I caught her hand in mine without even realizing it, and we both froze for a split second, as she looked down to observe this strange physical contact.
“Please, don’t take offense,” I said.
“None taken,” she replied, her skin cold to the touch. It felt odd, for some reason, though it should’ve come across as natural, given her pale, almost vampiric complexion. I would’ve expected her to burn like the sun… like I was burning on the inside as I held her. “I look forward to seeing you all later.”
She descended from the gazebo and walked up the main pathway into the palace, hedges and flowers rising on both sides. I stood there, watching her, still wondering how the universe had made our paths cross in such a peculiar fashion. I needed to know more about her. To truly understand her. Valaine was holding back a lot, and I couldn’t control this ardent desire to find out everything. Everything that made her who she was.
“Relax, Tristan,” Esme grumbled. “She understands.”
“Yeah. I just… I don’t know, I don’t like thinking we might have made her angry,” I said.
“Valaine strikes me as the more reasonable among her peers,” Derek chimed in, offering a comforting smile. “I think we just need to be more careful with our questions and our assertions regarding their practices. They’re clearly protective of their way of life and don’t like it when complete strangers doubt them.”
“With that in mind, Tristan and I want to do some exploring of our own, one of these nights,” Esme said, her voice low as she cautiously glanced around, making sure none of the servants lingering nearby heard us.
Derek’s eyebrows arched upward. “What do you mean?”
“Well, you know… Some invisibility paste, a red garnet lens, a little bit of moving around without anyone seeing or hearing us,” Esme mumbled, much like a child caught doing something terribly naughty and having to explain herself. “It’s one thing to take everything they tell us or show us at face value, and a whole other thing if we verify some of this information ourselves.”
Derek didn’t seem happy with our proposal. “You know we can’t not do this,” I whispered. “You know they’re not telling us many things. We don’t mean to interfere in their affairs, but we have to know everything. We can’t get blindsided here.”
“I just don’t want a Neraka repeat.” He sighed. “We ended up toppling an empire there.”
“But we saved millions of innocent people,” Sofia reminded him. “We had no other choice, especially given their shady methods. I don’t think that’s the intent here, though.”
“We just want to be flies on the wall for a little bit, that’s all,” Esme added.
Derek nodded slowly. “Not tonight, though. It’s all too fresh. They don’t trust us enough yet. Give it another day or two, okay?”
“And whatever you do, don’t get caught,” Amal warned us. “Something tells me they don’t take kindly to spies.”
I breathed a sigh of relief, thankful to have Derek and Sofia’s approval. But Amal was right, too. Under no circumstances could we allow ourselves to be detected. Fortunately, this wasn’t going to be the first time that Esme and I had to move around unnoticed. We’d had our fair share of practice while navigating the hidden tribes of Central Africa. Invisibility paste had come in handy back then, as well.
“You know what? I think I’ll be doing some independent exploring of my own, too,” Nethissis said, twisting a lock of copper-red hair around her index finger. “Not sure if you all remember, but I can still make good use of my snake form.”
“You can move around easily,” Sofia said, smiling.
“Exactly.”
“I need you all to be extremely careful,” Derek replied. “Go and check everything out, if you must. I trust your instincts on this. But don’t get yourselves caught or worse. I would never forgive myself.”
“We’ll be okay,” I said, trying to reassure him. I found his fatherly concern endearing, and it was hard not to smile as I spoke. “We’re pretty good at what we do, Derek. I believe it’s part of the reason why you brought us along.”
He gave me a faint smile. Oh, he was definitely worried, and there was nothing I could do about that. But he was also aware of how important it was for us to question everything that the Aeternae told us; he knew why we had to verify, to see certain things for ourselves. I added checking out one of those blood farms to my to-do list. Maybe we’d get a chance to visit Rimia or Nalore, so I could witness exactly how it all worked.
Until then, however, Derek was right. We had to play nice with our hosts. And I didn’t mind that one bit. It would give me an excuse to learn more about Valaine.
Kelara
Just like Death had said, the other First Tenners came back as the full moon settled in the night sky. The Soul Crusher, the Widow Maker, the Phantom, and the Time Master joined us on the frozen lake, far from the Aledrasian civilization. We could see one of their cities rising in the distance, with needle-like towers and wide arches, built above the deep green woods. Fortunately, their experience with the Hermessi ritual had not left wounds that wouldn’t heal. They didn’t really understand what had happened. It was bound to become a legend sometime in the future, lost in the pages of their mythology.
Dream and Nightmare were the happiest to see the band reunited.
“You lucky bastards,” Nightmare said, hugging his siblings one at a time. “You get to go out there and look for the others. How has the world been recently? I miss it…”
“Ugh, you’re such a drama queen,” I said. “You’ve only been here for half a year. Not an eternity.”
“Shut your piehole, sister,” Nightmare replied. “We need variety, otherwise we go stir-crazy. So allow me to fawn over the traveling adventures of my brothers and sister before I take another stab at seal number 998.”
“Any news?” Death asked, sitting on the edge of the water hole, her fingers tracing the links on her chain.
Soul knelt before her. “I am sorry, but we haven’t had much luck. Not yet, anyway. We’ll pick up a lead for the Night Bringer soon, though. I’m certain of it.”
“What makes you say that?” Death replied.
“We’ve heard rumors of eternal night settling somewhere in the Supernatural Dimension,” Widow said. “The problem is we haven’t found anything concrete enough. No location. Not even a local legend or something to suggest that our brother took residence on a particular planet.”
Phantom nodded. “But we will keep searching. For now, however, we’d like to help you with some of those seals.”
Death looked downright disappointed—not that I could blame her. Bringing the First Ten back together had been a high-priority mission for her, taking precedence over the removal of Spirit’s seals. She lowered her gaze, staring at the runes still covering her pearlescent skin, and let a deep sigh roll out of her chest.
“What is it, Mother?” Time asked, his brows pulled into a deep frown.
“I only have more questions. No answers. I don’t like it,” she said. “These seals are holding me back, and I feel rather useless. Incomplete. Paralyzed.”
Time glanced my way. “What is she talking about?”
“Seeley,” I replied. “He’s on Visio with a group of GASP people, and there’s something weird going on there. According to him, there wasn’t a single Reaper in sight. I’ve asked my superiors about this, but they’ve yet to get back to me with an answer.”