We’d been planning an expansion for The Shade since the Daughters of Eritopia had established a permanent portal between our worlds. With the influx of Eritopians visiting our beautiful island, we’d finally reached the point where we simply needed more space. We’d built as many cabins and treehouses and townhouses as we could on the mainland—if we permitted more construction, things would start to feel cluttered, and I was not going to let that happen. With so many supernaturals inhabiting our land, it was vital we all have ample open space to stretch our legs… or wings, as the case may be.

“Honestly, I expected this day to come a lot sooner,” Eli remarked, standing to my right at the end of the Port’s jetty. He was holding a large scroll of paper which contained the proposed layout of the artificial extension we were planning to build out over the ocean, side by side with the Port. His wife Shayla, Ibrahim, Corrine, Kiev, and Mona were also with us, examining the ocean that stretched out within The Shade’s protective barrier. Eli and the witches made up the core of our expansion team—Eli being lead architect—while Kiev, having some downtime, had tagged along with his wife.

“Me too,” Ibrahim said. “Ever since GASP replaced the IBSI.”

I nodded. That had been a significant milestone in The Shade’s growth, to say the least. Before defeating Atticus Conway and becoming the official protective agency for Earth, we had made official alliances with the dragons, white witches, and jinn—which increased our population, as a significant number of them came to live with us—but in taking the IBSI down, we had formed further alliances with the werewolves, Hawks, and ogres, which just added to our “zoo”, as Corrine fondly referred to it.

Then came our Nevertide excursion, which had brought in an influx of sentries, and most recently Eritopia, which had opened up a whole other Pandora’s box of diverse creatures, many of which I hadn't even known existed: Maras, Druids, incubi, succubi… Yes. It was time.

I couldn’t deny, though, that I felt a stab of melancholy at the prospect. No, building an extension over the ocean would not really alter the main island, but still, it was a sign of change. And with change came the bitter-sweetness of nostalgia, of times lost and gone, never to be returned to.

I couldn’t help but think back to how The Shade was… before it was even The Shade. Centuries ago, when I’d first discovered it, that fateful day my ship had washed ashore. It was just a wild island back then, inhabited only by the local animals. And we were just a handful of vampires. Me, my sister, brother, father, Xavier, Cameron, Liana, Eli, Claudia, Kyle, Sam, and some others, many of whom we’d lost along the way. Then there was Cora, followed by her successor Corrine, and the humans we began kidnapping.

As much as those times had been filled with struggle and heartache, I wouldn’t have traded them for the world. Not just because the circumstances had brought Sofia to me, but because they’d shaped me into the person I was today. A man I could comfortably look at in the mirror—which was a lot more than I could say for myself before.

As I looked at the plans Eli was holding, I realized that watching The Shade grow was like watching a child grow. I guessed, because it was my child, in a way. I’d founded it, then fought to protect and preserve it for the past… almost six hundred years now.

“God, I feel old,” I muttered, breaking the quiet that had descended on us. The feeling was not exactly helped by the fact that I sensed one day very soon I was going to become a great-great-grandfather…

Corrine smiled wryly. “Ah, Derek.” She reached out and patted me on the shoulder. “I know. This is a nostalgic time, isn’t it? Just take comfort in the fact that Kiev is way older.”

The green-eyed vampire threw Corrine a scowl. “You’re not exactly a spring chick, witch.”

Mona prodded him. “I thought we talked about you calling your son’s mother-in-law that.”

“What? Chick or witch?”

Corrine snorted, while Mona and Ibrahim rolled their eyes.

I chuckled. Even after decades of being co-in-laws, Corrine still hadn’t gotten tired of taking pokes at Kiev.

Eli cleared his throat, straightening the plan he was holding. “So… this is our first solid draft. For now, what I really want is comments on the size of the platform. Do we start smaller and see how we do? Or larger than we think we might need? I mean, The Shade’s population is only going to continue to grow, so it’s probably almost impossible to build something too large. We want to accommodate at least a hundred houses at first, and since this area will be mostly inhabited by Eritopians, I’m thinking—”

“Derek!” I heard Sofia calling my name from behind us.

I turned and saw her approaching with Draven. I’d left her in the Great Dome with Rose and River, where they’d been talking about extensions for The Shade’s school, so I was surprised to see her approaching now—especially with Draven. Even from this distance, I could see that her face was concerned, which unnerved me.

“Draven?” Eli narrowed his eyes, spotting the Master Druid of Calliope, too.

We left the jetty and walked toward them.

“Sorry to come all the way here and disturb you,” Draven said as he reached us, bowing curtly. His manners always surprised me—Serena had married an absolute gentleman. Thank the stars.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

“Not exactly.” Draven shook his head. “The team on Neraka is okay. I just spoke to them. Not even worried about Tenebris anymore; the boys there are doing an excellent job of dismantling the rebel groups. But Serena and I have been digging through the Druid Archives, and… well, we’ve found an inconsistency.”

“What kind of inconsistency?” I asked.

“The Druid delegation that was traveling in the area close to Neraka, the one we assumed had crash-landed there… they never came back,” Draven explained. “I checked the coordinates over and over, and the records, too. It’s the only delegation that vanished.”

“But Rewa said they bid them farewell and watched them fly off in their light orb,” Sofia murmured, looking at me, the wariness in her eyes evident.

“Do you think the Exiled Maras lied?” Corrine asked, frowning.

“I’m not sure, but yes, I am considering that possibility,” he replied.

“To what end, though? I’m not sure I get it,” Kiev muttered, scratching his stubbled chin as he pursed his lips.

“Again, I do not know at this point.” Draven shrugged. “But, like I said, the team was okay. I checked in via Telluris, and they were still in the gorges, investigating. They’ve yet to uncover the mystery behind all those disappearances.”

“I doubt they’ll find out that quickly. It’s only, what… day three?” Ibrahim raised an eyebrow, and Draven responded with a brief nod before shifting his focus back to me.

I wasn’t really sure what to make of this. If the Exiled Maras had lied about the Druid delegation, it didn’t look good for them. Most importantly, it put the GASP team we’d sent over at risk. But the delegation could also have disappeared after they’d left Neraka. Without more information, it was difficult to draw any final conclusions. I couldn’t even consider any kind of action in response to either possibility, because it was simply too soon.

“I think we should give the exploratory team a couple more days to do some more digging into the disappearances,” I concluded after a long moment. “Let’s see what findings they come up with. The Maras might not even know that the Druid delegation never returned to Calliope. It would cause a diplomatic mess if we started suspecting the victims of proven crimes of wrongdoings of their own, at least at this point in time.”

“I must say, I agree,” Eli added. “We could reconvene in a couple of days, while you keep in touch with the Neraka team. We can decide on a course of action then, once we learn more about what’s going on there with all the disappearances.”

“I understand.” Draven nodded. “I was also thinking I could tell Jax to ask the Five Lords to give him an account of what they saw when they bid the Druid delegation farewell. You know, just to fish for details. They might hold important clues and not even know it, if we go on the presumption of innocence.”

“That makes sense,” I replied. “Just make sure he’s… gentle about it. I think the team’s findings regarding the abductions are essential right now. The sooner they discover the culprits, the sooner they’ll come back to us. Frankly, I’m not at all comfortable with them so far away, with just Telluris as a means of communication and just a swamp witch spell for interstellar travel.”

Sofia wrapped her arms around my waist and pulled herself closer to my side. I knew she felt the same way. As proud as we were of our younglings, and regardless of the immovable faith we had in their abilities, neither of us was truly comfortable with the risks they were exposing themselves to in a completely foreign world.

I wanted to see them all back, sooner rather than later.

“Draven,” I added, “can you do me a favor?”

He raised his eyebrows. “Yes?”

“Do you have any way of looking into that galaxy as a whole?” I asked. “One of our witches will help you, if needed. I want you to analyze it. I know we can’t see Neraka because of whatever weird effect that asteroid belt has on the planet’s visibility in space, but you should still be able to see the rest of that solar system.”

“I see where you’re going with this,” Draven replied with a nod and a confident half-smile. “We can study the galaxy and get a better idea of what that part of the In-Between is like, even from afar. Whatever dwells on Neraka could also be found on neighboring planets.”

“Exactly. Consider it research,” I said.

“Leave it to me.” He bowed again, then turned around and walked back to the Dome, while Sofia remained with me.

We watched him as he gradually became a small dot at the end of the sandy beach, and a sliver of unease crept up to my throat, clutching tightly as I swallowed. It was too soon to draw any conclusions regarding Neraka, I reminded myself. But, still, as a great-grandfather and, most importantly, as the leader of GASP, I worried about my people.

The possibility of Exiled Maras lying about the Druid delegation didn’t sit well with me. However, we didn’t know for certain that they’d deceived us. I disliked this kind of decision limbo, but right now, I didn’t have much choice.

A couple more days, and we’d take another look at what was going on there, and Draven would keep in close contact with them via Telluris.

In the meantime, I could focus on this development project… while secretly pondering worst-case scenarios regarding Neraka.

* * *

Dear Shaddict,

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