Annie Bellet
Jade and her friends are playing paintball in the woods behind the bed and breakfast Rose owns. Her teammates, Alek and Max, aren’t much help and she has her hands tied behind her back so that she can’t use them as a crutch for her magic. The training exercise is to help her get stronger before Samir (who has been sending post cards) arrives. Eventually, she is able to take out the last of the other team by lifting her paintballs high into the air and attacking from above. Harper shoots her after loosing. They all go inside. When Jade and Alek arrive back at her apartment, there is another postcard from Samir with a familiar looking forest on it (the previous had all been from Europe). Jade showers while Alek tries to call his friend and mentor, Carlos, who didn’t answer last week. He doesn’t answer again this week. When there is a know on the door, Alek thinks it is the pizza he ordered and answers it. Jade asks him to slam the door in her dad’s face.
Jasper, Jade’s father, says that he needs her help. She declines and tries to send him away. When Alek tries to get her to listen, she tells him how her family kicked her out of the tribe because she didn’t shift into a crow. The tribe is very exclusive. Jasper’s father, Sky Heart, decided that he would recruit all crow shifters and kill any that declined. Jade’s mother, Pearl, left when her mother, Ruby, died because she was angry at the tribe. When she returned, she was pregnant with Jade. She asks about her real father. Jasper only knows that he was also Native American. Jade is relieved to know that Samir isn’t her father. Carlos was sent by the Nine (shifter high council) because shifters were being murdered, but Sky Heart got angry and sent him away. Alek knows that he has to get involved and takes Jasper with him to talk to the Nine. Jade doesn’t want to help, but knows that she is going to.
Alek comes to Jade’s shop to tell her the council came to him in a dream and told him to stay. He has decided that he is going to go anyway and asks her to join him. She agrees, knowing she can’t let people keep dying, especially if her ex is behind it. On the long drive, Alek fills her in on what they know. The killer(s) are able to hide from the skilled hunters, but have been leaving the bodies where they are easy to find with their organs missing. Jade wishes she had been able to create more magic objects, but has been unable to store magic in anything yet. They make their way to Three Feathers and when they arrive, Sky Heart (Jade’s adoptive grandfather), is not happy to see her. He agrees to talk to Alek and Jade decides to talk to her mom. She is introduced to her half sister, Emerald. Jade follows Pearl back to the cabin she grew up in before being kicked out for not being a crow-shifter. Jade asks about her father, but Pearl can’t tell her much except her father’s name was Ash and a sorcerer. Jade decides to change the subject to the murders. Pearl points out that this isn’t the first time this has happened, but before she can explain, someone is screaming. When Jade makes it to the big house’s porch, there is a woman screaming about a dead man.
The woman takes everyone out to the body. Sky Heart has everyone back off, but Alek and Jade go in closer for a better look. Since Sky Heart is a shifter, Alek is able to get his to back off using his alpha powers. The old crow says he will consult his god about them staying. Jade notices it is like the chest has exploded and Alek pulls out a live crow from the open cavity. Jade goes to touch the body, hoping to find some clue of what magic was used. She feel a cold rage come over her and then next thing she knows, Alek has pulled her away. He carries her back to the trailer attached to his truck and Jade has to use her own magic to shake of the shadow of whatever killed the man. Once they are both inside the trailer, they start discussing what is going on. Alek says that Sky Heart is lying about consulting Shishishiel and Jade already knows this because she can’t feel the spirit’s presence around him like when she was a child. There is some scratching at the door. Alek opens it to find Emerald telling them they have to find the missing children.
Emerald explains that there are border stones around the camp that Sky Heart put up to protect them. The fledgling (haven’t shifted yet) children are much younger than her and went past them. She has one item from each of the children. Pearl suggested that Jade could use the items to find the children if they are still alive, which Sky Heart says they are not. Jade wants to get more information out of her fledgling half-sister, but Alek sends her away realizing the scared child won’t be able to tell them much. He decides they will wait until morning before trekking across unfamiliar territory looking for them. In the morning, they head out into the woods following Jade’s tracking spell on one of the boys, Peter. After about an hour, Alek sees Carlos and takes off after him. Jade turns to see that Emerald has been following them and she chases after her half-sister. After a few minutes, Jade realizes that the spirit is messing with them and wanted to separate them. She refocuses her magic and concentrates. She runs into Wolf, who points out a pair of trees. Jade realizes they are close to the mine her cousins got her lost in when she was little. She thinks the kids are probably in there now. She decides to follow the tracking spell with Wolf beside her and find Alek later.
Jade finds the mine entrance and sees that it has been cleaned up. She sends Wolf to help Alek and starts down the tunnel making her D20 glow for light. She follows the tracking spell and ends up in a cavern in the mine filled with furniture. Jade sees something out of the corner of her eye, but is to slow to stop the man from hitting her in the head with a baseball bat. When Jade wakes up, she is chained in complete darkness. A man, another prisoner, comes to make sure she is alright, and she realizes it is Carlos. He explains that the children are also with them and the man the spirit is controlling calls himself Not Afraid. Jade creates a small light to assess the situation. Carlos is unable to shift due to a collar that will kill him if he tries. Jade lets the light die and then uses her magic to rust the chains. After everyone is free, they make their way out of the mine. Jade is completely wiped out from using so much magic, and Wolf has to help her out the last of the way. Alek is there when they exit the mine. He and Carlos shift to their respective forms to get everyone back to camp as quickly as possible. There is a body laid out on a stretcher when they arrive and Sky Heart’s eyes are filled with tears.
Jade decides she is done being pushed off by Sky Heart. She goes up to him and demands to know what is going on. She promises that if he is responsible, she will make him pay. Sky Heart shifts and flies away. Pearl comes to take Jade to her house to get her cleaned up. Jade draws a bath and is sitting in it when her mom comes in. Jade asks who Not Afraid is. Pearl explains he was a crow that had a twin sister, Buttercup, that was human. Sky Heart sent her away and refused to let Not Afraid know where she went or let him go after her himself. He killed Sky Heart’s second wife, Opal, and was killed. Jade wonders if Buttercup’s decedents might be teaming up with Not Afraid’s spirit for revenge. She goes to the couch to get some sleep. When Jade wakes up again, she starts making her way towards Alek’s trailer. She stops when she sees the glow of the boundary stone and decides to check it out. Not Afraid is there. She asks him what he wants and why he is killing people. He asks if she was cast out and she tells him about it. He said she was one of the lucky ones and offers to show her the truth. Jade asks why she should trust him and asks for her necklace back. He gives it to her and she follows him outside the boundary.
They walk through the night with Jade using her infant night vision. Jade can feel the wrongness when they arrive at the cliff Not Afraid has been leading her to. Wolf appears and growls at the area. Jade ignores her and Not Afraid takes her to the bottom where there is a cave filled with children's bones he has collected over the years. Sky Heart takes all of the children that do not change into crows and throws them off the cliff, telling them they have one last chance to fly. Not Afraid shows Jade his twin sister’s memory of being thrown off. He explains that he cannot get close enough to Sky Heart with the boundary up and his talisman protecting him. Jade agrees to help them kill Sky Heart as long as she is allowed to confirm his story with a truth spell and this will stop the killing. Not Afraid agrees to her terms. He points out that Alek and Carlos have started looking for her. She asks Not Afraid to distract them while she goes to do her part.
On her way back to the Three Feather’s camp, Jade figures out her plan. She takes a pebble and fills it with her own power. If she adds just slightly more, it will explode and destroy the boundary stone. She goes through the memories of Bernie (sorcerer she killed) to find out how to keep Sky Heart bound, in human form, and make him tell her the truth. She confronts him at the big house as soon as she gets back to camp. She is able to use all three spells and Sky Heart admits that he killed all of the children that did not shift into crows. He wishes that he had killed her. Jade breaks the boundary and Not Afraid comes after Sky Heart. After he kills him, he goes after Jasper. Jade tries to stop him, but her magic isn’t powerful enough to kill him. He drops a piece of paper and tells Jade that he has an oath prior to the one he made to her. After he is gone, Jade picks up the paper to find it is a postcard.
Jade sets the postcard on fire and lets it drift to the ground. She now knows that Samir is somehow involved. Emerald shifts into a white wolf and starts attacking Jade over and over. Jade puts up a force field to protect herself, but once all of the crows except Pearl shift and start attacking her as well. Alek and Carlos return and stop them. Pearl demands that Jade leaves, furious for letting the spirit into the camp and allowing it to kill Jasper. Jade refuses to leave since Jasper was the one that came to get her for help. She tells the two Justices to stay behind, but Alek takes some convincing. She calls on Wolf and they take off for the cave hoping that Jade’s powers will recharge on the way.
Once she reaches the cave, Jade can see something moving around int he back. She starts splattering purple light all over until she finds a crow in a bone cage. Not Afraid comes out and is ready to attack. Jade distracts him so that Wolf can flank him, but he is ready with a knife from Samir that is able to cut the undying. Jade sees water dripping into the bone cage and realizes magic won’t help free the bird. However, she is able to use magic to have a rock fall and break the cage open. Not Afraid pins her down and starts cutting at her chest with his knife. Shishishiel is set free and takes the form of a human woman. She kills Not Afraid and heals Wolf while they have a silent conversation. Jade realizes that Shishishiel is not an undying, but one of the creatures the undying protect. She takes the knife and stumbles as far away from the cave with Wolf as far as they can. Alek finds them and Jade passes out.
Back at the camp, Jade can see that Shishishiel is now with her mother. Jade asks what will happen to Emerald and Pearl explains that they will not send children away. However, they cannot let Jade stay because of what she has done. Jade is ready to go, knowing there is nothing left for her there. Jade’s tiredness starts to catch up with her and she rides with Alek back towards home. She knows that she is not okay and that things between her and Alek are not okay either.