Chapter 3: Mordantaurs
The title of the chapter implies that stuff is going to happen early in the book. And considering how short the chapters are in this book (I'm reading the Kindle version right now, so I can't judge page numbers, but I'd wager ~4-5 pages on average), it's good to see things picking up so soon.
We're given a description of Samantha and her mother's house, and it doesn't sound like a pleasant place to life.
A bullet hole in the window? Wow. Say what you will about Harry Potter's upbringing, at least he didn't live in the projects!
The two head back home, but once they reach their apartment, Samantha's mother, Elizabeth, opens the door, and immediately gets disturbed about "something" and closes the door right away.
Elizabeth suddenly, for no obvious reason, tells Samantha to head to the convenience store and buy rice now. Samantha protests, but Elizabeth makes it clear she won't tolerate any argument, and even takes off Samantha's balloon wings and balloon crown.
It turns out Samantha's mom had a perfectly good reason for ordering her out of the apartment.
With Samantha gone, and Elizabeth unpacking her stuff in her room, the window suddenly flies open and a dark figure jumps in and lands on the windowsill in a crouched position.
A what? The book quickly explains however - they are shadow demons. They look like dark silhouettes: arms and legs and a human shape, wearing a cape and a hood, but no features that could be immediately apparent. The book compares looking at them to looking at a black hole.
The demon wastes no time interrogating Elizabeth. He demands to know where the child is. Obviously referring to Samantha. Elizabeth denies knowing of the existence of any child. The demon pops the balloon wings and the balloon crown - hints of Samantha's regal heritage?
Elizabeth continues to argue with the demon but it won't believe her, and knocks her to the ground. Suddenly, the parrot mentioned in the previous chapter, Malachi, flies in, followed by a dozen pigeons, all of which attack the demon.
But Elizabeth was already unconscious.
Samantha returns 15 minutes later and sees her mom on the floor. She screams for help, not noticing the parrot watching her.
Chapter 4: A Storm and a Stone
We get a brief geography lesson about the Bimini Islands in the Bahamas. And we meet a ship captain in his 50s - Captain Tithers.
And we get exposed to some profanity. "Hell's fury" is a favorite saying of this captain.
Basically, a big storm is going on, but the ship appears to be searching for something in it. And we are informed that the captain of this ship is being paid for his work by a Professor Timothy A. Stone.
Prof. Stone is referred to as an underwater archeologist, and he's diving for something alright, during this storm. The captain pulls him onboard the ship, calling him a "darn fool", as apparently his use of profanity is limited.
And we learn that Prof. Stone has a British accent. Samantha and her mom are Caribbean, while Timothy Stone here is apparently British.
So what has Timothy Stone found underwater? A stone. Okay, more like a jewel, a gem, red like a Burmese ruby, with a fantastic glow. Magical. Not that the captain sees it that way, muttering, "You've almost killed us for that little speck of rock."
As he stares into the jewel, the professor's graduate assistant asks, "It's not just a rock is it, Professor Stone? Professor Stone? Stone? Stone?"
And that's it for these chapters. Samantha's mom gets attacked by a demon and knocked out, and we meet Samantha's dad as he goes diving for jewels. This is an interesting family.
