An Isle of Mirrors (A Shade of Vampire #88) - Bella Forrest Page 0,35

Astra stopped, pale as a sheet of paper. “Don’t move,” she hissed, looking around.

“What is it?” I asked, trying to follow her gaze. I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.

“Remember that tingly sense you mentioned?” she croaked. “I think it’s finally kicking in. We need to hide.”

“Why?” Soph asked, not yet convinced.

Astra grabbed her by the wrist, and we all followed her behind a cluster of massive bushes thick enough to conceal us. “I think it’s a portal. I’m feeling the same energy, only much stronger,” she said.

“Stronger?” I asked, keeping my voice low.

“When Richard’s clone slipped out of this world, I tried to get a better feel for the portal energy, but I couldn’t because it was quickly fading. Once it was closed, poof, buh-bye. But this time it’s different. My whole body is buzzing.”

As soon as she said that, a blinding light emerged on the other side of a nearby clearing. We slowly raised our heads to look and were left speechless by what we saw. For the first time since this nightmare had begun, we’d inadvertently brought Astra close to an opening portal. At least one of Lumi’s theories was coming true, it seemed, considering how hypersensitive to this stuff the young Daughter was.

A shimmering gash slit the air, nearly blinding us for a moment. A portal. “Holy moly…” I heard Jericho mumble. They could see it, too. At least I hadn’t lost my mind or anything.

Out of the portal came Richard, Hazel, Tejus, Jovi, and Anjani’s clones. They looked so calm and casual, as if they’d just gotten out of the car and were about to hit the beach or something. Their GASP uniforms were a searing insult, considering they were frauds. The sight made my blood boil, but it soon froze when I noticed each of them carrying a metal disk. They likely had black spray on them, as well.

I knew Soul and Kelara would want to be here for this, so I reached into my pocket and took out the charmed coin. “Are you sure you want to use it now?” Astra whispered.

“If not now, when?” I replied.

They stopped in the middle of the clearing, and the portal closed behind them. Richard’s clone seemed to be leading the pack. I wasn’t sure if he was a second doppelganger or the same one we’d fought before. Nothing was what it seemed, and everything was different—no wonder my head was a mess. I could barely grab hold of one clone with my glamoring ability, and even that was limited and physically draining without years of practice. There was no way I could handle all of them, especially if they used that black spray on us again. I gave Astra a brief nod, putting the coin back. “We wait until they leave so we can move again. You’re right about using the coin. It might be too soon.”

“Agreed. And even if we bring Soul and Kelara over here, there’s no telling what these monsters will use against us,” Dafne whispered.

“We’ll use everything we’ve got,” Hazel’s clone said from afar, looking right at us. They already knew we were here. Either they’d detected us upon their arrival, or they’d been previously informed of our location, I couldn’t tell which. But one thing was painfully clear at this point.

Five clones had set their sights on us, and I wasn’t sure we’d be able to get past them in order to reach the Great Dome. Not without a gruesome fight, anyway. We’d seen what they could do, and we had little to no understanding of the foreign magic they were using against us. Every other option we’d had prior to Hazel-clone’s remark was now off the table.

“Changed my mind,” I mumbled, then snapped the coin, hoping to see Kelara and Soul soon enough. But as the seconds passed, nothing happened. “Ugh…”

“It’s not working?” Jericho asked, his voice barely a scratch.

It didn’t seem like it. Had something happened to Kelara? There was no time to wonder about this, or any other option to reach out to the Reapers. Our only choice now was to battle these monsters and defend our home. I braced myself for a living hell, determined to get out on the other side of this river of trouble. My parents needed me. My brother and sister. Every single member of the Novak family relied on me and my friends to defeat the insurgents and secure everyone’s safety.

Maybe hiding would’ve been better, but with war knocking on our