Where the Candles Are Kept

Oisín Mahoney, in his early seventies, lives off the grid in rural Idaho, at the base of a steep pine-covered mountain. In his tilted cabin, he has no room for Calla and Torin, his grand-niece and grand-nephew, two seemingly sullen California teenagers sent to him one summer. But crises in their lives at home necessitate time away, to live a slower, less complicated life for a spell. Within minutes of landing at the airport, though, the teenagers begin plotting their escape.

In this suspenseful and wry short story, Oisín and Calla and Torin are forced to decide who and what they care about, and if they have any role in the saving of a life.