Chapter 30
THIRTY
sinner
After not finding a single sign of the person who blew up the building, Alexander, Karlyle, and I got as far away from it as possible.
Together. Unfortunately.
I wasn’t thrilled about it, but after they saved my life, I owed it to them to give them a chance. But one sly move, and I was out of there.
My guard was up. Higher than ever.
But the more people who were looking for Athena, the better.
I could split with them after I found her.
“We need to rest,” Karlyle said. “We can’t keep going like this.”
“We can rest when we find her,” I groused. My feet blistered in my worn, black boots. Sweat beaded down my back even though the night had brought on a considerable chill. My throat screamed for water and I’d taken the last sip from my canteen hours ago.
But I wouldn’t stop until I’d set eyes on her.
I would not rest until she was at my side. I would walk until my feet turned to ash. I would fight until my fists crumbled.
She. Was. Mine.
Mine to protect. Mine to chase.
Had I not made that clear?
“Sinner,” Alexander called from behind me. “We’ve barely started the war games. How are we supposed to keep ourselves alive and fight off unforeseen enemies when we’re sleep-deprived, exhausted, and starving?”
I gritted my teeth. “I. Don’t. Care.”
I didn’t care how tired I was. I’d walk myself to fucking death before I stopped for a break.
“You two were the ones who wanted to work with me. You still wanna be part of this little team? Then stop fucking complaining and walk. Faster,” I shouted to them, but I kept my focus locked on the road ahead.
We were walking in the open streets, fully exposed to the tall buildings and half-crumbling concrete walls around us.
But I didn’t give a fuck. If Athena was here, if she was looking out from one of those buildings, she would see us, too.
So I’d take the risk. Even though my teammates weren’t so thrilled about it.
They argued that we were wearing a target on our backs or some shit like that. I ignored them, along with their hundreds of other complaints.
The cold breeze slid across my sweaty skin, sending a chill through me. I took in a long whiff of the strange-smelling air. The oxygen here was stale. Nothing like the sea air of the barracks.
Even with the breeze, breathing felt difficult. Like we could run out of air at any moment.
But as I took another deep breath, the hint of another scent made my pulse spike.
My phantoms stirred beneath my skin in a familiar frenzy.
The notes floating on the air were familiar. Jasmine and vanilla.
“Stop.” I held my right hand up.
Behind me, the pair halted, weapons drawn.
“What is it?” Alexander whispered.
I drew in another breath. Her scent was stronger to the left. “I can smell her.”
The streets seemed empty here. My phantoms weren’t alerting me to danger—though they’d failed at that when these two fucking idiots had snuck up on me. I supposed spending all that time suppressed had thrown them off their usual hunting game.
They sighed in unison. “Sure,” Alexander hummed. “That’s not weird at all.”
“What? You can’t smell your claimed?”
“When he doesn’t shower sometimes, maybe.” Karlyle elbowed Alexander in the ribs.
I ignored them. My only concern was her. And now I knew that she’d been here.
I followed her scent to the nearest doorway. The door was closed. Locked. The hinges rusty. It hadn’t been opened recently.
But her scent was stronger here.
My phantoms whirred and pulsed through the tips of my fingers, eager to find her.
But where the fuck was she?
I tracked the scent lower. Lower.
Kneeling, I ran my fingers across the rocks beneath me. When I lifted them, they were wet with blood.
Cold dread washed over me. By the time I’d brought them to my nose, my phantoms had already confirmed it for me.
It was Athena’s blood.
“She was here,” I called. “And injured.”
Standing, I fisted my hands at my sides and scanned the area.
There were no other signs of a fight, but she’d most definitely bled here. Fuck. She’d been out here alone. Bleeding. Injured. Was she okay? Terrified? Did she know I was looking for her, or did she think I’d abandoned her?
Surely she knew I would come for her. Surely she knew I’d kill every last one of these cadets to get to her.
I’d made myself clear, hadn’t I? That I would fucking sacrifice it all for her sake?
Fuck. I was suddenly doubting myself.
When I found her, I’d make sure she knew. That was for fucking sure.
“Can you track her trail?” Karlyle asked, closer now. “If she was bleeding, we could follow her. If the blood is wet she couldn’t have gone far.”
He had a point. The blood was still tacky, so while it wasn’t fresh, it hadn’t been here terribly long.
Darkness towered around us, but I didn’t need light to track Athena. My phantoms—the shadows of my magic—were obsessed with her. Fuck, sometimes they wanted her even more than I wanted her.
“If I can’t track her,” I breathed, letting my phantoms loose, “they can.”
They crawled out of my skin, blending in with the darkness around us at first.
Both Alexander and Karlyle gasped, stepping back.
They were afraid. Good. They should be.
My phantoms might be well-behaved now…but they knew what Alexander had done to Athena in my mind.
And they weren’t plagued with the guilt I had when it came to killing.
In no time at all, they found Athena’s trail, twirling and puddling around each drop.
“This way.” I followed them, my heart pounding.
Just hold on, Athena. I’m coming.
The exhaustion was making me delusional. That was the only damn explanation.
I’d been following my phantoms for close to two hours.
My legs had gone numb long ago. I hadn’t heard a single word from Alexander or Karlyle for miles.
She had to be here. Had to be close.
But even my phantoms had slowed. Fatigue numbed me. Dragged me backward.
“She can’t be far,” I said, voice hoarse. “She can’t—” My feet stopped moving. My phantoms froze. There were no footsteps following me.
Alexander and Karlyle—
I spun around, finding myself alone.
Where the fuck—
Movement to the left caught my eye. I squinted. Was I just seeing things? Was exhaustion finally taking over, messing with my senses?
Another movement.
A hand. Waving.
I blinked, clearing my vision, and homed in.
It was Karlyle. He brought one finger toward his lips.
Silencing me.
Panic threatened to take over, but I swallowed it down. No. Panic wouldn’t help me survive this.
Using my senses would. Using my brain would.
Karlyle motioned again, this time pointing somewhere above him.
Without moving my head, I peered up.
At first, I saw nothing. No signs of an enemy. Just the same, empty city we’d been marching through for miles.
But as I continued scanning, a tiny glint of silver flashed in one of the windows.
Someone was watching us.
Holding my breath, I sent out my phantoms. They surrounded me until I was nothing but a shadow blending in with the night.
They couldn’t kill what they couldn’t see.
I darted across the rocky pavement, mimicking the light breeze, and kicked down the door of the building and began my ascent up the stairs.
I jumped up three stairs at a time, and movement downstairs told me my companions were now following.
Come out, come out, little watcher, I thought as I hit the floor where I’d seen the movement.
I stopped. Listened. My body was ready for an attack. And my phantoms were primed to kill.
I sent a few tendrils out into the seemingly abandoned building. They thrashed carelessly. Dangerously.
They didn’t have the restraint that I had.
I didn’t blame them. This was a kill-or-be-killed moment. And my phantoms had no interest in being killed.
Just as I approached the door, following my shadows, a voice called out.
“Wait!” the man called. “Don’t hurt me! I’m not here to cause trouble!”
Alexander and Karlyle finally reached the top of the stairs behind me. The three of us exchanged a glance.
“Who are you?” I asked as I pulled my phantoms back to give our peeper a little space. “Show yourself.”
A young man stepped out of the corner, hands trembling, eyes wild.
“What tier are you?” Karlyle demanded. “What are you doing up here? Are you alone?”
My phantoms returned to me like dogs finished with their hunt. Yes, this man was alone, and by the water bottles, the pile of scavenged food, and the semi-organized living space where the rubble and debris had been cleared away, he’d set up camp here.
He stared at us, hands up in surrender. But I wasn’t convinced.
“W-what?” he stuttered. “I don’t— I’m not a mystic, I swear it. I’ve been living here alone for a few weeks.”
“An earthly living here alone?” I turned to Karlyle and Alexander. “Check the other rooms.”
The two stepped around me and stormed to the back of the building.
“Why are you alone?” I asked. “Where are the others?”
“Other earthlies?” he asked, voice shaking. “I don’t know. We were attacked. I’ve lost track of how long ago. The rest of my family was killed. The others started to turn on each other, there was too much. Too much violence.”
He swallowed.
If he really was an earthly, he was no threat to us. But why would he be here? In the middle of our war games?
I loosened my hold on my knife. “Have you seen others? Anyone else walking through the streets?”
Alexander and Karlyle came back, and the man tracked them with his eyes.
“Nobody else is here,” they answered.
I kept my attention on the earthly. “Tell me.”
He looked between the three of us, his focus finally settling back on me. “Y-yes. Yes, I’ve seen a few others.”
“When?” I stepped closer. “How many?”
“I don’t know,” he cried. The man was clearly panicking. He was terrified of us.
If he was telling the truth, then being stormed by mystics probably was terrifying.
“Look,” I started, “we’re not going to hurt you, okay? Just tell me what you’ve seen.”
“Th-there was a group of people,” he said. “A few girls, a boy or two, I don’t know. They were fighting.”
“When?” I pushed. “What did they look like?”
“It was dark,” he replied. “I couldn’t see. A few hours ago, maybe?”
Hours ago. My heart soared in my chest. “Where did they go?”
He froze, attention darting from one side to the other.
I stormed over to the window and pointed. “Show me.”
He hesitated, watching Karlyle and Alexander again, before he followed me. He leaned out a little and pointed down the street toward the smaller buildings. “That way,” he said. “Some of them went farther. But they weren’t all together. Like I said, they were fighting.”
“Sinner,” Alexander warned from behind. “Careful.”
“What?” I whipped around. “That could have been her. We have to go.” I was already storming toward the stairs. “Now.”
“Stop!” Alexander yelled. “You’re just going to believe him?”
“Why shouldn’t I?”
“Because these are the fucking war games,” he gritted out. “This isn’t just a hunt for your fucking girlfriend! He could be lying. He could be set up here, waiting for us. His whole purpose could be to throw us off.”
“And what if it isn’t?”
“What if it is?!”
The exhaustion plaguing me a few moments ago disappeared. I was alive again. Buzzing with an energy at the hope of finding her.
“Look at him.” I pointed. “Look at this place. He’s clearly been living here alone.”
“Maybe that’s what they want you to think.” Alexander stepped closer. “Think about this. These are the games. The Ministry is testing your greatest weaknesses. And your greatest weakness is her. You’ll listen to anything this guy tells you if you think it means finding her.”
“I don’t care,” I snapped. “Stay here if you want. I’m going that way.” I started for the stairs without looking back.
We were close. I could feel. Like a magnetic pull. Like a shift in the atmosphere.
“I don’t want to have to do this,” Alexander said, “but it’s for the best.”
I spun, but before I could take a step toward him, he’d lunged at the earthly, stabbing him in the throat.
The knife hit true, burying deep into his flesh.
The man’s eyes flashed open.
My heart stopped fucking beating.
And then he fell to the floor. Dead.
I stepped closer to him, surveying the scene. Blood pooled under his body quickly, running toward my boots.
“Why the fuck did you just do that?!” I screamed.
“He was a liability. We can’t trust anything we see out here! You’re forgetting what’s at fucking stake here!”
I stood and launched myself into Alexander’s chest. He flew backward, and I followed, pinning him against the crumbling concrete wall. “I know what’s at stake here. I understand far better than you do! He could have been useful to us!”
“You don’t know that! You’re blind right now! You’re too exhausted to see straight!”
“And you aren’t?”
He pushed at me, but I didn’t let go. “Only because you won’t fucking relax!”
Karlyle peeled me off his claimed with a surprisingly strong grasp. “Can we not fucking do this right now?” he asked, his tone somber. “If you want to follow his lead, we’ll go with you. But Alexander’s right. We need to be cautious about accepting hints from strangers.”
A few beats passed. I could have fucking killed him.
But as my heart rate lowered, clarity washed over me. Maybe he had a point.
“Fine,” I said. “Fill up your waters before we leave. Grab that food. He won’t be needing it anymore.”
Karlyle gave me a small nod, then pulled Alexander toward the stash of food and water.
I let out a breath, glancing back over to the dead earthly.
The bleeding had slowed. I took a few steps in that direction, an unknown force pulling me toward him. Why did I give a fuck about this stranger?
Alexander was right. These were the war games, after all. But my gut churned as I assessed the dead man.
I didn’t fucking like it.
I took a closer look at his face.
And the air left my lungs.
Underneath the shadows of the night and the dark facial hair, this actually wasn’t a man at all.
He was a kid. Probably sixteen years old—maybe even younger. Living here alone. Fighting for his fucking life because mystics attacked him.
And Alexander had just plunged a knife into him with no thought at all.
I swallowed down the creeping disgust in the back of my throat. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
Turning on my heel, I bolted down the stairs. If I didn’t get some fresh air, I’d do something really fucking stupid, like defend that earthly’s honor and put a knife into Alexander’s throat, too.