A Shade of Vampire 90: A Ruler of Clones - Bella Forrest Page 0,26
at this object dominating the center of our council table. Its reflection lingered on the glass, and we struggled to find words as we tried to peel our eyes away from it.
“And here I was, thinking today might be devoid of significant progress,” Phoenix muttered, breaking the silence. Derek had summoned him back from his field work with the Daughters so he could be here for this. Of all the Shadians currently on the island, our great-grandson was the most equipped to study this new piece of tech.
Phoenix ran his fingers along the edge of the box, then pressed the delicate lime green button. The lid popped open, revealing the small cubes inside. “Grandma Sofia and Kale were lucky to find this. I sanction every new piece of tech that comes out of GASP’s engineering corps, and I’ve never seen this before.”
“It has to be property of Isabelle’s clone,” Kailani added. “The cubes are much different than what Claudia’s double took from her, though. Bigger. The design varies, too. The material… these are something else, I’m sure of it.”
“The irony being that we don’t know what that other tiny cube thing was, either,” Phoenix let out a dry chuckle. “But you’re right. These things are definitely different.”
Draven and Serena were sitting down, clearly baffled by this recent development. “For two months, those things must’ve been up in her room, hidden beneath the floorboards,” the Druid mused.
“I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that our daughter has been gone for those two months,” Serena spat, her patience worn thin and her resolve fractured. I remembered the look on her face when she first learned that Isabelle had gone missing. Long ago, I’d lost my son, Ben, and now I had no idea where Thayen was. I didn’t need to imagine how Serena was feeling. I knew it all too well.
“Thayen and his crew are handling that issue, hopefully,” Kailani interjected, trying to steer the conversation away from a pit of despair. More frequently than ever, the grief and the anger provoked by this entire situation had a way of hammering down on our resolve, making it harder for many of us to get through the day. The more we waited out here, unable to go after our people, the more it hurt. “Let’s focus on what we can do here, just until another shimmering portal opens.”
I looked to Phoenix for ideas. His wife and daughter were in the realm beyond, and he was hanging on by a fine thread. We needed him busy and focused on this new discovery—for his sake and ours. “Does it look like anything you might have seen before, darling?” I asked.
“Not really,” Phoenix replied, frowning as he approached the silvery box. He carefully lifted one of the small cubes. It fit in the palm of his hand, its edges glimmering lime green, much like the button on the box. He turned it over several times, then held it up to his ear. “I’m hearing something…”
We all moved closer, curious. Maybe we’d hear it, too.
“It’s faint, but I can hear it,” Phoenix continued. “Voices, I think. Different tones, but familiar. I need to figure out what’s inside.”
“It’s not magic,” Kailani said. “Not any magic I know of, anyway. The Word hums inside me whenever I’m close to these things, but that’s all I’ve got.”
“What if it’s a combination of magic and technology?” I suggested. “We can’t be the only ones in this vast universe who mixed the two. Well, technically speaking, Ta’Zan was first…”
Derek nodded slowly. “I’m inclined to agree. Is there any way for us to ascertain if the magical part of these devices is the same as what opened the shimmering portals? We need to establish some areas of commonality, otherwise we’re stuck with foreign elements, tangled and impossible to decipher.”
Kailani and Phoenix exchanged glances. “I’m more than happy to work with you on this,” the witch said. My great-grandson gave her a warm smile.
“It would be much appreciated.”
“We’ll do an external study first,” Kailani told us, while Phoenix nodded in agreement.
“Then we’ll scan each cube. Hopefully, we will be able to see inside. It’s our best shot at studying whatever circuitry makes these things work,” he added. “Once we’ve got an idea, we’ll start looking into ways of cracking one of them open.”
Derek sighed, settling in one of the chairs nearby. “In the meantime, maybe a shimmering portal will open, and we’ll be able to go after our kids.”