Nightshade Wolves 2
Andrea Cremer
It’s been about a week since Calla and Shay were taken by Searcher from Vail to save them from Bosque Mar. Calla wakes up to find that she is under the care of the Searchers. One of them, Monroe ( Haldis division’s Guide) comes into the room that she is being held in and explains to her that they want her pack to be their guardians. At the chance of Freedom, Calla is taken to meet more Searchers. Ethan, the one that shot her with a cross bow at the end of the previous book, is one of them. She also meets Conner (a bit of a joker) and Ariadne (Weaver—opens/closes portals, Adne for short and Monroe’s daughter who used to date Conner). As Monroe is trying to explain things to Calla and Shay, Ethan keeps getting into little tiffs with them. After a bit more squabbling, Anika (The Arrow for Haldis division—leader) shows up followed by Lydia (who is Tess’ lover). Anika explains that Searchers want to try an alliance with the Guardians against the Keepers, like the Harrowing years ago. She explains that this might work because they have the Scion, Shay. Calla agrees to return to Vail. As they start planning, Ethan discovers that Calla was present during the death of his brother, Kyle. After another fight, Calla recaps what happened previously at the ceremony. Calla finds that there is some connection between Ren’s (young Bane alpha she was supposed to marry) mom and Monroe.
As the planning starts, Silas (a Scribe—intelligence and achieves) is introduced. He informs Calla that one of her school teachers, Mr. Grant Selby, who was talking about the Hobbs (writer of forbidden book, The War of All Against All) and the owner of the local dive bar that Calla frequented. Soon she finds herself walking through a portal door that Adne weaved. She is at an outpost in Denver and meets Isaac and Tess (Reapers—smugglers that make sure the Searchers have any supplies they need). Calla gets a few answers and then they all have a cup of coffee before facing death in Vail.
Upon arriving, Conner goes to deliver correspondence to Grant, who he finds dead. Lydia and Ethan go with Calla to track down the pack. It’s a little too late that Calla realizes that there would not be any patrols in the areas that she used to work since she and Shay took what was being guarded in the cave. As they head back to Adne, Calla meets Fey’s mother, Sasha, who attacks her immediately. Calla runs into Emile Loroche (Bane alpha and Ren’s father). Emile hints that something is wrong with Calla’s father. They all run back to the portal, but Lydia is unable to make it back and is mulled by Guardians.
Back at the Roving Academy (moving base of Searchers), Calla and Shay start to get some real information. There are four elements: Haldis (Earth), Tordis (Air), Pyralis (Fire), and Eydis (water). Each sacred site has a piece of a cross that will form a weapon that only the Scion (who is recognized as Shay by the tattoo he has) can use to banish wraiths. Calla and Shay also learn that Keepers were made by a strong force of the Nether they call the Harbinger. While trying to discover how to close the door to the Nether that plagued Earth, Eira joined the dark forces side. The Keepers use powers that are not of this world, but live in fear of loosing it. They are servants to the Harbinger, who is Bosque Mar.
Calla and Shay are taken to their rooms. They start to make out, but Calla can’t help thinking of her pack and Ren. She is having trouble dealing with her decisions and tells Shay that it isn’t possible for her to be with him until she knows her pack is safe. He doesn’t seem to understand and storms off.
Later that night, no one seems to be able to sleep. The Searchers tell Calla and Shay that the Scion would be the son of the Keeper that betrayed his kind. They discuss how the tattoo is a magical emblem that was hidden from human eyes. Monroe also explains to them the most recent revolt of a Guardian by his lover, Corrine Loroche (Ren’s mother). She was told she had to mate with Emile and asked Monroe to kill her. Monroe got her pregnant (making him Ren’s father) and so she wanted to wait a year before continuing with the revolt. She was discovered and killed by that time.
As Calla and Shay start back up in the bedroom, Calla calls it off again. Just as things are cooling down, Adne comes in with news that Ethan took down her brother, Ansel. After Calla heals Ansel, they get into a fight because Ansel is upset over the fact that he is no longer a Guardian. He then tells the Searchers what happened after Calla and Shay escaped. There is a prison under the Eden nightclub where the young Nightshades and Ren are being held. He informs Calla that their mother was sacrificed on an alter in front of all the Guardians for not teaching Calla her place. The Nightshade pack was disbanded and the Guardians formed on pack: the Banes. Ren was tortured and given a choice since he was decived by his mate.
Monroe quickly decides to start a rescue mission for the young wolves. After a bit of training, Calla checks up on Ansel. He’s still angry with her, but at least they start communicating. She attempts to make him a Guardian again, but it is useless.
Adne opens the “inside door” (a portal in a place she has never seen and has few details about). Upon entering the prison, they are attacked by only one Guardian, which seems suspicious. The first of the pack they find are Nev and Mason, but they find that they have to go through the Chamber to get to the rest of the prison cells. After fighting off three wolves in the west block of cells, they found Bryn and Sabine. Sabine had been tortured almost everyday because of her refusal to join the Bane pack. Efron Bane, the Keeper, had a special interest in her and took the rejection seriously.
In the last cell block, north, is where they suspect they’ll find the rest of the pack (Ren). Before they make it that far, Calla has Ethan shoot a gargoyle with a bolt. When it sticks to the stone creature, they realize that it is an alarm system and the Guardians are coming for them. Calla goes ahead to rescue Ren while the others fight off the approaching horde. However, Ren does not intend to be rescued. He plans to follow what the Keepers say and break his mate. Monroe comes to help Calla with Ren, but Emile shows up with Dax (best fighter of young Banes), Fey, and Cosette (the rest of her pack that has now betrayed her). Emile tells Ren that Monroe is the man that killed his mother and that Monroe is his father. Calla squares off with Dax, but Conner comes to the rescue. However, Monroe is blocked by the other wolves and has no escape. As the group is trying to figure a way out, Adne makes an inside door where they are and they are able to escape, but just barely as Conner revealed to Adne what her father did.
The group of Searchers and Guardians start to get along. Conner asks Calla to keep the secret of Monroe being Ren’s father. Sabine heals Ethan. Conner helps Adne through her pain of loosing her father. Calla chickens out on telling Bryn what is wrong with Ansel. The wolves change forms and reunite as a pack. They eventually head through the portal, which seems to be strangely dark on the other side. When they get back to “purgatory” in Denver, they are ambushed. The Keepers have found them and sent a wraith to take them out. Adne gets a door ready as everyone is gathering. Isaac is taken down by the wraith, but everyone else makes it out. Upon landing back in Utah, Nev finds that Logan (the Keeper that was supposed to be the master of the young pack) has followed them. Logan reveals that Tristan (Shay’s father) is alive and that he could be of help in the rescue mission. He offers up the traitor to the group (Ansel) to show that he is trustworthy enough to be granted audience with the Arrow. Silas is quick to explain that the Academy has to be moved immediately because of the papers left behind in Denver.
The Academy has been moved to Italy by the quick work of the Weavers. Adne ends up giving the pack a lesson in the magic workings of the Roving Academy. Everything that has happened has finally caught up with Calla. She takes a run and ends up in the courtyard where Shay finds her. They end up staying the night together. Later, Bryn is fixing Calla’s hair after Calla had made an attempt to cut it herself. There is some girl talk about Calla sleeping with Shay and Shay becoming the new alpha. Sabine takes over the haircut and Calla finds that she was never the mean spirited person she thought.
While the Guides are determining what to do with Ansel and planning the next mission (and whether or not to include any Guardians), Adne confronts Calla about rescuing Ren (her brother). Adne plans to locate Ren with the ring he gave Calla, open an inside door, grab Ren, and get out. They arrive at the construction site where the young pack was supposed to live after the union. Calla sets off to find Ren.