Kahina

Chapter 7: The Bastards’ Stay Inviting Marlo and his entourage to stay at Montclair was Venus’s idea, though she presented it with the kind of graciousness that bordered on cruelty. “Why not stay here for a while?” she’d suggested over one of their many arguments. Her tone had been honeyed, her smile sharp. “You’ve expressed…

Chapter 6: James Finds the Diary The library at Montclair was a labyrinth of books and shadows, a place where light struggled to reach and sound seemed to fade into the air. The room exuded a brooding grandeur, its towering shelves packed with volumes that hinted at secrets long since forgotten—or deliberately buried. Dust coated…

Chapter 5: Marlo’s Demand Montclair wore the morning like a shroud. The pale sunlight barely penetrated the fog that lingered over the grounds, and inside, the air was heavy with the silence of an uneasy truce. The Blackmans had scattered across the mansion in an attempt to adjust, though “adjust” felt like an ambitious word…

Chapter 3: The Arrival Montclair revealed itself slowly, as though reluctant to be seen. The winding road leading to the estate cut through dense, brooding woods, the trees leaning toward the car like curious onlookers. As they emerged from the shadows, the mansion loomed ahead, its turrets stabbing into a gray sky, its ivy-covered facade…

Chapter 1: The Funeral James Blackman, age twelve, stood beneath a leaden sky that seemed to bow under the weight of its own mourning. His great-uncle Joufua, the patriarch of the sprawling and fractious Blackman family, lay in a mahogany coffin so ostentatious it could have doubled as a luxury yacht in another life. James…

The White Ghost The book appeared without fanfare, nestled between two volumes that James was certain had been the only occupants of the shelf the day before. Its cover, pale as bone, bore the faint title The White Ghost, etched so delicately that it seemed more a suggestion than a declaration. The book’s very presence…

The First Encounter The attic held its breath as James sat against the cold wall, the journal resting heavily in his lap. The pages fluttered slightly in the faint draft that seeped through the old mansion, the movement unsettling, as if the diary itself had a pulse. His heart raced, his body still trembling from…

Joseph’s Pact The journal was a quiet relic, tucked away in the attic beneath a veil of dust and forgotten time. James found it buried in a weathered trunk, hidden among brittle newspapers and yellowed photographs. Its leather cover was cracked, its edges frayed, but when he touched it, the weight in his hands felt…

The Mansion Awakens The whispers began on the third night, a soft murmur threading through the silence like wind through tall grass. James lay awake in his vast bedroom, its high ceilings lost in shadows, the heavy velvet curtains muting the glow of the moon. At first, he thought it was just the house settling—its…