An Isle of Mirrors (A Shade of Vampire #88) - Bella Forrest Page 0,69
right off, helping Astra down. The Daughter was slower than usual, but considering she’d just depleted her energy by torching Richard’s copy, it was a miracle she was still standing and not halfway into dream world.
Soph and I were the last to jump off Jericho’s back after a brief survey of the wide clearing. The smoking rubble was the same as we’d left it. A remnant of what had once been The Shade’s hospital. I remembered coming here as a kid, fresh off Visio, to get my physical checks and immunization shots. Shayla, one of our witches, had opened an office on the third floor, where I’d stop by once in a while to discuss the many nightmares I’d had for years after I’d moved here. Visio continued to haunt me for a long time before I felt like I truly belonged here.
It was all gone now, and there had been no time to fully process what this building had meant to me—not to mention the other Shadians. Taking in a deep breath, I walked over to Stan and Ollie, leaving Astra with Soph, Dafne, and Jericho for a moment, though I could still hear the dragons bickering in the background.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, put some clothes on!” Dafne said.
“I would if I had any!” Jericho replied.
Soph giggled, a sound followed by shuffling and crunching. Looking over my shoulder, I saw her extract a medical robe from a nearby pile of crumpled and still-smoking textiles and rubble. The garment was similar to what we’d found for Jericho earlier, only this one had been half burnt. There must’ve been a supply locker here before the flames. “It’ll do,” Jericho grumbled, snatching it from Soph’s hand. “Thanks.”
“Hey, fellas,” I said to Stan and Ollie. Their big black eyes sparkled with recognition as I approached them. “Have you seen your Reaper partners since we last saw you?”
Both ghouls shook their heads, letting out simultaneous low growls that sent shivers down my spine. I didn’t have to speak ghoulish to understand that they were concerned. Peeking through the glass panel of Isabelle’s clone’s room, I found her still sitting at the table, her hands cuffed and her expression just as sullen as before. I pressed on the two-way speaker button mounted near the glass panel so she could hear me. “I see you’re still here.”
“Took you forever,” she muttered.
“We ran into some of your friends,” I replied.
The doppelganger grinned coldly. “Yeah, I heard the signals. They’re coming for me. You know that, right?”
“What is it that you got from this place? What is it that you had to spend two months pretending to be Isabelle to get?” I demanded. “We thought you’d replaced her just a few days ago. Not months.”
My blood ran cold as I wondered where the real Isabelle was. Where she’d been kept for so long… and if she was even still alive. I was genuinely afraid to ask her clone about it. There was little patience left in me to deal with her games and riddles. I was determined to get the truth out of her, one way or another, but time wasn’t on our side. Not with who knew how many copies racing toward the hospital as I stood here and watched Isabelle’s double giggle in her seat.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” she replied.
“I most definitely would.”
Jericho drew my attention. “Thayen, we have to go. Soph can already hear boots on the ground. At least dozens, maybe even more than a hundred.”
I gave him a quick glance, training my ears on the sounds around us. I heard the distant rumble, too. Thuds and twigs breaking. Dried leaves crumbling beneath the soles of their boots. Short breaths and swishing past the redwoods. They were less than a mile away and coming in fast. If we didn’t move within the next five minutes, the headway we’d made by flying with Jericho would have been for nothing.
“As much as I would love to stick around and glamor you into submission,” I said to Isabelle’s clone, “there’s no time, and I have no intention of letting you go with your knockoff buddies.”
I released the speaker button, then looked at Stan and Ollie. “You two should head out and find Soul and Kelara. We know nothing of their group’s whereabouts, and I’m starting to get seriously worried. The comms are still down, not just for us but for the Reapers, as well. I have no way of reaching out to them.”