A Shade of Doubt

by Bella Forrest

  It wasn’t long before Caleb had rushed to the edge of the jungle. With the sun high in the sky, Caleb tore a branch with flat leaves off a tree nearby and held it over himself as he raced us toward the spot of the wreckage.

  I took the branch from him as he set me down and continued holding it over his head as he entered the water. I followed him in as deep as I could still stand, and then, as he ducked beneath the waves, I stopped, waiting for him. I didn’t know how much time I passed watching the surface of the water, waiting for him to emerge. But I breathed out a sigh of relief when he did. I hurried over to him, holding the leaf over him to shield him from the sun’s harsh rays.

  He was holding a large gray toolbox in one hand, while with the other he was clutching a thick metal sheet. We made our way back to the sand, where he dropped the items. I followed him back and forth from the sand to the sea as he retrieved more and more items for what felt like the next hour.

  By the time he’d retrieved everything he deemed salvageable, the beach was covered with equipment. He dragged it all further inland, beneath the shade of the trees, so there was no chance of pieces being swept away.

  Wiping sweat from his brow with the back of his hand, he looked over the entire collection.

  “Yes,” he said quietly. “I think this might just work. We will only need a small boat. The smaller it is, the less likely things will go wrong and the faster I can build it.” He began pacing up and down on the sand, thinking out loud. “We’ll need wood… These coconut trees aren’t as good as the trees surrounding our bunks.”

  He grabbed me and began hurrying back through the jungle. He stopped at our tree, pulled me up and set me down on his bunk. Annora still hadn’t returned.

  After planting a lingering kiss on my neck, he drew away. “It’s safer if you stay up here while I work, out of harm’s way. I’ll come get you if there’s anything you can help with. Otherwise just stay here for now… And if Annora returns, shout out and let me know. I still don’t trust her alone with you.”

  I nodded, watching as he leapt back down the tree and jogged away further into the jungle.

  Since I had nothing else to do, I decided to do some climbing. I made my way up to the top of the tree and looked out. The ocean was still crystal blue and empty for as far as I could see. There wasn’t a single cloud in the blue sky. I breathed deeply, in and out, relishing the sea air and the warm sun tanning my skin. I imagined Caleb and I sailing away together on that crystal-blue sea, wrapped in each other’s arms and kissing as we headed toward the sunset…

  I lost track of time as I perched there, my head stuck out of the treetops, fantasizing and taking in the beauty surrounding me.

  When something brushed against my ankle, I looked down in excitement, expecting to see Caleb.

  Instead I was met with a vision that should have belonged only in a nightmare.

  A brown leather-skinned man with glowing eyes and sharp white teeth gripped my ankle and pulled me downward.

  Chapter 25: Caleb

  A scream pierced through the jungle. I dropped my axe and hurtled back toward our tree.

  I was sure that it was Rose’s voice. It sounded so much like her. But when I stumbled across Annora lying on the ground, nursing a bleeding foot, I assumed that I must have been mistaken.

  I bent down to take a closer look at it as she moaned and writhed. I held my breath as the scent of her blood invaded my nostrils. I gripped her foot, examining it. The flesh between her large and second toe had split. Blood was seeping from it, soaking the grass.

  I slit open my palm and held it out to her. She gripped my palm, her soft tongue lapping up the blood. As the wound healed, I helped her up.

  I decided to go check on Rose before I got back to work. I motioned to leave, but Annora tugged on my arm, pulling me back.

  “I would also like to return to camp. Could you carry me? I don’t want to cut myself again.”

  I allowed her to climb onto my back before running back toward our tree.

  “Ouch.”

  I slowed for a moment, looking back at Annora. “What?”

  “I didn’t realize, I got a cut here too.” She thrust out a bleeding wrist, hovering it barely an inch away from my nose. I almost dropped her as I tried to distance myself. My mouth was already watering from the blood on her foot.

  Crouching over her again, I once again cut open my palm and fed her. I didn’t dare pick her up again until the second wound had closed and she’d wiped her hands on her clothes to remove the excess blood.

  “I need to get back now,” I said impatiently as she pulled herself onto me again.

  She complained a couple of times that my speed was hurting her as I raced back to camp, but I ignored her. I was relieved to lower her to the ground once I arrived at the foot of the tree. Swinging myself up, I stopped at Rose’s bunk, expecting to see her there, perhaps resting.

  Her bed was empty.

  “Rose?” I called, my heartbeat quickening.

  I cast my eyes around, upward, downward, sideways, thinking perhaps she’d gone for a climb. She wasn’t there. Perhaps she’d be by the lake, taking a swim to cool off during the heat of the day. She wasn’t there either.

  “Rose?” I yelled.

  I raced through the jungle surrounding the tree, wondering if she’d ventured in search of more fruit, despite my requesting her to stay put. “Rose!” I bellowed, my heart hammering in my chest. I yelled until my throat was hoarse.

  She can’t have ventured this far barefoot. I haven’t even been gone long.

  There was another bloodcurdling scream.

  Rose?

  I whipped back through the jungle toward the source of the noise, only to find Annora again. One palm was clasped over her mouth, the other shaking as she pointed a few hundred meters away from the foot of our tree.

  My head reeled as I followed her gaze.

  Lying in the undergrowth was a body.

  No.

  No.

  Almost blind with panic, I rushed forward. As I approached, I found myself staring down at a corpse swarming with bees and so disfigured that, had it not been for her torn dark hair, I wouldn’t even have known that it was Rose.

  Chapter 26: Rose

  The moment I screamed, the creature’s leathery hand clamped my mouth shut. Withdrawing two silk handkerchiefs from his snakeskin waistcoat, he shoved one down my throat and, placing the other between my teeth, knotted it behind my head. It was all I could do to not vomit.

  “Princess,” he rasped in my ear. “I am most honored to make your acquaintance.”

  My struggling only broadened his smile as he began touching me in places not even Caleb had yet. He flung me over his shoulder and leapt from branch to branch down the tree. As his feet hit the ground, he launched into a sprint.

  Everything had happened so quickly. I was still in shock. The jungle whizzed past me in a blur as blood rushed to my head. I tried to grab hold of a branch as we sped past one, but I only ended up cutting my palms as he hurtled forward regardless.

  Then without warning, his grip around my ankles loosened and I crumpled to the ground, grazing my head against a sharp rock. In a daze, I scrambled backward until my back hit a tree trunk.

  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 take
n 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.

  I knelt and looked through the crack.

  My breath hitched.

  There was Kiev, crouched down over the bare body of a woman whose face I could not see, for it was being showered with his kisses. But as my eyes fixed on the pillows beneath her head, I didn’t need to.

  It was Sofia’s bare form writhing beneath him. Her deep red hair splayed out on the pillow. Her fingers dug into Kiev’s back muscles as he pressed against her. His lips lowered to her pale neck. When he brushed his hands along her hips, tremors ran through his body.

  They were so consumed with each other, it felt like I could have walked right over to them and they might not notice.

  I couldn’t remain a witness to this scene a moment longer.

  Pushing the door open, I ran up to the bed. I gripped Kiev’s shoulders, attempting to pull him off. But my fingers slipped off his skin like butter the moment I touched him.

  I shouted. I screamed. I tried to use my magic to turn over the bed.

  But it was as if an invisible force field was around them, keeping them locked in their own little bubble. Nothing I did had any effect.

  My shouting fell on deaf ears. My spells bounced off.

  They still remained, lying there in a world of their own—a world I was totally locked out of. If anything, with all my attempts, their passion only increased each second that I stood there, until finally, Kiev whispered the words that sliced my heart in two:

  “I have always loved you, Sofia.”

  * * *

  My eyes shot open. Gasping for breath, I sat bolt upright. Beads of sweat dripped from my forehead. Shafts of moonlight trickled through the curtains, falling on Kiev’s sleeping form beside me.

  I dropped my head into my hands. It felt strangely chilly. From the sweat, I assumed.

  I breathed deeply, trying to steady my racing heart.

  It was a dream. Just a dream.

  I lowered myself back down against my pillow and reached an arm around Kiev’s waist, pulling myself closer against his back and kissing his shoulder as he remained in slumber.

  Sofia would never betray me like that. She is my friend.

  And Kiev certainly wouldn’t.

  In any case, he’s over Sofia… isn’t he?

  Chapter 28: Derek

  The night had been plagued with… a strange dream.

  After hours of tossing and turning, I eventually gave up trying to sleep and got out of bed. Making my way to the kitchen, I poured myself a glass of blood.

  Trying to push aside thoughts of the nonsensical dream I’d had, I forced myself to think of the problems that were plaguing us.

  As we had promised the humans, swarms of vampires were now taking turns to guard their homes. Sofia and I had also decided that we’d personally take a tour round the human residences three times a day to make sure everything was in order.

  My thoughts turned to our son. Now that he had murdered Yasmine, humans, vampires, werewolves and witches alike had begun to suspect that perhaps he was the cause of the others’ deaths too. Of course, Sofia and I knew that he couldn’t have done it, but until we found the actual killer, this suspicion would remain in the hearts of many.

  Ben. It had been a
while since he’d last… fed. His blood levels would be running low again.

  Grabbing some blood from the fridge and the syringe Sofia had fetched from Corrine’s medical room, I headed to his bedroom.

  Opening the door slowly, I was surprised to see that he was awake already. He lay flat on his back, staring up at the ceiling, his eyes glassy. He did nothing to acknowledge that I’d entered the room. I sat on the edge of the bed and reached for his collarbone. He didn’t resist as I injected several doses of blood into him.

  Then I left the room. I guessed he was feeling guilty about what he’d done. He didn’t need me to rub it in. Silence was the best course of action right now. I made sure to lock the door behind me.

  I retreated to my study and paced up and down for a while longer, mulling over the most urgent issues I had to do today, until eventually I decided to try to sleep again—at least for an hour before Sofia woke up at six o’clock, so we could wake up together.

  But as I returned to our bedroom, she wasn’t there. Her side of the bed had been neatly made, and her nightgown that had lain on the chair nearby was gone.

  “Sofia?” I called softly.

  I walked into the ensuite bathroom. It was empty. I walked back to the kitchen, thinking maybe she’d also had a restless night and was having some breakfast. But she wasn’t there. I walked through the living room, intending to check some of the other rooms, when I noticed that her cloak that usually hung by the front door was gone, along with her set of keys fixed to the key holder near the door.

  Then I spotted a sticky note on the door. Sofia’s handwriting.

  “Gone for a walk…”

  An early-morning walk was appealing to me too, so I grabbed my coat and headed out. A brisk walk would do me some good, help to clear my thoughts for the day, and perhaps I’d even bump into Sofia.