Sigils

An open door is an invitation. You may not like what waits on the other side.James O'Neil is a month from graduation and invisible at his Pittsburgh high school. Three years after the move from Chicago, he's still "the new kid." His art-school dream is dying one scholarship rejection at a time, and the only teacher who notices him is Mr. Kovac, an absent-minded literature teacher who can't stop lecturing about the power of names.Then a road closure sends James past a forgotten stair under a bridge, onto a pristine concrete wall that's begging for his old graffiti tag. A cut hand, a smear of blood across fresh gold paint, and the air goes dead still. Two street writers named Bone and Peach come running. Something on the other side has tasted James's blood, and it is very, very hungry.Now the nightmares won't stop. The squirrels in Riverfront Park aren't squirrels. A goth girl with a softball bat seems to think kobold-punting is a perfectly normal hobby. And at the Carnegie Library, James trips over Meg, a strange, sharp-witted girl with a white mouse in her pocket, an accent from nowhere he can place, and a lot of questions she doesn't want asked about herself.In this city of bridges, Ways run between our world and the Realm Between, and a tag in the right place can open one or slam it shut. James has to learn the rules fast: names have power, the voices in the dark lie, and you never, ever use your real name. Because the thing hunting him knows exactly where he sleeps.Sigils is fast, funny, street-level urban fantasy steeped in old Fae lore and real Pittsburgh grit: back alleys, coffee shops, the Strip District, and the bridges in between. It's a story about finding your people, standing your ground, and learning that the city you thought was boring has been hiding worlds the whole time.Write your tag. Never your name.