Patrick O'Sullivan is a writer living and working in the United States and Ireland. Patrick's fantasy and science fiction works have won awards in the Writers of the Future Contest as well as the James Patrick Baen Memorial Writing Contest sponsored by Baen Books and the National Space Society.

Coal

A man on the move, without a past, without a future. An unwanted package bearing police reports, disturbing photographs, hints of escalation. And a handwritten plea in a lady's delicate hand, a summoning invocation Merlin Thorn dare not refuse.

"Come home."

Merlin studied the cracks in the pavement as he made his way back to the family gate. That he still carried the gate key was difficult to explain. It was a convenient size for a paperweight, it doubled as a bottle opener, it could reach that itchy place on his back. He had a hundred excuses to hold onto that burden and a thousand reasons to cast it away, but here it was in his hand, and here was his hand, in front of that shadow-darkened lock.

-Coal, by Patrick O'Sullivan