It's 1918, and Matty returns home to the family farm from the trenches only to find his brother Arthur dying of an unknown illness. The local doctor thinks cancer, but Matty becomes convinced it's connected to the mysterious books his brother left strewn around the house. Rob knows something other than just Arthur's death is bothering Matty. He's know him for years and been in love with him just as long. And when he finds something that looks like a gate, a glowing, terrifying doorway to the unknown, it all starts to fall in to place. Matty's looking sicker and sicker in the same way Arthur did. What is Rob prepared to sacrifice to cure him? The answer is in the esoteric books ... and with the mysterious Lin of the Frem, who lives beyond the gate to nowhere. It's taken Matty and Rob more than a decade to admit they have feelings for each other and they are determined that neither social expectations or magical illness will part them now.

Inheritance of Shadows

“Perhaps. I don’t know.” Rob made a frustrated face. “That’s the trouble, isn’t it? We don’t actually knowanything. All these writings are by people who assumed that anyone reading doesknow things. Basic principles at least. I wish we knew where Arthur had got the books from. And how long he’d been working with it.” He poked sharply at the ripples with a frustrated index finger.


Suddenly, the place he poked began to glow and an ululating, screeching wail filled the room. The shimmer rippled alarmingly. Matty sprang to his feet, not sure whether to run forward or away. Rob looked equally taken aback. He withdrew his hand quickly, stepped back, and made a few swiping motions with his outstretched arm.


Chapter 23