Starling House

by Alix E. Harrow

It was difficult to make out the true shape of the river beneath the weight of its own ghosts.

I think dizzily that I know exactly why Icarus flew so high: when you’ve spent too long in the dark, you’ll melt your own wings just to feel the sun on your skin.

Arthur understands for the first time why Hades stole Persephone, why a man who has spent his life in winter might do anything at all for a taste of spring.

She was feckless and foolish and beautiful, she drank and she lied and she had a laugh like the Fourth of July and I needed her.

It occurs to me that I’ve been mourning two people all these years—the mother I had, and the mother I wish I had—and that neither of them was the one who kept a roof over my head.