Where Shadows Wait

Chase lives with schizophrenia—and in Albany, that already means the world doesn't treat him kindly. But when shadowy entities he's always thought were hallucinations begin killing people, Chase is forced to confront a terrifying truth: his illness didn't create the visions. It stripped away the filter that keeps everyone else blind. Hunted by police, blamed for murders he didn't commit, and stalked by creatures called Hollows—refugees from a broken layer of reality—Chase is dragged into the Skin Beneath the World, an underground realm woven through cities and forgotten places. There, he meets Ashkii "Ash" Yazzie, a hardened hunter who survives the supernatural with alchemy, weapons, and brutal pragmatism, and learns that Chase's ability to see glowing doors between realities makes him both invaluable and expendable. As bounty hunters close in from below and the surface world spirals into panic above, Chase must learn to survive in a place where hiding is impossible, trust is dangerous, and every door leads not somewhere—but to someone. And when a mysterious woman places a massive bounty on him, demanding he be taken alive, Chase realizes the truth of his past—and his bloodline—may be more dangerous than any monster hunting him. Where Shadows Wait is a gritty supernatural horror novel about mental illness, perception, and survival, blending urban fantasy with psychological realism. It asks what happens when seeing the truth doesn't make you powerful—just visible.