A Glimmer of Hope (The Avalon Chronicles #1)(110)

“With Jared, Chloe, Harry, Kasey, and yourself? Another four. You will officially be outside of Avalon control. But unofficially, Elaine has given the go-ahead to do this. You are all exceptional people, and with Tommy’s backing, I think you can do a lot of good.”

“Do we get a code name?” Harry asked.

“Ask Tommy, I’m sure he has a million ideas by now. Most of them will be geeky and probably infringe on a hundred copyrights.”

“The U-men,” Tommy offered.

“U-men?” Nate asked.

“U-people?”

“That isn’t any better.” Nate turned back to Layla. “Now, there’s one thing you’re not going to like about this. We need you to contact your father. He’s someone Nergal wants, and we need to remove him as an issue, and he can help us find umbras. He’s under LOA control, but according to Tabitha he’s said many times over the years that he’ll only talk to you. He can help us find Nergal and his people. Can you do that?”

Layla hesitated and then nodded. “He’s dangerous.”

“So is everyone in this room,” Nate told her. “If you accept this, your training begins tomorrow. I’d advise you to keep my participation quiet.”

“Why?”

“People in Avalon want me dead. People outside of Avalon want me dead too. Basically a lot of people would really like me dead.”

“Or they hate you,” Remy said.

“Or that. Thanks, man.”

Remy gave the thumbs-up, ignoring Nate’s sarcasm.

“So, you in?”

Layla nodded again. “I need to help stop these people.”

“That’s the plan,” Nate said. “Welcome to the team.”

Everyone congratulated her before leaving the room, allowing Nate, Tommy, and Layla to be alone.

“You okay?” Nate asked.

“This is a lot to take in.”

That’s Hellequin, Rosa said inside Layla’s head.

“What’s a Hellequin?” Layla said aloud, causing Nate to give her a strange look.

“That’s me,” he said. “Where did you hear that word?”

“My spirit told me. Her name is Rosa Kendall.”

Nate smiled. “It’s been a while since I heard that name. I didn’t realize you had Rosa in your head. She was a good person.”

So was Nate, Rosa said.

“She said you were too.”

“Don’t use the name Hellequin. It’s not exactly going to make you popular. Trust Rosa. I worked with her a few times and she’s good at her job. Ruthless, but not without compassion. You are fortunate to have such a good spirit.”

“So why aren’t you officially involved in this little idea?”

“I have other things I need to do. I need to know that when I’m away people are still helping Elaine fight whoever needs to be fought. And Nergal needs to be fought. He’s cruel and vicious, and he won’t stop until he has what he wants. You need to prepare for that.”

“We’ll get her ready,” Tommy said.

“I’m around for a few months,” Nate said. “I’ll help where I can. Fortunately, with the spirits in your head, you’ll learn a lot quicker than a human could. I hope you don’t mind a lack of sleep and having your body ache, because that’ll be the next six months of your life.”

“Nergal was responsible for my mum’s death. Whatever I need to do to help bring him down, no matter how much it hurts, I’ll manage,” Layla said with a grin.

“This isn’t about revenge,” Nate said. “This is about protecting people.”

“Will Nergal get what’s coming to him?”

Nate nodded. “That’s the plan.” He walked over and offered his hand again. Layla shook it without hesitation.

When Layla glanced at Tommy and saw the smile on his face, she remembered fighting alongside Kasey and Chloe, Remy and Diana. She remembered their fierce protection of one another. She had never had people be like that around her. It was an odd but pleasant thought.

“Welcome to the club,” Nate said. “We’re going to kick all kinds of ass.”

Somewhere inside of Layla the spirits and drenik smiled. Layla smiled too.

“Can’t wait.”





ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I always knew I wanted to write a book set in the Hellequin universe, but completely separate from those books. Unfortunately, while I had a main character and general premise, I wasn’t certain exactly how it was all going to come together to form a story.

Over time, and with the help of several people, the original story morphed into the one you’ve just read, or are about to read if you’re one of those people who reads the Acknowledgments first.

Layla, along with her cast of friends and enemies, was a character who I found a lot of fun to write, and if you’ve read the Hellequin Chronicles books, I’m sure you’ll have spotted a few characters who will be familiar to you.

But books don’t just write themselves; trust me, I’ve tried letting them and it gets me nowhere, other than the feeling that I should be working, not playing video games. And there are a lot of people who help me work on the story, characters, or just help to polish the book to a standard that I’m happy to have published.