Home>>read A Shade of Vampire 41: A Tide of War free online

A Shade of Vampire 41: A Tide of War(71)

By:Bella Forrest


She kept telling us all—mainly me, Hazel and Julian, who were the ones who questioned her decision the most—that she would return regularly and that she and Ash would put Nevertide back together, piece by piece.

I knew that my grandpa and Ben were pleased about the decision. Having sentry allies was going to be a big help to GASP—some of their skills, like True Sight and the barrier-building, were particularly helpful.

“Have you got everything?” Claudia asked Ruby for the millionth time.

“I’ve got everything, Mom.” She smiled wearily. “Don’t worry—honestly, we’ll be back before you even have time to miss us.”

“I miss you already, sweetheart,” Claudia moaned.

Pretty much the whole of GASP were gathered to watch them go. We stood, waiting to get our own goodbyes in while Claudia fussed around her daughter.

“She’s going to be all right,” Yuri said, gently squeezing his wife’s shoulder. “We can go and visit them too, you know.”

“I know,” Claudia sighed, her eyes red-rimmed.

“Hey, you.” Ruby gave me a fierce hug while her mom and dad were distracted. “I’m going to miss you a whole lot. I’ve gotten used to having you around—Nevertide won’t be the same without you.”

I laughed loudly. “Yeah, sure, what’s Nevertide without a possessed kid, right?”

“Exactly.” She grinned.

Ash came up behind her, holding out his hand to me. “You’re welcome anytime. It’s your home too.”

I shook his hand, privately thinking that I never wanted Nevertide to be described as my ‘home’.

“Thanks, Ash,” I replied instead with a smile.

They said their goodbyes to Julian, who looked slightly red-cheeked as Ruby gave him another fierce hug. She knocked his glasses askew, so when the two finally broke apart, Julian looked rumpled and flustered.

“What’s with you?” I asked.

“Nothing,” he hissed.

Jenney said her goodbyes next, and I realized that I’d probably miss her as much as I would Ruby. I hoped she would return to The Shade one day—her almost blowing up the Sanctuary had been cool. When she went to hug Julian goodbye, he blushed an even darker shade of red than before. I rolled my eyes.

“Wish you were all coming as a clean-up crew,” Ash remarked to some of the witches behind me. I smiled to myself. I bet he did—they were going to have a massive job on their hands.

“Actually, that’s not a bad idea…I’ve got a couple of creatures in need of a bit of community service.” My grandma Sofia smiled to herself. “I’ll be back in a moment, don’t leave.”

She dashed off in the direction of the Black Heights. I shrugged, turning back to Jenney.

“Have you seen Yelena?” she asked. “I said goodbye to her earlier, but I thought she’d be here for the send-off.”

“I haven’t, sorry.” But I guessed where she’d be. Mom had finally tracked down her address, and she was meant to be leaving this afternoon. Yelena would no doubt be hiding somewhere, trying to postpone the inevitable, like she’d been doing since the moment she got here. I didn’t know why she was missing this send-off though, she’d only be annoyed later when she discovered they’d gone.

“What’s your grandma got?” Ash murmured, looking back in the direction of The Shade.

I grinned, instantly recognizing the host of brownies who had been jailed in the caves. Julian and I had found out about them a week ago, and heard the whole ‘Minotaur’ mystery story from Corrine.

“I think you just found your clean-up team.” I laughed. The brownies looked seriously displeased.

“Brownies,” announced my grandma. “You’ll need to keep a close eye on them, but I’m hoping that after some honest labor they’ll improve. If not, feel free to send them back.” She glared down at the ring-leader, who sniffed angrily and kicked a pebble with her foot.

“I hope there’s better food there than there is here,” the brownie grumbled.

I laughed out loud at that.

Dream on!

Shayla and a group of other witches were also sent along to help with the clean-up. I hoped for Ruby’s sake that with the witches’ magic, things would be resolved quickly. I hoped that she and Ash did create the changes in Nevertide that they were hoping for. Ash had major plans to abolish the kingdoms, and have one central, truly democratic government—it would mean he would abdicate his throne, but he was insistent that it would be worth it. I wasn’t sure I’d want to give up being emperor of an entire land, even if it was just Nevertide.