Mirror Bones and Other Impossible Tales: The Other Collections, #4

By Jude Mire

A glowing city of lighthouses, where people's bodies shift and change in accordance with their morals. Unceasing acceleration pushes an airship along a deadly course. A strange hole in eternity, a surreal plan for population reduction, and a world where cities are sucked into the sky. Cosmic tattoos and broken daydreams. An elevator stretched between stars?

 

Not quite sci-fi and not entirely fantasy, these 12 tales offer up a unique assortment of unusual visions unlike anything else. This New-Weird collection resides on the frontier of imagination in the untraveled boundaries of strange fiction.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jude Mire
• Release date: Aug 18, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223550945

Jude Mire

Jude Mire is a genre fiction author who writes new-weird fiction, sci-fi, horror, and fantasy. He originally hails from Chicago and now resides in a town by the ocean in beautiful Nova Scotia. He's a repeat finalist in the WildClaw Theater Deathscribe Radio Play competition, written issues of the afro-centric superhero book, The Horsemen, for Griot Enterprises, helped run the Twilight Tales genre reading series, and he created and ran the Cult Fiction writers group and organized their live performances. He's had several works published in anthologies, online magazines, and produces new fiction monthly for subscription at https://www.patreon.com/judemire. Across assorted genres, his work has an emphasis on exploring the atypical, expanding diversity, and creating innovative new visions.

Book preview

Cracking Daydreams

It was metal and rivets and magic.

And it was leaving.

The great sloppy rocket shuddered and wobbled its way up into the night sky, headed for who-knows-where. Someplace better. Julia didn't feel sad because she wasn't on-board and wasn't going with them. She was confident she'd be on one eventually. She'd been working hard on her imagination. Her older brother, Trevor said it was almost there.

No, Julia was a little sad because it was Becky rising up, up, and away into the speckled darkness. Her good, big-sister-style, always there when she needed her, Becky. They'd spent their whole life next door to each other. Becky was always the most fun to play with and had such wonderful ideas all the time. She'd miss her terribly.

She watched the spaceship until nothing but a smear of smoke remained, streaked in a curve across the starlit heavens.

C'mon, Dinger. She's gone. Let's go home now. The black cat at her side blinked but didn't move.

Julia gathered up her multiple sketchbooks, filled with pictures of strange creatures, silly poems, and over two hundred types of made-up flowers she'd sketched, named, and catalogued. She shoved them into her bag along with her action figures, yarn, and polished glass. Trusting that Dinger would follow at his own pace, she headed across the roof to the ladder down. She needed to get back soon. She'd already taken too long. If she was lucky, Trevor may not have noticed she'd gone out to see Becky's departure. But it was a thin hope. Her older brother was pretty good at keeping an eye on her. Even better than Dinger was.

Trevor was a good brother, for the most part. He helped decorate her room and was always eager to join in any game she came up with. He brought her toys and tidbits, paints and craft supplies. Mostly things he got from a fantastic marketplace on the far side of town that he called Trash. She'd never been there, but it had all sorts of amazing little discoveries. He was quick with a smile and could make her laugh by just pointing his finger at her. She knew he loved her very much.

But Trevor never wanted her to leave their tiny apartment. She wasn't allowed to look outside, even though they were high up, and she could have probably seen the whole city. He'd covered them with a painting of ships sailing on clouds, like mock stained glass. He said the world was spirit crushing and the less she saw of it, the better. He said it had happened to him.

I was just like you Julia, he'd say. It was my daydreams that were going to guide one of those ships up. To help take people to amazing new places. But I spent too much time looking around here. Too focused on the world. You can't do that, Julia. It's not good for you. Earth is a cage and it'll trap you if you think about it. If you must go out, try to ignore it. You don't want any cracks in that imagination of yours, do you?

And Julia did her best to try and ignore it. Even now, she kept her eyes on the ground, only occasionally peeking up to not bump into anybody. It was tricky with serpentine streets so thin between the domino stacked buildings. It was harder at night to keep her bearings in the maze of shops and neon signage. She did her best, glancing as little as necessary. Some of it was interesting, but she was good at keeping her eyes off the things she shouldn't see. After all, she didn't need to look at them for herself. Dinger would describe it all to her when they got home.

Dinger could watch all of it, of course. He wasn't learning to help with the imagin-ometry calculations. He could look around as much as he pleased. He never spoke, per-se, but she understood him anyway. He was a great describer. Dinger was an expert.

Just last week, when she'd snuck out in search of fairies, she'd smelled something that made her stomach growl and her mouth water. Certain that it was some magnificent feast, she'd resisted the urge to look. When they got home, it was the first thing she'd asked Dinger to describe. As he curled on the end of her bed, licking his hindquarters, he'd explained to her that it was, in fact, the aroma produced by a fish in a robotic suit. He went on to spin a fantastic tale about how this particular fish normally lived on the bottom of a lake, but the lake was near a strange sandwich factory. The sandwich factory only made perfect sandwiches and, whenever one wasn't just right, they'd toss it into the lake. There, it would settled to the bottom, and, by amazing coincidence, made the fish smell wonderful! It had rented the robot suit so that it could come out of the water on holiday and sight-see the Vast, and maybe try one of the perfect sandwiches. When she asked about the sort of squealing, hissing noises that had gone with the aroma, Dinger told her it was a family of origami worms, obviously excited to see such a sight.

She always had the most interesting conversations with her cat.

She crowded into an elevator with about forty other people and went up three levels. She had to shove to get off with all the new passengers trying to get on. She tried to imagine they had good reason for pushing a little girl and almost trampling a cat. Perhaps, they were mind-controlled by evil puppies, tired of little girls and ancient enemies of cats. Or maybe their heads were on backwards, and they couldn't see properly. Whatever it was, she didn't look up to see. Dinger would explain it to her later. Just like he always did.

She was only three blocks and a nexus point away from the Insparium Slums when she smelled it. That wonderful smell.

The fish.

She was kind of surprised to smell him again. After all, according to Dinger, vacations weren't something the fish could easily afford. Why was he out here again? Whatever the reason, she licked her lips at the smell.

She knew she shouldn't. She wasn't supposed to. She shouldn't even be here. She was only out because she'd wanted to see Becky off. To watch her rocket-ship float up on fire and daydreams. She'd done that, and she should get right home, but couldn't she take just one peek?

The delicious scent came from a vendor stall, not a fish in a robotic suit.

The grubby counter was equipped with a grill, deep-fryer, and was manned by an overweight fellow in a stained apron. He had squinted eyes and a scowl on his face. The area was piled high with cages of live rats. Squealing rats, not adorable origami worms. He took one out, held it by the tail, and swung it so its neck snapped on the counter-top. With a bored expression, he swiftly removed the head, limbs, and guts, skinned it, and dropped the rest into the deep fryer. Several already cooked rats, impaled on sticks, were spread out on a greasy towel next to a sign that said $10.00.

Julia gawped. It was nothing like what she'd imagined. It was brutal and horrible and...

Dinger, why did you lie to me?

The cat sat there and gazed at her silently.

If this had been a lie, then what about the rest? She lifted her face to look up, but before she could make any sense of things, a figure burst in front of her, blocking off the marketplace spectacle.

Julia! You shouldn't be out here. You know this! Trevor took her by the arm and turned her away. Come on. We've got to get you back inside.

Caught in the act, she immediately dropped her eyes to the ground and let him lead her. I'm sorry Trevor, I just wanted to say goodbye to Becky. My Becky.

Trevor sighed heavily. I know. I thought you might. I've been looking for you for an hour.

She felt the tension in her sibling and had some idea of what was at stake. It was only dreams, random imagination, and unfiltered creativity that completed the inter-planetary drive calculations. She was the one who could do it, get them on a ship, up, up, and away. He'd failed at it. Her best Becky hadn't.

Julia wished more than ever Becky was still here to tell her what to do.

You didn't see much, did you?

No, she lied.

Good, he said.

Dinger, the no longer trust-worthy, followed them home.

The Zodiac Hand

Christina held her hand up to the sky and checked the position of the stars. It was good. She hoped he wasn't late. She hadn't had a big client in weeks, and she needed the cash. If he was late, it would be another five days before she could do him again.

Rent was due in two.

It was cool out, but not unpleasant. The early morning air had a damp, thick feeling. The forecast said warm and sunny today. That was good. They could spend the whole time outdoors. It was easier that way. More options.

The place she'd set to meet him wasn't ideal, but then, she didn't have a choice. For this to work she needed to connect with him at the right time and place in the universe. Today, that meant a tiny alley off a parking lot in a spot behind a discount furniture resale shop. It could have been worse. At least it wasn't out in traffic somewhere or in the 'burbs. There was also very little chance of them missing each other. She dreaded the day that someone landed on Union Station during rush hour. She'd have to wear a damn pink rhinestone cowboy hat or something equally ridiculous. This morning was easy, and when a man rounded the corner, she was sure it was him.

She didn't move to greet him. They had to meet in the correct configuration. He was tall, skinny, and walked with that head-bowed slump that gangly men often carry. His clothes were nice and that pleased her. There shouldn't be any problem with payment. He stopped and checked his watch. Good boy. They still had two minutes before they could meet.

He spent the delay fidgeting and glancing down the street. When the time had passed, he walked over quickly.

Hi there. Christina, right?

She shook his hand. None other.

Yeah, cool. I'm Gavin.

She smiled. I kinda figured.

Right, right. So, how does this work?

Did you do the stuff I told you? Eat enough? Cut your fingernails? Go to the bathroom?

Yep, totally. Every bit. To the letter.

Good. I don't wanna be following you into a stall.

Makes sense.

She held her hand up to the sky again, consulting the heavens. His eyes widened at the sight of it.

Wow. So that's it, huh? Cool.

That's it.

Her left hand was covered in a tattooed map of the solar system. The sun was in the webbing between her thumb and pointer and concentric rings extended out, adorned with all the planets. The twelve symbols of the zodiac were arranged along her fingers and various stars, comets, and circles speckled her skin. A crescent moon was cupped in her palm.

Okay, quick recap. I'm going to take your hand. Our fingers need to be interlaced. Once we've done that, you say 'my best future'. First words out of your mouth, loud and clear. Be sure to enunciate. After that, we hold hands for as long as it takes. Don't let go, or you'll mess it up. At least three or four hours. When it's ready, I'll read it, and you'll get your answer. Got it?

Yeah.

She kept her hand up to the sky, waiting, waiting, and done. She took his right hand into her left, pressing the skin together.

Gavin spoke clearly. My best future.

It clicked. She could feel it. There was a sort of tingle in her arm. They'd hit the right time, place, and expression of desire. The ingredients were mixed and in the oven. Now all they had to do was wait for it to cook.

Alright, we're good, she said. I don't want to spend the day in this crap alley. Let's take a walk.

Sounds good to me.

They left the parking lot holding hands like a normal couple.

Gavin wasn't a big talker and that was fine with Christina. There were times she hit it off with her clients and they'd gab the day away. Other times, she'd intensely dislike the people she connected with, and it made the day unbearable. Quiet clients, like Gavin, were a nice middle ground. With people like him, she liked to do some sightseeing. It kept her from getting bored. They wandered the neighborhood aimlessly while trying to figure out how to spend the day.

She suggested a bunch of her normal romps, and he wasn't interested. He vetoed the pier, window shopping, the arboretum, the gallery district, and the international street market. He suggested a historical tour of a graveyard and she shot that right down. That sort of thing could mess up the reading. Too many endings and no potential.

The zoo. How about the zoo? she asked.

I was hoping for something less crowded. Maybe a movie?

It's not even eight in the morning. There are no movies now. I'm tired of debating this. You want your reading; we're going to the zoo.

He acquiesced with a slump.

They arrived just as it was opening, and the ticket guy was having trouble starting up his register. He waved them in for free.

They spent the next three hours leisurely checking out the animals, joined at the hands. Christina was a big fan of the rhinoceros but didn't like the primates at all, especially the baboons. Gavin spent most of the day seeming impatient but perked up around the reptiles. He was particularly captivated by the different types of geckos and how they climbed the walls of their tanks.

They found a coupon book on the ground, near a bench, and got themselves a pair of ice creams for a quarter each. It wasn't noon yet, but the day was warm enough.

It's never too early for ice cream.

Gavin didn't disagree and ate his cone quietly.

They were outside the mountain woodlands exhibit, looking at a bobcat, when she felt a tickle along her arm. The sun was a bit past its apex. Just under six hours.

We're good. I've got it. We can let go, she said.

You sure?

Yep. She released his hand. He clenched and unclenched a fist, shaking off the stiffness of the ordeal. Christina held hers out like she was reading a book, stretched her fingers out, and inspected it.

The entire tattoo had shifted positions. Nothing was in the same place. The moon had moved onto one of her fingers, the sun was on the back of her hand beneath her pinkie, and the planets had all rearranged. She found Gavin easily enough in the mapping on her ring finger. Her brow furrowed. She was there, right next to him, on her middle finger. They were low, both near the underside of the first knuckle. Across her palm an assortment of comets had arranged, converging to crash into their positions.

It was a massive and imminent disaster for the both of them.

What the fuck!

He looked nervous. What do you see?

She kept looking, mentally tracking back from their positions to figure out how they'd gotten where they were and determine where they were going. She followed the path, further and further along Gavin's trajectory, looking for the trigger that attracted such negativity. She found it and turned on him.

Tell me what you stole, right now!

That's over. I'm looking to the future now, he said.

She shoved him. Answer me, you dumb shit or you won't have any future at all!

He rolled his eyes and sighed. Fine, but only if you promise to show me the way out.

Just tell me.

He reached up, grabbed his collar, and pulled down on his shirt. There, above his heart, was a circle of runic symbols melted into his skin. It took her a minute to realize what it was and how fantastically stupid he'd been.

You stole a life-long prosperity charm? The things were extremely rare, worth a fortune, and illegal. It was that last fact that made them almost exclusively tailored to powerful, well-connected, criminals. She didn't know who he'd taken it from but judging by the shitstorm rolling across her palm, it wasn't anyone good.

I needed the money. I've got a lot of business ideas and didn't have any capital.

I hope you know where to get a protection charm because you might not live long enough to enjoy any kind of prosperity.

That's why I called you. You just saw the path to the best future for me? A future where I make it out of this mess. You can show me what to do now, right?

She opened her mouth, about to read him the riot act for dragging her into it but stopped herself. He couldn't read her hand. He didn't know what she knew. Knowledge wasn't free.

Yes, there's a way out. But this is royally fucked up. She raised her hand and pointed to it. See these planets? Mushed together? That means your future is connected to mine now. Your problem splashed onto me. I want triple my money and I want it now, before I tell you anything.

You see the way out?

Money first.

He nodded. Sure, sure. Cash is easy now. He opened his wallet, counted out bills, and passed them over to Christina. She checked. It was well over what she'd demanded. He was an idiot, but he wasn't a bad tipper. She held out her hand like a book.

Okay, this is us, and these things are all the forces that are converging. You really kicked a fuckin' hornet's nest. Whoever you stole this from is mad enough to kill you. But do you see this? Right here? That's a wandering star. If we follow it, and circle around, all that wrath will up-end double backed onto itself. It's a long shot, and we'll have to leave the city together. Tonight. But the path is there. You can get your prosperity and avoid the consequences.

His body relaxed and he grabbed her arm in excitement. Oh god, that's fantastic. Thank you! Thank you so much. I promise, I'll pay you even more. I'll make it worth your while! Totally!

Yeah, yeah. I'm sure. Don't get too crazy. We're not out of the woods yet. The people you pissed off have their own magic. I need a minute to clear my head, double check the details. To do that, I need your messed up aura to back off for a few minutes. We've been connected for far too long today.

Oh, okay. Cool. I'm gonna go hit the head, then I'll meet you back by the geckos.

She gave the man a sympathetic look and nodded.

Sounds good, Gavin.

She watched him walk off, no longer hunched over, with a spring in his step. As he rounded the corner, she saw him bend over to pick something up off the ground. She saw the glint of a coin as he flipped it before sliding it into his pocket.

Stupid idiot.

As soon as he was out of sight Christina headed straight for the zoo exit. She flipped open her cell phone and pulled out the sim-card. Back on the street, she made several random turns, crossed a park, and hopped onto a bus.

Fuck that guy and fuck all the horrible shit that was headed his way. He had it coming, and she didn't feel bad about asking for extra money and lying to him. A way out? What a moron! He'd asked to see his best future and she had seen it.

Suicide tomorrow. That was the best he could hope for. Every other future was worse. Much, much worse.

She didn't want even a little bit of his fate to splash onto her.

Fortunately, she had a solution.

When she got off the bus, she looked for a place with a little privacy. She didn't need anyone watching her. She found her second alley of the day. A fitting synchronicity. It would help partition off the reading. She inspected her tattoo again, confirmed the necessary angle, and took a deep breath.

She raised her middle finger, as if flicking someone off. She pressed the tip against the wall and pushed hard. With her other hand, she shoved down and cracked it backwards. The pain was crazy, and she doubled over. Just to be sure, she did it again, pushing her middle finger until it was lying flat on the back of her hand. She pulled a scrunchie