by Cora May
“Of course, the only way the Anam Hunters exist is through the power of the scythe. Even though the war has nothing to do with the living world, we have been dragged into it by whoever has that power.
“Nessi longs to restore the Reaper back to his original role as Death itself. Until she does that, his health deteriorates, and soon… I mean, I wouldn’t say he’s going to die, I suppose. It’s much worse than that. The Anam are being murdered after death, but for Death itself to die? Well, that goes beyond my own comprehension, really. So to Nessi, this whole war is about giving power back to the Reaper before he no longer exists. Which means stopping the Anam Hunters, securing the scythe, and bringing it back to the Reaper.”
“She said I needed to find my own reason to fight this war. Have you found yours? I hope you’re not in love with the Reaper, too?”
Viktor chuckled.
“I do have my reasons, actually. But I’m not here to discuss that with you. Just know, what I have told you is your ultimate and only goal. There are many sides to choose, and each fights a different war. We ultimately do not fight for Vissula. You cannot forget that.”
Addy gulped again. It seemed as if Nessi was about to take her on a ride that she wasn’t ready for. She had never gotten along with Vissula, but fighting against her seemed… Wrong. She had never found a reason not to fight on her side.
“Let’s get going, then,” Viktor said and reached for the door. This time Addy let him.
The door swung open to reveal another hallway. This one was well-lit enough that Addy could clearly see the green-tinted, moss-covered stone walls. This hall was much shorter, and Addy could hear voices on the other side. Viktor led her down to the opening at the end.
Inside the opening there was a huge room—Addy thought it must have been twice the size of her room at least—and it was crowded with students who stood in militant lines stretching from wall to wall. The five professors she had seen hanging in the hall outside the secret room were standing up at the front of the room, and Nessi was addressing the crowd. Viktor quickly pulled Addy into line, falling perfectly into the militant styled rows.
“You are not my young students,” Nessi was saying, already in the middle of some speech. “You are not my young Jasper Warriors. You are my soldiers, and this is our war. You are about to embark on the greatest movement the Blessed have ever seen. Eyes will be upon you. The hope of the Anam will rest on your shoulders. This task will not be an easy one. We do not know who we are fighting against; all we know is that the entity is well trained and battle-ready. All we’ve really known thus far is that we are in the midst of change. But news has finally come our way.
“The enemy is approaching. In fact, the enemy has already breached the school walls. There are Anam Hunters among us. There are students killing the Anam. Our mission has become vastly closer to home.
“They taunt us, our enemy. They call us weak. We know better ourselves; I know that the army I have recruited and raised is comparable to none. But how strong can we truly be if our enemy never sees that strength? If we never act, how are they to know our worth? The time to move has come. My soldiers, what I ask you to do is not an easy task. It never has been an easy task, but you all have seen the importance and have undertaken the challenge for the sake of the restoration of power. You have proven yourselves thus far, and it is time that you are given your orders.
“Your mission is covert as it stands in this moment. You are to locate the Anam Hunters in the school. Find out who they are and bring them to me. I don’t care if you harm them to get them here, just make sure they are able to speak to me. If you cannot get them to me, kill them on site.”
Addy gulped. Her palms were moist with sweat, and she found herself wishing that she could shrink into the ground—or perhaps a hole would open up and she would fall into the Realm of the Dark. That seemed like a much more pleasant outcome than anything Nessi might have planned.
“Be wary of the Soothers. They will try to convince you of their innocence. Know that the Communicators will have the Dead on their side. And do not be fooled by the Jasper Warriors that are not in this room—no one is immune to the pull of the Anam Hunters. Discover who they are and bring them to me.
“I am looking for commanders in this army,” Nessi continued. Addy noticed that many of the heads in the crowd perked up at this information specifically. “Bring me what I seek, and the title is yours.”
Chatter erupted amongst the group. Addy felt a pit in her chest open up.
Viktor misread the fear on her face.
“I know it’s your first day,” he whispered to her. “But just listen. She doesn’t call us here much, only when there’s new information. All you have to do is stick to your regularly scheduled training and keep her orders in mind.”
“Oh,” Addy said. “Okay.”
“I was assigned to you, so I’ll help you or whatever. Just know—that commander position is mine.”
Addy nodded, all too happy to relinquish any credit in incriminating a fellow student.
She was an Anam Hunter, but she had never been aware of it until after she had killed. Could there be more students like her? If there were, they were about to be turned in and questioned, and they would truly know nothing about what they were accused of.
Nessi didn’t seem like the professor Addy had trained with all these years. She wondered exactly what her method of questioning might be. She felt it was safe to assume that torture was not out of the Realm of possibility.
But Nessi didn’t know what she knew.
There were students now that Addy needed to reach before Nessi’s army did.
Not to mention, she needed to save herself.
They were dismissed shortly after, and Viktor instructed Addy to hold back while the rest of the students filed out of the secret room. He told her that he would need to take her straight to Nessi in order to complete his orders. So she waited for what seemed like a very long time until every last Warrior had left. She was filled with anxiety and dread the whole time, wondering if Viktor knew her secret and was about to get that promotion.
But no, she reminded herself. No one knows.
As the last of the students turned down the hall, Viktor led Addy in the opposite direction. Nessi was talking to the other professors in low, hushed tones, so she didn’t hear the students as they approached. Viktor had to clear his throat to get her attention.
She turned on them quickly, and as she did, Viktor’s demeanor changed. He stood straight and stiff, arm clasped in front of him and chest puffed out. He was looking straight ahead, not necessarily at Nessi. He was almost seeing straight through her, Addy decided. It was a militant stance. It could have been mistaken for respect, but she saw the fear in his gaze.
These kids might as well be brainwashed, Addy thought.
“Addelai,” Nessi said as her eyes landed on the girl. Her voice was strained, but pleasant—as if she was relieved to see Addy. “At ease, Viktor. You have done well. Come along, students, I’ll let you in on a little secret.”
Professor Nessi walked away from them, headed toward the exit. Two of the other professors—Professors Thurien and Faymar—followed behind her. Viktor waved Addy ahead of him and followed in step behind her. Addy was glad to see that at least the Soother professor was staying behind. She didn’t want her emotions tampered with in whatever she was about to be told.
She walked with the line of professors to one of the other doors that Viktor had said never to go into without being invited in. She couldn’t help looking back at him to see his reaction. He covered it pretty well, but she still saw the eagerness in his gaze. He had never been in these rooms, then. Nessi led them straight into the second door to the left.
Inside was a much smaller area than the other room. This room was clearly meant for small meetings, set up with a circular wooden table and eight chairs surrounding it. Already sitting at two of those chairs were two boys that Addy recognized immediately; Brin’s boyfriend Jace
and his best friend, Kameron.
So this is where he always sneaks off to, Addy thought to herself. She wasn’t sure how much relief that would be for Brin to hear.
“Take a seat everyone,” Nessi said, nodding to the boys in greeting. “As you all know, I’ve been ready to implement certain plans for quite some time now. I really wanted a strong force to send out, and with the addition of Addelai, I believe I have that in you four. You are my strongest Jasper Warriors, and the most trained across all weaponry.”
“Hold on,” Viktor interrupter. “She isn’t part of the army yet, not really. She’s barely just begun. How can you think to give her a job this important this quickly?”
Despite herself, Addy glared at the boy’s implication.
“I have trained Addelai since she started at this school,” Nessi said calmly. “She is worthy, fret not. I understand your hesitance, but you will just have to trust me.”
“But it’s not f—”
“Hush now,” Nessi said, waving him off with disregard. He quieted immediately, but Addelai could see his qualms remained. By the looks on Jace and Kameron’s faces, she knew they felt the same way. It was hurtful enough that she had to remind herself she didn’t want to make friends with these people anyway.
“Now, then,” Nessi continued. “As you know, we must infiltrate the Anam Hunter’s lair. To do that, we must know exactly who the leader is, who possesses the broken scythe. I think you all know what that means.”
There were nods from everyone around the table, except for Addelai. She stared in blank confusion. When Nessi took a breath to continue, Addelai could not help but interject.
“Um, no,” she said with attitude. “Not all of us know what you’re talking about.”
Nessi turned to her with sympathetic eyes.
“What do you mean, my child? What is it that you do not understand?”
“Exactly how are you planning to find the leader? Just going to go and ask around? Maybe put up a flyer? Hope they respond? If Anam Hunters are really out there, hiding in the most secret space, couldn’t it be possible that the leader isn’t even a known entity?”
Nessi smiled at her.
“Certain Anam will know who is leading this group. Even if they cannot tell us all the names of those involved, they certainly know the leader.”
“Wait, what?” Addy asked. “Certain Anam? What are you talking about?”
“Ugh,” Viktor scoffed. “She doesn’t know anything; how can you be sure this is the right place for her?”
“Patience, Viktor,” Nessi calmly chided him. “You must trust my decisions. She is just learning about all of this, you need to understand that, too.” She turned to Addy. “Yes, we must ask the right Anam. The Anam Solas do not know, certainly, because they are not behind this. However, the Anam Dorcha… Well, this reeks of their kind. Whoever has done this is certainly affiliated with someone in the Realm of Dark, possibly even with Dimonis himself.”
“So what do you expect us to do? March right into the Realm of Dark and ask to speak with him? We can’t do that! Even if we could get into the Realm of Dark—which we can’t unless we were to die and be placed there by the Reaper—do you really think Dimonis would talk to us? Do you think he would give us that information, even if he knew it himself? He would eat us alive and spit us back out into the pits of his Realm, where we would never leave again!”
“Calm, now, child,” Nessi told her. “I do not expect you to talk to Dimonis, and I do not believe you would be trapped. But remember, you gave me your life.” Addy gulped at the reminder. Perhaps Nessi really had meant to leave them all for dead in the end anyway. “You raise a valid point, though, that we may not be able to reach the Realm. Normally, we would require the assistance of a Communicator, and we do not have that on our team, do we? We have Healers and Soothers and Burners and Warriors. But we have not a single Communicator to get us to the other side, do we?
“The Anam Hunters are frequently entering and exiting the Province of Death without a worry at all. They do not get stuck, they do not die and become an Anam themselves. They enter, kill, and leave. And if they can do it, then so can we. This is something I fully expect is possible.”
Addy’s jaw dropped. She couldn’t believe what was being asked of her. But when she looked around the table, hoping to see faces that matched hers, she only saw somber resolution and devotion in the eyes of her fellow students. Professors Thurien and Faymar were unreadable blanks, but Addy knew that she could read that as devotion as well. Fear gripped her as she turned back to Nessi.
“Tomorrow at dawn, Professor Thurien will have a portal opened for us in the Jasper field. Is it set up, Thurien?”
“Almost, Naimie,” Thurien told her. “There are only a few formalities I need to check off the list. But it will be open.”
“Great,” Nessi said, turning back to the students. “Now, Jace and Viktor are, of course, my captains. The responsibility of this lies solely on your shoulders, but I would not send you alone. This is why I have paired you each with the one that I believe will most benefit your weaknesses; Jace with Kameron and Viktor with Addy.”
Viktor rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath. Addy couldn’t quite make it out, but she could sense that he was as unhappy to be paired with her as she was him. Why couldn’t she at least have been paired with Jace, someone she already had a connection to and knew somewhat? Instead, she got the hothead. Lovely.
“And the rest is fairly simple. Your goal is to get information out of the Anam Dorcha. I don’t really care how you do it, just bring back something valuable to my cause.”
There were nods all around the table, from everyone but Addy. But she could sense that Nessi didn’t really care about her agreement. They had already uncomfortably agreed on her coercion into this war, she knew that disobeying wasn’t an option.
“You should all rest well tonight, so I suggest you go to your rooms now. No one is to be late, and, Thurien, that especially means you.”
“Come now, Naimie,” Thurien said with a wicked grin that matched his long, fiery red hair. “Have more faith in me than that.”
Nessi grimaced.
“Oh, how I wish I could. You are all dismissed.”
Addy cast one last look in Thurien’s direction as she headed out. What did Nessi mean? Had he let her down before? That was perhaps a small comfort to her, she realized. If Thurien was still around, perhaps that meant that Nessi was a bit forgiving of failures within her army.
And yet, Addy knew that she could no longer be certain of who her beloved professor was at all. Her personality seemed to have taken a drastic shift throughout the last couple of days. She was no longer the mother figure that Addy had looked to her as; she was something much darker. She had become far too militaristic in her actions, and Addy had grown a newfound fear of the woman.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: CHANTA
S he felt like she was being watched.
It was some time in the middle of the night. It had been such a long day, after such a long week. She had hoped for a nice, long, restful night so that she could start doing some solid thinking in the morning. That wouldn’t be possible, though, with the feeling of being watched.
She turned around in her bed. Her eyes were still squeezed shut, but she was preparing to bust whoever was sneaking around on her.
In three…
Two…
One!
She opened her eyes, glaring into the darkness with a growl that matched her angry brow. The darkness, though, prevented her from focusing on anything in particular. She held her angry face until her eyes adjusted, and prayed that they would adjust soon so that she wouldn’t look too silly.
“Oh good,” Brin said from above.
Chanta jumped at the sound despite her angry resolve. She hadn’t expected her own roommate to be the stalker. Sure enough, as she looked upwards, Brin’s head was poking out from the top bunk and staring straight down at her.
Chanta’s
eyes had adjusted by then, the soft moonlight revealing enough of the room that she could tell that there wasn’t anything else in the room. Addy’s soft breathing from across the room said that she was asleep still, and the soft tone of Brin’s voice told her the same story. Brin was trying to keep this quiet, trying to keep Addy out of it.
“You’re awake,” Brin continued. “I was thinking… Want to take a walk with me?”
Chanta’s angry face had changed to shock and confusion over the brief time her eyes had been opened. She stared back at Brin, trying to decide if she was serious or not. The light of the moon wasn’t enough to decipher the features of her face, though.
“What time is it?” she asked instead.
“It’s about a quarter till midnight,” Brin answered, her tone staying light. “What do you think? Let me show you around a little bit!”
“We’ve already done that, and it’s nearly midnight,” she argued. “Isn’t it a little late for a stroll around the castle? I’m sure we’d get in trouble anyway, wouldn’t we?”
Brin didn’t say they would, but she paused briefly. That was answer enough for Chanta—it was against the rules to be parading around in the middle of the night. She wondered what Brin’s idea was.
“We should just go to sleep,” she said, turning around and tugging the blankets tight around her.
Brin did just the opposite, though. Her dainty little body jumped right off the bed. She didn’t even bother using the ladder. She landed so quietly, Chanta had to look over to make sure she had really seen what she thought she had. Sure enough, Brin was standing over her now, feet on the ground. She was wearing the same pajamas she had gone to bed in, and her feet were bare. Her curly light brown hair was unkempt, but not from sleep. It was as if she had run her fingers through her hair, pulling and tugging and definitely not sleeping. She had clearly been up the whole night, weighing something on her mind.
“What’s wrong?” Chanta said. She sat up in her bed.
“Nothing at all! I just think we should take a walk. Come with me.”