I looked up in horror at the creature staring down at me, a smirk still on his face.

“You want to run?” he said, licking his lips as his eyes roamed my almost bare body. “Now’s your chance.”

As I staggered to my feet, I picked up a rock. I hurled it at him and spun around, not even taking the time to see if it had hit its mark. Despite thorns and sharp leaves ripping through the soles of my feet, I couldn’t allow myself to slow down. I cast a glance back over my shoulder to see he was still standing in the same spot. I ducked down behind a bush and then flung myself behind a nearby tree, slowly pivoting in a different direction to that which he had last seen me running in.

I tried to undo the gag so I could scream, but it was knotted so tight it would have taken me at least a few minutes. And I had no such time.

I heard the creaking of branches a few hundred meters away and froze behind the trunk of a tree. Peering round, I saw the creature approaching. I held my breath.

“I know who you are, treasure,” he whispered through the trees. “But I ought to introduce myself. My name is Anselm Raskid. And we have something in common already. My parents are also king and queen… We are princess and prince.”

I could barely pay attention to his words as he crept closer and closer. As he was seconds from discovering me, I picked up a thorny branch and, leaping out of my hiding pace, hurled it at the creature’s face. He stumbled back. Reaching for a low-hanging tree branch, I fought to pull myself up onto it. I’d almost made it out of reach when his hand closed around my ankle. As he yanked me downward, to my horror, I found myself falling into his long, strong arms.

His face scratched and bloody, he seemed to have had enough of whatever game he’d been playing as he wrestled me into submission and continued running with me through the jungle.

He only stopped again once we neared an old stone well. He leapt onto it, balancing us both on its narrow edge.

What in the world is he doing?

As I looked down into the hole, if my tongue hadn’t been attached to the back of my mouth, I might have swallowed it.

Beneath us was a tunnel whose walls were made of what appeared to be a swirling light blue smoke. Beyond the walls was a black abyss, scattered with stars.

This was no well.

This was a gate.

Leading where, I was too terrified to even imagine.

As the creature prepared to jump, I caught sight of Annora standing a few feet away, half of her sweaty face cast in shadow. There was time to hear but a few words escape her lips before the beast and I hurtled downward:

“Annora Achilles. It has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?”

Chapter 27: Mona

It had been another long, stressful day. I’d managed to screen the entire island. There were no imposters. I would have sensed it the moment my spell touched them.

No. There had to be another explanation for the deaths. And this revelation left us with an even more chilling conclusion: it was one of our own who’d claimed their lives. Now that we’d found the bodies, hopefully it was only a matter of time before we found out who was behind it. I’d told Patricia and her team that they could call on me to help, but they seemed more than able to handle the job on their own.

I was relieved to return home. I went straight up to the bathroom, showered and then sat down in front of my dressing table, staring at myself in the mirror. I combed my hair and tied it up in a bun. My eyes fell on my mother’s jewelry box. I fingered it absentmindedly as I tried to put a finger on the unease I’d felt over the recent days. Since the deaths, it felt like the whole island was riddled with tension… uncertainty… doubt. Vampires no longer trusted werewolves the way they once had, while werewolves felt wrongly accused by vampires. Witches, on the other hand, doubted both vampires and werewolves. And humans trusted no one. Then Ben had gone and murdered a human girl, causing many accusing fingers to point at him—the very prince of The Shade.

I hadn’t experienced such strife since arriving in The Shade. I could see from Derek and Sofia’s reaction that such turmoil wasn’t commonplace here. They’d rebuilt the Shade based on trust and loyalty. That was how things had worked for almost two decades. A breakdown of trust would mean a breakdown of the whole structure. I didn’t know what would follow if that happened.

Pushing the box back in its place in front of the mirror, I stood up and flopped down on the bed. Snuggling between the sheets, I wished that Kiev was home already. It was so late, I wondered where he could have gotten to.

I stayed awake for the next hour waiting for him, but when he still didn’t return, sleep finally claimed me…

* * *

The cool evening breeze blew through my hair as I strolled through the woods. I didn’t understand where Kiev could have gotten to. He almost always returned before this late hour. I worried that something might have happened to him.

I found myself exiting the woods and walking down toward the shore. I quickened my pace, scanning the beach as I went. It wasn’t until I reached the end of the sand and approached a cluster of rocks that I noticed a light flickering in the room at the top of the lighthouse.

Could Kiev possibly be there? What would he be doing there at this time of night?

I climbed over the rocks toward the entrance and ascended the winding staircase. My heart was pounding in my chest as I finally reached the top. Reaching for the handle, I was about to open it, but realized that the door was already ajar. There was no need to disturb whoever was in there, in case it wasn’t Kiev.