Chapter 18 #2
“With full control of the city,” Soren said tightly, cursing at the scope of the threat.
“If the Priest succeeds in destroying the obelisks, then reapers will have complete freedom. No more fear of arrest, no hunters or Nox to contend with. And they’ll have a whole population’s worth of people—dead or alive—to tide them over for years until they run out of bodies. ”
“But they will run out eventually,” Viri noted, her brow furrowing.
“And when that happens, they’ll be as trapped as the rest of us.
The blackmist is just as dangerous to them—it absorbs the ellixen of anyone it touches, including reapers, which makes it a death sentence to everyone.
That leads us right back to the reapers being stuck underground, where one day, they’ll have no more magic left to steal.
And since Jonas told me earlier that most of them refuse to siphon from each other—”
“Wait, reapers can siphon from each other?” Wynter exclaimed.
“—then this doesn’t seem like a strategic long-term goal,” Viri finished over her friend.
She chewed her lip and looked at Reeve. “Are you sure this is what the comet is being used for? Brae’s never been shortsighted.
Even as a boy, everything he did was calculated.
This seems almost desperate, not something he’s been planning for months, maybe years. ”
“I’m absolutely certain that the power of the Aurora sacrifice will be used to destroy the obelisks,” Reeve confirmed.
Something about his wording tugged at Viri, but she was distracted when he scratched his neck and acknowledged, “But there could also be more to it. Something else we haven’t factored in. ”
“Like Orion,” Viri guessed, recalling how the second comet had been a surprise to them all. “Brae might have plans for it as well, something that supports a longer-lasting goal for reapers once the city falls to the mist.”
“I still don’t think Orion’s a concern,” Wynter said. “But I’ll comb through every book I own for any references to it and its ellixen abyssus requirement, just to be sure.”
“I can help!” Jonas offered, his eyes bright behind his glasses at the idea of inspecting more ancient magical tomes.
“That would be appreciated,” Reeve told them both, “but there’s actually a different reason why we need to be worried about Braedan. Something much more time-sensitive.”
“More time-sensitive than the three days we have until he tries to kill us all?” Viri asked incredulously.
Reeve’s face was grave. “If he succeeds in what he’s planning, he won’t need those three days.
It’s what I began telling you before we were interrupted.
And speaking of…” He turned to Sage and Soren.
“You should go find Ardin, see if there’s a chance of tracing Jessalyn while her trail’s still hot. But if not—”
“Find the other kids, or worst case, the location of the sacrifice,” Sage recited. She eyed Soren, a challenge in her expression. “What do you say, Nox? Are you willing to work with a reaper?”
“I’m here, aren’t I?” He shook off his horror over what they’d just learned and returned her look with a challenging one of his own. “Help me find my sister, and I might not even arrest you afterward.”
Sage barked out a laugh. “You could try.” Her teeth flashed in a devilish grin. “But you’d fail.” She marched away without giving him a chance to reply, calling over her shoulder, “Haul ass, Archer. We’ve got kids to save.”
Soren looked at Wynter, who nodded in encouragement, then turned to Viri, his features flooding with uncertainty.
“Go. Find Jessy,” she told him. She made herself add, “Sage is rough around the edges, but she’s good to have in a fight and seems to have a decent moral compass.
” For a reaper, at least. “That goes for Ardin, too. If you can resist killing each other, I don’t think they’ll let you down.
” It went against Viri’s instincts to say the words, but surprisingly, she meant them.
“Be on your guard, but—as strange as this is to say—I think you can trust them.”
“And you?” Soren asked, his gaze flicking between her and Reeve, then down to where they’d been holding hands earlier, something he hadn’t missed even in his panic. “Are you still on your guard?”
Reeve chuckled darkly and answered for her. “Don’t worry, she still hates me. Apparently more than ever—her words.”
“That’s not what I asked,” Soren said, before pointedly adding, “And it’s clear to anyone with eyes that she doesn’t.”
“Anyone with eyes needs to get their vision checked,” Viri stated flatly. “And I’m a hunter—I’m always on my guard.” She pushed Soren toward the door, where Sage was impatiently tapping her foot. “Now go, before she leaves without you.”
Soren was clearly waging an inner war, wanting to stay with Viri and Wynter and hear what Reeve was about to share, but also needing to save his sister.
Reason won out, and, with a warning look to Viri, a silent reminder to be careful, he strode off after Sage, the two of them vanishing from the lab.
Viri spun back to Reeve. “Time to talk. What’s this new time-sensitive threat?”