Side Stories 1 - The Guardians, #1

Every novel has a larger version of itself that never made it to the page.

The Guardians have been fighting a silent war since before written history, but between the chapters of Into the Nevertime, Into the Eternal, and Into the Darknest life did not stop happening to the people around them. A father waits by a phone he does not want to answer. A soldier holds a gate against someone he trusts completely, and will not step aside anyway. A husband finds out he is about to be a father, and discovers his oldest friend already knew.

This collection gathers the moments that lived in the margins: scenes that shaped the main story without ever appearing in it.

Grimm makes a call he has been dreading, and Trixi keeps herself busy while she waits to hear what it cost. Ken stands post at an outer gate the same night Dahlia walks into the land of the dead, and Synda comes to send him home, only to learn he isn't going anywhere. Tet finds out Trixi is pregnant, then finds out Kastagir already knew, and wants to know exactly how much else his oldest friend has been sitting on.

Centuries further back, before any of the novels begin, a temple takes in its first nameless student and gives him a floor to sweep and a purpose to hold onto: the origin of Dendoo, and the Temple that will one day produce the deadliest people alive.

Closer to home, Halona's family learns the truth about the mother and wife they thought they knew, and has to decide what to do with it. Michael, Tyler, Skyler, and Taylor's story runs alongside the main novels and past them, in a house that is ordinary right up until it isn't.

And at the center of the collection: the full account of how Kastagir, still going by Nate, fell for a barista who welded her own car and once called him "my bunny" by accident, months before either of them knew what he was. Slow, warm, and entirely its own, it's the courtship the main series only ever references in passing.

SPOILERS FOR BOOKS 1 AND 2. These stories are written for readers who have already met these characters. Come here after, not before.

Side Stories, Volume 1 is a companion collection for The Guardians series: the quiet rooms behind the loud ones, where the people who love these immortals figure out what that costs, and what it's worth.

  The Guardians Series:

I would like to thank and publicly acknowledge the vast amount of Story Contributions and World-Building Development over nearly 30 years by my spouse Cecil Dewalt. This book series would not have even been half as robust and rich as it is without their extensive support and boundless creativity.