Warning: R rated for fantasy violence and adult themes.
Posted on Mondays and Fridays.
We are at war.
This war is not about wealth, resources, or territory. It’s a war of biological extermination. The very existence of humanity is at stake.
The moment the first gate burst, sending a monster horde to rage through our world, it brought us unimaginable suffering, but it also awoke something slumbering deep within some of us, a means to repel and destroy our enemy. Powers beyond comprehension. Abilities that are legendary.
The war is ongoing. If you are a Talent, your country needs you. The world needs you. Be the hero you always wanted to be.
Take my hand and answer the call.
Elias McFeron
Guildmaster of Cold Chaos
Chapter 1
Health insurance with $1,000 maximum family deductible.
Prescription drug coverage with 80% discount off list prices.
The first time I heard about gates, I imagined them to be these portals glowing with a magical blue light. Too many video games, I guess. They were nothing like it. This one was a hole. A deep, black, vertical hole that punched through reality, swirling with pale mist.
It appeared in front of the Elmwood Park Rec center. To the left was Elmwood Public library, all red brick and tinted windows. To the right was a funeral home followed by perfectly ordinary, three-story boxes of apartment buildings covered in tan stucco. And straight ahead was an interdimensional tear. Just another Monday.
If someone told me ten years ago that I would be standing in front of a hole leading into a dimensional breach and preparing to go inside, I would’ve politely nodded, walked away, and later told Roger I’d met an unhinged person. Of course, ten years ago I was thirty, happily married, with a daughter in elementary school, a son just out of diapers, and a low-risk private sector job I loved. A different life that belonged to a different Adaline.
The future looked bright back then. Until the invasion shattered it.
Free emergency medical care when injured in the line of duty.
I took this job for the benefits, and when it got to me, like now, I recited them in my head like a prayer.
Dental, $150 deductible, 50% off braces.
Things that came with age and children: appreciation of the dental plan with orthodontics. Braces were hellishly expensive.
Vision plan, 15% discount off glasses and contacts.
The gate gaped like a dark maw.
At least thirty-five yards tall. Maybe taller. The threat scale ran from blue to red, and the prep packet put this gate at the low orange risk level. On a dying scale of 1 to 10, it was about 7.
This was my seventy-eighth gate. I’d gone into orange gates many times before. I didn’t want to go into this one. It made my hair stand on end. And the presence of the funeral home wasn’t helping.
“Ominous sonovabitch, isn’t he?” Melissa murmured next to me.
“Mhm.”
The mining foreman crossed her arms on her chest. She was a tall woman, two years older than me, with auburn hair she religiously dyed every four weeks and the kind of face that said she had everything under control. We met years ago, on one of my earlier gate dives, bonded over kids, and stayed friendly ever since.
Melissa ran her mining crew like a well-oiled machine. She didn’t get rattled, but she was staring at this gate like it was about to reach out and bite her. Something about this hole set both of us on edge.
Melissa narrowed her eyes. “Anja, tie your damn shoelaces.”
One of the younger miners rolled her eyes and crouched. “Always on my case…”
“Exactly. I am always on your case. I’m on everyone’s case. If we have to run for our life out of that gate, I don’t need any of you tripping over your feet, because I’ll have to double back and get you. You have two toddlers to come back to.”
“Yes, Mother.”
Melissa heaved a sigh. “Everybody is full of sass today.”
Around us the mining crew checked their gear, twelve people in indigo magnaprene coveralls and matching hard hats. Nobody seemed unusually worried. Toolbelts were adjusted, rock drills and shears tested, the generator and floodlights on three industrial carts inspected. The usual.
The escort, five combat grade Talents in dark blue tactical armor, had done their precheck ages ago and were now waiting. Aaron, a tank class, sat on a crate, leaning against another crate, his eyes closed. His massive adamant-reinforced shield rested on the ground next to him. Three strikers mulled about, armed with SIG Spear rifles and a variety of sebrian blades for when the ammo ran out.
London, the escort unit leader, surveyed the mining crew. He was a blade warden, which meant he could both dish out lethal damage and summon a protective forcefield which made him invulnerable for several minutes. He carried a brutal-looking tactical axe, and on the few occasions I saw him use it, he cut through transdimensional monsters like he was chopping salad.
Both the mining crew and the escort wore blue, marked with the lightning blade emblem of the Cold Chaos Guild. I wore a white hard hat and grey coveralls with a patch of the Dimensional Defense Command on my sleeve. The mining crew and the escorts were private contractors, while I was a representative of the US Government. My official title was Dimension Breach Resource Assessor. The guilds called us DeBRAs, and they were supposed to keep us alive at all costs.
If things went to shit, the tank would put himself between the mining crew and the threat, the strikers would cut down whatever got past him, and London would grab me, wrap us both in his defensive force field, and drag me out of the gate so I could report the disaster to the DDC. Of everyone here, I was the least expendable, as far as the government was concerned.
It didn’t make me feel any better.
The mist swirled, sending tendrils of dread toward me. I resisted the urge to hug myself.
20 days of recuperation leave.
Which was long overdue. Maybe that was part of the problem.
Basic Housing Allowance.
That was a big one. BHA was the only reason I was able to keep the house after Roger left.
Child Tuition Assistance.
CTA was another big one. It helped me cover tuition for Hino’s Academy. Things were tight but I hadn’t missed a payment yet. The school had stellar academics, but I picked it for their underground shelter. If a gate ruptured and a flood of invading monsters washed over the city, Tia and Noah would be safe until the military and the guilds repelled it. Competition for the school was fierce, but since I was DDC, the kids were given special treatment along with the children of guild members. Advertising that Hino was the school of choice for the children of Talents was good for the academy’s prestige.
“Ada, London is checking you out again,” Melissa said.
Next to me, Stella, Melissa’s baby-faced protégé, snickered quietly. She was twenty, and flirting was still exciting.
A large German Shepherd sitting at Stella’s feet panted, as if laughing. Bear came from an illustrious line of police dogs with heroic careers. She had the typical GS coloring, big brown eyes, and huge ears, and petting her was off-limits. I’d asked before and was told no. Bear was working like the rest of us. Petting would be distracting.
“Brace yourself, he’s coming this way,” Melissa murmured.
I turned. London was heading straight for us. His real name was Alex Wright, and he was from Liverpool, but everyone called him London anyway. People with combat Talents were resistant to wear and tear, and at forty-five, London was still in his prime, tall, broad-shouldered, with blue eyes, wavy brown hair, and an easy smile. His job was to keep the miners and me safe, and since he was my designated babysitter, he and I spent a lot of time in close proximity. Even so, he’d been paying me too much attention lately.
London stopped by us. “Everything okay here?”
“Everything was fine until you showed up,” Melissa said.
He grinned at her. “Just doing my due diligence.”
They usually had a fun back-and-forth going. It put people at ease. I worked with guilds all over the Eastern US. In some mining crews, tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife and make a sandwich. Cold Chaos was light and bright.
“Are you worried about us, Escort Captain?” Stella tilted her head, and her mane of dark curly hair drooped to one side.
“It’s my job to worry, Miles. Have you been doing your sprints?” London asked.
“I have,” Stella told him. “Fifteen seconds for the dash.”
A hundred meters in fifteen seconds was damn impressive. It was good to be young. God, I was almost twice her age. How the hell did it even happen? I was twenty only a few years ago, right?
“Not bad,” London said.
“I can beat both of them,” Stella reported, nodding at me and Melissa.
“Talk to me after you pushed three human beings through your hips and put on forty pounds from the stress of keeping them alive,” Melissa told her.
London turned to me. “Where do you dash, Ada?”
Why are you doing this? You know nothing will come of it. “Gate Park.”
All government gate divers ran – not for distance or endurance – but to survive. A 100-meter sprint, a walking lap around the track, rinse and repeat for an hour, then go home, and take ibuprofen for the aching knees. Three times a week. Five would be better, but three was what I usually managed. The DDC had mandatory PT tests every six months to keep us in shape. When a noncombatant faced a threat in the breach, running to the gate was the best and often the only way to stay alive.
“Maybe I’ll join you sometime,” London said.
Again, why? “You’re out of my league. It would be a waste of your time.”
“Never,” he told me.
“How fast do you dash?” Stella asked London.
“Let me put it to you this way: I could pick Ada up and give you a three-second head start, and you still wouldn’t beat my time.”
London smiled at us and moved on.
“Is he lying?” Stella asked Melissa.
“No,” the mining foreman told her. “Combat Talents are on another level. We can’t keep up.”
London was sending out all sorts of interested signals. He was nice to look at, charming, and he’d clearly been around the block enough to know what he was doing. By now, he’d had enough experience not to fumble and enough patience to pay attention when it mattered. If I agreed to go on a date, it would go smoothly and end well.
However, the DDC forbade fraternization with guild members. I was supposed to stay neutral and refrain from forming any personal attachments. Even the work-hours friendships like the one with Mellissa were frowned upon. Getting involved with a guild Talent would get me fired, and I had two kids and a mortgage. As fun as London would be in bed – and he would be very fun – he wasn’t worth losing my job.
My phone vibrated. Hino Academy. Please don’t be a problem, please don’t be a problem…
“Yes?”
“Ms. Moore?”
Gina Murray, the assistant principal. That wasn’t good.
“We have a problem.”
Of course, we do.
A woman emerged from the gate and waved. A scout the assault team had left behind. An hour had passed without incident, and it was time to go in.
“Alright people!” London called out. “You know the drill. Last gear check. Move out in two minutes.”
“What happened?”
I needed to fix this fast. Phones didn’t work inside the gate, and London had to stick to schedule and account for any delay. If we went inside five minutes late and a disaster struck, even if it was completely unrelated, the Guild would drag him over hot coals for it.
“Tia left campus without permission.”
Melissa rolled her eyes.
“Okay.”What was that kid doing…
“Before she left, several students and a member of the faculty heard her make a self-harm threat.”
“What?”
“We are required to contact the police…”
“Please don’t do anything. Let me speak to her first. I’ll call you right back!”
I ended the call and stabbed Tia’s number in contacts.
Beep.
She wouldn’t. Tia wouldn’t. Not in a million years.
Beep.
Beep.
I knew my daughter. She would not.
“Yes, mom?”
“Are you going to hurt yourself?”
“What?”
The mining crew formed up in front of the gate. London gave me a pointed stare.
“Oh look, Stella’s dog is malfunctioning,” Melissa said too loudly.
Stella pretended to shake Bear’s leash. “Won’t turn on. Something broke.”
London headed for us.
“The Academy called. You told them you were going to hurt yourself and left campus.”
“Well, you know what, maybe I should kill myself because they just assigned us a fifth essay due next week…”
“Tia!” I couldn’t keep the pressure from vibrating in my voice. “This is really serious. I need you to be honest with me. Are you thinking of hurting yourself?”
London cleared the distance between us. “What’s the hold up?” he asked quietly.
“Give her a minute,” Melissa told him. “It’s her kid.”
“No. I was in the cafeteria, I failed Latin again, and then there was the fifth essay due…”
London met my gaze. “Three minutes.”
Thank you, I mouthed. Three minutes was a gift.
“…Mr. Walton made a snide comment about not applying myself and I said, ‘Just kill me, it will solve all my problems…’”
And…?
“…And then I went to get Starbucks! I always sneak out to get Starbucks. Everybody does it. Nobody cares!”
It wasn’t a real threat. Someone overreacted. The relief washed over me like an icy flood. Not a real threat.
“Mr. Walton hates me!”
“Tia, I’m about to go into the gate. The school wants to call the cops.”
“What? Why?!”
“If this happens, things will get very complicated, and I can’t help, because I’ll be inside the breach. I need you to return to school and fix this.”
“I was already on my way! I’m almost there.”
I started toward the gate.
“I’m walking into the school building right now.”
“Kiss their ass, do whatever you need to, but make sure you fix it. I love you.”
“I love you too. Mom…”
The gate loomed.
“Here we go,” Melissa muttered.
“I have to go, Tia.”
“Mom!”
“Yes?”
“Don’t die!”
“I won’t,” I promised.
“Remember,” London called out. “We go in together as one, we come out together as one. Nobody gets left behind.”
The mist swirled around my legs. I hung up, took a deep breath, and stepped into the dark.
#
Stepping through the gate felt like trying to push your way through dense, rubber-thick Jello.
I blinked, trying to adjust to the low light.
A stone passage stretched in front of me, illuminated by patches of bioluminescent lichens, moss, and fungi. They climbed up the walls, glowing with turquoise, green, and lavender, some curling like fern sprouts, other spreading in a net like bridal veil stinkhorn mushrooms.
The otherness slapped you in the face. It didn’t look familiar, it didn’t smell right, and it didn’t feel like home. The hair on the back of my neck rose. Fear dashed down my arms like hot electric needles. I wanted out of this gate. The urge to turn around and run back to the familiar blue sky was overwhelming.
This burst of panic used to happen every time I entered a breach. I’d tried everything in the beginning: counselling, breathing, counting, cataloging random things I saw… My primary prescribed some Xanax, which I couldn’t take because it was strictly off limits for gate divers. Slowed the reaction time down too much.
Medication wouldn’t have worked anyway. Nothing had worked until one week we got a cluster breach. Four gates opened simultaneously in close proximity, and I was the only DeBRA in range. I went through four breaches in forty-eight hours, and by the middle of the third my panic switch got permanently broken. This anxiety was an unwelcome blast from the past, and it needed to go away right now.
It was probably the residual stress from the school call.
“Alright,” Melissa called out. “We have a limestone cave biome. The assault team found a large chamber with promising mineral deposits, so we’ve got a bit of a hike. Watch your step. Do you remember how Sanders fell into a crevice and got stuck, and we spent ten minutes pulling him while he was farting up a storm and giggling? Don’t be Sanders.”
Sanders, a tall bear of a man in his mid-thirties, chuckled into his reddish beard. “I didn’t have chili this time, I swear!”
A light laughter rippled through the crew. Melissa was going right down her playbook: item one, put everyone at ease the moment the crew stepped into the breach; item two, reach the mining site; item three, profit.
“We have Adaline Moore with us this morning. She is the strongest DeBRA in the state, which means if there is good pay in this hellhole, she will find it for us,” Melissa announced. “Another day, another dollar. Isn’t that right, Assessor?”
“That’s right.” I matched her tone. “Living the dream.”
Another ripple of laughter.
“Once more…” one of the miners called out.
“Don’t you say it!” Melissa growled. “You know better!”
“…into the breach!”
“Damn it, Hotchkins!”
The guild superstition held that if you said the line, you would come out alive, but you would kiss the chance of a big score goodbye. It didn’t matter. Someone always said the line.
“I swear if you jinxed us, I will fire you myself…”
Aaron looked at London. The blade warden nodded, and the massive tank started down the passageway, moving fast. Time was money. The mining crew followed, keeping the three equipment carts in the middle, the strikers guarding the flanks like Border Collies obsessed with their herd.
I joined the flow of people. Melissa walked on my left and London on my right. Elena, the assault team’s scout who’d come back to escort the miners, fell in step next to London. Lean, with a harsh face and blond hair pulled into a tight ponytail, Elena didn’t walk, she glided.
In theory, being on the mining crew was the safest part of the gate dive. Safe was a relative term. Walking across a narrow beam over molten lava was also safe, as long as you didn’t fall.
“Doing okay?” London murmured.
“Yes,” I lied.
“Is Tia alright?”
“Yes. She’s a smart kid. She will handle it. Thank you for the three minutes.”
“You’re welcome.” He glanced at me, his eyes concerned. “Not feeling this one?”
“No.”
Gate divers were like ancient sailors. We ventured into the unknown that could kill us at any moment. In the breach, survival depended on luck and intuition, and our rituals were an acknowledgment of that. We knocked on wood, we muttered lucky sayings under our breath, and we trusted our instincts. My instincts were pumping out all of the dread they could muster.
“Anything specific?” London asked.
“It makes my skin crawl.”
“Don’t worry,” he promised quietly. “I’ll get you out of here in one piece.”
I glanced at him.
“I mean it, Ada. The only way you go down is if I’m down, and I’m really good at surviving. We get in, get out, and you can go home and sort the kid issues out. Tomorrow will be like this never happened.”
“Thank you.”
He nodded.
Ten years had passed since Roger had abandoned us. I’d been on my own for a decade, taking care of the kids, paying the bills, surviving. Every decision in my life was up to me, and I made them without support or any help from anyone else. I’d become used to it, but London just reminded me how it felt to share all of that with someone. Someone who cared if you lived or died.
This was the worst time to wonder about things. I promised my daughter I would come back. I had to concentrate on that.
The passageway forked. We turned right. Hotchkins, a short, dark-haired man, spraypainted a backward orange arrow on the wall. He would do this every time we made a turn. It was a proven fact that people running for their lives had trouble orienting themselves.
Ahead a glowing stick shone among the rocks. Beyond it eight furry bodies sprawled on the ground in a puddle of blood. My foot slid on something. A spent shell casing. The cave floor was littered with them. The assault team had made a stand here.
We passed the bodies, skirting them to the sides. The dead things were large, about the size of a Great Dane, with long lupine jaws and massive feet armed with hook-like claws. Their pelts, chewed up by bullets, were shaggy with blue-grey fur. They didn’t look like anything our planet could’ve spawned.
“A variant of Moody’s stalkers,” London said. His voice was perfectly calm.
“Yeah. There were a lot of them, and they are spongy. They soak up bullets like they’re nothing and keep coming,” Elena said. “And they spit acidic bile.”
“Good to know,” London said.
“We did our best to clean up, but the place is a maze.” Elena kept her voice low. “Passages going everywhere, so we may run into some. We didn’t see anything more advanced until we went much deeper, so there is that.”
“No worries,” Stella offered from behind them. “Bear will let us know if anything is coming.”
Elena gave her a cold smile. “I will let us know if anything is coming.”
“Don’t pay her any attention, Bear,” Melissa murmured. “She didn’t mean anything by it.”
Bear twitched her right ear. One day I would pet that dog.
Elena kept gliding forward, her face portraying all of the warmth of an iceberg. Her talent was heightened hearing and vision, which put her into scout class. If she concentrated hard enough, she could hear a person murmuring behind a closed door two floors above. But as awesome as Elena was, I would trust Bear over her any day. There was a reason every guild brought canines into the breaches. The transdimensional monstrosities wigged them out, and they let us know when something came near. Dogs were the best early warning system we had.
Elena was a young scout. Her talent had manifested two years ago, and she was still in the edgy, prove-yourself stage. More experienced scouts made friends with canine handlers and carried dog biscuits.
At least she was conscientious and took her job seriously. Some combat Talents looked down on miners. As I heard one hotshot put it, “We’re going to kill monsters and save humanity. Have fun digging up magic rocks.” He was very surprised when he didn’t get his bonus at the end.
Magic rocks assured everyone’s paychecks and produced resources for weapons and armor. Mining crews had to be protected at all costs, and both mining foremen like Melissa and escort captains like London held a lot of sway in the guilds. Without mining, guilds would not exist.
Ten years ago, when the first set of gates appeared out of nowhere near the major population centers, they’d taken humanity by surprise. We’d cordoned them off so we could carefully study them and before anyone had a chance to adjust, the gates burst, spilling a horde of monsters into the world.
We knew a lot more about the gates now. Beyond every gate lay the breach, a miniature dimension stuffed to the brim with monsters. That dimension connected Earth and the hostile world like a gangplank linking two ships. The breaches were how the enemy got from their world to ours.
Every breach had an anchor, a core that stabilized it. Once the breach appeared, the anchor began to accumulate energy. When it got enough, the gate would burn through the fabric of our reality and rip open, releasing the invaders into our world to rampage and murder everything they came across. The more dangerous the breach was, the longer it took to burst.
There was a brief period, anywhere from a few days to a few months from the moment the gate appeared, when the monsters couldn’t escape yet but we could enter the gate from our side. It gave us a chance to extinguish the anchor and collapse the breach. The moment a gate manifested, the clock started ticking.
At first, destroying the anchors was the sole responsibility of the military, but it quickly got prohibitively expensive. Casualties were high. And it was discovered that the breaches contained a wealth of materials: strange ores, medicinal plants, and monster bones with incredible properties. Resources that could aid our fight and make us stronger. It wasn’t just about destroying the anchors anymore. We had to strip the breach of anything valuable before it collapsed.
Pretty soon it became apparent that the very first gate rupture had altered the world. Some said the gates released a virus, others speculated that it was some undetectable trace element that entered the atmosphere. Nobody knew for sure, but in some people it awakened the kind of abilities that previously only existed in myth and fiction. The Talents. Faster, stronger, almost magical.
The Talents banded into guilds, and governments around the world began to outsource the gates to them, taking a percentage of the profits. Economic and security crisis solved at the cost of volunteer lives.
The cave passage kept branching. Left, left, right, another right, each glowing with swirls of colorful lichens and fungi. Elena was right. This place was a maze.
By now, the process of gate diving was almost routine. As soon as a gate appeared, it was graded, its threat level measured, a government assessor like me assigned, and the appropriate guild was contacted. The attack began with the assault team, heavy hitters with combat talents, who entered the gate and cut and burned through the miniature pocket dimension until they found the anchor and destroyed it.
While the assault team worked their way to the anchor, the mining crew came in and stripped the breach bare, extracting anything that could be of use and would help humanity keep fighting. Each breach’s resources were unique and precious. That was where I came in. My job was to assess the space, guide the mining team, and make sure that the government got their 30% cut.
Once the anchor was destroyed, the breach began to degrade and then collapsed, usually within twenty-four hours. Hopefully everybody got out alive, and when the next gate appeared, we would do it all over again.
Ahead Aaron stopped. Finally. It was time to earn my paycheck. The sooner I found something of value, the sooner we all got out of here.
Dread curled around me like a cold snake. I could just turn around and run back to the gate, quit, and never go into any breaches again. I could absolutely do that. But then whatever this breach held would stay in it instead of becoming weapons, armor, and medicine.
I took a deep breath and followed the miners to do my job.
To be continued on Monday.
We are looking for an artist to help us with images. Somebody who is good at quick digital sketches of environments, mostly caves. Contact Mod R with your portfolio at modr@ilona-andrews.com
Wow! Thank you!
I’m so interested in this story. I also thinks it is great that she is 40. I’m not sure yet if London guy is the hero but he seems like a good guy.
I love that she is older! I am over 20 something girls in books
Same!
I totally have the heebie-jeebies. Creepy caves, hungry sharp toothed monsters, smash and grab salvage, Yeah, I’ve got a bad feeling about this.
My heart jumped when I read she‘s in her 40s! 🙌 Yeah for the mature heroine.
+1
+++
Same.
I absolutely adore Dina & Maud and the Baylor sisters & their cousins, but a mature heroine is a nice change.
we sure know know 😛
1+
This is awesome! Thank you so much!
Ditto!
Sweet. Great way to celebrate Friday
Really great! More please?!
Thank you for this
Almost first!
thank you so much!
What the whaaaaaat! Just made my Friday!!
I stopped breathing twice!
Yum!
Sooo good! Thank you!
Thank you very much!
So good. I love that she is a mature woman.
So good.
Love it!
Ahhh, a Good Friday. he he
lol
I’m enjoying an older heroine with family responsibilities!
I was thinking this too! Nice to read a character who’s out of their 20s.
+1 I love it when an author understands adventures continue after kids arrive.
+1
I love this! thank you so much!
This made waiting for the Train in the cold so much better, thank you!
Ooooo I love it!
WOW!
Neat. Excited to read more. Thank you!
this was awesome!!!
Thank you, House Andrews, for this Friday gift!
Am excited to learn more about Ada (totally relatable character for me) and the rest of the team and this world as the story progresses.
This was so enjoyable for me as the writing is such that I can visualize the setting based on the detailed descriptions AND I already care about the characters…..
I hope this brought joy to you as you crafted it!
Sending peace, health and safety to all!
Well, the title has “in” in it, so instead of Happy FrInnday it’s Happy FrInday. Autocorrect didn’t even flinch. I’ve either successfully trained it or it gave up out of frustration. Either way… I beat Autocorrect! (Wait. I didn’t type the capital A in Autocorrect. Guess it’s not completely cowed. Dang it.)
Thanks for the post! Have a good weekend, HA and BDH!
No one can beat autocorrect:-( But your battle brings me hope! Im battling AI on two fronts: autocorrect and talk-to-text. Monsters come in many forms 😉
I’m going to look forward to FrINdays (and Mondays – I guess- lol)
I’m losing the battle with talk-yo-text, because it does’nt herar when i want a dot or any other symbol, I’m not very good at emnglish, since I only learnt because I wanted to read fast and dont have patience to wait for translations, and frankly it looses much sometimes.
I call it Spellwreck (instead of Spellcheck). It has learned its name and no longer tries to change it.😺
I call it auto corrupt!
I have dubbed it autocucumber… and it’s finally given up correcting me 🤣🤣🤣
I’ve never been able to beat the autocorupt, even when I think I have, it gets me after a post every time!
Ohhhhhh.
And more on Monday???
You spoil us.
Hooray!
I am So grateful for Friday’s with Ilona and the horde…. Love the new story / world…
What a treat!!!
Thank you!!! Looking forward to Monday! (Not a phrase i expected to say)
Love this sooooo much!!!!
Whoo! That was amazing!
An excellent start! Thanks so much, House Andrews! Eagerly looking forward to Monday (not a thing I thought I’d ever say :p).
Absolutely love this, your writing always pulls me into the story 💖
I can so relate to the timing of the school’s phone call and the dread it instantly instills in my soul when I see the number. It never fails that I get that type of phone call when it is the worst time possible.
This. Was. AMAZING!!!
Yippee! A new world and new adventures!
Thank you HA, the BDH is spoiled (in a good way!)
Thank you!
thank you!! this resonated with me so much! I turn 40 in less than a month and although my kids are younger than hers ( 5&1) I loved that the heroine is an adult thinking about adult problems!
I also had emergency eye surgery on Tuesday so this was a welcome distraction from the fact that I look like a zombie in one eye! 🤣
I hope you heal well and quickly.
thanks! recovery is going better than expected and I’m using it as an excuse to re listen to all the graphic audio innkeeper books. just got to the Mrs. Marais comes to the inn! I would love to see things from her perspective one day!
Remember all your eye drops!! Take all the pills if the surgeon prescribed them!! Sleep when you can – naps are essential. Sending hugs from former multiple eye surgery patient!!
Brilliant!
Very interesting. Thank you.
Looking forward to Monday!
What a great surprise! Thanks for always creating new and exciting worlds for us to explore and enjoy!
Have a great weekend!
o.m.g. captured the parent life so so completely…a new rich world to explore with HA.
thank you!
Looooove it!!
Hoo, the farting cave ! I’m happy !
Thank you !
And you are right, this is so much better than a 20’s male lead ! 😊
Gates and espers?! I am beyond excited for this!
Thank you, House Andrews! Great start to a really fascinating world! I already really like Ada and Melissa and London. You two have such a knack for writing characters who are real people to the readers almost instantly.
I really like that the main characters are not 20-somethings, too. Reading about really young people is fun, but reading about people in their 40s, with all the experience and expertise that promises, is excellent— and happens way too infrequently.
Looking so forward to reading this serial!
Yes! I can’t and don’t want to spoil ahead, but Ada’s voice is so refreshing, especially if you’ve read LitRPGs before and you know how certain genre-specific moments are handled in the typical protagonist voice!
do you have recomendations on litrpg to be read?
so i have something to do in the mean time (most errors are sin querer, this one no)
but in text, not graphic novel, because my neurodiverget brain hates me
please and thank you!
You can check out last Friday’s blog post and comment for recommendations from the authors and BDH 🙂 https://ilona-andrews.com/blog/lit-rpg-the-origins-the-inheritance-and-other-things/
Out of respect for House Andrews who are generously sharing their work for free, recommendations of other books and off-topic conversations about them will not be allowed in this comment section.
+1, thank you!
Wicked Cool. And the daughter being safe at school and Starbucks scenario landed perfectly. What a blend of normal mom stuff and the other worldly!!
Wow. 🤩
Thank you! This is like getting easter candy early!
Wow. Thank you. That was amazing. Looking forward to the next installment.
amazing!!! ty ty love this! love the older main character! love the concept! plus it doesn’t read as video game like most LitRPGs. very cool. have to say, you know your American when a good insurance plan motivates you to enter an inter-dimensional breach 🤣🤣🤣😞 excited for the teen kid dynamic, one of the things I loved about Hidden Legacy. Monday is going to be fun!
I’m in love with this already. Such a cool take on the genre. As a 40 year old mom who has played too many video games I feel so seen!
Thank you!
Best day in a long long time!
Love this!! Thank you so much!!
I prepped for this adventure by reading my favorite HA tale that begins with Lord Sandine meeting the spaghetti smelling Ms. Marr in the Mire. It wasn’t love at first sight but it did end with ten years of happily fighting and living in the future.
The only thing smelling so far is a chili eating farter. Who knows, will there be a happily for ever after?
Looking forward for another bloody adventure.
Loving this serial! The midlife aspect, the scifi fantasy vibes, the anticipation of the combat scenes to come come. Give me more!
Love this! Can’t wait to see it hat happens next and next and next …
lol, checked the blog, went off to do some cleaning and missed the post and being in the top 10 comments- in just not that good at stalking 😄
of to enjoy now. thank you both so much for this.
this was fantastic. can’t wait until Monday.
this is normally not my genre but Hose Andrews once again sucked me right in.
thanks for sharing and if there were a pre order link I would have clicked it!
I love love love the life stage of the protagonist.
hope you have a good weekend.
I’m off to make hot cross buns and make sure I left enough Easter candy to fill the eggs. I may have been stress sneaking it this week.
There will be a preorder link at the end of the serial – The Inheritance will be published!
yayyyyyyyyyyytyyyyyyyyy
I love your avatar ModR! so cute!
Woo-hoo! 🎉👏
Yes! Preorder at serial’s end!
HOOKED. No surprise, it’s Ilona Andrews.
This one pulled me from from the Guild-master’s call for volunteers to fully invested in a flash. It’s all the warmth, humor, interesting & likable characters, fear and tension, the strong sense of responsibility to others that seems to be part of the foundation for the individuals and teams working together. Once again, HA’s outstanding talent providing those of us who need it a short rest from the horrors and craziness of life – all the real life monsters. And it’s just plain fun.
A whole new world! Chiiii
Fun! Different enough to be its own thing, enough like SL to fill the empty until Season 3.
Thank you!
omg right up my ally OO I will be waiting right here for monday lol
I love how you’re introducing the world and its characters while also moving the story forward at the same time. Thank you!
Wow, this is very good!
Awesome sauce!!
Wow ❤️
Thank you for this! Looking forward to Monday now; not something I usually say!
holy crap I cannot wait until Monday!!
thank you!!
I love how immersive your worlds always are — within just one chapter, I’m already completely invested. The characters feel so real. I want to know more about Ada, her kids, and her life. I want Ada to pet that Bear (or better yet, hug her). I want to watch Elena thaw out and grow up. I want to hear more of Melissa and London’s banter.
You have such a gift for drawing readers in so quickly. Thank you for the Friday treat — it’s the perfect way to kick off the weekend!
What a great new story! I’m ready for more. Sorry I’m so greedy. But no one else writes as well as you do!
This is absolutely amazing, I’m dreading what they might encounter and wondering if they will all make it out okay.
Love the characters interaction, and I’m counting on Bear as well.
Glad and thankful we get to enjoy this, the few minutes reading this felt like a lot longer- guess the gates are warping time as well?
What a wonderful start! I’m another who is pleased to see an older heroine. And we get another installment on Monday, you are spoiling us, thank you so much.
Happy Birthday to me! Thank you so much for this. Best present!
Thank you!
Oooh, a new Ilona Andrews world!
The first installment has already pulled me in.
Thank you!
This is going to be soooo goooood! I didn’t realize it but I had my toes clenched the whole time I was reading, lol. Whew boy, does HA know how to keep you hooked!
I think this is not a novella. it deserves a whole book! maybe several books….? pretty please. this is really excellent!
Officially, I have to be the good mod and say House Andrews told us this is stand-alone. 😇
Unofficially, from the camp fires of Team Facts be Damned, I say: “The Horde know better than that” 😈
You think I’m not working because it’s Saturday, but I am working and I saw this. It is a stand alone.
Of course it is, of course it is 🙂
(BARSA BARSA BARSA, my fluffies!)
Haha!
Barsa, barsa Barsa!
translation: what if we convince Tor to publish the series
Also, Apple TV needs something to do after they finish Murderbot series
Excellent.
So excited for this and I love that it’s an older main character!
As I get older I want older characters but I have trouble finding stuff I like. Since I always love your stuff this will be great.
A new story with a great beginning! Hooray!!!
Please do not let Bear die. If one character gets to live, it must be the dog! Although, is there foreshadowing with wanting to pet the dog?
yay love me a story with a badass protagonist my age – can’t wait to dive more into this world
This is so good! And, 2 weeks ago, I toured Mercer’s Caverns, in northern California’s gold country. Limestone formations, twisty, curving, drippy, dark, and 16 stories down. I can’t imagine how people in the 1880s explored it using just candles. I’d much rather have a crew like this one, especially the dog!
Yay, so much fun! I’m glad to have something to look forward to. We are blessed!
I cheated and read this even though I don’t do the serials until published. Sooo good, I really want to continue but I already have anxiety just from doing one installment. Looking forward to the finished story however long it takes because I know it’s gonna be great.
This is so exciting!
I feel silly for feeling sad about Hugh. This is SO FUN. Thank you!
I’ve devoured manhwa like this over the past few years, looking forward to your take on the genre!
thank you! this is awesome!
This is wonderful. Thank you so much!
Fabulous! What a treat. I’m probably in the minority here as I cant really relate to all the adult / kid responsibilities (22 haha) but IA writing is so immersive it hardly matters 😉
making your benefits a mantra before going in-field hits is uncannily on the nose XD. Have never related more to a protagonist as a field investigator! (Technically an assessor lol.) Her voice makes me think that I’ll relate to this story a lot like the “seasoned shark” FL in Book Lovers perhaps? With a dungeon-verse twist ofc 🙂
can’t wait to see what Accessor Moore is made of! Best of luck to House Andrews on their artist hunt for The Inheritance o7
Whoa. SO good. Thank you!! ♥️
Thank you for the Friday gift! Can’t wait to see how this goes!
nobody does first chapters like team IA – the ratcheting tension, introducing the world, the cast, the stakes, the pressure – It’s absolutely perfect and I devoured. thank you for the delicious feeding – I love this genre and I AM SO EXCITE
What a pleasure!
Thank you 🥰
Thank you!! This was fantastic, I can’t wait to read more.
Also it’s so lovely to be looking forward to more chapters. I never understood it before, why people read serials. I’ve always found them frustrating. But with your work it’s different. The difference might simply be that I trust you and your content. I know you will not lengthen it to ridiculous size where plot is lost and character development become backwards for some advertisement reason. I know it will move in it’s own pace and then there will be a solution when the time is right for the story. Your stories are always so perfectly crafted and atmospheric! I’ve learned to just lay back and let it unfold in it’s own time, enjoy the ride. It’s like sometimes getting a brilliant little dessert after dinner. It’s a special treat so it only happens every once in a while but it’s so lovely and satisfying at the same time.
Every time I expect a story I make sure everything else is done so I will not be distracted, get a mug of tea or hot cocoa etc and slowly relish every part of the chapter. I LOVE it! Thank you for the wonderful experience.
Yay! Thank you for writing an older female protagonist. So many details with which I could relate: sticking with a job because of the benefits, stress-related weight gain, barely maintaining mandatory fitness. It’s all too real.
Thanks
This is absolutely phenomenal! As someone who’s turning 40 this year and has Always looked for mature, pragmatic, head screwed on straight, and kickass (like Kate!) protagonists, Ada reads like a dream!!
I am So so so grateful – life’s an absolute crapshow right now, so thank you so much for this gem!
Thank you for the Friday treat. Great new world!
Great start!!
OMG. This, this is my new Kate 😍
My entire week was off due to a conference in San Marcus. I sent a random wave to say hello while I was there, but my days got mixed up. lol
When I realized woohoo it’s Friday, I immediately read the post. It was late in the day hahaha.
I thoroughly enjoyed chapter 1, woohoo, y’all ROCK! I can’t wait for Monday. lol
Happy Easter everyone and have a fabulous weekend!
Hooked. Anything you write grabs me, but this one has me hook, line, sinker. Goner-please, may we have more. All the more. Thank you.
Awesome! Is it Monday yet?
Thank you for making her 40 with kids as a single mom. I love it!
Well that was absolute perfection! Thanks for writing a 40-year-old mother. I feel seen!
I LOVE it!!!! as a woman of a certain age, I definitely appreciate a mother who does stuff because she has to, even if she hates it, for her babies! Already Hooked! Awesome Job, IA!
I’m hooked! Thank you!!
I’m hooked, as usual. Thank you
this is a great start to the story. sucked me right in
Great story so far!
Great story!
Wow, did not see this coming! I thought the Maggie project was front and center. As always, so damn clever! Thank you!
sucked right in again!
Looking forward to Monday. Not a common sentence, for sure.
This is so appreciated! Perfect start for the weekend!
Thank you HA!
So good!! Thank you!
A new House Andrews serial and a deleted Draven scene in the same day – what more could anyone ask for???
Oooh. Fun new world! You guys are amazing!
Thank you! I needed this after doing a lot of validation today.
To be continued on Monday. Onward! 😁
Woooooow, now im totally invested.
I absolutly love, LOVE!, that the character is a 40 year old woman, i’m 37 and with kids, so i feel the struggle.
Being at work and being called for an emergency, real or not, is absolutly disruptive and worrysome.
It can trow away your day to the gutter.
So intresting combination of scy fi and a little of fantasy, most of all because of the classes, like tank, ranger, and the weapons, like those of warcraft III in my head.
absolutly loved the visuals.
thankyou!!!
love it!!! thank you for the work you’re doing on this and letting us read it on the blog. ❤️❤️
A new world to explore! I am so excited! Thank you!!!!
Lovely, the hook is set and i’m flopping on the line!
Wonderful! Thank you!
Very good!! Thank you! Looking forward to more!!
Such rich images. And I love the trust between mom and daughter.
So excited!!! Already dying to know what happens next. And omg an update on Monday? You are too good to us.
Hope you guys find a great image artist! I always love the pictures chosen for the blog posts. Can’t wait to see this world.
Loved it. Thank you forvthe new shiny and the promise of more on Monday!
Yay! Thank you!
So, I’m not a gamer (my brain is not built for that to work 😂) and I had to look up “LitRPG” to try to understand what it was. (Side note: your post on the subject was very helpful and I am now reading ‘Solo Leveling’, which confused my gamer daughter greatly as she could not figure out why I got WEBTOON on my phone!) 😂
However, I was not worried at all that I might not like this serial, because I knew when HA writes something, I always always always love it…and I do! It’s awesome so far!
Ada is such a refreshing character: in her 40’s, holding down a job she may not love because her family needs her to do that, kid issues at all the wrong times…SO relatable!
I think HA must have been exposed to whatever created the Talents in this new world, because your ability to draw us all in and hook us with ONE post is just next level! Thank you, and more please! Can’t wait until Monday! 😁💕💕
a fortysomething hero! this is the BEST. Thank you.
Ooo Monday? Thankyou! Cause that is a tough place to stop
I love it!! More please.
More please…always more please! Sorry House Andrews, I don’t want to pressure you but it’s your own fault for writing such captivating stories.
Yeah this is working for me! Yay! Thanks!
This is completely and utterly awesome! Thank you! And more on Monday? ALL THE THANK YOUS!!!!
Wow! This is going to be an E ticket ride!
Thank you!
Love it. thank you!
Woohoo!! Thank you for a fabulous Friday treat!! New story, new book!!
:: does the New Book happy dance::
📚💃📚💃📚
Thank you! Looks super interesting so far!
I am impressed with your ability to write something that I always want to read. Awesome start and I can’t wait to read more. Also, the kid going to get Starbucks made me think of my time in high school – where we would occasionally make runs on behest of our orchestra teacher lol.
Thank you for the fabulous surprise!! Can’t wait to read more!
Holy shit this is goooood….
Moar plz? Pretty Please?
I’m Team Metal Rose and I’ll wait for that to get more of this.
Ok I like this new story bunches! Thank you!!
Intense in the best possible way! Thank you so much. Needed a break from the dust. 🙂
I love what I have read. Is this going to be horror or just urban fantasy and scary?
It will not be horror 🙂.
The genre is LitRPG, which is an urban fantasy level of darkness – but does not usually take place in Earth’s modern urban settings, as well as other genre-specific idiosyncrasies, like gamer systems or classifications etc.
For more information on the genre, you can read last week’s blog article https://ilona-andrews.com/blog/lit-rpg-the-origins-the-inheritance-and-other-things/
Invested!
This is what I love about Ilona Andrews. It’s already so real.
Fantastic! Thank you!
Thanks so much! Awesome start, and I love her determination to pet Bear! It’s so important to have goals. The juxtaposition of the crazy adventure and normal Mom-life is great. Looking forward to learning more!
Nice reading, I am now invested in reading more. Thank you.
Love it!
What a wonderful easteregg. And I so much appreciate an older lady to be in the lead – much more like real life.
Thank you so much.
Did I just have a 14 hour day? You bet.
Did I read “Mod R rated …” several times before realizing Mod R is not creating the rating system, nor is Mod R officially rated for fantasy violence?? Yup.
Imma go to sleep and read this tomorrow while sipping coffee.
I am rated for fantasy and violence, but it is not official 🤣
The only authority I have is self-declared audacity, but no one has challenged that yet…
So by the power vested in me, I declare thee on this day, the 19th of April on the internet of our Lady Beyonce, in the realm of the BDH and beyond, to be Officially Rated for fantasy and violence.
Go forth and wreak havoc!
I don’t trust that guy.
I love the anxious suspense of a new book and new world. These authors are masters at world building. I am so excited for a new book to get hooked on!
So good, thankyou
Very neat, thank you!
Wow! Cool new story that I was so not expecting. Thank you! Love it and looking forward to more.
Fascinating! Thank you!
I have been dying for more sci-fantasy/fiction, this is marvelous! You guys are the best!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! I have really missed your writing!
Excellent first chapter. World and character building while building tension? Good thing you are good at your job! 😄 I was sucked in at the insurance plan! Why is there never good vision coverage?
Fantastic start, world building sounds incredibly interesting, can’t wait to read more!
Anime inspiration? I love it. 🙂
I am hooked and already looking forward to Monday! I especially love the moms point of view and camaraderie.
Well, I really didn’t have much time this morning, but I read the first few sentences, meaning to come back to it later, and here I am, finishing it up. I love it so far! Thanks so much for posting this!
I am so excited!!!!!! This is such a great start. Love it.
Loved it! Keep it coming please.
I’m gonna pet that dog.
#goals
Priorities 🤣
Love it!👏
You always stop it when it is getting good.
On pins and needles here! I love the FMC already. Thank you IA!
I loved this! The descriptions are awesome, the backstory is interesting, the characters are both easy to understand and complex. Thank you!!
Bloody awesome! Thank you HA!
I love love love this. I can’t wait to learn about talents. Does every blade warden have the same? How about scouts? Is it a standard manifestation or more random mutation that gets sorted into categories? So excited to find out.
I hope writing this is the perfect relaxing brain break you need. It is wonderful to read.
Totally new world from my favorite authors! Wonderful!
More!!! How do you do this? I’m so excited for this story!!
Oh, thank you so much! This story grabbed me from the start. I’m hooked and gasping like a big ole fish. I am awed and grateful beyond words. Gonna re-read now…
WOW! Intense. can’t wait until Monday
Thank you so much!
1) as a middle-aged mom, I relate to this! You two have a positive and well-honed gift for creating relatable and utterly believable characters in unreal circumstances.
2) I have a distinct feeling that you could write and release a grocery list, and it would make for engaging reading!
Thank you for brightening our days.
yayayayayayay!!!!! a lovely way to start my weekend. Thank you!
thanks for the terrific intro.
I started watching Solo Leveling with my son as I enjoyed your blog about litRPG. Glad I did! I was right into Ada’s story, so I’m not longer moping about Hugh2. you are a truly awesome writing team!
Oooh I likey! I like that it’s not the standard younger FMC. She’s not OLD but older and seasoned. I can’t wait for more. Really interesting. To learn more about the other characters and the story. I’m intrigued.
This is addicting already! Really like the world and mature heroine. I’m sold. I feel like I could read an entire series just based on this little teaser.
My neighbor texted me because I screamed so loudly when I saw this.
I’m so excited and eager for more!
So good!!! You create tension like no other authors. Everyone, protect the dog first!
Awesome. Five stars.
Awesome! Ilona Andrew’s is the best! What a way to start the weekend!
okay, Monday you say .. alright if I have to wait.
So the comments talk about how wonderful it is that she’s 40ish and a mature woman. True ‘dat, just not sure where that puts me with 70 in the rearview mirror. Well I’m off to the pool, and looking forward to a sunrise walk down to the lake tomorrow.
wishing you blossoms, breezes, and butterflies
I believe the proper term is “the age of wisdom.” Because there is maturity, but wisdom has gone through more.
Good stuff, yay! Looking forward to Fridays (and Mondays!)!!
Awesome! Love that she is mature but in reasonable shape…always feels patronizing to hear 80 year old symptoms being assigned to anyone over 40. Also love the call from the school and kid drama…SO accurate!…right as you are going into the big job Thing because…bills are real. Looking forward to hearing more!
Very cool.
Great Story! Thank you for sharing.
Another fantastic, imaginative, engrossing story. Thank you again and again.
Very intriguing! Thank you
As a federal government employee whose commitment to public service is under attack right now, thank you for writing a character who is balancing all of the things – work, family, relationships – in a way that is true to the pressures of each. This chapter was a wonderful treat after weeks of dealing with my professional world being under fire.
Thank you for your commitment to us. Hang in there!
This is amazing. Reminds me why I love this author. The world building is always top notch. Can’t wait for next chapter.
Awesome. So cool that in the midst of a dangerous job she has to take time to be mom. Can’t wait for more.
That was fantastic! I’m on the edge of my seat, wanting more, but worried about what will happen.
I know I must be patient with all your new releases, so I’ve actually gone back to The Edge, and am almost ready for the Innkeeper again.
Thank you!
-“I mean it, Ada. The only way you go down is if I’m down, and I’m really good at surviving”-
oh no. oh no no no no. Poor London. Also, really hope Bear lives. She needs to pet that dog XD
I haven’t read/watched many stories in this genre (recently binged all of Solo Leveling’s comic though). I like the addition of the government assessor role though.
This is so interesting I wish it could go on
Wow! So so good! I’m excited and super grateful for this gift!
I love this so much! The real world problems set against a fantasy background, middle-aged mom who can’t afford romance, the hot, interested body guard (tics all the romance boxes, right down the line), and the smart, irritated kid dealing with a stupid school system. Relatable? Oh, yeah! Can’t wait for Monday.
thank you — this is a great story, interesting world-building, solid characters — yup, I’m sucked in — and so so happy — love you House Andrew 🙂
Thank you so much! ☺️
Happy Easter 🐣
This story is amazing!
Thanks – this is great! I’m so looking forward to the next installment.
oooohhhh WOW!! I’M SO HOOKED!
HA is Aaaawesome. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Fantastic! Thank you, and happy Easter to you all xxx
Fantastic! Thank you.
Oooh, this is GOOOOD.
I am SOOOO excited to read more of this!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
You have my attention!
I want this. I want all of this! Loving the world, the dialogue, the characters. You rock!!
Love this. I am completely invested in this world already.
Thank you guys so much for the glimpse of the world you have envisioned!
I am hooked, excited, slightly scared, but so going to stalk your page for more!
Your writing rocks!
❤️❤️ Janeen
thank you!!
You have spoiled me from just about any other writer of fantasy. Really.
Superb from the get-go. I don’t know how you to do it but I am really grateful that you do!
♥️🧡💓
I am totally locked in for this trip. What a phenomenal start to what looks like an incredible journey. See you on Monday.
Oooooo, this reads like a video game backstory. 🙂
It’s LitRPG, that’s the genre 🙂 https://ilona-andrews.com/blog/lit-rpg-the-origins-the-inheritance-and-other-things/
You’re working the long Easter weekend?!
Shame on you 😠 and many *many* thank yous!
Thank you soooooooooooooooooooooo much.
A new Series, yay!
And it looks goooood. Cant wait for my Monday-Birthday-Present with Chapter 2. Amazing timing. You are the best!
I am to giddy to write more about how much I love it so far. Toooo excited to get to have the privilege of another online series.
thank you thank you thank you.
XO
Danny
been missing you guys. get the emails but don’t always have time to read. glad I stopped for this one, this sounds like it’s gonna be kick-a**!
I’m so excited for this! ever since I’ve finished reading and watching Solo Leveling, I’ve been going through withdrawals 😅
also, love that we’re getting a mature character.
Thank you so very much! I just devoured that and cannot wait to see what happens next! I adore your ability to describe worlds so completely that I feel like I’m right there! Thank you!!!
WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Taking the job for the benefits because you have a family to take care of is TOTALLY relatable! This looks interesting and I am anticipating the next part. Hooray for House Andrews!
oh, i love this 🙂 thank you for sharing
Love this. Love that she is a mom with bills to pay, kids to raise!
Thank you, I love it already!
Let it begin! Let it begin!! Let it begiiiiiiiiinnnn!
insert emoji of a hamster in a run-about-ball
Wow, I am hooked! Cannot wait to read in full.
Love a mature female character, with all her faults and insecurities but still has the courage to enter the unknown to do what is right for herself and family!
Whee!
Can’t wait to keep reading! Thank you!
Thank you!
I love that you have a woman in her forties as the heroine. We need more of them!
happy! happy! joy! joy!
i love it! the relatable FMC, the world, the story, the other characters, it all pulled me right in and i’m very much looking forward to monday!
thank you! and please don’t let the dog die!
Exciting as always! Thank you!
Thank you. Especially for the older characters. Can’t wait for the rest of it.
Love this! Also appreciate that shes older. Thank you. This made my day.
I am so in! Loving the characters and setting this far. Can’t wait for more
Wow! What a first chapter! I eagerly await the follow up on Monday . Thank you!!
Thank you! What a gift. After a particularly stressful week with much worrying about my own kids this was a lovely escape & it’s nice to have an unfolding story to look forward to. Abundant blessings of spring upon House Andrews & the BDH!
I totally have the heebie-jeebies. Creepy caves, hungry sharp toothed monsters, smash and grab salvage, Yeah, I’ve got a bad feeling about this.
Oh Boy!!!
Is it Monday ye….. wait………
Now Im all confused, am I excited for Monday story time or wishing the weekend won’t end!
>_<
In my head Im screaming trust your instincts!!! But my adult (sigh*) self who pays the bills is busily teaching my inner lizard brain the facts of life. (Ive got a rather involved mental image of an aproned matronly type in desaturated earth tones swatting at a brightly chaotic colored lizard with a broom! Screaming about growing up and understanding the importance of insurance!) Ah well at least I can still laugh at the inner mental shenanigans!
Just to make sure I got things straight, Ada is the main character, right? The one from whose viewpoint we are reading from? I got confused in the setup, and honestly got so involved in the story by the end that I'm not sure if that point was ever confirmed.
Yes, Ada is our POV character 🙂
I don’t care if this is a short story, a novella, a standalone novel, or the beginning of a new series, but I like it!
You guys write stuff that makes me as happy as rainbows and puppies even when it’s about warriors and monsters.
Love the mom character because she is basically me, love the litrpg entry, need to reread the Edge again, and you just made my night.
Thank you and have a great weekend.
One good thing about not reading this till late Saturday is that Monday will come that much sooner! As the daughter of a single mother named Adeline, I really love Ada.
Thank you! This is excellent. Over 40 is a nice change.
Woohoo! And we’re off to an excellent start.
Big thanks from San Jose California
OMG! So good! The tension is palpable. What a great beginning. Can’t wait til Monday. Thank you for writing! ❤️😘
This is great! Very excited to read more
You may have already answered this, but will this be released as an ebook eventually? It’s very hard for me to read at my computer and the thought of missing out on anything HA writes gives me a panic attack.
Yes, after finishing life on the blog, The Inheritance will be published! No need to panic 🙂
Thank you – like many others I appreciate a heroine who is more mature!
Love it! And love the fact that the protagonist is 40,with 2 kids
Love it! Thank you!
Squee!!!!
Wonderful Story! Happy Easter!
I’m in, 100% invested.
You guys are the best! thank you for this new book, it already reads million times better than any novel of similar kind I’ve stumbled upon on tapas. looking forward to the rest of it 🙂
Wow! Just wow! I am hooked!
wow, such a fantastic first chapter. I’m already invested. thank you! 🙏💗
Wonderful opening chapter – looking forward to more❣️
Thank you for giving me something to look forward to on Monday. You e already got me hooked!
YUM! I need more! Can’t wait.
Once again you have sucked me into one of your complex and exciting worlds. I am now anxiously waiting for the next installment. Thank you.
Enjoyed!
thank you so much for this new world you came up with! can’t wait for the next chapter 😸
yeeeesssssssss
Ditto older heroine and parentus interruptus moments. And sincere thanks from a Canadian and a veterinarian for being people who just try to make the world a better place. Your blog always make me happy for sharing all the human moments.
I almost couldn’t believe it! New story, my gracious. This is a great beginning as always. Great way to build the tension for the mother with her kid and misgivings about going in all happening at once. Hope you and yours are well.
OMG!! This is AMAZING!!!
Love this! So when you say Monday do you mean today?? Waiting patiently/ impatiently in Ireland 😂
Indeed 🙂
Oooh love it! I Didn’t want it to end. I really enjoyed the FMC being older. 🥰
I am amazing at how quickly you drew me in. I’m now invested in these characters and am longing to find out more.
Thank you, I’m now off to read the next part that’s popped in my Insta today
What a fabulous Bank Holiday weekend, two treats for us all 😃
Thank you so much, I am already hooked! And I appreciate that the heroine is older than many we encounter in fantasy stories.
I love everything about this! Magic, monsters, a mature heroine…thank you, and more, please!
Thank you so much!
Ooooooh a Korean apocolypse gates style setting with an older heroine – I’m digging!
please please please let this be a new series….
love the world building, the writing is amazing as always, counting the days to the next instalment (and when i can buy the whole thing)
wishing you both good health xxx
when exacly will the serial release be? last chapter was friday’ this chapter tuesday, will it be every 4 days or a particular day?
The second chapter was released on Monday, not Tuesday, that’s just when you discovered it 🙂
The serial schedule will be Mondays and Fridays.
Oh! This is a really cool world! Can’t wait to see where this all goes.
So excited for this new story! Also, whaaaat! There is a character named Melissa (rarely see that). If at any point she is going to die can she go out gloriously?
Well. I have good news and bad news 😀
The good news is that Chapter 2 is already out https://ilona-andrews.com/blog/the-inheritance-chapter-2/ and you can find out if your prophecy comes true.
Omg new world from Ilona Andrews. I’m hyperventilating with excitement! Lol. And of course, immediately sucked in and totally invested. Thank you!!!
Omg you know how to pull us in!! How can I be expected to wait for more lol. It truly is a cruel world at times. Hopefully that’s the worst thing that happens to me this week!
Thank you for this gift allowing us all to escape reality for a short while
Love this!
New heroine, new world, new dog! It’s like Christmas.