Andrei

Before leaving the laboratory, Riz carefully deposited a pile of ashes into Jakob's cell—small bits taken from the others. We then dropped Maryse's keys outside her office, and with our bags and Jakob in tow, we hurried through the corridors. It was the middle of the night, but there were typically one or two residents awake at even the oddest hours, and while we could easily give a reason for being out of our rooms, explaining the Anima would be a challenge.

Fortunately, Riz was as competent as he was confident.

"Hop on, Jake," Riz said.

Until then, Jakob had been hanging on to the sleeve of my tunic. He gave it a little tug.

I urged him toward the sound of Riz's voice. "You'll be safe."

We waited while Jakob climbed the Celestian's back, Riz reminding us he wouldn't be able to maintain invisibility for the both of them for long.

Markus nudged me forward when they were ready.

There was only one way to leave the lair, and that was through the wide-spanning common area and down a short corridor. Markus and I paused before turning the corner into the larger room, waiting the agreed upon thirty seconds Riz said he'd need to complete the reconnaissance. The time passed, and when I didn't feel a breeze on my face, I tapped Markus' shoulder. He tapped mine in return. All clear.

The common room was quiet, the air was still, and the temperature was consistent. We made our way to the back of the room and down the path toward the exit without fail. Through the heavy door, we rushed down another short passage, leading us to an opening that been concealed using bits of rock, branches, and foliage. I remembered the entrance to the lair had been well-hidden, but I remember thinking Sinclair would spot it regardless.

When we emerged outdoors, I released a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding since we stepped into the common room, and Markus laughed nervously.

Jakob took hold of my sleeve once more.

There was much to talk about, but it would have to wait.

We moved in silence through the forest. Markus and Riz walked ahead to warn us of the less obvious obstacles, and at the back, it was the blind leading the blind. I hadn't had a moment to stop and think about what Jakob revealed to us in the lab. He claimed to be the first Partisan—or perhaps more accurately, the first child born among Barrens to have grey eyes and a preternatural ability. Adler—the name was Amali, but he would have been born before the world was split into seven. Pre-Divide history was sparse, and I had so many questions.

The closer we got to our destination, the heavier the air became and the more it smelled of salt and wet sand. As we traversed the coast, the chilly seawater splashes felt good against my skin. Grounding. In a sense reminding me that everything we'd done—everything we were doing—was real. I had no regrets.

The lair had three embarks of its own. We knew Rhydian had taken one to Stracha, another was being used for an expedition to Delphia, and the one we intended to borrow was tucked into a grotto connected to the open sea. With the assistance of our seeing friends, Jakob and I navigated the slippery rocks with care—a measured drip, drip, drip counting the seconds along the way.

We were in the clear—our guards were down, and it was only a matter of time before we'd be boarding the embark. We made it—or so we thought. Our guards were down, and nobody was prepared for what happened next.

"Shit," Markus said, barely.

Riz groaned.

Wood creaked in the distance and sandy footsteps scraped against the stone.

Maryse's voice echoed off the rocky walls. "Leaving us?"

"We are," Riz said. "It's really thoughtful of you to see us off."

"How did you know where we'd be?" I asked.

"It's all the three of you could think about for the past two days."

"Oh, no," Jakob tugged my sleeve, whispering to the side, "I don't like that one, Asa."

A smile tugged at the corner of my lips. It felt out of place under the circumstances, but it couldn't be helped.

"Take me with you," Maryse said.

Riz snorted. "Fat chance."

"Please?" Maryse added.

Drip, drip, drip.

"I haven't been off this island—I haven't even left the lair since I was seven," she continued. "And you're going to Amalia. I could study there, considering you've destroyed my life's work."

"If you knew what we were planning, why didn't you stop us?" I asked.

"Because you were planning the right thing."

Once I'd have relied on reading body language to assess a situation, but instead, there was only the drip, drip, drip.

"Drei?" Riz projected in my direction.

What could I say? Her response was satisfactory. And besides, we couldn't use logistics as a way out of our predicament. An embark could carry six comfortably. Coming with us would be dangerous, but she knew that. Her line of study, while unethical in terms of how it was conducted at the lair, was interesting.

"If you're absolutely certain, Maryse, then it's fine with me," I said.

Markus grunted. The two had a tumultuous history, which was the first of two reasons I'd been chosen instead of him as the distraction earlier that day.

Drip, drip, drip.

Riz spoke next. "If it's fine with Drei, it's fine with me. Just no more listening, yeah?"

"I promise," Maryse said. "No more mind reading."

"And you can't spend the whole trip therapizing us," Riz said.

"That's fair."

An urgent tug at my sleeve. "Tell her she isn't allowed to talk to me, Asa."

I was certain Maryse had heard him well enough for herself, but—

"Jakob says no talking to him," I said.

"Okay," Maryse replied. "Anything else?"

"You can't talk to me either," Markus added.

"Fine. Andrei? Do you have any conditions?"

I couldn't have cared less who was aboard the embark, as long as it was travelling in the direction of Amalia. As long as I'd be seeing Sinclair soon, nothing else mattered.

I shook my head.

Maryse brought the scent of lavender with her aboard the embark, adding another layer of discomfort to the seasickness I suffered. I sat huddled in the cabin, bucket to one side and Jakob to the other. While at the lair, and while everything had still been uncertain, he'd taken comfort in my presence. But since everything had settled, and he was feeling safer among the other passengers, he'd been giving me the silent treatment. I'd promised to end his life, but fair is fair. He'd promised to tell me everything and he'd told me next to nothing. Besides, I didn't believe he wanted to die. He was looking for a way out of that cage.

I could relate.

"For how long are you planning to stay upset with me, Jakob?"

Silence. No matter how long-lived he was, and no matter how wise he had become, he was still an adolescent boy. Perhaps he would forgive me beyond the grave.

I swallowed some bile and patted the back of my neck with a damp cloth. Riz was an excellent Navigator; the ride had been smooth so far. But it made little difference in how I felt, and I daresay that seasickness post blindness was the worst it had ever been. Approximately five hours had passed. Another forty-five to go, roughly.

I fumbled for the bucket and heaved.

Sleeping had been an adjustment since losing my eyes. Either I would sleep for too long—loath to escape my dreams where I could still experience people, places, and colours the way I once had. At times, for not long enough—was it morning yet? It would be a while before my internal clock learned to compensate, though it reminded me of my time in solitaire. Still, I missed the sensation of heavy, droopy eyelids sending me off. I missed the contrast—the transition between light and dark.

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All that to say, after several hours of misery, I felt a pair of small hands against my cheeks. And in almost an instant, I dissolved out of awareness. I dreamed of my friends, surrounded by shelves filled with my favourite fiction novels, fresh piles of cinnamon sticks, and even Jakob was there—quiet in the corner of what appeared to be a cozy single room homestead. He smiled softly while he watched us.

Five hours.

Jakob Adler was upset with me for approximately five hours before he apologized.

I awoke to Jakob's hands on my face—slapping?—and to loud voices—a scream?—from above.

"What's happening?" I asked. "How long have I been asleep?

Jakob grabbed my hands and pulled me to my feet.

"Don't know," he said. "I was dreaming with you, Asa."

We rushed to the ramp leading out of the cabin, emerging above to the sound of shouting and a spray of seawater. Jakob took hold of my sleeve again.

Another splash and a familiar voice in the distance.

"Andrei!"

Maryse. I tuned to the air around me. Two pulses of heat nearby—Markus and Riz. In the distance, four more pulses. Either Maryse and three strangers were floating in the Mezzanine sea, or they were aboard another embark. I rushed to Markus' side—or at least, I tried. A gust of wind and our watercraft bobbed and weaved. There was nothing left for me to expel, so my stomach contracted without consequence.

A sharp crack. A strike of lightning.

A female voice. "It's the half-breed!"

Another crack.

The wind ahead picked up speed, and then a gust from behind. A cry of frustration from Riz. Markus's heat signature pulsed in front of him. What could I do?! The embark vibrated beneath my feet as two Celestian forces battled the elements between us.

The sound of boots landing against the deck, and the temperature around me intensified—closer, closer. I swung around and grabbed the stranger by the arm—A Strachan, by the size—and tossed him or her across the deck.

For a moment, Jakob left my side, and then a splash. The would-be assassin gasped when their body hit the frigid water. Heavy footsteps rushed in their direction—Markus.

"Leave him!" Riz shouted.

A strained groan. I imagined the empath squatting now, reaching over the edge of the watercraft. The battle of wind between the two Celestian Navigators seemed to be at a stalemate, each acting as a barrier to the other, creating a pressure that if released…

...the embark thrashed and Jakob pulled me to my knees, bracing us against the floor. A surprised cry, a hollow thud, and another splash—louder, denser than the last.

"Markus!" Riz yelled.

Yet another splash as Riz entered the water after our friend.

What could I do?!

Jakob took my hand, squeezing as he shared his idea with me telepathically. The Anima was growing a giant wave in front of our embark, barricading us from the other. Bigger, and bigger, higher, and higher, until—

"Together, Asa!"

We each took a deep breath in, visualizing the wave changing course, barreling toward the embark in the short distance. And together, we exhaled in its direction.

At the time, there was no way of knowing what happened to those aboard the other embark—Maryse included. Best case scenario, they were alive and adrift at sea far enough away from our embark and our crew. But even the best case scenario meant Maryse was a prisoner of Palisade. The Strachan, the one I'd tossed aside in fear of my life, wasn't an assassin at all. It was an old ally who saw an opportunity to return to our sides.

I apologized for throwing him, and Jakob apologized for sending him overboard. We were all four crammed in the cabin—me, Jakob, Markus, and now Lucas Bellamy. The embark clipped along at a swift pace. The nausea was the least of my worries.

"I don't understand," I said. "What happened when you returned to Palisade?"

"They locked me up in the asylum for a few, and then they offered me a deal," Bells said.

Markus muttered disapprovingly. He had hit his head on the side of the embark and had nearly drowned, but thanks to Riz and Jakob, he was recovering—physically, anyhow.

"I told the Assembly everybody in Oskari died in the church collapse—you, Rhian, Blanchett's kid, Michael. Even Varis," Bells continued. "Those were the Enforcer's orders."

"Why did they incarcerate you?" I asked.

"Because I went around telling everybody who'd listen about Those Things. Put me away to shut me up, I guess."

"What was the deal?" Markus asked.

"The Assembly didn't believe me—said they'd let me out if I accompanied someone to Amalia to track everybody down and report back on their activity. That's where we were heading when we bumped into you lot. Our Nav recognized your Nav, and it was a whole thing. I was never planning to snitch, anyhow. I just wanted out. Figured I'd make the rest up as I went. And then, when I saw Andrei—"

"Who were you sent with?"

"Some uptight Amali prick—Johan. And the Nav, o'course."

"What now, then?" Markus asked.

"Once we arrive in Amalia, Jakob and I will travel to Oskari," I said. "And the rest of you should return to the lair."

Markus responded. "Why? Won't you need our help getting around?"

"No, no, no," Jakob said. "The ravens will lead us home."

"You'll need to return the embark and inform them as to what happened to Maryse," I said. "Get Lucas Bellamy introduced and situated."

If there'd been any doubt about Bells's story or his trustworthiness, neither our empath nor the one-thousand-year-old Anima had anything to say about it.

"They're going to be pissed about the Anima," Markus reminded.

"Feign surprise, and act though you didn't know what I'd been planning or what I'd done when agreeing to take me to Amalia. Tell them I missed my friends, and that Riz was eager for some fresh air and a ride on the open seas. And that Maryse... wanted to come."

"Don't be such a martyr, Drei," Riz shouted from the deck above, his tone jovial.

"Don't be such a hero, Riz," I shouted back, and when there were no further protests, I continued, "Join us in Oskari if you can, once you've secured yourselves a safe haven again. Until then, mind your thoughts and lay low."

Jakob and I were dropped off on the southeastern coast of Amalia, far enough from the Drop not to be noticed, and about a day's walk from Oskari. As promised, he called upon an unkindness of ravens to do us a kindness. I was no expert in empathy, and frankly, I was far too exhausted to question his methods. Besides, he was giving me the silent treatment again. We walked half a day with nothing but bird sounds and the snow crunching beneath our feet.

Finally, "How does it feel?" I asked. "To be home."

"How does it feel, how does it feel—you sound just like them, Andrei, son of Andreas."

Well, at least he was speaking to me again.

And then from above, below, around—no, it came from inside. Familiar as if it had always been there. I stood for a time, entranced by the song. Frozen, but warm and feeling loved. If anything was happening around me, I couldn't see it. I couldn't hear it. Nothing but the melody.

When the music stopped, everything else began again—the birds, no longer organized as they were, cawed with irritation, their wings flapping chaotically. The wind buzzed through the trees who shuddered beneath the weight of the snow.

"Jakob?" I asked.

Silence.

I couldn't sense him beside me, but I felt the area around me.

"Jakob?" I asked, louder.

Silence.

Jakob was gone, and I was alone.

Fantastic.

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