Meet Leona, the third protagonist in Mimi Mondal’s (miminality) fictional “Blood Ties” short stories series, created for our 2025 #SpiralMagazine issue, which is centered on the Buddhist concept of Interdependence. In a web of strained relationships and reluctant alliances, Leona learns how even heartbreak and jealousy are shaped by the unseen ties that bind us. When Leona and Ronny broke up, she didn’t leave her apartment for two weeks. Curled up in bed, bingeing takeout and Netflix, she scrolls through her social feed overrun with the rumors of vampires sweeping through Briarwood. 🧛 Of course. That’s exactly what Ronny would’ve chased. He’d probably already found the vampires, made friends with them, and written a 20-page piece on the systemic bias against marginalized monsters. Everything reminds Leona of him. But mostly, she just misses Sugarbean, her little white dog. Then everything shifts. Liz, Ronny’s new partner (who Leona can’t stand)—calls her in a panic. Ronny’s mis...