The Silent Book Club Novels & Stories

"Back to the sanctuary. It's the only place I know is secure." "And if it's not?" He didn't answer. That silence told me everything I needed to know. --- The drive back to Ashford Sanctuary was tense and quiet, the kind of silence that felt heavier than any conversation. I tried to open the book again, hoping something would appear, but the pages remained stubbornly blank. I turned them over and over, searching for any sign of words, but nothing came. The leather was warm under my fingers, almost alive, but it refused to show me anything.

“You looked, I don’t know, peaceful.” “Honestly, this book is terrible,” Audrey said, holding up some thriller that I vaguely recognized. “I don’t know why the hell Annabelle has it on her shelf, but I fear for any of the recommendations she’s been giving out at the bookstore.” I suddenly realized where I recognized the book from. “Oh, that’s the one that all the book clubs were reading a while back,” I said. “She probably only got it because of that.” “Oh, that makes more sense,” Audrey said. There was an awkward silence. “So, are you going to sit down or what?”

I gave her a grateful look and turned to go back inside, back to my son, the quiet center of this beautiful, terrifying storm. 🐺⚪️🐺⚪️🐺 DARIUS 🛡⚫️🛡 Silence. That’s what we’d gotten from the Council since we’d burned their pathetic list of terms. Not a word. Not another courier. Just a dead, ringing silence that stretched across the land between us. And that silence was making me more uneasy than any threat they could have put on parchment. Silence meant they were planning. It meant they were regrouping. It meant they were done with words.

Without a word, Arthur held out a beer to him, a silent offering to join him. Franklyn hesitated for a moment before accepting the drink. They both knew they needed this, needed the distraction, the brief respite from all the chaos happening around them. They made their way out to the balcony, the cool night air a welcome relief from the stuffiness of the apartment. They sat in silence, each lost in their thoughts, the only sound of the occasional sip of beer. After a while, Franklyn cleared his throat, breaking the silence not wanting to continue it anymore. "So, uh, how did you end up joining the Chief's gang?" he asked, his voice was tentative.

"Release the photos within the hour. The meeting is adjourned." The board members and lawyers packed up quickly, whispering as they filed out, and while some offered Selene polite nods on their way, she barely registered them. She stayed in her seat, her fingers lightly tapping her folder because the sudden drop of adrenaline left her exhausted. Daniel didn't move either, sitting quietly beside her and watching the empty doorway until the doors finally closed, leaving only the three of them inside. The silence in the room changed instantly, the pretense disappearing, as Cassian walked down the table towards her.

The boy looked at the tower. To the book. To Morrigan. Like he would hope someone else would answer. No one did. After all, he sighed. “The silent archive is not a place to visit.” “That sounds like a place we have to visit.” murmured Noah. “Leider yes.” The boy went through his hair. “Those stories end.” Silence. “End?” asked Jonas. “Not as books end.” His voice became quieter. “They disappear.” A cold wind went through the streets.

She slowly got herself out of the bed, her mind still replaying last night… Williams’ eyes, his voice, that unspoken weight pressing between them. “Why does he stare at me like that?” She murmured. Enough. Today, she wouldn’t drown in old memories. She needed… something. She got dressed fully, Pulling her jacket tighter, she stepped outside and walked briskly until the small bookstore came into view. The bell above the door chimed softly as she slipped inside. Her eyes wandered in search of that one book till she saw it: “The weight of silence.” Her breath caught. She pulled it down, fingers brushing the cover. The woman’s voice echoed in her mind: “That book is about healing”

Not now, not after everything. Lina flipped through a final set of pages in the old book, and I watched her lips move as she read the words silently. The quiet of the room seemed deafening. The sound of my breathing, the boys’ occasional shifts of weight, and the soft rustling of Lina’s pages were the only things that broke the silence.

" Shiloh paused. She looked Manuel straight in the eyes, a faint smile on her lips. "Want me to keep going?" Manuel went pale, but he still tried to defend himself. "It's not what you think. Rainee's always been timid. She's scared of the dark. Thunder terrifies her. Whenever there was a storm, she'd grab her stuffed bunny and come to my room. "After all these years, sleeping next to her on rainy nights just became a habit. That doesn't mean I loved her..."

I whispered, my head shaking as I fought against the terrifying relief his proximity was giving my body. "I am the only choice you have left," Derrick said, dropping down to his knees right in front of me, his face inches from mine, his eyes darker than the shadows of the tomb. "The council is outside with five packs, the twins are outnumbered twenty to one, and if you walk out there like this, you will explode and destroy everything you love." He reached out, his bare fingers gently brushing against the side of my burning neck, and a sharp, electric shock of pure grounding energy snapped through the point of contact, making my whole body shudder as the voices in my head suddenly went comple