7/11/26 I am distracted from my thoughts by the sound of raised voices downstairs. Mrs. Witherum is upset about something again. She is my most troublesome boarder, and yet I can never quite bring myself to throw her out. No matter how nosy she is, or how many times she complains about the way I run my home, or how often she's late with her rent, I also know that she's a lonely old woman who lost her only son to the war. After everything I saw in the Occupied Zone I don't have it in me to turn her away.

7/12/26 If Tes had gone missing that was definitely worrying. Sim wouldn't admit that to Dan though. Sim wasn't even convinced that Tes was missing. After they'd lost their mother, it had all been on Tes to look after Dan and Sim. She hadn't had any kind of life of her own until they were old enough to look after themselves. Sim couldn't blame her for taking off and doing her own thing. Maybe she'd finally found a better life for herself like Sim had at the school. That was what Sim hoped, anyway. Dan had a darker view of things.

7/13/26 Kella couldn't say how long she spent beating her head against the mountains and the mystery of what was going on up there, but it had consumed her life. She had to understand what had happened. Eventually she came to the conclusion that the only way she was going to get any real answers was to go back. So that's what she would do. But not like before. She wasn't going to just hike up there with no plan and no back up. Kella wasn't planning to hike up there at all. She was going fly. She needed an airship.

7/14/26 Even at his most obstructive and difficult to work with, Detective Raven had nothing on his superior who was doing everything in his power to get in the way of Tiffany doing her job. And all because she had dared to uncover some corruption on his police force. It wasn't Tiffany's fault the man had dirty coworkers. Tiffany was sure there were more out there than those she had found while clearing Raven's name. She was also sure that Raven's superior knew there were more out there too and he didn't want Tiffany to be the one to find them.

7/6/26 What with getting to know everyone and the area, and figuring out just what it was a country wizard really did, Andrew found himself looking up one day and realizing that he had been in Melbury for half a year already. It was funny, he hadn't expected he'd last a week when he first arrived and now he'd made it halfway through the one year he'd promised to Hazel. She had been right of course. Once people got used to Andrew and saw that he actually could be useful to them, work had really started to pick up for him.

7/7/26 Not that fairies are above the allure of shiny things, we love them just as much as humans do, if not more, it's just that metal in particular is a bit of a sore spot for us. It's not harmful to us in the way that some humans believe, metal is just difficult to work with. So much of fairy magic is all about transformation, changing one thing to something different altogether. But most metals are so resolutely themselves they are impossible to change. Gold is no exception to this rule. As such, I've never had much use for it.

7/8/26 Sara sat with Arthur and they both watched entranced as Elaine made her way around the inner temple chamber. It was fun to watch how Elaine interacted with the room compared to how Sara did. Elaine was far more entranced with the writings above the entrances than Sara had been. However, once Elaine noticed the strange carvings on the pillars that was all she could look at. She ran around from pillar to pillar taking what must have been thousands of photos of them. Sara really hoped that the carvings were some kind of writing. For Elaine's sake, at least.

7/9/26 Luckily for Emily there were also plenty of people in Chestnut who were in favor of her plan to finish her grandfather's hotel. There was a pair of brothers, Ian and Conner, who had been friendly with Emily since the day she first arrived in town. They'd actually been very helpful to her with getting work on the hotel started up again, and also with settling in and getting to know the town and its people. Emily really liked the two brothers. They were funny and kind and had really made her feel like she could complete her grandfather's work.

7/1/26 Just as Joe was starting to think maybe it was time for him to retreat back into the trees and try to find another portal to get home the giant salamander men (or salamen) took notice of him. They stopped their game and walked right up to him. There were two of them and they questioned Joe harshly, asking him where he had come from and who he was. Joe was frozen as they loomed over him. Finally, he found his voice, blurted out an answer to their questions that was technically correct, and then made a run for it.

7/2/26 Pippers couldn't understand what was happening. Her home was burning and for all the people running around nobody seemed to be trying to stop the blaze. Something was very wrong. Squeakers was urging Pippers to return to the woods, but she just stood where she was at the edge of the trees watching everything that was happening. She couldn't move. Part of her wanted to run towards the palace and try to find her sisters and parents. Another part of her wanted to give in to Squeakers and run away into the forest. To keep running and never look back.

7/3/26 The town was as small and charming as every other little farming community Evander had ever seen. And the people were as unwelcoming to the Empire as anyone. Honestly, Evander didn't actually care if Col burned this one down. Evander and his team managed to arrive before Col, but they weren't making any progress in tracking down the family they had been sent to find. Some guy called Cenric, who had been friends with Dragonslayer, supposedly had a sister here who was raising his kid. It was possible that she or the kid had or knew something about an Artifact.

7/4/25 Eda grinned her most charming grin at Albany. The older man only groaned as she won him over to her latest scheme. Eda knew for a fact that there was a whole warehouse full of old computer chips just gathering dust at the edge of the city. If Eda could get her hands on only a few boxes of those chips, then she'd have an in with that weird repair shop girl. Which would open up a whole knew world of contacts for Eda within the Foundation Russian community. Maybe enough new friends to get out from under Rochester's thumb.

6/26/26 Pam was startled when Lucky popped up out of nowhere and attached himself to their group. It wasn't him finding them that had surprised her, she had been counting on that and was glad that he had finally caught up, rather, she was startled by everyone else's reactions to him which ranged from cold to outright hostile. Pam expected as much from Denise who had never gotten along with Lucky, but was shocked to find out that somehow everyone already knew Lucky and didn't like him any better than Denise did. Pam supposed he just had a way with people.

6/27/26 Unintended deaths aside, the plan had worked but that didn't mean that Aubra had time to just stand around and stare at her handiwork. She needed to move fast before more soldiers arrived to investigate the explosions. Aubra was about to turn away when the glint of something metallic amid the rubble caught her attention. It was the necklace that the warden always wore. It should have still been around her neck, buried underneath the destroyed building, yet it was sitting right on top of the heap plain as day. Aubra snatched up the necklace and then ran for it.

6/28/26 Sonia had somehow managed to talk her way out of either her or Riley getting arrested, but the cops were still highly suspicious of both of them. Which made Sonia's investigation all the more difficult. It was hard to look into Riley's boss when Turner and Hooch kept showing up everywhere she went and getting in the way of her talking to anyone. It was very annoying, but fortunately Sonia was clever and the police were not. She just had to work fast. Sonia knew there was another victim out there. Once she found them it would all come together.

6/29/26 Arid and Sanity almost passed a pleasant evening together. They almost made it, but just as Arid was starting to feel like she needed to start making her way towards home she and Sanity were interrupted by the last person either of them wanted to see. Electric Hand. Heir to the Hand family. The most powerful and wealthy family in town. They were all demigods, chosen to protect their mountain home. Not that they did much. Aside from the demon Silo Tamper there weren't that many threats to the mountain. And the Hands weren't even that good at fighting Silo.

6/21/26 Magic was another thing that Mom was weird about. For years Lily had been interested in studying it and Mom had always shot her down. She had a big thing about how corrupting magic could be and how one bad mage could cause a lot of damage. Lily had finally worn Mom down though and she'd agreed to let Lily at least start learning the basics. Blake was honestly surprised that Lily had managed to get that much from her. Sometimes it seemed like Mom wanted to keep them as sheltered as possible. Like nothing outside their hometown even mattered.

6/22/26 All things considered Chance got off a lot easier than he might have. With as much damage as his kart took, he could have been injured far more seriously or even worse… Trix didn't want to think about how bad things could have been. The point was Chance would be fine even if he couldn't race this season with his arm in a sling. There was always next year. They'd have plenty of time to rebuild his kart. Chance really was lucky. The other two karts that had started the crash hadn't had such luck. It was a real tragedy.

6/23/26 While she may not have enjoyed their classes very much, there were at least teachers at the school that Cara did get along with. Most of the time anyway… Cara had always had a knack for getting into trouble that didn't make her popular with adults but she didn't care about that. Her history teacher didn't seem to mind much. Cara thought he was pretty cool. Cara could even get along with their strictest teacher most of the time. She didn't stand for acting out, but she could be understanding if you gave her a good reason for your behavior.

6/24/26 Iris Dodger was a bounty hunter by trade. Finding those who did not want to be found was her specialty. So helping Maxine and Dan get away from Dice would be the exact opposite of Dodger's usual work. Dan may have been right not to trust her, but she had already helped Maxine when she had been separated from Dan, and Dodger did know the territory better than most. Her price was steep, but Maxine's father was wealthy, and with an engagement gift for a down payment Dodger had agreed to take them as far north as the Undwine river.

6/16/26 Hugh was so happy to see Tori when she came out in her improvised Wednesday Addams costume that it was all immediately worth it. Tori had picked a good time too, most of the crowds had died down so she didn't have that many people to deal with as she helped Hugh hand out candy. Not that that really mattered though, the point was to spend time with Hugh who had clearly made an effort to make her favorite holiday a memorable one. Tori could appreciate that and meet him halfway. It was the least she could do for him.

6/17/26 Vina could see at once that she had made the right call bringing in Arsus. As soon as he started chatting with the apple cart vendor Delia began to relax. Arsus was even able to draw her into the conversation and soon they had al the apples they needed and a much happier and calmer Delia. Vina didn't know how Arsus did it, but she was glad to have him. She wished she had his skills for dealing with people. Vina never knew what to say. That was something she needed to work on. As priestess she'd talk a lot.

6/18/26 It was only after Tabby had caught up on all her schoolwork for the day that Cheyenne finally texted her with a promising lead on a potential ghost. If Tabby didn't know better she might accuse Marcus of having some kind of deal with Cheyenne to not send them any cases until after they finished their homework. But Tabby had finished before Marcus and Cheyenne couldn't care less about that kind of thing. She'd text in the middle of class if she thought she had something interesting to share. Cheyenne had even done it while sitting right next to Tabby.

6/19/26 There was one creepy in particular that really annoyed Poppy though. She wasn't afraid of him, but she was starting to understand why Crazy Great Grandpa Harry had moved across an ocean and changed his name and ranted to anyone who would listen about how the family was cursed. The family was cursed and his name was Skeeves. Well, that's what Poppy called him anyway. She hadn't given him a chance to tell her his real name. He'd slipped out of the shadows one night while Poppy was walking to work and she hadn't been able to shake him off.

6/11/26 Of course, my stories won't be good for anything if I cannot figure out how to get Captain Dash out of the predicament I've placed him in. Whenever I am stuck on a scene, or on any problem really, I find that taking a moment to focus on other things and then coming back with a fresh mind is most helpful to finding a solution. It seems contradictory that thinking less, rather than more, on a problem should yield better results, but the human mind is a strange thing. I'm sure that I will find a way to save Dash.

6/12/26 It took over half the night, an alarming amount of alcohol, and far too many embarrassing stories about Sim's youth told to his peers before Dan was finally willing to open up about why he had come to see Sim. Sim was right, it wasn't about birthday month and it was big. Dan was worried about their big sister Tes. She'd kept in touch with Sim when he'd first started school, but her letters had been coming fewer and farther between over time. Sim hadn't actually heard from her in months. Neither had Dan apparently. He was worried about her.

6/13/26 The mountains were nothing but menacing to Kella now, but she couldn't leave them. She had dug up every record she could find on who owned the land on the mountain where Anzo and Sefu had died and found nothing. The small towns and villages at the base of the mountain were still reporting the same strange disappearances and sicknesses that had sent Kella and her companions up the mountain in the first place. The only thing Kella knew now that she hadn't before was that whoever was behind this was more than willing to kill to keep their secrets.

6/14/26 After all the trouble he'd put her through, Tiffany thought she'd get more enjoyment out of Detective Raven needing her help. He was just far too calm about the whole thing. Completely confident that Internal Affairs would come to the right conclusions and that he had nothing to worry about because he hadn't done anything wrong. While Tiffany did actually believe that Raven was innocent, she didn't share his confidence that his colleagues could be trusted to help. Neither did Raven's friend Chaz apparently. He was the one who had hired Tiffany, though she wasn't sure he could afford her.

6/6/26 The Hill Folk were a troupe of fairies that traveled the countryside luring in the unsuspecting with their music. Those who heeded the song of the Hill Folk were likely to be never seen again. And even those who did find their way back home were almost certain to soon die of wasting disease. The Hill Folk used to come around Kettlebrook county once a century or so, but with the growth of towns and cities their territory had been shrinking such that they could be expected about every thirty years now. It was getting to be a real problem.

6/7/26 Ella and Jack started out as competitors on the same heist. They were both after the same treasure. Some sort of golden trinket I think. It's not important. The point is they both wanted it and they were determined to get it before the other one did. They led one another on a merry chase for some time as they traded the gold back and forth between them. And all the while they were busy stealing it from each other the police were completely unable to help the original owner. He'd lose much more once Ella and Jack teamed up.

6/8/26 Sara was glad to have Elaine on this expedition. Elaine was a wiz with ancient and dead languages, if anyone could figure out if the carvings on the pillars were just decorative or some kind of language Elaine could. Arthur was also nice to have along on adventures because he was very good at carrying heavy things. No, but Arthur was very good at keeping their very modern equipment in working order and up to date. There were a lot of machines Sara used to analyze the many samples she took and Arthur understood exactly how all of them worked.

6/9/26 Emily was still getting her bearings in the local politics of Chestnut. It was an old town with a long history and longer memories from the older residents. There had been pushback against the hotel back when Emily's grandfather had first tried to build it and of course that resistance had returned when Emily came to town to try to finish what her grandfather had started. Folks were worried about Chestnut becoming a tourist town and driving out the locals with rising prices as rich vacationers took over. They'd all seen what had happened to Aspen Creek two valleys over.