Small Miracles

by Olivia Atwater

Believe me, plenty of people claim they love someone because they get the warm fuzzies around them—but love is something you do. Quite often, it’s something you choose.

“The thing is, the dead don’t need anything from you—not love, not forgiveness. Those are things you offer because you need them.

Why, he wondered, were there so many Rules concerned with collecting virtue and so few concerned with collecting moments like this one?

“You are loved, Ella Harker. And you are not alone.”

The statement burrowed deeply into Ella’s heart. It joined with the awful, wrenching grief that had taken residence there, nestling itself firmly against the chill fear of loneliness and death which now would never leave. It was not a victory—not by any means. But it was a fond little candle against the darkness—and no matter how Wormwood clawed for it, Gadriel knew that it would never fully go out.

“That is the terrifying vengeance of a very angry lesbian atheist,”