The Hand

The Hand is an adult dystopian urban fantasy with a bi FMC, an FFM situationship, and a not-so-happy ending. In an alternate future, the United States is overrun by pixies after a breach in the veil between dimensions. Tall, thin, monstrous creatures of teeth and claws are only kept at bay by coded walls containing frequencies that pixies can't cross, leading major cities to live under digital domes. Alia Mejia is a typist for these walls over the major city of Aldershot. She works and lives with her physical therapist girlfriend, Inés Coran, in Santo—the poor, industrial ring city that maintains the barrier keeping pixies out. After losing her right hand, Alia is sent to an Aldershot research hospital where she runs into her old flame, Ty Salvo, now a doctor, who wants to help Alia out of a bad situation. Nothing is what it seems while the clock winds down and Alia makes a choice with the best intentions but worst outcomes. The Hand is an updated republication of "Mixed," originally published in Mad Scientist Journal in 2016 under the pen name Saffron Grey. I thank the editors for publishing my short story, the first short story I ever sold. Per the original contract, this work is no longer "exclusive worldwide online, ebook, and print" to the publisher. Grey, Saffron. "Mixed." Mad Scientist Journal, 13 Sept. 2016, p. 89-107.