“What has happened to all of them?” I whispered.
“Let’s try to see if any of them will talk,” Caleb commented, surveying the group for those who looked as if they were coming to. He walked over to a teenaged boy. Through the mud and bloodstains that covered him – along with a badly healed stab-wound, I could faintly make out blond hair and blue eyes.
“Hi.” Caleb knelt down to his level. “Can you understand me?”
The boy looked at him uncomprehendingly for a few moments, and then his gaze turned to me, standing behind Caleb.
“I recognize you,” he whispered. “Do you still want my sunscreen?”
“Wha—Who are you? Do you know your name?” I asked, confused by the question. His accent was definitely British, and he was well-spoken.
“I’m nobody,” he sighed, as he started to look around him.
“Do you know where you are?” I asked again.
“Nowhere,” he replied and frowned. “Do you want my sunscreen or not?”
“Why does he keep talking about sunscreen?” I asked Caleb in whisper.
“I’m not sure…” Caleb began.
“I wonder if he thinks you’re Hazel?” Corrine said. “It might be why he thinks he recognizes you…and who else but your daughter would need sunscreen in Scotland?”
“I’m Hazel,” I said hurriedly to the boy, willing to go along with his delusion to help jog his memory. “Do you remember me?”
“Hazel.” He smiled, nodding dreamily.
“Who did this to you?” I asked again. I could hear my own question being echoed by Claudia, who was speaking to another woman at the next tree along.
“It was the dreams,” he replied quietly, “the dreams took us…left us empty.”
I glanced at Caleb and he shook his head. Corrine was frowning. Clearly none of us had any idea what he could be referring to. Dreams? What dreams?
“I had a younger brother, and friends, do you remember them?” I prompted, getting desperate for the boy to make some sense.
He shook his head. “Just the black shadows that came from the sea. Black eyes, black eyes…black eyes…”
He started to repeat himself on a loop, knocking his head into the bark of the tree.
“I’m wondering if you should sedate him, Corrine. I’m worried he’s going to hurt himself – and we need to clean up that wound,” I muttered.
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” she replied, staring down at the young man. “Their minds have already been altered. Perhaps it’s best to leave them alone for now until we can help them properly.”
“Are you thinking we should take them all back to The Shade?” I asked in surprise. There were a lot of them here to fit in our island’s hospital.
“No, just a few. Maybe the most talkative ones, the ones who don’t seem so far gone. We will be able to do more than modern medicine can—and then we can take our time questioning them…though I fear it’s going to be a long process.” Corrine grimaced.
Claudia and Yuri, who’d started trying to talk to the humans, approached us.
“Can’t get any sense out of them,” Claudia said worriedly. “One woman was muttering about creatures that came from the sea…”
“So was mine… Merfolk again?” I said, even as I knew that was a stupid suggestion. Merfolk shouldn’t have this kind of mental effect on people.
“I think we’re dealing with something else,” Yuri said darkly.
“The jetty should just be down there.” I pointed off in the opposite direction to the camp. “We should take a look.”
“What about this lot?” asked Ashley, coming to join us.
“We’re going to take a few to The Shade, the rest to the nearest hospital. They need medical attention right away—it doesn’t look like they’ve eaten properly for ages.”
I shuddered, praying once again that Hazel and Benedict and the rest of the kids wouldn’t be in the same state. Wherever they were.
We walked down to the jetty that backed into the sea. There weren’t any boats tethered to it, and apart from the lack of people, I couldn’t see anything particularly unusual. Caleb joined us as we stood at the water’s edge.
“I managed to get through to the local hospital on my phone. An air ambulance will be here soon.”
“Did they get any calls from this area before?” I asked.
Caleb shook his head.
“The woman I spoke to on the phone said she had thought it was unusual—normally at least someone at the camp has an accident each year, no matter how minor.”
I wished they would have come and checked.
“Come here!” Landis called.
He was standing a few yards off, looking into the mud. As we walked over he bent down to pick something up. It was a long key chain, with a wallet at one end and a belt clip at the other.
“This belongs to Julian,” he stated, his face ashen.
Ashley gave a short cry and rushed forward to take the wallet. Her husband held her as she turned her face away from the rest of us.
I approached the spot where Landis was standing. The mud and grassland that surrounded the camp had been filled with the footprints of what I’d assumed was the crazed mob of humans, but here I could make out slightly larger, heavier prints left in the earth.
“Look at this,” I called to the group.
“Looks too big to be human,” Claudia breathed.
I noticed that there were more of them. We followed the larger footprints, leading down to the jetty where they stopped abruptly.
“Well,” I said, “unless whoever these footsteps belong to is able to walk on water, we can guess how they got away.”
“You think they’ve been taken,” Claudia said quietly.
I couldn’t say the words out loud, so I just nodded.
The pain and fear was indescribable, and all I could do in that moment was stand still, the ground feeling unsteady beneath my feet.
Caleb took my hand again.
“We’re going to find them,” he said firmly.
I nodded.
At least we had a plan. We’d take a sample of these humans back to Meadow Hospital, where our jinn and witches would attempt to get through to them and discover some answers. As soon as we got even an inkling of what happened here or where our kids might be, we’d summon every single ally GASP had in both the human and supernatural dimensions if that was what it took.
I didn’t know what person or creature would be so daring as to target children of The Shade. They must have been living under a rock for the last several years if they didn’t know about GASP. But whether they’d known or not, they would soon.
Because nobody messed with the Novaks.
Epilogue: Benjamin
I looked across at my daughter and new son-in-law. We were all sitting in the living room, waiting for River to bring in some refreshments. They had just arrived back from their honeymoon in the Alps, both looking tanned, relaxed and happy. I still couldn’t believe how grown-up Grace was now – to her mother and me (especially me), she would always be our baby.
“Who was the better skier?” I asked, smirking at Lawrence.
He rolled his eyes. “Easily Grace – unfair fae advantage.”
Grace poked him playfully. “I thought you handled yourself pretty well…you beat me down the mountain a few times.”
Lawrence quirked an eyebrow at my daughter. “I think you let me win.”
River came through, carrying a tray of some of Corrine’s special herbal tea, and planted it on the coffee table before coming over to sit next to me.
“Was it as beautiful as the brochure?” River asked as I placed my arm around her.
“It was amazing,” Grace gushed.
The two of them filled us in with the details of their holiday, and I smiled at my wife’s enraptured face. There was nothing that brought her more joy than seeing her family happy.
“Where’s Field?” Grace asked. “I wanted to give him a present.
I got something for the other Hawk boys too.”
River smiled. “Field’s hanging out with Maura. As for the rest of…”
She trailed off as the doorbell rang.
“Oh, that could be Field now, actually…” She rose to get the door.
“We need to fully unpack,” Grace said. “We brought back so many gifts for you guys. It’s just a shame Mom can’t enjoy any chocolates, because Lawrence and I spent like an hour in the best chocolatier in all of Switz—”
“Ben,” River called from the front door, her voice unnaturally tense.
Obviously it wasn’t Field.
I excused myself, and went to join her.
Mona was standing on the landing next to River, and I smiled as I saw her – but then, next to her, I laid eyes on a very familiar face. One I hadn’t seen in a long time. One I wasn’t entirely sure I ever wanted to see again.
“Sherus,” I stated in surprise.
“My apologies for the unexpected arrival,” he murmured.
River had gone pale – no doubt remembering the last time we had seen Sherus, and the obstacles he had set me in order to win my freedom from The Underworld. But we both ought to be profoundly grateful to the man. He was the reason that Grace existed - the reason that I was standing here at all.
I cleared my throat. “Sherus. It’s been a while… What brings you here?”
The copper-haired fae looked at me, his amber gaze unwavering and deathly solemn. “That I do not quite know, Novak. What I do know is that I need to speak with you and your father... as soon as possible.”
Ready for the next part of the Novak clan’s story?
Dear Shaddict,
Thank you for reading!
I’m excited to announce that the next book in the series, ASOV 37: An Empire of Stones, releases December 20th, 2016.
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Read more by Bella Forrest!
THE GENDER GAME
The Gender Game (Book 1)
The Gender Secret (Book 2)
A SHADE OF VAMPIRE SERIES
Series 1: Derek & Sofia’s story
A Shade of Vampire (Book 1)
A Shade of Blood (Book 2)
A Castle of Sand (Book 3)
A Shadow of Light (Book 4)
A Blaze of Sun (Book 5)
A Gate of Night (Book 6)
A Break of Day (Book 7)
Series 2: Rose & Caleb’s story
A Shade of Novak (Book 8)
A Bond of Blood (Book 9)
A Spell of Time (Book 10)
A Chase of Prey (Book 11)
A Shade of Doubt (Book 12)
A Turn of Tides (Book 13)
A Dawn of Strength (Book 14)
A Fall of Secrets (Book 15)
An End of Night (Book 16)
Series 3: Ben & River’s story
A Wind of Change (Book 17)
A Trail of Echoes (Book 18)
A Soldier of Shadows (Book 19)
A Hero of Realms (Book 20)
A Vial of Life (Book 21)
A Fork of Paths (Book 22)
A Flight of Souls (Book 23)
A Bridge of Stars (Book 24)
Series 4: A Clan of Novaks
A Clan of Novaks (Book 25)
A World of New (Book 26)
A Web of Lies (Book 27)
A Touch of Truth (Book 28)
An Hour of Need (Book 29)
A Game of Risk (Book 30)
A Twist of Fates (Book 31)
A Day of Glory (Book 32)
Series 5: A Dawn of Guardians
A Dawn of Guardians (Book 33)
A Sword of Chance (Book 34)
A Race of Trials (Book 35)
A King of Shadow (Book 36)
An Empire of Stones (Book 37)
A SHADE OF DRAGON TRILOGY
A Shade of Dragon 1
A Shade of Dragon 2
A Shade of Dragon 3
A SHADE OF KIEV TRILOGY
A Shade of Kiev 1
A Shade of Kiev 2
A Shade of Kiev 3
BEAUTIFUL MONSTER DUOLOGY
Beautiful Monster 1
Beautiful Monster 2
DETECTIVE ERIN BOND (Adult mystery/thriller)
Bare Girl
Write, Edit, Kill
For an updated list of Bella’s books, please visit her website: www.bellaforrest.net
Join Bella’s VIP email list and she’ll personally send you an email reminder as soon as her next book is out! Tap here to sign up: www.forrestbooks.com
Bella Forrest, A King of Shadow
(Series: A Shade of Vampire # 36)
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