A blue oval with a gold border. Inside the border is a silhouette of a hooded figure holding a lantern over the head of a silhouette of a young man. Both of them sit in a boat. In the background is a bronze and black image of a city.
Art by Janis Singley.
A blue circle in a gold border. Inside, shadowy figures stand. A young man stands to the right, peering over the shoulder of a young woman with his hand on her shoulder. He wears a hooded outfit. The young woman half looks over her shoulder at him, pointing ahead at something out of frame. In the background, a shadowy city in brown and bronze appears over a cloud of mist.
Art by Fabienne Smith.
A blue oval with a gold border. A young man and a young woman, mostly in shadow, stand with their backs to each other. The young man stares ahead, but the young woman's gaze is slightly lowered. In the background, a shadowed brown-and-bronze city appears over a cloud of mist and a blue river
Art by Paige Foster.
Art by Helen Graham
Just want to read it online?
First time reader?Start here
Jump to a specific part?Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4
Want to buy a copy?
Live in Australia or New Zealand?Visit my Ko-Fi shop
Live elsewhere?You can now go to Ko-Fi, too.
Prefer e-book?Visit my Smashwords store

A story about a boy with a questionable relationship to life, and his best friend, a girl with a questionable relationship to death.

The concept of death never particularly bothered Wilom Tris. So, when the opportunity for a truly unusual apprenticeship came up, the only thing that mattered to him was that it got him out of his aunt’s house.

Until then, Wilom had more than enough information to know his only options were bad ones. Now, it turns out that he has two options that are equally tempting, but not nearly enough information about them. Option one: Stay on the River, be a ferryman, live by the rules. Option two: Go back to the living world and do whatever he wants.

The more he learns about his apprenticeship and life on the River, the more questions he has, but his mentors have stopped answering them. The only perspective he has on the living is through the eyes of the dead. He knows he’s missing something important, but nobody will tell him what it is.

At least he has a friend along for the ride.

First released 2016Check content warnings
Four parts.Goodreads Reviews
Completed online; parts 1-3 available to buy