Page 11

On the fifth day since the Flip, I summoned a meeting of what Thayen and I referred to as “the old gang,” which meant everyone who’d come to the fake island first. Myst, Regine, Haldor and Brandon joined Thayen, Soph, Jericho, Dafne, Chantal, Voss, Richard, Isabelle, my mom and myself. We’d chosen the Port for this conversation, mostly for sentimental reasons, since this was where we’d come through initially.

The empty, vapid night of the fake island was beginning to irk me. It wasn’t home. Our home was overrun with monsters, and I had grown tired of dwelling here in post-Flip misery. The lighthouse spun its white beam across the vast emptiness beyond the ocean, then back over the island. I found it strange, since the real island’s lighthouse had never worked. It moved in a sullen rhythm, as if the fake island were as upset as the rest of us. It didn’t stop it from draining our energy as usual, however. My days were forced into twenty-four-hour patterns that demanded at least one third of that to be allocated to sleep. It did the same to everyone, even the vampires.

“Please, tell me you have some good news,” Isabelle said. For days, she had been struggling to remember something useful. But the medication that the clones had pumped into her body had done a horrific number on her short-term memory. “Every day I spend in this place feels like a win for those bastards.”

“You may have noticed that Isabelle has been feeling a little cranky lately,” Voss grumbled.

“They messed with my head,” Isabelle insisted. “You’re damn right I’m mad. I demand retribution, and I’m never going to get it if we’re doomed to rot in this place.”

Soph sighed. “I think we all feel that way at this point.”

“Well, then I guess it will please you to hear that—” I paused to look at Brandon for a split second, searching for a hint of encouragement in his smile even as his flaming blue eyes reminded me of that almost-kiss we’d had the other day. Focus, Astra. Focus! “—I managed to open a longer lasting shimmering portal.”

“Yes!” Thayen exclaimed, practically beaming with joy.

Jericho hugged me, laughing in delight, while Richard squeezed my shoulders and grinned from ear to ear. “You did it!” the wolf-incubus exclaimed, practically jumping out of his skin. I was overwhelmed with tight embraces and kisses covering my face as my fellow Shadians fell all over me, excited and thankful and affectionate.

Brandon was kind enough to gently grip my upper arm and pull me away from the melee of limbs and kind souls, laughing lightly while I caught my breath. “Now give them the bad news, and let’s see if they still love you.”

For hours, the Berserker and I had been discussing proper ways to tell the original crew about what I’d accomplished last night—that after days of pushing myself, I’d managed to open a shimmering portal and then kept it open long enough for people to go through it.

Mom was the first to notice the sour look on my face. “What’s he talking about?”

“I can only hold a portal for about a minute—maybe two, tops—and even then it ends with my nose bleeding,” I said.

“Much like how my nose bleeds if I try to glamor a Berserker or a Valkyrie,” Thayen observed, almost breathless and wide eyed. Beside him, Haldor scoffed and crossed his arms, the pose making him look even bigger than his usual massive self.

“You’re not trying that on me ever again,” the Berserker replied. Without his shadows—or better said, with his shadows tucked away and out of sight, which we’d recently learned he could easily do—he was still large and frightening, but the darkness had often made him much more intimidating. I certainly preferred him as an ally rather than a foe.

Myst intervened, keeping the focus on me and not on anything trivial. “Hold on. You said up to two minutes,” she repeated my conclusion to bring the conversation back on topic.

“Yes.” I added a nod to go with it.

“It should be fine, assuming only a few go through,” she said.

My mom was understandably confused, though Myst had already understood where I was going with this entire exchange. “Why just a few?” Mom asked, her gaze darting between Myst, Thayen, Brandon, and me. “How many portals would you need to open to get every Shadian through? Mind you, we’re talking about five thousand people, more or less.”

“With enough practice and a whole lot of energy, just one. But that might take days, if not weeks,” Brandon said. “I’m not sure we have that kind of time, considering that Hrista and her minions are running loose in the real Shade.”

“Then why did Hrista need so many portals for the Flip?” Jericho asked.

“She used that crystal ball thing and some combo magic from Purgatory, for sure,” Brandon replied. “Astra’s mojo is all natural, possibly unlimited or easy to supplement, unlike the aforementioned crystal ball, and therefore subject to slightly different conditions. I’m not an expert, obviously, but I’m following my logic and the little bits of knowledge I did pick up along the way.”

I sucked in a breath, bracing myself for the proposal. “I’d like to take a small crew through the shimmering portal first,” I replied. “A recon team before we let anyone else return to The Shade.”

“Wait, what?” Mom blurted, immediately concerned—not that I could blame her.

“It’s why I wanted to confer with you all first,” I said, sitting cross-legged in the sand. The others joined me in a wide circle, pensive shadows settling over their faces. Above, the lighthouse’s beam shot across the black sky. Looking up, the emptiness sent a painful pang through my stomach. The absence of stars reminded me of where we were, and why I was so desperate to get out of there. “We can’t risk the entire Shadian population by all returning at once, especially since we don’t know what Hrista and the clones are up to. We don’t know if she has sealed The Shade off or if she started a war with GASP. We have absolutely no idea, and we owe it to our people to keep them safe.”

“Therefore, a small crew to do some recon, now that Astra can portal us back and forth, should help us prepare for whatever Hrista has done with your island,” Brandon interjected, giving Mom a warm but brief smile. “Surely you understand the wisdom of such an approach.”

Mom nodded slowly. “I do. Who did you have in mind for the team, then?”

“Brandon, Hammer, and me. The Time Master, too. Myst and Thayen, and that’ll make two Purgatory entities who can teleport us across the real island if we have to,” I said, then looked at Mom, already seeing the disappointment carving its way through her expression. “You should stay back here with Dad. I can’t bear the thought of losing you again. Besides, it’s me Hrista wants.”

“And you’re going right to her!” she shot back, shaking her head. “Absolutely not. No, honey, I’m not letting you endanger yourself like that. Your father won’t allow this either!”

“Mom, I’m the only one who can open a shimmering portal. If we do send a recon team through, they have to be able to come back,” I reminded her. “Also, let’s be honest here. I know you’re worried, and I appreciate it… you’re my mom, you’re supposed to worry about me. But I’m a GASP agent, and I cannot in good conscience run and hide from the trouble that has befallen our island. I must do everything within my power to save our home.”

She let out a heavy breath, dropping her gaze for a long moment. It felt like a surrender, though she didn’t say a word. I took a second to hug her, love pouring through us both with golden warmth, like the kiss of a burning sun.

“I know you’re all grown up and independent,” Mom whispered in my ear, “but that doesn’t stop me from worrying about you. Astra, I give you my blessing to do whatever it takes to get everybody back home, but by the stars, come back to us, honey. Otherwise, you’ll break your father’s heart beyond repair. Not to mention mine. I doubt I would survive losing you.”

“I love you too, Mom,” I replied, holding back tears. I blinked several times, then pulled away and looked to the others. “We’d like to take the dragons, too. Dafne and Jericho. You were both instrumental before, and the real Shade needs you.”

Jericho and Dafne exchanged glances, and only then did I notice it. The subtle shift, the familiarity in their eyes. They shared something different, something more intimate. It was subtle and brief, but I liked it. Dafne gave me a stern nod. “You can count on us,” she said. “I get Jericho’s fire is useful for Myst’s light weapons, but I’m not sure how any of my abilities will come into play over there.”

“You’re a fierce fighter,” I replied, smiling. “You helped saved us more than once. I trust you to fight alongside us, and you know the Berserkers and the clones as well as any of us here.”

Thayen nodded his agreement. “That will definitely matter later. Okay, so we’ve got the two dragons, and we’ve already got Time as the Reaper to join the mix.”

“Really?” Richard muttered, frowning like a sullen little boy. “You just skim right past me, huh? Your bestie? Your partner in crime? Your brother from another mother?”

Voss chuckled and gave Richard a nudge that threw him down almost instantly. Voss wobbled, too, but Chantal helped him stand, laughing lightly, while Isabelle held back her giggles and helped Richard up.

“We’re too weak, cuz,” Voss said, giving Richard a sympathetic smile. “If I can knock you down just like that, it means your reflexes aren’t sharp enough yet to withstand a recon mission in what is now basically enemy territory.”

“I don’t want to stay here and feel useless. I wasn’t made to decorate the world. I was made to protect it,” Richard retorted with a dash of the overly dramatic.

“Which is why we need you to stay here with us,” Mom interjected. “We do alright on our own, but we’re stronger with you by our side, Richard.”

Richard was momentarily baffled, struggling with anxiety, disappointment, but also flattery. My mom did have a way of bending him and most other incubi to her will—Safira had often said it was a trait of the Daughters. “Incubi whisperers,” she’d called us. Well, my mom and the Daughters, actually. I’d been under the incubus’s influence before. That was probably due to my not being a full Daughter but half-sentry—at least that had been Mom’s theory, and Safira had not contradicted her. Either way, I was glad the Daughters were immune and at least one of them ready to nudge the wolf-incubus in the right direction.

“I’m inclined to accept your arguments,” Richard ultimately replied, keeping his chin up, proud as ever. Thayen patted him on the shoulder.

“You’re needed here, Rich. Besides, your parents have just gotten you back. You can’t leave them behind again.”

“What about us?” Regine asked, both eyebrows raised. “You seem to have your team worked out, you even desire a Reaper to assist you, but there was no mention of me or Haldor anywhere.”

“Regine, it’s not—” Myst cut in, but her sister wouldn’t have any of it.

“What, you’re going to tell me I’m needed here, too? Like I’m as gullible as Richard?”

“Hey,” Richard mumbled, slightly offended.

The Time Master walked onto the beach, accompanied by his ghoul, a tall slender thing named Aphis. Unlike most of his kind, Aphis carried himself mostly on his hind legs, preferring to come across as more Reaper, less ghoul. He barely ever made a sound, and whenever I looked into the black pools of his eyes, I could almost feel the coldness of his existence. A string of decisions had led him to this point, but most had not been his choice. The Time Master had rescued Aphis from the Knight Ghoul ranks of Visio. “A Valkyrie and a Berserker should stick around here to help protect the Shadians,” Time said, joining the conversation. “Hrista can still return or send some of her people through to torment or hurt them. While my fellow Reapers are capable of fighting them off, I’m concerned a Berserker might still inflict considerable damage and maybe even loss of life.”

Regine gave him a startled look. “You think she would do that? Hrista, I mean.”

“Don’t you?” Time replied, mildly irritated. “She has spent years building this place and finetuning the clones to replace real Shadians. She clearly hates everything The Shade stands for. We know why that is, too. We helped in the Spirit Bender’s destruction. She took over and threw everyone out in return. Of course, I have no trouble seeing her choosing to send her people through just to torment the originals. Hrista is filled with rage. Calculated rage, but rage nonetheless. Surely, you can see that.”

Haldor cursed under his breath, the fires in his eyes burning white. “The Reaper’s right. Hrista is vicious. I thought my brothers and I were capable of horrible things, considering our nature, but Hrista… She’s been working at this for a very long time. Now that I think about it, yeah, I see it too. The possibility that she might send clones or Berserkers through just to mess with the real Shadians.”

“What we’re doing is recon anyway,” I said. “I would never engage her with just a handful of people. But we absolutely have to see what she’s planning, how The Shade is faring… we have to know what we’ll be walking into.”

“Besides, Voss, Chantal, Isabelle, Richard, and I have already dealt with the clones,” Mom replied, looking at Regine and Haldor. “We can offer valuable insights and help our Shadians be better prepared in case there is a clone infiltration.”

“You’ll have Soul, Kelara, Sidyan, Seeley, and Nethissis, too,” Time added.

“So, I get to stay back again?” Soph interjected, crossing her arms. I had mixed feelings about her coming along—we were already taking a huge risk with Dafne, Jericho and Richard against the clones, the hostile Berserkers and Hrista. I just wasn’t comfortable putting the heiress to Neraka in mortal danger, too. She was more than capable, of course, yet my stomach weighed a ton as I thought about her joining the mission.

Fortunately, Myst was quick to give her a better option. “You need to help keep my sister in check,” she said.

“Excuse me?” Regine croaked, almost offended, but Myst ignored her, focusing on a rather befuddled Soph.

“This will be a recon team. The fewer of us, the better,” she added. “I promise you I would be the first to ask you to come along otherwise, but my sister grows restless without me, and I’m sure your parents will feel slightly more comfortable with their only heir staying back once more, at least until we figure out what happened with The Shade.”

Soph shook her head slowly. “This doesn’t have anything to do with Regine. You just want to keep me out of it.” She gave me a sullen look, and it just made me feel worse. I sought Thayen’s gaze for comfort, but he seemed equally awkward.

“Myst is right,” Regine conceded with a heavy sigh. “I could use you as back up in case something goes off. We can coordinate. You and I, we’ve already had our share of action, if you think about it.” Only then did I realize how the younger Regine had chosen to be the mature one in this conversation. She certainly didn’t need a living babysitter, but she understood why Soph would’ve felt left behind, too. By playing along with Myst’s argument, Regine was choosing the middle path of unification, leaving our crew small while strengthening the Shadians’ defenses in our absence.

But even with Soph by her side, it didn’t make Regine much happier about having to stay back, especially since she had to work with Haldor. If there was one thing that she’d made abundantly clear since day one, it was that she and the Berserker loathed each other. “You’d better not be a pain in my ass,” she muttered, crossing her arms as she looked away from him.

“I won’t, if you promise to keep that word-salad maker of yours shut,” Haldor replied dryly.

Regine gave him a troubled look. “Word-salad maker?”

“He means your mouth,” Richard laughed. That earned him a deadly scowl from two Valkyries instead of just one, and I had to press my lips tight enough to prevent a chuckle from escaping.

“You know what? I think I’ll be fine to stick around,” Soph cut in, narrowing her eyes at Haldor. While he’d been a veritable nightmare as our enemy, he didn’t scare her anymore. “I’ll look forward to mopping the floor with you if you’re not nicer to your light sisters.”

It made both Regine and Haldor laugh, albeit for different reasons, but I was simply relieved that Soph would stick with the rest of the Shadian family. Had it been after me, I would’ve kept the team even smaller for everybody’s safety, though I couldn’t hold everybody back—case in point, Richard had made it into the crew this time.

“All jokes aside, Astra is on point with this whole endeavor, though, and sticking with a small crew. It’s safer for now,” Isabelle conceded. “In the meantime, I’ll keep working on my memory gaps. Maybe I can recall something useful. But we have to send a recon team through. Like you said, we have to get a good understanding of what our island looks like before we can try to take it back.”

Thayen exhaled sharply before bringing up the one problem none of us had truly considered. “Astra managed to convince her mom about this. She’s got Phoenix left to get on board, and we each have a set of parents to convince. I suggest we head back and start getting our affairs in order. We have no idea how this will turn out.”

I doubted any of them would hold us back on this endeavor. They wouldn’t. We were fighting for The Shade here, and I knew our parents would offer their support. The problem was that they might offer too much support. The team we’d agreed upon was small but effective. I knew from Brandon that Derek and Sofia would’ve liked to send more people with us, just to be safe—there were times when emotions got the better of people, overriding even the GASP protocols. Emphasis on “would’ve liked,” though, since they’d already been convinced otherwise by Brandon.

This whole situation was different from what they’d dealt with before, and a million times stranger. We lacked precious information because Isabelle had trouble remembering. I could only imagine how frustrating that had to be for her. Now, after two whole months as their prisoner, she was finally awake and conscious, but her memory loss had persisted. For now, we only had what we’d learned for ourselves, and it wasn’t enough to take down Hrista. I briefly looked to Brandon again.

As always, I found a feeling of trust and courage in him. He would be with us every step of the way. And that emboldened me beyond my own strength. Yes, I’d learned to open a shimmering portal and hold it open for a minute or two. It was enough to get a few of us out of here, but it was just the first step in what I believed would be a long, complicated journey back to our beloved island.