by Ali Winters
“What about…” Finn’s words trailed off, but she knew what he asked.
“What about her betrayal?”
Finn nodded.
“I couldn’t bear to tell them of her actions. She was loved, despite her oddities.” Yeva cupped Finn’s cheek. “Silas and his ilk will pay for turning her against us.”
“How?” Finn shook his head and tugged his fingers through his hair. “We cannot go to their realm as they can to ours. How will we fight them?”
Yeva raised her chin so she could look the tall man in the eye, her own glinting. “I will force Silas to come to me. We will use a Reaper to lure him to us, then we will declare war upon them all.”
SILAS
SILAS STARED OUT the middle window in the back of the office at the top spire of G.R.I.M. Headquarters. An endless sky, streaked with copper and lavender, stretched out before him. Below sat the cliffs of Edrathli, its glittering fog swaying within like the waves of the ocean.
He inhaled deeply, pulling in slow breaths and letting them out, trying to quell the annoyance whirling within.
Yeva was up to something. He could feel it. More than just his intuition nagged at him. He’d felt the loss of a Dark Guardian every few days. Destroyed. Either she was doing this by her own hand, or one of her Watchers had gone rogue. Out of the two possibilities, a rogue Watcher made far more sense. After all, Yeva could be insecure, but he couldn’t believe that she would go so far as to do something that would risk the balance of life and death.
Either way, he needed to speak with her, and soon. But that, in itself, posed a problem.
Silas paced back and forth before the wide span of the three arched windows. He would need to be careful in how he approached her. Her insecurities often led to oversensitivity over things that were only business.
He paused his pacing, rubbing at the light stubble along his chin and—
The door burst open. The wood hitting the walls on either side, creaking with the impact. Any harder and they might have splintered. Silas didn’t move for several seconds, waiting for his annoyance to ease.
When he turned, he faced a small redheaded Guardian panting as she bent in a half bow. She was pale… paler than she should be. It made the freckles spanning her cheeks and nose stand out even more.
“What is the meaning of this?” he practically roared.
She was one of the older ones, though not particularly powerful. She should have known better than to enter unbidden and in such a disrespectful manner.
“My lord,” Star rasped, her voice strained and shaking, growing more hysterical with each word she spoke. “They took her! They took her!”
Silas rounded the desk and crossed the room in two strides. Star kept her gaze pinned to the floor.
“They took who?” he asked through gritted teeth. Her lack of coherency only fueled his ire.
“They—they—She—” Star trembled before him.
What had her so spooked? It must have something to do with the Watchers. They were the only thing that could cause harm to a Guardian. They feared nothing else.
Silas placed a hand on her shoulder and lifted her chin, with a knuckle, to bring her eyes to his. In a voice much calmer than he felt, not betraying the storm that roiled within, he said, “Stop your stammering and breathe. Tell me what happened.” Each word was slow and measured.
Movement near the doors caught his attention. Several heads popped into view. He did his best not to react to the spectacle this Guardian was making, drawing the attention of every being within the realm.
Silas narrowed his eyes and jerked his chin, sending the onlookers scattering.
Star managed to slow herself down enough to say, “The Watchers—the Watchers took Phobos.”
Watchers, she’d said. There had been more than one. Taken, not destroyed.
A single rogue was rare enough, but several was unheard of. What reason would they have for taking a Guardian? Guardians never went after Watchers, nor did the Watchers go after Guardians.
“What?” It was an inelegant response, but the only one he could muster.
“I was in the human market and… I was on assignment, hunting my mark and…” She fought to hold back tears. Silas wanted to snap at her to stop blubbering, wanted to leach the emotion from her until she calmed down and told him what he needed to know. Though, in her state, it would only make matters worse. “I saw Phobos walking among the humans tracking her mark—”
“Get to the point.” He knew it was wrong, but he couldn’t take anymore dancing around the answers. If a Guardian had been taken, he needed to know everything, now. Not be told what he’d ordered them to do.
Star snapped her mouth shut and clasped her hands against the sides of her legs. Silas groaned inwardly. Green seemed to tint her face and he swore silently.
If she gets sick…
“Two Watchers were following her. I didn’t think much of it because sometimes they do, I think to make sure we aren’t rogue, but then they attacked. They didn’t destroy her, but she was weakened to the point where she couldn’t fight back. There were so many of them.” Her words came out in a rush, and she was left panting by the end.
“Then what happened?”
“Then they dragged her away.”
Gaia. The Watchers were overstepping their bounds. What reason would they have to take Phobos? She was one of his best, always stayed on task, and was meticulous with the details of each reaping. He could understand a Watcher getting confused with one of the less organized Guardians, but not with Phobos.
“Did you try to help her?” he asked quietly.
The Guardian seemed to shrink farther into herself. Her face flushed, and he knew the answer before she even spoke.
Star bit down on her bottom lip and shook her head. “No. I came back here right away.”
Silas said nothing further. He couldn’t fault her for that. If there were enough Watchers to overpower Phobos, then Star didn’t stand a chance against them either.
He needed to do something about these attacks, these kidnappings. Silas turned from Star, dismissing her with a wave of his hand. He caught the flash of red hair blurring around the corner as she ran out the door.
A storm was brewing on the horizon. One that promised dissension and war, and possibly the end of everything he’d worked so hard to maintain. What he and Yeva had been dancing around for weeks, what the Moirai had promised would come to pass, was now coming to a head.
He would have no choice but to be ready when it happened.
Silas grabbed his quill and dipped it into the small inkwell, then scribbled a single name down on a piece of parchment. He waved his hand over the note before the ink even dried.
Three minutes later, Caspian rushed through the doors.
“I am going to pay Yeva a visit,” Silas said as soon as Caspian had closed the doors. “Gather the strongest Guardians and join me near the Watchers’ village.”
Caspian blanched, no doubt catching that there was far more to his command than would appear.
Silas didn’t wait for a response before he threw his hood over his head and transported out of the room.
He appeared in the center of the Watchers’ village, expecting it to be bustling with activity… not to find a ghost town. He released the power gathered in his hands, letting it fizzle out. He had called it to him on reflex without meaning to.
Slowly, he turned in a circle, taking in the thin paths between the homes and looking into every window for a face peeking out. Nothing.
A muscle ticked in his jaw. What was Yeva up to?
He continued walking through the small village, looking for any sign of life, for even just one Watcher hiding.
He found nothing.
To the west, the sun dipped low, taking the light and what little warmth it offered with it. Dark clouds, thick and heavy with rain, moved in from the east, ushering in an early night.
Silas reached the end of their small village and looked out toward th
e meadow Yeva loved. Shadows of trees swayed in the growing dark, and two figures hurried toward the southern border of the forest.
Silas stretched out the tendrils of his power until he caught a glimmer of Yeva’s power. It brushed up against her warmth, surrounded by the powers of Watchers. Though he couldn’t sense them enough to tell if there was only one or a thousand lying in wait. And mixed among all the opposing powers was a single thread of darkness.
“Phobos,” Silas murmured.
It could be a trap, it had the obvious makings of one. Yet inside the dark cover of trees, one of his own was held and he could not abandon her.
The other Guardians would be along soon enough. And with that knowledge, Silas strode toward the forest, not taking his eyes off the spot where the two figures had vanished into the shadows.
YEVA
YEVA’S NAILS CLACKED in a quick, steady rhythm over the wood table as she tried to keep herself from pacing a groove into the stone floor of her dwelling.
“What could possibly be taking them so long?”
As though she’d summoned them from her very thoughts, the door flew open with a loud bang as it collided with the wall.
Yeva snapped her head up to see Jack and Taliha shuffle through the door with a Reaper in tow. They each had a hold of one of her arms and were practically dragging her, boots scraping along the ground in their wake.
“What have you done?” she snapped and waved a hand in the direction of the unconscious figure they fought to cling to. “Not only have you nearly destroyed her, but you’ve left a path leading anyone and everyone right back here!”
Jack let go and Taliha gave a squeak of surprise at the extra weight, then she, also, let go. The Reaper tumbled to the floor in an ungraceful heap.
“We c-couldn’t help it, my lady. She fought us,” Taliha panted.
Yeva crossed an arm over her chest and rested her forehead in the palm of her other hand, massaging her fingers in circles on her temples.
“Never mind,” she said wearily. “Just go and clean up this trail then tell the others to gather around the southern border of the forest. Have them wait there. Make sure they know to stay hidden and to wait for my signal.” She stepped toward Jack and addressed only him. “You know what to do.”
Jack bowed and dragged Taliha out behind him before she could ask any questions. Yeva sighed, watching them as they hurried off. It would be a long time yet before she saw either of them again.
Yeva pressed her lips tightly together, fighting the rush of emotions that washed over her. The pang in her heart had been unexpected at their departure.
It took a few moments, but Yeva managed to lift and drag the unconscious Reaper onto her table. She needed her to wake up. Yeva brought a spark of her powers to life in her palm, flickering and dancing. Then she took her other hand and patted the Reaper roughly on the cheek.
“Wake up,” Yeva sing-songed in a false saccharine tone. “We do not have time to waste.”
The Reaper’s eyes fluttered. She groaned, her head lolling from side to side.
“W-where?” Then her eyes focused on Yeva, on the orb of power hovering above her palm. She scrambled up to a sitting position and nearly toppled off the edge of the table, barely catching herself in time. “Who are you? Why have you brought me here?”
She went to grab her hood and throw it over her head, but her fingers found nothing. Yeva smirked when her eyes landed on the black cloak on the far side of the dwelling.
“I am Yeva.” The Reaper stared at her, eyes going wide, her mouth opening and closing a few times before she snapped it shut. “Now…” Yeva paused in false concern. “What did you say your name was?”
“I didn’t.”
“Oh come now, do not be like that. Tell me your name, please.” The effort it took to look the abomination in the eye and smile as though they were old friends was more than it deserved.
“Phobos,” the girl muttered in a rough whisper, after a long moment.
“That’s better.” Yeva smiled down at her. “Now, Phobos, we must get going. We wouldn’t want to be late.”
Phobos blinked then. Yeva gripped her by the front of her shirt, dragging her from the table and onto her feet.
“What—” Phobos tried to object, but Yeva held the glittering ball of power close to her face. The Reaper recoiled as much as she could, held in place by Yeva’s strong grip.
“Do not try to fight me. If you do, I will destroy you. You will be quiet, or I will destroy you. If you draw attention to yourself, I will destroy you. Do you understand?” Yeva said slowly.
Phobos nodded quickly, her slate eyes glinting with silvery tears in the light of Yeva’s threat.
“Good, then let’s go.”
She let go of the Reaper’s top and hooked her arm in hers. She walked next to the wretched creature, all the way to the woods in silence. Phobos didn’t try anything the entire way, didn’t utter a sound out of her fowl mouth. But the Reaper’s eyes remained unwavering on the power flickering in Yeva’s hand.
They entered through the western border of the trees, and Yeva picked up the pace.
The winds kicked up, moving a storm in from the east. She marched the Reaper into the middle of the forest, near the area where she had watched Silas create yet another one of his creatures.
“Now,” Yeva said, and she moved her hand up near Phobos’s face so the light within her palm lit up the girl’s eyes, casting ugly shadows across the plains of her features. “Call for him.”
Phobos stared at Yeva, not blinking.
“Call for Silas,” Yeva ground out the words, dropping the sickly sweet tone.
The Reaper’s eyes hardened and she shook her head. “No.”
Yeva dug her fingers into her arm. “No? What do you mean, no?” Phobos winced. “You don’t get a choice, girl. Call for him or be destroyed.”
Leaves rustled around them, and though her Hunters were at the edges of the forest, moving closer, Silas had not yet come. They were losing light quickly, but that was fine with her. They could attack in the dark… should she need their assistance against him. They were a precaution, in case he tried his underhanded tactics.
Then she felt it. A darkness that brushed up against her powers, felt her, and spread out searching. She pushed out her powers to blind him from her Hunters. But he’d felt Phobos. He knew she had her.
“That is fine.” Yeva loosened her hold and reached up to pat the Reaper on the cheek. Phobos flinched at her touch. “You do not have to call him after all. It seems he already knows where to find you.”
Yeva looked toward the direction of their village.
Phobos took a step forward. “No,” she cried, her thin fingers gripping Yeva’s sleeve.
Yeva looked down at where the Reaper had touched her and felt her annoyance bubble to the top. She jerked her arm away, bringing another orb of power in to being into her free hand, and advanced on Phobos. “We will wait silently now.”
Pale blue-grey eyes focused on her face, and the girl stilled. Yeva took another step forward, until she was nearly touching the retched thing. How could something so dark and constantly surrounded by death not reek of it? Instead, she smelled of sweet plums. The fact that these Reapers dared to imitate the living as they did infuriated her.
Yeva let the power in her hands dim as she pulled back. No, she would not destroy this one… not yet.
Looking over her shoulder, she said, “This will all be over soon. Then all of you Guardians, you Reapers, will be put in your place.”
Yeva sucked in a breath as Silas’s power wrapped around her. He’d just transported closer. Though she tried to fight it, the corners of her lips twitched with the hint of a smile.
Then Silas’s dark figure cut through the spaces between the trees as he moved closer. He transported closer yet again, and again, jumping small swaths of ground as he moved. And as he neared ever closer, so did her Hunters.
Yeva took hold of Phobos’s arm and jerked her clo
se to her side.
It wouldn’t be long now.
Yeva watched the edge of the clearing, her heart picking up speed until it pounded in a faster and faster rhythm.
A shadow ahead of her moved, and out of it formed the man she’d known her entire existence. The light revealed his legs, then his torso, then, finally, his face. Silas’s power rolled off him in nearly visible waves. She could practically taste the smoky flavor of his anger mixed in with it.
“Yeva, what is the meaning of this?” His eyes only flitted toward Phobos once before settling back on her. He took a step forward and stopped when she tightened her grip on the Reaper. A lock of his golden hair had worked its way lose from the leather tie.
Silas lifted his hands, to show her he had not called his power to him, and took a single step back.
He was foolish not to take that precaution. She had her power pressed up against the Reaper in her grip, and he seemed so careless. Did it cost him so little to make them, that they were disposable? Her Hunters were so precious, costing so much of her to create.
It only went to show that he should be stripped of some of his powers to even things out. To create a true balance.
“What do you think?” she snapped.
Confusion played across his face, then, finally, understanding. Silas looked from his left to his right before facing her again. “I had thought you had rogue Watchers in your midst. But this…” He gestured toward the Reaper. “Let her go, Yeva.”
Yeva snorted a laugh. “Do not play stupid, Silas. We are here because of you and what you have done. You have been avoiding me for days, that only proves your guilt.”
“If you wanted to see me, all you had to do was call me as you have always done.” Silas inched forward slowly as he spoke.
“Stay where you are!” she shouted.
Silas froze mid step, then slowly placed his foot back on the ground. “It wasn’t a rogue Watcher… It was you, all along,” he said so quietly that Yeva almost didn’t catch it. Then louder, he said, “Why would you do this? You are throwing the balance off. We must right it.”