by Mari Dietz
Vic’s muscles ached, and her feet throbbed, even though she’d gotten to sit down. She wistfully eyed the water-taxi drivers docking their boats for the night in the canal. Some of them used the last of their magic to automate their boats. They steered those next to the call button on the dock. “Are we walking the whole way?”
William stopped and folded his hands behind his back. “Why would we need a boat? Isn’t the Glass property ahead?” He tapped his foot impatiently at her perceived laziness.
“I don’t live with them.” Her tone came out sharper than she’d meant.
“That’s right. Where are we headed?”
“I don’t need you to walk me home. I’m sure I can take on anything that comes after me.” I might be the one protecting you.
He didn’t leave; he just waited.
“Scrum Creek.”
This situation mirrored the one with Kai before the trial. At least Kai could fight. What would William do? Tell the mog it needed purification?
He peered at her bandaged wounds. “In that case, it would be better to take a water taxi.”
“I would hate for you to break any vows or become impure.” Vic blinked at him. She bit her lip to keep from smiling at the radiant.
“I’ll worry about my soul. Thanks for your concern.” He headed to the canal.
Vic selected the destination and paid for the ride. She stepped onto the boat after William. His clean white clothing stood out more in the canal. The darker it grew, the more he glowed.
“Did you have a good day?” Vic needed to fill the silence. In all her life, she’d never thought she’d be stuck in a water taxi with a radiant escorting her home.
“Yes. You?” He sat straight.
“A great day. Found out I’m still under my father’s thumb, so there’s that.” Nothing like trying to get out on your own. Well, he’d let her be a reaper if she married. It still didn’t make sense that he’d chosen a radiant. William for sure couldn’t run the factories.
He faced her. “I’m not sure what my loose-lipped brother has shared with you, but I’m sure he exaggerated. Our family is fine, and he has no business sharing personal things with a stranger.”
“Um, okay? I was just sharing.” Talk about an overreaction. She leaned back in the wooden boat. “You’re worried about what your brother told me?” Vic wrinkled her nose. Couldn’t he lighten up? She didn’t want to marry him either, but he didn’t have to be so closed off.
“You pity me.”
“What now?” Vic jolted and shook the water taxi with her movement. The canal water lapped against the wood.
William leaned away from the water, even though it didn’t enter the boat. “After you talked to him, you pitied me. For what, I don’t know.”
“Okay. I’m sorry I did whatever you said I did. I’m confused. Your brother’s worried about you. I didn’t get your life story.” Sort of.
William paused, and quietness filled the air.
“He doesn’t need to worry.”
“Fine.” If he didn’t want to get to know her, that was all right with her. It wasn’t like she would go through with the marriage. What would her father do? Tie her up? She clutched the side of the boat. Probably.
William swallowed. “Sorry.”
Vic shook her head. “It’s fine. I like your brother. He was fun.” Unlike you.
“And I’m not.” His features remained stiff and closed off. Nothing like the relaxed Samuel.
“You said it, not me.” Vic rolled her neck. She wanted to go home. She hadn’t expected this sudden drama. “You don’t have to be fun or like your brother. I don’t even know if it matters. This thing”—Vic waved her finger between them—“may not even last. Your father may find another founder’s daughter, and mine’s always coming up with something new. So this may be a really random blip in our lives, where we briefly cross paths.”
They might not want to attach their name to the disgraced Glass house.
“Perhaps. I’m honestly not sure what to do with you.”
“I wouldn’t worry too much about it.”
She let the silence fall without filling it. The puttering sound of the boat and the bubbling canal could take that job.
“What are you doing? Help!” The voice shattered the awkward silence, and she scanned the shore.
The sky was already dark, and the canal water reflected the lamplight.
Vic slammed her hand down on the emergency stop and stood, rocking the boat.
“What are you doing?” William steadied himself.
“My job is to help people. You can wait here if you want.”
“What are you going to do?” He reached for her as if to stop her.
Vic rolled her eyes and bent her legs. When the water taxi got close, she pushed off the boat, nearly tipping it. She landed and slid on the moss-covered stone.
“Stop!” the voice sounded again.
Vic ran in the direction of the voice. She couldn’t see anyone, but she pulled out her eyepiece in case it was a corrupted soul.
William’s footsteps were catching up with her. Then to her left, she heard a thud. She ran around the bend of a narrow alley. One-story houses with their lights out stood guard. She took her scythe out of the halter and flicked it open.
She skidded to a halt when she came upon two black-clothed people attacking someone. Her eyepiece told her that neither of them contained the blue glow of mild corruption. She ran forward and slammed her body into the side of one of the attackers.
The attackers clawed at the young man’s bleeding neck, but he clasped his hands over the wound.
“Help me!” he gasped.
The black-clad figure still holding him down tried to get the young man’s hands away from his neck.
The one she’d body slammed jumped to their feet. Only dark eyes showed behind a cloth mask. She lunged and swung at them, but their arms blocked it. They returned the punch. Vic danced to the side and kicked at the back of his leg. They spun away and faked to the right. Vic stepped back and caught their arm. Her hands locked onto their arm, and as she pulled them to her, she kneed them in their stomach.
The person gasped and jerked away. Vic scrabbled to hold on to their shirt. Their pale skin stood out in the moonlight that glowed behind the colorful blight. It revealed the black brand on their neck. Vic paused as she stared at the image. They pulled away.
William came up behind them, and the two in black scattered, leaving their victim bleeding on the ground. Vic stood there on the road, frozen.
“What was that? Blight? Are they corrupted souls?” He paced as if to go after them.
Vic took off her eyepiece. She knelt next to the young man. “What were they doing?”
The young man clasped his neck. “They were trying to cut out my gicorb.”
Vic rocked back on her heels. She had to have misunderstood. “What?”
“They take them so we can’t charge.” He kept his hand over the orb as he eyed her black clothing. He made it sound like this had been going on for a while.
“They do?”
The man nodded. “They dress all in black like reapers so no one will know who they are.”
Only Vic had seen the brand and knew what the young man didn’t. “Why hasn’t this been reported to the officers?” Vic’s hands clenched.
“We have, but the witness turns into a mog faster than normal. Or nothing is done.”
Vic eyed the blood between his fingers. “Did they get yours?”
If they had, she would only have bad news for him. The orb protected them, but if damaged or removed, it couldn’t be replaced or fixed. Everyone only got one, and once it was gone, it was gone.
He shook his head. “No, thank you, miss. I better get home. My family will worry.”
Vic stood and stared after the man as he took off in a different direction from the two black figures.
“What happened?” William asked. He’d heard the conversation, but he didn’t seem to understa
nd.
Vic shivered. “They tried to take out his gicorb and corrupt him.” She folded her scythe and tucked it back into her harness. “You do that with your radiant.”
William gaped. “We would never do that to an unpurified soul! The orb is only removed after they are purified. When did this start happening?”
Vic rubbed her hands down her arms. “This is the first I’ve heard of it.”
William peered toward where the figures in black had disappeared. “What happened when you were fighting? I’m surprised you didn’t go after them.”
“Me too. I wasn’t expecting that.”
“What?”
The shadows from the alley felt like they were watching them in the night. “They had the brand of Nyx on their necks. They were reapers.”
7
Vic
Vic stared at a web of cracks in her apartment ceiling. She supposed she should pack. She regarded the empty apartment. Well, that’s done.
The few items of clothing she owned were stuffed in her bag. The image of the two crossed scythes on the person’s neck glared in her mind. The brand hadn’t been damaged. If an Order removed a reaper, they blacked out the brand. It meant active members of an Order were corrupting souls on purpose.
She moaned. “Perfect. This is just what I needed—to join an Order that hurts others.”
Vic frowned and sat on the edge of her bed. Kai didn’t look like the type who would do something like this.
“It’s not like I know him,” she said to the empty room.
Scraps blinked at her. In a few hours, she would need to go to the Order of her choice. Vic wasn’t sure what she was getting into.
Part of her wondered how deep this went—if the whole Order knew about it or only a small faction was responsible. If so, had Kai or Xiona sanctioned it? Vic shook her head.
How was this her responsibility? She had enough to worry about with trying to convince her sister to betray the whole city.
Vic groaned and pushed herself off the bed. With mechanical movements, she folded her blanket and fit it into the top of her bag with room to spare. She scratched the top of Scraps’s head. “Ready to go to our new home?”
He purred and sat inside her bag. She smiled and clipped the bag, leaving his head to poke out. She wasn’t sure if animals could live there, but she wouldn’t leave him behind. She took in the apartment, her home for the last six months. It had given her freedom, but it had no trace of her. She held her folded scythe and carefully shouldered her bag. The vibrations of Scraps’s purrs rumbled against her back.
“Time to go, buddy.”
She picked her way down the steps and dropped off her key in the landlord’s box. She planted her feet on the stone walkway. To the right, she could go to Dei, take the challenge, and not deal with whatever drama awaited at Nyx. To the left, she could go to Nyx, the top Order. With slow movements, she went left. She couldn’t be sure how far the corruption went. The freedom she’d thought she had locked down, and she felt a pull back to the center of Verrin. Today, she didn’t bother with a water taxi. Even if she’d had the money for one, she wanted to walk. When the doors of Nyx closed behind her, she would have money but not a sense of ease. After all, it was for her sister.
“I guess it’ll be my problem.”
Nothing was without some sort of corruption. How could she have been so naïve?
The blight swirled in the sky and covered the sun, making it a vibrant shade of green. The streets widened, and a few store owners on the roadside opened their shops. The smell of baked bread mixed with the musty smell of the canal. Vic hadn’t eaten today since she’d run out of food again. It didn’t matter. She had a job, and it would put food on the table. She didn’t have to live with her father.
The sun warmed the back of her neck, and the gray stone walls of the Nyx Order rose in the distance. The stone roadway smoothed out. In Verrin, only those who lived in the center of the city deserved smooth roads. She reached the iron gate, which had two scythes crossed on the front, and the gateway opened. She was taken aback when Kai appeared.
He took in her single bag and the cat head sticking out of it.
“Brought a friend?” He smiled and reached around to scratch Scraps’s head.
Scraps’s purrs hit the maximum level as Kai scratched his ears. The vibrations massaged her back through her bag.
“Yep.” She waited for him to tell her that Scraps wasn’t allowed.
He shook his head. “This way.”
Relieved she wouldn’t lose her furry friend, Vic followed. “Does the second in command always give newcomers a tour?”
“I asked to do this. I wanted to make sure you found your way to the right place.” As in Nyx, not Dei. “I got held up in a meeting.” He shivered.
“Didn’t have much choice.”
He knew she wanted to be here, but he didn’t know what she’d seen last night. Vic wanted to trust her gut and tell him, but she would wait until later. Kai hadn’t taken away her scythe, and unless she was a fool, she didn’t find him untrustworthy. If he had been the type to hurt others, her scythe would’ve been long gone.
He opened his mouth at her statement, then closed it again. They walked through the courtyard. A large U-shaped stone building surrounded her. Multiple windows overlooked the courtyard. It smelled better here, away from Scrum Creek. There was no escaping the damp smell of Verrin, but the air still felt clearer. An obsidian fountain met them in the center. It formed the shape of a woman holding a scythe. The water trickled down her body, creating a clear sheen over the stone. It created the illusion that the statue shifted, aware of her surroundings.
“You’ll be branded first. I heard you won’t be living in the dorms?”
“What?” Vic halted. “No, I’m living in the dorms.” Her voice rose. “Who said I wasn’t?”
Kai’s brow crinkled. “I was just told. But don’t worry, I can make sure it’s fixed after the ceremony.”
Did her father think she needed to live at home again? Wasn’t it enough that he had control over Vic seeing her sister? “Please, I don’t want to live outside. It would be better that I stay with my comrades, don’t you think?”
He smiled, and it calmed her down. “Yes, I think so. Are you ready for this?”
“To get branded?” Vic rubbed her bare neck, briefly touching the gicorb. “As ready as I’ll ever be. With all the magic we have, I’m surprised they still brand us.”
“It’s supposed to be painful to remind you that entering an Order is no light matter. And besides the radiant, you can’t use magic to change humans.”
“And to remind you that it isn’t easy to leave either.” Her earlier doubt about choosing Nyx prodded her mind. There would be no turning back once she got branded.
Kai led the way forward, and she studied his back. Did he know? Should she tell him?
“That too.” He looked at her as they walked into the building. “Also, you did well in the arena. I was surprised you gave away the stone.”
“I was too.”
He knocked on a dark wooden door. “It wasn’t part of your plan to show sacrifice and teamwork?”
“After nearly getting killed by a mog, I had no room in my brain to consider what the commanders wanted.”
She’d promised Yaris she would give him the stone if they worked together. Vic didn’t want to be someone who went back on their word. She swallowed. Wasn’t that what she was trying to make her sister do? No, her sister never had a choice. There was nothing she could do at the moment. It was time to focus on joining the Order. Her neck itched as if it knew it was about to be burned.
The door swung open, and the room spanned before them. Magic flames flickered in lamps, and the walls, covered in dark stone, swallowed the light. People dressed in black filled the open space. All the reapers had come to watch.
Vic’s hands grew cold.
Kai held out his hand and whispered, “I better take your bag with your friend.”
She handed him all her belongings and walked to Xiona in the center of the room. She stood next to a fire, the branding iron next to her.
“Kneel.” As always, Xiona showed little emotion and didn’t waste words.
Vic clutched her folded scythe and knelt in front of the leader of Nyx. Another person approached and swept Vic’s hair aside, exposing the right side of her neck. Then she tilted Vic’s head to the side, elongating her neck.
Xiona’s face remained emotionless. “Do you need to be held down, reaper?”
“No.” Vic instantly regretted her answer. A red-hot iron was about to be pressed into her neck while the whole Order watched. If she flinched, it would mar the mark.
“In entering the Nyx Order, you are tasked with keeping this city safe from the blight. The reaper’s vow isn’t one to take lightly. Do you swear to uphold all that the Nyx Order stands for, protect the city?”
“I do.” Vic thought her voice would shake, but the words came out clear and steady. She clenched her hands into fists, her nails biting into her palms. The words had been the easy part.
The smell of fire overwhelmed her nose.
Vic stared at the iron as it glowed red with heat, the flames dancing around it. Then in one swift movement, Xiona lifted it from the fire and pressed it to Vic’s exposed neck.
Vic clamped her teeth down on her bottom lip, and her body screamed at her to move away from the heat. The acrid smell of her burning flesh filled the room, and she swallowed the urge to vomit. She forced down the screams that wanted to break free.
It only lasted a moment, but after Xiona had removed the branding iron, she could still feel her flesh burning. Something ice-cold touched her neck, and instant relief filled her. Her hand touched a bandaged that already covered her neck.
She blinked, and Xiona actually had a smile. “Impressive.”
With that, she left the room.