“You know, this is the second time someone has tried to kill Astra,” I said slowly, connecting the dots. “That’s definitely a concerning pattern.”
“Is she okay?” Esme asked, and I gave her a slight nod.
“Just some scratches, but she healed quickly. She went full Daughter on the attacker,” I replied. “She’s just angry. Confused. Much like the rest of us.”
“We need to go back,” Richard said, overcoming his initial state of shock. His broad shoulders were stiff. He was angry now, and for good reason. Someone had virtually tried to pin this violence on him. “We need to go back so we can talk to Astra and Rose and Caleb and everybody else in the GASP leadership. I’ve got to clear my name, and to do that we have to figure out what the hell is going on there. First the shimmering gash, then Isabelle, then the stupid gash again, and now I’m being framed for attempted murder?! Nah, I’m done with this crap.”
He grabbed his coat off the chair and strode past me with the determination of a very pissed off wolf-incubus.
“Thanks for the food and the company, guys,” he said on his way out. “I’ll see you all again soon. Hopefully. Assuming I don’t get arrested as soon as I make it home. Friggin’ hell!”
I offered Esme an apologetic smile and followed Richard out.
“Call me as soon as you know more!” she shouted after me.
“Thanks, I will!” I replied as the door slammed closed in my wake.
I rushed after Richard and grabbed him by the shoulder to slow him down a little. He jerked away, his anger boiling over. “I can’t believe this!” he snarled.
“Hey, I’m here and I’m trying to help. Slow down!”
“I can’t slow down. I’m being hunted in my own realm!” Richard snapped, finally stopping for a moment. Inhaling deeply, he closed his eyes, willing himself into a slightly calmer state. “Why is this happening, Thayen?”
“I don’t know, but we’re going to get to the bottom of it,” I told him. “At least we’ve identified one pattern. Someone is trying to kill Astra. We have to assume this whole situation has something to do with her.”
“There’s some guy out there in The Shade pretending to be me.”
“And we’re going to catch him,” I said. “But before anything else, we need to go back there and report for duty. You’ve got the whole Visentis family vouching for you. No one is going to cuff you or anything. You’re the real Richard, and there’s an imposter in The Shade. Do you understand me?”
He exhaled slowly, emptying his lungs as his shoulders dropped. “Yeah, I understand.”
“Then let’s go.”
I patted him on the back, and we continued our journey to the portal. Once we got there, I would message Rose and have the portal opened only for us. I had Richard by my side to prove that whoever had attacked her wasn’t him. Somebody was playing dangerous games in the heart of The Shade, and there was no way I’d let them get away with this.
Astra
(Daughter of Phoenix and Viola)
The hallway had grown crowded. I’d finally stopped shaking, but my parents flanked me protectively as we sat down. Isabelle was quiet in her room, cuffed to the table, though she was still grinning and watching me like a hawk. It creeped the hell out of me, so I turned to the side so I could face Mom, while Dad kept his arm around my shoulders, dropping the occasional kiss on the back of my head. I felt his fear. I felt Mom’s fear. They were both terrified for me, and I wished I could do something, anything, to make it better.
But what could I do if there was a clear ongoing effort to kill me—it loomed over my head like a dark shadow, and each breath I took brought me closer to the brink of despair. I’d had such a good life so far. Why did things have to go so horribly wrong all of a sudden? What had I done to deserve this?
Derek and Sofia were livid, talking to Rose and Caleb about additional security measures. Vampire and werewolf agents had already been dispatched and assigned to each of the hospital’s access points. The whole Shade was on high alert, and there were dozens of GASP operatives combing the island and its extensions looking for Richard—or whoever was pretending to be Richard.
Draven and Serena had returned, not only to check on Isabelle but also to see if I needed anything. I loved them to bits, and their burden was too heavy on my own heart. Jovi and Anjani were present, both of them pale and speechless as we all waited for Thayen to bring Richard back from Visio. We’d been told the Visentis boys and Esme were vouching for Richard’s whereabouts, and there was no reason not to believe them. So whatever was going on here, it reeked of supernatural foul play. Draven had attempted to get Telluris connections working again, but he’d been blocked, so the field agents had been tasked with looking for anything related to a Telluris jammer, as well—though we weren’t yet sure what it would be, exactly. We only knew that someone had cut off our principal magic form of communication. That someone had likely been Richard’s… clone, for lack of a better word.
“The hospital grounds are clear,” Kailani said as she returned with Hunter.
“I caught Richard’s scent in several places,” the white wolf added. “From there, we were able to establish possible directions in which he might’ve gone. I sent several agents to follow up on that.”
“We know it wasn’t really Richard,” I insisted. “According to Thayen, he was on Visio at the time of the attack.”
“Yes. But this guy is carrying Richard’s scent, not just his appearance.” Dad was on edge. He glanced at Hunter. “What possible directions, exactly?”
“The Vale, among others. It’s the closest populated area,” Hunter said. “If I wanted to hide, I wouldn’t go anywhere near the redwoods. That’s wolf turf, and the first place we’d look. I’d go where there are plenty of people, so my scent can get lost in the crowd.”
“Lumi and Corrine are scouring through camera footage from different spots around the hospital,” Derek said, joining the conversation. “They’re hoping to catch a glimpse of him and follow him from one camera to the next until we figure out exactly which way he went. Whoever this guy is, he is not getting off the island. The witches have sealed the shores and the portal.”
Serena sat cross-legged on the floor in front of me. She placed her hands on my knees, watching me closely. “Astra, you mentioned earlier that you were talking to Isabelle when you were attacked. What exactly did she tell you? I’m surprised she even spoke, considering her behavior yesterday.”
“Oh, Serena… you really don’t want to hear what she had to say,” I sighed, feeling awful because I knew she would insist.
“But I do,” Serena replied.
I took a moment to go over that ugly conversation, trying to find the right words. But regardless of how I tried to summarize Isabelle’s statement, it still came out sounding awful. “She wants to kill me,” I said. “That’s all she wants. No reason. Nothing else was mentioned, just the fact that she really wants me dead.”
“Sis, I’m sorry you’re going through this,” Phoenix told Serena, squeezing her shoulder.
“Well, I’m sorry you’re going through… this,” she replied. “Someone or something is determined to hurt us, but I refuse to let them tear us apart.”
In this sea of madness, I found comfort in the way my dad and my aunt got along. Even when faced with crippling adversity, they stuck together and stood their ground, determined to overcome everything as a family. The strength of the Novaks was legendary at this point. My parents, my grandparents, my great-grandparents, Derek and Sofia—they’d all been through so much. This strength would always pull us back to the surface. This resilience, this desire to live and love and be free.
Lifting my gaze from Serena’s hands to her face, I smiled. “Auntie, I’m going to be okay. And so will Isabelle. I’m not letting anything happen to us.”
“You’re too good to be true sometimes,” she replied.
“She’s a Novak and a Daughter,” Viola reminded her. “That means twice the badass.”
Dad laughed lightly. “I agree.”
“Thayen’s on his way,” Derek announced, putting his phone away. “He’s got Richard with him. They’re being escorted to the hospital, for their own safety.”
I wanted to feel encouraged by the update, but as eager as I was to get this over with, I couldn’t really see a way out. Then it hit me—with everything that had happened in the past hour, I’d completely forgotten.
“Oh, no… the shimmering gash,” I murmured, then raised my voice. “Thayen said he saw it again, just over an hour ago. In the redwood forest, a few yards from the first sighting’s location.”
“What?” Sofia blurted, her eyes round with shock.
“Thayen told me about it, and I was getting ready to go check it out when Richard—” I stopped myself. “When the attacker came in pretending to be Richard. I think we still need to look into it. We’ve had two sightings now, and two people who’ve tried to kill me. There might be a connection.”
Mom looked pensive, a slim shadow drawn between her slender brows. “You sent me a text earlier this evening saying you’d sensed something at the first location. Something the witches had missed.”
“Yes. It was faint, but… otherworldly was the best way I could describe it. That’s why Thayen told me about the second shimmering gash. He wanted me to see if I’d pick up something similar,” I replied. “I’m seeing a pattern begin to emerge here, but it’s incomplete. We’re missing an important piece of this picture, Mom… and I think it’s related to whatever it is Thayen keeps seeing.”
“Mind you, we haven’t yet established a connection between these sightings and Isabelle or whoever that was impersonating Richard,” Dad said. “We can’t put together a defense strategy without knowing how or if those things are related.”
Thayen’s voice echoed down the hallway. “I think we’ll need to comb the redwoods again, with Astra leading the charge this time.”
“You’re back!” I sprang from my seat, suddenly energized. For a second, I hesitated at the sight of Richard beside him, but quickly got over it and rushed to hug them both. That was the trouble with being attacked by my friend’s evil doppelganger. He’d almost put the fear of Richard in me. “I’m glad you’re both okay.”
“Yeah, barely,” Richard replied, softening in my embrace.
I moved back with a warm smile. “Thayen explained everything right away. I’m not blaming you at all. I know it wasn’t really you.”
“To be fair, I wouldn’t be surprised if you did blame me. Even Thayen had to double check that I was still at the Visentis house where he’d left me. Had Esme and the boys not vouched for me, I reckon I would’ve been in hot water until we actually found the guy behind this attack on you,” Richard replied. He looked to Derek and Sofia. “Any news from the search teams?”
“I’m afraid not,” Derek said.
“But we’re still looking,” Anjani chimed in, walking over to us. She stayed close to Richard, joined by Jovi. As parents, they’d often let him be on his own, believing that he would be more self-sufficient as an adult if they gave him enough space to learn and grow. They’d been right, but at times like this, they had a hard time staying away.
Their son needed them, just like I needed my parents.
“Okay, so… in terms of Richard’s copy or whatever, there’s not much we can do,” Thayen said. “I know we’ve got people out there doing a thorough search. Isabelle is locked up, and while we don’t yet understand what happened to her, at least she’s safe. Which leaves us with the shimmering gash. We don’t know the connection yet, but I’ve got a gut feeling we’re going to find one eventually. I’ve seen it twice already, and it warrants further investigation.”
Sofia seemed to agree, as did Hunter and Kailani. They nodded their agreement while Derek checked his phone again for search updates. Judging by the disappointed look on his face, our agents had yet to track down Richard’s double.
“We should investigate the second shimmering location, like Thayen said,” Mom interjected. “If Astra is hyper-sensitive to whatever energy it left behind, we might as well take advantage of that.”
Derek was on board. “Serena and Draven can stay here and watch over Isabelle. The rest of us can head to the redwoods and do a full sweep of the area.”
“We might get lucky, who knows?” Thayen replied, genuinely hopeful. I liked seeing this spark in him, the constant curiosity that always pushed him to find a solution instead of dwelling on the problem. It was one of the things I appreciated most about Thayen, and it had also helped him ace most of the challenges we’d faced in GASP training.
But Isabelle’s voice broke my train of thought and made me squirm a little. “I know what happened.”
We all quickly turned to face the door of her room. Serena sucked in a breath, while Draven held her close. “Oh, God,” Serena whispered, and I wanted to stop her from getting her hopes up. That wasn’t the Isabelle we all knew and loved—not anymore. The Isabelle in that room was different and potentially deadly.
“Hold on!” Richard gasped. “What if Isabelle isn’t really Isabelle, either?”
“We went over this,” Thayen replied. “We tested her. DNA and everything. It’s definitely Isabelle. Besides, if she is a copy—though I don’t see how that’s possible since, like I said, she cleared all the tests, including the magical ones that would verify her as a clone—where is the original? With you, we know. You were on Visio while the copy dude was trying to kill Astra.”
“These incidents are definitely related, but we need to understand how,” Draven said. “For the sake of our daughter. Hell, for the sake of all our children, because something tells me it’s not going to stop with Isabelle and Richard.”
“You could just listen to me,” Isabelle called out. “I know everything. But I’ll only tell Astra.”
I inched closer to the glass panel so I could see her. She seemed calm, a faint smile lingering on her lips. Serena gave me a worried look. “Why do I have a feeling she’s up to something? I feel awful. This is my daughter…”
“Don’t feel awful,” Kailani muttered. “We’re all thinking it.”
“What do we do?” Phoenix asked, looking at each of us. “I’m not comfortable with letting Astra get anywhere near Isabelle after what happened.”
Isabelle chuckled. “I’m cuffed, and my abilities are restrained. You know, in case you are worried I might be looking to harm your precious little angel.”
“Oh, God, why is she being like this?” Serena groaned, covering her face with both hands. She took a deep breath to try to pull herself together. Whenever Isabelle spoke, it pained Serena like a hammer to her head. She and Draven had it the worst, forced to watch their daughter behave like a calculated psychopath and not at all the sweet, kind creature we knew.
“Isabelle is right, though,” I said quietly. “She’s secured. She can’t touch me.”
“Then why does she only want to talk to you?” Thayen asked. “If she knows something, why keep it for you, when you’ll obviously share it with the rest of us, anyway?”
I sighed heavily, but it didn’t make me feel any better. “I think she wants to scare me. I think she wants to get into my head. But I can go in there and listen to whatever it is Isabelle has to say. That is, of course, if she really does know something. It could all be a ruse… a way of wasting our time.”
The only way for me to find out was to go in there.
As I stood before the door with Isabelle clearly in my line of sight, a thousand questions darted through my head. No answers, just a bunch of thought threads I feared pulling. But I couldn’t hesitate anymore. If there was a threat directed at me or the people I held dear, I couldn’t stand by and let it happen. If Isabelle knew something, I was going to find out what.
Astra
(Daughter of Phoenix and Viola)
I hadn’t noticed the clinical white of Isabelle’s room before, but as Kailani opened the door for me to enter, it bathed me
in its purity. The overhead lights amplified the brightness of every surface, forcing me to squint as I stopped a few feet from the table. Isabelle’s face was reflected in the smooth surface, her gaze fixed on me and her cold smile impossible to decipher. I listened to the hum of fluorescent lights for a while, then looked over my shoulder.
Ever vigilant, Thayen and Richard stood in the doorway. Behind them, Draven and Serena watched us carefully, and my heart broke even more for their difficult situation. Derek and Sofia were right next to them, accompanied by Mom and Dad. Jovi and Anjani stayed further back, but I could see their faces. The same feeling persisted in every person that I could read, albeit barely. Fear. The kind of fear that made your brain stop functioning properly, that blocked your fight-or-flight instinct altogether. It was paralyzing.
Something had happened to The Shade. Whether it was some unknown magic or a sickness of the mind, we weren’t sure yet. But it had begun eating through our souls and chipping away at our collective resolve. Our own people had been dragged into something that none of us could fully understand. First Isabelle, then Richard. Thayen and the shimmering gashes. What else was there?
This seemed like merely the beginning, and if these events were already wreaking such havoc within our community, how would we handle additional devastation? The sea of white in the room forced me to focus on Isabelle. “Well, I’m here,” I said.
“Don’t be rude. Sit down,” she replied, slowly leaning back in her chair. The chains jingled when she moved, making my ears ring. I couldn’t explain why, but my senses were strangely amplified. Every color seemed incredibly intense. My hearing was overly sensitive, so that the mere clinking of links bothered me. My sense of smell was overwhelmed by a mixture of bleach and foreign spices, and there were so many nuances in this mix that I couldn’t make sense of it. My skin felt raw, as if the air itself was trying to hurt me.
A Shade of Vampire 87: A Shade of Mystery Page 17