Deacon had shown me how each move worked and what it meant. In the confines of the training room, we’d even let off a little arcana to test my skill. He led me through the square and into the main council building, up a flight of metal stairs and across the metal-grilled balcony into a large unit that housed a long table and several nephilim.
I recognized Councilwoman Harker, Bane, and her other two lovers. One of them was Emory’s biological father, but I wasn’t sure which one. A square-jawed, forbidding silver-haired man, Lupinata if I wasn’t mistaken, sat on the right-hand side of the table, and a pale, doe-eyed female sat opposite him on the left.
Deacon pulled a seat out for me and then took the one beside me, so we were at the far end of the table from Councilwoman Harker. There were still plenty of seats vacant, and as far as I knew there were more members on the council than this. Were they not invited?
The door opened, and Emory strode in. His hair was slicked back, his twilight eyes were bright, and his expression was smooth and controlled. There was no sign of Gideon today. He looked normal. He looked like himself, but then he walked past me without looking at me, and my heart sank because my mentor would never have ignored me like that. He took a seat at the head of the table beside his mother.
As far as I was aware, Emory wasn’t a councilmember. So, what was he doing here? The look on Harker’s face told me she was wondering the same thing, but she composed herself quickly.
“Harker?” the silver-haired man asked, his gaze on Emory.
Harker smiled thinly. “Emory requested to join us. And considering that this meeting is related to the safety of the Hive, and Emory runs our operations systems, I agreed to let him sit in.”
Good save. Smooth. Even I believed her, and I’d seen the look of surprise on her face when Emory had entered. I guess being the leader of the last surviving race meant you had to be able to think fast on your feet.
Councilwoman Harker finally looked right at me and smiled, but that smile did not reach her violet eyes.
“I apologize that this meeting took so long to arrange, Echo. We had other matters to attend to before we could finalize our plans with regards to guardian duty.”
I returned her empty smile. “That’s fine. We’re here now.”
“Indeed, we are. And I’m sure you’re eager to learn what will be expected of you over the next nine months.” I kept my expression neutral, and after a beat, she continued. “We’ve decided to bring in the harvest earlier than planned. With the Hawk gone, we have no way to transport it, but Wilomena Bastian has kindly offered to loan us her sons. There is a timeline to that loan, though, because they have essential tasks of their own to complete.
“The carpenters have finished building crates that will be strapped to the dragons and carry the crops back to the Hive. All you need to do is keep the Protectorate safe while they reap the harvest. It usually takes two days to bring it all in, and guardians stay in an underground bunker on-site in the evening. The Draconi will be flying back and forth with crops during the day, but you’ll remain at the site to ensure it stays clear of scuttlers.”
Two days topside. Panic bloomed in my chest, and I bit it back. “How many guardians do you usually send?”
I knew the answer but wanted to hear her say it out loud. To listen to how ridiculous she sounded.
The skin around her mouth tightened. “Six. We usually send six.”
I nodded slowly. “And you want me to do the same job as six guardians?”
Okay, now she looked annoyed. “You have no choice, Echo. The harvest must be brought in.”
“Yes. I agree, and if Genesis hadn’t recently attacked us, I wouldn’t be so wary about the whole thing, but he’s made it clear he’s back, and he’s on the offensive. If he knows about our Run, then he probably knows about the harvest. He could be waiting to ambush us. Heck, how do you know he hasn’t burned down the crops already?”
“The emissary has been doing flyovers daily to keep an eye on them. There is no sign of Genesis near the farm.”
Okay, that was good to know, but … “And if he attacks on that day, there’s no way I can fend off all the scuttlers on my own. I need backup.”
The councilwoman made a sound of exasperation.
“She’s a coward,” the silver-haired man said. “We’ve been left with a coward as our only guardian.” He threw up his hands.
Anger reared its head and heat rushed through me. I turned hot eyes on the Lupinata. “Maybe you’ve forgotten what it feels like to see your friends cut down. Maybe you’ve forgotten what it feels like to see a soul eater suck the life from someone’s body. Maybe you’ve forgotten what it feels like to run for your life with death breathing down your neck. After all, you’ve been cloistered underground for the last one hundred years while others fight the battle for you. But for me, that day was less than three weeks ago, and yes, I’m fucking scared, but I’m willing to go out there and do what it takes to keep this Hive alive. What I’m asking you is: what are you willing to do to keep me alive? I am, after all, your only hope for the next nine months.”
The council exchanged glances.
Harker exhaled through her nose. “She needs a team.”
Bane nodded. “We assemble a team armed with arcletic weaponry to guard her whenever she’s out there.”
“I volunteer,” Deacon said.
Harker’s gaze flew to him in surprise. “You don’t need to do that, Deacon, we have other Protectorate who would happily step up.”
I looked at Deacon’s perfect profile and ignored the tremble of my stomach as he smiled wryly. “I could do with some regular sun. I need to work on my tan,” he said in his habitual lazy tone, which I was beginning to understand wasn’t always genuine.
Bane let out a snort of laughter.
“I’ll do it,” Emory said.
“No,” his mother snapped. “We need you here. You are the Hive, Emory, we can’t risk you topside.”
He opened his mouth to argue, but the nephilim with the blond hair and blue eyes cut him off. “Your mother is right.”
Emory’s gaze flicked my way for a fraction of a second before sliding away again.
“Leave recruitment to me,” Deacon said. “I’ll get it organized.”
Harker nodded. “So, now you have a team of Protectorate dedicated to watching your back.”
“Thank you.”
“You’ll bring the harvest in, and next week, you’ll deliver the soul orb to Haven.”
My heart stalled. “What?”
Bane touched her arm lightly. “Harker, Roland …”
She pinched the bridge of her nose. “I’m sorry. I forgot … Your father …” This time her smile did reach her eyes, but it was the dull sheen of resignation that glared back at me. “It has to be done.”
“Yes, it does,” the doe-eyed female said. She was obviously a Sanguinata, pale with red-rimmed irises. “If you leave it any longer, some of the souls may fade.”
Fade? “What does that mean?”
“It means they’ll seep out of the orb,” the Lupinata said. “Every soul begins its journey filled with light, but the longer it remains on this plane, the weaker it grows. It loses its memories, and its essence begins to die, and then it will be pushed out of the orb by the newer souls.”
“We have learned that souls have their own life cycles,” Deacon explained. “The longer a soul is forced to remain on this plane, the more it ages, and then it experiences a different kind of death. It’s why we empty the orb once a year regardless of how many souls it holds.”
“And then there are souls that don’t follow the rules,” the dark-haired nephilim sitting beside Bane said.
“Orin.” There was a warning in Harker’s tone.
“She has to know, Serenity,” Orin said gently.
Harker nodded. “Fine.”
Orin sat forward in his seat, a slight frown on his handsome face. “The road to Haven cuts through the dead zone. We call it that because no t
ech works in that area. Not even a radio. There are a whole bunch of fallen planes and debris littering that zone, and then there’s the railway. Once you get to the railway, you have to go on alone. Only a guardian can make the journey, and only one guardian at any given time.”
“Why?”
“Because the place is crawling with unhallowed souls waiting to rip you to shreds, and the only thing that can keep them at bay is the light from a Morai candle. We only have one, and only someone with Merlin blood can carry it. It won’t stay alight for anyone else.”
“A candle?”
“Yes. The candle will be your only protection. You’ll follow the railway tracks, and you will stay on them no matter what you see or hear. They’ll lead you to Haven.”
“Who are they? The unhallowed?”
This time Bane answered. “Women, men, and children who were all killed in the arcana blast that won us the war and stripped Genesis of his ability to use arcana. The Arcana, the pure Merlin bloods of that time, created an explosive by reverse engineering the effects of regular arcana. They had no idea where Genesis was hiding, but they were sure that the effects of the reverse-engineered arcana would disable him by traveling through his minions directly into his brain and altering its chemistry.”
“Wait. Chemistry? I thought Genesis was a machine.”
“Genesis is much more than a machine,” Orin said. “He’s a being created from orgametal. It’s a living metal, and every synapse and atom of Genesis’s brain is made of it.”
“So, this explosion killed people?”
“Yes,” Bane said. “A whole town perished and so did around ninety percent of the Arcana. They died trying to stop their creation. When the dust settled, we discovered that nothing could function in the dead zone, and anyone who ventures into it is torn to shreds by the souls that are tethered to the place. Even a Draconi flying above the land would be tugged down and torn apart. They’re toxic and hungry, and we call them the unhallowed.”
“And this candle keeps them away?”
“The Morai candle, or the Fates candle as we like to call it, was said to belong to the fates themselves. Have you heard of the fates?”
I’d done my fair share of reading over the years. “Yes. The three women, um, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos?”
“Yes.” Orin grinned. “Good. Well, the candle is said to belong to them. It was always lit as they wove the threads of life, allocated and cut them. The unhallowed fear the light of that candle, and so far, it’s the only thing we know of that will keep them at bay. The tracks are safe, salted by previous guardians, and as long as you have the candle and remain on the tracks, you’ll be fine.”
But something about this wasn’t making sense. He’d said nothing functioned in the dead zone, so how could my father have been killed by scuttlers there? How could they have retrieved his body from that zone?
There was only one explanation. “My father didn’t die in the dead zone, did he?”
Silence greeted my question. A silence that was confirmation enough.
“You said he was killed by scuttlers. You said you brought back the broken pieces of his body, but if no machines work in the dead zone …”
Deacon was the one to respond. “We found his pack containing the empty orb and the candle at the entrance to the zone. There was blood, but he was gone.”
“Wait, you mean he made it back? He delivered the souls?” I was glaring at Harker now, waiting for a response from her, the leader of this place.
Harker’s shoulders rose and fell. She looked suddenly drained. “We were due to pick him up, but there was a technical issue with the Hawk. It took an hour to fix it, and by the time the team got to the rendezvous point, it was too late.”
My father had been alive. He’d waited for them, and they’d failed him. If they’d gotten there on time, he’d be here now. He’d be with me. The rage that had been trapped inside me for so long—rage at him for not coming back, rage fueled by the rumors I’d recently learned of—exploded from my lips in accusation.
“It was your fault. It was your fault he died.”
“Echo …” Deacon reached for my hand, but I shook him off.
“Don’t. You let everyone believe my father failed in his duty. That he messed up and got himself killed, and that the souls never made it to Haven, all to cover your asses.” I leaned forward, palms flat on the table. “What was it? Were you afraid that if the other guardians knew what had truly happened, they’d refuse to do the drop in the future? That they wouldn’t trust you to keep them safe, the way they keep you safe?”
“Enough!” Harker was on her feet. “We do what we have to do to keep the peace and to keep this place functioning. Your father was a good, honorable man; do you think for one moment he’d have wanted his death to mean the death of the Hive?”
My eyes pricked. “No, but he wouldn’t have wanted to be known as a failure either. You were wrong … You were wrong to allow that rumor to fester.”
She closed her eyes briefly and took a shuddering breath as if reining in her emotions. “I’m sorry. I truly am, but we can’t change the past, all we can do is make sure the same mistakes don’t occur in the future.”
“You’re right. And I’m not going anywhere solo without some added protection.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You have your team, what more do you want?”
“I can’t take them into the dead zone, though, can I?”
“No. You can’t. But you’ll have the candle.”
“My father had the candle, and that didn’t stop him from getting killed, but you can give me the ink to protect myself.” I rolled up my sleeves. “Mark me with defensive symbols.”
Her expression smoothed out. “Symbols? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
My gaze slid to Emory, and I raised a brow. Harker’s face drained of color.
“Harker, what is she talking about?” the Lupinata asked.
The Sanguinata was also looking up at her curiously.
Shit, it looked like not many people knew about this grimoire. How the heck had Dia known if councilmembers were unaware?
Harker shrugged. “I have no idea.”
Emory had gone very still, his gaze fixed on the table, and my gut squirmed with unease. If this meant exposing him, then it wasn’t an option, and then Deacon’s hand was on my thigh, his fingers squeezing in warning.
I sagged in my seat and shrugged. “Heck, I thought it was worth a try? You seem to have all these other secrets and potions and candles, why not magic tattoos?”
Emory’s gaze flicked up to meet mine, and was that relief on his face?
Harker cleared her throat. “Yes, well, we don’t.” She lowered herself back into her seat.
Silence reigned for several long seconds, and then Bane coughed. “Well. I think that’s all for this meeting.”
There were murmurs of agreement.
“Wait? You didn’t tell me when we reap the harvest?”
“You leave tomorrow morning,” Harker said. “Deacon, you best get recruiting.”
Tomorrow?
My stomach trembled at the thought of going back out there.
As the council began to vacate the room, Deacon leaned in and whispered, “You’ll have your staff this time, Echo. A real arcane-wielding staff.”
His words teased the power to life within me, and the fear melted away. I was a guardian, whether I liked it or not, and it was time to act like one.
Chapter 7
“What was that about?” Deacon asked as soon as we were back in the guardian quarters.
“What?” I raised innocent brows.
He bridged the distance between us, forcing me to crane my neck to look up at him.
“Don’t play games with me, Patch, you’ll lose. Who told you about the symbols?”
“I can’t recall.”
“I could just read your mind,” he threatened.
“You touch me without my permission, and I swear, I’ll bla
st your arse with arcana.”
His smile was edged with sadistic glee. “Don’t test me, Echo.”
A shadow fell over us, but Deacon didn’t break eye contact, and I’d be damned if I’d be the one to cave.
“Ahem, Deacon, could I have a moment with our guardian, please.”
I recognized that voice. It was Councilman Bane. Shit.
Deacon blinked and stepped back, his expression cool. “Be my guest.” Deacon swept out of the lounge, leaving me with Councilman Bane.
“Have a seat, Echo,” he said softly.
I perched on the edge of the sofa, and he took a seat opposite me on the single seater. “I’m not going to ask how you found out about the symbols, because I’m a good judge of character, and I know you’re not the kind of person to reveal your sources.”
He was right.
“But I need you not to repeat what you know. It’s not common knowledge, and it’s been our only way of helping Emory. There is only a tiny amount of ink left, and we intend to use it to help our son. Do you understand?”
Emory needed the ink to keep Gideon bound? “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize.”
“It’s okay.” He sighed. “Nothing about this situation is going to be easy. There are some hard months ahead, but you’re not alone. Remember that we want what’s best for you, because what’s best for you is best for the Hive. The guardians are our lifeline, our link to the topside. You are the last line of defense. The eclectic power, Draconi fire, nothing will stop Genesis’s minions. Only arcana can, and you’re the only one that can wield it. It’s in your blood. We don’t know how, we don’t know why, but it is.” His expression was serious. “Echo, you could be a resurgence, your existence could mean that the Arcana are rising again.”
They thought I was Arcana? “I’m not Arcana. You would have picked that up when you did the screening at birth, and Emory hasn’t picked up anything in the tests he’s run since we got back from the Run.”
Dead City Page 5