Persons Unknown: A Barley Mow Novella

By Michael Patrick Phalin

Their captors took years of their lives. Who gets to decide what they are owed?

When Calder's glamour-extraction operation is exposed, six biological brothers emerge from captivity with extraordinary abilities-and very different ideas about freedom.

David, Lance, and Eric want anonymity: ordinary lives in which their powers belong to them alone. Toby and Travis want the people responsible for their suffering to feel something of what they endured.

Kent wants the world to remember his name.

In a black overcoat and slouch hat, Kent cultivates a reputation built on a terrifying gift. He can see a person's darkest buried impulses and amplify them until secrets become confessions-or ambitions become actions. While he reaches into another soul, he vanishes from sight. The longer he stays invisible, the more he risks returning as nothing but a shadow.

As Carmen Gustafson and River Colgate investigate the work left behind by Calder's associates, the brothers' choices threaten to divide the magical community. Does survival entitle the injured to retribution? Can a refuge protect people who refuse to forgive?

Meanwhile, an expanding aid network offers transport, shelter, and care. Its promises are real. So are the obligations hidden inside them.

Persons Unknown: A Barley Mow Novella is a dark fantasy mystery about six brothers struggling to reclaim their lives-and the power that gathers around people who have nowhere else to go.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0HMJG6XWQ
• ISBN13: 9798161187807
• Release Date: October 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 78 Pages
• Weight: 0.27 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 6.1" x 9.2"