An Isle of Mirrors (A Shade of Vampire #88) - Bella Forrest Page 0,68

down his cheeks. “You can’t do this to me.”

“I can. And I am. Talk.”

“No! No, I can’t! No!” he shrieked and started toward me. It happened so fast, I didn’t even register the amount of willpower it must have taken for him to break out of my hold. Either that, or I hadn’t had a good grip on him to begin with.

He lunged at me, his bladed wings spreading wide. But Jericho torched him before he could even get close enough to use those sharp feathers. The fire swallowed him whole, and he screamed in agony, but it was too late. He collapsed into a charred pile of molten flesh.

“I had to,” Jericho said. “Those wings were a problem.”

“I know… it’s okay.”

Astra moved to stand beside me. “Thayen, you heard him. Their prime objective is Isabelle’s doppelganger. Whatever she spent two months impersonating our cousin for has got to be extremely important.”

“Oh, it’s important, all right. This freak here managed to free himself from my glamoring. He chose suicide by GASP instead of telling the truth,” I replied.

Before I could formulate another thought, the horn sounded again. This time, it was much louder. Heavier, too. It pressed directly on my brain, sending throbs of pain through my skull, inflaming my temples and sending my senses into overdrive. It rang for about a minute, during which time no one dared to move.

“I think it’s a signal,” Soph concluded. “Look…” She pointed somewhere behind us. We all turned around to see some of the humans slipping out of the side alleys and running into the redwood forest. They were headed south.

“Those aren’t Vale humans,” Dafne said, her brow furrowed. “They’re doing the same thing as the clones. As soon as they heard the horn…”

“So, there were copies inside the Vale, too. Why didn’t they jump us?” Jericho asked, shaking his head slowly. “I swear, this is getting more confusing with every minute, and I’m not sure we’ll pull through unless someone starts talking.”

A sense of urgency came over me as I watched the human clones disappear between the giant redwoods. “We need to go back to Isabelle’s clone. If she’s their ultimate endgame, not an actual invasion of The Shade, then we have to secure her. Now!”

We started running once more. The clones had worn us out. They’d successfully sown the seeds of chaos, pushing us to doubt one another. Some of our people were missing, but if Isabelle’s clone was their prime objective, then I dared hope that our friends and loved ones would return to us eventually.

Something had to give in this hot mess, because I wasn’t able to make much sense of it. What had Isabelle’s doppelganger taken? And who’d ordered her to take it? We had no idea what their ultimate goal was, but at least we knew where they were all headed.

Deeper in the woods, we saw more clones running in the same direction. I froze on the spot, realizing the full scope of this monstrous operation. They had no interest in attacking us this time around, but they were beating us to the finish line.

“Jericho,” I said, trying to think of a faster way to reach the hospital before the swarm of clones. “I think we need to ride on your back, buddy. They’ll get there before us if we go on foot.”

Jericho didn’t need to be told twice. A moment flittered past, and he’d burst out into his dragon form, roaring as Soph, Astra, and I climbed onto his back. Dafne seemed hesitant, giving me a weary look. “I could fly out with you,” she suggested.

“Come on, we don’t have the time, hurry!” I replied, and she ran up Jericho’s tail, climbing behind Astra. With one flap of his wings, the dragon took off from the small clearing, sending a storm of dried leaves and twigs swirling beneath him.

I felt suddenly very small as we breached The Shade’s starry sky, and Jericho began his short flight back to the hospital area. There were dozens of clones out here—at least—all of them headed in the same direction. My heart was strained, yet I couldn’t give in to the fear that had been circling me like a hungry lion.

We still had work to do.

Thayen

Riding Jericho had been the best idea. The hospital area was clear except for Stan and Ollie, the ghouls we’d tasked with guarding Isabelle’s clone’s warded room. We landed with a thud in the middle of a clearing. Dafne was the first to slip