THE LAST SONG OF GRIMMOOR

THE NOTE

THE LAST SONG OF GRIMMOOR

Book One: Moon & Blood

Chapter Six: The Note

Kai made it back to his room as the sky turned grey. He didn't bother lighting a candle. He just sat on the floor with his back against the bed.

His heart still felt strange. Like it was remembering how to beat.

He pulled out the torn page and read it again.

“His mother was a vampire. His father was a…”

Morwen had said the name could kill him. Not maybe. Could.

What kind of name kills a person?

He folded the page and put it back under his shirt.

Sleep didn't come. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw her white ones. And felt his chest go cold.

When morning finally showed up, Grella knocked.

“You alive in there?”

“Barely,” he said.

She opened the door and looked at him. Her face went soft.

“You went to the bridge again.”

“How do you know?”

“Because you look like death warmed over.” She sat on the edge of his bed. “Kai, talk to me.”

He wanted to. But what could he say? A witch stopped my heart and told me the truth about the creature might kill me?

“I'm fine, Mother.”

“You're a terrible liar.”

She sat with him for a while. Then she left. The bread she brought stayed on the tray, untouched.

Later that day, a raven landed on his windowsill.

Kai had seen ravens before. But this one was different. It had silver flecks in its eyes. And it didn't squawk. It just stared.

Tied to its leg was a small scrap of paper.

Kai untied it. The bird flew off.

He unfolded the note. One line. Silver ink.

“The creature watches. Stay off the bridge.”

No name. No seal.

But Kai knew the handwriting. Sharp. Tight. Like the person who wrote it didn't want to waste a single movement.

Nova.

A vampire princess warning a wolf.

He read it twice. Then burned it in the candle flame.

Why would she warn him? She hated him. Or said she did.

Unless she didn't hate him as much as she pretended.

He sat back and stared at the ceiling.

That night, Kai stood by his window. The moon was thin. The mist over the Sunder was thick and white.

He thought about Morwen's words. The name could kill you.

He thought about Nova's note. Stay off the bridge.

He thought about the torn page. His mother was a vampire.

And he thought about the yellow eyes. Watching. Always watching.

He wanted to go back to the bridge. His feet itched to walk.

But he didn't.

He just watched.

And somewhere in the dark below the Sunder, two yellow eyes watched him back.