JaydeRussell

Fugitive - Ch. 36

Chapter 36 - Meanwhile, at the house

Bryce

“Did that work? Bryce, are you awake?” I heard Thea’s panicked voice as my consciousness slowly came back to me. Everything ached and my muscles felt weak. It reminded me of the time that I had joined a new gym in college and pushed myself too hard in order to impress the attractive trainer I had been assigned. It hadn’t worked, and I was stuck in bed, barely able to move for most of the next day.

“Yeah, I’m awake… o...

Fugitive - Ch. 35

Okay, new chapter today, and hopefully we'll be getting back on track soon. Payments are still paused and will remain that way until we're caught up. Life was a bit of a shitstorm for awhile there, but that's over now and I'll finally have time to actually sit down and write.

In other news! The audiobook for Executive is finally out! It can be found here. 

I also have a number of...

Fugitive - Ch. 34

Okay! As it stands Patreon is ~5 chapters behind where I want it to be, this is because of <insert any number of excuses here>.

To me this is unacceptable, especially when people are paying to have these extra chapters. SO! What I'm going to do is pause payments until we're back to where I want Patreon to be.

I have no idea how long that will be, but hopefully, it won't be long.

Anyway, what that means is you probably won't be charged for October and you'll hopefully b...

Fugitive - Ch. 33

Still a little bit late, but we're getting back on track!

----------

Chapter 33 - Honest Discussions

Bryce

“What do you mean, ‘is somebody missing’?” Rosie, the dryad asked. “You’ve been missing for months, and you have the nerve to show up here and ask if somebody is missing? Just consider yourself lucky that Esme isn’t here to give you an earful for asking such a stupid question. Gods below, you’d think a celestial of Inim, even a fal...

Fugitive - Ch. 32

Hey all! Sorry for the delay, but I am back to writing and I've kept track of the missed chapters, which will be made up... eventually. In the meantime, I'm determined to not miss any more deadlines.

So! Here's chapter 32!

Chapter 32 - Welcome to Hel

Bryce

“We should get going,” Esme interrupted before I could respond to Sora’s boast. “Lilith is going to be upset enough without us showing up in the middle of the night and waking the children.”

“Oh s...

Fugitive - Ch. 31

"Holy crap? Is that Jayde? Is she still alive?"

Yep! And here's chapter 31! Thank you for your patience, and I'm going to try to get a second chapter up today. But failing that, it'll definitely be this weekend.

--------

Chapter 31 - Premonition

Samira

“What? Why five hours?” I asked. “We could just leave now.” Sora and I were gathered around a terminal in their room at the captain’s request.

“Thea asked me to buy her some alone time with Bryce,...

News and chapter delays

Hey all!

First, let me apologize for the delayed chapters. Trying to become an author has been getting in the way of me being a writer, which I'm finding out is just a part of things that I need to learn how to manage.

Everything has settled down significantly and (gods willing) I'm planning on getting both chapters out by tomorrow night.

With that being said, I am changing the release schedule. So, starting next week new chapters will be released on Tuesdays and Thursdays. ...

Fugitive - Ch. 30

Chapter 30 - Preparations

Thea

“We’re totally going to your dad’s temple while we’re in Hades, right?” I asked. Chorus had just left after hugging Esme again, and we were all still gathered in the observation room.

“You’re not coming with me,” Esme declared. “Besides, don’t you have a girlfriend now?”

“There are plenty of things to do at the temple that aren’t other people, and we absolutely are coming. Aren’t we?”

“Those were go...

Fugitive - Ch. 29

Chapter 29 - Reunion, Take Two

Esme

My eyes opened slowly as the haze lifted from my thoughts. It took me a moment to recognize that I was lying in the med-lab of little Salinthea’s very own starship.

Okay, she didn’t own it exclusively, but the rest of the crew were just a bunch of mortals. It wouldn’t be long for them to die, and then Thea would have it all to herself. She was annoyed when I brought up that last part, but she was young and still needed to learn tha...

Fugitive - Ch. 28

Chapter 28 - Resurrections, Summonings, and You

Thea

“Um, doctor, I think you may have misunderstood,” Bryce said. I felt like I probably needed to add something, but I was way too busy laughing.

Sami and Softie were still back at the resort. But Bryce rushed to end our vacation the moment Doc let us know she had finished with Esme’s new body.

It had been a fun few days, and it was nice to see Bryce finally enjoying something that wasn’t relate...

Fugitive - Ch. 27

Chapter 27 - Rest and Reservations

Bryce

“Sora! Are you in there?” I shouted as I knocked on the door to the navigator’s quarters. We had been traveling in the Aether for well over a week and we should’ve arrived at the Legion station days ago. Usually, I would’ve just asked Sora what was going on, but they’d been avoiding me.

“I’m serious, Sora!” I banged on the door a few more times and it finally opened to reveal a naked Ithnaa. She had ...

Fugitive - Ch. 26

It's still Wednesday in mountain time! So, I'm not technically late with this chapter!

-------

Chapter 26 - New Friends and Close Quarters

Bryce

“We’re clear in here!” I shouted back into the hallway before dismissing my sword and walking over to the hole in the floor. “Are you okay down there, Thea? Do you need help up?”

“Nah, I’m good,” Thea shouted from the deck below. “My new friend is going to help me up.”

“New friend? Don’t ...

Fugitive - Ch. 25

Thank you so much for your patience with me getting these chapters out a little late.

I've been crazy busy recently, and that means I have a bit of news. The big thing is that the first book is available for pre-order on Amazon! You can find it here if you're at all interested in picking it up. The paperback and hardcover versions will be added shortly after the release.

The next thing which is still big,...

Fugitive - Ch. 24

Chapter 24 - The Good Doctor

Bryce

“I hate to be the one to tell you this,” Thea said. “But that man is dead. Like very, very dead. I have never in my life met a man who was more dead than that man right there. He is cadaverific.”

“Thea, at this point, you’re just being rude.” I walked in to get a closer look, but it seemed like Thea was right. Well, minus calling him ‘cadaverific’, because I didn’t think that was an actual word.

“It’s quite a...

Fugitive - Ch. 23

Chapter 23 - Search and Rescue

Thea

“Alrighty princess, you ready?” I asked. We were standing in the bad guy’s airlock after we finished changing and our EVA suits were safely stored away in my ring. We were getting ready to storm the ship. Well, maybe ‘storm’ wasn’t exactly the right word.

“Remember, we need to get to the navigator’s core before we’re discovered,” Bryce reminded me again. “The crew should be large enough, and the ship big enough, tha...

Fugitive - Ch 22

Chapter 22 - Jumping Ship

Bryce

Yep, that’s definitely a Union registration,” Samira said. “They didn’t even hide it all that well, just attached their normal registration to a Legion header. Honestly Sora, if you had taken thirty seconds to look at it, then you probably would’ve realized right away.”

We were all gathered back on the bridge, trying to figure out our next step while we flew back to the beacon.

“No Sami, you’re just weird. Not everybody...

Fugitive - Ch. 21

Chapter 21 - The Research Station

Bryce

Bryce, we need a concealment spell, and we need it now.

I sat up in bed as I received the message from Sora. Thea grumbled some sort of complaint before rolling over and pulling the blanket tighter around herself. I didn’t blame her for not waking up.

Her mana had taken a while to regenerate after the fight in Kai’s domain. But once it had, she was hit hard with mana sickness. It was possible that we were reaching ...

Fugitive - Ch. 20

Chapter 20 - Out of the Bottle

Ithnaa

“Water is in the kitchen,” Thea pointed past the bar before getting up from where she was sitting. “There are cups in the cabinet above the dishwasher and I can grab something for your head from the med-lab.”

“Thanks. I’ll grab a glass then answer whatever questions you have, if you ask them quietly.”

My head was killing me, and honestly, I wouldn’t have even gotten out of bed if it wasn’t for Samira’s shoutin...

Fugitive - Ch. 19

Hey all!

Quick update. There's going to be a slight delay in releasing chapter 20 while I make it less terrible. It should land at some point during the weekend.

Also! Monday will be the last double release with chapters 21 & 22, and then we're going back to single chapters.

It's been fun (and stressful) releasing at this rate, but this will put us at 20 chapters ahead of RoyalRoad and allow me to better edit chapters before releasing them.... Trust me it's better for ev...

Fugitive - Ch. 18

Chapter 18 - The Next Step

Samira

Thea and the captain were on the couch making lovey eyes at each other, and Sora was at the bar pretending to make drinks. All the while we were sitting in the Aether without a destination. So, things were pretty much back to normal.

As far as we could tell, the captain’s plan had worked. The Skull Candy had left a few hours ago, and the Flaming Talon left immediately after we managed to fix their weapons. Which was thankfully easier tha...

Fugitive - Ch. 17

Chapter 17 - The Plan

Varlin

It’s not that I enjoyed using Bryce like this. Hells, I still considered her one of my closest friends. But business is business, and I needed to buy myself enough time to find the real relic or I’d lose more than just my promotion. Besides, whatever she was planning with Dr. Phaylex would never work. Corporations don’t take kindly to that sort of blackmail, or any sort of blackmail, for that matter.

She was already destined for the gallo...

Fugitive - Ch. 16

Chapter 16 - Catching up with Family

Thea

“I don’t mind explaining,” Ash said. “But I believe the executive—sorry, Bryce—mentioned that things were time sensitive.”

“No matter what ends up happening, we’ll need to fix your weapons, which will take time,” Bryce explained. “And Samira can get started while we have this discussion.”

Sami stopped to glare at Bryce with a chip half-way to her mouth. “But, captain, Thea just got here and I haven�...

Fugitive - Ch. 15

Chapter 15 - Shifting Alliances

Bryce

“Executive! Tell me what's going on this instant!” Ashaiya stood and adjusted her glasses. “I just received a message saying our weapon systems are offline! I’m assuming you know something about this?”

I minimized my feed, keeping it open enough to still send messages, but allowing myself to focus on the irate ex-celestial. I wasn’t sure exactly what or how to explain. But I figured we needed an ally right now, so I took a ...

Fugitive - Ch. 14

Chapter 14 - The one with the Deus ex Machina

Thea

“Mistress!” La’akea shouted. “What are you doing here? I have this completely under control without you.”

“Do you? Because it sure as hell doesn’t look like it.” Kai raised an eyebrow. “Do you have any idea how long that’s going to take to clean up?” She was pointing at the molten floor, but it was already repaired by the time I turned back to look at it.

“And you!” The goddess pointed at me...

Fugitive - 13

Chapter 13 - The Devil and the Details

Bryce

“Executive, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you in person,” Captain Ashaiya said as we shook hands. “Although, I’m surprised you chose to come alone, it would have been well within your rights to have Legion provide a number of escorts for your protection.”

“I appreciate that,” I explained. “But I have close ties with the children of Inim, and I trust you and your crew to keep me safe.” That was a bit of a st...

Fugitive - ch. 12

Chapter 12 - Turning up the Heat

Thea

When Ithnaa had described Rajak as her weak little cousin, I thought she was just being super arrogant. Ever since I left the hells, anybody who boasted about their ‘immense power’ was dead or apologizing like 10 seconds later. It was actually a pretty funny pattern.

But Ithnaa moved fast, like crazy fast. I had just blinked and then there was a transparent violet sword sticking out of the door where La’akea’s head had been mer...

Fugitive - ch 11

Chapter 11 - Heading Into the Light

Bryce

“I mean, we got everything,” Sora said. “Hells, we still have access to their systems, but it looks like Legion really doesn’t know what the relic does. That or it’s above the admiral’s pay grade.”

Sora was sitting on the couch while I paced back and forth in the living area aboard the ship. Sami was still on the Skull Candy, she had apparently found a project to work on with their navigator. We were planning on picki...

Fugitive - Chapter 10

Chapter 10 - And Djinn there was more

Thea

“What is this place?” The djinn asked.

“This is Elysia,” La’akea replied. “Home to the gods! You’ve found yourself in the domain of Kai, the mighty trickster. Consider it a great honor.”

“Interesting story,” the djinn smirked. “I’m sure I’ll remember it when I’m back on the mortal plane.”

There was a flash of purple light, followed by the djinn reappearing about a meter to the left. She se...

Fugitive - Chapter 9

Chapter 9 - Drinks with the Admiral

Bryce

“Samira won’t be a problem, will she?” Varlin asked as the door sealed behind me. The main area of the admiral’s cabin had been set up as a meeting area designed to accommodate his shorter stature, while not being uncomfortable for taller races.

The couches in the center of the room looked like they had a folding step hidden in their base which could likely be used as a footstool, and the wet-bar against the far wall had a ...

Fugitive - Chapter 8

Chapter 8 - Subterfuge

Sora

I had to stop myself from facepalming. When Bryce asked Sami to do this I didn’t have high hopes, but I had expected it to take her at least a little longer to slip up.

Thankfully, Varlin was on top of things, and spoke up before anybody could question her mistake. “Jayne, how about you take Samira down to the mess and grab something to eat?”

The human smiled. “Sure, I don’t mind. It’s been a while since I’ve been around anot...