Chapter 18
Viri couldn’t stop trembling as Soren shared the few details he had about Jessalyn’s disappearance, starting with how he’d awoken from Reeve’s knockout punch to be questioned by an irate Darik before being ordered home.
Once there, he found a note left by Jessalyn’s babysitter saying she’d gone for a sleepover with her friend Mia, something she often did when Soren had late-night patrols.
“With the news about the missing kids and the sacrifice fresh in my mind, I needed to see for myself that she was safe, even if it meant waking Mia’s family,” Soren said, pacing back and forth around the lab, running his hands through his hair until it was an uncharacteristic sandy mess.
Even his black uniform was untucked and rumpled, proving just how distraught he was.
“When I got there, her parents were already awake, so I knew something was wrong. They told me Mia and Jessy went to meet some schoolmates for ice cream after dinner, but they—” His throat bobbed. “They never returned.”
Viri wasn’t sure if she was breathing as her friend continued his tale. She was aware of Wynter shaking on her left side, of Reeve standing rigid on her right, of Sage and Jonas a few steps away, all of them listening intently.
“I hurried back to work to raise the alarm, but the reception guards told me eight kids had just been saved and returned home, including some of Jessy’s friends. So I rushed back to our apartment to see if she was there, but she—she wasn’t.”
A sound left Viri’s lips, part gasp, part moan, all horror.
She swayed on her feet and only kept from falling because Reeve’s hand curled around hers, his touch grounding her.
She didn’t even consider ripping her arm away.
Instead, she held on tight and turned to him, seeing the same realization in his stony features.
The four kids they’d lost in the alley—Jessalyn had been one of them.
“This is all your fault!” Sage’s voice raged across Viri’s memory. “You’re the reason we lost those kids!”
Soren kept speaking, explaining how he’d sought out his sister’s friends and begged for information about where she might be, but they’d known nothing.
Viri barely heard him, a tightness pressing against her chest so hard that she was beginning to see black spots at the edges of her vision, Sage’s words still screaming in her mind.
“Breathe, Little Shadow,” Reeve whispered into her ear, interrupting her shrieking thoughts. He leaned so close that the warmth of his body was almost enough to melt the ice encasing hers. “Breathe, or you’ll pass out.”
At the authority in his voice, Viri sucked in a painful breath, then another, her vision returning, the tightness in her chest easing, the enraged words quieting. But her horror remained, more acute than ever.
“And then finally I spoke with a boy, Mateo, and he told me they were saved from a group of reapers by a red-cloaked hunter and three people who moved so fast they could only be reapers themselves,” Soren said.
He glanced at Viri, taking in the now-dry alley filth and crusted blood covering her, then cast his gaze over Reeve, Sage, and Jonas.
“It was you, wasn’t it? You saved those kids? ”
Viri was still struggling to breathe, let alone speak, so she didn’t correct him about Jonas and only nodded.
Reeve, however, said, “We did. But unfortunately, there was a small group that disappeared while we were fighting.”
“Mateo told me that as well.” Soren’s face was pale as he stared at Reeve. “It’s why I came looking for you. Please, I have to find my sister. I can’t—” His voice broke. “I can’t lose her. I’ll do anything. Just—Just tell me what to do.”
Viri felt as if a knife were stabbing her heart. It was unheard of, a Nox asking a reaper for help, and yet, here they were.
For a long moment, Reeve and Soren just looked at each other, silver eyes meeting brown, but then Reeve turned to Sage and said, “Viri and I need to go after Brae, but in case things don’t go as planned, we still need boots on the ground to find those kids.
Track down Ardin, get him to work his connections, tell him we only have until Sunday before the comet arrives. ”
“Sunday?” Soren turned alarmingly paler. Wynter was at his side in an instant, wrapping an arm around him and murmuring in comfort.
Reeve continued to give Sage orders. “If we can’t find the kids, then we need to know where the sacrifice is taking place. But keep in mind, the Nox and hunters will be searching as well, so be careful not to cross paths with them since they won’t know we’re allies.”
There was that word again—allies. Viri never would have thought it possible before tonight, but all evidence suggested Reeve and his reaper friends were doing exactly what they’d claimed: helping.
She didn’t have to like them—Elders knew that would never happen—but it was time she put aside her misgivings and at least tried to trust that they were all on the same side. For Jessalyn’s sake, if nothing else.
“Understood,” Sage said with a solemn nod.
Reeve nodded back, then gestured between her and Soren. “Archer, this is Sage D’alia, a fierce warrior and loyal friend. If you can stomach working with reapers, then she’ll take you to our other friend, Ardin Avarni, and they’ll do everything they can to help find your sister.”
Seeing the uncertainty on Soren’s face, and still feeling guilt over Jessalyn’s abduction, Viri said, “Maybe I should go with—”
“No,” Reeve interrupted, his hand squeezing hers. She’d forgotten he was still holding her, and hastily unwound their fingers. “I can’t stress enough how important it is that we find your brother.”
Viri was aware of Wynter whispering to Soren—filling him in about the Reaper Priest’s identity and Viri’s history with Reeve—but despite the shock she could feel coming from her friend, Viri’s gaze remained locked on Reeve as she said, “Soren needs me. Jessy needs me.”
“This whole city needs you more,” Reeve countered. “If we don’t stop Braedan from what he’s about to do, then everyone on this island is going to die.”
His words were like a thunderclap, leaving a ringing silence in their wake.
But then Viri realized exactly what his dramatic declaration meant, and she said, with clear accusation, “You know what he plans to do with the comet’s power, don’t you?”
A muscle feathered in Reeve’s jaw as he debated whether or not to answer. It took a moment, but with a long, resigned sigh, he finally revealed, “If the sacrifice goes ahead, the power drawn from Aurora will be strong enough to destroy the obelisks.”
Viri stared at him, certain she must have heard wrong.
She wasn’t the only one, since Wynter asked, her words choked, “But—if the obelisks are destroyed, then the wards around the city will be destroyed with them. There’ll be no protection from the blackmist.”
Soren pressed a hand to his temple, looking queasy. “There’ll also be no way for kids to Impart—which means reapers will have an unlimited siphoning range to choose from.”
“They won’t, though. If kids don’t yield their magic, they’ll burn out,” Wynter argued. “Without knowing how to avoid it, they’ll die. Or if they survive, they’ll become living shells.”
“Do you think reapers will care if the person they siphon from is cognizant or not?” Soren argued back.
“They don’t give a damn where their ellixen comes from, just as long as they get it.
” He glanced at Reeve, Sage, and Jonas and grimaced, as if belatedly remembering he’d come to them for help, and grudgingly added, “No offense.”
Viri spoke up then, her voice trembling. “There’s a bigger problem. If there are no wards to keep the blackmist away, then the surface will become uninhabitable, and we’ll all be stuck inside the mountains and in the undercity. That means—”
Wynter clutched her throat. “The farms. The docks. We won’t be able to get to them.”
Viri nodded grimly. Without protection from the blackmist, it would be impossible to access their food sources—grains, vegetables, fruit, meat, fish, everything would be gone. They’d have only what was in storage, eventually leaving the entire population to starve to death.
“But…wait,” Wynter said, her forehead creasing. “It won’t benefit the Reaper Priest if we all die. Reapers are human. They need food, too.”
Sage gestured to her blackened veins. “Actually, we can survive on ellixen alone if we must.”
Wynter blinked at that revelation. “You still need people to siphon from. And if everyone’s dead, there goes your source of ellixen.”
Viri glanced between Sage and Jonas, recalling how reapers could also siphon from each other.
But Jonas had said it was a detestable practice to most, since they preferred their ellixen fresh from the source.
She was about to ask if Braedan would really damn the innocents of the city just to be left with a group of disgruntled, hungry reapers when Jonas spoke up first.
“Um, actually, ellixen doesn’t leave the body after death.” He clutched Walnut nervously. “Not unless it’s been siphoned, which therefore is the cause of death.”
A beat of silence passed, before Wynter said, slowly, “Correct me if I’m wrong—and please, Elders, let me be wrong—but it sounds like you’re implying that reapers don’t require people to be living in order to steal their magic.
” When Jonas said nothing, her voice pitched a full octave higher.
“Are you saying you can siphon from corpses?”
Hesitantly, Jonas nodded. “It’s gross, though,” he added quickly. “I would never disrespect the dead like that. We would never.” He indicated himself and Sage. “And Reeve doesn’t siphon at all, so he’d definitely never do that.”
Both Wynter and Soren looked at Reeve in surprise. He just shrugged in response.
“The point is,” Jonas continued, “if the obelisks fall, and people are trapped underground, and the food runs out, and everyone dies…then reapers can still live on.”