by Ali Winters
Only days ago, Silas had thought he’d felt the presence of a Reaper, but it had been only wishful thinking. The Reaper he thought he’d sensed could not have been near; she was a Timeless, a harvester of slow deaths. There was no reason she would be with Yeva in this place that not even he had known existed. It had to be all in his mind, it would have been impossible. It was only in that moment that he considered feeling Caspian’s powers to have been in his head. A symptom of trying too hard.
This desolate cell was getting to him. There was no more denying it at this point. It was Yeva’s form of revenge for keeping her locked away where she couldn’t harm others. Part of him agreed that he deserved it. Locking her up had been cruel, but he’d done it for the sake of peace, for the sake of the balance, and for the sake of… having her near.
She wrongly assumed that his actions were about holding power over her. All he had wanted was to keep her safe and to protect the balance. Silas had never meant for it to be a long-term plan. He’d realized too late the lack of foresight in locking her up on the mountain in an endless sleep. Once he had placed her in the sanctuary, there was no turning back.
No matter how much time had passed, it seemed as though he would forever be attempting to correct his mistakes from the past. If only he’d done things differently, they might not be where they are now—fighting.
They could have been happy.
All the preparation, all his planning, all his careful calculations, now amounted to nothing. Silas thought he could protect everything if he controlled her, forcing her wild nature to become caged. But in attempting to do so, it had only angered her. If he’d broken the vow, he could have explained—Yeva would have understood. She was intelligent and reasonable.
It would be his own arrogance that would not only be his undoing, but the undoing of existence itself unless he figured out a way to repair everything between them. Fixing the centuries of broken trust and pain between them would not be impossible, but he needed time. Needed to keep the balance in check and do his duty, then he could make things right between them.
The room shook with the vibration of a passage opening. He heard the soft sounds of her footsteps on the stone stairs before Yeva stepped into view. The shimmering hem of her pale green dress appeared in the dim light before the rest of her.
She sauntered over to him, her dress swinging with the sway of her hips. Stopping inches away, she cocked her head. “How are you doing today, my dearest?” she asked with fake affection.
“What do you want, Yeva?” Silas asked, standing up to look her in the eye. A thin layer of dirt covered his cloak, making Silas’s nose wrinkle in disgust.
“You know very well what I want, my love.” Yeva stuck her bottom lip out in a pout.
“There is nothing I can say that will be satisfactory.”
Yeva studied him for a long moment, her expression hardening.
“We both know that is not true. When you kept me locked up, you came to me daily with my chalice. I want to know what you’ve done with it.”
It was the only advantage that he’d managed to hold over her; one she could not force him to give up unless it was on his terms. “Let me out, and I will return it to you.”
Maniacal laughter burst from her, but she quickly sobered. “You insult my intelligence? Do you think I am as mindless as one of your Reapers? We both know that you have no intention of bringing it to me if I let you out, and you’ll do whatever it takes to imprison me again.”
Silas didn’t respond. It didn’t matter what they bargained for, he wasn’t about to hand over the one thing she’d been demanding since he woke up as her captive.
“I will not be your prisoner again! I will see this world destroyed first!” Her voice rose higher with each word until she was shrieking. The declaration left her chest rising and falling rapidly. The skin from the top of her breasts up to her face flushed in anger.
“Tell me what you will do with it,” Silas requested, keeping his voice smooth and level. If she hadn’t been so insistent on its return, he wouldn’t have given it a second thought. She must need it for something she considered vitally important. It was her slip up that now kept him from giving into her whims.
“It doesn’t matter what I plan to do with it. It is mine, and you cannot keep it from me.”
“The balance needs to be kept, yet you keep me from my duties. That is far more important than a cup.”
“What about my duties? You cared not for them as I lay sleeping, trapped in the first cage you built for me, and again when I finally managed to escape. How dare you, how dare you talk about duties to me!”
“You know I regret my actions, and if I could, I would take them back in the beat of a heart.”
“But you cannot. Now, you must live with the consequences of the choices you have made.” Yeva had managed to compose herself, speaking with her lyrical voice.
“Not all are given a choice.”
She folded her hands in front of her and paced around his cage like he were her prey. “I went back to my prison. Did I tell you that?”
Silas’s heart pounded. Questions raced through his mind. Had she found the chalice? Was this just a dance, designed to play with him, to tell him that he had nothing he could hold over her? He ground his teeth, jaw ticking, waiting for her to continue her maddening game.
“By the look on your face, I’d say you were worried. But alas, I regret to inform you that I have not found what I needed, not yet.” Yeva continued circling him but he released the tension from his posture. “But I say; I must be close to finding it if that is your reaction.”
“You will never find it.”
“Oh, I’m not so sure about that. You have such a bad habit of underestimating me.”
She was right about that. Silas had done nothing but underestimate her, thinking of her as a damsel that needed his saving. It was why she always escaped.
“I will never make that mistake again,” Silas vowed.
“I may not have been able to open that cursed door, but don’t think it can stop me.” Finally, she stopped pacing and faced him. “That was so very clever of you to build it on the corners of the realms. I admit that it took me far longer to realize where I was than it should have. It seems so obvious now that I think about it.”
The time had come to put an end to these games. He had one objective, and he needed to stick to it, refusing to let her pull him off course with her twisting words.
“Yeva…” Silas warned. “Let me out of here.” The more time that passed, the deeper his desperation seeped into his words, reducing him to nothing more than a beggar at her feet.
The pleasant smile she’d worn turned up into a snarl. “You do not like being held prisoner? It is too bad I have no sympathy to give you after what you did to me.”
“Yeva, you will destroy everything! The balance—”
“You should have thought of your precious balance before you betrayed me!” she snapped.
“I’ve always thought only of the balance.” The moment the words left his mouth, he knew he’d spoken too harshly. Hurt flashed in her eyes. Yeva had taken his statement personally.
“No, you have only thought to gain more power.”
“Yeva…” Silas extended his arm, beckoning her to come to him, but she stood just out of his grasp. He was tired of the pain they caused to each other. Always so close, but unbearably just out of reach. “You must release me.”
“Release you? Have you lost your mind? You will be here for as long as I wish it. We have gone over this already.”
“The balance, Yeva! If I am not there to do my duty, then it will crumble.”
“Then let it crumble. Let the great cities fall, the oceans dry. Let the world burn to ash. Let it end, so all may feel the pain and suffering I have felt!”
“Yeva…” Her name only a breath on his lips.
“I was not made to suffer so! I was made to love and live free, to create life and beauty…” Yeva buried her face in
her hands. And he knew her tears were real this time, not meant to manipulate him into giving her anything, but for the life she felt she had been stripped of, the life she thought stolen from her.
“I beseech you, do your duty now. Do not turn your back on it—let me go.”
She sniffled and dropped her hands as she processed his words. She had given into her sorrows, and it was almost as if she forgot he was there.
“You beseech me? How pathetic,” Yeva snarled. “You have been here a fraction of the time you imprisoned me, and already you beg for my mercy.”
“If everything ends, we both end. Neither of us can exist without the other, you know this. I beg of you to stop before it is too late,” he pleaded.
“With everything we’ve been through, the end of time does not scare me, Silas. As long as you suffer, I will be happy.” She slipped her elegant hand through the light that held him prisoner and caressed his face with a long, slender finger, dragging the nail across his skin.
The warmth of a thin line of blood began to trickle down, followed by the tug of the skin knitting itself back together. Ignoring her touch, he kept his expression neutral.
He snatched at her wrist and pulled her inside the small space with him. An arm holding her tightly against his body, the other moving from her hand to tangle in her hair.
“You don’t think I have suffered all this time, too?” He lowered his face to hers, his lips hovering a breath away.
An insincere grin spread over her mouth. “You have never suffered as I have.”
“That is where you are wrong, my love.” Silas placed a kiss on her lips.
She closed her eyes as he trailed more along her jaw to her ear. “If it were not for you, we would not have lost everything.”
He continued down her neck and over her collarbone. “Yeva…” Silas drew back and studied her face. Her lips slightly parted. “If you knew why—”
“Why? It does not matter why!” Yeva abruptly pushed away, and he dropped his arms from around her. As much as he wanted to fight it, he let her go. “You started everything when you betrayed me.”
“I did not betray you!” Silas shouted. After all these years she still had not realized the truth, she still refused to listen. He had not been given a choice, only doing what was required of him. She would only believe when he told her everything, but it was impossible. He had been warned that the consequences of telling her would be far worse than not. It was hard to imagine, but it was not his place to question.
“Enough of your lies, Silas. I will not stand here and listen to them any longer. I am not so young and stupid to fall for your charms as I once was.” She spun, her skirt flaring in her wake as she stormed into the dark of the room leaving him in the small patch of light that held him captive.
He waited until he heard the sliding of stone against gravel before sitting on the ground.
Placing his hand near the crack in the shield, he closed his eyes, focusing. The power formed over his palms. A dark mass, it grew darker and stronger. But he compressed it, forcing it to build upon itself. Slowly, he pressed the energy to the fissure. The colliding magics sizzled, and streaks like lightening ran upward in pulsating arcs. Silas sent all his reserves into it until the pressure he fought against was too great to bear.
Silas hung his head in exhaustion. He reached out, feeling.
Nivian.
She was close; he could feel her power. It had been altered since he had last seen her. Silas stretched his mind further, and found Caspian. It was not as strong as he was used to, but he could now feel out his strongest Reapers with relative ease even through the barrier.
Caspian had sent Nivian. It meant that their situation was dire. He had to return soon. Tightening his fist, Silas slammed it into the ground. What a fool he had been not to leave behind a fail-safe.
Now, he could only hope Caspian and the others were looking for him and that the crack he’d formed in the barrier keeping him prisoner would be enough for them to locate him.
He dropped his eyes to the hand still resting in his lap. A strand of auburn hair had wound around his fingers. The echoes of the words of the Moirai filled his mind of a fate destined to come to pass.
Silas plucked a strand of his hair and tied it to hers then set it to the side. He dug at the cracked earth he’d stuck with his fist and found a pocket of damp dirt, then deeper to a thin layer of clay. Quickly, he meshed the hairs into the dirt, forming a small ball. He halved the clay breaking the hairs so that each ball was equal, and began forming them.
He could still do this one last thing.
TWENTY-FOUR
NIVIAN
NIVIAN CLOSED HER eyes and leaned back. Her body tingled with a strange sensation. It was almost as if her nerves were yelling at her, screaming that they were going in the right direction. The closer the plane flew toward the island, the stronger the feeling became. It had started out as a hum, only calling her attention when the four of them had settled in and were in the air. Her thoughts were on Silas, finding him and restoring the balance, when she felt a sudden pop of pressure and the feeling increased tenfold.
“What is she doing?” Nivian heard Jack mutter from his seat across the aisle.
“Probably sleeping,” Kain answered disinterested.
They lapsed back into silence and Nivian was glad. She’d prefer if she weren’t the topic of discussion, at least while she was around to hear.
Things between her and Kain were still strained. They hadn’t spoken unless it was about their mission, and even then, he had been terse with her. It bothered her that things had gone from good—really good—to completely and utterly uncertain overnight. She wanted to talk to him, alone.
Though, if she had the opportunity to speak with him now, she wouldn’t have anything new to add since the night before. As much as she wanted to just tell him what he wanted to hear, she knew he deserved better. He deserved a one hundred percent, confident answer.
A sudden drop startled her and her eyes snapped open. The others seemed to be unconcerned. A moment later, she realized it was only the plane descending. They had arrived. Nivian shook off the remaining drowsiness, wondering when she’d fallen asleep to begin with.
The screeching tires on uneven ground caused them to bounce as their plane touched down. It wasn’t long ago that it would have been an experience to make her grin from ear to ear. But now, the divide between her and the only person she wanted to share it with dampened her mood.
The three Hunters spoke quietly as they all disembarked the plane. Azira only sparing a concerned glance between her and Kain. Nivian tried to smile when she managed to catch her eye, hoping the obvious tension wouldn’t be brought up.
Both men carried a pack, each with enough supplies for two people over the course of a week. Nivian had tried to object, but Azira wouldn’t listen, insisting that she be treated exactly the same as they were, with the same considerations. In the end, Nivian dropped her objections, figuring that the extra rations would be enough to give them all a few days longer of search time.
Azira took the compass and studied it, frowning. “Jack… there’s something wrong with this thing. Are you sure you didn’t grab a prototype by mistake?”
“What are you talking about?” he asked irritably, stomping over to her and leaving Nivian standing alone next to Kain.
The tension she felt, real or imagined, threatened to choke her. Nivian opened her mouth, then closed it, stifling the need to talk when she didn’t have the words to say anything meaningful. She took a deep breath, slow and steady.
Remember why you are here. Find Silas, restore the balance, then fix things with Kain.
Azira and Jack argued over how the device worked, Nivian turned to face the forest to the left. A shiver ran through her as she felt the impression of someone watching her. Her eyes scanned the tree line, but saw nothing.
“No, you follow the white point on the needle,” Jack was saying, trying to take the compass from Azira.
“Look, I designed the blueprints for this thing. It’s supposed to be the gold point.”
“Well, clearly they didn’t follow your instructions to the letter.”
“It doesn’t make sense that the arrow would point away from the caves.” She argued. “If Yeva’s been here, her energy would be pointing toward them. I doubt she’s hanging out on the other side of the island.”
“Since when did this job become about Yeva and not finding the Reaper?” Jack snapped.
“Because his energy pointed here, and the most likely reason for him being here is Yeva.”
“I’m the navigator, just let me do my job. I know what I’m doing, you need to trust me.”
Reluctantly, Azira handed the compass over. “I’ll take the bag.”
Jack ruffled her hair. “Don’t be ridiculous, it weighs more than you do.”
“It’s fine. You two don’t need to argue, I grabbed another compass,” Kain said, placing one in Azira’s hands.
“You what?” Jack’s jaw dropped.
“Grabbed another. We can cover more ground with two,” Kain explained. “Now, if that’s all settled, we should go now. We’re burning daylight.”
Jack and Azira took the lead, Kain followed them, and Nivian trailed behind, wishing she’d had more time to get to know all of the Hunters better before delving deep into a mission this important. At this point, she felt useless.
Lifting her head, Nivian watched her teammates walk confidently onward. They were Hunters, yet here they were, dealing with the past between both groups and looking for Silas. Granted, their lives were on the line, but it felt like more than that.
She needed to quit the pity party and shake off her reservations about anything that was holding her back. Nivian squared her shoulders and blew out a rush of air, then sped up to walk next to Azira. She wouldn’t let anything get in the way of her mission, her determination propelled her forward, and joining the others, she decided to search with the rest of them rather than allow herself to feel like the outsider.