A short story about old gods, modern wars, and human resilience. First published by Ideomancer Magazine (March 2015) under my pseudonym Lee S. Hawke. I am 15 when my boyfriend starts acting oddly. We sit on the edge of a browned oval, watching the other boys kick a tattered football between them. His eyes follow it like liquid. I know that he wants to play, but he doesn’t want to be politely included and silently excluded at the same time. …