It's time for another director's cut review. Today I'll be talking about House of Splinters by Laura Purcell.

Title: House of Splinters

Author: Laura Purcell

Page Count: 368

Genre: Horror

Subgenre: Gothic Horror, Historical Horror, Haunted House/Objects

Themes/Tropes: Fresh Start, Creepy Figurines, Kids who see/hear things, Family Drama, Pregnancy

Series? Yes, Prequel to The Silent Companions

Setting: Victorian English Countryside Estate

Other Works By This Author: The Shape of Darkness, The Corset, The Poison Thread, The Whispering Muse

House of Splinters is a prequel to Purcell's 2017 novel, The Silent Companions. It has a similar premise to The Silent Companions, but definitely explores some new avenues. It also delves deeper into the family's dark history. Speaking of diving in, let's dive into this review.

First, let me give you a quick run down of what the novel is about. It follows Belinda Bainbridge who moves to her husband's family estate--The Bridge. Her father-in-law recently passed away at the estate, leaving it to her husband, Wilfred. A very pregnant Belinda and her five-year-old son Freddy travel to the manor expecting a new start. But the house has other plans. The garden is in ruins, the family is struggling financially, and the locals are not happy with the renovations being done on the grounds. To top it all off, life-like wooden figures keep popping up everywhere.The figures expression seem to change and they seem to move on their own. And Wilfred's estranged brother appears and Belinda begins questioning everything she thought she knew about her husband.

Get ready for a fantastic slow burn horror. The build definitely pays off in the end. These companions are absolutely terrifying. They don't have to say anything. All they have to do is exist. It's like my favorite kind of scare in the movies--something lurking in the background where only the viewer can see.

I loved the exploration into Wilfred's family. There is a lot of dark history there. Not everyone is who they seem to be. Readers of The Silent Companions will be familiar with the Anne Bainbridge diary and the horrors it uncovers. This book dives a bit deeper into what happened and how those events affect Belinda and her family.

Purcell's writing is guaranteed to suck you in. She's built such a tense atmosphere.

While I loved The Silent Companions more, this book still held me captive the entire time. I loved it!

I cannot thank netgalley and the publisher enough for allowing me to read this one early.

Hey hi hello! Apologies for such a late send out of December's Inner Circle perks form! I am officially finished with finals (I think I did well, but won't hear back for another week or two), and am playing catch up on everything that fell off my radar during dead week and finals.

To get your December Personalized Book Recs fill out THIS FORM.

Due to the fact that I have fallen massively behind on book reviews (both for y'all and for publishers) I am temporarily pausing the nominations of books for me to read and review. My goal for winter break is to catch up on reviews, after which I will hopefully reopen that aspect of Inner Circle perks. Every review I do post will go up on here as usual, but since I'm expecting several over the course of the month, I won't notify y'all by email every time--if you want a notification for book reviews, react to the message in #welcome in the discord server to get tagged on discord when posts go live.

To make the lack of this perk up to you, I've got a book round up of Holiday romance novels (58 books--mostly Christmas, some Hannukah, two New Years) ft disability representation coming your way soon! I'm still working on the graphics, but you can expect the post for sure by the first day of Hannukah (12/15).

Happy Holidays!

~ Kaley

Hello again,

I hope you guys liked the first twenty-five chapters. If you've made it this far, thank you for trusting me with this story. I hope you are doing well.

Excerpt will be after reminders.

Reminders:

For those of you that didn't sign up for ARCs, you have four options to read the full story if you want to read more after this excerpt:

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Pre-order Kindle version here:

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or, Chapter 31 - 35 will be coming soon. I promise.

Chapter 26: SPIKE

At the top of the stairs, we round a corner and walk into a glowing hallway. We’re so high up we have to be in one of the castle’s attics. The arched, attic door buzzes with harsh blue beams of light blinding the air around it. The sound of a heartbeat hazes our ears. A heartbeat symbol appears like a scar around my wrist constantly changing. Everything around us is otherworldly. Someone is trapping the attic in a Pulse. All of time fractures inside of the room. It’s a Time Prison. To put it simply, the moment I step in to that room all time used inside of the room will not be consumed by the external world. One minute in there means no time passes in the real world. All aging slows as well.

“What’s going on here?” I step back from Cassius.

“We’re not going to trap you inside of the Time Prison. May told me you were stripped of almost all your powers by Kairos. You usually have time on a different planets to relearn them over a span of years. But we don’t have years to fight our enemies. Our mission to Exile is in a week. Maybe you can’t learn all your past powers but if you can relearn enough of them, then we have a higher chance of surviving.”

“You really did your research on me, didn’t you?”

“I thought you were my enemy. Templites and Time Keepers have been given a bad name across the galaxy because of Kairos. I did everything in my power to learn how to snuff you out if need be. I didn’t want to underestimate you in case I had to protect my friends.”

Cassius opens the door to the Time Prison attic. The attic has high ceilings and large round glass windows at both ends facing the sunrise and sunset. A desk sits by the sunrise window. On the other end, rows of books are pressed in a tight corner by a green window nook. A chair with a rug underneath is propped in front of the mini library. The ceiling slants up in one direction and possibly never ends. My eyes travel down from the ceiling to the center of the room.

My soul leaves my body. For a few seconds, I’m not here. Unease creeps into my limbs. In the middle of the room, twenty cement pedestals surround a round empty space. On each pedestal lies a worn Artifact. A piece of bloody clothing, a pair of glasses, a mansion, a bracelet, and sixteen others.

I recognize them. Mementos from my past lives.

I walk to the pedestals to touch the Artifacts. A teal tentacle stops me from grabbing them. It is one off Cassius’s Ropes.

“Not yet,” Cassius says, “Once you touch it, a Memory Pulse will open up and it will send you for a moment back to that specific time period.”

Nostalgia grips my heart. Every soul I ever encountered trapped in the memories of these Artifacts. I should have been the one to retrieve them. It should have been me who went and found these.

“I know that but… I’m more… How did you find these? I kept them hidden.”

“Vesta had the idea to find them. Thea saw you in her visions and watched you hide the Artifacts all over the universe. May, Thea, Jimmy, and I have been traveling to different planets to acquire all these memories. The Barretta Committee barely approved this. They didn’t understand why we would want you to regain your memories, or, for you to become a little more powerful with each Artifact. They realized that they needed an equally powerful being to go up against Kairos in the event he ever regained his abilities. Getting all twenty wasn’t easy.”

I rotate in a circle trying to remember glimpses from my past lifetimes. Blocks remain clouding my brain hiding past abilities, information I learned on my abilities, and the powers I created in those worlds. The pain each one caused to forge is fresh. The heartache of being ripped away from a beautiful life. My eyes stay on one Artifact in particular. The Mansion. We were at peace for a moment. Jimmy, Tommy, our daughter, and I. A mesh of the past, present, and future. In a future that never existed or has yet to be created. The only peace and ease I have ever felt. I remember being killed that one last time. The end of my twenty-fifth incarnation. I knew the moment I was Activated on Venus that I would die. That it was the end for me. And, the next thing I know, Vakander and May are saving me from Tempus.

Cassius snaps me back to reality.

“We’re only missing five. We have been doing this for the past four years. Kairos was catching on. And I guess some other beings are too. The past few missions have been us fighting off Time Keepers and rogue mercenaries.”

A realization hits me. That’s why Cassius hated me when he first saw me. This was all my fault. He’s been risking his life for my ungrateful ass. Not just his. Thea’s as well.

“You couldn’t get to the Artifact on Exile?”

Cassius nods. His face droops. A dark cloud comes over him like if he isn’t here at all. His eyes are blank. Many eyes in my past lives have carried this expression and I’ve never liked being on the receiving end. I want to console him, but I don’t know how. How do I console a boy I just met?

It takes him a moment to gather himself.

“May Pulsed us to the front of the mansion. May and I were tasked with killing all Siren Cannibals outside of the mansion while Thea and Jimmy went and stole one of the Artifacts. They were captured by their leader. He used his luring song to hypnotize them.” I wonder what else his Ropes can do if he was tasked with killing Siren Cannibals. He continues, “We were overwhelmed. These side missions to retrieve the Artifacts were done under the condition that no Barretta soldiers would need to assist in bringing us home or helping us find them. So, with no one to help us, May extracted us. Since then, they have upped their security around the mountains. Pulse Blockers block every point of entry. We haven’t been able to Pulse back in there with reinforcements. They must have placed Pulse Blockers all over the mountains.”

Pulse Blockers were invented and distributed throughout the galaxy by Vakander to stop Time Keepers from coming onto every planet. They are a barrier first and a blackhole dissipator second. Since they were created, many have been stolen his idea and placed them all over the universe. Black markets have replicated the design and created traps for Pulses which can injure or kill Time Keepers and Time Absorbers if they walk onto the wrong side of the galaxy.

Pulse Blockers being on Exile means Vakander had to drop them off there at some point. If Exile has them, are they trying to keep me out? Or are they trying to keep Kairos out? May? But anyone one of us can walk through the force field a Pulse Blocker creates. No Pulses can be made in or out but it doesn’t stop people from walking through them. There has to be some sort of strategy behind this.

Cassius crosses his arms, “They know we’re coming back. But, now that I’ve checked your Ropes, we have the knowledge of Exile we need. We know how many Siren Cannibals we have to deal with. In hindsight, it was idiotic to try and get your Artifact without knowing how many of them there were. Regret is pitiful inaction.”

His mopey eyes make me feel bad for the dude. Especially since it is technically my fault Thea went to find my Artifact. But my mind nags me about Vesta lying to us. I’m pulled in two directions. I’m not trusting Vesta. But Cassius digs the knife deeper by sniffling a little and restraining tears. Damn, he’s a simp.

“We will get her back.” I say to stop him from barreling into another depressive episode. “I will do everything in my power to get them home.”

Finding her will help us get one of the last Artifacts.

Adding Cassius’s version of the story to the mix makes me understand why he has been looking at me like a conspiracy theorist. Maybe it’s just my trust issues. Maybe I’m just the problem… Maybe the Siren Cannibals have evolved in to madness and are devouring the lives of innocents.

Or maybe two truths can coexist. Vesta is up to something and so are the Siren Cannibals.

But what? What game are they playing? Or… am I becoming susceptible to Vesta’s lies?

No. I can’t be, not me.

But if I am, damn, Vesta has one stellar PR team.

Chapters 27: CELESTIA

Emory guides me to the dining hall after our morning chat with Spike and Cassie. We sit at the usual table we always sit at with Ashley and Marina. I hear Jupiter’s beautiful curls bouncing in to the room. She passes me trailing behind the scent of raspberries and lilac. In my lustful dreams, flowers cloud her naked body.

I’m too gay for this shit. Emory complains through our Mind Link, I’m blocking your thoughts out. I’d rather not picture Jupiter in such a intimate erotic pose.

They sit at their usual table quietly discussing the previous day’s events. I turn towards them.

My wolf hearing enhances to focus in on them.

“She’s staring again.” Jenny teases.

“She’s cute but looks high maintenance.” Alejandra harshly comments.

Emory’s taunting from before plays in my head. I could initiate. I can do this. It doesn’t take much, right? What do I have to lose if she rejects me? Just the crippling embarrassment that is sharing the same space as her every morning. Fuck it. We could all be dead tomorrow.

I jump up.

“Celestia?” Emory interrupts my endless thoughts, “What are you doing?”

I ignore him and release my walking cane and start heading over to the general direction of Jupiter’s voice. My legs are lead but moving at a stuttering stumbling pace.

I want this. If I want something, I should go for it.

I hear Emory and Ashely frantically speaking to each other.

“She’s going to actually do it this time.” Ashley says surprised.

“She better not chicken out.” He knows I can hear him.

You got this. Emory Mind Links to me.

Do I though?

Jupiter and the girls have gone silent the only sound coming from her curls swaying back and forth. Her heart is beating just as fast as mine. We’re in sync? She wants this too. Just as much as I do. We’re both nervous. I sneer. I got this.

My cane hits the edge of the table and I stop. I want to send out Vibrations to see her reaction, but I don’t want a headache so early in the morning. I can see her general shape as a shadowy figure. That’s all that matters. All three of their blurred shadows stare at me.

I jump right in.

“Hey Jupiter,” I manage to get out without choking, “I was wondering if you wanted to hang out later tonight?”

Jupiter stays quiet for a second, “what would we be doing?”

“We can have a picnic on the rooftop of the castle. Or we could just hang out…” My words fall off.

There is a silence that rearranges my brain. I come back to my real body and realize how crazy this was. I only did this to prove to Emory that I could. That I could do this. I didn’t need to do that. I could’ve just…

“I would love that. What time?”

“Right after training.”

“Works for me.”

“Well, I’ll see you then.”

“See you darling.”

I slowly make a confident walk back to the table with Ashley, Marina, and Emory. I sit down and everyone starts whispering loud enough for everyone in the dining hall to hear.

“She said yes.” Emory cheers.

Jupiter hears Emory and her heart relaxes.

“Yeah.” Is all I can say.

“Wait, are you two getting married tonight? Can I be the flower girl” Ashley teases to break the tension.

“Can I be the flower girl’s assistant?” Emory asks jokingly. “No, your wedding planner/best maiden-that’s-a-dude/brother/best friend/god father of your future babies.”

“You two are ridiculous.”

“Isn’t that how lesbians work?” Emory taunts, “They just get married when they meet?”

“Usually.” Ashley adds, “at least from what I’ve seen. Any baby names picked out? I think Aurora would be nice. It means new beginnings.”

“I’m glad you two are enjoying your selves.” I spout.

“So, what are you going to do on this date?” Ashley asks.

“I told her we could have a picnic on the roof or hang out…”

“Hang out is code for fucking. You know that right?” Emory asks.

“No, I didn’t. I wouldn’t have asked her that if I knew.”

“Already too late. Dust off the cobwebs sissy. And show her your best moves.”

“I can help.” Ashley adds, “With the picnic portion of it, not the fucking. She’s all yours.”

I’m doing this. I’m really doing this.

“What do I talk about?” I ask.

“Let it start naturally.” Ashley says. “She obviously thinks you’re attractive. Get to know each other. If it’s awkward, then just do as Emory says and skip the wedding. Get straight to having fun.”

Marina adds, “That girl has been eye fucking you since I could remember.”

“That’s a good thing?” I ask.

“It means you shouldn’t be worried.” Marina sneers, “She’s ready ready.”

“For what?”

“Celestia,” Emory’s smacks his head, “How are you not understanding? Have fun. Enjoy yourself. She said yes for a reason. You did the hardest part. What could go wrong on this date?”

* * *

I wait for a shower to open up. After breakfast’s excitement, I just need to wash off the nerves before our training day starts. Refugees from the planets of Venus and Gamma stay here. Lines drag down the hallway for the women’s restroom come late morning. I’m closer to the front of the line now. A curtain pulls slightly open. I hear Jupiter’s hair bouncing beyond the curtain. She whispers under her breath, “Come here.”

“Me?” I say loud enough to sound like a cough.

“Yes!”

I remove my clothes and wrap a towel around my chest. Walking stick guiding me around the laundry dispenser. I sneak in to the shower. Jupiter closes the curtain.

“I don’t want to wait for tonight.” Jupiter says with lust in her voice, “I want you right now.”

Jupiter gently kisses my lips. I kiss back making the kisses aggressive. She turns the faucet on. I remove my towel. Jupiter digs her nails in to my lower and upper back. I lean in to the shadow of her neck and suck on it. At first soft and gently then a little more forceful as she starts to silently suppress moans. As she squirms more, she bites in to my shoulder to stop anyone from hearing. My mouth trails from her neck to her large, round nipples. I use one hand to play with her beauty and I massage her nipples with my tongue. I switch to her other breast before kissing down her beautiful dark stomach. My mouth trails until it reaches her clit.

My mouth teases her clit. My mouth alternating from it to my version of heaven incarnate.

Her legs tremble. She bites in to her hand to suppress any whimpers. Jupiter abruptly stops and I pull away.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes.” Jupiter kisses me on the mouth for thirty seconds. The best thirty seconds of my whole life before she adds, “I wanted to save more for later when we hang out. I want you to have an appetizer before we get to the picnic.”

Cruel temptress. I smile frustrated but happy. Jupiter leaves the restroom by giving me one last kiss.

Maybe Emory is right. Maybe having a little fun is okay.

Chapter 28: Thea

“Why show me all of these memories?” I ask Beelzebub

“All dead beings must accept their deaths. But only those that come to terms with it and have no left-over resentment can cross over to a peaceful afterlife.”

“I can accept the idea that I died, but I am not ready to crossover.” I think about my planet and my brother. Tamashii turned Spike. And all the innocent lives lost with Kairos’s attack. Where did they go?

“They came here first. They talked to me. Some accepted their deaths.”

“And the others?”

“Are waiting for their leader to bring them home.”

* * *

Beelzebub takes me to a balcony five stories off the ground level. Below, an army of wolves all made of purple flames bow for me. They rise in unison and howl.

“They do not respond to me. When the time is right. You will lead them back in to the physical world and exact your vengeance.”

“My people.”

My flames shake. How can flames cry? They are not capable of that so we must show them our pain. Show them how we suffered. Show them our tears through scorch marks. Burn the idea in to their heads that too many have suffered already.

“What do I have to do?”

* * *

Beelzebub takes me to an endless cylindrical chamber.

“The next stage will be growth…”

She disappears and leaves me alone. I roam the chamber for hours looking and looking for an exit. I start to panic and scream trying to reach a wall just so I can break through it. I give up frustrated.

“Thea?”

A familiar voice calls me. The voice echoes in the chamber over and over again.

“Why him?”

My mother’s voice. It echoes and echoes until it’s booming through the chamber.

“Why him?”

“Why him?”

“Why him?”

“Why him?”

“Why him?”

* * *

I’m back on Lykos in my physical form. We walk across an elevated balcony on the rear of the castle. An endless series of arched windows to our right. A cool floral breeze fills the humid air coming from the jasmine trees staggered in between the arched windows. Under the balcony, a waterfall on the side of the castle feeds in to the moat and the lake below.

“Why Cassius? Do you not see the bald spot on his head?” My mother jokes, “You are very pretty. You can do better than him.”

“Maybe, but do I have to love him for how he looks physically?”

“No. You do not, but a Venus humanoid boy?”

“Not again ma. Not you with your subtle interplanetary racism. Grandpa married grandma and she was a witch. Then, you were born. Did you have a problem then?”

“I do not have a problem with my birth if that is what you are asking.”

“Then why are you so worried about Cassius and I being together. Isn’t that what Kairos has a problem with too?”

“Do not compare me to a genocidal maniac.”

“But little ideologies and issues create bigger issues.”

“You may be right. But that bald spot is glaring.”

“I can just give him some of my fur if he gets cold at night.”

My mom laughs. “Very accommodating of you.”

We walk through arched canopy rows of jasmine vines growing around wooden frames. Each of them providing shade to the balcony. Little petals cascade leaving their floral perfume everywhere.

“Are you ready to be queen?” My mom asks.

A silence follows. I’m not. I never wanted to be queen. I grew up with the knowledge that Jimmy would be king. One day he decided it would be too much work and gave it up to me. In the past, a new ruler would be picked by pitting both royal siblings against each other in an arena and having them duel to the death. My mother was the surviving sibling. Jimmy probably didn’t want that for us.

“I do not expect you to be ready now. But one day you will be.” She sighs, “I’m glad Jimmy did not subject you two to a duel. You were both born with so much potential. I was scared it would go to waste in a duel.”

“Why did you duel your sister?”

“The time came, and we were both very young and stupid. We assumed being Queen would bring fame and riches and boys, and while it has, being queen is a lot of responsibilities. Your grandfather wanted the best to survive. He was following laws put in place by our twisted ancestors and amplified by Kairos when he ruled Lykos. Your grandfather’s reign and all those before him were of proving your worth. Truth is, I wish I had broken that cycle. Your aunt and I were both on the brink of death. And she did the unimaginable.” She stares at my unwavering face, “She killed herself to save me.”

Finding out this biting family lore startles me.

“Why?”

“Because she did not see his rules as fair. She did not want to rule on a throne that would continue the wheel of violence. ‘When does the violence end?’ were her last words. I didn’t understand them until Jimmy gave up his throne for you. So the question I ask you is: “When does the wheel of violence end?”

“What do you mean?”

“Being queen is about carrying traditions and practices. Ruling in order to keep control. But what rules can you do away with in order to finally stop misery from infecting everything.” Tears well in her eyes, “I miss my sister every day. More than my mother and father. She was my protector and guidance in to this lonely cruel world. I do not want that for you and Jimmy. I want a better future. One where children do not have to duel for a throne. One where children can live freely.” She cups my hands in hers, “Thea, do what you must to break the cycle. But never let anything come in between you protecting your kingdom or your family. Love the bald headed boy and live a wonderful life but live it with joy.”

* * *

I return to the endless chamber and the echoes stop. My mother is gone. Jimmy is gone. Cassius is gone. Everyone I love is gone. But they don’t have to be. I can still fight for them.

I was never supposed to find a way out of the chamber.

I push my flames out as far as I could push my powers when I was alive. Flames extend in all directions for hours. Pain leeches to my core. Agony seers through my being. I ignore all of it. Because none of it matters. Nothing matters when you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Nothing matters unless you push. Push until the pain is no longer there. The echoes start to reverberate in the room. I push them back. They have no place here. Hours and hours of pushing the echoes back until I’m hitting the barriers. The walls start to fissure all over. Cracks start to collide in to one another. And I push harder. Harder. The pain starts to subside. It doesn’t exist. It only hurts because I think it hurts.

* * *

There is no pain, no feelings, there is nothing here. The Fourth Dimension is what you make of it. It can be the entry to all worlds and universes. Nothing can bar you here from doing what needs to be done.

My body splits and escapes through all the cracks…

In one universe, I’m a scientist.

Here, I’m the queen that killed Jimmy.

Kairos has conquered the universes in this one.

Humanoid robots have taken over every planet.

Pan is the king of all planets.

Peace has been achieved here.

I slip through all the cracks and all the Threads. A never-ending chamber of Threads that open up to endless realities. Threads upon Threads. My flames soar and soar and soar and…

A purple blinking Thread leads me home. Back to Beelzebub.

* * *

Beelzebub reels me back in with a green Thread wrapped around my waist. I have a waist. I have a full corporeal form again. Not physical. Just flames with hands, feet, eyes, and a mouth. My hair no longer falls but floats to a narrow peak of flames.

“How does it feel to see the grand scope of everything?”

“Freeing.” Nothing binds me to this reality. Nothing keeps me here. Only I choose to do so.

“It is nice to see the possibilities and know that you have choices. To see that in any given lifetime you can save your world or doom it. It’s up to you.” Beelzebub unties the Threads from my waist, “What will you choose to do? Did you still want to fight for them, or would you rather roam the universes freely?”

I am not tethered here. I choose to be here. It is no longer my duty to protect my people. But my choice.

“I’m ready to destroy Kairos in this universe and save my kingdom.”

Chapter 29: Spike

“Glad to finally see my two favorite boys working together,” May’s voice erupts from behind us. She must have come in quietly while we were talking, “Our team grows stronger with you by our side, Spike. You’ve had twenty-five lives to try and escape Kairos on your own. You are no longer going to fight him alone.”

Unnecessary jab but cool.

“You couldn’t save me sooner.” I tease.

“I wish I could’ve saved you sooner. When Kairos rose to power, he stripped me of my resources. I had to build myself from the ground up. So, while you were being sent from planet to planet, I was trying to stay under the radar. I jumped from planet to planet looking for help and safety. Back then, it was easier to garner support for Templites because everyone associated us with Kronos instead of Kairos. They saw us as fleeing refugees of Kairos’s totalitarian regime. The name Templite didn’t have as much of a stigma.”

“I spent the next few centuries fighting back Kairos’s armies on different planets. At one point, Vakander was tossed out by Kairos, and he joined our side. My primary responsibility was stopping my brother from causing the maximum amount of harm. I feel like I never did enough. He always had more man power. I ended up on Barretta after Kairos pitted Gamma-2 against Barretta. He forced the Gamma-2 armies to eliminate Barretta. Of course, the Barretta armies were stronger and with their advantages of War Birds and aerial attacks, the Gamma-2 soldiers were captured or taken care of. I oversaw the reconstruction of Barretta with Vesta, Cassius, Celestia, and Emory. Celestia and Emory were training to be soldiers at the time, but the Royal Lycan wolves wanted them to learn about politics early on. It was around that time that the Royal Lycan Wolves sent us a message that they assumed a Time Absorber was among their midst. Thea sent us messages that the Time Absorber was drawing the Templite Throne, pictures of Kronos, and asking for people he once knew. We assumed it was you, but we could not accept a high priority Templite refugee. Barretta could not fight off Kairos if they knew we took you back. You were safer on Lykos with the wolves to protect you. The Barretta armies grew gradually as the population naturally rose again. The dead were memorialized, and War Bird statues were erected beyond the mountains where our highest civilian populations took a hit. No one lives there now. Dallies grow in full bloom and every year we celebrate those that passed in that horrific mass genocide.”

“The Royal Lycan Wolves had plans to extract you in your Lycan form to Barretta. Our plans meant nothing. We should have anticipated an attack on one of the largest armies in all of the Scorned Planets.” The Scorned Planets were the twelve planets against Kairos forming armies to dethrone him. Some of them enduring the brunt of the Cleansing. “You died on Lykos and were taken back to Tempus. Jimmy helped us track you down to Venus a couple years later. We all thought he was going crazy when he said he could smell you on Venus. Barretta was willing to supply the Crafts that would extract you under the condition that no Barrettan lives were harmed. So, Vakander was permitted temporary stay on Barretta to make an extraction plan. Our original plan included us taking you from Venus. Vakander with more knowledge of Pulses and their Placenta Pod accompaniments advised otherwise. The Placenta Pods send a Data Link to The Library of Souls. The Library of Souls is a massive artificially intelligent room. It holds a holographic diagram of the entire universe that Kairos can access Time Absorber intelligence from. The Placenta Pods act as a tether to all Time Absorbers in the universe. From the Library of Souls, Kairos can track on the map where the Time Absorber last used their Pulse through the Data Link. Breaking you out meant breaking out your Placenta Pod too”

“The knowledge Vakander had was the reason Kairos tried to have him assassinated when he rose to power. He did not want any secrets of Tempus or Lykos to be released to the world.”

“Three components went in to saving you. One: breaking in to the Revival Unit. Two: stealing your Placenta Pod which Avi gave me hell for. And three: having vampire armies in Limbo ready to fight off Templite soldiers.”

“How many causalities in order to save me?”

“Saving you was our top priority. Barretta expected us to return alive or else…”

I interrupt her, “How many did you sacrifice to save me?”

“Seven thousand wounded. Five hundred passed on.”

Fuck me. No. This is what I tried to avoid every time I tried saving myself from Kairos.

“There are vampire soldiers on the front lines right now constantly pushing Templite soldiers back from the Neutral and Scorned Planets. Every day a few die so that the Scorned Planets can prepare for war. Thousands are born so that more can enlist in the future. Vakander has his vampire breeding farms pushing out as many soldiers as possible. Barretta knows that one day it will have to throw its full force behind every other planet against Tempus. Kairos has been attacking the Scorned Planets to debilitate their armies because he knows we’re coming. I made Barretta a promise. That you would be the new Time Lord one day if we saved you. I’m not the Barretta Committee. I don’t care if you become the new Time Lord. My goal is to keep you and the Power Crystal safe.”

“At the expense of everyone else’s safety?” The more people I meet, the more people I feel like I’m leading to their deaths. I’ve been in this story before. I don’t want to grow attached to these people. I care about my life but I’m not ready to have these people lay their lives down for me. Or have my presence be the reason Kairos kills them for hiding me away.

But I don’t want to be alone.

“Whether you’re here or on Gamma-2 or Exile, Kairos will hunt everyone in this universe down that doesn’t match his description of universal perfection. He will eventually come for the Scorned Planets.” She pauses to gather her thoughts then continues, “Look, everyone here in this castle and the galaxy has lost something because of Kairos. Those who haven’t have seen their friends in agony or have joined our cause because they believe in what we are fighting for. Since Kairos was young, my brother was a determined one. He would do absolutely anything to get what he wanted. You’ve seen it yourself. He is scared a mixed-race child will overthrow him even though he is one himself. So, what does he do? Kairos sets out to purify the galaxy’s races. In doing so, he slaughters trillions of children. You’re safer anywhere in the galaxy than every other child. He needs you alive. You are one of his keys to regaining ultimate power.”

All this information causes my brain to short circuit. Confusion muddles my thoughts. Forgotten memories try to cleave their way in to my skull. They push for me to remember. It’s right there. Gahhhhhhh. Fuck, this is so awful. I just want to remember this one fucking thing.

“I can fill in the blanks. I know you don’t remember everything. I know that you remember certain things. The Artifacts will help you remember everything you have forgotten. And until then, we don’t expect you to know everything. It must be frustrating to be in this current position. We’re here to help. Everyone in this castle is here to help. Everyone we have met so far serves a purpose,” May explains, “Let’s start at the beginning,” May heaves and holds back tears, “Titus, my father, died because Vakander and Kairos attacked him in a mutiny. Kairos planted this foolish idea in Vakander’s mind that they could rule the galaxy as kings of the galaxy with unlimited power. Behind my back, Kairos seduced Vakander and used him for his vampire armies. The plan was to strip Titus of his power and split it between themselves. As Vakander already had influence throughout the galaxy, he found it an inciting offer. But my father didn’t die because of his wounds. In his final moments, he stopped Time for one second.”

Some distant and forgotten part of me remembers this story. A shadow of a memory like deja vu. I lived through it. Why can’t I remember all of it? It’s the story of why Kairos could never really kill me. Not all of it comes back to me. All of this feels like blacking out after a joyful, mindless night of drinking. My anxiety surges. I can remember glimpses of every life shortly before everything faded into a teleporting fog. Going from place to place without the knowledge of how I got there. My body decides when I’m actively awake participating for a short moment until I wake up the next day in a stranger’s bed with a piercing, not remembering how I ended up naked. I remember chopped up pieces. Though a fog blocks the memory of everything in between.

“Relax.” May rubs my back as she sees me struggling again to remember minor details. I start scratching at my scalp. Frustration stabs my overloaded brain. My anxious foggy brain grasps at endless nothings of memories trying to piece a life I once lived together. Gibberish mixed with nonsensical bullshit.

“One second was all he needed to prevent his unlimited power from falling into the wrong hands. In that one second, he ripped his Power Crystal from his heart and placed the first crystal piece inside of you. Then, Kronos tasked one of the Epsilon Coven members to place the other six pieces inside of six selected beings across space and time. The Power Crystal keeps the universe and everything in it alive. Without it, the universe would crumble and implode in on itself. Your grandfather saw you and six others as worthy successors to the Templite Throne. For those that weren’t born yet, the crystal remained under the care of Salem until they found the right being. Ever since, Kairos, has been trying to figure out how to pull out the Power Crystal from your body. You were the only guinea pig within his grasp. Every time, he has done so, he has almost destroyed the entirety of existence. There was no way to track the individual Power Crystal pieces until they were merged in to a being’s body. Eventually, the individual crystal pieces merged with the souls of the selected beings. At that point, the seven Crystals mixed with the destiny of the beings involved and were able to be tracked through Seer visions. Kairos used to be a Seer until Madame Destiny revoked his ability to see the future. So, Kairos has been using Time Absorbers to kidnap Seers across the galaxy to help find the seven pieces of the Power Crystals.”

“The only way to overthrow, Kairos,” May adds, “is to unite all seven Crystals and use their power to kill him, before he finds them.”

All those centuries living captured by Kairos. Most Time Absorbers never lasted as long as I did. They were allowed to retire but not without new beings taking their place. There was always a retirement segment in every Time Absorbers life where they could raise an entire family. These kids would in turn become the new Time Absorbers. The worn-out Time Absorbers were always allowed to die and disappear into star dust as they were consumed by the universe. But he kept me. Experimented on me. Chased me down, killed me and revived me all for a Crystal. His armies attacked me viciously to recapture me every time. Never allowing me to live a normal life like everyone else.

“There is a way to remove the fragment or else he wouldn’t have tried to keep me incapable of rebellion for so long,” I assumed he was after my abilities. I could feel it in my core. That’s why I hid the Artifacts. That’s why I removed my abilities and scattered them across the galaxies. I always told myself I was hiding my abilities to prevent him from getting stronger.

But the real reason I did it was because Titus asked me to do it. The half memory lingers as a whisper to the void. All I can remember now is his voice. I don’t remember what he looked like. Just a bodyless voice like my subconscious.

Never let him see all your strength. Hide away your powers. Not for me, but for those that can’t defend themselves. Remember to always be a spike in his side. And never forget, I love you, my little Spi.

May continues, “Kairos has been sacking planets for the ‘Essence’ Artifact for decades since he found out it contains the answer to his dilemma. His search must have triggered a Seer memory for Thea which led us to most of the other Artifacts. We think it is a power that can help remove the Crystals. If he takes the Crystals from the people holding them, we’re screwed.”

Hesitation clouds my mind.

All beings experience their past lives in dreams and daydreams. Some think they are nightmares. They are recovered as lessons for how to survive. Artifacts are stronger versions of these memories. These Artifacts help channel past lives. My grandfather and I intended for them to one day help me gain my powers back in the event I escaped Kairos. I just never expected to escape Kairos. I never expected to be here today. Alive and breathing without a prison to keep me in place.

* * *

As I enter the circle, I touch the black glasses with my fingertips, and nothing happens. Cassius and May are confused when nothing happens.

A voice in my head calls to me, Mijo, put them on.

His delicate voice. Titus Kronos Guerrero. My grandfather.

My untrusting finger shakes as I open the pair of glasses and place them on my face. A blue line emerges from the first pedestal forming a clock around me…

Chapter 30: AXEL

BOOM.

A roar of gravity erupts like a volcano. The floor is ripped from under me. My body free falls like a broken elevator speeding to its doom. I watch the attic sink miles away into stars, gases, and planets.

You are in Limbo. All Time Keepers and Time Absorbers travel through Limbo to access different points in history, dimensions, part of our universes, and timelines, Titus speaks to me.

I’m sucked into an invisible object and excruciatingly spread out like spaghetti and then put together again. My body shoots out of the Pulse and into a horde of galaxies. All around me planets are reforming. Exploded stars are putting themselves back together. The planets are rotating in reverse.

I blink…

* * *

Purple and red clouds fill the Epsilon atmosphere. I point with my sepia fingers at the red and purple clouds.

“Why do the clouds look like that?” I ask my mom.

Mama Amanda picks vegetables from her garden to make dinner.

“The elements in the air create the redish glow. We use the purple as an atmospheric shield to block out any people that wants to harm us.” She replies.

“Why do we need protection?”

“Witches, warlocks, and warwicks are always preparing for a battle even if one will never happen. I love you. And I would do anything to protect you.” She caresses my face. Her hands waft an herby scent up my nostrils. I’m hungry already. “You’re young and with training you will one day protect yourself. But as you get older and more people enter your life, you will see how far you will go for the ones you love.”

I’m only thirteen and can’t train with the mages until I’m nineteen. I’m six years away from that day and I can’t wait. Time needs to hurry up.

Mama Amanda grabs my hand, and we walk in to our grey stone, two-story cottage. It isn’t a big house but it’s cozy.

“Go take a bath, Axel.” Mama takes off my emerald winter cloak and hangs it on the coat rack, “Mama Reyna and Simon are coming over. I don’t want you scaring them off with that smell.”

* * *

I swim in the ten-foot deep and three-foot-wide porcelain tub. A circular window lights up the room with three of the thirteen moons of Lykos concentrated on the woods. Trees reaching to space cast monstrous dark shadows on the brown floorboards. Black candles are perched on every counter dripping endless wax everywhere. An orange glow dances with the moonlight while mist steams from the tub.

My familiar, Lavender, dives underwater transforming from a cat to a mermaid with a cat head and body. I laugh and dive in after it. Her light purple mermaid scales dance through the bubbles and swishing water. We chase each other playing around for another ten minutes.

Once my fingers prune over, Lavender drags me to the surface by my ear. Her mermaid tail and gills return to a full feline body in order to jump from the water on to the floor. Mama Amanda pulls me out of the tub and wraps my naked body in a warm towel. She swirls her finger in circles at the tub draining the water.

“They’re here. You spent a little too long swimming.”

“I always swim this long.”

“We have guests. So, hurry.” Mama seems more anxious than usual.

* * *

My mom dresses me in a suit and tie. Very formal for our usual evening dinner. We walk down the black obsidian staircase in to the kitchen on the right. Our amethyst table is in the shape of a triangle. Mama Reyna sits on one side. The dining room, with dark green wallpaper and floral pattern prints, is circular. A black chandelier hangs over the table. Our walls are covered in spiraling tree branches and darkened leaves coming through the floor boards and in to the room. Mama Amanda is expected to sit on the longest flat side. Meanwhile, I’m sitting next to Simon. Simon’s brown skin shines in the candle light. He shifts uncomfortably trying to adjust the itchy suit. It’s the same spot in the back by the tags that bothers me. Mama Reyna probably ignored his pleas to wear normal clothes.

Before I sit down, I shift the shirt by two inches on the side and rip the tag from his neck collar. Mama Amanda swishes in my direction with her red lace dress and gives me the side eye. I smile pretending I don’t know what I just did. Simon’s shoulders sag in relief.

“Thank you.” Simon whispers.

Mama Reyna sports a billowing white silk dress that swallows her appearance completely. Shoulder puffs reach higher than her head. A black silk shawl covers her back with gloved hand inserts. Her face is both old and young. Not quite forty but maybe thirty. But one can never tell with de-aging spells and Vida Viles. She could be thousands of years old.

Mama Reyna turns to me after a long period of me staring at her and winks. Her polite way of saying I’m staring. I turn to Simon. His eyes are already on mine. How long has he been staring? My brown face turns red. Sweat starts forming on my head.

Simon smiles awkwardly.

“Everyone sit.” Mama Reyna commands.

Food appears floating from the kitchen on to the triangle table.

Mama Reyna and Mama Amanda talk for hours about wars going on in the galaxy. A few Epsilon armies have been dispatched to aid innocent planets being attacked by Templites. Apparently Lykos has one of the strongest armies followed by Epsilon and Barretta. Then someone else. I stop paying attention because Simon stumbles through small talk. It sounds mechanical coming from him. Like it hurts him to say everything he is saying.

A slight headache starts forming at my sinuses. His words a blur.

“I heard you’re already training.” I switch up the conversation.

“I am. I have been for a year now. They are going to have me train you if you end up in Mama Reyna’s group.”

“Really?” I ask excited. “No way.”

“Yeah. Is that a bad thing?”

“No. I can’t wait.”

Daydreams cause a headache. My eyes cloud completely white.

An older version of Simon is fighting someone…

A man stands over me and him. Simon is dying. I’m not liking this. I want it to stop.

Get me out of here.

The man kills me next. The white leaves my eyes.

Mama Reyna caresses my face, “What did you see, mijo?”

“I had a bad daydream.”

“That was no daydream.” My mom adds.

“Then what was it?” I ask confused.

“You possess the Sight.” Mama Reyna turns to mom, “Do you have Seers in your lineage?”

Mama Amanda shakes her head, “I’m just as surprised as you are.”

Reyna sneers at the response.

“Do you think…”

“I gave birth to him.”

“Templites can implant an embryo and have it grow up inside you. Time Absorbers grow up like normal beings.”

Mama Amanda stutters gibberish, “But… How?” Tears of horror well in her eyes.

“Nothing they do makes sense to me either.” Mama Reyna adds. She stares down at me, “Do you remember who you are?”

“My name is Axel.”

“That was not the question I asked.”

“What’s going on?” Simon interjects.

“Seers can only be produced by having someone in their lineage who was previously a Seer. Seers are rare to have among Epsilonians. Either he’s a miracle child or a mole from the Templites. Now, what are we going to do with you?” Mama Reyna threatens.

Mama Amanda steps in front of me, “He’s a child. Please leave him alone.”

“I will leave him alone under one condition.”

“Name it.”

“If he becomes a threat…”

“I will personally kill him.”

The room stays quiet. As it should considering they just said they’d be willing to kill me if I betrayed them.

“We are no better than him if we kill him.”

“You are right.” Mama Reyna says after a long pause, “I’m taking him to the Coven.”

“What if they vote to have him executed?”

“You will uphold your promise.”

* * *

I stand in the center of a dark cathedral with chains on my hands, legs, and waist. A spotlight blinds me to the thirteen silhouetted shadows peering straight at me. The thirteen Coven leaders stand in a circle surveying me. Five witches. Five warwicks. Three warlocks. As I spin, my suit shifts with the tag digging far in to my side. I pull on the chains to scratch and can’t reach. Great.

“Esmeralda. Queenie. Piper. Reyna. Amanda. Knox. Avery. Salem. Wren. Rae. Grave. Myst. Thorn.” Mama Reyna recites the names of the Coven, “We have all been gathered here today to determine the fate of Axel Wraith. He is suspected to be a Time Absorber living among our people. Although he is a child, his presence can be the demise of our world considering the ongoing war with Tempus.”

“This is all a bit much. All I saw was a daydream.” I state to everyone.

“A vision of the future?” A woman, with dark ebony skin, blonde waves, and a full body leather outfit strapped with knives on thick thighs, is the first to speak.

“That could be beneficial to our cause. We need a Seer to combat Kairos.” A man in layered dull grayish fabrics states.

“Sister Esmeralda and Brother Grave. What if he gives them information?” Mama Reyna asks.

“It will be an equal exchange unless they can somehow hack in to his mind. Control him remotely and have him kill all of us.” Grave responds.

“They cannot.” A warwick with a bald head and feminine features announces. They have tattoos covering their entire body. Their red dress made of lace like Mama Amanda containing their immense presence. Pointy black nails like claws click rhythmically. The dress’s skirt flowing all over the floor making them appear to float. “I worked with Templites before.” Their femininity and masculinity both prominent in their presence. They say plainly leaving no room for speculation, “His Placenta Pod Data Link will send this conversation to Kairos. Any visions are blocked out from Kairos by Madame Destiny. She started blocking his Seer powers when he started killing people relentlessly.”

“Chaos Salem. With your expertise, theoretically” Mama Amanda asks, “How could I give birth to this child?”

“It is the playing of God. Kairos and his strategists have a map of the entire universe with everyone that exists on it. Two Elder Seers are constantly feeding it information of everyone that lives in the galaxy. The two Seers are placed in a state of life and death where they are being sustained by machines that keep them alive. This state of half-life and half-death bypasses Ethereal permission to use Seer abilities. Every month, the strategists and Kairos meet to figure out where to plant their new informants. Once decided, Time Absorbers are de-aged, turned in to the being of their new planet, and they are transported on to Templite Ships. Their de-aging can go as far as a sperm with the ability to grow like a being from that planet. A Templite ambassador is then sent to distribute the Time Absorbers wherever they are needed.”

“But how could they get so close to make me have him?” Mama Reyna asks bewildered.

“They usually land on the planet in a desolate area. From there, they disperse Time Absorbers camouflaged in the skin suit of the beings from that planet. They can disperse them in multiple ways. They themselves can implant the sperm in to their bodies and deposit it in to a native being. Which could have happened to you. They can drug you and implant the baby while you are sleeping. Or they can slowly integrate the Time Absorber in child or adult form as a lost soul in need of help.”

Mama Reyna and everyone else look thrown off by everything they just heard. I’m definitely a little weirded out. I’m just a science experiment. There has to be word for seeing your existence stripped to the bare bones and realizing you’re just a tool for someone else to use.

“It can happen to anyone.” Salem reassures, “I will say. Seer bloodlines in Time Absorbers are never seen. Time Absorbers are reconnaissance tools. They wouldn’t send a Time Absorber with Seer abilities out to an enemy that can benefit from it.”

“You think they made a mistake?” Esmeralda asks.

“Yes, and I think they are keeping him away from Tempus for a reason. As it will grow, it will start to remember its last life. It is the one defect of a Time Absorber’s soul. The Wisps remember. Both always remembers.” Salem ends their statement.

“Put it to a vote. With the information provided by Chaos Salem who here wishes the boy to be executed?”

Reyna, Myst and Thorn raise their hands.

Salem says the next part, “Who wishes Axel to be given a chance to prove his innocence in our society?”

The remaining witches and warwicks raise their hands.

“It is settled,” Reyna states a bit scared, “We will keep him alive. For now.”

“Who will mentor him when the time comes?” A burley, pale, lumberjack giant asks. He crosses his rock-like muscular arms.

“I will take him under my guidance,” Chaos Salem volunteers, “I will train him. And shall he betray us, I will do the honor of disposing of him. Of course. I will allow for others to bid to be his teacher.”

At least we know there’s no lack of volunteers ready to kill me.

Why is everyone always so happy to kill me? What if I throw a temper tantrum one day? Can I no longer be hangry whenever I want food? Why do they make clothes with tags in annoying places?

The candles in the cathedral burn brighter illuminating the entire room. A kaleidoscope of colors engulf everyone. Stained glass windows shine brightly with all the colors of the rainbow. Simon looks relieved in the elevated tiered pews. A few other witches, wizards, and warwicks file out of the cathedral. I didn’t even know they were here. Someone must have blocked out all sound coming from the audience.

Simon runs over and hugs me, “I’m glad they didn’t kill you.”

“Me too.” Mama Amanda hugs us both. They let me go as Chaos Salem walks up to us.

“I can’t help with the Seer visions.” Salem starts, “But I will try to help you learn how to master your warlock abilities. That is if no one out bids me for your training. I know what it feels like to be casted aside.”

Mama Reyna grabs Simon and drags him away.

His touch lingers painfully one last time.

Salem’s eyes stare in pity.

I wonder why?

Hi everyone happy Monday! I unfortunately did not have a very productive reading week this past week :( I have yet to start out fantasy book pick House of Salt and Sorrows since I am in the middle of the faithful of the fallen series at the moment.

Fthebuffor our Horror book pick of the month The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, I unfortunately DNF'd this at 56% on audio. the audio book was not necessarily bad, I think the writing style is just not for me. I did like how all the POVs had different voice actors so it was easy to keep track that way, however, I was just not engaged with the story at all. I could not hold my focus no matter how hard I tried. the premise sounds very interesting and unique, however, I cannot tell you a single thing that happened in this book and I spent SEVERAL hours trying to understand. This book gets a lot of praise so I am definitely in the minority but the pacing and style of this book is just not for me!

I would love to hear your guys thoughts in the comments on discord :) Happy reading everyone and I hope you have an amazing week!

A reminder that all First Swords get 1 entry and Bright Stars get 2 entries into our monthly giveaway for a £10 gift card for any bookstore of your choice :)!

Winner announced next week.

Truth & Courage,

Ed & Will