Chapter 56
“Our Wardens do the job because they want to. Because they love it, and because they want to protect people. We know without a doubt that they’re the best people for the job.”
Frontline News interview with Drew Harlowe (Entity CEO)
Alexys couldn’t speak. Couldn’t move.
“I will be your Warden Team Leader. My assignments within this company have only resulted in the greatest success, and your cases will be no different.” Alexys just stared at her, mouth ajar.
“You have pretty big shoes to fill, Keane. Let’s hope you can live up to your father’s legacy.
” Rourke raised an expectant brow. “You have a week for transitional purposes, and then you’ll have your induction and training schedule. ”
“But …” Alexys managed.
“Be sure everything’s wrapped up here before sending her, Kristin, we don’t want any loose ends.” It sounded like a threat. Kristin mumbled something, and Rourke gave Kristin a stiff nod before she left.
Alexys stared after her. Her brain was working overtime, trying to make sense of what just happened.
Transfer. Wardens.
“What just happened?” Alexys turned back to Kristin. “Who the hell was that?”
“That was Delaney Rourke, a Reaper,” Kristin said. It sent a chill down Alexys’s spine. “She’s been reassigned to the Warden Team Leader position for our region.”
“But we don’t have Warden Team Leaders?”
“We do now.” Kristin sighed. She rubbed a hand over her forehead. “Entity is restructuring. There has been a decrease in creature activity over the last three quarters, and the company is unable to support certain roles, so things have to change. ‘Pivoting’ they called it.”
Alexys knew Kristin well enough to know she didn’t agree with said changes, but she, much like Alexys, held little power.
“The truth is, corporate is closing most of the HR positions to make way for new Warden Team Leaders. The remaining HR team will support their Regional Directors with paperwork and fielding phone calls—their usual jobs but on a smaller scale. The Warden Team Leaders will work as the go-betweens for the Wardens and the HR office, cutting down on cross-department communication and freeing up the HR office for … other things.”
“What other things?” Alexys felt her heart hammering away in her chest. “Why do they want less Human Resources? That doesn’t make any sense.”
Kristin shrugged. “You know they never give us specific reasons, Alexys.”
“But it sounds like they’re just renaming the HR leadership positions.”
“I’m giving you all of the information they’ve given me.”
“Yeah, of course. I know you are.” Alexys pressed her hand to her eyes and willed her brain to focus. It was too much too soon. “But what does this mean for me?”
“It means, Alexys,” Kristin declared, “Delaney will be your new boss, and that you’ll officially report to her.”
Alexys knew it was coming, but it didn’t lessen the shock. Her head snapped up. “Why?”
“Your position won’t exist anymore, they’re keeping Natalie and Chase, although their remit will change slightly.” Natalie shook her head. “I know this is a lot to take in, and given what you’ve just been through, I know this can’t be easy to hear, but you’re getting a lateral shift.”
And that was it, that was the end of her career in HR.
Just like that.
Alexys could either accept a new position, one she absolutely did not want, or start job hunting. She nearly choked on her swiftly rising panic. “But I’ve been with Entity for three years.”
“Which is why they don’t want to lose you.”
“But I’ve only ever done HR. Why would they think I can move into a new position in an entirely different department, in the field?”
Kristin tried to smile, but it was weak. Trembling. “Because you’ve already proven you can do another job.”
Realization crystalized in Alexys’s mind.
Kristin wasn’t wrong, she had, in fact, done another job.
She’s demonstrated that she was perfectly capable of doing it.
Her death-defying, rule-breaking excursion had been twisted into an impromptu job interview.
She’d sabotaged herself without even knowing it.
“This could be a good opportunity for you,” Kristin said quietly.
“It doesn’t have to be a bad thing.” Alexys knew she was trying to comfort her, but it still hurt.
Kristin probably tried to fight for her, at least Alexys hoped she had, but there was little a person like Kristin could do.
They were all beholden to the corporate chain.
“I don’t have another choice, then?”
Kristin lifted her shoulders in quiet concession. “I’m afraid not. They want the transfer processed by the end of the week. You’re going to be assigned to District 13’s Third Quadrant. You’ll have your induction next week.”
Alexys blanched. “They’re giving me Elliot’s Quadrant?” She felt like she was going to vomit. Or faint. Possibly both. “They can’t, I can’t just …” She wasn’t breathing. “I can’t go back there, and what, I’m just …” The room felt like a freezer. A cold sweat broke out along her spine. “That’s not—”
“Breathe, Alexys.” Kristin rounded her desk and crouched beside her. She squeezed Alexys’s knees. “You have to breathe. Come on now, slowly, in and out.”
Alexys tried to match the rhythm she set, but her chest was too tight. She closed her eyes and willed her breathing to slow. Five things she could see: nothing with her eyes closed, but that was good. Four things she could touch, three things she could barely hear over her own breathing …
Her heartbeat hurt a little less, and the ringing in her ears began to fade.
Kristin rubbed her back patiently.
“This is, and excuse me for saying it, but this is fucked,” Alexys whispered. She pressed her hands to her eyes and tried to keep the tears at bay. “I should quit.”
“Maybe,” Kristin said, “but you’ll never know what it’s like unless you give it a try.”
Alexys groaned. “We both know I care too much about my job performance to admit that quitting is anything but failure for me.” She pinched her lips together. “Okay, I’ll take the job, but I’m not going to pretend to be happy about it.”
Kristin rose up and leaned against the desk, arms folded firmly across her chest.
“I think that’s very fair, Alexys.”
“This is such a shock, I just …” Her voice trailed off. Kristin nodded, she understood.
“I’ll go ahead and start your transfer paperwork. I’ll give you the rest of the day to think it over, how does that sound?” Kristin moved back to the other side of her desk, refocusing her attention on her computer screen.
“Okay,” Alexys mumbled.
“Take the day. I want to be sure that you’re sure, alright?”
“Yeah, yeah.” Alexys wiped at her wet cheeks and loosed a heavy breath. “What do I need to do? Move files, send emails, anything?”
Kristin paused in her typing and considered.
“Most of the files should already be in the shared drive, so don’t worry about that.
Just make sure all of your stuff is in the right folders and wrap up any loose ends.
Oh, and write up some handover notes for your Wardens—what they’re currently working on, things like that.
” She gave her a pointed look. “Make sure you copy Delaney on everything as well.”
Alexys rolled her eyes. “Fine.”
“Thank you.” Kristin smiled at her, and Alexys knew this wasn’t the news she’d wanted to deliver to Alexys today. “If you ever need anything, please don’t hesitate to come to me, okay? Anything, anytime. I mean it.”
Her throat tightened. “We’re not saying goodbye yet, boss. I’ve cried enough.”
“Then get out of my office.” Kristin threw a balled-up tissue at her and grinned. “Go tell Natalie she better start laughing at my jokes as much as you do, or we’re going to have a problem.”
Alexys Keane. Warden.
It didn’t feel real. It didn’t. And yet, it was. Everything Alexys swore she’d never become, everything she’d always feared, and her mom always feared, was happening.
Alexys was going to be out in the field. Chasing monsters.
She’d spent the rest of the morning moving files and sending emails.
She mourned the loss of her desk, with all its Post-it notes, the jar full of every colored pen, and the bowl of chocolates.
The stupid, coffee-cup-shaped pillow on the chair that said HR is a latte work next to the tray of mugs and sugar packets.
Even the house plant Kristin had gifted her, despite its withered state.
The most heartbreaking thing, though, was the container of freshly delivered cookies.
Elliot’s grandmother wouldn’t have known when she sent them that they’d be the last. The reminder of it seized her heart in a grief-vice
Looking away and at the rest of the room, Alexys already felt estranged from the space.
She herself felt estranged from the person she was in that office before she went to West Virginia.
Now, she felt stained. Like the darkness on her hands was transferrable, like it would bleed into this once happy space.
Her hands began to itch with the feeling of dried blood caked onto her skin.
She flexed her hands, and the feelings vanished.
It didn’t matter if she tainted the office, Alexys realized. It wouldn’t even be hers come Monday. The warm, colorful space she’d created would go to someone else. They’d change it, reshape it, make it their own.
Alexys flexed her fingers again, spread them wide before her, and stared at her palms. She had a sinking suspicion that her hands wouldn’t stay clean for long in her new job.
Turning her attention to a stack of folders, she made to move them into a drawer when a small flash of white dropped onto the floor.
She paused.
It was a business card, one of hers. She knelt down to pick it up, turning it over in her hands.
Her blood turned to ice.
Scrawled on the back in elegant script was a message.
See you soon, Miss Keane.
She knew who had written it. There was only one person.
Silas.
It was a promise. And a threat. An unavoidable one, given her new job. She’d be returning to those mountains whether she liked it or not.
But how did he know?
Alexys threw the card in the trash, her hands shaking.
Had he somehow orchestrated this whole thing?
But if he had, why? What did he want from her?
He’d gotten his part of the deal already, all those lives in exchange for Nic.
Had everyone else just been a pawn in order for him to get to her?
Elliot, Opal, the people in the mine … nearly Nic.
A sickening, twisting combination of rage and grief roiled in her stomach.
She’d never know what Entity had said to Elliot’s family, but she knew it wouldn’t have been anything close to the truth.
She also knew that Opal’s name would never even be mentioned in any of the formal reports—especially if a Reaper was involved.
The company would offer its condolences for any inconveniences to the local community, for roping off sections of road and mountain.
They’d send out mandatory employee safety training videos, suggest grief counseling to those affected, and then move on to the next.
Entity thought moving her to Elliot’s Quadrant was an easy fix. She’d been out there, seen horrible, terrible things and survived. It made perfect sense. It required the least amount of effort on their part, and Alexys would be another replaceable cog in the machine if she couldn’t hack it.
Can’t never could.
But she’d have to. She’d already stepped into her father’s shoes, a pair that felt overwhelmingly impossible to fill, and somehow here she was, still standing.
Alexys didn’t have to be the perfect Warden.
She just had to be good enough, last long enough, to do right by Elliot. To do right by her father’s legacy.
She could be good enough at being a Warden to give herself the time and resources she needed to go after Opal herself.
She’d already killed eight witches, directly or not. What was one more?