asking yourself HOW? Isn’t that obvious? You killed her.”
“Nnnno-no-” I respond out loud, shaking my head. “No-”

Eyes Wide Open Chapter 3, Lucian

Luke Gregory has been seeing the end of the world since he was just eight years old. He’s a seer; a person with the power to see possible futures, though he has very little control over it. 

Only one thing dominates the futures he sees though; apocalyptic destruction all around him, and his lack of control means he sees nothing else and sees this every time he closes his eyes, and this has gotten increasingly intense the older he’s gotten.

He has a friend, Annette, who knows how this all works, and while she struggles to explain it all in the slightest, she has been postponing the destruction for years.

But it’s rapidly approaching a point where she alone can’t stop it anymore. The power behind it has slowly been taking over more and more of the town, centered on the Church of the Dreamers of Christ, and every day things seem a little more… off.

Luke’s not the only one who knows something is wrong; Lisa Kelly, the daughter of the Pastor at said church has been secretly disillusioned with the church for years, and from the inside she knows they’re up to something sinister and it’s coming closer every day, but she can’t figure out exactly what, or what the Pastor from their supposed sister church- Pastor Connor– has to do with it.

Neither of them can fix this on their own; if the destruction is to be stopped, they’ll need to work together, but the two haven’t been friends for years, as Luke grew more isolated and Lisa has been publicly groomed to take over the church. 

_

His stride is long and fast, but he slows to a stop just steps away from where I’m sitting on the ground. He turns to face me directly, squaring his shoulders, and his eyes are flitting around the area before they fix on me
“Luke,” he says while fidgeting with the edge of his sleeves, “you have to get out of here,” he sounds frantic, and I try to answer, but my throat is too tight. With a trembling hand, I reach up and wipe sweat from my forehead, then look up at Conrene.
“What?”

Omens Chapter 1, Luke