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

in her power not to break down, but she was clearly hanging by a thread at this point.

“We find another shimmering portal,” Phoenix replied. “But we don’t yet have the magic or the technology to predict where one will appear next.”

“Or if it’ll appear,” Blaze added. “What if the clones got what they wanted, and that’s it?”

“I highly doubt it,” Soul said. “There’s more to this than we currently know. As far as The Shade is concerned, I recommend you stay on high alert and devise a way to scan the island for new shimmering portals. Have a team on standby and ready to go in at any moment. Hopefully, Thayen’s group will find their way back here before you send anyone else through a portal.”

“You don’t think it’s over?” Zane replied.

“Absolutely not. Call it instinct, call it whatever you wish, but I’m willing to bet you all the gold and riches in the world that there will be more of these clones coming. Nothing points to the contrary.”

“Not even their complete withdrawal?” the daemon king insisted, raising a skeptical eyebrow. I tried to look away from the gold threads that covered his horns in a decorative fashion. He was about two heads taller than everybody else, yet the current situation had taken the edge off his massive presence. Much like the other Shadians, he was a parent whose child had run off into another, unknown realm.

“Nope,” Soul shot back. “This was but one operation. I’ve seen similar patterns before, in faraway worlds that no longer exist. The spying through Isabelle’s clone. The systematic infiltration and, in this case, collection of DNA material. The assassination attempts against Astra. The covert-ops-style effort to get her back. The entire operation of sowing confusion and sieging strategic points throughout The Shade. I’m telling you, it’s nowhere near over. It’s only just beginning.”

The Time Master appeared beside him, startling us both. “Dude. Some notice would be nice!” I snapped, then rushed to hug the Reaper, for he was one hell of a sight for our sore eyes. “I’m so glad you came.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t think to pop over here sooner, before I even noticed you’d not been in touch recently,” Time replied. “I should’ve been more… proactive, I suppose. It’ll piss Death off that I left my post for this, but…”

“Hey, better late than never,” Soul said. “And trust me when I tell you that you’re of more use here than anywhere else. I suppose Kelara has brought you up to speed already.”

Time nodded. “Yes. And the first thing we need to do is set up a verification operation. Every single person in The Shade must be checked. Every original must be marked in a way that the clones cannot copy. I’ve got a few spells in mind for that, but none are truly infallible unless we have a better understanding of what they know and what they can do in terms of magic.”

“Still, it’s worth a shot,” Derek interjected. “We’ll do it. We’ll organize checkpoints across The Shade and start testing people.”

“Have GASP officers ready to apprehend any identified clones. I’ve summoned Sidyan, Seeley, and Nethissis for this, as well. That gives you six Reapers to work with, and I suggest we bring the Daughters over from Eritopia to help supplement the spirit testing operation. With Astra and Viola temporarily gone, you need the Daughters because they’re also capable of checking a soul’s veracity. Besides, if all of them put their heads together, they might figure out a way to detect portals before they open, too. It’s worth a shot.”

“There’s something else you all should know,” Soul added. “Two of the clones trapped us in death magic. They wanted us out of the way, basically. I reckon they would’ve destroyed us if they could—”

“But they couldn’t,” I said. “That’s encouraging. It means their knowledge of death magic is limited, along with their power to use it. So, we’ve sort of got that working for us.”

“Did they say anything else worth noting?” Derek asked.

Soul and I shared every single detail we remembered from that encounter, but not much else stood out. In the end, each of us presented a threat towards the clones in one way or another. And each of us had come here to find a way to defeat them.

A plan was starting to take shape, but we were in the dark about many other important details, including where the missing Shadians had been taken. We agreed that they were probably