Shiloh White [White - The Hidden Host

LUCY HALE AND THE DEPRESSION FORCE

Book 3:
The Hidden Host

Praise for the Depression Force Series

lots of thrilling twists and turns that keep you on the edge of your seat...Can't wait for the next one!

Lucy Hale is a very relatable character who, as a reader, you click with early on. It's a great story looking into the other side of depression, what if it was something a little more tangible that you could fight? What if you had help? Highly recommend!

I couldn't put it down! Had to read through till I was finished. Riveting, great storyline.

I have NEVER seen such a creative depiction of a protagonist who struggles with anxiety and depression! I highly recommendto anyone who loves Young Adult, YA fantasy, fantasy fiction, Urban Fantasy, and well-written fiction that deals with mental health issues.

Also By Shiloh White

Lucy Hale and the Depression Force, Book One:

The Rogue Agent

Lucy Hale and the Depression Force, Book Two:

The Kidnapped Army

Copyright 2019 by Shiloh White.

All Rights Reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author.

This is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental, and not intended by the author.

You can contact Shiloh by visiting his website:

www.staleice.com

Dedication

To the ones who suffer pain that no one seesknow that you are seen. You are loved.

Contents

LUCY HALE AND THE DEPRESSION FORCE

Book 3:
The Hidden Host

1. The Class Pet Tries To Kill Me

You want my advice?

Stay away from school on Saturday.

Thats when the evil dust bunnies come out.

It has to be here, I muttered. It just has to.

If only I knew how right I was.

I ran down the empty halls of my high school, Three Streams Academy, but so far nothing.

Then suddenly, a row of lockers ended in another hallway. I instinctively turned in that direction, and when I did, I almost collided with this monstrous

Wait, what ?

What was I doing at school?

Well, it wasnt actually school. It was a Depression Zone, and

You know what?

Thats not important right now.

I reached for the edge of the last locker, stopping inches short from thisclass pet meets science experiment gone wrong.

It stood ten feet tallor it would have if not for a hideous hunch. It had two arms and legs like a human, but every inch of its body was covered in a murky purple and black material.

It swirled around its body super fast. It looked translucentalmost like a raincloud.

I didnt dare say a word, but in my head, I cursed.

That cloudy skin...it could only be a Depression Agent.

Hmm.

Maybe this stuff is important.

See, Depression Agents are these nasty creatures that suck the life out of people (specifically us high school kids), and they do it by you guessed itcausing depression. Along with any other mental illness they can think up.

And believe me, they thought of them all.

Schizophrenia, dementiaheck, your last anxiety attack?

All their handiwork.

The worst part? They do it from Depression Zones. Places connected to your mind and specifically designed to

Wellmake you lose your mind.

(And yes, there are Agents that specialize in insanity. I...dont like to think about them.)

Anyway, this Depression Zone was no different. Or, thats what I hoped.

Still, Agents posed as human beings from head to toe. And when they werent hidingwhen they were in their base form, I meanthey looked like twisters and tornados. So thats what I was hunting for.

Notwhatever this was.

This Agentif I could even call it thatonly passed for a human if that human passed for a giant, deformed bunny.

Two long cones jutted out of either side of its skull, each covered by the purple and black clouds. One was tilted against a door. The other pointed straight up, twitching this way and that.

Inverted rabbit ears. Listening for anything and everything.

So of course, my cell phone chose that moment to scream at the top of its circuits.

Both the creatures ears went straight up. Its foot shifted, and it started to turn.

My heart did a somersault up to my throat. Who had the nerve to call me right now?

I expected the creature to whip around and flatten me, but it just kept turning. Slowly but surely.

But slowly .

Enough for me to back up around the lockers and hit ANSWER on my phone.

A scruffy, slurred voice came through the speaker:

Everyones waiting on you. Anna and her dad are ready to go.

Its only been five minutes, Uncle Justin. I whispered into the phone, backing a few steps away.

Thats over half an hour here, Lucy. You need to get back here.

Justins voice was hushed, but sharp. He was doing his best to whisper, but he wasnt happy about it.

I need more time, I pleaded. I finally found something. A dust bunny er , some kind of Agent, I mean.

Just to clue you in, Ive been searching this Zone almost four months.

Fifteen weeks searching every fake inch of this fake version of my high school and not one Agent showed his face.

Until now.

I was not going back. Not yet.

Another deep growl came from the creature.

I peeked around the corner and it was almost finished turning around. Almost facing my direction.

Lucy? Justin asked.

I tore my head from around the corner and turned down the volume on my phone.

Lucy, what wasForget it, Im comin in there!

No! Im finally going to help Anna. One more minute and Ill take care of

Suddenly, the hair on my arms and neck sprang up.

Instinctively, I ducked, dropping my phone in the process. It hit the ground with a loud clack.

Even louder was the giant WHOOSH of the hunchbacked dust bunnys arm as it flew toward me.

It crunched the lockers above my head with so much force, the metal bent around his arm like aluminum foil.

I looked up and the creature was staring right at me, complete with two eerily glowing purple eyes.

For a scary moment, my only thought was:

I wonder if only sees in purple.

If that were the case, it would see a frightenedand purpleLucy Hale thinking about how she was inches from being flattened into a locker sticker.

The creature roared, a deep rumbling like a rock slide, and yanked its arm out of the metal wrap of lockers. Much faster than before, mind you.

I didnt stick around to how much faster his second swing would be.

I picked up my phone and took off down the hallway.

For the record, this is not how this morning was supposed to go down at all.

My friend Anna, the one Justin was talking about?

She has atherapy appointment this morning.

And yes, she invited me to go with her.

(Ugh. Therapy. Pardon me while I gag.)

Assuming the time on my now-cracked phone read 8:00am , her appointment was in thirty minutes.

This meant I had maybe3 minutes to escape the giant dust bunny and get back to Annas apartment.

See, time moves faster in The Dust.

(7 times faster, to be exact.)

As far as Anna was concerned, I was in her guest bathroom just, you know, handling business. For the last half hour.

If only they knew what business I was really handling.

As if to prove my point, the giant dust bunny roared behind me.

Then something hit the ground so hard, it rippled and shook the tile floor underneath my feet.

I made the mistake of turning around, and the creature was squatting right at the middle of the crossroads in a pile of trashed tile and lockers.