Chapter 2
Drake
I pace the length of my living room. The air conditioning hums, battling against the heat that seems to seep through every crack and crevice of my house.
Reed’s phone call keeps playing on repeat in my mind. Her voice was different than usual. It was clipped, and…tense.
I have business to discuss. I’ll meet you at your house instead of the office. I’ll explain when I get there. Don’t tell anyone about this.
No elaboration. No hint about why she needed this meeting to be private, away from the Council chambers where we normally conduct business. It makes zero sense.
Reed is normally direct with me, but this time, when I asked questions, she cut me off. We’ve always been straight with each other, even when the conversations were difficult. It’s one of the reasons I trust and respect her.
The unease that’s been gnawing at my gut since her call intensifies. I don’t like surprises. Never have. And something about this whole situation feels wrong.
I stop pacing and lean against the kitchen counter, crossing my arms over my chest.
Why here? Why all the cloak and dagger shit? What the hell is going on?
I glance at the clock on the wall just as a sharp knock at my front door cuts through my thoughts.
Finally.
I stride to the entrance and pull the door open, expecting to see Reed’s familiar face. Instead, I’m met with the imposing figure of Head Councilor Vector, his features set in their usual stern expression.
This is worse than I thought.
“Sir,” I say, not bothering to hide the edge of uncertainty in my voice.
Reed appears from behind Vector, and the serious look on her face does nothing to ease my growing concern.
“Hi, Drake. Can we come in?” she asks.
“I hope you don’t mind if I join in,” Vector adds, his tone as grave as his expression, which, admittedly, is normal for him.
“Not at all.” I step aside and gesture them into my home, though every instinct I have is screaming that whatever this is about, I’m not going to like it.
The Council leader is here. This is getting stranger by the minute.
They enter.
“Can I get you something to drink? Water? Coffee?” I offer, more out of habit than genuine hospitality, since my mind is too focused on trying to read their expressions to care much about social niceties.
“No, thank you,” Reed says, and Vector shakes his head.
Their refusal puts me further on edge. Reed never turns down my coffee. She’s told me more than once that it’s the best on the island.
They move to my dining room table and take seats next to each other. It feels distinctly like two against one as I sit opposite them, my hands clasped together on the table. I try hard to project calm, but I’m sure I’m failing.
“Is everything okay?” I ask, though I already know the answer.
“No,” Reed tells me.
I didn’t think so.
“I’m all ears,” I tell them, leaning back in my chair. “How can I help?”
Vector and Reed exchange a look.
Crap!
“There have been a couple of developments in the last few days,” Reed begins, her fingers drumming against the table in a nervous rhythm I’ve never seen from her before.
“What kind of developments?” I ask. There has been some upheaval lately with Shadow suddenly leaving to go to Mistveil and the ongoing tensions between the twin islands.
Reed takes a deep breath. “I need to ask a huge favor. You are free to turn me down, but…” She shrugs, the gesture at odds with the intensity in her eyes. “I am hopeful you will accept, since there aren’t many people I can trust, and I need someone I can trust on this particular mission.”
“Sure. Name it,” I tell Reed, though I’m feeling increasingly nervous about what this favor might entail.
“Wait until you hear what it is first,” Councilor Vector warns, and for a moment, something that might actually be a smile ghosts across his face before disappearing.
Reed’s drumming fingers still. “We had to ask Ash to step down from his duties.”
I frown. Ash has been filling in as the Training Academy leader since Shadow left for the Mainland. We recently made his position permanent after hearing that Shadow wasn’t returning, which was shocking, to say the least. As far as I know, Ash has been highly competent in his new role.
“Why? I thought he was doing a good job.”
“He was,” Reed says. “He’s been great with the Tributes and giving the trainers the support they need to do their job.”
“I heard that a Tribute was lost today,” I say, thinking of the reports that had filtered through the Council chambers this afternoon. A young woman – Vanessa, I think her name was – fell during her attempt at Sky’s Edge. “Surely that wasn’t his fault?” I narrow my eyes.
“No! It has nothing to do with that,” Reed says quickly. “This is completely unrelated.”
“What then?” I ask, scratching my chin. “I thought he made a good Academy leader. That’s why we appointed him.
” And why are they here discussing this with me in my living room instead of in an official Council meeting?
The irregularity of this entire situation is setting off every alarm bell I have.
Reed’s jaw tightens. “Ash was caught having sexual relations with one of the Tributes.”
I shake my head. “That is…problematic, to say the least.”
“It certainly is. I mean, it’s frowned upon when it comes to the trainers and utterly unacceptable when it comes to the leader of the Academy,” Reed continues. “Ash should have set a better example.”
“It’s unacceptable behavior,” Vector adds, shaking his head. “It’s been happening a lot with the trainers in recent years. It needs to stop. We can’t have it.”
I can understand their frustration. The Tributes are far from home and facing life-or-death challenges.
They rely on the trainers to be there for them and to keep them safe.
To train them for what is to come. Relationships, even those of a purely sexual nature, would complicate things and potentially put the Tributes at risk.
“Do you need me to find a replacement for Ash?” I ask, though I doubt that’s why they’re here.
“No,” Reed says, pulling in a breath.
“What then?” I ask, though I’m starting to get a sinking feeling about where this conversation is heading.
Reed hesitates, and I can see the reluctance written across her face. She doesn’t want to say what comes next.
“I know this is highly unusual, but I need you to be the replacement,” she finally says, her expression sympathetic.
The words hang in the air between us.
“We wouldn’t ask you if we weren’t desperate,” Vector adds, as if that makes it any better.
My hands clench into fists on the table, and I have to consciously force myself to relax them.
This is a demotion. There’s no other way to look at it.
I’ve worked my ass off to earn my place on the Council, fought against every assumption about my age and experience to prove I belonged there.
I’m not just the youngest Council member, I’m the youngest ever appointed.
And now they want me to step down to babysit a bunch of Tributes?
Fuck!
“I appreciate the confidence,” I say carefully, keeping my voice level despite the frustration burning in my chest, “but I’ve only recently been appointed to sit on the Council. I’m not sure how it would look if I—”
“You wouldn’t lose your place,” Reed interrupts. “You’d still be a Council member. We need you to fill in for a short while, that’s all.”
Vector nods. “It’s precisely because of your dedication and your love for this island that we’re asking you to step in as Academy leader.”
“As well as your dedication to protecting Tributes and riders. You’re a shining light on the Council, Drake. You are destined for greatness.”
My chest instantly warms at her compliment. It doesn’t last. I also become skeptical that they’re just blowing smoke up my ass so I’ll agree.
I study their faces, looking for any signs of deception or a hidden agenda. Reed has never lied to me before, but this request is so far outside the norm that I can’t help but be suspicious.
“There’s something you’re not telling me,” I say.
Reed and Vector exchange another one of those loaded looks.
“There has been another development that made us pick you specifically as the replacement,” Reed admits.
“Yes?”
“It has to do with intel that Shadow found on the Mainland.”
My blood runs cold. Shadow is our most skilled operative, and if she’s uncovered something significant enough to warrant this level of secrecy, it can’t be good.
“What intel? The last I heard, the threat of nuclear warfare ended when Secretary Harrison was assassinated by the Vampire King, Kozlov. Surely that was the end of it?”
“Not by a long shot,” Vector says, and there’s an edge to his voice.
Reed leans forward. “What we are about to tell you is highly confidential. It stays in this room and between the three of us. Is that clear?”
“Yes.” I nod, though my heart is beginning to race with anticipation and dread.
“Shadow gave us some intel that has turned everything on its head,” Reed continues. “We can’t trust the Mainland. Not one bit.”
For the next twenty minutes, Reed methodically destroys everything I thought I knew about our world.
She tells me about Shadow’s discoveries – about the lies we’ve been fed for generations, about the true nature of the so-called vaccinations we’ve been receiving, about the systematic manipulation and control the Mainland has been exercising over our people.
By the time she finishes, I feel like I’ve been hit by a freight train. The room seems to spin around me, and I have to grip the edge of the table to steady myself.
“So the Mainland has been keeping us under control through the vaccinations, which aren’t actually vaccinations against Hemorrhagic Fever?” I ask, needing to hear it confirmed again.
Vector nods.
“That’s right,” Reed says.
My voice sounds hollow to my own ears as I continue. “We’re not feral. We don’t need dragon riders. The Reds are not feral either. Which means that we don’t need humans at all?”
“Nope,” Reed confirms.
“And the Mistveil dragons are not our enemy; the Mainland is.”
“Yes,” Vector says. “That’s exactly right.”
“And you believe this? You believe Shadow?”
“I do,” Reed says. “I wish I didn’t, but I believe her.”
“Which brings us to your main role as Academy leader,” Vector interjects, “which is to keep an eye on the humans. We have come to believe that the Mainland has spies everywhere. If Shadow is to be believed, and,” he glances at Reed before looking back at me, “we have no reason to doubt her intel – there are those within the Council we cannot trust. One or two of our members are feeding information back to the Mainland. That is why no one can know about this. It’s why we’re meeting you here and why this couldn’t be tabled. ”
I scrub a hand over my face. Members of our own Council, people I work with every day, people I trust, are working against us. Against our people.
Surely not.
This has to be a mistake.
“Councilor Reed and I will find the moles,” Vector continues. “You need to keep the Academy running smoothly and sniff out any humans who may be working for the Mainland government. None of the humans on our island can be trusted. That is the long and the short of it.”
“Do you have reason to believe any of the Tributes are spies?” I ask.
“No.” Vector shakes his head. “It’s merely a precaution. Best you believe that if there are spies as high up as Council level, then they have been planted everywhere.”
I nod.
Reed reaches across the table and puts her hand on top of mine. “You are still a Council member, Drake, but this task has become more pressing. Will you help us weed out any spies?”
I stare down at our joined hands, my mind reeling with everything I’ve just learned.
I look up and meet Reed’s eyes, seeing the trust and desperation there. She’s counting on me. They both are.
“What choice do I have?” I ask, though it’s more of a statement than a question.
“You don’t have to do this,” Reed says softly. “We would understand if—”
“No,” I interrupt, straightening in my chair. “If what you’re telling me is true, then our people are in danger, and I won’t turn my back on that.”
Vector nods. “I knew we made the right choice coming to you.”
Reed releases my hand. “Thank you, Drake. I know this isn’t what you wanted, but—”
“It’s what needs to be done,” I finish. “When do I start?”
“Today,” she says. “Ash has already been removed from the premises. I want you to address the Tributes. Inform them that you are the new leader. Speak briefly about what happened to the Tribute who was lost. Her name was Vanessa Duffy. I’ll send you all the information you need, as well as the files of all remaining Tributes.
You will need to let your rider know. She will join you on this mission.
She assists you currently as your PA and will continue to do so.
You need to be very careful; your rider might be compromised, too. ”
“Not Amelia.” I shake my head. “I know her. We mind-bonded almost three years ago. I would know if—”
“Trust no one other than the two of us,” Reed tells me.
“Understood.” I sigh under my breath. I will do as they say. “How many Tributes still need to make Sky’s Edge?” I ask.
“One. Harlow Santos has made it through the whole course many times, but she is unable to do it within the allotted time,” Reed tells me.
I nod, already mentally shifting gears from Council politics to Academy management.
“I’m sure she’ll make it soon,” Vector says. “I want you to get her through as quickly as possible. The sooner we can get some of the Tributes to leave the island, the easier your task will be.”
“No problem.” I sigh again, louder this time. “To think that we’ve lost countless Tributes over the years,” I say. “And all for nothing. All because the Mainland is lying to us.”
“Indeed,” Reed says.
“We have to stop them.” My voice is gruff.
“That is the plan, my boy,” Vector tells me, standing. “We should go. You have much to do. You will still be expected to attend our weekly Council meetings…at least, whenever possible.”
“I will email you all the necessary information. Your uniform will be waiting for you in your office – at the Academy, that is. I know you’ll do a good job running the place. Report directly to me on the other matter,” Reed tells me as she gets to her feet.
“I will, and I fully understand the need for secrecy,” I tell them as I walk them to the door, which I open.
“We’ll be in touch,” Reed says as they leave.
As soon as I am alone, I grab a bag and start to pack. I send Amelia a message instructing her to do the same.
This is as fucked up as it gets. I hate that they came to me, and yet, I’m glad. I hate all the mixed emotions. One thing is for sure: if there is a spy among the Tributes, I will find them.