Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 75539 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75539 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Blake stuck close to my side as we began our search. The place was a maze of narrow hallways and small, cluttered rooms, all filled with old furniture, peeling wallpaper, and clothes strewn about.
“It looks like he left here in a hurry,” I noted.
“You’re right.” Blake looked around as we stopped outside of a closed door. The air was thick with the scent of rotting trash, and the faint creaks of the floorboards beneath our feet made the silence even more oppressive.
My hand hovered over the scratched bronze doorknob. I motioned for Blake to step back. I slowly opened the door. The hinges sounded out in protest, but no traps were sprung.
Good.
I moved into what looked like a study. The walls were lined with bookshelves, most of them filled with old, leather-bound tomes that hadn’t been touched in years. A large oak desk sat in the middle of the room, its surface cluttered with papers and a few random trinkets. I carefully sifted through the documents, looking for anything that might give us a clue about what had been going on here. Blake looked through the shelves. There was a window that looked out at the dry desert. A few Joshua trees stood nearby, bent limbs aimed up at the intense sun.
“Anything?” Blake asked. I looked up to see him leaning against a bookshelf, his face still pale from the fight but his amber eyes sharp.
“Nothing,” I replied, lifting a stack of papers to reveal a small, black notebook. My fingers tingled as I picked it up, flipping through the pages. Most of it was filled with scribbles and notes, but then I saw it—drawings of what looked to be monstrous dragons, unlike any I’ve ever seen. Their scales were an inky black, with tendrils falling from their jaws and bright red eyes. Underneath it was what appeared to be a hastily drawn blueprint of what I assumed must have been the testing facility.
“Hold on. I think I found something,” I said, holding up the notebook.
Blake nodded, stepping closer. “Do you think these are those Shade dragons Kalen was talking about?”
A shiver crawled down my spine. If it was, then we were staring at monstrosities. “It might be… Let’s take it with us.”
“Let’s get out of here, then. This place is giving me the creeps,” he said. He hugged me, his arms tight around my sides. His warmth flooded through me. I wrapped my arms around him and held him against me for a moment.
We separated, but I couldn’t stop myself from kissing him.
Dawn and Warrick rejoined us as we exited the room. “This place is a disaster,” Warrick said, rubbing the back of his head where the Shade had struck him. “But we managed to clear out the rest of the house. It’s safe now.”
“Anything useful?” Dawn asked, glancing at the notebook in my hand.
“Possibly,” I said. “It’s a blueprint, probably to a lab or some kind of secure location. Plus these illustrations.”
Warrick stepped forward, holding up a photograph he had found. “We found this…” I cocked my head, looking at the cracked frame in Warrick’s hand. Inside it was a recent picture of Cassius’ father, smiling alongside the very uncle we were hunting.
“This doesn’t make any sense,” Blake said, his voice thick with confusion. “Cass told us his dad hadn’t spoken to his uncle in years. But this… this looks like it was taken recently.” Blake’s brow furrowed as he studied the photo. “Why would he lie? Or maybe he didn’t know…?”
“It’s hard to say,” I replied, my mind racing with possibilities. “Either way, this changes things. If they’ve been in contact, we need to find out what they’ve been talking about. This could be bigger than we thought.”
We all stared at the photograph, the implications weighing heavily on us. Had he been working with his brother all along? Or was there something more complicated going on?
“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Dawn said, though her voice was strained. “We need to confront him and get to the bottom of this. But first, we should head back to the castle.”
Dawn was right. We had to head back home and collect our thoughts. At least we weren’t leaving here empty-handed. We might have found more questions than answers, but it felt like we were heading in the right direction. I led us through the home, through the destroyed living room, and past the dead Shades.
My phone started to ring. I was going to ignore it and shift, but something told me to answer. It was Damien.
“Hey, Damien, what’s up? We’re heading back—”
“Don’t. The castle’s been attacked. Go to the desert house. We’ll meet you there.”
Chapter 25
No Rest for the Righteous
Blake
We were all gathered in the living room of the Blackthornes’ Joshua Tree home. Lily, Caleb’s hellhound, sat by my feet. A half-eaten box of pizza was on the coffee table. The entire family was here, along with their partners. The castle had been the target of a full-scale attack by the Time Turners. They had been expecting Xavier to be there and were going to try and take him by force.