An Isle of Mirrors (A Shade of Vampire #88) - Bella Forrest Page 0,39

had been drawn around me in white chalk. The author had pressed hard, causing creases in the rocky dirt, but the traces of white powder were visible.

“No… how…” I managed as the reality of my situation began to sink in.

Death magic had been used to trap me. I couldn’t break out of this circle. Fumbling through my pockets, another fact came to light. My scythe was gone.

“How is that even possible?!” I blurted, then stilled at the sight of Soul.

He was unconscious, trapped in a separate pentagram just a few feet away from mine. I was willing to bet all the gold in the world that his scythe had been taken, too. Looking around, I tried to keep a clear mind, to remember everything that had happened. The haze persisted, covering my memories like a thick blanket, with only the remnants of a bright explosion lingering at the center of my consciousness.

We were in the middle of a forest. Not the redwoods, though. No, we’d gone east. Majestic oak trees, as old as I was, towered around us, their branches reaching out to one another, the emerald crowns blocking out most of the sky. Moon rays pierced through here and there, milky beams that touched the forest floor but revealed little else. Thankfully, as a Reaper the light and darkness of the natural world were pretty much the same to me.

“Soul, can you hear me?” I asked, hoping he’d wake up soon.

Yes, there had been a flash. An explosion. Soul and I had left Stan and Ollie to watch over Isabelle’s clone. We’d partnered with Voss and Chantal. Where were they? Something broke inside me. The charmed coin I’d given Thayen. He needed us, and we were in no position to help him. I’d promised, and now… because of the pentagram trap, I couldn’t even pinpoint his location. “Dammit… Soul!” I shouted.

Nothing. And Thayen’s crew was in trouble… The more I thought about it, the clearer the images replaying in my head prior to the bright explosion became. We’d made it all the way down to the Sun Beach, where we’d come across Richard. The real Richard. I’d tested him myself. I remembered him whimpering from the pain my examination had caused him. The feel of his soul in the palm of my hand. He’d been at the terrace when an attack had torn the whole place apart.

Everybody had scattered, he’d told us. Too many clones to handle at once. He’d dealt with the black spray, too. Still shaken up by the horrifying sensations it had caused. We’d agreed to press forward with our quest for Shadians. To keep checking and gathering originals along the way. It had gone smoothly for a while. We’d found Draven and Serena, then Jovi and Anjani. We’d tested them and told them to head straight for the Great Dome, where we’d meet them along with Thayen and the others. Something happened after they left… a portal. A portal had opened.

I tried to get out of the pentagram, though I wasn’t sure why. I already knew it wouldn’t allow me to leave. Damned reflexes… the invisible shield around me was impenetrable. Pressing my palm against its clear surface, I felt the hum of energy transferring into my core like a silent threat—a promise that pushing my way through would cause me great pain. Yes, this was old-school death magic, and the only possible culprits I could think of were the clones.

Their knowledge of my craft seemed like a new development, however. It made me think their weird foreign magic wasn’t good enough to hold one or both of us down, which was why they’d resorted to death spells instead. But how were they able to cast it? Where had they gotten the scythes? Whose authority did they have? Only Reapers or future Reapers could do this stuff. All the knowledge the Darklings of Visio had used had been destroyed by the Time Master. No one else was supposed to have this ability. There were too many questions and too few answers.

I went back to my fractured memories. We’d left Sun Beach behind, trekking through the woods east of it. Oaks and aspens, just like this one. Hard terrain, rugged and uneven. Plenty of bushes to hide in. And the portal. Yes, the portal had appeared out of nowhere, glowing all white and bigger than Thayen’s previous descriptions of it.

Then the bright blast… and nothing.

I found a pebble big enough to make a mark and threw