Many thanks to Mod R for reading the first draft of this and suggesting changes that made it better.
Also, please stop obsessing over the timeline. There is no distortion of time in the breaches. Ada is fighting and resting sporadically, which means that sometimes she travels for 6 hours and sometimes for ten before she has to take a break. She has no idea how much time has passed.
Elias sat alone in his makeshift office inside Elmwood Library. Outside the windows, the street was pitch black except for the floodlights bathing the area around the gate in bright electric lights. His phone told him it was just past ten. He hadn’t slept well last night, woke up at 5:00, and then spent the entire day catching up on all the admin crap that had piled up in the past two weeks. There was a chance that Elmwood gate would be his last. Some people would’ve shied away from that thought. He was a realist who liked to be prepared. If he didn’t come out of the breach, the Guild would pass to Stephanie Nguyen. As Chief Operations Manager, she was the third in line after him and Leo. The transition would be as smooth as he could humanely make it.
He was tired. He should’ve gone to bed as soon as he finished, but he couldn’t sleep.
Jackson was due to land after 2:00 am, if everything went well. It would take him awhile to clear the customs and get his baggage, so he would be on site by 4:00. Leo hadn’t come to bother him with any updates. It probably meant that things were going as expected. Elias thought of finding him to check in but decided against it. The kid was running himself ragged as it was. If another calamity fell on their head, Leo would appear and report to him about it.
Elias sipped the last of his cold coffee. The picture on the tablet in front of him was twenty years old. It was taken at the Chicago Dwarf Conifer Garden, on Thanksgiving holiday. Brenda wore her favorite blue coat. She crouched on the stone steps, a wall of picturesque pines behind her, her arms wrapped around six-year-old Ryan. Ryan’s face was scrunched up like he’d bitten a lemon. His son had waged a private war against having his picture taken since birth, and the kid had won most of his battles. Brenda was smiling, her soft brown hair spilling from under her white hat.
He didn’t know why he fixated on this particular photo. There were other pictures, some at the beach, some during other holidays, a few pictures from the army balls, he and Brenda dressed up and posing. But he always defaulted to this one.
Back then he had just come back to the States, with his second deployment under his belt, and he was done with the Middle East for a while. He’d also made captain on his first try, and a company command assignment had been in the works. He had no idea where exactly it would be, but he knew it would be stateside. They would ship him off again eventually – he had no doubt of it – but for now he’d earned a couple of years of being home in the evenings, if not every night, then most nights. It was that feeling of knowing that wherever they sent him, Brenda and the boy would be there too. That they’d be a family again.
Brenda had finished her Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences. She’d postponed the job search until they knew where they were going, but her degree was in demand, and she hadn’t anticipated a problem. She’d stayed in Chicago, close to her parents, through his deployments. They wanted time with Ryan, and she needed support while working on her degree. He thought she would be reluctant to leave Chicago, but when he brought it up, she hugged him with that glowing smile and told him she couldn’t wait to escape. He could still recall the relief he felt.
That picture was a moment in time when they had everything in front of them. Years of hard work and sacrifice were starting to pay off. The future looked bright.
Happier times. If he could go back to any point in his life, this would be the one.
Ten years later she was dying. The cancer was aggressive and resisted treatment. They thought they had decades left. They had months.
He took emergency leave and when that ran out, he asked to extend it. It was denied. The command wanted to move him up from XO to his own battalion. He was in line for promotion to a lieutenant colonel. His CO called him in and told him that he had to think about the future. As tragic as things were, in six months he would be a widower, but he would still have a son and the rest of his life. He had a solid track record. He could go very far if he made the right choices. Once the funeral is over and your kid graduates and goes to college, what will you do with yourself? Make a smart decision.
Elias had resigned his commission the next day.
Two months later, he was in the hospital room, exhausted and bleary-eyed, watching Brenda breathe. They’d cut her open again, trying to remove the tumors. He remembered sixteen-year-old Ryan resting his hand on his shoulder. “Dad, go home. Take a shower, sleep, maybe eat food. You stink, and you look like crap. I’ll stay with mom. I’ll call you if anything happens.”
He went home and crashed. When he woke up the next afternoon, the gates had burst, monsters overran the city, and the two people he loved most in the world were dead. Before the gates, he was a husband and a father. He had a wife. He had a son. Ten days later, all that was left were two urns of ash.
It hurt still. Time didn’t make it better. Killing shit didn’t make it better. He had only two options: to think about it and hurt or to not think about it and carry on.
And here was Malcolm, who had everything he’d lost. A wife, two children, family…
And a mistress.
And a huge gambling addiction.
And a debt he could never repay.
It made Elias irrationally angry.
He was pissed off at Malcolm for not valuing everything he had while Elias was sitting here wishing he could rewind time. He was pissed off at himself for missing Malcolm’s addiction, putting him in charge of a team, and getting them all killed. He was pissed off at whoever made the breaches. He was just fucking pissed off.
He saw Leo manifest in the doorway. If he didn’t know better, he’d swear that his XO could teleport.
“There was a typhoon heading for Hong Kong…” Leo started.
Elias’ fist landed on the desk. It cracked and shattered into a thousand pieces. His tablet and phone clattered to the floor.
Jackson stuck his head out, leaning from behind the doorway with a small smile. “I heard you’re getting the old band back together. Is this a bad time? I can come back.”
Elias swore.
“He put me up to it,” Leo said.
“I did.” Jackson nodded.
Elias just stared at them.
Jackson raised two mugs in his hands. “I brought you some of that swill you call coffee around here. Why don’t you come out of this tiny room and have a drink with me?”
“I’ll get the desk replaced,” Leo said.
Elias sighed and fished his phone and tablet from the wreckage.
They moved into the lounge outside of the office on the second floor, overlooking the library floor below.
Elias gulped his coffee. It did taste like swill, but at least it wasn’t cold. “How did you get here so fast?”
“Called in a favor,” Jackson said. “I didn’t have a choice about the departing flight. They escorted me all the way to my seat. Got off the plane in Hong Kong, got onto another plane instead of cooling my heels for eleven hours, and here I am.”
The healer sipped his coffee and grimaced. “Foul.”
“It’s hot.”
“Well, there is that,” Jackson agreed.
He was a lean man, not just thin, but slight, short, and pale, with thoughtful eyes and light brown hair cropped close to his head. Easy to overlook. Easy to dismiss.
“A fine mess we landed into,” Jackson said.
“Yes.”
“Leo tells me that the DDC will be releasing the update tomorrow.”
“That’s right,” Elias said.
They were out of time. The DDC could only sit on the fatal event for so long, and Leo’s contact warned him that things had changed, and she couldn’t keep it quiet any longer. A press release would be coming tomorrow. As soon as it hit, Cold Chaos would become the focal point of the country.
It looked bad. An assault team and a mining crew were dead, a week had passed since the fatal event, and both DDC and Cold Chaos had done nothing about it. The media would be all over it. The politicians would hijack it for their own purposes. The rival guilds would accuse Cold Chaos of cowardice and the dereliction of duty. The public pressure would be immense.
He’d seen this scenario play out before. The law gave the DDC authority to reassign the ownership of the breach if the original guild was unable to close a gate. Tomorrow the country would demand accountability. The DDC would reassign the gate to get the focus off themselves.
The guilds existed in a cutthroat competition with each other. It didn’t matter how good your track record was; it only mattered how well you closed the latest breach. Cold Chaos couldn’t afford to give up Elmwood. If they let another guild recover the bodies because Cold Chaos was too weak to handle this breach, the DDC would divert the higher difficulty gates to someone else. It would take them years to regain their standing.
Even if that route was possible, Elias didn’t want to take it. They lost people inside that damn breach. This was their mess, their responsibility. They owed it to the families.
“We can’t lose the gate,” Elias said.
“No, we can’t,” Jackson agreed.
“Our people died in there.”
“And we need to bring them home,” the healer finished. “What do you want to do?”
“The DDC press conferences are always scheduled for 10:00 am,” Elias said. “We go in at first light. They can’t reassign the breach if we are in it.”
Jackson laughed softly.
“Do you think you could’ve cured Brenda if she hadn’t died?” Elias asked.
“You asked me that ten years ago, remember?”
He remembered. It was on the day they met. There were eight of them in that original group: Elias, Jackson, Stephanie, Leo, Graham, Simone, Nolan, and Miles. It was the first gate dive for most of them. Leo was barely twenty-two back then, a kid. Stephanie no longer entered the gates; Miles was dead; Nolan took the civil service route and climbed up the ranks in the DDC; Simone became the COO of the Telluric Vanguard; and Graham ran the Guardians. A lot happened in a decade.
Jackson’s eyes were kind and mournful. “I’m going to tell you the same thing I told you back then. The past has happened. It cannot be changed. Don’t do this to yourself.”
Elias drank his coffee. Jackson was watching him with a particular focus.
“Don’t do it,” Elias warned him.
“Do what?”
“Put me into restorative sleep.”
“You look like you need it,” Jackson said.
“What I need is to enter that damn breach. I’ve been sitting on my hands for five days now. What the hell possessed you to go to Japan anyway?”
Jackson smiled. “The trees, Elias. They are good for your soul. Now tell me more about this breach.”
1st?
It’s official 🙂
Thank you for another amazing installment. It’s good to get some of Elias’ backstory. So glad Jackson took some initiative and didn’t sit around that airport.
I am sorry to see that even though the world as they knew it ended, and they are fighting for their survival, some human beings can still find the time to be d*ckheads and try to screw people over. They held Jackson up for 5 days!
I do wonder why Cold Chaos didn’t have another very strong healer they could use?
I’m also still at a loss as to how it’s going to be all wrapped up in less than 5 installments (did I do my math right?). I feel like the story is still ramping up.
Thank you again for making my Monday!
CC have very good healers, but none on the same level as Jackson. The alternative would have been pulling several healers together to go in, but that would ofc leave other teams and other breaches short.
We can’t forget that whilst this is a grave fatal event and a crisis, guild operations still go on…
Also Jackson was only held up for about 3 days 🙂
Thank you I thought I must be counting wrong at 3 days 💀
I really can’t get enough of this serial! ❤ Pleeeeeaaaaase give us a book 2.
I agree!
Obviously it’ll depend on how everything wraps up but I feel like we’ll need a second book
Agreed. Can’t wait for more. I feel a series in the making
Yea!
First?
first?
hello from south Africa! thank you so very much
Darn so close! 🙁
It’s 10a CDT and I’m not the first. We really have an addiction BDH🤣
😀 The best one though
I prefer to think of it as being intensely focused on achieving my goal of reading the next installment.
Goal achieved.
Resetting goal for Friday.
We have tunnel vision. 🤣🤣🤣
No, we have Breach or Gate vision…
Thank you! Have a lovely week and stay cool
Wow, not first, but early!
I have loved all of your books. This new one in another knock out of the park! It’s also great that the biweekly chapter releases allow me to slowly savor the story- it’s wonderful! But most of all, thank you for writing exactly the type of books I enjoy best!
+1 on the savoring
Thank you!!
I lovehate Jackson. Perfect timing.
The trees, Elias.
Elias being devious (re: entering the breach). I love it.
yay, top 20?
fantastic love seeing Elias again, and hear more of his story … so are we real time between both parties or is this happening a few days ago on Ada’s time line?
Also deployment to the Middle East – sounds like this is our earth – so the Inn earth right? Not sure of the Edge earth has the same conflicts do we ever hear about that?
Real concomitant time between both sides of the gate 🙂
thanks!! – i thought they already be in but i guess Ada had a lot happen in the last 48h or so.
+1 happy
The silence before the storm…
So, Ada is a few days ahead of Elias & Co.
I wonder if Elias encounter difficulties, since getting to the anchor is supposed to take a few hours rather than days.
Unless they meet on Ada’s way back? Or after Ada has destroyed the anchor…
No, she is not. Ada is not ahead, the timeline is concurrent, the timeline makes sense and has been proofread. Ada is sleeping as she gets tired, which means sometimes she travels for 6 hours. Sometimes for 10. She has no way to measure the time.
You could always add “Meanwhile, back home…” or “Meanwhile, back in the breach…” to preface the installments where you switch POVs. But you have to do it in the soap opera announcers voice. 😁
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Nah, that doesn’t sound like House Andrews’ voice to me. One of the things I appreciate with the writing of HA is that they don’t hold your hand. Figure it out, their writing gives you enough detail for that and I always feel like I’m uncovering more and more when I read. It’s engaging. The second they start holding our hands and spoon feeding us every detail in every paragraph, they’ll have lost their magic for me.
When the Ada finally meets up with the Cold Chaos group, it will all be crystal clear for everyone.
But I guess that’s just my opinion.
Great comment! +1
Top 10
Good grief, it took 10 minutes to arrive in the UK after posting!! There is no way anyone this side of the pond is going to be first!! 🙂
Just wondering how did you figure that one out? I’m just glad I’m subscribed on all platforms, as insta deems yo be the closest announcement to the release in the UK, where as the news letter normally comes in the following morning for me.
That’s not how the internet works 🙂 . It’s posted for everyone at the same time on the blog. Instagram, Threads and Bluesky happen in the first 10-15 minutes after the blog goes live, while I crop the featured photo to Insta post size and write the post. The newsletter has to clear server protocols for several tens of thousand subscribers, so it usually takes up to 24 hours.
I managed it once from Scotland. Pure luck but I did on an innkeeper you can do it 🤫
Jackson’s back! They’re going in! Yay!
And thank you very much!
HA keeps making the story better. How do they do this?
Exactly!
It’s the secret sauce, actually. HA bought a vat of it twenty years ago on their first visit to Baha Char, and have been sipping from it daily since. How else are these people supposed to keep coming out with great story after great story? Gotta be the secret sauce, I say! 😋
I am not sure, but I have heard that HA actually has the recipe for the secret sauce and brews a fresh batch prior to embarking on the writing of any new adventures! 😂
(And by that I mean “holy cow are these people great authors!!”)
🥰💕💕💕💕💕
+1 for the secret sauce
The world building is always amazing. Even more, the time they take for character development and motivation is so impressive. First, they genuinely understand people and what motivates them. Second, they use that to give the characters such rich backstories. We didn’t technically need to know about Elias’s family. We should have shipped him regardless. But now the story is so much better.
+1
Thank you!!
Thank you for the part. It was good to learn more about Elias.
Love the picture of the bonsai, just saying. Also, this is the most enjoyable story since Hidden Legacy for me – thank you so much, and I’m just amazed at the creativity you two possess 🙂
Sipping coffee, looking over the ocean, sighing in contentment – another installment – all is good with the world. Thanks House Andrews and Mod R
I do love this story, but I think I will skip the next serial and read the book. The stops are turning me into a horrible person. The first thing out of my mouth isn’t praise for a well written installment.
Good luck with that “New Year resolution”… I call it that because I have made such decision before, and every time I end up reading an installment and then backtracking to read all that happened before, and, of course, reading all the new installments as they come out. I think this time is my all-time best for resisting the temptation (I succumbed through reading the installment when we learn Jackson is detained in Japan). Though I must agree with “the first thing out of my mouth is not…”, I can also see the other POV, being forced to savor each little bit instead of devouring it all in a couple or three hours is not really a bad thing !
I feel Samantha on this cause Lawd, I couldn’t even post early yesterday. I really, really wanted to whine.
I know that I am an impatient reader, so I told myself don’t do it yourself. Some stories work better for me in serial form..others…gimme, gimme.
I do agree that I’ma devour it in a few measly hours and then be begging for more..so, I’m trying to curb my..let’s just whine about feelings at the moment.
It doesn’t help that I’ve been in a bit of a book slump this year. All of my favorite stories are pending and the new books I’ve read/listened to just haven’t hit the spot.
World building is my absolute favorite thing, so to be introduced to this breath of fresh air… and, then have to wait… 😭💀
My inner toddler is kicking and screaming on the floor, but, rationale me is trying very hard (and, maybe badly) to be appreciative of the work and appreciation for their fans that we get from House Andrews.
Who else could torture me with the wait to complete this story..
Sad that the story is likely coming to end..
Regretful that I didn’t hold out until the story was published ..
Disappointed that I waited to so long to jump in?
And yet, I want to thank them and let them know how much I appreciate them?
(I also wanna ask how much it will take to get an advance copy of the book, cause Lawd…but, I ain’t)
Thanks for the update.
I think it’s a prelude of a sort. Finally they are going into the breach.
Elias backstory is sad and heartbreaking.
The press conference! announcing Ada’s death?
Thank you for the Monday posting!!
Glad to see Jackson’s back.
thanks 😊
Soo great, so short.
Thank you for a very welcome treat to start the week.
finished rereading part 1 and part 2 had posted with 5 comments. love the background on Elias. sorry to hear about his family. l am so invested in this story, these people are real to me 😆
ahhh I hate predictive text, especially when I forget to proofread, * background on Elias *
fixed
Thank you! 🤩
Jackson was worth the wait to meet him. 🙂
I’m planting bonsai as we speak, I so need someone around who can put me in restorative sleeps when insomnia plays me 😀
Wouldn’t that be awesome having someone like that in our lives? That is a great talent to have.
That are wot kittehs does. All know this.
I may have some of Jackson’s gift in me. If little people are crying like their lives are about to end, I look at them and tell them “Is it really that bad?” in a very soothing way. I might have to say it twice. All of a sudden the crying stops.
The parents look at me and blink. I smile at them. I had one mom thank me. 😁
In fairness, for them it really is 😀
Yeah, the smaller they are, the less they have to compare it with. So it’s that bad. The soothing voice and question likely allow them to reset and switch gears a little, by asking for thought instead of feeling. They still need to feel their feelings though.
We’re probably not far off from “cry translators”, can’t wait when a baby answers with “No, Patricia, I’ve been going through it. Never in my 3 months have I felt like this.” 😀
I get the answers from being glared at by little ones. From “you stole my thunder!” to “that’s not fair!” to “no, it’s really not that bad”, it’s very interesting to see what’s in the eyes. 😀
Sometimes they fall asleep on the mom’s shoulder after I get them off the cliff.
Bahahaha!!!
My parents had a parrot in their downtown business. If a child started crying, the bird would cry too. Stopped the kid every time.
so this trick maybe to wail back at the crying kid to stop the crying? lolol
Works when dogs howl along so I am told
We have two African greys and five dogs. My husband is always telling the dogs to stop barking. Khan and Duff both bark and then tell themselves to Stop Barking.
Thank you for my laugh for today!
I was in Vancouver several years back, and the local mall was exhibiting Chinese Penjing in their atrium. It was a fascinating show.
Enjoy your bonsai-ing, Mod R!
Yes thanks 😊
Wow to Elias’s background while waiting for Jackson.
What a sneaky way to keep the breach from the other Guilds. Get in before the TV announcement. Interesting times are coming for the group going into the breach. Interesting times ahead for Ada and Bear.
**Announcer voice** Tune in Friday for more of the Inheritance!
Thank you!
Mod R, I have a question. Considering the US branch of the Horde is celebrating our country’s birthday on Friday, will there be a post?
Asking for a whole bunch of friends. 🤔
There will be a 4th of July post, yes 🙂
Whoo-hoo! Thanks. 😊🎇
Will there be fireworks? ^_~
The trees are good for the soul. Thanks for going through the effort of sharing this serial with us rather than making us wa!t for the whole book.
Unless they’re Mesquite trees. Those will put holes in your soul.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Even mesquite has its purpose. It just doesn’t favor impertinent humans. 😀 (I love trees, too. The Missouri version of mesquite is black locust, with thorns that can go through steel belted radial tires.)
And wild crab apple trees have deadly thorns and make a dense thicket impossible to get through.
Wait a minute, I would think that the ultimate punishment for the amoral, vindictive Mesquite, would be to bonsai it….and then surround it with a whole buncha Live Oak.
And maybe a sprinkling of Arizona Ash.
But wait, mesquite trees are the general store of the desert.
I love your writing so much, master craftsmanship.
OMG! House Andrews has done it again! First I’m sitting here, tearing up and snuffling about Elias’ backstory and then – BAM – friends pull a prank🤪 It’s so genuine. Thank you.
ooh Jackson was worth it!
The trees 😊
Thanks for today’s chapter
Thank you!
Thank you HA for making Mondays a day to look forward to and another fabulous instalment. You make worlds of wonder. The typhoon wind-up with the desk … that’ll be a comic highlight in the film version. 😜
But did you really just ask us not to obsess? You have met the BDH, right?!
I wonder what their desk budget is.
Thanks again for the installment! I expected that Chapter 9 was the last to post to the website before being taken down for publishing. The bonus chapter is a treat!!
So you weren’t part of the Higher Chalant Mathematics division of “14 instalments left!” when House Andrews said there will be between 4 and 10 more Inheritance posts on the blog 😀
Off topic Mod R, but I tried to look for some of the tests we had for Inheritance and the BDH and the IA worlds and couldn’t find them. Can you send me the links?
Hey Gretchen, the website is going through a bit of admin clean-up so some of the older links and funnies may no longer be available.
The Inheritance quiz is still there though, here it is 🙂 https://ilona-andrews.com/blog/the-inheritance-chapter-10-part-2/
That’s Arabella math for you. 🤣🤣🤣🤣
People keep saying that, but she is taking care of their finances. How does that work?
It works because accountancy apps have nothing to do with doing long division without a calculator 🙂
Erm … I’m predicting … yeah nothing out loud. But HA are known to be patriots especially over a weekend. Which from this side of the pond is always a fun gift because of the lack of fireworks
This is probably a pointless query but Elias made a comment very early on that Ada was the very definition of non-combatant. Ada has recently realized she is now stronger and faster than most things in the breech and seemed not to include the benefits of having the best girl, Bear Butthole Moore, at her side in that assessment. I wonder who is stronger now. Still Elias or has Ada overtaken him?
Make love, not war 😀
Oh, is that a spoiler?!?! Kidding. Mostly.
I almost spit my tea out. 🤣 Love your comment Mod R!
A textbook example of chumming the waters. Well done.
LOL. What a thought provoking question!
Elias will find a woman who does no longer needs protection – it will be hard for him but what he needs after those losses in his life.
sorry woman with a … can you fix it Mod R?
Sorted 🙂
you are the best!
It does not matter 🤷♀️. Confident, skilled people shouldn’t need to compete to see who is best. They probably have complimenting skills. He is most likely physically stronger and has better military fighting tactics but she has her sword, her new strength, self healing abilities and diplomatic breach skills. You don’t have to kill everything you encounter in there 😁. If shipping them He would appreciate her self healing skills after what happened with his wife
Thanks House Andrews for a great installment
^this^ and also the “Make love, not war” lol, for real
If her predecessor could kill three beings that were decimating the humans, beings that were so fast that the humans eyes could not even follow them… I think we can say she could overpower him. He cannot follow. She would be super fast and deadly . No other humans have been able to go through stalkers .
Love your comment Simone! A truly strong man has room for a truly strong woman. A weak man keeps putting “his” woman down to keep her under control. Grrr. Been in both places. My husband and I are both strong. But we team amazingly. And it gives him great comfort that I am independent, financially and otherwise, and he doesn’t have to worry about me if anything happens to him. So I don’t think Elias will have any problem with Ada’s new abilities. Anyway, enough of that! Back to the point…
My guess/hope is that Elias and Ada pair up, realizing they are perfect for each other (eventually). Her being stronger now is good, as you said, after losing his first wife tragically. I’m so looking forward to how they resolve her new abilities and the problems they will create when the DDC finds out. Will they “fake” her death, since it has already been made known? Give her a new identity? Will Elias bring her onto a new team as someone else? Looking forward to them facing the *&%*!! who abandoned the team in the breach!!! Ok. Stopping. Someone else’s turn. Who else is seeing this coming? So glad Mod R and HA are used to us … extreme fans!
Jackson just became my new favorite person.
*wheeze* That was the gentlest cliffhanger. But still a cliffhanger. Aaaaaah! Friday get here soon!
I know, right? It barely qualifies as such.
Thank you so much for making this available to us – it’s been the one bright spot of the day for too many days!
thank you for the chapter! Awesome as ever!
love this, thank you
Cliff hanger? No, not really. More a case of just enough to be extremely bummed when you scroll down and see that there’s only a paragraph left, and you want more, dammit!
When I saw that it was an Elias POV, I thought that it would at least advance to the point where the assault team would have been briefed on the details of the first dive and how it ended, how that would affect their own foray into the breach, and see the team assembled at the opening, perhaps even starting off before the installment ended.
I’m dying to know if London was at the temporary command post to accompany the assault, or was only there to be debriefed by Elias. It will be so much more fun if he’s there in the breach when his story starts to crumble.
My guess for Friday’s installment, is more Elias and the first part of the assault, at least reaching the ambush cave, and what they find there. At that point there’s no telling which direction things will go.
I like the Friday to Monday wait, a lot better than the Monday to Friday break.
Hmm.
yes I want London to gate thru with the assault/rescue team
but I want them to be standing near a pond when they meet up with Ada.
and London gets chomped by a small, baby lake dragon
but not headfirst
that would be WAY too good for him
chomp his legs out from under his black cowardly heart.
vengeful?
me?
hey, at least I’m not throwing his whiny remains into a nest of giant cave isopods!
what’s HE whining about?
I doubt Elias has any intention of trusting London to have his back covered. And I would make sure he and Melissa would have no chance of speaking to the press either
Agreed! London is NOT the person to watch your back, and Elias already knows this.
Instead until you can hang him (I mean that mostly metaphorically) you assign him somewhere in the back office, no glory, no bonus, bean-counting.
Same on that Monday to Friday wait…
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Oh Elias…
Thank you!
thank you so much for another fabulous installment.
does Elias wonder if this is his last gate because he may die or because he will need to resign from the guild to take responsibility for the fatal event ans mininize the political consequences?
how many days passed between when the fatal event occurred and Elias arrived at the Elmswood gate?
I also wondered if they plan to collapse the tunnels and finish mining the adamantite before they destroy the anchor.
London must be hoping the bodies have decomposed enough they won’t show his grenade as the cause of death. I can’t wait for Elias to get to the mining site and realize Ada and Bear survived.
Elias has said “he’s too old for this shit” and it’s the last time in a breach since his first chapter, before he even heard of the fatal event https://ilona-andrews.com/blog/the-inheritance-chapter-4-part-1/:
This was the last time. Elias had promised himself that every time he went into the breach, but this time he meant it. He would strip off the armor, take a long shower in his hotel, board the guild jet with the rest of his team, and go home.
He is also, understandably, at a very low point, so we’ll see if he means it 🙂
How many days passed- Elias addresses it above: An assault team and a mining crew were dead, a week had passed since the fatal event, and both DDC and Cold Chaos had done nothing about it.
It’s not so much about bodies decomposing, as being eaten and spread around by breach monsters. Sadly for the recovery team.
Well London can hope whatever he wants. But forensic analysis will definitely be part of the aftermath after extracting the bodies. Elias and CC will want to have the best information regarding what happened at the ambush site and the bodies and how they died will be a very important part of that investigation. And besides, an attack by vicious predators and dying vs the trauma of rocks and other debris as shrapnel causing death are two very different things. Uh oh, London will have some ‘splaining to do. His story and what is actually found at the cave are not going to match up very well at all.
I was typing my reply and it posted after Mod R’s. I think that even if the bodies have been savaged after dying from being caught in the explosion, that forensic analysis would be able to conclude that any trauma caused by animal scavenging would be post mortem. It’s possible I suppose, that the monsters could have so thoroughly spread the remains around that the exact cause of death would be difficult if not impossible to determine. But unless the monsters were there almost immediately after the explosion, their is a strong possibility that a small detail that a suffiently thorough investigation might find.
“…might find, will be sufficient proof that things don’t quite match up with London’s official report. And then some sticky questions are going to be asked.
It probably depends on the monsters. If the bugs Ada and Bear encountered by the stream have been there, there will be nothing left but bones.
all the feels……
looking forward to Fridays episode….
Fingers cross, it’s going to be the Ada & Elias meet up.
now back to being fluffy
Trees are always good for your soul! 💚
Great installment!
I like Jackdon already 😁
Thanks for the background info and Happy Monday All 😆
Love this!!! Thank you.
I wouldn’t argue with being “put into restorative sleep” at this point.
😊 I went all weekend not realizing I missed Fridays installment because I was off from work and busy burning holes in shirts with iron and getting dressed up for a dinner while filled with dread angst and worry.
I hope the angst and worry are all behind you now!
Thank you Jewelwing. 💗
I don’t care if I’m first or last to comment. the chapter parts are too short! I want more!
(rant over.)
Thank you IA for all you give me. I’m loving it and appreciating the distraction from work. I don’t want to go back to working. It’s not as much fun.
Poor Elias – so sad to learn about his background.
I like the prankster Jackson already!
I just counted all the people before me. I AM #54 !!!! (imagine Snoopy dance)
Happy Monday everyone!!!
Very good! Thank you, thank you HA! May the gods continue to bless you!
Now will they have multiple teams to clean up – recovery team for bodies, new mining crew to take haul, and and advanced team to blow the anchor? Hmm, can’t leave those gold apples…
All they know at this moment is that an unmatched peril has emerged that “no assault team” would have survived – according to survivors. The first step will probably be to assess what’s really going on before they send more people in 🙂
“But you weren’t there. You didn’t see them. The speed… They were so fast, they blurred. My reaction time is half that of an average human and I couldn’t follow it. Elias, seriously, whatever assault team would have been in that fucking cave, none of them would have made it. You want me to say I ran? Yeah, I did. Like I told you, I saved who I could and got out.” – https://ilona-andrews.com/blog/chapter-7-part-1-2/
Thank you, Ilona and Gordon, for invoking the deep feelings this morning for fictional people to whom we can relate to in the very best way! Elias, Leo and Jackson (as well as, Ada, of course) are all embodiments of individuals I would hang out with and trust to have my back in a fight. Haven’t a clue about specifics of the’Why’ behind that for these characters or any in the other worlds you have built other than the craft is just that marvelous! (Completely agree with Jackson on the trees…..)
Thank you, ModR, for being the awesomest demi-god moderator ever!
Sending peace, health and safety to House Andrews, ModR, all Horde factions and to those you love!
Looking at bonsai is good for emotional whiplash. Of which there has been some IRL as well as in this installment, so thank you for the restorative distraction. Some of that restorative sleep would be a great thing.
Three more days until the next installment…(could be counted as four, but I like it better this way).
Nooooooo. Where are the rest of the words? You can’t stop heeere.
Wonderful
I love the Elias parts!
Quick copy edit from a local who used to have a membership there: I believe when you write Dwarf Conifer Garden you’re referring to what I’d call the Chicago Botanic Garden Dwarf Conifer Garden.
Which was an awesome detail and having stood there many times, I could absolutely see that picture in my head!
Thank you for the correction.
I think sometimes BDH forgets that this is a work of fiction. It’s not a textbook. 🙂 Do you, as a local, typically say “I want to visit the Chicago Botanic Garden Dwarf Conifer Garden” or do you say “I want to go to the Botanic Garden today?” It would feel unnatural to use the full name because most of us don’t.
Casual speech, casual thought patterns, regular people. 🙂
I have walked through this “dwarf conifer garden” twice a week on average for about 15 years. I had no idea it was called that. I had to look it up to even figure out where it was… I had been thinking maybe a section of the bonsai garden? Too funny. We just call it “the stairs above the English walled garden where everyone skins their shins.” 😊
Ah- not to say that Elias wouldn’t know it was the Dwarf Conifer Garden. He is clearly a read-the-map guy.
Owwww, my heart. Elias… I bet he’d punch Ada’s ex in the nose like he did the desk, lol
Hmmm, I went back and checked, Chap 9.1 was when Ada saw the bodies of the assault team. She thinks that it looks like the scene in the ambush cave after her own attack, the bodies were strewn about, limbs missing, one body cut in half. She doesn’t mention that the bodies have been disturbed by scavengers afterwards. Could this mean that her own site might also not have been disturbed after the fact? Admittedly they are in different locations, and she HAS seen evidence of scavengers on her journey. Oh the joys of baseless speculation, I really want a basically intact scene for Elias to find. London’s story will start showing cracks if Ada’s body (or parts of her body) aren’t found. If only Ada’s body is missing they might conclude that her body, and only her body was dragged off, but that would raise a question of what’s was so different in Ada’s case that they don’t find her? As I say baseless speculation, but valuable in it’s own right as it gives my mind something to ponder while I wait for Friday. Some people are easily amused.
Then there was the head of the young girl that Ada set with her body, in a way that only a respectful living person would do. They will know Ada is alive, and hope that Bear is with her…
and all the canteens are missing. . .
Oooh, oooh, good point. That one never occured to me. A small detail to be sure, but almost sure to stand out by it’s incongruity. Worst case scenario, the bodies have been savaged, reduced to scattered bones with bits of flesh still attached. The mining carts and equipment will not have been disturbed, but someone, probably Elias as the guild Master with his dual role as a team leader and guild Master, will surely be examining the site very closely. And he wants very badly to retrieve all of the bodies to provide closure for their loved ones. And it’s likely that body parts, like feet, will escape attention because of the paucity of flesh, added to the difficulty of getting it out of boots. Probably rugged boots. So X number of bodies times two should equal the number of boots. Ooh, another potential anamoly just occured to me as I was typing this. There will be one pair of boots likely being in close proximity to each other that WON’T have feet in them. Ada switched her boots because they were waterlogged, so her “empty” boots are going to point out that someone was alive long enough to discard their boots. And that would be the reason that they notice that the canteens are missing. Bingo! And the heads should also be unattractive to scavengers, which is liable to be the first indicator, followed by the feet/boots, and finally the canteens. Oh the joy of even more convoluted speculations. And how rewarding it will be if we’re right!
Also if they see the woman in blue. She has the flashlight attached to her missing limb. They will know someone’s tried to help her. Someone was alive and used a human flashlight.
And the first aid kit was used. Was it left open?
@Michael,
I hope their bodies aren’t scavenged too; however, the difference with the assault team could be that there are another predators around that are keeping some of the scavengers at bay.
I’m hoping that either the presence of the Kael’Gress and their robes have either kept some of the predators away or killed enough that either they weren’t able to destroy the scene…and, alert the team to not touch.
Even if Ada and Bear’s bodies are thought to possibly have been dragged off, hopefully they will see the shoes Ada discarded, Anja’s missing shoes, missing canteens, and the items discarded from the other miners back pack and realize there was a survivor.
What I am not clear on is…
In the early chapters, it was mentioned that body cameras didn’t work in the breach…and all they recorded was static.
Does this mean someone is wearing a body camera?
Yeah, they don’t work…but wouldn’t it be great if Ada’s new insights could help get one working? Just a fun wild thought that isn’t likely.
It’s not only Ada’s (and Bear’s) body missing. She took someone’s shoes, a few other things… And she put the head of this young woman from the crew next to her body.
Well the tension is certainly building! I’m not liking the head space Elias is currently in tho. I hope Jackson’s early arrival lets him get some sleep and have a focus on surviving when he enters the breach. Thanks for another fascinating installment!
+1
Czy w piątek to będzie już koniec …?
Ogromnie podoba mi się że głowni bohaterowie to ludzie z przeszłością , dojrzali i po potyczkach z życiem. Przez to wydają się tacy realni ….
Nic nie zostało ogłoszone, że piątek będzie ostatnią odsłoną 🙂
Thank you for another interesting installment. Very excited for them to be able to enter the breach. Also, love the new artwork above the blog. It will make a beautiful book cover.
Jackson feels so peaceful. I need more of him in my life.
I can hardly wait for Ada and Elias to meet! She needs someone she can rely on in her life and he needs someone to love. His backstory is so sad. I admire him for moving forward rather than giving up.
I’m rereading Innkeeper in honor of this story. It might have been fun to have a lees we know, but I’m actually grateful Cookie didn’t have to endure what Jovo did. I really hope the evil perpetrators get their comeuppance! Note that I have every faith London is about to get his!
Thank you, thank you, HA! Your books are my comfort reads. When the world is an ugly place, I go away to one of your universes. Wonderful to read and to reread!
Thank you for another great instalment! Waiting with zero patience for the entire book! Your books are my favorite comfort reads!
Mod R, thank you for your kind, insightful replies to some of the comments. I enjoy seeing that and, at times, seeing Ilona’s as well. I really like Elias, Leo is scary competent! I cannot wait for their reactions to Ada (or no Ada body,) and the same with Bear. Wooo! What a story!! I cannot wait for the release of the whole thing! I love real books like this to put on my bookshelves to read and re-read!
Once again so good.
Once again so good. I love this story and hope there is a sequel
Mod R – you have the patience of a saint to navigate us!!!
Ooooh! Can’t wait for the next! I hear the first step is admitting you have a problem. 🤷♀️
Today’s wonderings:
– I wonder what Elias will do when he realizes that Ada did not die? He would most likely have gone through the portal with a rescue party days earlier. What will be the repercussions for London & Melissa?
– I wonder what London will do when he realizes that Ada did not die in the explosion, and in fact has “evolved” up (and maybe knocks him out or something).
– I wonder how Ada and Jovo will defeat the stalker, and how the Lees will get home.
– I wonder if Elias will have a short restorative sleep before going into the breach. And why they have to wait till dawn.
– I wonder what’s an entry RPG that I’d have fun playing.
Thank you for the exciting chapter. I am extremely enjoying this serial and can’t wait to order.
I agree that waiting until dawn seems rather arbitrary. After all, there will be no natural sunlight in a cavemto be missed They’ll be carrying there light sources with them. Jackson is right that Elias will benefit from sleep, but Elias is like as not going to insist on as early of a start as he can get.
Every time I see DDC I think Dewey Decimal Classification. sigh.
Treeeeessss? Trees like….inns? That make doors like gates? With spooky gray baddies stealing baby inns? Oh ho ho ho! Also what makes an ad-hal and ad-hal or an arbitrator? Maybe with a super cool babel fish/Trill implant in the shape of a rock? I HAVE THEORIES.
I’m not sure what you’re asking, but I’m here for the ride 😂
lol Mod R. I shall use that line with my kids.
This is such a masterpiece.
I totally can understand Elias.
Me, to, I can‘t wait.
Go in that breach. Go, Go!
No more waiting, please, because it feels Like forever waiting.
Very well written, I so feel with him.
And it also makes sense, that he doesn‘t want to sleep, or that he can‘t, because when he slept, he lost his family.
And Jackson who knew all of this and provoke an outburst of these emotions.
So clever writing.
Thank you.
P.s.: There are Not only Bonsais in Japan. I planted a katsura tree in our Garden. I Like it very much.
thank you, again for sharing such a wonderful story … and on another note, Maggie magically appeared in my Kindle Unlimited suggestions!
oohhhh i cant wait for this friday
I like Jackson. I like his little prank of Elias and « getting the old band back together « so Elias can get some anger out.
I wonder if Jackson’s Talent can see levels of changes that have happened to ADA and Bear.
Thank you for the backstory on Elias. Such pain and sorrow. I hope he finds peace and solace. The story is going someplace extraordinary.
Thank you HA for a wonderful chapter segment. This story is so riveting ( yep, riveting ). I can’t say it’s the best book from HA because every new book of yours seems to be the best😁. I’m looking forward to getting the entire book. Also This Kingdom. Can’t w**t to devour it. I hope Gordon’s shoulder is improving.
This is such a good story! Can’t wait for each installment!
Can I breathe? I’m not sure
*silent screams (of joy)
Dubrosky has secret wife and children in Japan. for someone powerfull famous and valuable as him ,he will want to keep them hidden a they become pressure points people can use.
Who’s Dubrosky 🙂
sorry. my mistake, Jackson, lack of sleep has strong effect on the mind.
Love Jackson Already! (Elias and Leo got me at first contact as well lol!) LOVE the backstory info for Elias! Duh I want backstory for , well in true BDH fashion all of them! Best part of my Monday!
Great to see Ellias and Cold Chaos are about to move! Thanks, House Andrews!
So, I have this weird fear. We know some kind of changes are going in on inside the breach with the nasty stuff they are eating and drinking.
Now I am wondering if this is going to turn out being some kind of “Fable” thing and when she returns she is twice as big as the biggest man and with blue veins all over.
Man, if she and Elias became a thing he is going to get hurt. I still hear my spouse in the game crying in pain.
the trees are definitely good for ones soul. thank you both for another great installment
Am I 550th? LOL
I was busy and now am ready to take a break. Will read and probably make my usual dumb Facts-Be-Damned comments.
Okay, just finished reading (for the first time).
Is it possible that Ada and Bear and Mr. Lees will get to the Anchor at the same time as Elias and CC? Or close enough that they save each other? So Ada’s not so good ideas about CC goes by the wayside?
I’m expecting that besides the personal shipping there will be work shipping and a new group will be formed within CC: the SuperSquad?
Finally HAPPY CANADA DAY to all Canadians tomorrow, July 1st. Also to all those who currently wish they were Canadians.
Everytime I see Cold Chaos reduced to it’s initials, I can’t stop seeing another’s initials that I see a lot of, Caitlin Clark. Who is often referred to as CC. And I wonder why people are bringing her up in a Ilona Andrews story. 😀
Let’s go,CC!
Love the Elias chapters, he’s such an interesting character!
What a great story! Usually, when a Book comes out I gulp down the words. I get the impression but not the nuances. The serial allows (forces) me to savor each word, which causes any chalant right out the window. It has “my facts be damned imagination” go wild. Since April, we have been anticipating Ada and Elias’s meeting. Well played! Thank you.
Well, it was obvious that Jackson wouldn’t lay over in Hong Kong. But still, somebody must have owed him one hell of a favor.
I hope the pre-order is up soon.
I’m hoping it’s preorder in name only…
Hope we get a “Here, y’all go buy this today and shut up” link.
specially like the shut up part lolololol.
😀 Never
I might have earned it…by now…or, before it is over…🤣
I promise my response would be…fair, that is fair.
another great installment. thanks for making my Monday.
I’m glad Ada is resting … now Elias needs to too!! 🙂
Sad. But love it. Thank you.
So good. Thank you.
So….I’m looking at the pretty bonsai trees…and the one on the far left? has berries on it.
And my mind starts to wander.
Very seldom is this A Good Thing….just sayin’
Berries.
Red ones.
What if they were Blueberries?
What if the Blueberry bonsai had a tiny little person trying to climb up and get one of the giant Blueberries?
Hmmm.
Now all I need is a Bonsai’d Blueberry bush, and some Porcelain Modeling Clay.
One teeny tiny 2″ human coming up.
We need Ilona Andrews to forget what day it is again and make it Monday and Friday every day!
We’re spoiled rotten! But so good to have something to look forward to every week.
Thank you oh Talented Ones! Another awesome and exciting story!
I cannot wait for the book release! I will put everything on hold to read.
I so badly want Ada and Elias to meet. And fall in love. But I do not think that is happening in this book, it would be way too fast. I will accept a spark of romance though… with the actual romance saved for the second book lol *wink*
+1
I think I would have hated the serial books that came out in newspapers one chapter at a time. Which does explain why all the chapters are short in the old books. I just want the book so I can read it from beginning to end! Thank you Ilona Andrews for messing up my relaxing retirement! ;-P
We can just be glad we don’t have to deal with Dickens’ novels. They were published in monthly installments. There’s a story about thousands of people waiting at the docks for the ship to come in with the latest chapters of The Old Curiosity Shop, wanting to know if Little Nell died. Talk about cliffhangers!
After a long day at the office, I appreciate this installment. Thank you Ilona and Gordon for these wonderful words.
I enjoy The Inheritance so much that I feel like I go through withdrawal waiting for the next installment. I really enjoy Ada and Bear would like to see this story continue as a series of books – say about 10 or so. I also liked learning more about Elias’ background. I am so impatient for Friday to come around.
Keep up the good work House Andrews. I really enjoy your books.
Thanks for the installment!
I find, with every installment, that I am progressively less and less p@tie@t! My math has gone out the window and I have no idea if we have 1 or 2 weeks left or 10! And I am not going to try and figure it out! So I will just keep reading and and telling HA how much I like their writing and sitting on my imp@tie@nce!
For some reason I can’t even type tonight either! Ah for some restorative sleep!!!
Ha! See, bonsai sale! Big thanks to HA, awesome as usual.
I’m just over here in my corner happy about the Lees!
Now my brainnwants to know if this is the same universe as the Innkeeper series, or a parrallel universe, or…..????
So sad for Elias 😭
Shinrin-yoku-bathing in trees, very good for the soul.
Last posting cause I’ve been busy…Channeling my inner meta-moth: I will not whine about wanting the whole story or begging for the preorder link. I will not.
So, I loved this insight into Elias and his motivations. I would when there is an great ensemble of characters that you really want to know about. We have that with the crew Elias is assembling.
I can’t wait to find out THE ANSWERS to all of the questions. HA is really torturing us with all of the possibilities. I know the story is winding down, but there is still so much we need answers too. So, many interactions we want to witness.
I am dying to know what is at the anchor.
As selfish as it is, I hope the revelations do not spell an end to the breaches.
It seems like there may be some technological advanced on their earth, especially with weaponry..but, that could have come all within the last 10 yrs.
As important as the Adamanite is…the armor that the assault worn did not withstand the Kael’Grees’ blades. If the earth loses assess to the breaches, are they prepared for an invasion? It could be argued that if they don’t have to contend with the breaches, they may have more time to prepare.
Connections to the Lees might come in handy, even if they aren’t merchants.
Anywho, I have lots of questions.
I’m still wondering what Jovo’s “Clan” does. They were wearing jeweled sashes.
Could they be miners? Engineers? Brokers?
Assuming, Elias and Team clear out the mining site first…
That will typically take them a day inside. To reach the site, clear the tunnel, view/document the scene, and retrieve the bodies.
I don’t know if it will be discernible, which direction Ada went. Given the situation I doubt Elias will want to split up the teams. So,.maybe they will head to the Anchor thinking Ada may know the route the assault team likely took from the R&R.
If they decide to try to mine the Adamanite and other ores, then they will likely collapse the other tunnels before leaving them.. At this point, if he does, I wouldn’t be mad. They need the materials and likely CC is looking at heavy fines and/or payouts to the families.
So, assuming they can secure the spot and leave a crew. Unless they attempt to look for Ada in the other tunnels… This seems like a two day endeavor. Maybe an additional if they address whatever is keeping the assault team from being scavenged and retrieve those bodies. They may have an additional group that goes with them to retrieve the bodies, but they would still need to be escorted out for their safety…before…or while a crew continues to the anchor.
My best guess is that they will encounter Ada 2-3 days in and they will either find her fighting whatever predator is present…or her hunter.
Given Ada’s misgivings about CC and the DDC…
Maybe, she will find some comfort in…if this is truly a first encounter of its kind and no one knows of other civilizations…
If the others meet the Grees and Jovo at least… there are other witnesses that are likely hard to kill.
Maybe the DDC will swear them all to secrecy and Ada has to work with the crew on breaches going forward. Though, I can totally shee her being reluctant, not just on entering a breach for a while, but trusting CC crews …. (and, along comes Elias)..
Okay, I’m done with my musings. Can’t wait to find out where my thinking went wrong. 🤣
Jackson? Mate, you should have come to Australia. the trees here are better and you wouldn’t have been screwed with 😊😇 soooo, some of the trees have koalas with chlamydia up them … they’re still better here 😂🤣
Oh I like Jackson. So sand and calm with a wicked sense of humor
Thank you!
This explains so much: Elias‘ need for purpose, his finding that purpose in fighting the invasion and safely closing breaches, his protectiveness of his people, his sense of grief and personal responsibility for any failings and fatalities. And it explains both his soul-deep weariness and his unrelenting drive to improve and keep fighting despite that weariness.
Elias and Ada are so similar: both driven by family, both with emotional relationship scars, both indomitable fighters (even before her badass up-leveling, Ada was giving everything she had to go into those breaches to get humanity advantages). And they are so very different, with their distinct strengths, vulnerabilities and language, that consistently show their individual characters.
So I find myself with deep admiration and compassion for people who exist as letters on my tablet and in awe of HA‘s craftsmanship.
Oh, and they both have awesome sidekicks! Elias has Leo and Ada has Bear. 😉
I find myself very intrigued by Leo, but understand that we don’t get backstory on everybody.
Yep.
Definitely a need for book 2 to explore all the intriguing possibilities …
Leo and Bear should get along BEAUTIFULLY!
Thank you for this installment. This story is great!
Out of curiosity, are the Telluric Vanguard and the Guardians some other guilds?
I wish Ada and Elias would just become good friends, instead of all this telegraphed romance. It would be such a breath of fresh air.
But it would probably disappoint the majority of the BDH if we didn’t have the usual alpha pair, so I’m not holding out hope.
this isn’t a romance story, so it could happen. in one of the posts, the author mentioned that this is about a mother trying to get her and her puppy back to her kids
Actually, in my experience, the basis for a great romance is the mutual respect and admiration as well as trust that characterize friendship. Many romances make the mistake of skipping this and thinking that physical attraction alone is enough. HA never makes that mistake.
Elias and Ada are just fantastic individuals who seem both lonely and highly compatible – as friends and, potentially, romantic partners. We’ll see where HA takes it!
+1
Telegraphed is a bit much given that they haven’t met or been on the same planet for the entire story.
Now needless meddling/instigating on behalf of the BDH… absolutely.
Conveniently forgetting that London was jerk for trying to start something with Ada, when it could cost her her job… and then, leading the… well, we can find a loophole committee for Elias… guilty!
Fantasizing about how these two strangers are going to go from who you, to power duo… I mean, why wouldn’t we?
But, telegraphed? Nah. 🤣🤣🤣
thank you 😊
I agree with Jackson – trees are good for any and all souls, anywhere in any world. 🙂
amazing writing!. 😭 on Elias’s loss of family. tyty
Love it!
much appreciated!
Thank you! I keep waiting for each episode to be the last and am overjoyed with every new installment. What a gift!
all 4 attackers in the beginning were killed.Ada saw 3 dead ones and the 4th was killed when attacking Ada.
Elias seems to knows that someone “made” the breaches, not what, who.
I suppose CC will need more time:
Clearing the opening, caring for the dead not to mention destroying the anchor.
Seems to me this will take a lot of time and some traffic in and out.
Highly curious how HA will get it all together, but confident they will.
Hope the book will be out soon.
Hmm, I didn’t think that was what happened with the attacks, but I wonder…
That’s not how chapter 2 reads to me..
If anything, the 4th attacker might have died in the blast..but that seems unlikely since the fighters seemed to all be in the same vicinity.
“The creature in blue was still moving, but only two gray blurs remained. The third lay on the rocks, a smudge of dark fabric that shifted whenever the fight drew closer, stretching toward it like a living thing. I couldn’t see the fourth.”
Ada then notes that one of the two falls and the last trying to attack her before the blue robes kills them.
My theory is that the 4th left the tunnel with the Sadrin’s arm… Ada describes the wound as clean, so I don’t think she lost it in the blast..
She could have lost it before they entered the mining site.
But that’s my best guess.
Maybe I’m misreading it or connecting the wrong dots.
It will be interesting either way.
Aaand… what of the Blue Lady was some kind of innkeeper, traveling with Jovo? And they happened to meet Gress and everything went wrong?
I don’t personally think she was an innkeeper of any kind but who knows.
After 10.1, I absolutely have no idea what is going on. 🤣
When the hunger glowed red, and they didn’t immediately attack .. I thought, well maybe he is someone the Sadrin was helping or trying to protect.
When Ada knew the combo of the barrier, I thought, well maybe she was working to release Jovo… but, he either has has no concept of Sadrin or doesn’t recognize Ada as such. Also, Bear is the only reason they found him, nothing from the gem-knowledge.
Still, maybe the hunter is a non-Kael Grees.
Or, the 4th Kael’Grees from the mining site.
Or, someone separated from the group and is indeed waiting to ambush Ada.
The Kael’Grees that potentially ran through the assault team and the people at the mining site, just don’t seem hunter/stalker types, but we don’t really know them…so, who knows!
This was wonderful, thank you. I love seeing Elias’ back story. I can’t wait to read the whole book!
Happy sigh. Thank you!
I don’t always have time to read the comments section which is my loss. Such great comments, ideas and clues! My email comes about 24 hrs after latest chapter release so sometimes my wait for the next chapter is shorter unless I check the website blog on release days. Something occurred to me about the BDH and if HA possibly got their idea about Maggie’s book from these serials. I reread the chapters a lot (not saying I could have Maggie’s impressive memory) and see a lot of BDH rereads them too. Loving this serial and can’t wait for its release! HA rocks!
Even though I have no issues with the “not a different time” thing — like, say, the planet Nexus — I feel like I got my knuckles rapped by a spoon-wielding Orro for putting my hand on the cookie jar.
Sure, it feels like Ada has been inside the gate breach forever because she has no way to track time, but isn’t that the point?
She is lost in a maze without access to the sky — no day or night — and has no watch to tell time. It should feel like time is slowed, stretched and “days” are never ending.
She does feel the anchor. She knows that time is running out for her unless she gets to the anchor in time to meet up with the next assault team.
Now it’s just a matter of:
Will Elias and the assault team defeat the anchor’s guardians and save Ada and Bear, or
Will Ada and Bear defeat the guardians and save the team so everyone can go home?
(Will Ada punch London and Melissa in their respective, grubby, back-stabbing noses? <— that is what I want to read!)
We’ve been told a few times, “the dog does not die.” And at least once that Elias and Ada don’t die.
Trust our authors, BDH!
They won’t lead us astray.
Toodles!
P.S. I think this story is a good candidate for a series. Especially if Ada and Elias become a team somehow. Just looking at Ada’s enhanced abilities, I don’t think she can continue as an “assessor” for the government in the future. She’s definitely something “more than human.” I’m also crossing my fingers and hoping that Elias gets a power boost as well… can’t have Fearless Leader feeling, “Done, done, done. Just done.”
I was team Nexus-like situation too.
I figured that Ada was off on her assessment of time, but not by that much. I think she’d made a few references of “days ago”… however, I can see how she might be further off if she is just counting when she gets tired and sleeps. Her body is going through a lot .
For the great show down…
I am hoping that Bear spits acid at them and marks them as traitors/deserters…after Ada punches them.🤣
Elias sounds like he is already a top tier talent. He has combat skills, dual talents, super strength, and a great sensing of the anchor. If he doesn’t get a boost (other than regeneration maybe)…I’m good.
I’m thinking Ada may possibly take an extended leave. She will be called back to breaches either by someone looking for Sadrin, a civilization encountered, or a team needing to travel through Sindrin territory.
All the possibilities for book 2. 👀
Oooooh! Bear spitting acid! Good one!
Yeah, Melissa and London need a serious comeuppance in the very near future.
I envisioned a “devastating right-cross” to the nose followed by an uppercut to London’s stiff English chin, but acid burns to the hands or body (not the face!) might be fun, too.
Yep, I’m working through my own frustrations with life by reading fictional book character’s sometimes violent lives. So sad.
Oh, well! On to the next bit!
Toodles!
I’m more… blood thirsty and think punishment should meet the crime. London was a coward and blew up people to get away, that’s slightly psycho… so he should get a fitting psycho ending. Maybe blow himself up by accident, LOL. Right at the entrance while he is being chased by the Grees.. Melissa was a coward and if she was NOT in on it with London and Malcom maybe some humiliation and down grade appropriate. Malcom of course, well he got his just desserts didn’t he? he FAFO’d… in fact what if he was trying to do a deal with a personage in the breech? Let me take the gold etc etc in return for? Getting ppl out of the breach quickly like so you Grees can do..whatever…got double x’d..All sorts of strings, hooks and lines and threads in this here story, as well we know when the Author Lords write, bwahha…
Oh, I have blood thirsty visions, for London especially. Melissa is complicit and reprehensible.
London killed several members of the mining crew with that blast. The number is unclear to me, but at least 4.
Melissa is guilty of Anja’s death.
I think they should both receive suitable punishments. I don’t know what the rules are for escaping a life-threatening encounter at the expense of others, so I don’t know what options there are for punishing them.
I would love for London to fall into a patch of Grasping Hand…or take a sip from a dragon infested lake…but, I don’t know that Elias will trust him to go inside with the new team.
Either way, what I would like to see Ada and Bear do to them is not the extent on what I think should happen to them.
Thank you. This story line is very captivating. You two are personal favorites.
Just a thought, could the language that Adalinds benefactor/donor/mother used be Old Galactic
Arne
“The trees…they are good for your soul.” Might sound crazy, but this made me tear up. I cry every time I see a big pile of trees bulldozed up into a brush heap and burned. Just burned. Not used for firewood to heat someone’s home or cook their dinner; not sawed into logs, not even made into interesting table tops; not even used as compost (unless you count the ash from burning). I live in Missouri. In natural areas, we have a scant six inches of topsoil. Beneath that is clay, hardpan and rock. We have karst topography — layers of limestone. Ground water trickles between the rocks, which means it doesn’t get filtered as well as it might in other types of terrain. Trees help hold the soil. Their fallen leaves or needles help build up that scarce topsoil. Trees are good for the soul. Their arching branches uplift, the wind talks in their tops. Sorry about the soap box. I grew up among the trees. This whole episode speaks of loss, and love, and caring. Beautiful, beautiful chapter. Sorry about the sniffles. I love trees. They give so much.
And this morning, Canada Day, I am in the living room looking out at the happy Magnolia that my mother so wanted. Still a teenager but blooms like crazy in the spring and shelters the pollinator garden with its birds, butterflies and bees.
Trees make me smile, fersure.
yes, trees! Top of the plant kingdom maybe?
The Dushegubs tickled me down to my soul — because yes, I believe trees even with emotions would be pretty straightforward beings. If you can’t get outside, tending to a home bonsai is very very peaceful.
Loved this so much. Elias, I weep for you. Jackson, I love your gentle and mischievous soul. Leo, you’re the best. Wow, I love this world you’ve created. I want to see Ada’s reunion with her kids so badly. Thank you!
Oh, boy! So much anticipation.
Thank you! They’re going in! Cant wait for more! ❤️
Thank you so much!
This-is a really great story
Thank you, I loved it!!!
So heartbreaking backstory. But I’m not suprised. I mean I didn’t guessed it, but I’m not suprised. Strong, compassionate people often have sad stories behind them. Some people break, and some carry on and get stronger.
Yes, trees are good for the soul.
I loooooooove this book sooooooo much!
You know the best thing about being so busy Monday to not have a chance to read this post? Reading it Tuesday and knowing you are a day closer to the Friday one.
Love this. Thanks guys.
BTW, to everyone who is worrying about any bad things happening in the book,
RELAX AND ENJOY THE RIDE!
This is an Ilona Andrews book – we’re all in good hands.
Just sit back, enjoy the ride and take a well-earned break from the insanity out there.
Hooray, more Elias!
I have to add that I was in such a hurry to get to the story that I only skimmed over the intro and I got the impression that Mod R had been fighting for six hours. I figured the BDH had tuckered her out after that.
😀 every day of my life, just for survival lol
Ahhhh, a press conference.
I imagine London will be in attendance playing the hero who tragically couldn’t save the team, don’t you?
It will be such a surprise to see who comes out of the breach.
Hehehe 😈
Jackson is s breath of fresh air. Until I read that last paragraph, I didn’t realize that I needed something good for my soul.
it dawns on me that the next update will be on July 4th…I’m expecting fireworks.
So hoping this book has like 35 chapters, because once they get out of this mess, I’m hoping they at least get a good debrief, if not the opportunity to get to know each other, yeesh you two are good at getting we BDH invested in the lives of our imaginary friends. And hey, the Kids! worried about the Kids all this time. sigh.
anyone know if they have stated how long Inheritance is supposed to be??
It’s a novel, about the size of Magic Claims 🙂
Hi. Long time lurker, first comment. Wanted to let you know I have read all your books and in my top 3 of favourite authors. These characters and this world build has something very special. My favourite so far and I have a lot of your work I thoroughly enjoy with regular re reads. Invested in this storyline to a deeper degree.
I’m so glad you’re enjoying it! 🙂
This Monday Friday thing is driving me crazy! When is Inheritance being published as a whole!!??
I’m thinking that the grey men may contaminate the miners and maybe assault team bodies based on Ada’s info from when she scavenged supplies from the miners.
“The grey attackers were next. I walked over to the first body. The grey shroud wrapping around the four-armed corpse shivered.
I stopped.
The shroud stretched toward me in long strands, like algae swaying with the currents. Behind me, Bear whined.
I flexed. The grey shroud burst into a blazing violent orange. It was plant based and also animal based, an odd hybrid somewhere in-between. A mixotroph like the single-celled Euglena, which used photosynthesis like a plant but moved and ingested food like an animal. And if it touched me, I would be dead. I had no idea how I knew it, but I was absolutely sure. It would kill me.
I backed away. The shroud shivered, as if vibrating in frustration, and settled back onto the corpse.”
I would think that bodies shouldn’t be recovered if this is the case. Wonder if Ada will be able to warn Elias. Maybe Jackson can help if she’s not there. 🙂
P*tience, Horde Padawan, p*tience 🙂
I thought jackson was supposed to arrive 2pm? From that pic on ch9.
Why is it suddenly 2am?
And now is 10pm? Because it says the sky is dark. So he arrive only 4 hours earlier? (6 if you count the to-site time)
All the at 2, at 10, at 4 etc without am/pm in this chapter is driving me mad. All the pound and feet and mile is hard enough for me.
And fahrenheit. Never forget fahrenheit , which I can’t even spell right without google.
The picture of the plane journey was to show how the journey booked was 30+ hours, because the Horde couldn’t get their mind around it 🙂
This topic is now closed (again), because at some point we need to move on 🙂
I love this story so much – thank you for posting twice a week!!!! 😀
Just checking on you and yours-hope all is well
Thank you so much for thinking of House Andrews! There is a lot of rain, but they are about 80 miles away from the big flood danger. Hope it will be well for everyone soon.
Omg Elias’s backstory 😭. I usually Dnf when backstory involves dead wife and kid but for house Andrews I’ll continue on but oof it’s so so sad.
I already love Jackson 🙂