Read an extract from The Shadow That Finds Us by Andy Darcy Theo
Alexis, Blaise, Caeli and Demi return to the Haven, carrying scars both on the surface and beneath. Shadows whisper to Alexis, destabilising his grasp on reality as he works to reveal his parents’ secret, while his friends wrestle with fractured trust and forbidden feelings. As the autumn equinox approaches, distrust mounts, forcing them to confront the true nature of their destiny, before it’s too late and they are lost to the shadows forever.
READ AN EXTRACT FROM THE SHADOW THAT FINDS US
Content Warning: This extract includes scenes of infant death.
PROLOGUE
Eleven years ago
Caeli Doran’s mother was certain her daughter was the most independent, self- sufficient girl there ever was, that she loved being in charge.
She was wrong.
Caeli hated being in charge, but someone had to do it, and she had long learned that she couldn’t rely on anyone except herself.
Independence, it seemed, was not a trait she had developed of her own accord. Rather, it was a vice that had been thrust upon her. She had no choice. It was that or risk starving at the empty hands of a mother who struggled to provide and a father who didn’t care enough to stay.
Caeli’s mother truly believed that she was capable of anything, that she was wise beyond her years and could take charge of any situation, no matter how dire or desperate. Why else would she ask her six-year-old daughter to watch over her one-year-old while she went out on a date?
Caeli didn’t mind, though. She loved spending time with Celina, especially now that she was able to sit up and crawl, which she seemed insistent on doing at all times. It meant that Caeli could leave her for short periods to see to the other chores – washing plates or vacuuming.
‘So pretty with your silver hair, Cel,’ said Caeli, stroking the short tufts of ashen hair that wisped around her sister’s head as she wriggled on the spot. Celina blew bubbles at her in response and Caeli pressed the tip of her finger against Celina’s lips to pop them. ‘Eat your food. I’ll be right back. Mummy asked me to do the dishes.’
Caeli replaced the picture book in front of Celina with a princess-decorated plastic plate of chicken nuggets. Her sister’s grey-blue eyes fixed on them and she put a cut-up cube into her mouth while Caeli rose to her feet.
As she padded across their two-bedroom flat, she wondered what time her mother would be home. She said that she was out with a man-friend and had been fretting when the babysitter had cancelled last minute, but Caeli reassured her that the two of them would be fine. That she was there to help her, so much so that her mother no longer needed to ask. It had been like that even before Celina was born.
To help with the washing. To help her sweep the hair at the hairdresser’s on weekends, and even on schooldays when the salon was especially busy. To help her add the numbers written on the letters that came through the post, letters about bills and rent and final notices. Even to help her smile when tears stained her cheeks after Celina’s father left, just as Caeli’s had.
Caeli was always there to help put the pieces together.
‘Us two against the world,’ her mother always said.
And then one day Caeli noticed her mother’s belly had grown bigger. She didn’t eat much, so it couldn’t be that. When she told her that she was growing Caeli a new brother or sister in there, that Caeli would get to meet them in a few months, Caeli couldn’t stop herself from bragging about it to everyone at school.
Finally, another person to help me, Caeli had thought.
In reality, Celina was more of a burden than anything, but she was a burden Caeli adored, another responsibility she knew she could take care of.
Caeli stepped up on the stool to reach the sink and began scrubbing the fancy glass her mother drank her special juice from. She began humming the nursery rhyme her mother used to sing to her and now sang to soothe Celina. Glancing over her shoulder, Caeli couldn’t see her sister over the sofa that separated the lounge from the kitchen.
‘Remember to chew – I’ll be back in a minute,’ she called when she heard her cough, knowing her sister had a propensity to shovel things into her mouth without a care and also to cry whenever she or their mother were out of eyesight. Caeli was surprised she couldn’t hear her wailing now. She continued washing, wanting to get it done before her sister crawled off somewhere or realised she’d been left alone.
A year ago, when water had pooled between her mother’s legs while she was brushing Caeli’s long silver hair in the mirror, Caeli had called the ambulance. They went to the hospital together and she knew, based on the books she had read, that her sibling would soon be leaving her mother’s big round belly.
No annoying boys, she had replied when the kind elderly nurse asked her what she hoped it would be.
Whichever it was, Caeli would like them to wear a necklace like hers. With an amulet, a small stone in the shape of a triangle, they could be matching, but maybe a different colour to her grey one.
Once all the dishes in the sink were cleaned and dry, Caeli made her way back to the lounge.
‘Cel?’
Caeli drew closer, wondering if she had somehow fallen asleep. Celina wasn’t fidgeting or wriggling, which was weird because she always wriggled when she slept, and her chubby cheeks and lips were an unnerving blue.
Caeli dropped to her knees, her heart racing so fast that it hurt in her chest. Something invisible coiled round her neck and made her breathing rapid. Her eyes darted around.
‘Celina?’ She heard the fear creep into her voice as she tried to shake her sister awake. Then panic as she said her name again, louder this time, demanding her to open her eyes. ‘Celina, wake up!’
Still, no matter how many times she shouted her name or how hard she pressed her baby sister to her chest as she rocked her back and forth, Celina remained asleep.
It was only when her mother returned home, when the sound of Celeste Doran’s shrieks shattered all the windows of their flat, did it dawn on Caeli that everyone was crying except for Celina.
The Shadow That Finds Us is published by Gallery YA on 23 April 2026
