The Nightingale Review Novels & Stories

I whispered. I gave Esther a quick, silent nod before leaving the house. The cold night air wrapped around me as soon as I stepped outside, and I adjusted the jacket around my body. The full moon hung high in the sky, partially illuminating the path leading to the edge of the reserve. The silence of the forest felt strange. The sound of the pine trees swaying and the distant echo of howls constantly reminded me of where I was—surrounded by wolves. I walked quickly, keeping my head down. Charlotte had said she was nearby, but how did she know where to find me? That only added to the mystery and my sense of unease.

Isabella asked, visibly shaken by the scene before her, her stomach churned at the sight of the bodies brutally bisected on the ground, the agony of the people, so powerless and helpless. “This Nightingale pack, the dark soldiers, had launched an attack on them.” “Oh my …..” she clutched her chest, a sharp pain seared into her. Her people are brutally murdered by dark soldiers. “You need to save them, reclaim the family throne and grant them freedom.”

I scrunched up my nose, disgusted by the smell. "What did you eat?" Nightingale continued to laugh. "Maybe some poop came with that fart. Let's check your diaper." I put Nightingale on her changing table and undid her diaper. Sure enough, she pooped a little; I sighed and cleaned her up. After changing her diaper, I pulled Nightingale to my chest and softly sang to her: "I hope you look just like your momma And love her like I do You'll see close to perfect patience If you watch her every move

Tobias held a hard stare at Theodore as he pursed his lips and finally spoke. "The Nightingale women are trained soldiers," Tobias said, his lips still tight and restrained. "They are as fit to fight as my male soldiers and Esme proved that today by saving my life. And if I could, I'd protect every wolf in my pack. But as you know, we face a powerful enemy and we need every capable wolf we've got in order to protect those that truly need protecting. The children and the elderly. They are who we would fail if we don't put everything we've got into winning this."

The Nightingale Sanatorium was less a hospital and more a fortress disguised as a country club. Its ivy-covered stone walls seemed to absorb sound, creating an aura of profound, unsettling silence. High-tech surveillance cameras, cleverly concealed within antique-looking gargoyles and wrought-iron fixtures, watched every approach. This wasn’t a place you could assault; it was a place you had to be invited into. And Catherine Sterling, with the cold, brilliant precision of a master strategist, engineered an invitation.

I heard the click of the lock slide into place a sound that hit harder than a gunshot. I stood there for a long moment, frozen. Then I moved to the window. The man had been right — the glass was thick, maybe bulletproof. The view outside was just trees and darkness, stretching for miles. Even if I jumped, I’d never make it far. I pressed my hand against the glass, and my reflection stared back at me ,pale, tired, terrified. I sat down on the bed and pressed both hands to my stomach. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I’m so sorry I got us into this.”

DELILAH Maybe I’m just too used to the Blackwaters. The prowling mansions. The polished cars. Everything sparkling. Everything is pretending to be perfect. And then..... knock, knock. I almost scream. My heart jumps into my throat as I look toward the window, and there he is......Jason, smiling brightly at me, the night doesn't have anything on him. He waves at me, casual, easy.

He stood on the balcony in the cold wind all night. When he returned to the bedroom, he found that my mother had jumped out of the window. That night, it poured. The rain washed away the blood from my mother's corpse. Cade rushed over and held me tight, letting me punch him repeatedly. He kept saying, "It's okay, it's okay…" But he chose Summer as his new fling. As Mrs. Finley, what dignity do I have left? That night, Cade did not come home. The trending topic I arranged was buried deep by him.

I see a beautiful nightingale but it flies away to a tree not too far away. I want to take a closer look so I lean forward and this is possibly one of the dumbest decisions I've ever made as I fall over and hold on to the edge of the window for dear life. I scream when I see the height at which I am hanging from the ground. My fingers begin to ache I try to move them to a more comforting position. That makes me lose grip and my fingers lose contact with the only thing keeping me safe from death or loss of my spinal cord.

I wiped my tears. My head rested on a squashy grey pillow while my eyes gazed out of the glass window at a lonely nightingale perched on a branch of the tree. Its head turned towards me; eyes set on mine. A moment later it cruised through the air scanning the ground below. My brain kept turning over the pages of souvenirs, countless thoughts whipped through my mind leaving the muscles of my forehead to tense up. The practicality of my thoughts vaporized some time ago yet my head churns on in the darkness like a runaway motor. I turned my head over to Ella; she was sound asleep. In the clearing, a grin of moonbeams arched across her dainty nose. This woman should be entitled to all the gifts