by Mari Dietz
A quiet moment passed between them. Without saying anything more, they left his room and followed the smell of food to the kitchen.
A miniature version of Kai sat at the wooden table and snatched a piece of fruit from the plate. Her thick russet curls were tied in two adorable poofs atop her head. A yellow shift dress complemented her skin, which was slightly darker than Kai’s. He did spend most of his time outside at night. Mischievous brown eyes glanced at the duo, and a smile that might have melted Vic’s father’s heart graced the young girl’s face.
Kai’s mother lightly smacked the girl’s hand. “Leave some for your brother and his guest.”
“His kissing friend?”
Vic choked at the remark, and they both looked at the doorway.
“This is my sister, Remi. You already met my mother.” Kai leaned forward and messed up Remi’s hair. She batted his hands away but kept smiling at her brother.
His mother set more dishes on the table and hugged her son again. “You can call me Una,” she told Vic.
Vic nodded and fiddled with her fingers. Kai placed a hand on her back and guided her to the chair next to Remi.
The young girl snuck glances at her. Vic could see some of Kai’s personality in his younger sister. They had the same eyes, but she had less worry in them. “Are you kissing friends? My friend at school told me that if you kiss a boy, you’ll get a baby.”
Vic nearly spat out the food in her mouth.
Kai shot his sister a look. “I think you and your friend need sex education classes.”
“What’s that?” She shoved another one of Kai’s strawberries in her mouth.
Vic smiled at the exasperated look on his face.
“Don’t worry about that yet,” Una told her daughter and put more eggs on Vic’s plate. “You’re far too thin. Don’t they feed you at Nyx?”
“I haven’t been there long,” Vic mumbled. Having a mother take care of her brought up memories of her childhood.
“Kai needs to bring you around more often. We barely get to see him.” Una stroked her son’s hair.
He smiled and grabbed her hand. “I’ll try.”
Una released his hand and patted his neck before taking a pan off the stove.
Vic watched the family. She could see how Kai carefully watched them, like he was afraid they might disappear into the next strong wind. Vic wanted freedom from her family, but seeing them together, she missed what she had. She hadn’t taken the time to understand the change in her father. Em had told her that their father acted defeated. Vic had scoffed at her. To her, he’d shown his true colors of wanting control over everything.
They finished up, and Kai hugged his mother and ruffled his sister’s hair again. Remi ducked, but her face glowed.
“We need to get back,” Kai stated.
His mother nodded and waved at them as they left out the door.
Vic stayed next to him on their walk back to Nyx.
“Kai, I know you have a lot to lose, but this affects them too. I think we need to reach out to the other Orders and find out if they’re cutting out orbs too.”
“I know.” His pace slowed. “Do you suppose we should burst in and ask? We might be watched by Xiona’s reapers.”
Vic thought. “We can follow their patrols, see if we notice anything.”
Kai rubbed his forehead. “Nice plan in theory, but how?”
“Bomrosy.” Vic grinned. “I wonder if she has anything to help us out.” Vic held up her band.
“She might be on Xiona’s side,” Kai stated.
“True, but I don’t think so.”
“Based on?”
“A feeling.”
“Great.”
The afternoon sun rose high in the sky under the pinkish-orange swirls of the blight. They made it back to Nyx and Bomrosy’s workroom. This time, Bomrosy banged on something so hard it broke. With a curse, she went to retrieve the fallen item.
“Back, are we?” She raised a tool at them and waved it at their faces. “Ready to tell me what in the blight is going on?”
“You know you aren’t in charge here.” Kai gave her a condescending look.
Bomrosy wielded her tool like a weapon, and Vic was sure she wanted to stab Kai.
Vic stood between them. “Okay, why don’t we just sit?”
Bomrosy plopped down on a bench and glared at them.
“What we’re about to tell you could put you in danger,” Vic hedged. Maybe they shouldn’t tell her.
“How can I help? Is it about the destroyed orbs?” Bomrosy asked.
“You know?”
Bomrosy spun her tool in her hand. “Just because I don’t use magic, people think I don’t matter. They also talk too much.”
Kai straightened. “How many Nyx reapers are involved?”
Bomrosy set aside the tool and put her hands on her knees. “I can’t tell you an exact number, but I know which group is for sure helping. I was sure you were in on it, Kai.” Her shoulders slumped. “I figured you needed to keep your family safe. I’ve been tracking them on my own. It’s been hard since it would look weird if I left at night.” Shadows filled her face, and Vic could tell it was more than the rogue reapers bothering her. She’d only met Bomrosy and didn’t want to push her to share something private.
“Do you have the names written somewhere?” Kai asked.
Bomrosy rustled in a toolbox near her and handed Kai a slip of paper. “Xiona kept it to her inner circle from what I can tell. But there are some reapers I’m unsure about.”
Vic sighed in relief. “See, I knew we could trust her.”
Bomrosy lightly hit Kai. “You thought I’d be okay with this?”
Kai read the paper and handed it back to her. “You thought I would be!”
“No, like I said, your mother and sister are relicless. I didn’t think you would want to, but you aren’t in a great situation.”
“We also hoped you could help us.” He held up the ring, and her eyes widened. “Is there a way we can get this off or disarm it? We’d like to patrol other reapers and see if other Orders are cutting out orbs as well. We can cover more ground apart. Also, we can leave one person here as a decoy.”
Bomrosy stood and went over to what looked like a pile of junk. “I was messing around with one a few months ago for fun.”
“Weren’t you supposed to be repairing it?” Kai asked flatly.
She put her hands on her hips. “Are you here to lecture me or thank me for my genius since now I can help you?”
Kai raised his hands and lowered them. “I bow at your genius.”
“That’s better.” Bomrosy produced a wristband and a ring similar to what Vic wore. “I can’t turn it off, but I found a cool way to block the magic signal for two hours at most. After that … well …” She shook her arm in a pantomime of a shock.
“Comforting.” Vic took the band and saw the small button. “I guess if I pass out from shock, you can come find my butt and carry me back.”
Kai took the ring and pocketed it. “As long as someone sees one of us going into my room, we should be fine.”
Vic glanced at them and put away the band. It felt like the three of them were facing something bigger than they knew. Her sister was about to go away to keep the city safe. It was Vic’s job to protect this city, even if it had betrayed her.
Vic’s scythe on her back settled her nerves. Bomrosy had retrieved her relic before she’d slipped out of the window at Nyx. Due to the lack of express water taxis, it had taken her an hour to get to the far side of the city where Dei patrolled on the other side of the farmland. She wouldn’t have as long to follow them tonight.
Every other night, after their normal patrol, she and Kai switched off to watch other Orders and groups from Nyx. If they had time, they stopped and asked locals if they’d been attacked. The Boreus territory so far was clear. Dei didn’t patrol in a populated area, which gave them a reason to believe that Dei wouldn’t have a chance for much orb cutting. It gav
e Vic hope that only Nyx was wrapped up in the plot to create more blight. If the other Orders found out they were cheating the blight collection numbers, they would be enraged. GicCorp provided extra money to match the blight collection. Dei held the third spot and didn’t get as much money as Nyx. Xiona likely wanted the top numbers for blight collection either for pride or because she really thought this was best for her reapers because it provided them with more money. Vic couldn’t imagine how Xiona could kill people to improve Verrin’s economy.
A group of four reapers appeared through a wheat field, and Vic stayed back. There wasn’t much cover out in the farmlands, and she’d already staked out the orchards.
Every time she’d seen Xiona this week, she’d had to control her facial expressions. Making matters worse, she had to stay with Kai. Their relationship felt off, and though there was an attraction, neither of them wanted to make a move while in forced bondage. Also, she was engaged to someone she hadn’t seen in days.
Vic crouched as she ran after the reapers.
Focus. Worry about your love life when people aren’t getting turned into mogs.
She paused when the group branched out. Each reaper ran in a different direction. This never happened. Reapers always stayed in pairs. She poked her head up higher to see where they were going.
“See something interesting, Nyx spy?” someone asked behind her.
Vic jumped and turned around. “Ah. No. Just checking out the farmland.”
The woman folded her muscular arms and glared at her. A long scar ran along her scalp, visible through her short black hair. “Every night this week, reapers have reported that someone’s been watching them. You aren’t as sneaky as you think. We’re trained to notice our surroundings.” Her copper eyes narrowed as if she thought Nyx’s training wasn’t as good as Dei’s. The moonlight highlighted the bronze glow of her skin, and her lips pressed into a thin line. Her prominent nose complemented her features as she glared down at Vic. This woman could have given Vic’s past teachers a run for their money as far glares went. She would not want to cross this woman, but she would want her on her side in a fight.
Vic took a step back, stumbling around for a lie. “We aren’t watching you. We made a deal to get some extra fruit with the Orchard founder. We have to pick it up before the market opens.” This was the best excuse she could come up with. She and Kai should have figured out a better cover story.
“Fruit? Want to rethink that lie?” Vic stood taller, but she felt shorter in her presence. The woman’s muscles were impressive, her figure beautifully curved under the standard reaper black.
Vic grinned. “I’ll head out and not bother you again.” She sidestepped away, only to feel a vise-like grip on her arm. The other three reapers rose out of the field in the dark.
“I think it’s best if you share your fruit story with our leader, don’t you? She may want in on this early morning fruit deal.”
“Heh.” Thinking she might make things worse if she struggled, she followed the woman through the field.
“Becks,” someone called to the woman holding her. “Do you want me to run ahead?”
Becks didn’t loosen her grip. “Tell Nel we caught one. The other one must not be here.”
They waited for me. Vic groaned inwardly. With Vic in front of them, they forged through the fields. Vic doubted it would go over well if she asked Becks to let her go, so she let the woman hang on to her.
They approached a stone wall. The Dei Order was more simplistically built than the other Orders in the city. Beyond the wall, stone huts were grouped together, with a one-story main building at the center. Surprisingly clean and tightly packed stone filled the courtyard.
Becks led her through the courtyard, and instead of the sound of the canal, the soft whispers of clucking chickens sounded from their roosts. Out here, the air smelled more of growing things than mildew. People looked down on Dei’s blight collection numbers, but Vic thought this Order might have the better location, even though it was far from the center of town.
Thick wooden doors protected the main building. The lamplight was bright inside. Rough-hewn tables and long benches dominated the space. The Dei Order leader stood over a large table at the front of the room. Her rumpled clothing didn’t look much different from what she’d worn at the trials, and the black color made her white skin stand out. She had a long face graced with an angular nose, and as they approached, her gray eyes took them in. Nel dismissed the other reapers with a nod. She sat down in the chair and put her dirty boots up on the table. Bits of mud flaked off on the table, and Becks flinched. Vic didn’t blame her. If Nel did sewer runs, who knew what was on the bottom of those boots.
Becks huffed. “Do you have to put your boots up there? This is where we eat.”
Nel tapped her boot on the table, letting more mud fall. “You can leave. I need to speak with the number-one pick.”
Becks muttered something Vic didn’t catch and left her in the hall with the leader of the Dei Order.
Nel stared at Vic, unmoving. “I hear you’re into early morning fruit deals?” she asked blandly.
“Fruit’s good for you.” Was it better for her to stick to the lie? Heck, she could come out and tell her what Nyx was doing. And if Nel threw her in a cell, then she’d know for sure that Dei was in league with Nyx in stealing orbs.
“Hmm.” Nel pulled out a knife from her boot and traced the blade with her finger. “I think it would be best if you told me the real reason a Nyx reaper is spying on us.”
Vic followed the movement of the throwing blade. “I mean you no harm. I was off duty and taking a walk.” A sheen of sweat covered her skin. She glanced down at her wrist. Her buffer would soon wear off. She might be twitching on the ground in a matter of minutes. Traveling out to Dei never gave them much time to do recon, and this side trip wouldn’t help.
“A walk.” Without sitting up, Nel flicked her hand, and the knife sailed across the room.
Vic’s hair on the right side of her head fluttered. She saw a few hairs fall to the ground.
“We aren’t doing anything wrong.” These last few nights, Vic and Kai hadn’t seen reapers attack innocent civilians on their routes. But Dei could have sent reapers into the city to hurt people.
Nel pulled out another knife and twirled it between her fingers. “Fresh little reapers like you shouldn’t get involved in espionage so quickly after trials—unless you’re disposable.”
Vic agreed with her, but she’d chosen Nyx, so she would try to help the Order. “What if I brought my commander here?”
“No. Talk now.” She stabbed the knife into the table. The thunk echoed in the empty room.
Vic’s heart pounded in the silence. “Nyx is turning citizens into mogs by taking out their orbs. They’re creating a supply of corruption since we’re running low.”
Nel slid her boots off the table. “Really?” Her laughter filled the room. “Xiona’s playing more games.” Nel leaned back again. “Damn fool should have joined me here. She will lose her head.”
“You aren’t doing this?” Vic’s method of blurting out the truth worked at least three out of four times. She tried to be more cautious for Kai. The bracelet would go off soon.
Nel pressed a finger against the blade embedded in the table. “No, I’m trying to protect people. If there isn’t enough purified magic to charge, that’s GicCorp’s problem. We find plenty of mogs out here in the middle of nowhere. The supply is fine.” She watched the blade wobble as she removed her finger. “You have to realize they might not be using it for what you think they are.”
“What?”
Nel spoke slower, saying, “Our numbers did not go down. Nyx numbers did not go up or down. Boreus numbers did not go up or down.” She raised her hands. “So where is all the extra cleansed blight going? I don’t think we had that many new babies who needed to be charged.”
“Why does Xiona think we need more blight?”
Nel grinned. “Why indeed.” She
slipped the knife away. “I’m guessing you want something?”
“Your help in stopping Xiona.” Might as well get it out there.
“Oh, is that it?” Nel yanked the blade from the table. “No.”
Vic stepped closer. “Innocent people are getting turned into mogs, and no one’s doing anything about it.” She didn’t know why this had become her problem as a new reaper. Shouldn’t the commanders care more than her?
Nel took her time standing, and she walked over to where Vic stood. She still held the throwing blade in her hand. “You want a reaper war? How many lives will be lost then?”
“I’m not asking for a war, just to stop her.”
Nel stopped in front of Vic and flicked her forehead. “I can’t run in there and tell her what to do. Only GicCorp has any authority. If I try anything, it will be an act of war.”
Vic rubbed her forehead and glared at the Dei leader. “The whole Order can’t be doing this.”
She put the blade back in her boot. “It isn’t my problem.”
“Didn’t you say it’s your job to protect others?”
Nel let out a long breath of air. “I’ll help if you get GicCorp involved.”
Vic almost fell back into one of the tables. “You want me to tell GicCorp?”
“Look, little green bean. Nyx gets the most money because their numbers, although unchanged in the monthly report, are always the highest. I wondered how they got so much blight when they only cover a bit of land outside the wall.” She smirked. “Now I know. If you tell GicCorp, then Dei will have the best numbers after we beat out Boreus.”
Vic rolled her eyes. “Wow, how noble.”
“Numbers mean food in the belly. Can’t eat justice.” Nel turned and went back to her table. “Let me know how it goes.”
“Sure, thanks for your help. I guess I’m free to leave?” Nothing like giving Vic more to do. She didn’t blame Nel. Kai knew that the officers or founders would eventually need to get involved. The biggest fear for Vic was, what if the founders didn’t care?