Ghosts Of Reach Novels & Stories

There was fresh blood on the floor, but the animal didn't react. I took a shaky step forward, my heart hammering against my ribs. The wolf didn't turn. I walked closer, standing five feet away and holding my bleeding hand out. Nothing. I walked until I was standing right next to the bars, inches from the cold metal. The wolf threw itself at the cage again, trying to get to Declan. Its claws sparked against the iron. It ignored me completely. I was invisible. "You really are a Ghost," Declan said softly. He walked up beside me. He raised the knife again and sliced his own palm.

The cold water rushed into my nose and ears, and the freezing sensation enveloped me. As my consciousness started to fade, the distant screams of bystanders seemed to drift away. Through the dark water, it felt as if I had traveled across time and space, arriving in a place completely different from the real world. After three thousand five hundred and forty-five days, I finally saw her again. With red eyes, I watched as Emma gently cared for a little girl, and I called out softly, "Emma, I’ve come to find you." But she did not seem to hear me, taking the little girl’s hand and preparing to leave.

I reached. There was nothing there. Not muted. Not distant. Gone.

"Just don't be afraid of me. If it bothers you, don't look." With those words, he seemed to dissolve into a thick stack of black fog. His face peered from the center and took on a horrifying, almost demonic appearance, with glowing red eyes and elongated features made of the same fog. Emily opened her mouth in a silent scream, but the only sound that emerged was an almost inaudible squeak. "Don't look," he commanded, his voice sounding like a haunted howl of wind. "Hold on tight," he instructed as the group barreled through the line of werewolves and into the night.

“We don’t have the number for that. I can’t risk the lives we do have on a maybe.” “Don’t worry too much. We’ll keep in touch, Gray. You know you’ll always have us as allies, no matter where you are,” Delia tells him, her voice softer now. I start walking again, making sure to walk in the direction of their voices. Their scents. Earth and sweet and spice and sage. As I get closer I hear a snap from underneath my foot, and look up to see Gray’s usual blue eyes flashing yellow. He blinks and shoots me a fake grin.

Beside her, Elias looked out toward the horizon, where a trail of white, spectral shapes was moving across the valley floor. "They aren't ghosts, Rhea," Elias said, his voice a low, melodic vibration that made the silver-reeds at the water's edge tremble. "They’re 'Echoes'. The memory-harvest in Sector 4 triggered a cascade. The ancestors aren't just staying in the roots anymore; they’re manifesting in the atmosphere. The pressure of the 'Sweetness' is so high that the past is literally spilling over into the present."

Skinny Monkey added, shrill as ever, “It’s the last day! If you try to touch us, I’ll slice her head clean off!” The ghosts' anger all came to an abrupt halt! From up here, I could see every single ghost downstairs staring at the axe and at me. None of them dared to move. Seconds ticked by. Then, the system’s chime rang in everyone’s ears: [Survival countdown: Ten, Nine, Eight…] “It’s done!” Big Eyes’ face contorted into wild ecstasy. “Hahaha! Old hag! You’re done being useful! “I won’t even let you leave with us!”

"I'll be the floor, Aria. Just like I promised. I'll be the floor until you reach the Ridge." "Then get ready to bleed," I said, drawing my silver dagger. The red beam hit the door. The high-frequency whine of a breaching charge began to hum through the cedar logs. We were three ghosts in a room full of memories I no longer owned, and the hunters had finally arrived to collect the remains. "Leo, get in my shadow," I commanded. My voice was stone. My arm was gold. And the night was just beginning.

Maelis's quarters were empty. Her maps were spread across the table, and one location was circled in red. A place called the Sunken Valley. The Gray Reach was a hidden settlement carved into the northern mountains, its buildings built from pale stone and its streets winding between cliffs that kept it invisible from the outside. I had never been here before. Maelis had described it in detail, her ancient eyes bright with pride, and now I was walking through her empty rooms while the wolves she led searched the wilderness for any sign of her.