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  Alyx rolled her eyes. “I don’t think a plastic Space Ranger sword is the same as a real one.”

  “And that we both had nightmares,” he said quietly.

  Alyx swallowed. “Our nightmares were different, though.”

  “I think I like our differences more.”

  “Oh yeah? Which one you like the most?”

  “I can’t decide between two.”

  “Which two?”

  “I like that I’m a boy and you’re a girl.”

  She laughed. “Okay. And the other?”

  “I was always told by my aunt that I feel too much. I like that you’re logical and thought-out.”

  “God, you make me sound so boring.”

  “No way! You’re like the order to my chaos. It’s...relaxing to be around you.”

  It relaxed her to be with him too. A strange rush of feeling coursed through her body starting from her chest. It overwhelmed her so that she couldn’t speak for a moment. Maybe he was rubbing off on her? “I think I like that one more.”

  As the night wore on the pauses between conversations stretched out further and further. Alyx’s speech slowed and her eyelids grew heavy.

  “Hey, Alyx?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I just thought of another way we’re the same.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  “And it’s my favorite similarity.”

  “Tell me.”

  “I like that neither of us fits into the worlds we grew up in. I always thought I didn’t belong. You make me feel like maybe it’s the worlds that we grew up in that don’t belong to us.”

  Despite her tiredness, Alyx felt a smile pull at her lips. “I think that’s my favorite too. Do you think there’s a world out there for us?”

  “Maybe. Or maybe we just have to make one.”

  Alyx’s eyes fluttered shut and stayed shut. “I’d like that.”

  “Hey, Alyx?”

  She didn’t answer. The last few near-sleepless nights had caught up with her. Sleep had her in its grasp and was quickly pulling her under. She could have been mistaken, but she thought she felt fingers stroking through her hair just before she drifted off.

  * * *

  “What are you doing back here?” Mayrekk said, unlocking the door to his hut as Alyx approached him from behind.

  “Elder Michael knows that I’ve been here. He knows you covered for me.”

  Mayrekk’s shoulders hunch up around his ears. “So what? You came to warn me? Consider me warned.”

  “I have questions.”

  She could almost sense him rolling his eyes. “She has questions,” he muttered.

  “I’m not leaving till I get some answers.”

  “Suit yourself.” He stepped inside without looking back at her. She knew it was a mistake coming here.

  Before she could turn away, Mayrekk stuck his head out his door. “You coming in or what?”

  Inside, Mayrekk pulled off his sturdy-looking gloves and a tightly woven basket slung across his body filled with plants and roots. She sat in a chair as he lifted out the items from his basket one by one. “What are those for?”

  “This one’s for headaches. That one’s for soup. And, er…you don’t need to know what that one is for.”

  “And that bark?”

  Mayrekk cut the bark with a small knife and sap oozed out. “It’s a glue-sap,” he explained. “You can treat the glue-sap to make it stronger or mix it with water to make it weaker.”

  “Why would you want to make glue weaker?”

  “Think child, think.”

  Alyx shook her head.

  “Depending on the weakness of the glue, it will fail after a certain time. If you get the mixture right you can create a series of bird feeders to open every few hours.”

  “Why would you want to do that?”

  Mayrekk gave her a look as if to say why wouldn’t you want an auto-timed bird feeder?

  “And those?” she asked as he pulled out a bunch of red flowers.

  “Those are for my table.” He arranged them carefully in a vase. “What? They make the place smell nice.”

  His voice. There was something about his voice that seemed different… “Do you know what I’ve noticed, Mayrekk?”

  “What’s that?”

  “That your accent drops in and out.”

  “That ain’t true.” His voice was suddenly rough again.

  “You did it again just then. Why do you put it on?”

  Mayrekk stared at her for one long moment. He said quietly, “It’s better for me if people underestimate me, think I’m an old fool or that I’ve lost my mind.”

  “Why?”

  “They tend to leave me alone that way.”

  They.

  “They announced me,” she said. “To Daniel.”

  “Michael’s son?”

  “Yes. Michael has suspended me from lightwarrior duties. I can’t leave the city. I can’t patrole. I will be a kept seraphelle in less than a moon-cycle.”

  “You know what they say, ‘keep your friends close and your enemies closer’.”

  “Sun Tzu,” she said. Mayrekk had just quoted from the mortal book, The Art of War. “How do you know about Sun Tzu?”

  Mayrekk narrowed his eyes at her. “How do you know about Sun Tzu?”

  She froze. She had just outed herself to an Elder. She cursed herself silently. What excuse could she give for her illegal knowledge? What excuse?

  Mayrekk’s frown melted and he laughed, loud and full. “Oh child, I am not going to turn you in to the Elders just as I know you won’t turn me in to them.”

  Relief flooded through her. Mayrekk also read mortal books illegally. He wouldn’t turn her in. She barely knew him, but he would keep her secret as she would keep his. Her apprehension began to fall away. Perhaps she might be able to trust him.

  “Mayrekk, I need answers. The Rogue from my visions, he’s not a Rogue. He’s mortal. I saved his−”

  “Shut up, right now.” Mayrekk’s eyes widened so that she could see the whites all around his brown irises. He grabbed her arm and dragged her over to a corner of his hut. There was a stand she had never noticed before among the chaos. It almost kissed the roof and was covered in animal furs. Mayrekk pulled a mound of fur from a hook, dusted it off and threw it to her. “Put it on.” It was a strange fur cap with a piece trailing down the back like a cape.

  “What is it?”

  “I use them for hunting and...for when I want to be alone.”

  Alyx stared at the cap, frowning. “Because it’s so ugly everyone leaves you alone when you wear it?”

  Mayrekk scowled. “Animals see the world differently, more simply than we do. An animal can’t distinguish between another animal covered in fur or a human wearing fur.” Mayrekk gave her a meaningful look. “When you wear this, the animals around you see you as another animal. So it becomes a clever little disguise if you are hunting or if you want to be overlooked by the animals of the forest...”

  Alyx understood. The Elders’ familias. The Elders are watching me.

  “We’re going somewhere?”

  “Yes. This hut may not be completely…secure, anymore.”

  An icy realization gripped her insides. Whatever was happening, it was bigger than she imagined if they had to avoid the ears of the Elders.

  The fur cap was too big for her. It spilled from her head, coating her shoulders and running down her back. Mayrekk also placed a cap on his head with fur so black that it shone blue, a thick white stripe down the center. It barely touched his shoulders.

  “Let’s go,” he said, “but not out the front. They may be watching.”

  Mayrekk led her to the back of his hut, stopping in front of the rock face. He dropped his hand down the top of his shirt, fished the strands of a chain up and out until a long brassy bullet popped free. It was a keye, but it was bigger than any keye that Alyx had seen before.

  Mayrekk mumbled something under his breath. The keye pulled away fr
om his chest as if drawn by a magnet towards the wall. A misty glow began to emanate from the keye, drawing towards the rock face. The mist continued to swirl out and around like a small whirlpool, widening until it consumed the whole section of wall. The solid rock face washed away into the mist like sand from the edge of a riverbank. Alyx could see the outlines and shadows of the space behind the once solid walls. There was a room behind the wall.

  It was small, a thin space between two rows of shelves on either side. On the shelves were open metalwork baskets, intricate like lace. Rows of these baskets filled with different colored glass vials were glowing with different colored liquids. Bloodink.

  Mayrekk stepped into the room and she followed. Her cuff gave off a curt crackle as she passed through the door but he didn’t seem to have noticed. He activated the keye again at the far wall and a tunnel appeared.

  She followed him through the dark tunnel until they reached the end, where there was another rock wall. He activated the keye once more, revealing a curtain of bushes, which he disappeared through. Alyx pushed through green leaves behind him until she came out into the sun, blinking as her eyes adjusted. They were standing at the foot of the mountain some distance away from the hut.

  As they wandered through the forest Alyx started to tell Mayrekk about Israel. “I had another vision he was in trouble. I arrived in time to save his life. He’s mortal.”

  Mayrekk nodded but he didn’t seem surprised. “Go on.”

  “He’s the only one I see. Sometimes I can feel what he’s feeling, know what he’s thinking. I dream his dreams, every night. And now...I’ve started seeing him.”

  “Seeing him?”

  “A few days ago, I thought I saw him in the reflection of the lake. Last night he appeared again. He could see me too. We spoke this time. And I could feel him. Or I thought I could feel him. But he was gone when I woke up. I don’t know anymore whether it was just a very vivid dream or if he was really there.” Alyx rubbed her face. “Am I going crazy? Is what happened to Raphael happening to me? I tried researching it but I can’t find anything in the Archives and…Elder Michael removed Threads from the restricted section before I could go through them.”

  “You broke into the restricted section? Wait, don’t answer that.”

  “I need to know, Mayrekk, what kind of gift is this?”

  He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I don’t believe that this is a gift.”

  “Then what the hell is it?”

  “You’ve been chosen to be this boy’s Guardian.”

  “Guardian?”

  “There hasn’t been a Guardian chosen since Before. A mortal would be selected for a great task, some destiny, and a Seraphim would be assigned to him. His Guardian. They would be drawn to each other and a Guardian-bond would be forged between their spirits. With the bond came certain...intimacies. Connections between the two would open up where there were none before as a way of allowing the Guardian to better safeguard the bonded mortal. The Guardian could sense when he was in danger and could slip into his consciousness. With practice you’ll be able to do it at will. The Guardian and the mortal could also appear to each other without anyone else seeing.”

  “Israel’s Guardian.” A relief fell over Alyx. She wasn’t going crazy. There was a reason for all this.

  “A Guardian-bond is sacred, Alyx. You are responsible for this mortal’s life. You must protect him above everything.”

  Above everything. Above her own life? She had enough problems without having the responsibility of looking after a mortal. “What if I don’t want to be his Guardian?”

  “You have no choice. The Guardian-bond means your souls are tied together. If he dies, you die.”

  Alyx sucked in a breath. If he dies, I die.

  “How am I supposed to protect him? I’m not even supposed to be talking to him. The Elders won’t even let me leave Michaelea to patrole let alone to protect a mortal.”

  “The Elders can’t know about him. You can’t trust them.” Mayrekk pulled up mid-stride suddenly as if he came up against a wall. Alyx almost bumped into his back. “Let’s go this way,” Mayrekk said, and continued on to his right. “Whatever you have to do, Alyx, you must protect him.”

  “But I don’t have any magic of my own. I’m not the strongest warrior or the fiercest−”

  “You would not have been chosen to be this boy’s Guardian if you were not up to the task.”

  “But the Elders−”

  “Elders-smelders, they are not infallible despite what they will have us believe.” Mayrekk spun towards her, his face more serious than she had ever seen. “More than anything the path of destiny takes great courage, not the greatest gifts or skill. And you, my girl, already have more courage in your little finger than most of these gifted Seraphim I see come in and out of my hut every day. You’re not afraid to take a different path than the crowd. You’re not afraid to think for yourself, to ask questions.”

  “But why him? What’s his great destiny? And why would the Elders want to prevent me from guarding him?”

  “That, I don’t know.”

  Alyx thought back to the Threads that Elder Michael and Elder Bezebel removed from the restricted section. Her answers were in those Threads. But where were they now?

  “I don’t want to take any risks, which is why I’ll move the sensitive Threads to...” She hadn’t heard the rest of what Elder Michael had said, but she could take a guess at where he might have hidden them.

  His chambers.

  Chapter 18

  The Entwinement Ceremony was taking place at the Heart soon. It was the first in the Entwinement moon-cycle, starting today and ending in twenty-eight days with Alyx and Daniel’s ceremony, the most prestigious Entwinement announced this year.

  Everyone from Michaelea would attend today’s ceremony, faces covered by feathered masks except the Entwined pair, but especially Chief Elder Michael, as he was to Entwine them.

  If Alyx was to ever attempt the unthinkable, today was the day.

  She was hiding in the trees near the deserted Elder-dome. She could smell the approaching storm. The gray clouds racing across the sky felt like an oppressive omen. She shivered when a cool wind shook the leaves around her and eyed the entrance of the Elder-dome. It wasn’t too late to turn around.

  She ran her fingers along her side where she could feel three slightly raised marks under her shirt, just to remind herself that they were there. These bloodink tattoos were the first that she had ever had to hide. DreamWalker, AirWhisperer, WaterBearer. Hopefully she wouldn’t need to use them. Before she could change her mind, Alyx darted for the entrance.

  Inside, she pressed herself along the ceiling of the building as she traveled along the corridor, slipping under and around the rafters. The various Elders seemed to stare at her accusingly from their painted prisons along the walls. The corridor curled around as she traveled deeper and deeper into the center of the building and farther and farther from the exit.

  Peering around the last bend of the corridor, she saw the entrance to Michael’s chambers, unguarded but shielded by magic. She moved towards it.

  At the door she reached out for the shield, Elijah’s pick around her wrist, her palms sweaty. In a small firework of green, the shield deactivated and the chamber was open to her.

  She slid past the point of no return.

  Inside the chambers, Alyx scanned the room. Where should she start?

  The Threadcases. They were also shielded but Elijah’s pick allowed Alyx to bypass them. She skimmed the shelves, running her fingers over the Thread-titles. She wasn’t sure what she was looking for but she was sure she would know when she found it.

  After her fingers touched the last Thread-title, Alyx pulled her hand back in disappointment. They had been about city administration, inter-city contracts and governing policies. Nothing of interest. But of course, why would Michael just leave important Threads out in a Threadcase? He would hide them somewhere.

  Aly
x turned to Michael’s desk. After a few minutes of rummaging, she closed the last drawer. Leaving them lying about in a drawer was also too obvious. They would be more hidden.

  She ran her fingers under the desk probing for a break in the wood, something that would give away a hidden compartment. She almost cried out when her fingers felt a change in the wood grain. It ran along in a rectangular shape. A secret drawer. Alyx held her breath and with the tips of her fingers, she eased open the secret compartment.

  The drawer was lined with red silk. Sitting within it was a silver cuff, its two halves opening out from its hinge like a clam, raised rune-like markings running along the curved insides. Surely, this couldn’t be the only thing in here. Alyx moved the cuff and felt about the whole drawer, but there was nothing else in it. She closed the drawer. There must be something here. There must be.

  Alyx searched the rest of the desk, cluttered with open Threads. She ran her fingers over them. They were either irrelevant or blank, thoughts having not been impressed upon them. She picked up a small tube made out of light reed with a ribbon weaved through the middle, a carrying tube for correspondence Threads. Tikara and other familias carried such tubes between the three Seraphim cities. She released the stopper and pulled out the short scrap of Thread. She laid it on the desk and pressed her palm to it.

  Flashes of a map started to flick through her head. A city. A Seraphim city, but not one she had ever seen before. Then Thread-thoughts...

  There have been seventeen births this moon-cycle.

  A further fifty darkwarriors have been trained to their fullest capacity since the last report. Your army is growing as per your schedule.

  A breeder tried to escape earlier this week. We were able to recapture her. She was punished in front of the other breeders to discourage them from following her behavior.

  In the last four weeks we have sent out almost two dozen missions to various locations but have still not found the missing piece of the Amulet.

  Alyx’s hand leaped off the Thread. What had she stumbled across? What are darkwarriors? What army? What were the Elders planning?