The Exodus

by Ali Winters

  Silas was incapable of anything but the quest for power. The betrayal of it all stung. Once, he had acted as though he’d loved her, and even now, he believed his feelings for her to be such. But as with all lies, the truth was eventually uncovered to be nothing more than a tactic to crush her heart, slowly, with as much pain as he could inflict. And all the while, he sat back taking what was rightfully hers. It wasn’t enough that he held her prisoner, he had to be at his most cruel while he did so.

  Before she forced herself to go back to that horrid prison, there was one more thing she needed to do.

  Yeva walked up the steps from the rounded center of the city and headed for the temple to the East.

  It was as she remembered, her eyes seeing past the destruction to the brightly painted walls of her past. Yeva hurried through the halls to the furthest back wall of the shrine. She placed her hand upon a stone in the wall, flush with the rest, but her mind still recalled its exact location with unfailing precision. Pressing down, she stepped back. Stone against gravel echoed throughout the empty space as a hidden door opened.

  An empty room waited before her.

  Air penetrated the room, causing flames to burst to life. Dust filled every inch of the space, even the pedestal that stood in the center. Reverently, Yeva stepped forward and approached.

  There, in a shimmering bubble of protection, the Sands of Time waited.

  NINE

  NIVIAN

  “THANK YOU BOTH for coming,” Caspian said finally looking up from the slip of parchment he’d been using to make notes.

  Nivian stood at attention in the center of his office. Another Reaper she’d never met before waited to her right with the hood of his cloak pulled over his head and the scythe they all carried strapped to his back, prepared to do his duty.

  For her entire existence she had been the young one, the last Silencer created. She’d worked hard to get to the top, always working to create flawless scenarios for her marks, and fast to bring back the life force of her assignment. It was strange to think she would be training an elder to do a job she had always done.

  Nivian resisted the urge to bite her lip, instead clenching her fists at her sides. She wondered if this man next to her would resent her for training him. For many Reapers, rank meant nothing, but some treated it as a fierce competition. It was usually too hard to tell, and with the exception of Caspian and Camira, she’d never spent much time with any of the others.

  The Reaper stood stoically next to her, unmoving and formal, giving her no hints as to his personality. Nivian studied him out of the corner of her eye, she would find out soon enough. She flexed the fingers of her hands, letting the blood flow through them again, and hoped it would be an easy process. The last thing she wanted to do was botch her first attempt at training.

  “Evander, this is Nivian. She will be training you,” Caspian announced casually as he sat behind his desk having returned to furiously scribbling more notes upon the paper. This time he hadn’t even bothered to look at them.

  Evander’s head swiveled slowly in her direction. The hood created shadows that hid his face.

  “Nice to meet you, Evander.” Nivian nodded curtly.

  He lifted a hand and pulled his hood back, exposing black hair with a fringe that fell over his blue eyes. She had seen him in passing many times but had never had reason to talk to him.

  “Thank you for taking the time to train me. I understand it is more difficult than what I have been doing.” He smiled down at her. “I will do my best not to disappoint you.”

  At least he was taking it in stride. Though, being promoted to Silencer from Timeless was rare and a great honor. The Timeless dealt with slow, natural deaths. Silencers dealt with the life forces that needed to be cut early. They were more difficult to perform, and the marks had a tendency to be more unpredictable.

  “Here is your assignment,” Caspian said and held out two notes.

  Evander hesitated only a second, taking his after Nivian.

  “This is not the first assignment I would have chosen for you, Evander. You are not quite ready for it, but we need you on it. I trust you will not let us down. You have shown great promise in skill.”

  “I can do this,” he said confidently, his mark still clutched in his hand. He didn’t know what the mark was yet, but he seemed confident in his ability. It was a good sign.

  Caspian looked at Nivian from the corner of his eyes and frowned. She returned the look, unsettled by the uncertainty in his gaze. Was there something about this particular mark he wasn’t telling them, or was it just worry because he didn’t think she was strong enough yet?

  “You will not be alone. Please be aware that there is a specific time and location for it. There will be other Reapers in the vicinity, make sure your reapings do not interfere with theirs.”

  “Caspian, is this…?” Nivian started. A mass reaping. No matter what her normal assignments were, it was the large group reapings that were always the most difficult. It required a group of Reapers—none of which were routinely used to cooperating and working with anyone else. That, along with the unpredictability of their marks, always made for a nerve-racking assignment.

  “No, while there are several that must occur near the same point, it is not a mass reaping. I hope it does not come to that. It should be enough to stave it off.”

  Nivian glanced up at Evander who stood waiting for further instructions. This was a rough first assignment, and far from ideal.

  I hope he can handle it, she thought as they turned to leave.

  “Nivian,” Caspian said stopping her in her tracks. “I’d like to speak to you for a moment.”

  “I’ll meet you there,” Nivian said, dismissing her charge. He nodded and continued out the door.

  She waited silently until the door closed. “I know I’m not fully recovered yet, as much as I want to say I am. But I can handle this.” She let the words rush out before he could assign another reaper to train Evander.

  “It’s not that.” Caspian shook his head. “I believe you are strong enough for this.”

  “Oh, then…” she trailed off, not sure what to say.

  Caspian cleared his throat and paced the room. Minutes passed, slow and excruciating. Anxiety rose in her chest wondering if she’d done something wrong. Finally, he stopped and faced her, hands clasped behind his back.

  “There has been a shift between realms unlike anything I’ve seen before.”

  Part of her was relieved, but not for long. “What kind of shift?” she asked.

  “It has been many centuries since a mark such as this has been assigned, but there is something about this shift that is vastly different. I have been looking for the cause, but thus far have been unable to locate it.” He turned and walked behind his desk, leaning forward. “You will be completing this mark at the heart of the shift.”

  “What’s different about this one?”

  “The life forces of each of these marks were not due to be retrieved for many decades. It is my only hope it will be enough to stop any further damage. If not, then I am out of options.”

  Nivian swallowed hard. The consequences of Caspian’s unspoken words rang loudly in her ears.

  Nivian’s cloak whipped in the wind as she stood on the edge of the building looking out across the city. She eyed the Reaper standing next to her. Evander was quiet. He’d hardly spoken since the meeting with Caspian.

  “It’s been a while since I’ve worked with anyone. This situation for training you isn’t ideal,” she offered. “I would have preferred a solo assignment to watch you without others around.”

  He nodded but didn’t respond, his lips pressed in a hard, thin line.

  Reapers, on a whole, weren’t generally the talkative type. But spending as much time around Kain as she had, she seemed to have picked up the habit of making small talk. “Have you ever worked with a group?”

  “No.” It was a simple answer, not curt or bothered. He seemed focused on studying the a
rea they had to work with.

  After another moment of silence, Nivian sighed. She would just throw him into the action and see how he did, assisting him if needed. She was good enough that she could pick up his slack if she had to.

  “Follow me,” she said, then jumped from the ledge to the pavement below, landing softly. Evander landed quietly next to her.

  Nivian kneeled down and placed her hand on the gritty asphalt, closing her eyes. She inhaled a deep breath and felt for the earth’s energy. Deep below the surface, the inner most layers swirled and rumbled.

  “Mmm, we will start soon.” Nivian glanced up at Evander. “Feel this?” she asked.

  He bent down next to her and mimicked her movements. Evander focused, then his gaze shot to hers and for the first time, he showed some semblance of emotion. It turned out his face wasn’t stuck in a terminally bored expression.

  “This is amazing…” His mouth gaped as he felt the energy churning under them. “I didn’t know we could do that.”

  The corner of her mouth lifted in a self-satisfied grin. Good. He would do well in his new job. From the looks of it, he had been on the verge of turning into a puddle of apathy just before his promotion. Nivian straightened and dusted off her hands. “Not many Reapers can sense the movement of energy within the earth. It isn’t necessary to be able to feel it, but it can help.”

  “What does it mean?” Evander stood to look her in the face, his eyes still wide with wonder at a skill he’d never known about.

  “It means you are powerful.”

  Other Reapers appeared on the surrounding buildings.

  Nivian cleared her throat. “Get out your assignment, it’s time,” she said, pulling her slip of paper out. She crumpled it in her hand and concentrated. Her power flowed through her palm and engulfed the parchment, turning it into a small pocket watch. Evander followed her lead only a fraction of a second behind.

  She was glad that he reacted quickly rather than waiting for her to instruct him on every detail.

  “Come on, Evander, we don’t have much time.” She spun on her heel and headed into the office building. “We will start in the basement.”

  “What are we doing?” he asked, allowing a hint of uncertainty into his voice for the first time as he followed her in through the roof access door and down several flights of stairs.

  “We are setting the scene. Basically, we are using knowledge of the environment and surroundings and using it to aid us in completing our marks. In this case, it is an earthquake, so the most likely thing isn’t dying from a disease or age as you’re used to. We need to give them a cause of death that will make sense. I know it’s different from what you’re used to, it just takes a little research. You’ll get the hang of it in no time.”

  They entered the underground parking lot. Nivian walked to the far side and stood next to a pillar. “I’ll take this side, you can start over there.” A mischievous grin spread across her face. “Want to race?” And without waiting for a response, she took off running. She let her powers flow through her and out her fingertips, weakening the base of the pillars as she ran by. It was actually fun having someone around during a job. Reaching the last pillar on her row, she glanced back just in time to see Evander finishing his last pillar. A smile spread from ear to ear across his face.

  “It’s going to be interesting working with you,” he said with humor in his voice.

  “Thanks, I’ll take that as a compliment,” she said, her pale, blue eyes gleaming. “All right, you know how to find your mark. Search them out, and I’ll lead my mark to yours.”

  Evander nodded, then vanished.

  Finding her mark would be easy, guiding him to them… well that would be another matter. She could do it, but it would take more energy than normal. Nivian focused in on the small watch clasped in her palm and reached out to her mark.

  Thirtieth floor. Nivian transported, appearing next to her mark. The thin, balding man sat alone in a cubicle, slumped over a keyboard as his fingers slowly tapped away on the keys. The partitions a dull, dusty-blue color that matched the equally bland office. Fluorescent lights flickered on the ceiling; their constant clinking seemed loud in the quiet of the almost abandoned space.

  Maybe this wouldn’t be so difficult after all.

  She stepped up next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Stand up, Martin, and walk to the elevator,” she whispered in his ear. Power seeped from her hand and flowed into him.

  Grumbling, the man obeyed, suddenly filled with the urge to do as she suggested. He grabbed his jacket and walked past the dozens of other cubicles exactly like his, and pushed the call button.

  The elevator announced its arrival with a rather odd and cheerful ding for such a drab and depressing office.

  Martin stepped on and pushed the button for the top floor.

  Nivian checked her watch and tapped her foot impatiently. Time was running out. She was cutting it close, even for her. Of course, she could do it here, but she’d prefer to keep an eye on Evander to make sure he didn’t need help. She was supposed to be training him after all.

  The elevator stopped on the forty-second floor and a young woman stepped on, her ash-blonde hair thrown up in a messy bun. It appeared as if she’d tried to fashion a sleek bun, but fell short. A smirking Evander stepped on the elevator behind her.

  “I thought I could meet you half way.”

  The boy was a fast learner.

  The doors opened at the top of the building. Chilly air hit them in the face. The humans wrapped their jackets tightly around them and shuffled to the corner. They each pulled out a small package, removed a cigarette, then lit them. Nivian checked the countdown. Another minute to go.

  “How did you get your mark to the elevator so fast?”

  “When I was a Timeless, I moved my marks around all the time. I guess I felt that their deaths were slow and painful enough that the least I could do was try to adjust them to be as comfortable as possible.”

  Nivian blinked. Of all the answers he could have given her, she hadn’t expected that.

  The ground shook, violently swaying the building. The girl let out an ear-piercing scream. Nivian’s mark fell to his knees with a crack against the cement. The girl took off at a run, heading for the elevator. The balding mark followed, limping and grunting. The girl stabbed at the call button repeatedly with her index finger.

  “Hurry, hurry!” she demanded from it.

  The doors slid open, and the two mortals stepped in. The doors closed solidly behind them.

  Nivian swirled her cloak around her, transporting to the roof of the elevator with Evander appearing next to her a second later.

  The elevator creaked and groaned as it ground down the shaft, sparks flicking off the metal. Nivian worked the cables. Slowly threads snapped, weakening the one thing keeping them from speeding up their descent.

  A loud thud caught her attention. The man was cursing at the other human. Nivian smacked her palm to her forehead and shook her head.

  Nivian and Evander rejoined their marks and looked at each other in disbelief, then back at the woman leaning against the control panel. Now the elevator would stop at most of the floors on its way down. She’d leaned against the panel until almost every button was lit up.

  Twenty floors to go.

  Mildly annoyed at the slight setback in her plan, Nivian waved her hand and severed the last threads of the cable. The car plunged down. Crashing to the bottom floor.

  Martin groaned. His left leg bent at an unnatural angle. The girl whimpered as she slumped against the side trying to stumble to her feet, pushing on the scratched metal doors.

  The doors inched open and she managed to crawl out, with Evander following close behind her. Metal creaked around them as concrete crumbled above their heads, falling in dangerous chunks of debris. Nivian stepped out as the sides gave way.

  She flipped open her watch and called her mark’s life thread out, her scythe readied at her side. The top of the eleva
tor collapsed and she swung, severing his life force. It gathered into a ball and sank into the open watch.

  EVANDER

  Evander stalked after his mark. She slipped on the debris under foot and dodged the falling lights and ceiling tiles. Taking a step onto a fallen cubicle, she tripped.

  He waved his arm and weakened the pillar next to her. It crumbled and fell on her, trapping her in a makeshift cave. She screamed, cornered between objects too heavy to move. With a flick of Evander’s wrist, she fainted. Dust formed in a thick, suffocating cloud. He called to the mark’s life thread. The light from the exposed the golden string glittered against the dark gray cloud.

  He pulled the scythe from his back and swung in a fast, clean motion. The mark’s life force entered the watch and he closed it with a soft click.

  “You’re a natural,” Nivian said from behind.

  “That was… exhilarating,” he said. “I think I’m going to like this new position.”

  “I had a feeling you’d say that.”

  He turned to face her. “Now what?”

  Her hands rested on her hips, her mouth turned up in a cocky smirk. “Well, the others are still working. We could stay and watch if you want. Or…” A grin formed on her face. “We can go turn in our assignments and let Caspian know we are ready for the next one.”

  Yeah, he would like being a Silencer.

  TEN

  KAIN

  KAIN MADE HIS way up the winding concrete path to what had become the typical meeting spot with Holter at McAlistar park. Try as he might, he still had a hard time thinking of the man as his father. Holter had asked to meet him so they could talk, though he hadn’t specified what exactly it was he wanted to talk about.

  He wasn’t in the mood to speculate on the reason but held on tightly to the hope that it wasn’t anything to do with Reapers. It had been no secret that he’d spent the majority of his time with Nivian after the incident involving Yeva, and Holter had made sure it was clear that he was against the idea. Even though she was the reason that he was even alive still.