A late start this morning, sorry.
Many of you mentioned wanting an art book. From Candice Slater:
I am humbled by the BDH’s support. Their ongoing encouragement brings me great joy. I fully intend to research future print options, but can make no specific promises as yet due to my lack of knowledge in this area.
If Candice decides to do a calendar or an art book, you will be the first to know, because we will announce it right here.
“What the hell was that?”
Bear panted at me.
“I said stay. I know you know what stay means. I didn’t say run into the fight and bite the giant wasp.”
Bear looked completely unrepentant.
“You’re a butthole. That’s your name from now on. Bear Butthole Moore.”
Butthole padded over to me and sat with a big canine grin on her face.
“What are you so happy about? I’m mad at you. At least have the decency to look embarrassed.”
Bear twitched her ears. Bear and decency clearly had nothing to do with each other.
I looked up. And forgot to breathe. Above me, the chamber climbed to a height of a hundred and fifty feet, expanding into a wider space. Long spiral ledges of something that looked like paper wrapped around the perimeter of the cavern, and between them huge luminous crystals glowed with pale yellow light. Far above, at the very top, a cluster of paper tubes hung together, some sealed with pale paper caps, others empty, their edges ragged. It was like standing inside a gargantuan conch shell, and it felt otherworldly, like a cathedral.
Regret pinched me. I destroyed this.
Yes, it was beautiful, but the spider herders deserved to harvest their eggs in peace, and I needed to get home. I had to get the coral egg and get out.
“Come on, Butthole. Let’s find what we are looking for.”
The ledges were paper, but they were the sturdiest paper I had ever seen. It had no problem supporting my weight. First, I walked up the ledges to the top, severed the cluster of pupae and let it fall to the ground. I didn’t need any more worker wasps hatching while I rummaged around their house. Then I searched the nest top to bottom.
I found the stolen spider eggs glued to the walls still in their web cocoons. Each egg had a bunch of blue coconut-sized spheres by it – the wasp egg sacks containing larva. In some places, the sacks had hatched into fat three-foot-long grubs resembling maggots and were feeding on the spider eggs.
The lifecycle was clear. The wasps stole the spider eggs and left them for their young. Once the wasp larvae hatched, they would eat the spider eggs and grow until they formed a pupa and finally matured into adults. The spiders weren’t the nest’s only prey. I found three stalker corpses and bodies of four goat-like animals the size of a small deer, all glued with that same rough paper near the egg sacs.
Most of the spider eggs were empty or dark. I destroyed any wasp sacks or larva I came across.
The coral egg had been hidden away near the top of the nest, in a curve of the chamber, with a single egg sack attached to the wall next to it. Perhaps food for the new queen. I killed the wasp egg and gently removed the spider egg from the wall. It was smaller than the others, more like a soccer ball than a beach ball, and it felt warm and surprisingly light. I focused on it, activating my talent. A tiny life slept within, safe in a shell of nurturing liquid.
Oh.
The cream eggs came from the spiders. This one didn’t. This was one of them, a baby spider herder. A creature of an alien civilization, not just a sentient or a sapient, but a sophont not born on Earth.
I sat down and looked at it. A child separated from its parents, stolen to become wasp food and be devoured by grubs before its first moment of awareness.
It was so much.
For millennia, humans were terrified of being eaten. It was the most primal of our fears. It drove our progress and our relentless pursuit of technology. We conquered the planet to keep our children safe from the predators that roamed in the night. We thought we put this anachronistic horror behind us. And then the gates appeared, and the ancient fear came roaring back. Once again, we were scared that monsters would appear and devour our children, and all of our weapons and all of our progress would do nothing to stop it.
I hugged the egg gently and stayed like that until the inner storm passed inside me. I would get back to my children. And I would return this child back to its family.
In total I found five spider eggs that were still glowing, including the coral one. Now, I had to get them out and get down to the bottom of the cavern without getting killed. I needed a rope.
Well, there was a lot of spider silk around.
I cut a tendril of the spider thread from one of the hollowed-out cocoons on the wall and pulled on it. It came loose, dragging chunks of wasp paper with it. It was about the width of a thick thread and feather-light.
I flexed. 1.8 mm in diameter, slightly thinner than cooking twine. Wow. The tensile strength was off the charts.
I weighed one hundred and fifty-seven pounds before the breach. I checked my weight regularly. The DDC gym had an abundance of scales. The DDC monitored all government-employed gate divers for any unusual changes. They checked weight and height every three months, bloodwork every six.
I focused on myself. One hundred and fifty-one pounds. A six-pound weight loss. As I suspected, all that healing and fighting came with a price. This tiny strand of spider silk would hold ten times my weight. The eggs weren’t heavy, only large. That just left Bear.
I glanced at the dog and froze.
Ninety-four pounds.
That couldn’t possibly be right. I had checked her before and she was at eighty-two pounds. She had gained 12 lbs. It wasn’t possible. Even if my sense of time was completely off and we’d been in the breach for a week, a dog couldn’t just gain twelve pounds in seven days.
“Bear, come here, girl.”
The shepherd trotted over. I ran my hand over her body, feeling her flanks and back under the fur. There wasn’t much fat there, quite the opposite. She was on the leaner side. Judging by feel alone, she could use a few more meals.
I tried to recall her general dimensions, and they popped into my head from memory.
Bear was two inches taller and three inches longer.
I struggled to process it. She was taller and longer, which meant her bones elongated. Growing that fast should have put a huge strain on her body.
It had to be stalker regeneration. She’d been eating every chance she got, and her new accelerated healing must’ve been putting these calories into her growth.
I flexed again, focusing in on her, looking for any abnormalities. Perfectly healthy. Nothing strange. Just a very large dog. Also, her harness was on too tight.
I loosened the belts as much as I could. I would need the harness to get her down to the floor of the cavern, but once we cleared that hurdle – assuming we survived – I would have to take it off. It was already pinching her body. If she got any bigger, it would hurt her.
There was nothing I could do about Bear’s explosive growth. It was what it was. One thing for certain, I needed to feed her better. If she was growing, she would need more calories. The next time we downed a stalker or maybe one of those goat things, I would let her eat all she wanted.
For now, I had to concentrate on making a rope. The twine-sized spider silk would hold my weight, but it would also cut my hands. I had to make it thicker and figure out some way to shield my fingers.
I pulled on the silk, and it came loose. If my luck held, it would be one long rope, and I had a lot of cocoons to work with.
#
The rope took a lot longer than expected. I must’ve been at it for about three hours, but in the end, I didn’t just have a rope. I had two, braided together from several lengths of the spider twine. I also made a net sack into which I loaded the spider eggs, all but the coral one. That one would come down with me. I pried a paper cap off the cluster of tubes I had dropped to the ground. It was thick like canvas, but flexible, and I managed to work it into a crude sack. I put the coral egg into it and secured it with Bear’s leash.
Bear trotted out of the cave and came back in. She started doing it a few minutes after I began working on the rope. I read somewhere that German Shepherds liked to patrol. Nothing could get onto the ledge from below and if something came in from the tunnel, we could hold it off here in the nest, so if patrolling made her feel better, there was no reason to keep her from it.
I coiled my ropes and walked onto the ledge. Below us, about one hundred yards away, the spider herders blocked the floor of the cavern. There were seven of them and behind them massive white spiders splattered with black loomed at least twenty feet high.
Okay then. This altered things.
Bear stared at the spider army and let out a quiet woof.
“Yes. I see.”
I went back inside the cave, grabbed the queen’s head, and dragged it toward the gap. It barely fit, but finally I managed to push it through. I grabbed it and strained. The head was surprisingly light. I jerked it up above my head.
Look, I killed your enemy.
The spider herders watched, impassive.
I hurled the queen’s head off the cliff. It smashed onto the rocks below.
No reaction. Not exactly promising. I’d hoped for a cheer.
I picked up my ropes and walked along the ledge away from the flowers. Bear trotted after me.
We cleared the blossoms. I picked a large boulder, tied one rope around it, secured the other rope around a different chunk of stone and went back to the wasp nest to get the eggs. When I came back, the spider herders had moved directly below my ropes, arranged in a perfect crescent, with the monstrous spiders behind them.
I flexed. Some pollen had gotten on the eggs in the net sack. I waved my hands over it, trying to clean them. The pollen was featherlight, and after a couple of minutes most of it was off. I tied the rope to the net sack containing the four regular eggs, tied the other end of it around a rock, and held the sack above the drop.
Still no reaction.
I gently lowered the sack down. The rope was long enough. The trick was to keep from bumping the eggs against the cliff wall.
Nice and slow.
A spider herder stepped forward. I lowered the sack into their arms. The herder sliced at the rope with their hand, cutting the net sack free. There was no tug, no pull. One moment the weight of the eggs was on the rope and the next it vanished. The spider herder moved to the back with their prize, and I pulled the rope back up.
I still had the coral egg, Bear, and myself.
Bear would have to be next. I looped the rope around the rock three more times, then wrapped it around her, threading it through her harness.
“You will be okay, girl. I’ll be right down.”
I took a deep breath and gently lowered Bear off a cliff, supporting her weight with my arms. When she was about three feet down, I backed up, strung the rope over my shoulders, and began to let it out, little by little, foot by foot, going as slowly as I could. If I was the old me, there was no way I could’ve done it. She would’ve been too heavy.
I ran out of rope and looked down. I’d calculated correctly. Bear was hanging about six feet off the ground. Letting her down all the way would’ve been a dangerous gamble. Bear was smart but she was a dog. There was no telling what she would do when facing giant spiders and weird looking beings. She could wait for me like a good girl, or she could decide it was biting time and get herself killed. Leaving her hanging was the safest choice. The spider herders made no move toward her and if the rope snapped and she fell, she wouldn’t get injured.
It was my turn. I hung the sack with the last egg around my neck, threading one arm through so Bear’s leash crossed my chest. The egg was now on my back in the sack. I grabbed the second rope. I had never rappelled off anything in my life. Hell of a way to start learning.
It was easier than I thought. The first time I had pushed off a little too hard, but by the fourth bump I got the hang of it.
Push.
Push.
Push.
My feet met the solid ground. I let go of the rope and turned around. The spider herders stood motionless. They were almost eight feet tall, and they towered over me, menacing and silent, their faces hidden behind veils. Only the eyes were visible, two of them per face, large, narrow, with a strange-looking white iris on a solid black sclera that didn’t seem the least bit insectoid.
I lifted my paper sack off my back, pulled the paper open, and held the coral egg out.
“Bekh-razz.” My voice sounded ragged.
The spider herder in the center stepped forward. I’d flexed. My talent slid over the spider herder, and I knew he was male and the staff in his hand, with the symbols etched into its shaft, meant he was in charge of this cluster.
The herder’s robe stirred softly, as he moved and I realized that the humanoid shape was an illusion. The top half of him, the upright half, seemed human. His arms, unnaturally white, were long and thin, and his hands had six segmented fingers, each tipped with a black claw. He seemed to float forward rather than walk, and as he moved, I glimpsed the outline of four segmented legs underneath the pale silk.
Soft voice issued forth from the spider herder. “Horsun, gehr tirr did sembadzer.”
Something inside me recognized this language. The steady cadence sounded so familiar. I knew the words but their meaning kept avoiding me, as if I was trying to hold on to slippery, wet mud.
“Dzerhen tam dzal lukr tuhta gef.”
I used to speak this. Long time ago. I just forgot how… No, wait, it wasn’t me.
“…Dzer lohr dzal, Sadrin.”
Me. I was Sadrin. That was more than a name. It was an occupation… no, a purpose. This was my goal in life. It was why I existed. The core of my… The understanding slipped away from me, and I almost growled out of sheer frustration. So close.
Something tore in my mind like a piece of paper and suddenly some of the clicks and odd syllables made sense.
“… hyrt argadi…”
Daughter. Argadi meant daughter. I saved a female child.
“…Argadi dzal to na yen sah-dejjit…”
Sah-dejjit. Friend. They considered me a friend.
“Dzer meq dzal bekh-razz danur. Bekh-razz danir.”
Safe passage for now and forever. Oh.
The spider herder pointed at my left arm. I stepped forward and held it out. The light on his staff flared into a needle-thin orange beam and hit my arm. Pain lashed me. I grit my teeth.
The light died. A narrow scar marked my arm, twisting into a flowing symbol. My talent focused on it.
The vision burst in my mind. Groups of spider herders, one after another, different landscapes, different times, all nodding and parting to let me pass. I had been given a great, rare honor.
The words formed on my lips on their own.
“Adaren kullnemeq, Sindra-ron. Sadrin issun tanil danir.”
Thank you for the priceless gift, children of Sindra. I shall be forever grateful.
The spider herders moved aside, and the sea of spiders behind them parted before me.
First?
Certified 🥇
But but but…isn’t Bear still stuck up off the ground? I’m worried. 😧
These are not Void puppies but I am still obsessed: https://www.nps.gov/dena/learn/photosmultimedia/webcams-pups.htm
Graupel is my favorite.
P.s. I apologize if you get sucked in. 😉
Happy Monday
First?!
Awwwwwwsome. Ditto all the comments about mom-thinking, void puppies and having spider babies. WASPs are scary-icky.
first?
yay 2nd??
Thanks.
Have a nice holiday.
Hooray! I’m seriously enjoying this story and can’t wait for publication. I love this new genre.
Ditto
Yay! Thank you! 🥳🤗
This story is wonderful! Really, really love it! 😊
thank you so much! I’ve been stalking the page since 730am!
We do “chill” so well 😍. I love the Horde
me too! stalk stalk!
thank you ✨
Yay!! I live for these!
top 5?
Again, thank you for this gift.
Yeah, thank you!
Woo! First? Love this chapter. Thank you for making my morning
Agreed, thank you and wow!
Good morning. Just re=read Chapter 7 in preparation. Be back when I’ve devoured this offering. 😁
Closest I’ll ever get, frankly I will never have the willpower to skip reading before posting again! So wonderful, I love the suspense waiting to see how the spider herders would react.
Bear, even — no especially — unrepentant, is still the bestest girl.
+1
Nowhere close to first but I’m used to it by now. Thank you! I love the story and I can’t wait for the publication.
Ooooh, Bear, you’re in it now, pup. You have three parts of a full name. But on the other hand, you’re fully adopted, so definitely a net paw-sitive.
Yeah, I caught the addition of Ada’s last name to Bear’s name. Cold Chaos is not getting that dog back except if it goes through the gate with Ada.
I thought Bear’s extra weight was leading to her being pregnant and I wondered how GS puppies that had been nourished by Stalker meat and blood would turn out.
Omg, don’t even talk to me today whilst I recover from the cuteness of VOID PUPPIES!
+1
Void puppy. WANELO. (Want Need Love)
Yikes, awesome, scary!
I know I was so excited! Officially adopted now!
oh still high up even so i thought i was late and read before coming here – love it!
I’m so glad its getting some extra scenes!!!
+100
Yay for inter-species communication!
Great part. Thank you!
Twenty foot tall spiders??? My arachnophobia could not. Ada is so tough.
Loved this chapter. Thank you HA!!
This story just gets better and better. Thank you!
Wow, those were posted quick.
This was the perfect break from work. Thank you!
Exactly! I took a break from my boring Monday data entry. Excellent way to clear my mind before going back to a boring task.
So great!!
How much do we wanna bet that bear will grow until she is the same size as her namesake?
And interesting – Ada seems to be recognizable as (a) Sadrin. I am curious to see what that occupation entails, beyond the children of sindra loving her, apparently!
Wiem że nie jestem pierwsza ale sama satysfakcja, że tyle z nas czekało na kolejny rozdział to miód na moje serce 🙂
Pierwszy duchem!
So excited to purchase this story and crossing my fingers for a sequel.
Congrats Bear on being fully adopted! As if Ada would let you go without fighting tooth and nail for you.
20 ft spiders noooo thanks, Ada is tough.
Idk if Bear belonged to Stella or CC, if the latter, I can see CC releasing their claim as part of amends.
I want Ada to gain or discover some shielding technique, our power duo might have a lot of medical testing in their futures.
I can see others wanting them to gather flowers and stalker hearts.
Or, when the government decides to fire her because her adventures in the rift have changed her so dramatically, CC swoops in and hires her. They get an assessor with off-the-charts level talents, she gets Bear, London and Melissa gets what they deserve.
I’ll vote for that.
Oh, yeah, I forgot she worked for the government and not Cold Chaos. Of course, then she and Elias couldn’t date because he’d be her supervisor, so maybe she could be an independent contractor.
(So what if this book won’t have them together. I’m still going to ship them while I pray and whine for more Inheritance books. Don’t interrupt my fantasizing with reality.)
We’re just being thoughtful, really. No need to actually write a romantic relationship. Just refrain from burning our ship and sinking it to the bottom of the Marianas Trench and we’ll do the rest.
Go, Team Facts-be-damned!
I’d rather think long-term. At the end of this she’s going to have to deal with the aftermath of her kids’ trauma, her own trauma, significant upheaval in her own life, and the changes in how people see her (distrust or scientific resource). Also, potentially, figuring out her new role dealing with the Breaches. She doesn’t need any more complications on top of all that.
Now, in Inheritance 2, Ada might realize that she’d like to have a certain man in her life and Elias, after months of unrequited longing, will a date. Chaos ensues. Bear Butthole Moore saves the day. And your ship sails off to the sunset.
Is Ada some kind of innkeeper?
that’s an intriguing idea!
I like how she thinks things out like a Mom. This is the materials available, this is what I need to do, how can I make that work? As a mother of kids who waited until the last minute to tell me about a project, I am VERY familiar with that thought process lol
Way back in the day, when my oldest child was in middle school, (90s) I instituted a new rule in parent self-defense
“all weekend homework completed by Saturday”
after a ‘last minute'(last minute to ME) science project entailed driving to the next county to the only art supply store open on a Sunday, arriving 45 minutes before closing…
Okay, just went back to read it. So good! Ahh.
Thank you for another great installment. I too have to read first and then post. I’m loving how strong and talented Ada and Bear are becoming. And now positive contact with a new alien race. Looking forward to where the story goes next.
This is cruel. Give me the prescious.
😭😂🤣
I feel like Ada just became a diplomat for future adventures into the breach.
Sounds like our gift-giver was a protector or problem solver who was charged with helping others eliminate threats.
Ada has promotion in her future.
I’m feeling a bit of cognitive dissonance with the dynamic between the wasps and the spiders. There didn’t seem to be anything purposefully malevolent or evil about the wasps, more like they are just instinct-driven creatures out there living their lives trying to feed their own babies, having evolved into a natural food chain like we see on Earth. The fact that she felt empathy for the spiders and yet killed all those wasps and babies/pupae felt off. The wasps seemed to lack just that extra element that would define them as self-aware and intentionally cruel.
Just my 2 cents. 🤷🏻♀️
She has a clear moment of regret about destroying them, but in order to get to her own babies, she needs to stop the baby-eating and gain safe passage 🙂
The spiders are peacefully living in the flowers, the wasps are stealing their children and feeding them to their young. There is a limited amount of empathy available here.
There are predators all around us in the here and now, but they and we learn to inhabit a defined zone with legitimate prey.
The wasps can and do eat prey other than the spider herders, and presumably the spider herders do not set up their ranches in places where stalkers etc., den and predominate.
Humans don’t build homes and towns in the middle of the Everglades, Karoo National Park (South Africa and home to the big 5) or Komodo National Park (Indonesia) home of venomous komodo dragons).
I also immediately have the thought that ‘thank goodness there is another effective predator of the stalkers!”
wow this scene was just incredible. thank you so much!
Back after reading. Love the detail of the wasp nest, the step by step processing Ada uses to navigate each step of a challenge, the hints of what might be happening to Ada physically.
Now that Ada has made friends with herders I worry that they may be killed or injured when the anchor is destroyed.
Also hoping “meanwhile back at the gate” is part of Friday’s snippet.
+1
This!!^^^
Oh gosh, how phenomenal. Love this chapter.
WOW! Amazing as always! Bear is great.
Another wonderful chapter. I love this story
So maybe the lady in blue at the beginning was one of the humans that got left inside when the breach closed? and over time, her skin color changed? Since she seemed to be a Sadrin, also?
Yes, I am now a little worried about Ada being able to leave the void and return home … unless the not-human spider hoarding leader removed some of her gift so she could return home???
This brought me to tears. thank you!
The ragged scrape to the bone in her legs must have hurt so much. Maybe the pollen would help numb the pain?
How is this gate not a red? I can’t imagine how assault teams are successful in higher rated gates.
Have all the assault teams been successful getting past sapient humanoids or poisonous plants to destroy each anchor using force alone?
There have been hundreds, if not, thousands of gates opened to earth in the last decade. She said a dozen had opened in the US alone when it first happened. Her talent started on year 3 and she’s been in 78? gates herself. I’m just wondering how many aliens have been killed in destroying the anchors and whether that kills all beings in the breach.
Both Elias and Ada talk about the breaches degrading and collapsing after the anchor is destroyed but I wonder if they mean the gates to the breaches and that “gangplank” breach between worlds goes back to where it came from without damage.
It seems like the aliens aren’t aware of the breach or the gate or anchor and are just going about business as usual.
I’ve also been wondering about location. Ada lives outside Chicago? Elmwood is somewhere in Illinois? And she usually works along the East Coast? Is the Cold Chaos Guild HQ somewhere nearby?
When Elias first came out of his gate in the Pacific Northwest it sounded like the HQ was further away from the Elmswood gate.
just wondering how far she has to travel to be reunited with her kids.
also concerned the DDC will notice all her changes if she’s that closely monitored and what will happen to her as a result.
if it were me, I would never tell a soul about the inheritance, just try to use it to benefit humanity on the down low.
love this story so much. it could be a great series or cross over series to the Innkeeper. I’m glad it seems to have evolved from novella territory to short novel.
Is HA working on Maggie 2 at the same time? HA never ceases to amaze me. I was marveling this weekend over small details like the guild name “Cold Chaos”. It’s brilliant.
Location of the gate: https://shorturl.at/vgbFk
To avoid the US being split into territories by the guilds, the government makes sure that once a guild reaches a certain size, they don’t just work in their immediate area but are sent all over, which is why you see Elias on the West Coast. However, DDC gate divers usually work relatively close to home. Gates tend to appear near population centers, and Ada works a chunk of Midwest and North-Eastern Seaboard, basically places she can fly to in a couple of hours. Cold Chaos is headquartered in Chicago, which is part of the reason Ada frequently works with them.
Thank you. That really helps.
Work on Maggie 1 and Maggie 2 is still ongoing as Inheritance chapters are written! I don’t know how HA do it either!
Emily, love your commentary. I love books that allow for discussion around the details, exploring the world, speculating over meanings, intentions, and theorizing on outcomes and such. The Inheritance is right up with so much room for discussion. I truly hope it becomes a series.
Now, I agree with you on my concern about how her changes will possibly be discovered and exploited. I’d commented earlier that I hope she learns some shielding technique. I don’t know how much of her changes will be measurable or detectable. She and Bear will likely be closely monitored for a while and I fear others would try to seek out some mauve flower and hearts of their own. I agree on keeping quiet on the inheritance…I wouldn’t say a word if they couldn’t tell. Bear though is gonna be a dead give away on some of the changes. I just hope he’s not addicted to stalker meat at this point. 🤣
For those of us who are already shipping her and Elias… though they have not met yet, I saw some thoughts that she might be recertified as a higher-tier Talent and be able to join CC. I think the DDC will want to keep “control” of her new talent and knowledge. That change would also open the door to what they have been fighting, keeping assessors from joining guilds. So, the more likely for me is that they will remove the no fraternization rule, or make an exception.
I wonder if the Anchor has a different purpose. Could it be a device the Sindrin are using to deter the wasps and it’s opening a portal unexpectedly? Are the Sandrin protectors within the breaches that try to address threats created by the group who placed them or threats to the world’s that are being connected? Could it be an anchor point for the Sandrin’s world and the world of whoever she was fighting…and it’s opening to earth was unintended? Soooo…many possibilities.
Also, I’ve enjoyed all of Easter eggs and connections to The Innkeeper Chronicles, however, I don’t know if I’m at full crossover. They worlds feel very much different, the tone of the stories, etc. Marrying the two might be difficult for my mind to adjust to..though, if anyone can do it HA could.
Lastly, I think that Ada’s children are relatively close by. I do hope we get to see their reunion.
Thank you! Another amazing installment! Bear is still the best girl, yes she is!
And good job Ilona, getting Gordon to agree to extra scenes. The BDH is sooo lucky! 😘
+1000
Nice, gaining knowledge and safety. Way to go Ada and Bear!
Oh. My. Goddess.
Ada is not only London’s superior now, she’s a member of some noble group. I’m making the comparison to London because I reread the story up to this point last night. It made me look forward to their reunion where she gets to confront him and his lies. I haven’t forgotten Melissa or Roger, either. I hope the press drags him.
Imagine how valuable she is in the breaches now. We’ve only seen the beginning of the knowledge she has access to. Now she has connections.
This was awesome distraction from my extraction pain. That tooth didn’t want to let go! I’m reminded of my wisdom teeth.
Healing well though.
Thank you!
I can’t wait for the confrontation with London and Melissa.
Although, I have less smoke for Melissa, her actions and covering them up are reprehensible, and while she has some responsibility to her crew she wasn’t responsible for the safety and protection of the crew.
London however, he abandoned the team he was hired to protect and caused the death of 3-4 miners by setting of that blast. I hope Ada reaches through his shield and smacks him as Bear bites him..
I do see Ada as more of a diplomat now. If the DDC learns of all she now knows and the expansion of her talent, they will likely never let her leave (to join CC).
I am glad that this was a distraction from your pain, hopefully you will continue to experience relief.
No cheer? Not even a “Chiiiiiii”? (please forgive if I misspelled)
Soooo good!!! Thank you.
It seems that the longer Ada and Bear stay in the void the more they will change.
The spiders of Sindra, I might be getting confused but are they the fortune telling spiders that predicted misery for Dina?
Do you mean the Holy Seramina of Eno? 🙂 I don’t think these are the same as the Kelah, no 🙂
So. Very. Cool!
I love the accompanying artwork, too. 🙂
So good!! And I needed it so much. My kid is hurting. His GF of 5 years broke up with him last night. I hate when your kid hurts
After this chapter I am fairly sure all of the BDH want more stories of Ada in the future……
I sure want to read more of Ada in the future too.
Favorit-est chapter!!! The images in my mind ! Are we sure there won’t be void puppies bc that would be amazing, lol
“I hugged the egg gently and stayed like that until the inner storm passed inside me. I would get back to my children. And I would return this child back to its family.”
Omg the writing. There is action but so much feeling. That we can all relate to. 💗 I just don’t think anyone is comparable.
Wow another beautiful chapter! Thank you so much!
oh my goodness. love it!
“…Dzer lohr dzal, Sadrin .” Iguess that mean THANK YOU, wright? Does anybody has an updated dictionary English-Sindra’s children? haha
brilliant – thank you a million times over…..loving this story
So good, thank you!!
I’m taking a mental health day and this was perfect.
Great story thanks I can’t wait for the rest. And here in Florida we have Mud daubers that are solitary wasps that provision their nests with paralyzed spiders to feed their young so it’s a thing.
We usually let full wasps nests form on our eaves if they build up high as they are pollinators too, but not the dirt daubers they get knocked down so go Ada.
Thank you needed it on a crazy Monday!
Thank you!
Whoa!!! Intense, I say!
That last paragraph gave me goosebumps! I don’t know how they do it, but they pull me into their world every time.
Can’t wait it to purchase this book!!!
+1!!!!!
Big sigh.
This will now be a GOOD week!
Thank you
Ooooooh! Love it! Thank you!!!
Oh WOW. Oh wow wow wow.
Also… Butthole. teehee!
Oh My! This gets better and better .
Thank you for this snippet.
Bear…such a great dog, even though she’s unrepentant and growing. Stalker meat…the other dog food.
The last part of the snippet…wow. If only Elias and company could see Ada and Bear now!
To be continued on Friday…maybe with Jackson….
this is amazing
Ok this is awesome. I am so curious about the origin of the inheritance. Why did it come to be? Why was it necessary? Why do the gates exist? There is so many questions I’m curious about now.👀
Oh, I thought you’re referring to the book there for a minute. “Why was The Inheritance necessary?” Umh, for devouring purposes, ofc 😁
Do you know if the print version will have these illustrations? Would be cool.
Probably in black and white in print ☺️.
Will the ebook have the color versions?
Self-pub ebooks have had color illustrations ever since Clean Sweep, 12 years ago 🙂. Ofc, it depends on your e-reader having color display.
Thanks!
simply lovely, thank you
I am really really enjoying this story!!!
So much good stuff! I learned some new words and got such a clear image in my mind of the whole scene. I really admire the world building skill and am so thankful for this lovely respite from reality.
perfect way to procrastinate on a rainy day!
Loving this series!
This is a wonderful story. Thank you so much for branching out from the worlds we already love. And thank you for sharing it with us every week.
Amazing! So good! Thank you very much!
Thank you for the chapter.
I am a rock climber, and if I was rappelling with a precious bundle I would have it against my chest. If I stumble and move into the wall my arms and belly can cushion the impact between myself, the bundle and the wall. If I slip and spin out there is no cushion between my back, the bundle, and the wall.
This may be something that Ada considers in the future.
Have a great week!
Thank you! Will edit!
this is wonderful
thank you
Thank you for my birthday gift. even though I know this is a schedule day, it felt extra special reading it. Love this story and can’t wait to read the whole novel.
Wow!! Just wow. I do love what you guys create. Much admiration from South London, UK
ooooh I got goosebumps 😳 thanks again for a fantastic Chapter
😃
you gotta love Butthole Bear 🤭🤣
I absolutely enjoy all that y’all write. sometimes i wonder about your nightmares
Ada received and safe passage, woohoo! Also, I love Butthole! (That’s a sentence I never thought I’d think, say, write, or type….)
Again WOW. I love this so much.
This is the meeting between Ada and the Herders that I’d hoped for– positive and welcoming and I love every bit of it. Has Ada gotten taller, like Bear has gotten longer? Can’t wait to see what else the stalker meat and Ada’s “implant” have given her.
Is HA making a spider herder language? I’m so curious about the spider herders and their environs! Wonder what they’ll name the baby girl when she hatches. Bet her name has some reference to being the protected one!
Ada is fabulous. Even if someone did manage to take Bear away from Ada, I’m guessing they would find keeping Bear to be beyond their capabilities. Ada may have bonded with Bear, but I’m betting that bond is very much two way. (Visions here of Bear ripping through a kennel like it’s tissue paper as Bear heads out to find Ada.)
Oh my gosh, this was already so good and it is just so much better today! I loved this installment! Having interaction with an actual civilization in the breach is so much more interesting and exciting than just monsters who need killin’!
Thank you House Andrews!
Amazing!
Thank you so much!!
This is so cool! I love learning more about the lore within these strange places.
Go Ada!
Wow, i cant wait for Ada and her kids to reunite, i hope they take the changes to their very cool mom well
I love the monday, friday thing ’cause it starts and ends my week very well. The w*iting though… ugh.
Thank you! I love this!
Is it just me, or is Ada getting more irreverent? In the beginning she was very serious, and all about being responsible. Now she’s wisecracking with Bear, and accepting and embracing the strangeness that her life has become. Obviously she’s not only physically changing, but emotionally changing as well. This is going to make her eventual return to civilization very interesting. In addition, her inherited knowledge will totally change the way the breaches are viewed in her society, My last questions are; Ada has encountered an established civilized society. Why hasn’t this happened in other breach explorations? Is this evidence that the breaches aren’t all connected together, that the only commonality is the breach itself, which can lead to many different destinations? Kind of like the portals in an Inn to reach to different locations or planets? Actually I have still more questions, but I’ll hold off on them and hope the continuing story will answer them. 0_0
I don’t think she has become more irreverent. I think she is in survival mode and has accepted the responsibility of protecting Bear. I do think she is very serious minded still, but we did she her embracing some lightness with the team before and in the breach, though due to the non-fraternization rules she was likely more restrained.
I think her goals are clear. Keep her promise to her daughter. Keep Bear safe and get her out alive. Survive and find her way out.
That being said, I do think she will be emotionally changed by this experience as you stated. I don’t think she has a lot of processing time at the moment and we see her slightly rattled in the rare occasions she has a break.
I wonder too if there have been previous encounters. Is this why Ada believes there is more danger closer to the breach? Meaning, has there been some secrecy around the nature of the threat or presence of civilization? Or, is this the first time an anchor has been placed this close the a civilization?
Do the breaches open to different worlds or are they opening in various locations on the same planet? I think there was some discussion around that, I will have to go back and read.
I am so thirsty for more to read. It feels like torture to wait to Mondays and Fridays. To read everything in minutes and then wait… this series feels like it could develop into more books. I’m intrigued by learning about the alien cultures and want to know how Adaline might fulfill her destiny, the role the other heroine played in the other world(s) and where this will end up. Bear is becoming a bigger dog and I’m waiting for her to become the size of a rickshaw heh heh. Maybe her teeth will grow too. Like the werewolves in Kate Daniels series? When when when will more books come out. I’m so bored. I keep rereading all that I have. I am aware I should be grateful that there are 2 posts per week and it’s free!!! I’m thankful but kind of addicted…yes definitely causes cravings for more
Correction *develop into more books
Fixed 🙂.
For now, the official stance is that The Inheritance is a standalone.
(Heavy on the “for now” as far as I am concerned 😅, I’m a series supporter behind the scenes!)
Releases we know about are Inheritance this summer and This Kingdom Will Not Kill me (Maggie 1) in March 2026 🙂
I can’t explain how surreal it is that ive been obsessed with isekai, portal and progression fantasy for the past year or so and having ilona andrews my favorite author write a story that seems like they interviewed me and asked me specifically what i want in that suer niche sub genre.
older female lead
potential for a maturely handled romance
weak/normal character survives against the odds and gains super powers
please keep this coming. cant wit for the full story
Yay for a Monday installment. I love that we’re all now shipping Void Puppies out of pure Horde Mania <3
Every time Ada admonished Bear, I was reading "Artha" 😀
And yes, Mom Powers FTW!
Very curious as to what that leader did to Ada and why she now has a scar on her arm. And: Will Ada grow too, having also eaten Stalker meat?
From context, I assumed the scar was the mark of safe passage, so she can show it and be allowed through 🙂
Wow. So beautiful!