1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Isla’s guide to The Twelve Nights of Halloheen (Excerpt)

The Twelve Nights of Halloheen are an opportunity to build community bonds. There might not be much food to share, but it will still be a feast. The presents we exchange will probably be inexpensive, but they’ll be precious. The fires we circle around might be small, but they’ll be warm and the night air will fill with our laughter.

Isla

Isla knew she was being dumb, but why stop the pattern of a lifetime now? When they’d been growing up, her best friend Zia had pulled her out of dangerous situations more times than she could count. When Zia brought her home with a new bruise, scrape, or torn clothing, her parents would sit her down and have a stern talk with her about making good choices.

With all the earnestness in her soul, Isla would promise to do better, and then she’d fail. It wasn’t that she was self-destructive or had a death wish; the problem was simply that she had poor risk-assessment skills. Her brain didn’t recognize danger until she was in the thick of it. Her inability to identify imminent hazards, coupled with her tendency to become hyper-focused on a goal, meant the world around her disappeared as she went after what she wanted. The way her brain worked meant she excelled at her chosen profession, programming, but it also meant she didn’t do well almost everywhere else.

Hyper-focusing on a non-essential task was the reason she was currently deep in the forest of Sorana, late at night, without a weapon, and holding a dying walking-torch. She should’ve turned back when the charge got so low the walking-torch started moving at a crawling pace. But no, she’d brushed aside the implication and started carrying it, instead of letting it walk on the ground and illuminate everything around her.

She’d also managed to ignore the dense fog forming around her until it got so bad the dimming, not-walking, walking-torch could barely illuminate the path a few yards ahead. Every few months, this kind of heavy mist would descend on Sorana. Wasn’t it just her luck that tonight would be one of those nights?

Her friend Zia was fond of the proverb luck favors the well prepared . Sometimes Isla felt like she was the living embodiment of the opposite of that saying. If she had a motto it would probably be something along the lines of— jump in with both feet and hope for the best.

Sometimes her style worked, and sometimes she ended up in a dark forest filled with eerie thick mist and no back-up light source.

A soft breeze rustled leaves and made the cold fog swirl around her. Her hair and clothes were getting damp. It wouldn’t be long before she started shivering because of course she hadn’t brought anything warm to wear.

This evening was turning out like something out of a gothic horror novel from Old Earth. All she needed was an Old Earth vampire to appear. Half the legends painted them as blood thirsty monsters, while the other half portrayed vampires as sexy, loyal protectors.

With the way things were going for her, any vampire that found her would be more interested in draining her body of blood than giving her sweet kisses.

A rustle in the vegetation to her right startled her. She awkwardly swung the walking-torch in the direction of the noise. The weak light it projected was barely enough to see the path at her feet. It had no chance to reveal what made the sound through the black night and dense, white vapor.

Going still, Isla focused on her hearing. There should be a soft symphony going on around her as all the small night creatures of the forest went about their business of digging in the ground, eating bugs, or scampering from spot to spot. But everything had gone quiet. There wasn’t even a breeze moving the leaves now.

Was even the wind scared to move?

Choices—run home as fast as possible, or turn the light off and crouch down in an attempt to look like a rock instead of a tasty Isla-shaped meal.

Large red eyes coalesced in the misty darkness in front of her, their murky color reflecting the dim light of her walking-torch through the fog. The rest of the creature was still cloaked in fog and inky night. This meant the eyes looked like they floated in front of her, going sharp, then hazy, as the mist moved in the space between them.

Cringing, she held the walking-torch in front of her like a shield. Judging by the height of those floating eyes, she faced a nightmare incarnate, also known as a gorg. They were the largest and most deadly predator on Sorana. Tears pricked Isla’s eyes as adrenalin flooded her system.

The disembodied eyes stalked closer in the silence.

“I know this seems like a good idea,” she babbled to the gorg as she backed away. “But I’d probably give you heartburn or a tummy ache. I promise it’s not worth eating me.”

The gorg hesitated when she started talking, but not for long. Tears were streaming down her face now. Sobs lodged in her throat, making it hard to breathe. Her heel caught on something, tripping her backward.

With a distressed cry, she fell hard on her ample butt. All she could think was this would never happen to Zia or Lakin . They were even smaller than her five-foot-six height, but somehow they were never at a disadvantage. Why did she always end up doing everything wrong?

Oh, that’s right, her stupid broken brain. She was going to die and it was all her own fault!

During the fall, the walking-torch had gone flying; now it was at least ten feet from her, lighting up a small patch of dense, rust-red forest. Without the light the glowing red eyes were gone, but Isla could feel the presence of the massive beast moving forward. It was as if a hulking shadow was pressing closer.

She wanted to scream. Run. Kick out. But she couldn’t make herself move. Instead, she huddled on the hard ground, shuddering with fear, and waited, unable to even pull air into her lungs.

A loud, violent sound broke through the silence. If she didn’t know better, she’d think it was the sound of many feet pounding the ground as they ran. In truth, it was the roar rattle of a Talin. And it was by far the most beautiful sound she’d ever heard!

Before she could yell to whatever Talin was out there, the war rattle abruptly cut off when a shadow tackled the gorg. The beast sounded an angry screech as the two dark shapes went rolling into the underbrush.

Getting to her knees, she tried to see what was happening. She could barely make out any movement. She could hear the angry hissing and spitting of the gorg and sounds of intense roaring and war rattle as the two apex predators fought.

The faint sound of little feet running got her attention at the same time three walking-torches came trotting into the small clearing on their three long, spindly legs. They were fully charged and illuminated the space with bright ferocity despite the thick white mist.

Their light revealed a familiar Talin, on his back with the gorg on top of him. The Talin was working his dagger between the armor plates surrounding the gorg’s thick neck. It was the only place gorgs were vulnerable, but the Talin was forced to let the gorg chew on his other arm to get access to the spot. Not that the gorg was having much luck getting past the sharp quills bristling down the Talin’s forearm.

Blasted by the light of three healthy walking-torches, the gorg screamed in pain and jumped off him. Before the Talin could even sit up, the dangerous beast disappeared into the dark, misty forest.

Unlike her, Talins were uniquely designed to combat gorgs, or any other deadly beast, with or without a walking torch. Except for a few spots, Talin’s were covered in a natural armor made of overlapping keratin plates.

Along with their plated skin, they had claws on their hands and long, sharp quills on their forearms, several of which the gorg had broken off this warrior. Evolution had designed Talins to be tough and apparently gorg-resistant!

And somehow this male had found himself in this section of forest right when she needed him. Seeing the warrior examining the arm the gorg had tried to eat, Isla realized she needed to get moving. This was her fault and she had to do her best to fix it!