Me Before You

a novel by Vane Vander

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

1

Everyone always said that the mountains looked beautiful, but up close, Nox thought that the valleys and crags looked like cracked and dead skin. Of course, it didn't help much that every single admirer was only a visitor, immediately returning to their plush hotels as soon as they had gotten their fill of the landscape. The mountains held too many secrets for Nox to think that they were glamorous.

And Nox wasn't one to admire the beauty of things, anyways.

She shifted on the wide branch of the observing tree. It had always been hers since the day a scout had found her half-dead in the surrounding forest and brought her here to the Aviary. Nobody ever bothered her.

Nobody wanted to bother Nox, anyways.

"Hey-"

Nox jolted backwards, losing her balance. Her hands instinctively shot out in front of her- Shy had played this trick on her hundreds of times. Probably thousands of times, but Nox had lost track, and the branch in front of her, thinning where her hands usually grabbed, wasn't capable of giving out an exact number.

Nox whipped her head around. Her friend was perched on a branch of her own. Her feet were bare with the exception of the white tape bound around them, the same tape as around her fingers.

Climbing tape, traded for with a month's worth of dessert tickets only for the express purpose of following Nox around when she decided to sulk.

"What the hell, Shy?"

"Sorry." Shy brushed a stray thin braid out of her eyes and back into the hood of her sweatshirt. Autumn was winding down around them, and winter would be there soon. "I was bored. My room was stuffy."

Nox huffed. "That's what you always say." She rubbed the space in between her wings, swinging her legs in the sixteen-foot expanse between her and the ground. "What do you figure of the mountains? I give the city three, maybe four years before they realize we're here and make up some excuse to excavate the whole place."

Shy laughed. "Why are you always so damn pessimistic?"

"I learned it from you."

Shy cackled, throwing her head back and just barely missing the branch above her. "Yeah, well, classes are in five minutes. Maybe then you'll actually learn something." She carefully slipped out of the tree, deftly avoiding the branches on the way down and landing without a crunch on the leaves.

That was part of what Nox liked about Shy. She barely left a trace. Always quiet, always deft.

Nox turned back to the mountains. Clouds lazily dragged themselves across the sky, spread out like well-intentioned paint strokes. The sky was always gloomy at this time of year.

The Aviary was always kind of gloomy when she bothered to think about it. Just a transient place, a train stop for those deemed normal enough to be passed on to forever homes.

And for those who weren't normal enough to make the cut, for those who had wings or scales or some other deformity or who didn't resemble a human at all, the mountains weren't a place of peace but a prison, no matter how much Ophelia tried to make it feel otherwise. Nox was lucky to have found this tree. Nox was lucky to have found Shy and gotten her job as a scout.

Nox was lucky to have been alive in the first place. The surrounding woods were a dangerous place to be.

2

Shy stayed in the back of the elevator as the doors pinged open. Other residents of the Aviary poured into the cramped space- some she recognized from her old labor team before Ophelia had approved her switch, some she only saw glimpses of at school three days a week.

"You'd think they'd put in more elevators," a green-haired girl said, shoving her way through the disgruntled crowd and standing next to Shy. She leaned against the handrail of the elevator as the doors pinged shut. "I mean, they have the budget to constantly be home searching!"

Shy nervously scratched the back of her neck. "I don't think that's how it works, Ameliore-"

"I just wish Ophelia would care more about the unadoptables." Ameliore pouted for a moment before she forgot her complaint and returned to her usual cheery state. "So, what are you up to?"

"Only the same thing as I always am."

"Ah. Well, good luck to you, then."

Ameliore turned around to stare through the glass walls of the elevator. Shy followed suit, even though she'd already seen the sights before- and they always caught Ameliore off-guard. After passing through a short solid concrete barrier, their range of sight broadened to the massive pit below them. Small little safety lights sparkled in the far-off walls of the pit, planted by the first inhabitants who were probably dozing off in the outer sectors that very moment. Far below them- Shy and Ameliore could just barely see beneath their feet- the capital sector of the Aviary glimmered and shone with yellow lights beating back the darkness.

Home.

The elevator continued to descend, making several stops along the way. Previously invisible corridors leading to other sectors flickered into view as the elevator approached, letting passengers in and out. Shy and Ameliore were shoved to the left side of the elevator, away from where the buttons of the elevator had been replaced with a small screen, showing announcements from the capital.

"Thirteen sounds like such a nice place to live," Ameliore sighed, flawless eyes focused somewhere off into the inky black expanse of the pit. "I hear that they even have a swimming pool."

"Yeah, a communal one that only gets cleaned once a week." Shy rolled her eyes. "Sounds a bit too fetid for you. I thought you said yesterday that you preferred the cleanliness of Seventeen?"

"But Brahm isn't going there," Ameliore corrected. "And I want to share a suite with him. We're going to win the contest for the best decorated room!" She delicately clapped her slender hands.

"Whatever."

A few stops later, and Ameliore departed for Sector Three. Shy nudged her way closer to the entrance of the elevator. If she missed her stop, she'd have to wait for the elevator to make another cycle up and down. But she didn't miss it, and the brilliant lights of the capital greeted Shy as she stepped into the yellow main road.

***

"So I take it that you haven't found anything of value in the past week?"

Clarissa, the capital's doctor, rummaged in her expansive cabinet full of all sorts of herbs and drugs that the capital could possibly need in the month between restockings. Normally, her office was flooded, especially with the Normals that hadn't found a home yet, but today was a quiet day.

Shy took a seat on the bench beside Clarissa's desk in the checkup room. "No, ma'am. Nox saw something, but it turned out to just be a wolf enjoying a meal. We kinda hightailed it out of there."

Clarissa's eyebrows quirked up at Shy's giggle, wrinkling her forehead. She'd used to be pretty, but that was just one more thing the stress had stolen away from her. "You're going to break your friend if you keep relying on her to carry you away every time you mess up."

"For the record, it was her who led us to the wolf pack thinking it was a new arrival."

Clarissa rolled her eyes, brushing a lock of bright red hair back behind her ear. "Yeah, you just keep telling yourself that." She rubbed her shoulder before pulling out a small bottle of blue pills. "Multiple personality suppressors, right?"

Shy held out her hand. "Right-"

"Uh-uh." Clarissa wagged her finger before closing the cabinet doors. It rattled shut. Her ponytail waved behind her back. "You haven't paid me this month, Shy."

"I was under the impression that healthcare was free?"

"Not when I have to continually custom-order a rare medication only required by one of the inhabitants. Even if they're one of the most skilled trackers we have." Clarissa swiveled around in her chair, facing Shy with the container of pills still in her hand. "Tell you what- come down here tonight and help me with the evening shift, and I'll waive the fee for one more month."

"But-" Shy protested- "I have scouting with Nox this evening-"

"Then I guess your guardian angel will just have to find someone else to protect this time." Clarissa held out the bottle of pills, a smug grin spreading across her face. "I'll see you in a few hours, Sheiko."

Shy shuddered before she snatched the pills and dashed out of the doctor's office as quick as she could. She stumbled into the street, which was more of a wide sidewalk, really. There were no cars or pods there. Everybody walked, with the rare exception of the messenger that got a permit to use an electric scooter.

"Dammit," Shy muttered to herself as she pulled the small portscreen out of her pocket. It was the only piece of electronics that she owned- her only possession, really- bought with half a year's lunch tickets she'd given to a black market dealer, who had taken pity on her and given her another one for Nox free of charge. Shy's fingers deftly flew across the screen, pulling up Nox's name on the speed dial.

Nox picked up on the second ring. "I'm surprised that I even have a signal up here. What's wrong, Shy? You never call."

"I can't go scouting tonight."

"What- why not?"

"Clarissa's making me help her for a shift since I was late paying for last month's meds."

"Oh." Nox sighed. "Well, there's always a place for you on a tree branch in case you're able to get out of it."

"I highly doubt it."

Shy clicked out of the call and found that she'd walked herself to the waterfall in the center of the Capital. Concrete and gently flowing, it was one of only a few superfluous fixtures that Ophelia allowed in the Aviary. They didn't have enough resources to waste on any more decorations.

The waterfall had been stolen from one of the grand cities which always seemed to be supplying children half-starved and dying, pleading to the Aviary to give them refuge. History had to be preserved, Ophelia had insisted all those years ago as she stole away the concrete fixture hundreds of miles away and built a city around it, even if the history was stained with the incessantly running blood of the wards under her care.

Ophelia's job would never be done, and neither would Shy's, but at least they could try.

3

“Ma'am, I don't care how many chairs you've punched in your lifetime. Clarissa can only treat one person at a time."

"But I've got to go back to my work shift!" the pink-haired woman whined, holding out her injured hand to the unamused Shy standing in front of the door. "I'm almost out of dinner tickets!"

Shy looked over her shoulder through the tiny window in the door separating the waiting room from Clarissa's main working room. On one of the stainless steel tables sat a young girl, no more than six or seven.

Shy turned back to the woman, who pursed her lips. "You can whine to me about the lack of staff after you’ve requested a labor change to the medical field. As you can hopefully tell, we're kinda painfully understaffed."

"Oh, and you're so morally superior, huh?" The woman stepped closer to Shy, enough that Shy could smell the fish she'd eaten for lunch. "You just traipse around in the outside with your friends, looking for more people to increase the burden on the Aviary-"

"Ladies."

Both of the women turned to the opening door. Clarissa stood in the doorway, the young girl holding her hand and sucking on a lollipop.

"I'm sorry, Miss Clarissa." The pink-haired woman curtseyed, casting a glare towards Shy. "I was being denied treatment by your rude assistant-"

Clarissa waved her hand, dismissing the woman and only glancing at the broken skin on her knuckles. "Shy here is repaying me for her medication by keeping out the riffraff until Ophelia lets me get a doorknob with a lock on it." She let go of the girl's hand, and she waddled out to the waiting room, where her caretaker was waiting to take her back to Sector One with the rest of the young children. Clarissa looked back to Shy. "Clearly, you're doing your job right."

The snob stomped her foot. "I could be getting an infection right now! Wait until Ophelia-"

Clarissa blanched for a moment before swallowing. "Come along then."

The women disappeared into the working room. Shy turned back to the now-empty waiting room, watching the steady stream of workers pass by outside. Builders with white-stained hands, caretakers for the youngest of the city's residents with large purses full of toys and child care supplies, sewage technicians whose clothes were permanently permeated with the stench of the underworkings of the city... the list could go on and on. Ophelia always found something for everybody to be doing, even if it was less than desirable.

When it was time for job assignment, Shy's second choice after being a scout was to be a computer system administrator. They were the same concept, really. Get in quick, get the job done, and then leave before something horrible could go wrong. But there had been no openings on Vocation Day for either, and she'd gotten shoved into waste management.

Who's that up in the sky, moving so fast she's only a blur to me?

Why does she get to go outside?

I want to join her!

Only Ophelia could approve a labor change, and so Shy had put in her appeal papers, and a few months later, her dream had come true.

"Shy?"

Pulled out of her reverie, Shy turned around to see Clarissa peeking out from behind the door, her ponytail undone and frizzing. In the working room, the pink-haired woman was sprawled unconscious on top of the table.

"Yeah?"

Clarissa slipped a sealed envelope to Shy, who took it, examining the blank space where an address should have been. "I want you to bring this to the gardener in Sector Three. He might have locked up already since it's getting late. His daughter Ivanka should still be awake, though."

Shy slipped the letter into the pocket of her jacket. "But I thought you wanted me to stay here?"

"You can go back to your suite after you deliver the letter. I'm doing you a favor, really." Clarissa closed her eyes, rubbing the sagging sockets. "Don't be late with the tickets next time."

***

The fairy tale writers of years long gone past would have had a field day with Sector Three. Delicate fairy-like people of indiscriminate gender floated through the hallways, each carrying a plant or a watering can or some other tool of helping their object of worship, the gardener situated at the farthest room of the sector. Nobody had placed such a mortal in such a high position... but really, nobody had explicitly declared Ophelia their leader either, and look what had happened.

Shy's footsteps were heavy pounds in comparison to the tiptoes of the fae. A few of them giggled as she dashed through, brushing her face with their floating hair and leaving tingling pink streaks behind on Shy's face. They weren't permanent. Plenty of her friends at her school had lured a fae away from Sector Three and drawn temporary tattoos on their limbs using the soft strands.

When Shy had reached the front door of the gardener's domain, she stopped to gawk at herself in the shiny surface of the doorknob. Through the golden tint, she looked like she'd been through a cotton candy warzone.

Come to think of it, I can't really feel my face.

Shy jiggled the doorknob. The door opened without a single squeak, but the room was pitch black dark. Light from the hallway spilled in, covering only the first few rows of tomato racks.

"Hello?" Shy stepped into the gardens, holding the envelope in her hands. She rubbed her hands along the right wall around the doorway, trying to find a light switch. "Is anybody- what the hell-"

Her hand touched something warm and sticky. Repulsed, she drew it back into the light.

It had come back bloody.

Shy, almost as an impulse, rubbed her hand on a nearby leaf to brush off the blood. She reached to the other side of the doorway and found the emergency flashlight on a hook. She flicked it on before walking down the center of the gardens, which seemed to stretch on for as long as one of the old supermarkets from the second era had.

"Is anybody-"

A shrieking sound, like metal being sheared and ripped, split through the air. Shy dropped the envelope and the flashlight and clamped her hands over her ears. The flashlight clattered to the ground, sending echoes throughout the expanse.

And, just as quickly as the shriek had started, it ceased.

Shy picked the flashlight back up and continued creeping down the aisle. There was a carrot plot, an upside-down herb bush, and a solitary pumpkin on a vine- and a girl about her age sprawled out on the concrete pathway bordering the bean crops. A boy knelt over her underneath a solitary hanging red lightbulb, his head to her chest.

Shy, almost surprising herself, hid behind the massive pumpkin and put out her flashlight before peeking out at the two.

What are you doing, you idiot? You like girls. Plus, you're not a voyeur.

Won't Ophelia get a load of this new planting endeavor!

The boy pushed himself off the girl and rubbed his hands on his pants. Shy's breath caught as he pulled out a long thin knife from his coat pocket. While weapons weren't banned in the city, they certainly were heavily regulated- besides, most of the permanent residents already had some kind of natural defense on their bodies, whether it be unnaturally sharp teeth or quills or claws.

Although, Shy admitted to herself as the boy twirled the blade between his fingers, that weapon was much more elegant than any ragged claw could ever dream of being.

Shy watched silently as the boy's fingers curled around the handle. After a moment of silence, only broken by the massive ceiling fans circulating air through the room, the stranger girl whispered, "Please, Germane, do it quickly."

"I'm thinking," he replied with a silky voice, not bothering to be as quiet as her. He twirled a strand of her blonde hair between the fingers of his free hand. "I wouldn't have you feel pain, but you've got to still be alive so that I don't lose the soul."

Soul?

"I have some sleeping aids in my pocket, I suppose. Heavy sedatives from the doctor's office-"

Does Clarissa know about this?

Of course she does, you fool. She never lets that blasted cupboard out of her sight.

"-but they'd take a few minutes to kick in, and I don't know how much longer I have left."

"So give all of them to me," the stranger girl whispered. Shifting in her spot on the ground, Shy could see- were those tiny waving leaves dotting her collarbone? "It's not like I'm going to be needing this dreadful body much longer."

The boy's face flushed as well as a face could flush under such a red light before he set aside the knife and took the bag of pills out of his pocket. Slipping one out, he placed it on his own lips and leaned in close to give the girl a kiss.

She threw her arms around his neck, dragging him down and greedily accepting his offer and his lush lips. She swallowed, reminding Shy of one of the movies from the old era as the girl's breath caught in her throat and she released something in between a moan and a sigh. Her limbs grew limp, and the boy slowly lowered her arms to the ground and pulled himself away from the girl.

"Hey!"

The boy's eyes immediately flew to where Shy was crouching behind the gigantic pumpkin. She covered her mouth, immediate regret flooding her face.

The boy's eyes narrowed, boring into Shy. "Who the hell are you?"

"I could ask you the same queston," she shot back. "Go get a room. Take your roleplay somewhere else."

The boy didn't respond at first, just slowly grinned. He brandished his knife again and slid closer to the ivy girl's chest. "How long do you think it'll be before her heart stops beating?"

Shy pulled her port out of her pocket. "I can have the police running towards this sector within a heartbeat. Put down the knife."

"Oh, so you have an in with the police?" He grinned wider, showing off his flawless pearly teeth. "It doesn't matter. I'm planning on renouncing this body as soon as the job is done."

Shy turned the screen on. The bright white light of the screen flooded the space, although she doubted it was enough to alarm the people outside the gardens. "You have five seconds."

"I doubt it."

Shy's vision suddenly blurred and faded. She felt her port and flashlight slip out of her hands, both clattering to the floor. Hands- someone's, she couldn't see, it was like a blindfold had been tied over her eyes- jerked her wrists and legs together, binding them and forcing her to the floor before she could think to fight back.

What the hell-

Germane moved again once he was sure Shy was incapacitated. He winked to the spirit before putting down his knife and tugging on the ivy girl's shirt. It was hard to get her arms through and out the simple piece of fabric, but he accomplished it soon enough. Germane took the knife again in his hands, whispering a short prayer to himself before making the first cut.

He dug around in her rib cage with a desperate fervor, forcing himself to ignore the sinews and strands that made up her hybrid poison-ivy body, until his hands clutched the quivering pale lump of flesh that had served as her heart. She didn't bleed, as he'd expected, but just lay there as she took her last breath and succumbed to the cold welcoming hand of death. One of the spirits that he'd brought with him clutched the thin strand of smoke that escaped from her mouth and disappeared with it. He'd arrive at Germane's house soon enough with the newly minted spirit.

She's in a better place now.

The poison ivy leaves dotting the girl's collarbone rattled with her final breath, still unaware of their owner's demise. Germane stood up silently, dipping his hat for a moment in the only true grieving that she would receive. The gardener would weep for her, true, but his real grief would be for his loss of a most valuable asset.

Ophelia would probably be relieved to be free of another unadoptable ward.

Germane drew a star over the heart still quivering in his hands. It glowed gold for a few seconds before disappearing into smoke in the air.

"Chire?"

The spirit knocked Shy unconscious before retreating from her. "Yes, Master Bes?"

"My powder's in my pocket. I'm ready. Take me home."

4

"Shy!"

Nox's voice echoed down the hallway as she dashed into the resting room in Clarissa's office. She bumped into the back of the assistant standing guard at the door and mumbled an apology before she pushed him aside and rushed to Shy's bedside at the end of the room.

Clarissa caught the body careening toward her before she could slam into the bed. "Calm down. Why'd you come back from scouting early?"

Nox's face flushed. "I just wanted to see Shy-"

"Shy is just fine. See?" Clarissa turned back to the bed. Shy, her bottom lip split and a large bruise on her face, took a long shuddering breath. "She's waking up. Give her space."

Nox's feathers bristled as she begrudgingly gave Clarissa space. The doctor removed the damp washcloth from Shy's clammy forehead as her brown eyes fluttered open.

"What..." Shy mumbled, her eyes drifting all over the place.

"Bad case of demonic possession." Clarissa wrung her hands. "It's been resolved. Your things are back in your room in Sector Four."

Shy's voice cracked. "The girl-"

"Is dead." The doctor sighed. "There's nothing you could have done about it, Shy. Although I would have liked that letter delivered when I sent it. But it's okay. The gardener knows about the contingency plan."

Shy's face scrunched up, and she turned her face away from the two. "The... what?"

"It's on a need-to-know basis."

Clarissa helped Shy out of bed and onto her feet. She wobbled for a bit before regaining her balance, and with the help of Nox, she made her way out into the waiting room.

"So do you think you'll be back to scouting tomorrow?" Nox asked as they left the building.

"Probably." Shy shook her head to clear her blurry vision. She let go of Nox's shoulder, and they walked to the loading area for the elevator. "Nox, how long was I out?"

"A few days."

"A few-" Shy grabbed Nox's wrist and twisted it up to see the watch. 3:27 PM stared blankly back. "I missed my dose. And our scouting shift begins in fifteen minutes."

Nox yanked her wrist back and pulled the small bottle out of her jacket. "I've got it right here. Take one quick before the visions start."

***

It was difficult for Nox to breathe when she was sailing smoothly above the treetops, her choppy maroon hair blowing in her face, but she wouldn't have it any other way. Somewhere below her, Shy was sprinting on the ground, maneuvering in between the trees and looking for people who had been half-buried by a mudslide or otherwise obscured from view. There were other scouts as well, but they were slower and were the final comb to go through the tangled forest.

It had been a while since they had last found someone who hadn't already become a corpse. A few months ago, they'd found at least one person a week by the riverside or unconscious underneath a tree.

Had something happened in the cities and nobody was escaping anymore?

Or perhaps the place of suffering they all had come from had finally been destroyed.

"Nox!"

Nox swooped down and found a tree branch to rest on near where she'd heard Shy's voice echo from. "What did you find?"

"Looks like a boy. About my age, I think. Pretty banged up."

Nox dropped down from the tree branch and approached where Shy was squatting. The boy was dark-haired and pale, with small cuts on his exposed chest and a small seven-pointed arrow birthmark on his shoulder.

"Do you want me to take him back?"

"Tag him and wait for the Comb to find him."

As Shy sprinted away, Nox pulled two neon orange bandannas from her pocket. She tied one to the boy's wrist and another to the trunk of the sapling near him. She double-checked that they would hold and then climbed up the nearest stable tree and pushed off of a branch to be airborne again.

Shy soon found three other teenagers, all unconscious or delirious, injured, and hiding under trees of their own.

And all of them had the same birthmark.

"What do you figure?" Nox nudged Shy, glancing at the fourth one. "All from the same experiment, most likely. Cover up the mark and they'll probably get forever homes."

"Yeah." Shy sighed, wistful. "You tagged the others, right?"

"Right."

Shy turned away from the girl. "Ophelia already has enough on her plate, what with Ivanka's death..." Her port buzzed, and she only got a second to look at it before her eyebrows shot up. "Head back to the Aviary."

"What- but the Comb-"

"The Comb will finish their business and then come back as soon as possible. We've got to turn back."

"Why?"

"Direct orders from Ophelia."

Nox huffed before taking off into the air again, quickly reaching the hidden entrance to the Aviary. Shy was only a few minutes behind, both reaching the entrance before the elevator came back up to start another cycle.

***

Lockdown was on everybody's lips as they dashed through the corridor of Sector Four. Shy's room was in the middle of the tunnel system; not so close that a potential intruder could target her first, but not so far away from the elevator that that she'd be a Titanic passenger in an emergency, all escape routes locked. The building committee had considered more surface tunnels, but they'd voted against it with heavy hearts under the rationale that it would be more of a security risk than they were equipped to deal with.

Although, if the Aviary could figure out a way to sustain a great deal more residents, then the issue would be revisited.

Shy stopped in front of door number forty-seven and pulled a key out of her pocket. Nox glanced over her shoulder at the rush of inhabitants sprinting behind them to their own rooms- and right before one of them could veer off of the bull run of the others and collide into them, Shy yanked open the door and hurled the two inside.

Nox collapsed face-first onto the welcome rug of Nox's room. Her mouth full of fibers, she mumbled, "Wha's the 'ig iyuh?"

Shy locked the door, nonchalant. "Hm?"

Nox pushed herself up from the floor. She promptly collapsed into Shy's oversize sofa, stretching out her arms and wings and yawning.

"I said, what's the big deal with the lockdown?" Nox murmured as her eyes slid shut.

"I don't-"

Shy's port buzzed again, and she fished it out of her pocket, taking a seat on what little couch space was left. Nox opened her eyes as the couch wobbled and watched as Shy's own eyes widened.

"What happened?"

Shy put a hand to her mouth. The footsteps outside their room continued to rumble. "I-"

"Spit it out!"

"Ophelia wants a private audience with us."

Nox's eyebrows shot up, but she didn't move from her recline on the couch. "When?"

"Now. She's on her way to this sector."

5

Nox rubbed her eyes. "So that's why she called the lockdown. Just so that she could have the halls all to herself."

Shy took off her sweatshirt. She balled it up and threw it onto her bed, still unmade from the last time she'd fitfully slept in it. The footsteps outside the room slowly died out. "And the guards." She untangled her braids. "And whoever else she might be bringing with her."

"But still... she didn't have to make it sound like the city was coming after-"

The doorbell rang, interrupting Nox, who flew to her feet. "She's here already?"

"No, you idiot, it's the pizza man." Shy stood up and elbowed Nox back onto the couch. Nox resentfully sat and pouted as Shy peeked through the viewhole in the door. "Who's there?"

The woman standing outside the door could have been Shy's mother- but it wasn't a fair comparison, being that Shy had never met her mother. The woman outside had flowing black hair and was fiddling with the small golden tassel pressed flat on her white dress. Flanking her on both sides were guards with stun guns stolen from the other city when they had fled.

The woman placed her hands together, nervous, looking away from the viewhole. Her French accent showed as she said, "I would like to request an audience with Sheiko Prim and Neimi Neyaska?"

"MY NAME'S NOX!" Nox shouted from the living room. "Incompetent morons in the records department..."

"I see." Ophelia folded her hands, unbothered. "May I please come in?"

Shy opened the door, curtseying as well as she could as Ophelia delicately stepped into the room. Her guards followed her inside. She took the stool in the corner of the room and sat it opposite the couch and took a seat. Nox glared at Ophelia.

Ophelia waited until Shy was seated before folding her hands in her lap. "Shy, I take it that you've recovered from the attack."

Shy bristled. "Don't remind me."

"And I trust that Nox knows about the murder that happened recently in Sector Three?"

Nox scoffed. "Everyone's been talking about it nonstop. Problem is, you haven't started the investigation, so we don't-"

Ophelia gestured to Nox, and she fell silent. "My head investigator was found hanging in a closet the night after Ivanka's murder. Our policing powers have been crippled immensely by this tragedy." Ophelia shuddered, and a guard placed his hand on her shoulder. "That is why we haven't found the identity of the murderer." She made eye contact with the wide-eyed Shy. "You're lucky that the security cameras had night vision, or else you would be behind bars right now."

Shy tensed. "Is that all you came to tell us?"

Ophelia's port buzzed in the guard's pocket. He retrieved it and handed it to her, and she immediately read the message at the top. Her eyebrows shot up. "You missed somebody."

"Who?"

"The Comb." Her voice quickened. "They've found the girl."

Nox shot to her feet. "We found girls in the forest-"

"Not all of them." Ophelia squinted at her port. "Only six of them were found. Three are missing-"

"What are you talking about?"

Ophelia turned to Nox. "God, insolent child, will you shut up for a moment so that I may read?"

Nox's face flushed red, but she forced herself to sit back down, forming her hands into fists and relaxing them again. Ophelia turned back to her port.

"This is the one." Ophelia turned to the guard on her left side, showing him the picture. "Notify Clarissa that this one with the brown hair is to receive priority treatment."

"It will be done."

He bowed before leaving the room. Ophelia coughed into her arm.

"I have brownish hair," Nox mumbled, looking down at the floor. "Do I get any special treatment?"

Ophelia scowled, but she said nothing as she read the message further. "I'm ordering you two to rest for the next week. You've got a long assignment ahead of you."

"Which is?"

"The same as it's always been." Ophelia stood up. "I hope you use this time wisely."

6

Nox closed her eyes as she sunk into the hot spring. A dull ache spread through her limbs as the water enveloped her, leaving only her head exposed as she sat on the natural rock shelf. The first morning labor shift would start soon, and Shy was probably still sleeping, so she was alone.

At least, she thought she was alone until she heard a splash beside her.

"Wake up!" Ameliore giggled, splashing a handful of water at Nox, who grimaced and scooted away from her. "You had all night to sleep!"

"Leave me alone," Nox mumbled, rubbing the dark circles under her eyes.

"You've been spending too much time alone." Ameliore slipped into the hot spring, sliding her body up against Nox. Her green hair billowed out all around her, done up in two ponytails. "I haven't seen you in three days. Why haven't you returned any of my messages? I wanted to go to Sector Two and maybe swipe some of the candies there."

Nox opened one eye. "And when was this supposed to happen?"

"Yesterday."

Nox sighed, stretching out her wings and forcing Ameliore off of the rock shelf. Her head bobbed under the surface before she stood up again, hair sopping and sticking around her body.

"I'm sorry, Ameliore." Nox opened her eyes. "But Ophelia ordered Shy and I to relax, and neither of us can really afford to get on her bad side. Especially after... you know..."

"But why you?" Ameliore stomped her foot on the smooth spring floor, worn down from the steps of countless unadoptables. "I want a week off! I never get time off!"

She paused, looking around. A few others had joined them in the hot springs, all eyes on her.

Ameliore blushed before turning back to Nox, subdued. "Why are you and Shy taking a break from working?"

"Ophelia gave us-"

Ameliore barely had time to blink before the loudspeakers at the far end of the massive space came to life. "Neimi Neyaska and Sheiko Prim, please report to the Capital immediately."

"Guess you've got to go," Ameliore whispered as Nox groaned. "See you around?"

"Yeah, sure."

Nox pulled herself out of the hot spring. Grabbing her duffel bag full of spare clothes, she retreated to the locker rooms. Maybe today would be the day that a changing room would be open.

***

"Plans have changed."

Ophelia's office was a stark contrast to the simplicity of every other room in the Capital. There was no throne but a mess of scrap steel beams welded into a chair shape and an ornately carved wooden desk with a single black notebook on top of it. The rooms were plastered with old propaganda posters from the beginning of the third era, stark and bold colors advertising what a glorious future would spring forth if the cities submitted to Soona Bris' rule and opened up their borders to unfettered scientific research.

A constant reminder of what Ophelia stood against.

Nox tried not to stare at the frustrated Ophelia as she took a seat on the metal chair- one that a builder-in-training had made as a present. Shy was already seated when Nox came in, her eyes lost in the words above her, reminding her of her life outside the Aviary.

Nox winced at Ophelia's piercing stare. "Could you maybe... explain?"

"I was getting to that." Ophelia slid her notebook aside and folded her hands on her desk. "Do you remember four days ago when you found several subjects from the city and left them for the Comb before I called the lockdown?"

Nox tensed. Shy looked away. "Yes, ma'am, I remember."

"And then you paid more attention to your port than to us and told your guard something about a brown-haired girl," Nox added.

Ophelia sighed. "My contact in the Institute has perished. Poisoning, I suspect. The exact details aren't clear, nor are they relevant to you." She opened her notebook, revealing cramped scrawls littering every surface of the pages. Her eyes glistened before she blinked. "Lainey Merun was a wonderful woman, and now she's passed the torch to me. Sixteen years of planning, Nox. Sixteen years of planning, and now I've got to rely on a hot-headed escapee from the Institute and a vampire."

"I'm not a vampire," Shy muttered under her breath, pressing her fingernails into her palms.

"I'm sorry, did you say something?" Ophelia held a hand to her ear. Silence for a few seconds. She dropped it. "Anyways, we've found more information about Ivanka's murder almost a week ago. It's no longer safe to keep the oldest of the Lilyborn here."

"Lilyborn?" Nox's eyebrows furrowed. "You've lost me."

"Dearie me. You don't know, do you?" Ophelia rubbed her forehead. "I've got to have a talk with your history teacher. They're obviously not doing their job right."

"Are you going to explain, or-"

"Give me a moment!" Ophelia turned to a different page in her notebook. "Before you were born, Nox, the Institute was under different leader-"

"I know this." Nox waved her hand. "Skip to the part where the woman flees into the wilderness and the dominatrix with a god complex decides to turn the entire thing into a dictatorship."

Ophelia's jaw set, but she said nothing of the blurting as she continued. "Anders Shew intended on making more of the androgynous people before his untimely death. His demise allowed his designs to go far beyond what he originally planned- the people struggling to fill the power void tried adding wings, beastly instincts, fangs..." Ophelia waved her hand. "They didn't know what they wanted. And then they remembered the embryo they'd created with the sperm sample they'd taken from Anders when he'd become administrator and the egg sample they'd coerced out of the woman, except that embryo had been incubating in the synthetic womb they had been testing at the time and was now a baby-"

"Can you get to the point?" Shy asked.

Ophelia rolled her eyes. "Lainey Merun dedicated her life from that point on to make sure that Anders' legacy continued. The people made by his original design- they were called Lilyborn, after the child, Lily. I have been waiting almost as long as that, from the time that I founded the Aviary, for Lily to show up at my doorstep."

Nox twirled a lock of her short hair around her fingers, bored. "So what do you need us for? Seems you've got the entire plan completed. What else could you want?"

"I want you to find Miranda."

Nox perked up. "Who?"

"Miranda Loyalis Shew. The woman who- how did you put it, Nox?- disappeared into the wilderness." Shy bristled, and Ophelia turned her eyes towards her. "Shy was with her on the first plane trip to her hiding location."

"But wasn't that-"

"It's a long story," Shy broke in. "Just continue."

"She should be about forty now, although she probably won't look a day over twenty-three. Lainey hasn't had any contact with her for a long time, and we have no idea if she's moved from her original location in West Virginia." Ophelia produced a handkerchief from her desk drawer and wiped her forehead with it. "But we know that she's alive, because if she were to die, all of Gehenna-Altaris would be roiling with the news. I would know in an instant. She needs to be reunited with her daughter. The Skribrulajxo commands it."

"See, there's a problem with that." Nox sat up straight. "We're neither trained nor equipped to do long distance tracking. I can find people in the forests surrounding this place, sure. But you want me to cross the entire country to find one person? Are you insane?"

"No." Ophelia cast a glance at Shy, who had fallen asleep in her chair. She pounded a hand on her desk, and the girl's eyes flew open as she shuddered awake. "Shy will be able to show you the way."

Shy snorted, crossing her arms. "I hardly even remember after all this time. But I guess..."

"You can start by finding Clarissa downstairs and asking to see Lily. She definitely won't be ready to go today, but maybe Clarissa can gauge how long we have left."

7

The doctor's office was a deafening kind of quiet when the two girls stepped inside, interrupted right away by the whoosh of the air vents, bringing in a mixture of air fresh from outside and recycled. It was easier on the ventilation system if it didn't have to constantly bring in new air, Ophelia had said. The system used less energy that way.

Shy knocked on Clarissa's office door, Nox right behind her. A few heartbeats passed, each exponentially longer before the familiar redhead showed up in the window.

"What do you want?" Clarissa whispered, poking her head out. "The new arrivals are sleeping. They're still malnourished. I'm busy."

"Ophelia told us to come down to you and ask to see Lily-"

Clarissa's eyes narrowed. "What's your business with Lily? I spent a whole hour trying to sedate her. She keeps screaming-" A wail sounded from the room at the end of the hallway. Clarissa winced. "Like that."

Shy put her hands together. "Ophelia decided that it wasn't safe to keep Lily here anymore, so we needed to help her find her mother."

Clarissa's eyes widened. She took a step back, leaving the door agape. "So Lainey's dead, then?"

"That's what she told us."

Clarissa closed her eyes and sighed. "Fine. I'll let you see her. But I want verbal confirmation from Ophelia herself before I let Lilith out of my care, much less allow you to take her out of the Aviary."

Clarissa led the two girls to the room at the end of the hallway. It was white and sterile-looking with two rows of five beds each. In each of them lay a relatively pale teenager about Nox's age, IV cords in their arms and stained bandages wrapped tight around their right wrists.

The girl in the first bed on the right opened her eyes as the three came into the room. Her face was even more pallid than the others, her skin like old paper. Her lips chapped, she murmured, "Clary?"

"Yes, Lilith?" Clarissa replied without missing a beat. She abandoned the two girls and moved to the bedside without making a sound.

"Lai... ney..."

"I know." Clarissa placed the back of her hand to Lily's forehead. "You're clammy again. Do you need more fluids?"

Lily's eyes shifted to where Shy was standing in the doorway, Nox on her toes peeking over her shoulder. She lifted a hand, pointing to Shy. "An... ders?"

Clarissa glanced to where Lily was pointing and then back to her patient. "You're hallucinating. I'm going to get another drip bag."

"No!" Just as Clarissa turned around, Lily's arm shot out. She clamped her hand around her doctor's wrist with an iron grip. "Please..."

Clarissa twisted her arm, forcing Lily to let go. Her arm flopped off the bed, her hand brushing the floor. Clarissa shoved Shy and Nox out of the room and retreated into her office.

"Well, now what?" Nox whispered to Shy, who was peering into the room at the wild-eyed Lily. "Does Ophelia really expect us to drag that with us a thousand miles to God knows where?"

"Well, I don't think Ophelia expects us to take her this moment." Shy's eyebrows furrowed. "Maybe we should wait until she has a sane mind before we start dragging her around the wilderness."

"That reminds me." Nox winced as she rubbed a sore muscle in her back. "Shy, why did Ophelia call you a vampire?"

Shy bristled. "I said I don't want to talk about it."

"Is that why you like to wear sweatshirts so much?"

Shy turned to Nox. "Did God kick you out of his kingdom because you were so annoying that you caused his circlejerk chorus to turn into cacophony?"

Nox sputtered. "What-"

"You've been here at the Aviary for, what, three years? And we've been scouting together for almost as long. We've been through the hottest summer days and the deadest of winter nights. Honestly, Nox, if I were a vampire, you would know."

"She could have meant an old-era sparkly-"

Shy took Nox's face in her hands and jerked her forward. "Have you ever seen me sparkle?"

Nox looked at the ceiling, deep in thought. "Maybe once."

"April Fool's Day doesn't count."

"Then no."

Shy let Nox go. Nox rubbed her cheeks where Shy's dry palms had squeezed her. They waited there for a few moments until Clarissa came back, acknowledging neither of them as she changed out the drip bag Lily was hooked up to and went to check on the other patients.

The two girls peered into the room again, hiding behind the doorway. Nox elbowed Shy. "When we leave, I call not it to carrying her around."

"I would think that we would be able to take a train or something-"

"Shy, we have no identification-"

"Ophelia could come up with something." Shy rubbed her nose. "I wonder if she has any cash?"

"And hiding my wings-"

Shy rolled her eyes. "Winter's approaching. Nobody's going to question someone wrapped up in a bulky coat. Besides, remember history class; the obesity rate in the country skyrocketed-"

Nox shoved Shy away from the doorway. One of the patients glanced over to them as Shy caught herself on the door frame. "You calling me fat?"

Shy held her breath for a few seconds until she was sure that Clarissa hadn't heard them. She pulled herself up. "You're pushing the opposite end of the spectrum. You eat like a bird."

Nox plucked her shirt and cocked her head. "Hmm. I wonder why?"

Clarissa sighed, and the two girls held their breath, hiding on either side of the doorway. The doctor tittered before returning to Lily. "You aren't slick. I hear everything here."

"Shoot," Nox whispered, eliciting a giggle from Shy.

"I heard that too."

8

"So, Shy, how the hell are we going to get out of the wilderness, avoid detection by the city, and find this... Miranda? Because I have no idea why or how Ophelia expects us to just take off with an invalid and-"

"Stop." Shy held out her hand. "Nox, you're going to drive me insane, and we haven't even gotten to the room yet. Can you wait?"

"Wait?" Nox scoffed. "I've been doing enough of that in my life. My entire life has been waiting. What are we even supposed to be doing down here? I'm going to rot-"

The elevator doors opened, the red number above the door flickering to three. Ameliore was standing in the loading area with a shopping bag dangling from an arm.

"Shy!" Ameliore grinned and rushed forward and pinned Shy against the back of the elevator. Her bag swung against her leg. "It's been so long since I last saw you. Your eyes look dark. Are you okay? Is something wrong?"

"I'm a bit..." Shy cursed internally as Nox muttered something indecent under her breath. "...a bit squished."

"Oh, sorry!" Ameliore backed up a few steps as the elevator door closed with just the three of them in it. "What was the announcement from earlier today for?"

Nox coughed. "Ophelia wants us to go find some hermit woman in the wilderness who's apparently one of the new arrival's mothers."

"Wilderness? Like around here?"

"Sorry," Nox said, "I should have added that she was last seen in West Virginia."

Ameliore blinked for a moment, blank, before she threw her arms around the two girls and squeezed them close. "Road trip!"

"We have no money," Nox said, indignant and half-squished, "and I can't drive."

"That's not a problem. I've been keeping a stash of old era money."

"Ameliore, there's a reason it's called old era money-"

She let go of the two girls, who stumbled to opposite sides of the elevator door as it chimed open at Sector Four. Taking their hands, she pulled them into the loading area and let go once they'd crossed the threshold.

"I always dreamed of escaping the Aviary someday," Ameliore sighed, pulling out her port. "And now you've given me the perfect excuse to."

"I don’t think Ophelia-"

"Screw what Ophelia thinks." Ameliore swiped past a few screens. "Where in West Virginia did she say?"

"No clue." Nox glanced at Shy. "She said you were there?"

"National Radio Quiet Zone," Shy murmured, noting the confusion on Ameliore's face. "I don't want to talk about it right now."

Ameliore swiped a few more times until her eyes lit up. "There's a train route from Wychester down south to Charlottesville, which is right outside the Zone." She sighed. "I'd love to visit the Paramount Theater."

"Ameliore!"

She looked up from her phone. "Yes, Shy?"

"We can't do that. Ophelia never gave you permission to come with us, and besides, we have to drag along the newfound girl, remember? She's invalid. She would be a dead weight."

"The train would take a day and eight hours to travel," Ameliore pointed out. "She could sleep on the way there."

"And as much as I hate to admit it, you're a dead weight too. You're not athletic, and we're going to have to run for hours at a time, assuming that Miranda's even still alive and hasn't moved."

Ameliore's face darkened. "You underestimate how much power my money has."

"Then why don't you correct me?"

"Because that's less important." Ameliore brushed past the two girls, heading to Shy's room. "How are we going to get Lily out of Clarissa's office without anybody noticing?"

Shy and Nox trailed behind the green-haired girl. "Are you proposing-"

"A break-in?" A wicked grin spread across Ameliore's face as she stashed her port in the pocket of her pants. "Brahm dumped me a few hours ago. Any chaos is justified at this point."

***

Elsewhere, on a seemingly abandoned farm, an endless array of stars twinkled down on a field of root vegetables and rain collectors. Frost was in the process of punishing the leaves and tubes, encrusted with nature's diamonds. The harvest was late, but so was everything else in the sleepy town of Lullin.

"Do ya think it's time to finally start pulling 'em up, Miranda?"

The half-asleep androgyne perched on the front steps of the farmhouse opened his eyes, only glancing at his helper for a second before closing them again. "Wait 'til Friday. I don't feel the snowstorm starting for quite a few weeks."

"Miranda," the farmhand insisted, taking a seat on the half-frozen steps and instantly wishing that he'd worn something slightly more insulated than overalls. "Ah been working with ya for six months, and ya still haven't told me- why do ya keep sitting out on these steps night after night? Nobody's gonna 'ppear. The stars aren't gonna fly billions of miles uh hour to re'range an' give ya some kind of heavenly wisdom. Yuh just predisposin’ ya'self to hypothermia."

"I'm trying to think."

"In the cold?" The farmhand laughed, dissolving into a fit of shivering and wishing that he'd brought a jacket with him as well. "What's so important out here that ya can't ruminate on it indoors?"

"The cold helps me think."

"It helps me think too. For example, ah think that ah'm freezing and that the harvest is gonna spoil if ya keep 'em in the ground much longer." The farmhand stood up. "Tomorrow mornin', bright and early. Ah'll even go into town and pick up some chemical hand warmers."

Miranda sighed. "Indo..."

"Ya can thank me now-" he threw the farmhouse door open- "or ya can thank me later."

Miranda ignored Indo as the farmhand abandoned him. As soon as the front door slammed shut, he opened his eyes, allowing the bleak glow of the bug light hanging from the old flagpole to cast a ghostly glare over the midnight yard.

Somewhere in the distance, a train horn echoed across the desolate landscape. Miranda had come into this lonely place on a train, he remembered, still bewildered from Anders' death with only a single bag of possessions from his former life. The inhabitants of Lullin had welcomed him, he remembered, still as friendly but secretive now as they had been sixteen years ago.

The first thing he had done was buy a calendar. Fifteen of them now lay half-cut up in the back of a cupboard.

9

"Come here, Estella. I want to talk to you."

A sickly pale girl entered the shadow-filled room, trying to keep her eyes off the large silhouette standing in front of the window. Two ethereal curtains fluttered in the late autumn breeze. The last time she'd tried to see past the shroud, she'd been rewarded with a swift slap across the cheek and a week spent in the Hole.

"Y-yes, Miss Lannister." Her voice warbled as she attempted a curtsey, even though she couldn't see any eyes that might have judged her on her poise. Her ankle twisted, and she caught herself before she could fall and soil her black dress. She straightened herself out and cleared her throat, a delicate action that one could not have heard unless they had been listening for it. "I am at your service."

Clumsy girl, the figure would have said. I didn't raise such an ugly duckling.

"I understand you had befriended some of the Lilyborn before Miss Merun made such a damaging move of insolence?"

Estella planted her feet firmly on the ground, trying to still her trembling- she knew it was meaningless to try, for the figure could have sensed even the slightest tic. "I- I didn't help them escape, if that's what you're suggesting."

"Answer the question."

"Y-yes, Miss Lannister."

The figure crossed her arms, brushing a stray lock of bleached-blonde hair behind her ear. "Given the opportunity, would you have colluded with Miss Merun behind my back and contributed to the loss of nine perfectly valuable subjects?"

Estella's eyes darted around the room. "No, Miss Lannister."

"I understand your life has been quite sheltered here. You haven't had what others might consider a... normal upbringing."

"My loyalties lie with the Institute," Estella mumbled. The same line she had used every time the figure hinted at the years Estella had spent in the back rooms of the Institute, playing with the more placid of the experiments. "I love this place. I would never assist someone leaving it."

"That's good to hear."

The figure turned around. The lone light hanging from the ceiling, terrified of the woman before now, drew the lines of age and sagacity on the worn face of one Miss Anastasia Lannister, administrator of the Research Institute of Soona Bris.

Miss Lannister relaxed her arms. Her hair shone on her shoulders, threatening to daze Estella. "I need you to do me a favor."

Estella dipped her head before remembering that it wasn't the time to curtsey. Hundreds of hours of self-taught manners classes rampaged in the back of her head, threatening to make her dizzy. "Anything for you, Miss Lannister."

"I want you to take a message to Bestiele tonight when he comes to your room. Tell him to start looking for Lilith's silver string."

The corner of her mouth twitched up for a moment. Miss Lannister reached out and touched the back of Estella's right hand, right in the middle of an ugly twisted scar that had faded over the years.

"He can start right here."

10

"Hey! Hey, Nox! Wake up!"

Nox jolted upright. A pair of hands clutched her shoulders. She twisted wildly, feeling the spindly fingers digging into her flesh before she slipped out of the sheets and landed on the floor with a solid thunk.

Nox rubbed her head with one hand as she held the other out. A piece of fabric slid into her fingers- rather, an entire skirt once her fingers had climbed upwards.

"Hey!" Ameliore's hands slid away. Her hip checked the foot of the bed, making the port in her dress pocket turn on and illuminate the room with a faint blue glow. "Watch where you're putting your hands, pervert!"

"Sorry," Nox murmured as Shy groaned in the bed. "What the hell are you doing in here, Ameliore? Do you even know what time it is?"

Ameliore pulled the port out of her pocket and checked the lockscreen. "It's three-nineteen in the morning."

Nox pulled herself to her feet. She pointed at the door. "Get out."

"Of the Aviary? That's what I'm here to do." Ameliore clamped a hand over Nox's mouth, smothering any protests. "Get your clothes on and wake Shy up, then meet me in the elevator loading area."

Nox dug her fingers into her cheek and pried Ameliore's perfectly manicured hand off her face. "And what if I don't?"

"Then I'm not gonna be the one to explain to administration why Lily was on the floor of a bathroom stall."

Nox stared at Ameliore. The portscreen's glow lit up the dark circles under Ameliore's eyes and a splotch on her cheek that she hadn't had the chance to obscure. Nox imagined herself slapping Ameliore- for waking her up so early, for jumping the gun and taking Lily before any of them were ready- but she found her arm raised to do so, and she forced herself to take a deep breath and calm down.

"One question." Nox's voice shook as she stepped away from Ameliore. "How?"

Smugness bloomed on Ameliore's face as she answered, "I sweet-talked my way through every person I came across. It's amazing what charm can do, Nox. If only you had some so you could relate."

Nox clenched her fists and then shoved them into the pockets of her pajama pants. Shy slid off of the bed, wobbling on two unsure feet.

Ameliore winked as she left the room, leaving the door open, light from the brightly lit hallway spilling in. No alarms, no guards marching down the halls. No indication that Ophelia or her goons knew anything was amiss.

"Don't tell me that Ameliore screwed up the plan," Shy groaned. She stooped down to search for her box of clothes under the bed, hand feeling around in the dark, grimacing when her fingers brushed against a dust bunny.

"Kinda hard to screw up a plan she made herself."

"And followed to the letter." Shy found the box and fumbled the lid off. She pulled out the first jacket and pair of jeans. "That's such a stupid expression, by the way. Why would anybody want to follow a letter?"

"Shy, it's an idiom-"

"It's a stupid idiom." Shy pulled the jacket over her head and began to pull off her pajama pants. "Do you mind shutting the room door?"

"Nobody's going to see-"

"You're staring right at me."

"Fine." Nox closed the door and put a hand over her eyes. "You happy?"

Shy discarded her pajamas under her bed and slid her pants on. Almost as an afterthought, she retrieved her port and the half-empty bottle of pills from the box and tucked it into her jacket pocket. She kicked the box back under her bed.

"You got your port?"

"Oh-" Nox reached back to the bed and slipped it out from the crack under the mattress. She shoved it into her pocket. "Now I do."

"Then come on. Let's go."

They slunk from the room, Shy taking extra care to close the door without a single squeak. Ameliore was still waiting in the elevator loading area when they arrived, this time with an unconscious girl in her arms.

"You ready?" Ameliore whispered as the elevator doors opened. She boarded the compact space without waiting for the two girls- but they followed, and the jerk in their stomachs announced that they were in motion.

"I can't believe I'm about to leave the Aviary," Shy whispered to herself as the elevator pinged to signify it was traveling further underground. "How long has it been?"

"You tell me," Nox budged in. "You're the vampire."

"Shy is a vampire?" Confusion crossed Ameliore's face as the unconscious Lily's fingers twitched. "But I've seen her eating garlic bread on spaghetti days."

"I'm not a vampire," Shy groaned, turning around and facing the elevator doors with her arms crossed. "I am an augmented human being with an aversion to the sun because I can't stand anything that's brighter than me."

"Shy, I don't know if you've noticed, but your skin is pretty dark."

"That's not what I meant." She felt a shiver of a smile creeping onto her face, but it quickly passed. "How are we going to get to the train station, Ameliore? Unless you're planning on running all the distance from here to Wychester in a designer dress."

"I was thinking we could ride off into the sunset on a pair of white horses while Nox leads the way-"

"Absolutely not." Nox crossed her arms. "Do you have an actual plan, or are you just jealous that we got a few days off and you're going to sabotage our mission?"

Ameliore's face fell, and she turned away from the girls. Her voice remained low as she explained, "Brahm broke up with me. Don't you remember?"

"And you think that gives you license to take it out on us?"

"He broke up with me because I went through his port."

"Sounds like you deserved it." Nox leaned against the wall of the elevator, jolting when it thunked to a stop at Sector Three.

"He had the codes to the stardust tunnel, the ones that only Ophelia and her closest trustees were supposed to know about. I copied them, and he found out. Now he's going to turn me in-" She turned her face, and the other two girls could see that tears were threatening to spill over. The elevator continued its leisurely descent. "I don't want to go to the jail. It's grimy and dusty and everybody'll forget about me-"

"Calm down." Shy reached out and placed a hand on Ameliore's shoulder, but she twisted away, and it fell back to Shy's side. "Take a deep breath. You don't want to wake up Lilith."

"I know." Ameliore sniffled, closing her eyes as the elevator waited and then left Sector Two. "I mean, they'd also throw me in for draining Ophelia's vaults of all the old era money I could get my hands on."

"AMELIORE-"

"Now who's the one being ob-NOX-ious?" She wiggled her eyebrows at Nox, who huffed and faced the corner of the tiny enclosure. Shy put her hood up, averting her eyes. "I have three hundred dollars in the case of my port."

Everybody fell silent until the elevator reached the Capital. They departed silently, following Ameliore into the yellow streets. The streetlights glowed weakly at half-power, watching, waiting.

This might be the last time I ever see this place, Nox thought.

Are you crazy? You're going to find Miranda, drop off the girl, and then hightail it back here with Shy and Ameliore.

But Ameliore's a criminal now. You really think they're going to let guilt by association slide?

Her shoes made no sound as they pattered down the street. Despite the fear Nox knew she should be feeling for their departure, for her escape from the place that had resurrected her from her grave in the low grove of the forest, she felt nothing but the chilly air of the midnight Capital.

"We're here. Shy, can you help me?"

Nox looked back up. Ameliore had led them to a back alley, where a pothole with a handle on it stood in front of a red-curtained window peering into a shop. The area was grimy and dim, and Nox could see Ameliore's bottom lip curl in revulsion at the thought of what one misstep could do to her dress.

Shy gritted her teeth and wrapped her hands around the handle. Bracing her legs, she strained to lift the lid up, only raising it an inch before she jerked it to the left and sliding it out of the way. Looking down, she could peer into the long, dark tunnel below, a single row of dingy steel rungs serving as a ladder into what lay below.

"So who wants to go first? Because I'm sure as hell not going to."

Nox sighed as she stepped up to the hole. She crouched down and tentatively lowered her foot down onto the top rung. She bit her lip, trying not to think about what could be accumulating on her feathers as she climbed down.

Ameliore laid Lilith down on the ground and bunched her dress up in her hands. Stars above, I'm such an idiot, thinking I could get away with bringing my prettiest dress away with me-

She turned, studying the ragged curtain hanging in front of the shop alley window. Is that thing secured? She stepped towards it and tugged on it, and it easily came loose with a few unused ropes attached. Smiling to herself, she tied the ropes into a loose circle, bunching up the fabric and putting it on like a rain poncho.

Perfect.

She peered down the hole. Nox was standing at the base of the ladder, looking up.

"Nox!" Ameliore whispered, cringing at the echo. "Can you help me get Lily down?"

"Sure," Nox replied, holding her arms up.

Shy joined Ameliore's side and helped the unconscious girl down the tunnel, holding their breaths when Nox grabbed hold of Lily's feet and sighing when the girl limped against Nox's shoulder.

Straining under the weight, Nox added, "Are you going to come down here, or what?"

Shy shushed her before following her down the tunnel. She jumped past the last two rungs, landing on the ground of the tunnel and waving Ameliore down as well. Once they had regrouped, Ameliore took the girl back into her arms and looked around.

There was only one way to go, and that was forward.

The concrete tunnel wasn't as repulsive as the ladder had been. After a minute of walking in darkness, Nox slipped, and she placed a hand on the wall to steady herself-

A row of lights on the ceiling of the tunnel lit up. Nox caught her breath before the group continued on. Five minutes of nothing but the echoes of walking later, and they came across a curved door of glass separating them from what looked like an escape pod straight out of a spaceship from a science-fiction film.

"What is this, Ameliore?" Nox whispered, leaning against the tunnel wall, desperately trying to catch her breath. "Since you seem to have all the answers here."

"Stardust," Ameliore answered. "Ophelia's personal escape pod. Modeled after the Gehennan vehicles of her childhood."

"Great." Shy groaned, also slumped against a wall. Her skin burned, even against the cold stone of the tunnel. "Do any of you know how to drive that thing?"

"It's a one-way vehicle," Ameliore explained, stepping to the curved glass door and retrieving her port from her dress pocket. "It'll take us straight to the cities, where we'll board a train."

She tapped the port against the curved glass. A circle in the middle of the glass glowed green. The entire door slid into the wall. The hatch of the spherical escape pod opened.

"You first, Nox."

"Fine," she moaned, limping into the pod.

Beneath the bright light, there were two padded benches on either side of her, cushioned dividers marking out the seats. The front of the pod brandished a complicated control panel, but the largest button dead center glowed orange. Nox took a seat on the left bench and put on her seatbelt as Shy joined her. Ameliore buckled Lilith into the seat across from them before sitting in front of the control panel.

"Do you even know what you're doing?" Nox questioned as the door of the escape pod slid shut and locked.

"It can't be much more complicated than pressing the orange button marked 'escape'," Ameliore answered.

"Ameliore- not yet-"

Ameliore slapped the button. The lights in the pod dimmed and then went out completely.

"Too late."

11

Shy and Nox held their breath as the hatch closed, expecting the pod to jolt forward at the speed of light and splatter them against the windshield. But all that happened was the light of the pod pulsing in and out like a slow heartbeat.

"Hmm." Ameliore surveyed the rest of the buttons on the dashboard. Various panic settings, an emergency broadcast transmitter, life jackets and oxygen tanks ready to deploy. "What kind of emergency was Ophelia planning for, anyways?"

Shy bit her lip, fidgeting with the seatbelt squeezing her chest and trying not to think about the countless dangers that came with inhabiting a tunneled-in mountain. Cave-ins, torrential rainfall creating a flood effect, earthquakes... None of them had ever happened during her time there, but that didn't mean that they weren't impossible.

"Maybe I have to press the button again," Ameliore said to herself, tapping the glowing orange button more lightly this time.

The console printed a miniscule line of text- Please enter authorization code.

Ameliore dug her port out of her pocket, tossed the curtain-coat over an empty seat, and typed in the twenty-character string of gobbledygook.

The string of text disappeared. A ring of light formed around the orange button, counting off the seconds before the pod would take off. Nox instinctively reached for Shy's hand, fumbling around in the darkness before their palms met, rough to soft, and their fingers intertwined.

"Dang it," Ameliore whispered, feeling her way around before finding a different seat next to Lilith and managing not to get herself tangled in her seatbelt. "I wish there was a guide light."

"I know-"

A clatter rang from the entrance to the tunnel. Unfamiliar voices- those of Ophelia's police, Shy guessed- echoed through the tunnel, muffled through the curved glass door.

The orange button glowed brighter, and Ameliore's eyes widened, frantic. "How much longer?"

"Fifteen seconds," a saccharine voice chimed from the dashboard.

"Well, isn't that convenient."

The guards drew closer- the party could now see their flashlights faintly flickering at the other end of the tunnel. They were shouting commands at each other- something about destruction of property and traitors.

"Ten seconds," the dashboard sang.

"Shy?"

"Yeah, Nox?"

Nox squeezed Shy's hand tighter as her chest tightened. "If we get arrested, can we have cells next to each other?"

"Five seconds."

"We're not going to-"

"Now departing."

"-get arrested..."

Air outside the pod whooshed as it disconnected from the tunnel. Nox squeezed her eyes shut as her hand clamped Shy's. Shy winced as the pod picked up speed. The guards, just starting to come into view, sprinted towards where the pod had been docked and whacked on the glass door separating them-

The pod took off. Their heads slammed into the seats. The ground fell away. Lights in the tunnel ahead passed by at dizzying speed, blurring into each other until they were a single line and then not a line at all, just a ray that threatened to outshine them all into dust-

The pod decelerated. Everyone jolted the other way. Outside of the pod, on both glassed-in ends of the sphere, starlight twinkled as far as their eyes could see- to infinity, nothing but indigo so soft Ameliore felt like she could reach out and stroke it like velvet.

"Stardust," Ameliore whispered, rushing to take off her seatbelt and get a closer look at the view. "Do you think we're in space, Shy?"

Shy rubbed her head where the padding of the divide hadn't done her justice. "Do you feel like we're in space?"

"I've never been in space before. What would I have to compare it against?"

She twirled around, grinning, ignoring the look on Shy's face when her dress brushed up against Shy's leg. The orange button on the dashboard faded to naught. A map resembling a cross-section of an ant colony appeared on the screen embedded in the ceiling- or what they thought was the ceiling, being that they were in space and the longer that Shy stared at the void around them, the more vertigo creeped up into her legs-

Lilith coughed up blood onto the polyester webbing of the seatbelt. Her drowsy eyes fluttered open.

"So I guess it's safe to get out now?" Nox almost ripped her seatbelt off, and Shy followed suit, although the latter stayed in her seat. "Hey, kid, what's so important about you that we have to abandon our home and travel across the country?"

"What?" Lilith sat up straight, still wearing her seatbelt. Her eyes were dazed. "I... I'm sorry. Where am I?" She glanced out the back end of the pod, stars still on display- although less bright. "Where are we going?"

"To be honest, I have no idea where this escape pod is going to take us," Ameliore said. "We could be going to the cities for all I know." She turned to Shy. "Do you think we'll land in the Institute?"

Lilith's face blanched. She shook her head with increasing intensity. "Please- oh, please, don't- I-"

Nox took Lilith's face in her hands, resisting the urge to slap her. "Relax." She glared at Ameliore. "Seriously? She just woke up in a strange place surrounded by strangers, and you're going to make her panic?"

Ameliore shrugged. "I'm sorry. I forgot that not all of us had come to terms with where we came from."

"You knew that she was new-"

"I wasn't thinking. Stars above."

Ameliore turned away from Nox and strained her neck to see the map. A yellow dot sat at the bottom of the screen, lazily drifting downwards from where a black line separated the mimic-ant colony from static.

Lilith coughed. A thin trail of blood leaked onto the seatbelt. Nox grimaced as she reached for Ameliore's curtain-coat and wiped off the stain before it could leak onto the seats.

Lilith's childlike eyes focused on Nox as she stepped back, wiping her hands on her pants. "Where are we going?"

Nox bristled. "To find your parents, apparently. Or parent. I don't know your home situation."

"That still doesn't tell me where." Lilith looked over to Shy. "Do you know? You look pretty trustworthy."

"So I'm not-"

"Shush, Nox." Shy patted the seat next to her. Nox, indignant, shook her head and crossed her arms. "West Virginia's the most detailed answer I can give you. "

"Oh. Okay."

Lily's eyelids lolled shut. A few moments later, and she was snoring.

"Stars. I wish I could fall asleep that quickly," Ameliore whispered, getting up from her chair. Her eyes traveled the dashboard, landing on a dial, which she turned. It clicked along with the latch on two panels underneath the rows of seats. "Shy, could you get that?"

Shy stooped down from her seat and popped the latch on her side of the pod. The panel swung open, revealing a large rolled-up blanket.

"What-"

"And the other one, too."

Shy reached across the tiny space and retrieved the deflated blow-up mattress. The pod's lights dimmed as they diverted their energy, and one blanket toss later, and a makeshift bed filled the expanse between the two rows.

"Now that I think about it," Nox sighed, rolling onto the bed and dragging Shy down with her, "I'm exhausted." She nestled her head into the crook of Shy's neck before the other girl could barely get comfortable. "Thanks for doing all the hard work for me."

12

"I'm not happy, Soph."

Ophelia hardened her stare, facing away from the guard she had summoned- else, her eyes might bore a hole straight through him. She crossed her arms. Her blue nightgown fluttered.

"Neither am I, Lady Ophelia."

"That's because you're never happy. You have no reason to be. You had ample warning that both Clarissa's office and the escape tunnel had been breached. You failed to mobilize your troops in time to recover Stardust or the Lilyborn girl. It would be forgivable had the culprits been well-trained defectors from your unit..." A muscle in Ophelia's jaw twitched. "But they were four unarmed teenage girls. And the Lilyborn was unconscious, so really three."

Soph hardened his jaw to match the rest of his face. A worn commander and lifelong friend of Ophelia, he had seen enough of these outbursts to fill a lifetime.

"In all fairness, Lady Ophelia, we weren't properly equipped to deal with such an occurrence-"

"Why weren't you?" Ophelia flew around, rage in her eyes, her curly hair askew. "I gave you everything you wanted, Sophronios! Extra funding, state-of-the-art stunners, priority over recruit selection..." Ophelia huffed. "I have half a mind to throw you and your unit in the jail in their stead."

Soph closed his eyes, placing his right hand over his heart. "I am sorry, Lady Ophelia. Truly sorry. Nox and Shy-"

Ophelia held her hand out, grimacing. "Don't speak their names."

"My apologies. The trackers will be a loss to the Aviary. I'm not so sure about the fae girl. The Lilyborn, however… We have a glimmer of hope. We know where the group is headed."

Ophelia's eyes hardened. "Do you really?"

"West Virginia, correct?"

"There are many routes they could have taken. Especially with Stardust's randomizer drive..." Ophelia yawned, closing her eyes. Her muscles relaxed. "I hate to do this. But the Aviary is a tightly-wound clockwork machine that I've spent the better part of my life working to maintain."

"I would know. I gave up my career in Gehenna to follow you."

"And what a world of good that's done me." Ophelia sat down behind her desk, wiping her forehead with her sleeve. "Did Stardust manage to activate the randomizer drive?"

"Yes, Lady Ophelia."

"I want you and five of your best soldiers to go out and track them down. I can't trust any of the defectors- especially the fae girl- not to leak anything about the Aviary. They reach one person and blab, and we're all dead. And you wouldn't want to go through soul recycling with Bes' revolution underway. And Lilith- she was nowhere near ready to leave the Aviary-" Ophelia's breath rattled- "she could be having a medical emergency right now-"

"Calm down, Lady Ophelia." Soph laid one hand on the shuddering woman's shoulder. "I will find them. The randomizer drive didn't activate fully. There are only a few places they could have gone-"

"I get it." Ophelia waved him off. "You and your unit can atone for your failures by finding the girls and bringing them back here to face justice. They're racking me with worry, and I can't be so, because I've got to worry about the welfare of the rest of my wards!"

"It will be done."

"Don't be afraid to summon Rena if you have to," Ophelia added as an afterthought. "Although I'm sure you don't need further humiliation."

Soph turned aboutface and exited the room before Ophelia could berate him further. He closed the door as Ophelia broke out into a sob and made his way into the empty street. A handful of his inferiors waited across the road, empty due to the lockdown called just a few minutes prior.

"Kind of suspicious how they got away without tripping any of the sirens," Callee, the guard-in-training to Soph's left, remarked as they regrouped and headed for the armory in Sector Five. The youngest of the group at fourteen, he was scrawny and ill-fit his armor. "Don't we have a curfew? That should have stopped them."

"Callee," Wyrb, Callee's friend and second-youngest in the group of seven, huffed, "in case you haven't noticed, criminals don't give a damn about the law."

Callee scoffed. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that Sophronios here helped them escape-"

Soph whacked him in the back. Callee stumbled, holding up the rest of the unit before he got back on his feet and flashed a thumbs-up before dashing back to his place in formation.

"Don't use my full name," Soph intoned.

"Why not?" Wyrb nudged Callee ahead of him, breaking formation. "It's dark and foreboding and demanding of respect. Like you wish you could be."

"Pick up the pace. We've got a long walk ahead of us."

13

Rain splattered on Nox's forehead. She cracked open her eyes. Stardust had landed in their sleep, and not perfectly, for the entire pod was askew and all the girls had rolled to one side of the bed in their sleep. Ameliore snored soundly at the bottom of the pile. Lilith was undisturbed, still wearing her seatbelt.

More rain splattered on Nox's forehead. She rolled herself onto Lilith's row of seats before climbing through the pod's door, thrown half-open. Imperfectly manicured grass and trees greeted her- particularly the fallen tree Stardust had smacked into, jagged young wood poking up sharp, still fresh and unaware of its demise.

Nox's breath caught in her throat as she looked around. They were in a city park of some sort, abandoned due to the rain. The sky was dismal and scraped with the branches of sleeping trees. A decorative water fountain tinkled softly behind her. And- were those residential houses across the street?

"Crap."

"Hey, watch your language."

Shy struggled her way out of the pod. Her feet splashed in the puddle under the pod door as she jumped out. Looking around, her eyes widened.

"I didn’t think I’d see a proper house ever again," Shy whispered, joining Nox by the fallen tree. "How the hell did we sleep through that?"

"Didn't you just yell at me for language?"

"Sorry." Shy glanced back at the pod. "Do you think we should wait out the weather before we get marching? I don't want to deal with hospitals and documentation if any of us get pneumonia."

"Are you serious?" Nox gestured to the dead tree. "Property damage! Not to mention that we came out of a pod? Do you think the police are going to take 'we're aliens from a planet you've never heard of' as an excuse?" Nox shivered and pulled her wings around her. "They're probably on their way right now as we speak."

"Fine." Shy huffed, retreating to the pod. She retrieved a pill from the bottle still in her pocket, gulping it down her dry throat. Leaning through the busted door, she shook Ameliore's shoulder. "Hey, wake up. There'll be plenty of time for beauty sleep in jail."

"Oh, am I being arrested?" Ameliore murmured, stretching her arms out and yawning. "Didn't know you were the law, Shy."

Shy yanked on Ameliore's arm. Ameliore yelped, jerking her arm back and pulling herself up to where she could see out of the door. "Stars. You really did a number on that tree."

Shy tugged again. Ameliore stumbled out of the pod, only retrieving her curtain-coat as an afterthought. She grimaced as her shoes were immediately soaked. "Are we ready to go?"

"What about Lily?"

"Right." Ameliore huffed, reaching back in and waking Lily. The girl mumbled some nonsense before undoing her seatbelt and rolling out of the pod. Ameliore caught her and helped her upright. "Where are we going, Shy? Since you seem to be in charge."

Shy rolled her eyes before plodding out of the park. Everyone followed behind, even Lily, who stumbled every few steps. Her walking got steadier as they progressed down the street.

"Ameliore," Shy said over her shoulder as they made a right turn at the first intersection, "Pull out your port and see where the nearest train station is."

Ameliore pulled it out and shielded the screen from the rain with one hand as she typed with the other. "It's about two miles away, but the fares are astronomical." She gulped. "That's not going to leave us with much money to do much of anything in Charlottesville."

"We're not tourists, Ameliore-"

"Maybe you aren't!" Ameliore halted, forcing the rest of the group to stop in the middle of the street and turn around with weary eyes. "But it's my money, and I'll spend it as I see fit. Besides, what's the point of being away from the comforts of the Aviary if we can't enjoy the outside world?"

"Ameliore," Shy sighed. "Did you ever attend a history class? Do you know what happens to unadoptables like us?"

"The only one who has to worry about that is Nox," Ameliore shot back, much to Nox's chagrin.

"In case you haven't noticed," Nox yelled, "your hair is green and floats around when it's not restrained."

"That can be blamed on static electricity and hair dye!" Ameliore tugged on a lock of her hair. "What are you going to blame your wings on, Nox? Maybe angels really have fallen down to Earth and we're about to witness the apocalypse-"

"Guys." Shy stepped in between the two, Lily looking on. "You're making a scene. We don’t know if people are listening in. Can we maybe wait until we're in a private train compartment to bicker about biological differences?"

"Fine," said Ameliore and Nox at the same time. They continued their march down the street. Nobody had heard.

***

Nox rested her head on her shoulder as the train took off, her arms crossed underneath the curtain-coat she'd taken from Ameliore. Ameliore was somewhere or other, arguing with a fellow passenger or trying to glamour a hapless person into giving her more money- Nox didn't know where she was, really. Shy was engrossed in a book, sitting across from her, and Lily was staring out of the window. There wasn't much to see, still the same dismal setting as they'd landed in.

Nobody had noticed them as they had paid for their tickets and climbed onto the train, taking the first private compartment they could dash into. It was almost as if they hadn't been there, a shadow transaction booking four empty seats.

It was perfect.

Shy coughed and slid a scrap of paper into her book, left behind by a previous passenger. "I've been thinking."

"That’s a first."

Shy set the book aside. "We're in Soona Bris, you know."

"Trust me, I know. I spent my childhood here. I don't think I'll forget it anytime soon."

Shy reached for Nox's hand, but she shuddered and turned away. Hurt, Shy retracted her hand.

"Do you ever think about your parents?"

"I don't have any parents."

"You came from somewhere- even the Lilyborn have genetic donors-"

"Do you really think knowing that answer would help us with anything?" Nox glared at her friend. "There are countless scenarios I could come up with. I was an orphan. My parents sold me to the Institute. I was created from some leftover genetic material from an IVF clinic. But you know what they all have in common? My parents clearly don't care about me and never did. Either they willingly gave me up, they don't know about my existence, or they didn't bother looking for me. End of story."

Shy sighed, picking her book back up. "I realize you're strung out, but-"

"I'm back!" Ameliore sang, throwing back the curtain that served as a door and twirling into the tiny compartment. In her hand was a wad of bills. "That took longer than I expected it to, but we've all got to make sacrifices sometimes." Both Shy and Nox glowered at her, and her fizzy mood dissipated. "What? Did I do something wrong?"

Shy shook her head. "What took you so long?"

"A certain someone was... pesky." She sat down next to Shy, glancing down at her book. "I didn't know you were into romance."

"The last passenger left it on the seat, and Nox isn't much for conversation right now."

Nox closed her eyes and pretended to snore.

"So..." Ameliore withdrew a pamphlet from her dress pocket and opened it across her lap. "The train ride should take about a day and seven hours. I don't think you're going to want to spend all of that time cooped up in here with a ticking time bomb."

"I am perfectly mentally stable," Nox said, still pretending to be asleep.

"I was referring to Lily. Do you think she would be my friend if I brought her some scrambled eggs? That's the only food I could recognize from the refreshment car." She paused. "Who needs seventeen different flavors of wine? Would it even be legal to drink a shot of all of those in a single sitting?"

"Why were you in the bar section, anyways?"

"Never mind that." She waved her hand. "What would you two do without me here?"

"Probably sleep in peace," Nox said.

"I would assume we would have the support of the Aviary," Shy admitted. "They're probably hunting us down right now. Do you think they're on this train?"

"Not likely," Nox responded. "We haven't been gone for that long, and Stardust was the only vehicle the Aviary owned that was capable of such speeds."

"You don't know that," Shy shot back.

"Ameliore would have told us."

"Would she have really?" Shy looked to the girl next to her. "Well? Would you have?"

Ameliore shrugged, sheepish. "Stardust was the only one I knew about."

"See, I was right. Now let me sleep." Nox yawned. "And Ameliore... Bring me some scrambled eggs too."

14

Estella exhaled as she twirled the severed stem of a flower long dead in her hands. Her rear end complained, cold seeping in through her leggings, the rock she'd chosen as a seat rough and digging into her skin. Before her time, before her mother could have even dreamed about being in power, there had been a blooming garden where she now sat, where birds and all sorts of small animals and plants from the nearby forest could congregate and throw off the stereotype of her home being sterile and full of death.

But the stereotype had won over the landscape when her mother had stepped up a decade and a half ago, the garden growing wild at first, unkempt, and then escaping for the depths of the forest when its inhabitants realized that no longer would such 'frivolities' be tolerated. They were the only things to ever escape alive from the Institute.

That, and one lone person, but it didn't count if it was with permission.

"Estella?"

She lifted her eyes to meet her mother's glower.

"Yes, Miss Lannister?"

"What are you doing out here? You're going to catch a cold. Where's your jacket?" She slapped the stem out of Estella's hands. It snapped and drifted to the ground. "Besides, you're supposed to be compiling data on the newest subjects. Unless you want to become one of them?"

Estella shook her head and averted her eyes, hoping that her mother couldn't see her heart trying to claw its way out of her chest.

"No. Just give me a few moments. I needed some fresh air."

"Is the ventilation system not working in your lab? I could call someone to get that fixed-"

"No, it's fine. I just..." Estella's eyes wandered to the sky. "I had a dream last night that-"

"Never mind dreams. Silly fantasies." Miss Lannister waved her hand, turning around and retreating to the Institute building. "Come back when you've returned to reality."

Estella beat back the tears threatening to form in her eyes as her mother walked away. She picked up the shards of the flower stem, releasing a sob as they crumbled to dust and blew away in the frigid late autumn air.

She couldn't do anything right. Anything at all.

***

Soph wiped the sweat off of his forehead as he dragged the pack of equipment up the stairway backwards. It shouldn't have taken Callee and Wyrb that long to pack for the trip, he kept muttering to himself as he advanced one step, one step, one more step. The two boys were running around somewhere, clearly not giving a single regard as to the energy they'd need in order to take off that afternoon. The terrain runner would do the majority of the work, sure, but it wouldn't load itself.

Soph bumped into Callee, almost dropping his pack down the stairs. He swung the pack around and straight into Callee's knees, knocking the young boy off his feet.

"Hey!"

The boy squirmed his way back up. The elevator wouldn't be at Sector Five for some time yet. It was late at night, and the old infrastructure of the elevator hadn't acclimated to the new security lock that Ophelia had ordered installed on it. It was to prevent infiltrators from getting both in and out, she had said. It was for the best.

Wyrb rounded the corner, placing his hand on the metal door protecting them from the void of the elevator shaft. "How much stuff do we need for a week-long trip?" He eyed Callee rubbing his left knee where Soph's pack had smacked him. "You don't expect us to pilot the skiffer, do you?"

"So many questions for such a short boy." Soph pulled a key out of his pocket, twisting it in the keyhole to the right of the elevator door. A chime sounded, announcing that it would be skipping Sectors One through Four and ascending straight to Five.

"I'm not short!" Wyrb dropped his pack beside Soph's and puffed out his chest.

The aged man just stared at the fifteen-year-old boy. He adjusted the folded hat on his head. "How did I ever get stuck with you?"

The elevator door chimed, and right as the doors opened, the two boys bolted for their packs. They pushed each other out of the way and jockeyed for the space right beside the door.

"Children," Soph muttered. He dragged his pack into the elevator with him. The doors closed, and they began to ascend.

The announcement panel flashed. White letters on a black background.

Until further notice, all current scouts are to remain inside of their sectors and are prohibited from using the elevator. Food will be delivered to rooms as deemed necessary.

The elevator squealed to a halt at the exit. Wyrb and Callee shrugged on their packs, straining to help Soph drag out the massive third pack from the elevator, which kept trying to close until they finally gave the pack one last tug and it came sliding out.

The gray and white sky of approaching winter stretched out before them. Callee and Wyrb's eyes widened, dazed and amazed by the drastic expanse until Soph snapped his fingers in front of their faces.

Soph set down the bulging pack and unzipped it. A sort of tessellating shape the color of graphite shot out of the pack, skipping on the ground a few feet before jumping into the air and unfolding itself. Callee and Wyrb's eyes widened further as the shape transformed itself into a pill-shaped tank with treads circling it on both ends. A hatch the size of a person opened, revealing enough space for three fully-grown adults to sit comfortably in front of a wide window.

"Whoa!" Callee dashed to the open hatch. He glanced back at Soph. "Can I drive?"

"I'm going to," Soph answered. He zipped up the now half-empty pack and shoved it under the pilot's seat and crawled in. "Are you coming or not?"

The two boys giggled as they tumbled into the vehicle with their packs, flanking Soph on both sides. They buckled their seatbelts as the hatch closed behind them.

Soph stuck his key in the ignition in the middle of the driver's console. The vehicle purred to life. A thick joystick-like appendage sprouted out from the console. Soph gripped it in both hands, piloting them out of the rocky area and down to the forest below.

15

"Shy! Come on out! You've got to see this!"

Ameliore dragged her friends out of the passenger car as another firework boomed in the sky. Pink sparks bloomed out above them against a fading expanse, soon joined by yellow rockets that screamed as they shot into the sky, blue crackers whose crackling rippled through the land, and faux shooting stars that tinkled to a halt on the flat rooftops of the medium-size buildings. The four girls kept their faces upturned as they departed from the passenger loading area, mesmerized by the extravagant display. The lights flashed in their eyes.

Fireworks would never have been allowed in the Aviary. It would have been akin to screaming their location to the cities, Ophelia had said.

Lily's mouth moved silently, fitting words in her mouth and trying them on for size before intoning, "I never saw fireworks at the Institute."

Ameliore halted, the magical atmosphere that had greeted them shattering. She stared at Lily, her hair unrestrained and waving in the wind. "Why ever not? Soona Bris is so decadent-"

"Fireworks are frivolities." Lily twisted her hands together and bit her lip. "They would have disturbed the subjects."

Ameliore looked past Lily for a moment, unsettled, before taking Shy's and Lily's hand and dragging them along. Nox, still hypnotized by the fireworks, only shook her attention away when they faded. The town square blurred in her vision, and she found herself crumpling to her knees. Her head pounded. Her blood rushed in her ears.

Why was everything so bright?

"Hey, you okay?"

A gruff hand squeezed Nox's shoulder. Her vision pulsed in and out as she turned her head. Someone was there- a man, most likely- but she couldn't make out any defining features through the fog.

Nox opened her mouth to speak, but she found that all the words had fallen out of her mouth. Her mind too, she quickly found out.

"It's okay. I don't bite." The gruff man attempted a smile. "My name's Zir. How about you?"

Nox hummed for a moment before coughing. She rubbed her eyes.

"Cat got your tongue? Not gifted with the power of speech?" Zir snorted, scooping Nox up in his arms. She lifted her arm to his face, meaning to slap him, but she just dragged her hand across his brow. He snorted again. "Come on. We're going to take a little trip somewhere."

Nox squirmed. The blood flowing in her ears crescendoed, so she stilled, going limp in his arms and hoping that the curtain-coat would expose her wings. It might not bode well for her in the long run, but if it would give them some negative attention-

The rushing subsided as cool air hit her face. She opened her eyes. The stony walls of a streetside building met her gaze. Zir took an immediate left through a white door and laid the stupefied Nox on a table.

She immediately sat up. Her vision swam. She shook her head to clear it. "What- where am I-"

A woman with a blue jacket on entered the room and turned to Zir. They exchanged a few words in a language Nox didn't know before she stepped towards Nox. Grabbing Nox's right arm with fervor, she turned the pale limb around until she could see the years-old faded scar on Nox's wrist.

"Her ID chip's been removed," the woman affirmed in a heavy Spanish accent. "She doesn't look valuable enough to warrant them implanting another one."

"Might as well check," Zir said, purposely avoiding Nox's wild eyes. The woman pulled a credit card-sized transparent device from her pocket, booting it up. It glowed, exposing its translucent circuits, before she waved it over Nox. None of the lights changed.

"I'm not picking anything up," she noted as she powered it off and stashed it on her pocket.

"Wonderful." Zir turned to Nox. "It's your lucky day, kid. You've just passed the Charlottesville screening. You're one of us now." He raised his hand for a high-five.

"Thanks, but no thanks." Nox guided his hand down. Zir's face fell. "I'm just a passer-through. I'm looking for something."

"A home," the woman piped up. "Too many vagabond kids nowadays."

Nox shook her head. "A woman named Miranda-"

Zir perked up. "I know a Miranda."

Nox checked her fingernails, her head turned away. "It's probably not the same one."

"Shew is the only Miranda we have around for hundreds of miles. I keep the best directory of people here and in the surrounding cities. Nobody else can even dream of comparing." He puffed out his chest, proud. "Lullin's just a few hours away."

Nox glanced at Zir out of the corner of her eye as the other woman cringed. "And you expect me to go with you, a complete stranger, for a ride to a place I've never heard of to meet a woman I've never seen before?"

"For the record, Miranda isn't a woman. He's an androgyne. That doesn't make him any more special than you or me, though." Zir's face darkened. "Hey, what business do you have with Miranda, anyways?"

"We have her- I mean, his daughter."

Zir fell silent. He glanced at his open hands. The woman, agitated, opened the door to allow some cool, fresh air into the room. Feeling the breeze, Zir remembered what he was doing and cleared his throat, his arms dropping back down to his sides.

"Where is she?"

"I, um..." Nox scratched her neck. "I don't know. With my friends. They took off without me."

"Name?"

Nox narrowed her eyes. "How do I know that I can trust you?"

"I could almost ask the same," the woman shot back.

"Touché." Nox shrugged, tossing off her curtain-coat. She stretched her wings out. Zir's and the woman's eyes widened.

Nox had missed getting reactions from people. Although the last time she'd tried it, she'd almost gotten herself killed by religious wingnuts thinking she had come straight from hell.

Which she had, in a way.

"I think," Nox said, "if I had traveled all this way just to hurt people, I would have done it by now." She sighed, pulling her wings back in. "Anyways, my friend. Sheiko Prim."

The woman paled, her eyes wide. "So she's back."

Nox's eyebrows wrinkled. "Why do I get the feeling that everybody's leaving me out of something?"

"Child," the woman whispered as Zir quit the room. "Your friend Shy is a legend around here. A timeless one." She glanced behind her through the open door, making sure that no customers had wandered in. "Legend has it that she tricked Bestiele into fracturing the first of the soul stones."

"You.. You've lost me."

It was the woman's turn to be confused. "Stars, child, have you been living under a rock?"

"Close enough."

"Well... A long time ago- long before you or even I was around, although heavenly time appears to stretch and bend and squish compared to ours- there was an uprising in the heavens."

Nox's face twisted for a moment before she burst out laughing, bending over. The woman's face fell as Nox's laughs filled the empty room.

"I'm sorry," Nox said as she wiped her forehead, her sides splitting. "But there's no way I can take you seriously if you're just going to tell me first-era stories."

"I'm serious." The woman's face darkened. "Bestiele, a nobody, promised that he'd overthrow the royal families of Gehenna and Altaris- that's hell and heaven for you- and unite the two countries. His rationale was that it would make human soul processing far more efficient if the citizens co-mingled and ceased to have differences among themselves."

Nox sobered. "And what does this have to do with Shy?"

"Bes was going off of an ancient prophecy that he discovered in a cave near his house one day- the Skribrulajxo. He needed three Earthen souls to imprison for all eternity to break the bonds keeping the royal family neverchanging. The one who would be a god, the one who would seek a god, and the one who would be birthed from a god."

"...You're avoiding the question."

"The first was Anders Shew-" Nox's eyes flared. The woman smiled. "You recognize that name? Bes collected his soul almost two decades ago. And Shy..." The woman took a deep breath. "Shy went to a party a few months before that, a vampire-themed one. There were copious amounts of drugs involved, I understand. And Shy..."

"Shy doesn't seem like the kind of person that would get herself high-"

"People change over time, child."

Nox crossed her arms. "Stop calling me child."

"Okay... child." The woman smirked as Nox's mood soured. "Shy met Bes in the host's backyard, and, being hopped up, she sold her soul to be timeless and unchanging like her friends pretended they could be. And then she saw the jewel hanging from his neck, and she reached out her fingers..." The woman reached out her own hand near Nox's neck, making a snatching motion. "And she broke it. Dropped it, and it broke into two. Half of the soul disappeared into smoke, which she breathed in on accident, and the other stayed in the stone. And seeing what she'd done, she ran away in shame, never to be seen by any of her friends again."

Nox raised her eyebrow. "That's a nice story and all, but you've gone absolutely off the deep end!"

"Hey, I got this all from Shy herself. Of course, she wasn't completely herself in those days, so a detail here and there might have been crooked." The woman smiled. "Shy wandered purposeless for a long time, seeing an art gallery's worth of faces, a dictionary's worth of stories... She drifted here to Charlottesville a few times after the Great Desolation. We citizens needed to protect ourselves from the reach of the Institute, since the government fell from corruption a long time ago and anocracy set in. And then... she disappeared entirely. Some theorized that she'd joined a rebel group dedicated to bringing Bes down before he could cause further chaos." She shrugged. "Nobody really knows."

Zir returned to the room, his port in hand. "Hey, Nox. Your friends are in a room at the Omni across town. Shy is... having issues. I'll take you straight there."

16

The sky had darkened considerably by the time Nox and Zir arrived at the Omni. Most of the shops had closed for the day, neon signs blinking back at them and beckoning for them to return in eight hours or so. The streets, while not being completely destitute, brandished cracks and imperfections that clearly hadn't been repaired in years.

Nox stumbled out of Zir's truck the moment that it stopped and dashed across the parking lot. The attendant standing in the doorway hollered at Nox as she passed him. Nox took an immediate right at the front counter, backtracking and turning left instead when she almost collided with the janitor.

"Shy!" Nox sped down the hallway, slipping past several guests. "Shy, where are you?"

A door opened down the hall. Ameliore's face peeked out, dark circles under her eyes.

"Stars, Nox, where've you been?" Ameliore asked as she let the angel swerve into the doorway. She took hold of Nox's shoulders before she could get a glimpse of Shy, spinning her around. "You almost gave me a heart attack!"

Nox bristled, tearing herself away from Ameliore with a jerk and entering the room. Shy was sprawled out on the second of the two beds, unconscious. A dark bruise was forming under her right eye.

Nox turned back to Ameliore. Zir's pounding footsteps thundered down the hallway. "What did you do?"

"Nothing!" Ameliore held her hands up, defensive. "She was thrashing around, understand, and screaming all the while about that Miranda we're supposed to be looking for. I, um..."

"Spit it out!"

"I was holding her down, but she got free, and I may have accidentally swung a punch at her-"

Nox pinned Ameliore to the wall at the wrists. Ameliore's eyes flew wide open, her face flushing. "Please don't hurt me- it was just in self-defense-"

Nox released Ameliore and flew to Shy's side. Shy's left hand was twitching, balling into a fist over and over again.

"What did she scream about Miranda?" Nox asked, not bothering to face Ameliore.

"That she loved her or some poppycock like that?" Ameliore rubbed her wrists where Nox had clenched them. "It's not important." She gestured to the bathroom. "Lilith is in there. You best not disturb her."

Zir poked his head into the room. "Everything alright?"

"Ameliore got a bit violent," Nox piped up.

"I was not!" Ameliore stomped her foot. "I knocked her out... with my fist." She held her right hand up, knuckles red and sore. "I was only trying to protect myself."

"You keep telling yourself that," Nox shouted back. "Maybe one day it'll come true."

Zir's eyebrows wrinkled. "So I'll just have to come back tomorrow then."

He closed the door after him. Ameliore threw it back open to protest, but he had already disappeared.

***

Nox turned off the showerhead and stepped out of the tiny stall, shivering as her toes dug into the fluffy fur of the bath rug. She shook her wings out, dispelling some of the moisture from the mussed feathers before groping for the bath towel.

She sneaked a peek of herself in the mirror. Puberty had never been her friend, cursing her instead with a boyish figure. She scoffed- "I look like a wet dog-" before she wrapped herself up in the towel and opened the bathroom door.

"Hey-"

Nox stiffened, almost losing her grip on the towel. "Lily! What- You're supposed to be-"

"Shy's depressed," the younger girl intoned. "You should go check on her."

"Don’t tell me what to do."

Nox closed the bathroom door again, reaching for the bag of clothes that Ameliore had dropped off earlier as an apology gift. She pulled out the smallest ones- a frilly pink shirt and flower-bleached skinny jeans- and mentally cursed Ameliore as she slid them on.

Nox took another look in the mirror. "I look like a goddamn six-year-old," she muttered before hanging up her towel and exiting the bathroom. The hotel room was empty with the exception of Lily- Ameliore was no doubt somewhere else in the hotel, doing whatever it was that gained her money.

Nox could only hope that it was legal.

Nox threw on a proper coat and slid open the glass balcony door. She shut it closed behind her and stood next to Shy, who was leaning on the guard rail and gazing out at the sleeping city. Only a few street lights were still alight so late at night.

Shy gave Nox a cursory glance before giggling. "You look nice."

"Shut up. I wanted to talk to you about something."

Shy's eyebrow shot up. "What's wrong? Other than your attire."

Nox took a deep breath. "So, earlier today, when you three abandoned me after the fireworks, I took a trip to a screening center of sorts. A woman was there- she claimed to know you?"

Shy closed her eyes, releasing a long sigh. "Of course Camilla would never let my memory go."

"I know why Ophelia called you a vampire."

Shy shuddered. "That's a part of my life that I don't want to revisit. I don't know what Camilla told you, but I've never done any sort of drugs in my life." She opened her eyes. "What did she tell you, anyway?"

Nox recounted Camilla's version of events to her friend. Shy stayed silent until the very end, where she crossed her hands.

"Actually, I ran away at the age of sixteen because my father was abusive," Shy corrected. "And that was a few months before Anders was killed in that car crash. I was homeless for a while. I drifted through towns and took up a lot of small jobs to exist. I wasn't popular in troubled youth shelters. And then there was this one evening on an overpass where I was tired beyond belief and collapsed in the middle of the sidewalk partition. Then a tall woman in a trench coat approached me, promising a new chance at life if I joined some underground rebellion against Soona Bris or another." Shy shivered. "Naturally, I did, because the only other choice would have been to probably starve on the streets somewhere. So I spent a while in the basement of the Institute letting them fine-tune and condition my body as they pleased in exchange for sustenance. But I followed their orders and kept my mouth shut, and by and by, I was given an assignment- to escort Miranda on a plane ride."

"But where does the vampire-"

"I'm getting there." Shy scowled. The night got colder. Nox shivered, but Shy didn't seem to mind. "It was dehumanizing, Nox. I spent more time sedated than awake. I hardly remember much of it. And people were reduced to a single letter, usually of their first name. Some were just a number. So I was S, helping Anders' magnum opus across the country to a hiding place. And then, having served my purpose, they dumped me. That's when I started to wander." Shy rubbed her forehead, squeezing her eyes shut. "It was so long ago. You were born sometime during that period. There was the vampire party too... I did see Bes, and I did sell my soul to him, and I did break the soul stone, but out of rage. Rage at losing everything I had, at losing myself, you understand?" Shy took Nox's shoulders, shaking the bewildered girl until she pushed her away. Shy swept away the tears forming in her eyes. "I... I just wanted a home. So I came to Charlottesville a few times since I'd made a few friends here my first time through. Camilla was obliging, but it wasn't enough, so I tried wandering back... And then I got lost in the Aviary woods one day. And I guess you know the rest."

Nox stood there, dumbfounded, until Ameliore opened the sliding balcony door, another wad of money in her hand. A stark-white revealing dress hung off her body, skin pink and glowing, completely oblivious to the cold.

"Aw, making friends, are we?" she taunted. "Or are you two finally going to admit that you're in love?"

"I'm not in the mood for a relationship."

Shy cursed before going inside, refusing to meet anybody's eyes. Nox remained on the balcony, giving the city one last look.

An itch at the back of her mind. Shy might be hiding something from me.

Nox looked up to the sky. If she squinted her eyes, she could almost imagine an old painting from the first era coming to life, swirls of stars dancing above buildings that might have toppled during the Great Desolation.

This would have been the perfect place to fall in love.

Nox exhaled, letting the frigid nighttime breeze caress her face. There was a little girl in the stars- rather, someone Nox’s age in a little girl’s clothes, prancing around. Nox couldn’t imagine herself having a childhood- a wingless child learning to walk and talk and play nice at school like kids did back in the second era.

But Shy knew.

17

"Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey!"

I would gladly pay money to never hear that phrase again.

Shy internally cursed as she pulled herself away from Nox. She sat up to face the stranger, who was standing at the foot of her bed with a cowbell in hand. He hadn't rung it, but by the almost manic look in his eyes, he sure wanted to.

"Who in the blue blazes are you?" Shy asked, rubbing her blurry eyes. "Did Ameliore's outing go horribly wrong? You want your money back?"

The stranger stared at Shy, confused, only looking away when Nox stretched her arms out and yawned. One of her wings shot out, smacking Shy in the face with a feathery alula and knocking her off of the bed. She landed on her rear end- thunk.

Ameliore shot straight up in the other bed, her hair a tangled halo. "What-" She spotted Zir, who was completely at a loss for words. She softened up immediately. "Well, you're certainly early. Good morning."

"Punctuality is my talent," he answered, flashing her a smile. "You have a certain time you have to check out at?"

Ameliore checked the analog clock on the nightstand between the two beds. It was eight-thirty. "We have to be out by noon, I think the desk lady said."

"Well, get ready then." He approached the hotel room door. "I can't stay in the parking lot all day. Camilla and I have errands to run."

Shy rubbed her eyes and waited until he was gone to glare at Ameliore. "Who was he, and why did he have a key to our room?"

"His name's Zir." Ameliore pointed at Nox. "She tangled him in our affairs. He says he knows where your Miranda is."

"So what you're saying is that-" Shy stood up- "that we're going to get in some stranger's vehicle and let him chauffeur us to god-knows-where?"

"Pretty much." Ameliore shrugged. "Do you have a better plan? Because I've had to wear the same dress for almost four days now, and it's getting a bit stinky, and I don't want to traipse around the entire state in it."

"Have you considered buying some other clothes? Weren't you the one who threw a hissy fit about touristing here? Why are you such in a rush to leave?"

"Well..." Ameliore gestured to Lily, who was still sleeping in her bed. "I can't enjoy anything while carting such a drab invalid around. I was thinking we could dump her with her mother, and then we’ll have all the time in the world to go clothes shopping."

Shy rolled her eyes as she picked up her bag and went into the bathroom. "If he ends up abducting and murdering us, I'm gonna blame you."

***

"Can you maybe get your elbow out of my face?"

"Sorry," Ameliore snapped, untangling her arm from Nox's seatbelt and reaching for her own. "Convoluted second-era vehicles. They're the only thing I hated about the last era."

"I'm pretty sure there are things from the second era more worthy of your hate," Shy butted in, squished at the left window seat, but Ameliore and Nox had already plugged their ears and were humming loudly.

"Can you cut that out?" Zir took his eyes off of the highway for a second to glare at the three girls squeezed in the back seat of his truck. "I could have swerved into oncoming traffic."

"But there's a concrete divider," Lily whispered from the shotgun seat, barely audible over the hums.

Zir took one of his hands off of the wheel to cup his ear. "Hmm?"

"I said-"

Ameliore yelped. The passengers jolted as Zir cursed and swerved the car back into their lane. Ameliore's port, which had been in her lap, fell out between her feet and started emitting smoke- Ameliore promptly pulled her legs up, squishing Shy and Nox further.

Nox pounded on the door window button, ready to jump out, her eyes alight. "It's gonna blow-"

The smoke pooled on the roof of the truck. The port's screen came back on, functioning normally as usual except for a greyed-out icon at the top indicating no cellular service. And-

Did the smoke have a face?

"Hello, Lilith." The voice- Shy had heard it somewhere before, she thought as it itched in the back of her mind- but there was a certain authority behind the words, and the only person Shy had ever let rule over her were her scouting leader and Ophelia.

Ophelia was probably furious at her. The thought didn't perturb her one bit.

Lily's face blanched, but she swallowed and met the shadow's eyes. "Lainey..."

The shadow shook its head. "You don't know me, although your mother and I go way back. How's Lainey?"

Lily swallowed, barely managing to eke out one word- "Dead-" before she fainted.

Lily's head lolled onto her seatbelt. Zir sighed and shook his head. "So who might you be, gentle spirit? At least, I sure hope you're gentle. I'm in no mood to be possessed."

"Ameliore's been providing my means of travel."

Watching Ameliore's head shake furiously, she stretched out a hand to her shoulder to calm her. Ameliore swung her hand, intending to strike away the spirit's arm, but she ended up passing straight through and smacking Nox's cheek instead. In return, Nox swung her fist at Ameliore, connecting straight with her jaw and knocking her head into Shy's.

"Oww," Shy complained, rubbing her head. "Chill. We've all got to make it to Westerleyfield in one piece."

Nox's eyebrows arched. "I thought we were going to Lullin?"

Shy imitated her. "I thought Miranda was in Westerleyfield?"

"Miranda must have moved, I would assume," the spirit butted in. She retracted her arm, which dissolved back into the upside-down puddle on the truck ceiling. "My name's Rena. Sorry I possessed your port, Ameliore. I saw it at the park fountain and couldn't help myself."

"Why not?" Ameliore scowled, cradling her bruised jaw in her hands.

"Keep your hands to yourself, children," Zir reminded them.

"Anyways... I'd been trapped in that fountain for sixteen years. Actually, trapped isn't a good word for it. Sleeping, more like."

"Why?" Nox closed her eyes, curling up as much as she could do in the limited amount of space the seat afforded her.

Rena smiled. "My father told me to wait there. I assumed it would be until I found out where Anders' child was."

"What do you want with Lily?" Shy snarled. "You're with Ophelia, aren't you? Why shouldn't we turn you over to the Soul Police?"

Rena sighed. "You really don't know that we’re all in a war?"

"A war?" Shy rolled her eyes. "Count us out of it. We're here to deliver Lily to Miranda and nothing else."

"You're in danger," Rena warned. "You've come into contact with Lily. Bes is closing in on her silver strings, and now you've got one tied to you. He's going to make an example-"

"I'm sorry, but what the hell are you talking about?"

"Silver strings. Connections between souls who have shared secrets or experiences together. You and Lily have a weak one connecting your right wrists, and Ameliore has a stronger, shinier one, and Nox-" Rena paused. "That one's bordering on golden. I haven't seen that in a long time. But then again, I've been trapped in a fountain for a long time..."

Shy lifted up her right wrist, brushing furiously like there were spiders crawling all over it. "You're crazy."

"It's the truth, unfortunately. And you're in greater risk. Golden strings are rare and shine bright. Only soulmates have them."

"So I've got to court Shy is what you're telling me?" Nox looked over to Shy and wiggled her eyebrows. "Better hope Miranda has an extra room we can borrow."

Rena faked a cough, bringing their attention back to her. "I don't have a human body that I have reliable access to, so I'm going to need your help."

"With?"

"Killing a god."

The truck fell silent. Rena waited a few seconds. "Did... did you all spontaneously die?"

"Does this look like a damn video game to you?" Zir piped up. "Mithraes can't be killed, Bes included. Unless you plan on tricking him into causing his own demise, but I don't think that someone who managed to dupe a whole country into a dictatorship will throw himself into the soul recycling center anytime soon."

"I'm still working out the details," Rena admitted, "but I need people with physical bodies. And Bes is going to be hunting you all down anyways because of your connection to Lilith. And it won't stop when you deliver her to Miranda and leave- no, Bes is going to be looking for you your entire life."

"And what gives you the right to demand others to die for your plots, Rena?" Zir yelled. "Why do you think that you're going to succeed where nobody else has before and nobody ever will? You should have stayed safe in your magical fountain of time."

"And watch while the world burns?"

Zir humphed. "I think Bes' decorating tastes are a bit more macabre."

"It doesn't matter." Rena looked to the three girls. "So what do you say?"

Nox met Shy's eyes. "I'm prepared to kill anybody who threatens the life of my soulmate."

"I'm not your goddamn soulmate," Shy muttered under her breath as Ameliore snickered. She turned to Rena. "It doesn't seem like we've got much of a choice."

18

Dust clouds bloomed on the dirt toad near where the tree line cut off his vision. Indo retreated from the window of the farmhouse and bolted into the larger of the two bedrooms, where he knew his employer would be taking a Sunday nap.

"Aye, Miranda, ya got some visitors comin' in on the driveway!"

"Hmm?" The androgyne rolled over in bed, wincing as Indo threw open the window blinds and let the piercing morning light in. "It's the Fishers, isn't it? Let them in. All these carrots are giving me an eyesore."

"No, it's somebody else!" He dashed back to the window, fumbling for his binoculars, and took another long gape. "From upstate. Truck chock full o' girls an’ a burly-lookin' man."

Miranda dragged himself out of bed. He shooed out of the room before he closed the door and the window blinds. He slid on his finest work clothes- which weren't very fine at all, being that there were patches in the pockets of his jeans and a hole in his shirt- and joined Indo at the window, gazing out.

There was a truck approaching their farmhouse, alright.

Miranda slid into the kitchen, gathering all the dirty dishes from the previous night in his arms, and dumped them into the sink. Grabbing a broom, he slid on his jacket and swept the brunt of the day's dust and frost from the front steps of the farmhouse.

"Don’t slack," Miranda snapped. He rushed back in and tossed the broom to Indo, who fumbled it. "Can you sweep out the front porch while I tidy up?"

Indo bolted for the enclosed front porch without a word. Miranda sighed and rubbed his eyes before he retrieved a duster from the living room cabinet and proceeded to dust off the trinkets he had accumulated over the years. Some were presents from his neighbors in Lullin, some from market trips to Westerleyfield.

One of them, the tiniest of all, hung loosely around his neck on a faded and worn scrap of ribbon, tucked away into his shirt.

The truck pulled into the farmhouse's parking area, a worn-down patch of dirt, and parked next to the electric scooter that Miranda used for trips into town. Miranda, taking notice, cursed before flying into his bedroom, scooping up a worn rubber band from the dresser, and tying his hair into a lazy bun.

It wasn't like the visitors would care.

Would they?

Miranda rushed past Indo to the front door. Five pairs of foreign eyes met him. The middle three looked like they belonged to some of the spoiled rotten kids from Westerleyfield. The girl on the edge looked as drab and gray as the farmland surrounding all of them, like all of the colors on a palette mixed into one unappealing mess. The last, an adult who looked like he'd rather be anywhere else.

Miranda opened the front door a crack, peering out. "Can I help you?"

The three girls in the middle whispered among themselves before the one with a penchant for dyed hair cleared her voice. "You would be Miranda Shew, correct?"

"What do you want?"

"She's not denying it," the girl murmured before another one, a black girl, elbowed her in the ribs. The first girl winced. "We have your daughter."

Miranda's breath caught, but he swallowed, trying to play it cool in front of these... strangers. His heart skipped a beat.

"I don't have a daughter."

The drab girl met Miranda's eyes- blue eyes, youthful, foreign and familiar all at the same time. The world fell away from Miranda, his knees buckling and forcing him to kneel, the memories repressed of why he was there rushing past his face and laughing-

"Dammit, Ameliore," the third girl said. "Look at what you've done. You made Miranda faint. Now she won't talk to us."

Miranda grunted as he pulled himself back up with the doorknob. He opened the door all the way, his face flushing.

"Come inside. We need to talk."

The group shuffled their way in, breath visible in the frigid air as Miranda closed the door. Their chaperone, slightly uncomfortable, bristled as he glanced at Indo still sweeping the floor of the front porch.

Miranda waited for the girls to take their shoes off before leading them into the living room. The couches quickly filled up. Miranda pulled up a chair from the tiny table by the kitchen divider and sat on it.

Miranda avoided the blank gaze of the drab girl as he shivered. "We might as well start with introductions."

The black girl waved. "I'm Shy. And this-" she pointed at the dyed hair girl- "is Ameliore. And that-" she pointed at the girl who had chastised Ameliore- "is Neimi. But we call her Nox because she gets pissed if you don't."

Nox scowled. "Was that really necessary?"

"Shy," Miranda whispered, trying the word on for size. "I haven’t heard that name before. Where do you all hail from?"

Shy said "Charlottesville" as Nox answered "the Aviary". Both of them glowered at each other before Shy turned back to Miranda.

"Sorry. Nox is a bit pissed at me right now. It's nothing you did."

"I can tell." Miranda braced himself, clenching the arm rests of the chair before daring a glance at the drab girl, lacing and interlacing her fingers in her hands beside Nox. "Who sent you here?"

"Ophelia," Nox answered.

"Nox, she doesn't know who that is," Shy whispered, tense.

Nox rolled her eyes. "The ruler, basically, of the Aviary, where we came from. But she most likely hates us now since we kidnapped Lily-" she nudged the drab girl, who looked up, confused- "from the medical unit without anyone's permission. That's why Lily's so spaced out. But give her a few weeks and I'm sure she'll stop being so autistic."

Ameliore bit her lip before interjecting, "To clarify, it was the medical unit at the Aviary, not the Institute. Someone else helped her escape from there. She didn't tell us much, just that Lainey-" Ameliore winced as Miranda perked up. "Lainey's dead, basically."

Miranda stared blankly as he leaned back in his seat, his mind replaying the fateful meeting from so long ago. "What about Rena?"

Ameliore grimaced. "She's been hiding in my port this entire time. Stupid freeloader."

"Your... port?"

"I believed they were called smartphones in the second era?" Ameliore pulled hers out. The familiar smoke of a Mithrae spilled out, pooling onto the floor.

Miranda lifted his eyes to meet the humanoid shape forming. "It's been a while."

"Indeed." Rena looked around the farmhouse living room. "You know, when I was sleeping in the fountain of time and imagining where you could possibly be, I never imagined such a shoddy abode."

Miranda frowned. "Well, excuse me. Not everyone gets a fancy fountain to sleep in. I’ve been working on the place."

"You must not have gotten very far, then." Rena folded her hands. "So. Lily."

Indo burst through the front door, broom still in hand. All eyes met him; he narrowed his. "What in tarnation-"

"Indo." Miranda winced. "Behave yourself. We've got company."

Indo straightened himself, smoothening out his overalls and puffing out his chest. "Glad t’meet ya, city slickers. What brings ya to Lullin?"

Lily stood up, brushing her tangled hair out of her eyes before plodding over to Miranda. She put her arms around him suddenly- Miranda's mouth formed an O, stunned speechless like everybody else in the room.

"Are you my mother?" Lily whispered, a tear rolling down her cheek, squeezing harder.

A crystal heart on a worn ribbon dug into Miranda's flesh as a final memory of the meeting crossed his vision. He hesitantly put his arms around the young girl as the others looked on, fighting back tears of his own.

"I might as well be."

19

Shy excused herself from the spectacle immediately, both of her hands over her mouth, borderline hyperventilating.

Did I remember to take my pills today?

She stumbled into Miranda's bedroom, locking the door behind her, the sounds of the panic rising in Nox's and Ameliore's voices pounding in her ears as she searched her pockets- no, no orange bottle was in there; she was alone without her insurance trinket, her ticket back to sanity if need be-

I have waited SEVENTEEN years for this reunion!

Shy's stomach lurched, threatening to expel the cheap fast food they'd eaten on the way to Lullin. She laid down on the unmade bed, curling up in the sheets, burying her head in the pillows. Shy fervently prayed to any god that would bother with such a hopeless child as her- please, please bring back my sanity, I can't lose myself now-

"Are you okay?" Miranda yelled, throwing the door open- but Shy's convulsions had begun, her hands balled into fists and her chest thrashing as she bit her lower lip.

Nox rushed past the androgyne, pinning Shy's limbs down against the bed, their wild eyes meeting. "Keep it together. Please- don't have an episode now-"

Shy suddenly blacked out and limped. Nox backed up, fear in her eyes as Shy's eyes half-opened.

"Miranda?"

Shy- no, rather, the puppet controlling Shy- sat up. Her eyes instantly locked onto Miranda. "Is that really you?"

Miranda bristled, eyeing Nox. "Should I call 911, or..."

Shy's breath shuddered, and she slid off of the bed, tackling Miranda and burying her head in his chest. "It's been ages- do you know how long I've been trapped in this body-"

Nox flung herself at Shy, trying to pull the girl off of their host, but Shy threw Nox off, unconcerned as the angel stumbled to the floor. Nox got right back up, tugging harder at Shy but achieving the same result.

"What's your problem?" Shy's glare drilled into Nox, making her squirm away from the girl. She turned back to Miranda, her face collapsing into ugly crying. "Please- you have to help me-"

Miranda's original cold demeanor returned. "Are you being possessed, or are you just acting to waste my time?"

"Love, it's me, Anders..."

Miranda wrested himself from Shy's embrace, furious, eliciting more sniffles from the girl. His head pounded, but he shook his head, keeping his vision clear. "Is this your version of a joke?"

"Please, you've got to believe me!" Shy took a step towards Miranda, her hands outstretched. "I've been trapped inside of this body for so long-" she cackled- "and I thought Bes' imprisonment was torture!"

Nox blew past Shy, pushing her way outside to where Zir had returned to his truck and was listening to the radio. She climbed into the back, searching the seats until she found what she was looking for- a plastic orange bottle, half-full and underneath the seats next to a pile of old second-era magazines.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Zir looked over his shoulder as the radio drawled on about a joke whose punch line was child abuse. "Forget something? Where is everybody?"

"Medical emergency. We're taking care of it. Don't call anyone."

Nox tumbled out of the truck. She sprinted back to the house and came back to find Shy embracing Miranda, the latter with his arms up, face tepid like he was about to puke.

"What..."

Nox dropped the bottle of pills, stunned. It clattered to the floor.

Shy tore her eyes away from Miranda. Her face melted away into horror. "No- please-" She squeezed Miranda tighter to her, burying her face in his chest as she began to sob. "I just wanted to know he was alright."

Miranda took a deep breath and shoved Shy off. Shy stumbled to the ground. Nox took a deep breath and picked up the bottle of pills again and stepped over to Shy.

"Is this... a normal thing for her?" Miranda asked as Nox pried Shy's hands away from her mouth.

"No. Usually she remembers to self-medicate like Doctor Clarissa told her to."

"Medicate?" Miranda's eyebrow shot up. "For?"

"Some fu- rare form of multiple personality disorder." Nox shook out a pill and held it up to Shy's lips. Shy shook her head, so Nox jabbed the corner of her lips, shocking her into opening her mouth and accepting the pill. "Of course, it doesn't help that she picked up a shard of your former partner's soul along the way."

"Anders..." Miranda shook his head, clearing the reverie threatening to pop up. “No. That wasn’t Anders. That was a broken ghost of him. Just get her taken care of."

Shy's eyes rolled back into her head. Nox laid her down on the couch.

"Mom?" Lily peeked out of the bathroom, where she'd been hiding. Her eyes were alight, like she'd finally woken up after a long nap. "Is everyone okay?"

"Yeah..." Miranda took a long wet breath. "It's just been a long day. And it isn't even lunchtime yet."

Nox stepped away from the unconscious Shy. "Sorry about all of that. If it makes you feel any better, she allegedly tricked Bes into breaking the soul stone with Anders in it into half." She paused. "That probably just makes it worse, now that I think of it. But whatever Bes needed Anders for probably can't be done with half of his soul."

Miranda closed his eyes. His hands twitched. "Maybe I shouldn't have let you in." He stood up, opening his eyes, and retreated into the kitchen. "Hey, you, angel girl and Ameliore." He gestured to the front steps, where Indo had long since retreated and had begun to clean off the wind chimes. "I'll treat you to lunch if you help him bring in some strawberries from the greenhouse."

***

Miranda set his book down, eyeing the girl staring out the window. "You look distressed, Lily. What's on your mind?"

Lily yawned, keeping her eyes focused on the lonely leaf-barren treetops, the gray sky. "What was the Institute like when you were there?"

"Well..."

Miranda closed his eyes. Most of the memories were too repressed, too buried deep down in the hole he'd dug his first week in Lullin. There was no use in moping around all the time, and talking about his origins would have been sure to expose him.

"It's kind of hard to make any comparison when I have no idea what it's like now."

"Oh..." Lily closed her eyes, fiddling with a lock of her hair. Bile threatened to rise in her throat. She swallowed it down. "I, um..." She coughed, her voice wavering. "It was torture. Oppressive. Like a dictatorship. No friends, no actual food, just a plastic tube full of synthetic nutrients and endless tests.” She let go of the lock of hair, bristling as it tickled her nose. “Lots of time spent unconscious. Time wasted hopped up on drugs." Lily bit her lip as another wave of nausea hit her. She turned around and faced Miranda. "I have a scar. On my chest." She pointed to an area slightly above her bellybutton. "Complication with the synthetic womb, I was told."

Miranda sucked in a breath, rage threatening to bloom in his chest.

Monsters. Every single one of them.

"Tell me about my father," she said, her voice stronger. "They called him incompetent and feeble. Was it true?"

"No." Shy's desperate face surfaced in his mind. He shook his head. "He was the strongest person I knew. But I didn’t know very many people back then." He snorted. "Don't get the wrong idea. I hated him for a good portion of the time I knew him. I was given a choice about most of the procedures, but I wanted to be free from the Institute. Seems like that was the only thing he didn’t give me."

"Why not?"

"I was kidnapped." A memory of LaJean's crazed face the last time they'd met surfaced. Had Claude died from the accident? Miranda shook the thought away. It didn’t matter anymore. "And then he was killed in a car accident."

"I know that. They told me that much." Lily's arm flopped to the floor. "But at least my father tried to help you. Nobody helped me. Not even Estella..."

Miranda's eyebrow quirked up. "Estella?"

"The administrator's daughter- she never paid any attention to me. Not that I wanted her to. None of the subjects were safe when she was around, because that meant her mother was lurking-"

"I see... Well, you're safe now. As safe as one can be on a farm, anyways."

A few muffled shouts sounded outside. Lily ducked, climbing underneath the table. Miranda cursed under his breath and slid a jacket on and rushed outside.

“What’s all this ruckus-”

Nox and Ameliore froze on the stone path in the front yard, not too far away from the door, their legs tangled. Nox had a chunk of Ameliore’s hair in her fist; Ameliore had grabbed onto a cluster of feathers on Nox’s left wing, threatening to crumple the delicate feathers and yank them all out.

Miranda sighed and shook his head. “You have two options. Either you can shape the hell up right now, or I’ll consider you trespassers and kick you off my property. You have ten seconds to decide.”

“But we brought Lily and Anders to you!” Nox protested, yanking Ameliore closer.

“And a world full of trouble,” Miranda countered. “I didn’t want Anders back. I wanted him to stay in the past. He put me in this mess, and I’m not returning to the hole I dug myself out of. Do you want me to start counting?”

Nox and Ameliore gave each other a sneer before letting go of each other Nox smoothened out her feathers. Ameliore untangled her hair. Both of them wore a hurt expression, shooting each other the evil eye.

“Good.” Miranda waved them inside. “Come help me make lunch. If you’re going to freeload on my property with ghosts I didn’t want returning, you might as well make yourselves useful.”

20

“Are you okay, Nox?”

Miranda snatched the pot off Nox's head and splashed some water into it before draining it in the sink, grimacing at the thought of hairs in the future spaghetti sauce.

“I’m not gonna judge if you need to step out of the farmhouse for a moment and get your energy out.”

“Kinda funny how you say that, considering how you were fully prepared to kick us out a few minutes ago.” Nox glared at Ameliore, who was at the counter across the kitchen, chopping up a plain baguette with a fresh tomato from the greenhouse in queue. She turned back to Miranda. “Hey, you live on a farm. Don’t you make everything by hand?”

Miranda took a hard long look at Nox, the image of the pot on her head still fresh in his mind, before bursting out in laughter. He bent over the central island, waiting for the laughs to subside, before catching another glimpse of Nox and letting the raucous noise erupt all over again.

“No, child,” Miranda said. He shook his head and returned to the pot. He wedged it in the sink and turned the faucet on, filling it. “There aren’t nearly enough hours in a day to sit here and cook, much less run an entire farm.” He glanced out the window, where Indo was mercilessly beating an ice pick against the bare ground, making ripples in the dirt. “And the one help I have isn’t much of one.”

Nox clamped a hand over her mouth, resisting the urge to giggle. Miranda retrieved a packet of dehydrated sauce powder from the pantry. Ripping the top open with her teeth, she dumped all the powdery contents into the pot, watching as the water seemed to turn into churning blood with little clumps of undissolved powder floating within.

Shy stirred on the couch as Miranda twisted around and retrieved a wooden spoon and handed it to an eager Nox. “Well well well. Took you long enough, slugabed.”

“Huh?” Shy felt her forehead with the back of her hand, the chill of the skin the only clear thing in her muddled mind. “Where...”

“A land of nightmares,” Miranda jested. “Sure hope you don’t have a wheat allergy. You can go pick your own food, then.”

Shy struggled to sit up, wedging an elbow deep in the cushions to prop herself up. Her blood rushed in her ears as the world spun around her. Disappointment burned in her cheeks.

“I forgot...”

“Good observation.” Miranda checked his watch and pulled out another pot, handing it to Nox. “I’ve got to go attend to Indo. This is for the noodles.” He nudged the box closer to the angel girl. “I pulled out the angel hair just for you.”

Nox rolled her eyes. “You’re hilarious.”

“I try.” Miranda smiled, ignoring Nox's sarcasm. “Follow the instructions on the box. It shouldn’t take much stirring once they’re in. Use the time to check on Shy, watch some TV- I can’t imagine you having that in whatever ‘the Aviary’ is- just don't go into any of the rooms.”

Nox took the pot, about to say thanks before Miranda dashed out the door, immediately lunging for the ice pick and wrenching it out of Indo's hands. Nox tore her eyes away from the smudged kitchen window, brushing aside a stray bundle of carrots. She picked up the box and strained to read the minuscule letters on the side.

Fill a pot with one quart of water per serving of pasta you plan to make, cover it, and set it to boil over high heat.

What the hell-

“Ameliore!”

Nox turned around, pot still in hand. Ameliore spun around with red tomato juice spread over her face and a knife in her hand, seeds stuck to it and threatening to drip. Nox's heart fluttered, and she took a few steps back.

"Yeah?"

“I, um…" Nox coughed. "How much water is a quart?”

Ameliore looked down at herself before snorting. “Enough for me to murder you, apparently.” She set down the knife and wiped off her face and hands and pulled out her port. “One and a tenth liters.”

“Thanks, I guess.”

Nox turned back. She set down the pot and started stirring the sauce in the other one, still wedged in the sink.

Shy wobbled as she stood up and made her way to the kitchen. She leaned against the counters, watching Nox dutifully stir the sauce.

Nox set the spoon aside. “What? I’m not doing anything interesting here.”

Shy’s eyes were distant. “Tell me what happened, Nox.”

Nox moved the sauce pot to the stovetop next to Ameliore’s counter and put the pot on low heat, returning to the sink. “What in the world are you talking about?”

“You know.”

“Oh, you forgetting to take your pills?” Nox whistled a low tone. “Miranda isn’t too thrilled about Anders being back.”

Shy closed her eyes and sighed. “I wouldn’t think so.” She glanced out the window, where Miranda and Indo were having an arm wrestling contest over the ice pick, the sharp end having been jammed into the ground between them. “Let’s get dinner done.”

21

A boom outside shot Nox clear out of sleep, huddled against Shy in the warm blankets. The pale moon in the guest room's window afforded her no light as she sat up. Her eyes strained to see anything in the darkness.

"Go back to sleep," Shy mumbled, turning over in the bed.

Another boom rang from somewhere outside. Nox shook Shy's shoulders, earning a slap to her face. She slipped out of bed, pulling on a coat, and opened the guest bedroom door a creak and peeked out into the living room. Ameliore- her hair floated, half from static and half from terror, as she peered through the window blinds-

"Evacuate the house with your hands up," a voice boomed from outside.

Ameliore dropped back down into the bed, throwing the blankets over her head.

"Stay inside, Lily."

Miranda stumbled out of his bedroom, throwing on a pair of shoes and a coat. He pulled out the stunner from the back of the kitchen cabinet and went outside to greet the guests- or intruders- or whatever they were. Nox stepped forward, considering following him, but then a jerk on her hand, and then Shy's fingers intertwining with hers.

"I have such bad nighttime vision," Shy complained. "Lead me out of the dark, I guess."

"Do you think this has anything to do with Lily?" Nox wondered as she guided Shy out of the farmhouse.

"I'd be surprised if it didn't."

They stepped out into the frigid night. Their breath vaporized like ghosts in front of their faces. A police pod greeted them in the driveway.

"I said, put your hands up!" a female voice shrilled from the police pod's loudspeaker.

Nox and Shy put their hands up. Miranda kept his on his hips, stepping in front of the two girls as to obscure them in the shadows.

"What's the meaning of this?" he yelled as a slender woman slipped out of the flashing police pod and stepped onto the stone path that led to the farmhouse. "Nothing ever happens here. This is a farm. You're disturbing my workers."

"Oh, Miranda..." The woman's voice was silky-smooth. "You and I both know those aren't workers." She pulled a stunner out of its holster. The lights of the pod reflected in her glasses. "My name is Anastasia Lannister. We're here for a Lilith. You know her?"

Miranda gritted his teeth, pulling the stunner out of his pocket. "You're not taking my daughter away from me. Not again. Never again."

"Is that a Model 67 I see in your hand?" Anastasia cackled, half of her face illuminated by the red side of the lights. "Please. That puny thing would only give me a headache. You might as well hand over the girl now..." She stretched out her left hand, curling the fingers. "And then nobody will get hurt."

Something rumbled in the distance. Everybody turned their heads to see what looked like a pill on wheels rumble down the driveway, shuddering to a stop right behind the police pod.

"What's the meaning of this?" Anastasia, glossy blonde hair waving in the strobing lights, pounded on the hatch before it opened, revealing an aged man and two young boys, all armed with stunners significantly more beefed-up than Miranda's. "Who the hell are you?"

"Get out of my mission," the man said, aiming his stunner at the woman, but she whipped hers out faster and had him knocked out before he could blink. The two boys whimpered, trembling with fear, pressing themselves against the walls of the pill-pod.

"Please!" The taller boy's knees knocked together as their elder's head slumped against the steering controls. "We just wanted-"

"I don't give a hoot what you want." Anastasia closed the hatch again, making sure to jam it so that the boys wouldn't be able to get out before the man regained consciousness. She turned back to Miranda, still standing with his stunner in hand. "So. Lilith. She is property of the Research Institute of Soona Bris. You have unauthorized possession of her. Either you can turn her over willingly, or I will hold you in contempt of the law and take her by force."

Miranda pointed the stunner at the woman. "Lullin and the surrounding cities aren't under Soona Bris' control. You're trespassing on my private property. The only one breaking the law here is you."

"What the hell is going on?" Nox whispered, peering around Miranda-

"And who is that?" Anastasia's gaze shifted to the angel girl. "Is that another Lilyborn I see? You have quite the collection going on, Miranda."

"Get back," Miranda hissed to Nox, but the angel girl jumped out in front of him, her fists bared.

"You want Lily? You're going to have to get through me first."

"Nox-" Shy yelled, reaching out her hand to yank Nox back-

Nox shoved her hand away. "I didn't give up my life at the Aviary just to let some rich scum from the Institute take it away from me."

Anastasia let out a raucous laugh, throwing her head back. "Rich scum? Now that is rich." She shook her head. "I'll make a deal with you, Miranda. Either you can hand over the angel girl, or you can surrender the Lilyborn I came here for."

"And if I don't do any of those?"

"Well, then..." Anastasia licked her plump red lips. "I guess I'll have to see how many bodies I can fit in the back of my truck."

"No." Nox shook her head, stepping forward to Miranda and Shy's horror. "Take me instead. That's what you really want, isn't it? Just a trophy to bring back to your superiors."

"NOX-" Shy shot forward, but Miranda grabbed her arm, pulling her into him and restraining her.

"Child..." Anastasia snorted. "You misunderstand me. I have no superiors." She held her hand out to Nox. "But I accept the sacrifice. Lilith's only value was in her lineage. But an angel... Tell me, can you fly?"

Nox bit her lip. "Yes."

"What a pity. Guards!"

Nox closed her eyes as two burly men burst out of the police pod. Stoic, she made no move to resist as they forcibly bound her wings and handcuffed her, leading her into the back seat of the police pod.

I'm sorry.

Shy squirmed violently in Miranda's grasp, Nox just a silhouette in the increasingly blinding headlights as her vision blurred with tears, but Miranda held her back until the pod's doors had closed and it was on its descent into the night sky.

Shy broke free as the pod disappeared behind the tree line, her throat raw as she shrieked, "I'll kill all of you! I'll crawl all the way back to Minnesota if I have to!"

Shy collapsed, her throat clogged with tears, the cool earth eager to hold her until Miranda picked her up and hauled her back inside.

22

Floating somewhere, disconnected from time.

Where am I?

I can't move- too much padding.

There's a hand- whose?

I don’t know this palm or this song.

Why can't I see?

***

A familiar palm slid into Nox's hand the third time she woke up in the frigid room. Her bed sheets- from a hospital of some sort, she guessed from their inability to ward off the seeping chill from her bones- were crumpled at the edge of the bed. At least, that was where she last remembered touching them; she'd probably accidentally kicked them off of the bed since. Nox instinctively clenched her hand, forcing her visitor to jerk theirs away.

Not that she was a psychic, but she could have read that palm anywhere.

Estella.

"Neimi, are you awake?" A feminine voice asked.

The angel shivered. "My name is Nox."

"Sorry. You'll always be Neimi to me." Estella took a stool from the corner of the room and sat next to her bed- at least, Nox assumed so, because she hadn't been able to see a single thing since Anastasia had knocked her out in the police pod. "You've changed a lot since we last played together."

"Yeah, and that ended so well." Nox grimaced. "Can I still assume that you've got a baby face? Because I'm not so good at feeling my way around people."

Estella sighed, a pathetic sound. "We used to be such good friends, and now you're giving me the cold shoulder."

Nox gestured to her chest. "I'm as cold as a corpse. It doesn't matter, anyways. I wouldn't give you any part of my body if I died, much less a shoulder."

"Remember when we used to snoop on the subjects during their exercise shift?" Estella asked, changing the subject. "I remember this one time, there was a Lilyborn who'd just gone through a particularly grueling series of mental tests and was stumbling around like a drunkard-"

"I don't remember this at all."

Estella whimpered. "It's like you've become a whole new person, Neimi-"

"My name is Nox."

"Fine, Nox." Estella huffed. "You know, I was so excited when Mother told me that you were coming home. We were going to be one big happy family again-"

"I was never happy here."

"Yes, you were!" Estella's voice warbled. Nox could almost picture her in her mind- big doe eyes, tears threatening to overflow, the skin around her eyes reddening even further as it puffed up. Her tone shifted, accusing. "Did you try to forget me? To forget all the times we shared, the only friendship I ever really had-"

"We were never friends. That would imply a balanced relationship." Nox was blinded, bandages covering her eyes, but she turned away from Estella all the same for effect, her voice low and resigned. "Go. Go do something useful with your time."

"That's what Mother always says!" Estella whined, trying to wrangle her breath under control. "That's my whole life. Just work, work, work. And now that fun's finally come, I’m shooed away?"

"Don't waste your time. I'm probably going to be dissected any moment now and have my body diagram placed in all the hottest biology books. I mean, it's not like you need any book learning." She placed her cool fingers on the eye bandages.

I wish I could rip these off.

But then you'd probably go blind, Nox.

What did they do to me?

"I liked you better before you escaped," Estella snapped as she slid off her stool, curtains crinkling as she stepped out of Nox's partition in the recovery room. She stopped for a moment, turning back to the blind girl to add, "What happened to you?"

Nox scowled. "That's a really good question, huh? Maybe you should ask your mother. I'm sure nothing gets done around here without her direction. Maybe you could get her to turn up the heating while you're at it?"

Estella quit the room suddenly, fluttering the curtains making up Nox's partition of the recovery room as she slammed the door shut. Nox leaned back on her bed, ignoring the dull roar of pain in her right wrist as she lay down.

Shy. Nox's eyes throbbed. Make this worth it.

23

"What? Are you seriously moping around on the couch again?"

Miranda stomped into the farmhouse. He leaned his shovel against the wall and kicked his boots off onto the front porch. He grabbed the lethargic Shy by the shoulders, spinning her around to keep her from wandering into the living room for the fourth time that afternoon. Indo, Ameliore, and Lily were somewhere in the greenhouses, rectifying an issue with the watering system.

And where was Rena?

Shy mumbled something incomprehensible about Nox as she tried to tear herself away from Miranda, but all she accomplished was a pathetic wiggle. The skin around her eyes was discolored and sore- from crying in a corner, Miranda presumed.

"Look at you." Miranda pushed Shy away, and she stumbled backwards a few steps, right in front of the mirror that hung on the bathroom door. "Moping around all day being useless. I've seen subjects with more willpower than that."

"You're one to talk." Rena poked out from behind the fridge. "Let's talk about how you broke down in the police station bathroom before we went our separate ways."

Miranda turned around, facing the Mithrae, his eyes alight. "That was different. Anders was dead, and I knew it, and I sucked it up and carried on with my life. And you-" he spun back around to Shy- "It's been four days. Highly unlikely that Anna or whatever her name was would have taken time off from her precious dictatorship just to look for somebody to kill."

"You don't know Anastasia-" Rena interrupted.

"And neither do you, Rena." Miranda took Shy's face in his hands and pulled her close, her dull eyes avoiding his as his hot breath ruffled her hair. "Come on! Where's the drive that I expected from such a bright young girl? Where's the initiative? It's like you've given up on life completely!"

"I don't know," Shy mumbled-

"Louder!"

"I don't know," Shy piped up, her eyes watering.

Miranda dragged her to the living room and threw her onto the couch. "You know what happens in the wilderness to animals that give up?"

Shy stared blankly.

"They die," Miranda answered. "They get eaten alive or they rot to nothing in some forgotten corner of the world, like you're going to if you don't get off your sorry ass and do something to make your friend's sacrifice matter."

"But I-" Shy shivered and closed her eyes like she'd been thrown into a blizzard. "I can't go to the Institute. The stories- what they could be doing to Nox- Oh, Nox-"

Miranda rolled his eyes as Shy swooned on the couch, his eyes darting and far away, his hands trembling. "What, did you see something like this on television and think it would be funny to emulate? Because you're awfully dry, Shy."

Shy, at a loss for words, dug her head into her lap.

"Get up." Miranda stepped forward and wrenched Shy's arm, forcing her to stand up. "I've no tolerance for slugabeds. I thought you cared for Nox?"

"There's no point," Shy murmured, eyes.

"You're damn right. There's no point in giving up now." Miranda clenched his jaw. "You know what I did before Anders' death? I sat on my haunches and let others make my decisions for me. And look where that got me." He gestured to the farmhouse. "I love being self-reliant, but I'm going insane in this wilderness. This is no place for me, but I dug myself into this hole with my own inaction." He took a deep breath. "So what are you going to do, Shy?"

"There's no way I can get to her in time," she murmured.

"You don't know that!" Rena shot out in front of Shy, leaning in close, wishing she was corporeal so that she could smack the girl across the face. "Shy, please, listen to me. I had a friend once- actually, she was more than a friend. Her name was Samhain. Bes used Anders to kill her for no other reason than to manipulate me."

Shy looked up, the first time that day her eyes hadn't looked dead. "What if Bes is behind this? You know I sold my soul to him to have an immortal body. He could be using Nox to lure me in so he could reap me! And-" Shy shuddered- "I'm not ready to die. Not yet."

"I can't believe you're making excuses not to save your best friend. If it had been me and Samhain-"

"But I'm not you! You're already dead. You don't have to worry about taking care of yourself or anything because you're a ghost. But me-" Shy pointed to herself- "I've got to think about my wellbeing too. Nox gave herself up so that Anastasia would be appeased and wouldn't kill us all just to make a point. And you both are saying I've got to go back there anyway?"

Rena leaned in close, her voice a whisper. "If you don't get started towards the Institute right now, I will personally possess you and walk all that distance myself. We need to kill Bes and destroy the Institute or otherwise none of us are going to get to enjoy our immortality."

"Oh? So now you're bringing up destroying the Institute?" Shy shot back as Miranda suddenly left the farmhouse. "What's next? Starting a civil war-"

Shy choked as Rena turned into a vapor and flew into her mouth. She gasped for air, clutching at her throat, until all of her muscles relaxed and she lost control of her body. As Shy threw on her coat with her bottle of pills inside and followed Miranda under Rena's control, Shy could feel Rena digging around her brain, digging up old memories of Nox and trying to push something else into her mind-

"Can you stop that?"

I can't help it, Rena replied as they found Miranda right inside a half-rotted garage.

Miranda turned around as they approached, his anger dissolved. "...I should have guessed you'd resort to that, Rena. Any of you know how to drive?"

"No chance to learn in the Aviary," Rena let Shy say. "And it's been a while since I last practiced."

"Rena?"

Shy shook her head.

Miranda sighed. He unlocked the truck and climbed in. "I'm going to make a stop in Lullin first to get some supplies. Then I'm coming right back here to explain to Indo why exactly I'll be gone... Hopefully he doesn't burn down the entire place in my absence."

"Why aren't you staying here?"

Miranda closed his eyes. His fingers curled around the keys still in his hand. "I don't know how many lives lost that I have to avenge. But I can't lecture someone for not fighting for the person they love and then do the opposite."

24

"Wait! Stop the truck!"

Miranda stomped on the brakes. The vehicle barely had time to shudder to a stop before Shy threw open the truck door and sprinted towards the garage, pulling out the port she'd forgotten was in her pocket.

Can Ameliore get service down there?

"Hey!" Shy yelled once the call connected. "Do you want-"

"So you've finally quit being a zombie." Ameliore giggled. "What do you want? I'm not good at balancing two baskets of blueberries. My port's going to fall off my shoulder at any moment."

"Miranda and I are leaving. We're going to go rescue Nox."

"What?" Shy heard a crash and the low sound of Indo trying to conceal his swearing. "Have you gone insane? You're never going to make it in time in that rusty truck!"

Shy stopped and glanced at the dilapidated truck. Miranda twisted around and glared at her through the driver's seat window.

"That's why I was wondering if you wanted to come along."

The other line was silent for a few moments.

"I'm sorry. I can't. Indo and Lily need me."

Shy stepped back towards the truck. Miranda drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. "You do realize that, if we fail, this is going to be the last time we’ll ever see each other again?"

"I can't even see you right now!" Ameliore giggled. "No goodbyes. I have full faith in you."

"That's reassuring, I guess."

Ameliore hung up without warning. Shy paced back to the truck and climbed in.

"You ready?" Miranda reignited the engine and silenced the radio.

"Yeah." Shy took one last look at the farm behind her before latching her seatbelt. "Let’s go before Rena makes me change my mind."

***

Bes paced back and forth in front of his marble throne, ten years old and yet not a single scratch or chip on it. Two glass jars were embedded in the arm rests, filled with the ashes of people whose names the populace had learned long ago to never utter again.

"Master Bes!"

A scrawny Mithrae, born sometime after the initial revolution, scampered into the room with a stuffed manila folder underneath his arm. The cover of the folder bore the old insignia of Altaris.

Bes' bottom lip curled. "Hane. This better be good."

"It is, sir!" The boy saluted before opening the folder up, barely restraining the wild papers to his arms. "Our best trackers have finally found Rena."

"After all this time." Bes focused his eyes somewhere beyond Hane and sighed. His bald head gleamed from the flickering light of the crystal chandelier hanging above them. "Where is she?"

"The eastern United States, sir, but rapidly approaching the Institute. Our informants believe she attached herself to an Earthen and hitched a ride."

"Ride?"

"With Miranda Loyalis, sir." Hane saluted again, losing his grip on the folder. The papers scattered all over the polished floor. "Sorry about that!" He immediately stooped down, crumpling papers as he scooped them up. "I'll just clean-"

"Never mind the papers." Bes waved his hand. "I've had enough of that miscreant evading my rule. A Mithrae's place is in Gehenna-Altaris, not mucking around in Earthen affairs."

"But you're always gallivanting with that Earthen woman!"

"And that's a bad thing?"

Hane sighed, eyeing Bes from his place on the floor. "Don't you think it's a little hypocritical?"

"You fundamentally misunderstand how politics work." Bes sat on his throne, relaxing against the plush velvet back cushion. "Earth is obviously one of our allies. We cannot exist without them. A certain level of diplomacy needs to be maintained in order to ensure peace."

Hane turned back to his papers, mulling over Bes' words.

"Rena isn't doing anything to contribute to that," Bes continued. "My tactician's theory is that she is actively trying to subvert me due to some twisted sense of injustice. I'm not surprised, being that she's permanently stuck at the mental age of an adolescent."

Hane clutched the last of the papers and shoved them into the manila folder. "I have a status report on the soul reassignment facility. Lots of graphs. You might want to look them over during your evening meal."

"Thank you, Hane."

Bes took the letter. The Mithrae immediately scuttled away. He opened to the report's title page- one out of two hundred and thirteen.

Rena was a thorn in his side, indeed. His secretary's filing cabinet was filled with hundreds upon hundreds of uprisings the Earthen people- and his own- had instigated during the Great Desolation, wanting him killed for daring to progress the prosperity of his nation, for wanting to ensure that the realm he loved wouldn't be sacked and replaced by the next link in the chain that was the celestial pecking order. Countless sightings of Rena had been reported, but all of them had been falsified in an attempt to divert his troops from their lives of leisure.

He had toyed with the idea of pardoning Rena before, for apologizing for his crassness during the minute time she'd been there. Maybe he would have even given her a promotion in his own ranks, valuable for the vast amount of time she'd spent on Earth compared to the majority of his own army.

But if she was traveling with Miranda, then one could almost bet money that there were still some scraps of a rebel movement somewhere, which could lead him to Lilith.

He did have to credit Rena for one thing.

She had finally found Miranda when all of his efforts had failed.

Bes groaned. He closed his eyes. Would it be worth it to coerce Rena into joining his troops? He might not gain much from the addition, but it would cripple whatever Miranda was stirring up.

He rubbed his forehead. So many hard decisions. But that was what he had expected when he had ascended to the throne with the first of the soul stones. And now he had one and a remnant of another, waiting patiently in his crypt for the day when he would forever cease to draw hyphens in his country's name and border.

25

Bes took a deep breath as he stepped out of the portal The feeling of weightlessness settled back into his bones. Normally, when he traveled to Earth, he'd have one of Anastasia's inferiors lend him their body for the duration of his visit.

But not today.

He turned all the way around, taking in the surroundings. He was in a shallow alcove, an idle and sluggish river behind him. What little beauty the Earthen forests had paled in comparison to the vast wildernesses of Gehenna-Altaris- although, since it was on the verge of winter where he now stood, he had no reason to judge.

A low rumbling sounded in the distance, the cue he'd been waiting for. He flitted into a tree, grimacing in his mind at the rigidity it afforded him. A dream he'd had as a young child sprouted in the back of his mind- a girl, an escaped hybrid from the Institute before it had become the Institute, dying of cancer. Her last wish to her boyfriend had been to be planted in their front yard, her soul inhabiting the tree, communicating to him from that moment on in filtering the sunlight and showers of leaves whenever it was autumn. And every winter, her body and soul would go dormant. The boy she'd left behind would be reminded of her death every year, even when he attempted to move past her departure from the world of living humans and started dating other girls. They'd think him crazy and jilt him before the ground thawed.

It was a nice bedtime story he'd passed to his nation to warn small children of the dangers of needlessly risking their lives just for a joyride on Earth. He'd lost enough friends that way.

A dingy truck on the verge of rusting pulled into the alcove. Two people climbed out of the truck to stretch their legs and take in the surroundings. The younger one, a decent-looking teenage girl, was considerably stiffer than the adult she'd been riding with, but she stretched and loosened herself up as the adult opened the trunk and started rummaging inside.

Bes stepped out of the tree. He cleared his throat, startling the two people, their faces quickly melting into horror. He extended his hand to the girl, hoping that she could see the visage of royal robes he'd emulated for his spirit form.

"Welcome, Shy. Miranda. Glad you could make it."

Shy blanched- as well as she could, anyways- and backed up to the truck, the backs of her feet knocking into the tires. Miranda, mortified, crouched behind the trunk, hoping Bes couldn't see him.

Bes arched his eyebrows, feigning confusion. "Oh? What's wrong? I would have expected you to be more excited to reunite with your old friend." He retracted his hand. "Especially, you, Rena. I know you're taking advantage of her shell status so you can have a vessel."

Shy swallowed, struggling to keep her composure together. A cold sweat broke out on her forehead. "Are- are you here to reap my soul?"

"Goodness, no." Bes took a step towards Shy, who was on the verge of having a mental breakdown. "I simply wanted to extend a cordial welcome to our guests. You're awfully close to Soona Bris' territory, you know."

"But we're in Iowa!" Miranda yelled from behind the trunk.

"Goodness me, you don't know about the Great Desolation?" Bes' face changed to mock surprise. "In all fairness, I wouldn't expect you to keep up on news while you were... wherever you were hiding while all your friends died for your sake."

Miranda gulped. Shy stepped forward. "How many of those deaths are you responsible for, Bes?"

Bes pretended to think. "Hmm. I don't know, to be honest. I was in Gehenna-Altaris for the vast majority of it, busy overthrowing my own government. I only got involved in the Great Desolation when our precious Anastasia asked me for reinforcements. Would you count Mithrae and Mithral deaths in there? Either way, I would only say a handful of them I personally killed. But the ends justify the means." He shrugged. "My country is prosperous now, fueled by your turmoil."

"You bastard!" Rena leaped for Bes, but she stumbled straight through the spirit, clutching a tree branch just in time to keep Shy from plunging into the half-frozen river. She shook her head, swiping away Shy's braids. "You tore apart millions of families and bred needless violence just so you could make a profit? I'm glad I abandoned your savage country."

"What would you know about my refined country? About how we're constantly dependent on your precious humans and their wars to justify our own existence to those we answer to? You spent half of your life in a magical water fountain, pretending you didn't exist." Rage flared in his eyes as he stepped towards the girl, Miranda looking on in horror. "I was willing to pardon you, Rena, to fulfill my promise sixteen years ago to give your life purpose."

"You have given me purpose," Rena spat back. "My purpose is to keep the people I swore to protect safe. My purpose is to kill you."

Bes clenched his jaw, his voice quiet. "That's unfortunate. I want to talk to Shy. The real reason I came here."

Shy's muscles relaxed, but she continued to cling onto the branch, making no moves towards Bes.

Bes took a deep breath, averting his eyes. "I should have been a better father."

"Or maybe a better son. Didn't your father ever tell you murder's wrong?"

"Not without good cause. But aggravating tensions that already existed and igniting new ones are two completely different things." Bes looked back to Shy. "You have no ties to this war. Why do you bother? Why put your life on the line for a system you don't believe in?" He cradled Shy's head in his hands, even as she tried to tear herself away from the sensation of her flesh crisping. "Did you really think you could hide the Aviary from me? I know how much you hate being subservient to someone, to anyone. I've been watching you."

I've been watching you.

Shy shook her head. "That's a load of crap. All your talk about profits, and you didn't grab the low-hanging apple?"

"I may be working with Anastasia, but I am not beholden to her or her interests." Bes shook his head. "In fact, it feels good to have something to hold over that conniving woman's head. And Ophelia's. I wish I could see the look on her face when she realizes that I've been the one protecting her all this time." He softened. "You don't have to do this, Shy. Let me lift the curse I placed on you at that party. We can be a family again."

"You're not my father." Shy grimaced at the thought. "My parents were human."

"Your mother was human, a side project when I needed to distract myself from the war efforts. Your father made a great vessel. Too bad his mind didn’t stay intact after I stopped using him."

Shy's head spun. The world shook under her, threatening to give way-

But suddenly, everything cleared again, sharper than it had been before. Her limbs were ice, but instead of the slush that would pop up come spring, they were the strong layer supporting the ice skaters at her old high school so long ago.

Shy pushed herself off the tree branch and shook off Bes. She squared him up, her chin slightly lifted. "Don't lie to me."

"It's the truth. I have nothing to gain by lying."

"Except maybe my trust?" Shy’s eyes flared. "Maybe you'd have an inkling of a chance of having it if you stopped trying to hunt down and kill all of my friends!"

"Is Lilith really your friend?" Bes smirked. "How cute. You know, I could always just leave her an immortal shell like you, Shy." He focused his gaze on the trembling Miranda. "What do you say? Do we have a deal?"

Miranda quivered as he stood up, looking Bes straight into his golden eyes. But even though his legs threatened to buckle, his voice stayed strong.

"You can't have my daughter's soul. Not now. Not ever."

"Why not?" Bes curled his fingers. "I'll be able to save countless lives when I'm finally able to unite my countries. I could even resurrect your friends using their soul backups, Miranda. Giles, Lainey, Anders..."

Miranda's eyes unfocused. Anders appeared before him. An image- a scene of the two of them basking in the sunset in the backyard of their house, the dying light warming their skin just right. Grass so vividly green it was violent. A faint smell of oranges wafting off from the neighbor's greenhouse.

Miranda shook his head. He planted his feet firmly in the ground.

"They should stay in the past where you can't torture them anymore. Lily is the only thing you haven't taken from me. You can't have her."

"Very well."

Bes turned around. The sky shifted to night- Shy and Miranda were thrown temporarily blind. But the waters of the river illuminated, revealing-

A deep red river of blood. Bodies of people Miranda and Shy had known in their lives, dismembered, floating facedown. Some Shy recognized- schoolmates, friends, family.

She turned away, her breath hot and sticky and stuck in her throat. Miranda watched, mesmerized, transfixed by the memories of the police interviewing room replaying in his head over and over, of Anders' final words to him.

I love you.

"I will never be your daughter," Shy snarled, looking Bes in the eye, trying desperately to still her trembling. "You have my soul. Do what you will with it. But I refuse to bow down to anyone who would justify the senseless murder of millions of people."

"We could have been such a happy family." Bes rolled his eyes. "You will pay dearly for your insolence, child."

Bes tugged on his cloak. Shy lurched for him, hoping to disrupt him, but he vanished into smoke along with the rest of the vision. The blue sky returned. A lone bluebird chirped above them, a lonely song spilling from its throat.

Miranda bolted for the driver's seat. Shy climbed right back into the truck with him.

"Nox can't wait any longer. Not with Bes on the loose. We've got to go now."

26

Nox jerked up at the sensation of a frigid hand near her forehead. Her right arm shot up out of the sheets, her wrist pinging with pain as she tightened her fingers around the slender limb, but her assailant’s whimper gave her away.

"Estella?" Nox's breath caught as her fingers slipped away. She pushed herself up, remembering that sentimentality was what got people killed in the Institute. Her eyebrows crinkled. "Why are you here?"

"Because I finished all of my work already." There was a pause- she must have been looking at her watch, because she added, "It's nine. Why are you still awake?"

Nox gestured upwards, assuming that the lights were still on- the bandages still protected her healing eyes, leaving her to worry that whatever operation she'd gone through had permanently blinded her. "There's got to be a bug buzzing around in there. And the fact that I'm waiting for someone to cart me away to my death doesn't exactly help."

"Stop acting like that." Estella slapped the back of Nox's right hand. "I'd be planning an escape for us if you were in mortal danger."

"Escape?" Nox perked up, her legs twitching to swing out of the bed and start running down the halls, blind or not. “Why can’t we go now?”

Estella sighed. Nox imagined rubbing her still-sore eyes. Damn, I hate being blind.

"Because then Mother would sic Bes on me for disobedience," Estella answered, lowering her voice to a whisper. Her hair rustled as she turned her head, checking to see if any staff had heard them.

Nox felt the blood rush from her face. "What is Bes doing here?"

I should have figured. Megalomaniacs think alike.

"He and Mother have a diplomatic relationship. She schedules shadow soul reapings- shadow as in they're staged to be deaths of some incurable disease so that nobody ever suspects it's Bes' servants doing the dirty work of exorcising all those people. Bes gets the souls and the empty bodies, and in return, he agrees not to punish Mother for being so haughty and irreverent." Estella suddenly covered her mouth. "His words, not mine!"

"I don't give a damn what you say about your mother." Nox shrugged. "Who am I going to tell?"

Estella sighed. "An assistant, if you knew that ratting me out would earn you a free ticket out of here and back to wherever you came from." She paused. "Where did you come from, anyways? You never wrote me back like you promised."

Nox bit her lip, throwing some venom into her voice. "Has your mother ever taught you about the concept of return addresses? Or does she hand your education off to somebody else while she plays empress? You can't get answers out of me that easily." Nox remembered to breathe. "You're just here to interrogate me so you can pass the answers along to your bitch of a mother, aren't you?"

The room grew quiet. Estella clamped a hand over her mouth, muffling a sob.

"Oh, please." Nox thought to roll her eyes, and then she remembered the delicate stitches. "I prefer my friends a bit less emotional."

"Really?" Estella sniffled. "Did you make any friends while you were gone?"

"One. Shy." As a naughty afterthought, Nox added, "my girlfriend."

The room grew so thick with silence between the two that Nox could have eaten it were she not attached to an IV cord. Estella, without a word, got up off of her stool and stepped out of the partition and then the room, waiting until the door was shut to release a stretched-out, piercing wail. Staff from the neighboring rooms immediately shot out of the rooms to her aid, befuddled when there was nothing wrong.

Of course, the medical industry always had a hard time diagnosing heartbreak.

27

Anastasia sat in front of a gilded mirror with a gold frame, picking at a pimple that had formed overnight with a toothpick. For all of the gene therapy she'd gone through to extend her life and had subsequently passed down to her daughter, they still hadn't found a way to cure pimples.

Yet. It was a work in progress.

"Miss-"

Anastasia swung around on her stool. Her face grew troubled as she recognized the man before her. She discarded her toothpick on the vanity stand.

"Bes. Welcome. What brings you here today?"

"Where are you keeping Nox?"

Anastasia's eyebrows shot up as she tried to meter her breath. "I don't know what you're talking about-"

Bes twitched his fingers, and her breath cut short. He flung her off the stool. She dug at her own throat as she tumbled to the ground, even though nothing was touching her there, desperately trying to cut off whatever ungodly influence Bes was using to choke her- or to make her imagine that she was being choked.

"Surely the name Shy rings a bell?"

Anastasia's eyes burned into Bes as she managed a pathetic nod. A sharp pain in her neck. Bes loosened his grip just enough to allow her to shallowly breathe.

Anastasia's arms trembled as she rolled herself onto her back, the edges of her vision dancing. "Shy..." She winced. "Nox is in the newer recovery suite, I believe. We finished installing the bioelectric wiring and the transmitter a few days ago. The rice model, I believe. Estella participated in the surgical procedure. You'd have to ask her for the details."

"I will."

Bes fully released his control over Anastasia, leaving her to heave on the floor as he drifted out of the room. His body sweated as he carried himself to the elevator, where he was promptly squished in between a technician in blue scrubs and a subject with skin as dark as the starry sky outside, her eyes downturned.

He exited at the third floor and immediately turned the corner to follow the signs pointing to where the newly refurbished recovery suite was, cleaned out and changed after the flood of Lilyborn had been born and the old recovery suite hadn't been sufficient to accommodate all of the subjects anymore. They'd made it by ripping out half of the old staff sleeping rooms- work days were longer, and the staff were more productive, so there were simply not enough people to possibly fill up all those sleeping pods every night.

Bes entered the first of the rooms, where the beds were filled first before spilling into the other spaces marked as reserve. None of the beds were visible, all of them surrounded by a maze of curtains- and he wasn't about to go poking around into every single one of them just to find one specific girl.

Supposing that whatever "procedure" Estella had put her effort into hadn't also drastically changed Nox's appearance-

Bes felt a girl brush by his elbow; it was Estella, holding a ragged paperback book in her arms, her eyes tired and drooping from sleep exhaustion. Bes took her by the elbow and swung her around to face him.

"What's wrong?"

Estella, shocked at this stranger's supposed compassion- and so was Bes, Estella being someone he usually ignored- cocked her head. "What do you mean? I always come here in the evenings."

"Have you been getting enough sleep at night?"

Estella's eyes shifted to the floor. "Enough for Mother to trust me with surgical tools, apparently."

"Speaking of surgery- do you know where Nox is?"

Estella's eyes narrowed, studying the face of Bes' vessel. "She's in this section of the Institute."

"Would you be so kind as to bring me to her?"

Estella led him to halfway down the room's expanse. She brushed aside the curtains, exposing Nox, who was sitting straight up in bed. Nox immediately bristled, turning away from the two.

"What are you crying about now?" Nox huffed. "Leave me alone."

Bes hesitated for a moment before sweeping to Nox's bedside. He immediately unplugged her IV cord and the wire taped to her left arm the previous night, monitors whining as some poor sap somewhere else in the Institute got the message of her apparent death.

Nox, unaware of what was going on, just sat there, waiting for Estella to pull up a seat and begin her usual tirade of self-pity.

"What are you doing?" Estella yelled as she leaped onto Bes' back, throwing him off balance as she covered his eyes. He stumbled through the curtain to another partition as he tore her hands away, waking up a Lilyborn recovering from a blow to the head. He threw Estella to the floor, accidentally tearing down the curtain separating the two partitions. The fabric crumpled onto him, and he tossed it off, eyes flaring.

"Hush, child," he whispered, swooping down and clamping a hand over the terrified Estella's mouth. "Your mother wanted this."

He let go of Estella, discarding the girl and leaving her on the ground. He went back to Nox and took her left hand, jerking her out of the bed.

"What- hey!" Nox stumbled to her feet, her wings limp at her sides, trying to free herself from him- but he had an iron grip on her, and every time she twisted her body, he drew her closer. "Stop- let me go!"

"I can't." Bes dragged her out to the hallway, Estella stumbling to her feet where he'd left her. Once the door had clicked shut behind them, Bes slapped Nox across the face, making her stumble.

Nox righted herself, ignoring the throbbing in her jaw. She sucked in a pained breath. "Huh. Funny. I don't recall cheap shots being a medical procedure."

"Shut up, child. You're coming with me."

Nox snorted. "And you are?"

Bes cleared his throat. "Bestiele Tavikka, ruler of Gehenna-Altaris. And also the father of our precious friend Sheiko Prim. Or Shy, as I take it you call her."

Nox's eyebrows wrinkled, taking a moment to think. "Hmm. I don't buy it." She turned around. "You suppose there's a window somewhere I could jump out of?"

Bes guffawed, his voice booming through the hallways. "Are you really so rash as to throw your blind self out of a window?" He grabbed her arm and spun her around, smoothing his hand over her rumpled primary feathers. "You've been clipped, darling."

Nox's face fell as she slipped her free hand around her back, pleading with herself until her fingertips brushed against the rough edges where the feathers had been crudely cut. Her face paled.

Her one hope of escaping, gone.

Footsteps thundered down the hallway. Bes spun around. A few security guards turned the corner and appeared, Anastasia herself behind them. They halted at the sight of Bes and parted, allowing the woman to step forward.

"Bes?" Her face was drawn. "Why are you interfering with my subjects?"

"Because-"

A tincture bottle smashed over his head, and he crumpled to the ground. Estella, aghast, towered over him with the broken bottleneck, her fingers white from gripping it like her life depended on it as the clear liquid pooled around his body.

Anastasia's mouth formed a perfect O as Bes grunted, his face reddening. "Estella!" She pointed behind her, struggling to remain composed. "Go back to the private suite. We need to have a talk." She turned back to the stunned security personnel. "Get the emergency team up here. Now."

Estella glared, throwing down the broken bottleneck on Bes' head as he struggled to raise it. He slumped back down to the floor, blood seeping through his scalp and mixing with the liquid.

"He was threatening my friend."

"You could have killed him! Our guest!" She took Estella's hand, dragging her down the hallway and away from Nox. "You're lucky if you get a week in the Hole."

Bes gurgled as Estella and Anastasia disappeared. Nox felt her way around the walls, stumbling back into the recovery suite and plopping back into bed. Her fingers felt over her bandages, starting to curl at the edges.

28

Nox crouched down in the corner of somebody else's partition as the remaining staff in the room fled to appease Anastasia. A siren echoed down the hallway.

The people of the old era wrote stories and fantasized about what it would be like to land a blow to the devil- and now it had actually happened.

What if Bes died?

Nox shivered as she ran her fingers through her severed primary feathers again, biting back the bile rising in her throat. Her mind drifted, memories of her early days at the Institute rising up. So many mangled and malformed faces she'd never see again. So many tests, pushing her body to the absolute limit, faceless people and sterile tables and sterile people desperate to know how her body worked.

How long did it take for her to shed feathers and grow back new ones? For the staff to realize that she was spending more time with her eyes to the sky, itching to prove that her existence hadn't been a happy accident?

A month? Six months?

A year?

Nox's breath faltered. She released a quiet sob.

I'm grounded. Stuck on the face of the earth with Shy and Ameliore and every damned person in this building.

I could take up sprinting like Shy. It's like the same thing, right? The wind rushing all around me.

It wouldn't be the same, though.

She drew her wings around her, trying not to focus on the lopsided snipping job of her feathers. She drew her head in between her knees, surrounding herself with a feathery cocoon, shutting out the Institute and the possibility threatening to sink in that she might not live long enough to fly again.

I'm helpless. Another sob. Completely, totally, helpless. Maybe- Maybe I'd hold a chance if I could see.

Nox shook her head. Save me soon, Shy.

***

Shy didn't wait for Miranda's truck to stop before tearing off her seatbelt and rolling out of the vehicle, feeling her limbs give way to Rena, who knew the Institute far better than she did, far better than she ever could, far better than she ever wanted to be- which was, to say, not at all. The front doors were unlocked, and Shy had the urge to stop for a moment, certain that they were running directly into a trap- but Rena pushed her onward, thankful for all the time Shy had spent training in the Aviary.

Sensing a nurse about to round the corner, Rena twirled into the nearest bathroom and locked the door behind her. Her hands immediately flew to the walls, rubbing the aged tiles not replaced since Anders' time as administrator.

What are you doing? Shy wondered.

I'm checking to see if there's a secret panel. Nox told you about one once. Rena paused, Shy's fingernails catching on a loose gluing of a tile. You forgot.

Anything else I forgot? Rena pried on the tile, wincing at the loud cracking noises it made as the ancient glue unbound from the wall in crusty strands. Since you've already violated my privacy.

The second time you saw her. And the third. But you never forgot the first. That was repressed, not forgotten.

Shy wanted to sigh, but Rena kept control of her body as she tossed the tile-panel to the floor, thankful that cameras hadn't been installed in the bathroom. She dug her slender fingers into the exposed wiring, trying to undo the binds holding the bundle together.

May I ask what in the world you're doing?

The first step of any sabotage is to disable the security system.

Don't you think they have a backup?

Rena sighed. Probably. But I don't know where it is, and anything to mess them up and buy time helps.

Do you think Bes is here?

Rena withdrew her hands. If he is, then that definitely throws a wrench into our plans.

Why?

Because... Rena reached back in, ripping out several wires from their ports. The bathroom lights went out, plunging her into darkness. She withdrew from the hole in the wall and opened the bathroom door a crack and peeked out- total chaos everywhere, staff dashing in and out of the building's branches like disturbed bees in a hive.

At least, what Shy assumed what a hive was like, because the last time she'd seen one, she'd been delirious and half-dead.

Rena stepped out of the bathroom, glancing both ways before rushing into the nearest elevator. Two buttons awaited her along with a firefighter's emergency override keyhole.

Where do you think Nox is?

Second floor, I'd presume, Rena answered without hesitation. Where they were keeping the subjects when I fell asleep in the fountain.

She jammed on the bottom button just as the elevator doors closed. Anticipation and dread riddled her bones, unsure whether it was coming from Shy or Rena or both of their consciousnesses trying to create an anxious harmony.

She leaned against the handrail on the elevator, trying to still her trembling. It didn't help much.

The elevator stopped and opened to an empty hallway. Shy stepped out and groaned. That stretch of hallway had been roped off in the chaos, all the doors locked. She slipped under the ropes and rushed to the first door, peeking in the window.

Dead bodies littered the floor, twisted bodies and empty eyes staring up forevermore into the bleached ceiling. Shy's heart spiked. But Nox wasn't among them, so she skipped to the next room. The same result.

"So you're the pesky bitch that helped kill my daddy!"

Shy whipped around to see a little girl with brightly-colored hair and a bow-riddled dress standing a few meters away. Her image wavered every few seconds, her body shrouded in a smoke-like substance.

Great. Another Mithrae.

Shy rolled her eyes and let Rena take over. "I don't know what you're talking about." She moved to brush past the little girl, but she- or it, whatever it was- blocked her way.

"Nuh-uh!" The Mithrae wagged her finger as Shy tried to step around her. "I know you have Rena inside of you." Her eyes narrowed. "You helped kill Bes, didn't you?"

Shy stopped dead in her tracks.

Bes is dead? she wondered, then asked.

"Yeah!" The girl pointed at Shy. "And it's all your fault!"

"But then..." Rena hesitated, not wanting to provoke the girl. Something tugged on the edges of her memory- did she remember this person? "The war is over."

"Nope," the girl said, taking a step back as she popped the p. Her eyes lit up. "You destroyed the only chance my country had at getting better again. So I'm going to destroy yours."

The girl pulled a spirit match out of her pocket. She ignited it in her hand and watched the flame dance between her fingers with a sickening delight.

"Run, Rena. Run to the ends of the earth. Because Bes promised to eviscerate you, and I, Chire, faithful servant of the rightful Ruler of Gehenna-Altaris, am going to do whatever it takes to fulfill that. No matter what." Chire dropped the spirit flame, watching it materialize and begin to eat away at the door. Her face twisted into a wicked grin. "Oops."

Rena glanced at the flames. It beckoned to her- to jump in, to allow herself to be consumed by the hellfire she'd been promised so long ago- and she shook her head and hightailed it back into the elevator. She jammed on the third floor button. The announcement panel flashed- a failed lockdown attempt still in progress, so none of the elevators would work until it lifted.

Hot tears flooded her vision as she continued to pound on the button. "Please! I've got to save Nox... I've got to..."

And I've got to ensure that I stay alive.

Well, then, resident demon, how long does it take for spirit fire to spread?

Rena paused for a moment. I don't know. It wasn’t part of my training when I was in Bes' army.

Shy sagged against the elevator panel before the ground floor button lit up. The spreading spirit flame licked the elevator doors as they closed.

Where were all the staff?

Probably on the third floor.

Was that where Nox was?

Stop thinking about her. You're my vessel. I need to make sure that both you and I make it out alive, or neither of us will be around to exist.

Shy struggled to remain at least somewhat in control of her body, but Rena overrode her as she dashed out of the elevator and headed with a heavy heart back outside, where Miranda was waiting with the truck, panic growing on his face when he saw that Nox wasn't with them.

Miranda's face paled as Shy collapsed into the truck, not bothering with her seatbelt. Rena spoke, "We need to get out of here as soon as possible. I don't know-"

A loud roar erupted from the back of the building. Miranda's panic climaxed as a plume of smoke rose from the source of the boom, smoke spilling into the tree line.

There was no saving Nox.

And Shy knew it.

29

There was a friend of Lainey's that Miranda hadn't know about who had been involved in the initial resistance that had sent Miranda away- he was a hacker as well, because as soon as Miranda had hit the highway with Shy and Rena in tow, Shy had received a call on Miranda’s port from an unknown number. She'd had half of a mind to swipe away and dismiss it, but she had already curled up in the back seats of the truck and resigned from the world, so Miranda had answered the call.

It had earned them a few nights in a presumably safe location, so instead of a hard set of seats to mourn on, Shy had a full plush couch in a nice living room with dimmed lighting and a ceiling fan on for white noise. She curled up on the couch, pulled a blanket over her, and shut out the outside world.

The white noise wasn’t enough to drown out the screaming in her mind.

What were Nox’s final moments like?

Maybe she’s still alive somewhere-

No. Nobody could have survived such a sudden explosion.

***

"So I hear we've got to make some drastic changes to the plan."

Rena groaned as she took a seat on the table. Miranda was in the kitchen, preparing an ice pack for the raging headache he suspected Shy was suffering through.

He didn't blame her.

"I don't know what else can be done," Rena admitted, avoiding eye contact with Lainey's friend- his name had sounded something like Norman, but she knew that wasn't it, so she didn't bother addressing him by name. "Bes was... presumably killed, and Chire popped right up to take his place. Who knows what'll replace her if I take the time to track her down? We might as well surrender."

Norman spit his ice cube back into his water glass, his eyes bugging out. Miranda went downstairs with the ice pack.

"You can't be serious! There's always another way. There's got to be."

"We've run ourselves into a wall."

Rena closed her eyes, going back to her days as a small child, of attending a decadent cathedral once on vacation, admiring the decadent marble sculptures of figures she'd read about in her holy book. There was one of a biblical creature- a lion with four different faces? she didn't remember- that had terrified her, and her mother pointing out the painted ceiling depicting the fall of Man as he tried to sever the heavens from the earth, which had only terrified the tiny Argentina more.

Argentina.

"Wait." Rena stood up, reminded again of the fateful meeting- the layout of the house she stood in was exactly the same, at least the part she'd seen. "What do you know of Gehenna-Altaris?"

"I have a degree in theology. This is my life study." Norman reached under his collar shirt, retrieving the pendant of a small seven-pointed star that had been hanging around his neck. "I'm considered a Sepsteloj."

Rena turned around. “A what?”

Normal looked almost offended. "You're a Mithrae and you don't know anything about Sepsagoj?"

Rena shook her head. "That's the farthest from our concerns. What does this have to do with Bes?"

"Stars, child..." Norman looked ready to faint, but he didn't, straightening himself out on his chair. "Sepsteloj and Sepsagoj are two sides of the same coin- that is, worship of Mithraes and Mithrals. Life is a cycle, you see, from a dole of a blend of souls from Gehenna-Altaris to the wiping and purification of souls and reuse to their final retirement from this world and shipment to other planes of existence..."

"But why would you worship them if they caused so much ruin here on Earth?"

"Oh, I don't expect anything back!" Norman looked offended, his hand to his chest. "I just live my life without harming others. Pacifism, the non-aggression principle, the golden rule, whatever you call it nowadays. My ultimate goal is to become a Mithral myself after I've lived a long and fulfilling life, but if I don't get there, well, that's okay too." He smiled, trying to put Rena at ease. "Go ahead. Ask me anything."

Rena thought back to the cathedral, to the portrait of the two realms severed. Was that even possible for them? If what Norman said was true, could life go on without the assistance of Gehenna-Altaris?

Rena’s eyes flickered to Miranda as he came back up the stairs. Some people didn't have souls, and they functioned perfectly fine.

Of course, she still wasn’t completely convinced that Miranda necessarily counted as a “people”.

"What would happen if the heavens decided to stop processing souls?"

Norman was taken aback for a second, but he calmed down, mulling it over as Miranda went back into the kitchen. At last, he answered, "I guess humans would develop a way of continuing life without the need for souls. They're incredibly hardy creatures. I don't know how the heavens' dependents would react, though."

"How long has the cycle been going on for?"

"Since the beginning of time."

Rena turned around, her face drawn. "I know what I need to do."

Norman sat confused for a moment before realization dawned on his face, melting into horror. "Child! You don't know what you're getting into! You- you could destroy everything- The spacial rend-"

"I know." Rena clenched her fists. "Do you have any alternatives? I'll gladly take them."

Norman sat down, shocked, and then shook his head. "You wish to tear apart the sacred fabric holding our two realms together?"

Rena solemnly nodded her head, not wanting to meet his eyes.

"You do realize that you'd have to die to complete the sacrifice, right? And that's if you make a straight cut and don't destroy everything else!"

I'll never see Samhain again.

"And I don't mean soul recycling dying. I mean, your soul will be ripped apart at the molecular level. Or the spiritual equivalent of it... There will be no existing for you after that."

Rena nodded her head. The thought terrified her, but she tried her best not to show it. "I didn't expect to live this long. But life won't be worth living if I can't do something to stop Chire."

Norman sighed as he rested his head on the table. "We'll have to talk tomorrow. I need sleep and time to think."

"I second that motion," said Miranda, who had been silently refilling the water in the refrigerator. He yawned, his eyelids drooping as Norman retreated to his room. "You can't be serious, Rena. You're absolutely insane."

"Oh, did you have a better plan?"

Miranda, silent, looked out the kitchen window. "No. I just... Why do you stay with us, Rena? Why do you bother?"

"I've been asking myself the same questions."

Rena floated over to Miranda, making sure not to accidentally possess him.

Miranda turned to face her. "If Samhain hadn't died, would you have still cared about this entire mess?"

Rena pondered the question for a moment and then shook her head. "Kind of hard for a high school girl to give much of a crap about anything outside of her own little pocket of the world." She looked up. "I doubt you would have either if Anders hadn't died."

Miranda, suddenly somber, stepped out of the kitchen and headed downstairs to head to bed. Rena followed him.

"So I guess we have a mutual understanding then."

30

The house was silent as Rena floated her way to the large bay window in the upstairs living room, brushing past trinkets and dusty photo frames of Norman and his family. She wondered about Samhain's family and her own, if her friend Lucia had moved on and her parents had had any more children.

Would they have mentioned to them their dead daughter who everybody thought had been a murderer? Or would they have let them discover it on their own, waiting in fear for the day they were confronted about it?

Shy had still been curled up on the couch downstairs when Rena had gone to check on her earlier, making sure that she was still there and not sneaking off to do something regrettable, like collapsing at the side of the road and being recruited into the devil's revolution.

What if Bes hadn't found Argentina and she'd found the will to keep pushing on? Would the police have found her?

Would she be dead right now, in the same cut-up state Samhain was in?

Rena shook off the thought and took a seat in the large plush seat beneath the window. She turned her eyes to the full moon. She didn't deserve the life had right now- no, not a life, but a half-life, condemned to stay in the shadows and be merely a participant in somebody else's story.

She closed her eyes as she sunk into the chair, feeling herself slip away into the first sleep she'd had in a long while. A warm blanket of air surrounded her. At first, she panicked, thinking that she'd overextended her time outside of a vessel and was about to disintegrate- but she remained intact.

Something pulled her up, like there was a cord in her back dragging her straight into the sky. She opened her eyes to find the landscape changing around her as she drifted upwards, sky flashing from day to night and back again in the blink of an eye. Buildings fell down and were built back up in a flash. People were no less ethereal than she was, and even less so, for they moved so fast that not even her eyes could have made out any of their features.

The scene stopped, and she was thrown back into her old high school, walking down it like nothing was amiss, like nothing would ever be amiss. Samhain's arm was hooked in her own. She looked down at her arms, holding the books that she had carried to class every day. Around her, students chattered about where they were going after the school day was over, some engrossed in their phones and bumping into other, more aggravated peers.

The scene shifted. She was at a farm similar to the one she and Samhain had run away to, with a large sprawling field and a shabby farmhouse. But her family and Samhain's were there, the three young girls playing together at the border of the field while the parents reclined around the fire in cracked plastic chairs and a handmade wooden swing with unnamed alcoholic beverages in their hands. Argentina swung her head around; the crackles of the flames were almost audible from where she stood.

"Argentina!" Samhain yelled, climbing onto an old wooden plank at the edge of the rubbish pile that had stood there for as long as she had been alive- and possibly longer; she didn't know; nobody had ever told her. "Come over here! I think I've found something!"

Everything fell away from her, and she was left in a dilapidated bathroom, water stains decorating the walls and the unpainted wood of the laundry door chute facing her. Her head was in her hands, space between her ears pounding- she was much older, her long hair overflowing past her fingers. Somewhere upstairs, her mother was yelling at her for forgetting to complete some chore or another. Her phone sat in her pocket, an unread text from Samhain beeping at her to respond to.

You know, if I ever live long enough to go to college, I want us to run away and get a little apartment together. Or maybe even a tiny house! Wouldn't that be fun?

Rena shook her head. The dream melted away. She was still suspended in the air, the atmosphere of three in the morning filling her senses, Norman's house below her. She moved to descend, to go back to Miranda and Shy, but a voice boomed in her ears.

You cannot go back.

"Who's that?" she yelled, spinning around- at least the cosmic string afforded her that- but no face exposed itself, just a disembodied presence surrounding her.

I am the one you have been seeking all your life, the one who has been struck down by ignorance and fanaticism.

"God?" Rena's eyes widened. "Is that you?"

I once went by that name, I suppose, but not anymore. I am Nameless. My throne has been deposed, my home desecrated, my power stripped. But you are here, so I have some inkling of hope that not everything is lost.

"What- why are you talking to me?"

A sacrifice is useless without proper preparation.

Rena looked around her. The light in Miranda's room was on, a yellow glow behind the curtains drawn over the windows. She opened her mouth to question why, but the voice continued.

Argentina, this world has been poisoned for a long time. Some would even say from the moment of its conception in the universe's womb along with Gehenna-Altaris. I know not of who designed the both of us and created the system of interdimensional transit that governs our lives. Some would say that, beyond us, there is another god who dictates our lives, and that there is a god who governs that one, and so on. Some would say an author houses us in their brain, and they are just an iota of a cell of another's brain, and the chain goes on. It is not for us to comprehend.

Rena felt an invisible hand scoop her up and pull her out of the sky at terrifying speed, the entire planet blurring before her before the hand let go, sending her spiraling though space until she settled into a lazy orbit around the planet she had called home. The sheer immensity threatened to rupture her stomach- she couldn't fall ill anyways; she was a Mithrae- but she pulled her legs in all the same, her head dizzy and light.

For all of her fantasizing about floating among the stars as a child, she never once imagined to see it with her own eyes, serenity replaced with sheer horror.

From the moment I took the throne that had been crafted for me and my equal in Gehenna took theirs, we made a pact to protect the humans that we had been appointed over, to never fall prey to the barbaric soul farming practices other realms had. We watched the planet prosper from its early days as a molten rock, rejoicing every time a major event happened in the grand scale of your species' evolution, celebrating whenever our own country made another stride towards advancement.

We grew foolish and haughty, Argentina. We forgot the pact and focused on ourselves. It wasn't a sudden thing- it happened over thousands of years until we turned a blind eye to both your world and ours and started revering hedonism instead of virtue. We should have seen the revolution coming from a mile away. But we didn't, and both I and my partner failed.

"But what does any of this have to do with me?"

I'm asking a colossal favor of you, Argentina. Soon I will have to pay my debts to the great author in the sky and pass away into the next realm as a common mortal. I want you to unlink your planet from the interdimensional chain so the people I swore to protect and fail don't get swept away too.

"Won't that cause-"

Don't worry about what will happen once humans no longer have souls. I sense the majority of them would rather die free than be enslaved under Chire. Don't you agree?

Rena remained silent.

Here’s the portal. A point of light appeared on the globe. There is a central control system in the basement of the soul processing facility. Shut it down and make sure it stays down long enough to detonate.

So that's how I'm going to die, Rena realized.

She piped up before the voice could interrupt her. "But what about Gehenna-Altaris?"

The redeemable ones will be rescued and brought to other dimensions when the place tears itself apart.

Rage flared in the girl. "Who are you to decide whether or not people are redeemable? And you're destroying everything they've ever known-"

Actually, you will be the one doing the destroying, Argentina.

The hand snatched her up again, waited for North America to spin around while she squirmed against indestructible fingers, and tossed her towards the solitary point emanating from what looked like to be the western coast of Lake Superior. She screamed as she hurdled towards the atmosphere- but then again, it was space, and there was no air to carry her voice.

Make your parents proud.

31

Shy's hands trembled as she undid the lock on the sliding glass door in the living room and slipped out of the house. She stepped onto the frosty grass, her body trembling as she slid the door shut, slow enough that it wouldn't squeak. Her hair, greasy and limp, hung down.

Well, too late to take a shower now.

She crossed the backyard and stepped onto the bike trail and followed it up the hill slope the house had been built on. There was a forest about a field away, a small playground next to it, just barely visible in the full moon's light.

Shy squinted her eyes.

I know this place.

Her pace picked up, running towards the forest. She'd spent a summer there trying to convince a former friend to meet her so that they could rekindle a relationship. But the friend had been lazy and hadn't wanted to put the effort in, constantly suggesting a park much closer to her to make Shy do most of the walking.

A crappy friend, indeed.

Shy stepped off of the path and rushed through the grass. Frost threatened to soak her shoes. She ignored it. She brushed a tree branch aside, hoping that the divot where the shade had been greatest in the summer was still there, hidden to even the animals.

Her foot sunk into a hole, and she grimaced as she pulled it out, mud sticking to the bottom of her shoe.

Crap. It sank in.

It's been sixteen years. Did you really expect it to still be here?

Shy stepped away from the hole and gathered a pile of leaves, dry and crinkly from the past fall. She lowered herself onto it, relishing the pseudo-silence that came, sleep soon pulling her eyes shut.

What will Miranda say when he wakes up and sees that you're gone?

Shy mentally shrugged. She had wanted to be alone, and she had finally achieved it.

"Shy..."

Shy shot straight up, eyes wild, searching all around her- but nobody was there, at least as far as she could see, and the night kept her from seeing very far.

"Who's there?"

"Shy..." A soft voice tinkled, and then Nox appeared in front of her- but it wasn't Nox; she was all sparkly and her image wavered every few seconds.

Like a ghost.

Shy covered her eyes, Nox's light immediately ruining her night vision. "Why?" she half sobbed. "Why now?"

"Shy..."

The ghost of Nox stepped closer. Shy waved a hand to dispel the image, only causing it to furiously flicker. Nox placed a hand to Shy's face, the feeling of a cold lump of snow pressing against her cheek.

"Shy..."

"Begone!" Shy yelled, turning away, her breath pained, her heart fluttering. "Bes, Chire, whoever you are..."

Nox, hurt, squatted down beside Shy. "Listen to me. Just for a minute, okay?"

Shy bit back a gasp for air, her chest aching.

Nox leaned in to whisper into Shy's ear. "I'm going home. But you've got to stay strong, okay? Rena's got her part to do, and so do you."

"Don't lie to me, you mockery."

“I can’t help you. They wired my eyes- they can see everything I can see, Shy. You’ve got to take me out before-”

"Hey! You, over there!"

Something rustled at the edge of the forest, a bright light beaming down onto Shy. The effigy of Nox disappeared into smoke. Shy shielded her eyes as she tried to look beyond the beam.

"Sheiko Prim," the voice boomed from a pill-shaped vehicle, the same as had appeared when Nox had been taken. "You're under arrest. Come peacefully, and we promise you will not be harmed... substantially."

Shy stood up, the beam waning a bit to let her see the face of her apprehender- an aged man, about sixty or so, wearing a gray uniform. Not like any Wychester police officer she had ever seen.

"I said-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Shy put her hands up, gulping as the man stepped forward, two younger kids tumbling out with stunners in their hands. "There's no point in taking me. The Institute blew up. Nox is dead. Lily is safe. You'd gain nothing."

"Ophelia requests your presence."

32

If Shy had dried her misty eyes and turned to her right, she could have seen a mural of an apple tree cupping the sun in its tangled branches. But she kept her eyes focused straight in front of her as Callee and Wyrb marched her down the long winding tunnel to the jail. Their boots clattered and made echoes as they marched. They glanced behind them every once in a while, wary, Sophronios following the three of them to make sure nobody allowed the handcuffed Shy to escape.

The tribunal room wasn't much warmer, being that nearly every surface was the raw stone of the mountain, rows of benches and desks carved into the walls and attached to the floor. The thin fabric of Shy's jail clothes helped little. The cold immediately made a home in her bones.

Ophelia stood behind the wide tribunal table, other high-ranking officials of the Aviary sitting beside her. She was a textbook example of serenity, white and gold-embroidered gown flowing like she was an angel, the only light in the dim room.

"Sheiko Prim," her voice boomed. Someone pushed Shy to the center of the room for all to see and forced her down to her knees. Shy strained to look up at her judge, her former ruler. "You have been brought here today to be tried and sentenced for the death of Neimi Neyaska, caused by your negligence." She swept her hand across the table, picking up the first document her secretary had left for her. "You stand charged of manslaughter, treason, theft of dependent persons, failure to pay outstanding debts, and conspiracy to commit treason."

Wyrb kicked her in the rump, forcing her to stumble forward. Her wrists burned from the handcuffs. "Were the duplicate treasons a typo?"

Ophelia looked confused for a moment, scanning the paper before shaking her head. "No, they weren't." She looked back to Shy. "You made a vow when we took you in that you would not leave without our permission, which you broke. You also plotted with Bestiele Tavikka, a known enemy. The Institute is closing in on us because of your actions."

"I never plotted with him! He threatened my friends here at the Aviary and-" Shy's voice caught in her throat. She released a dry sob, her throat raspy. "If it weren't for me being here, the Institute would have desecrated this place long ago. Bes only protected you because I was here. You know that, don't you?"

Ophelia's guise of gentleness shattered. Her face darkened. "Sympathizing with the enemy. Cause enough for death. Anything else you want to confess for?"

"Death?" Shy laughed, an insane sound that made the two boys guarding her shudder. "That would be mercy at this point. Your stupid war killed my best friend. I no longer want any part in it. And if you kill me, you'll lose the best tracker this place has ever seen."

"Such arrogance." Ophelia sighed, brushing loose strands of hair out of her eyes. "The war didn't kill Neimi. You did. If you had followed our directions instead of taking orders from the conniving Ameliore- who we're still working on tracking down- the mission would have been long over by now, and you'd be relaxing in your room-"

"And still be under your command," Shy snarled. "I disobeyed you to fulfill your orders, and I don't regret a moment of it." She trembled as she stood up, holding her head higher than Ophelia's. "The outside world fell apart around you, and you holed up in here and plugged your ears and hummed instead of fighting like everybody else. So kill me if you must. I would rather die free than live as a slave."

Nox didn't sacrifice herself so that you could just give up, Shy's conscience pleaded. Come on! Fight!

Nox saved Ameliore and Lily. Our work is done. We were just disposable pawns in Ophelia's game, remember?

You had such big plans for life.

Well, if all Rena's talk about the soul recycling system was anything other than complete bullcrap, then maybe I'll catch a ride with Nox in the next life.

But Bes had your soul, and now Chire has it.

Then I'll fight her when I'm dead, I guess.

"Just because the system doesn't work for you doesn't mean that it's defective for others," Ophelia retorted, her face stony. She slammed her fists onto the table, rumpling the papers still left for her to review. "I want to let you go free, Shy, so that I'll never have to see that bastard face of yours again. I really do. But your actions have alerted outsiders to the existence of the Aviary, and for that, I can't exonerate you."

"Didn't you say that the Institute is closing in? They're coming anyways, whether or not you execute me. Either way..." Shy shrugged as well as she could with the handcuffs. "You've lost."

"Do you really have such little compassion for those I've been caring for these past sixteen years? You sicken me."

Ophelia gestured to the rest of the tribunal. They gathered around her, whispering and occasionally throwing a dirty glance at Shy. After a few minutes, they separated, Ophelia's eyes closed, her face serene again.

"Sheiko Prim, we sentence you to the maximum penalty allowed by our laws, which is death. Your sentence will be carried out tomorrow at eight in the morning." She gestured to Wyrb and Callee; Soph was standing guard in the doorway. "Take her to her cell. I don't want to see this disgusting filth anymore."

Shy closed her eyes, allowing Wyrb and Callee to drag her out of the room.

Once she was gone, Ophelia took a handkerchief from one of the tribunal members and patted her sweaty forehead."Soph! Call for Clarissa. I want to know I made the right decision." She turned back to the tribunal. "You are dismissed."

Soph bowed before rushing from the room with the others. He returned a few minutes later with a frazzled Clarissa, doctor's apron still hanging half-untied on her frame. Although her face was troubled, she curtseyed and forced a smile before asking, "What is it you require, Lady Ophelia?"

"Did Sheiko have any... medical problems I should know about?"

Clarissa wrung her hands, nervous. "She has a severe multiple personality disorder. It usually flares up after a thirty-six hour period without medication, although the exact time can vary... I don't know how often she took her doses while outside the Aviary, but she didn't have her bottle with her when she was brought in."

"That might explain her behavior." Ophelia closed her eyes, exhausted, wondering how many sleepless nights she would have to endure before the guilt of condemning Shy to death would pass. "Soph! Would the tribunal stand to review her case and see if a plea to insanity would stand?"

Soph's eyes widened, part shocked and part offended. "Lady Ophelia, stop playing with lives. You know that Neimi's death wasn't Sheiko's fault. If you wanted a plea to go through, you should have mentioned it before you sentenced her to death."

"Are you sympathizing with the enemy now?" Ophelia shot back.

"Sympathizing, no. Questioning your sanity, yes! If what you say about Shy conspiring with the enemy is true, don’t you think it would be a better use of your resources to question her about her experiences? She's been to the Institute; she's been with Miranda; she's come into contact with the ever-reclusive Rena. She was right about you holing up and plugging your ears-"

Ophelia rushed forward and slapped Soph, sending him into shock as he stumbled backwards. "Don't make me throw you into jail too!"

"Honestly, I wish you would. Then I would get a break for once."

Soph spat, nearly missing Ophelia's feet. He abandoned the room.

33

“Do you think I look good in this skirt, Almira?” Chire twirled around in front of the massive mirror-wall, the folds of the pink skirt poofing out and accentuating the thighs she’d slimmed down and was fiercely proud of. She struck a pose. “Or should I go back to the closet?”

As expected, Almira, being a hellhound and not an actual person, didn’t respond, instead choosing to stare at his own reflection with his milky-white eyes.

Chire sagged. “You’re no fun.” She skipped over to the stool, where a tray full of makeup awaited her. She selected the reddest shade of lipstick and scampered back to the mirror, where she applied it, making sure to drag the corners of her lips at every stroke. “I wish you were a talking hellhound. Then maybe I wouldn’t be so lonely for friends.”

Almira perked up, but it turned out to just be the stray scent of some prisoner bleeding somewhere in the castle's dungeons. He went back to resting on the floor.

Chire puckered her lips and planted a light kiss on the mirror, leaving a smudged imprint, not caring about the poor sap relegated to cleaning crew who’d have to scrub it off later. Her shoes clacked on the hardwood floor as she replaced the lipstick and pulled out a gaudy hair bow. She pulled her hair back into a ponytail. “Today’s a big day.” She eyed the glowing orb sitting in a box of newspaper scraps for padding. “Since Bes is gone, I'm going to go on my very own mission!” Finished tying the bow, she spun back to Almira. “Aren’t you excited?”

Almira snored.

Chire’s face fell, exasperated. “God. You never listen to me.” She jumped over to the stool with the tray and flicked the orb sitting alone in its own little compartment with one finger. The glass tinkled. The smoke inside danced. “Good thing this soul can’t fight back. That’ll just make my job a heckuva lot easier.”

34

That night was relatively peaceful. No troops came to Sophronios' sector and threatened to tear the place apart, no jail cell loomed over his head, just an occasional screech from the air vents. Nothing to complain about.

Nobody bothered him as he stepped into the elevator wearing a bulletproof vest, and nobody bothered him when he exited at the Capital and rushed through the streets, checking his watch to make sure that the fateful hour hadn't yet come when he'd have to fulfill his duty to Ophelia. Most people were staying inside, anyways, half preparing silently mourn the tracker who had brought so many of them there and half finalizing party plans.

It was barbaric, but it was the system he lived under, and most likely one of these days he would die perpetuating it. Ophelia was his friend. He would never go so far as to betray a friend.

Would he?

The guards standing at the entry to the jail tunnels- an extra one posted and at the ready to call in reinforcements- gave Soph a wary look as he brushed past them and entered the tunnels. The heavy door slammed shut behind him. He turned on his flashlight, the torch's light illuminating the path before him. There were far more echoes than there had been the previous day.

The prisoners must be screaming again, he thought. Or maybe my ears are finally going.

If he'd defected and joined Anastasia all that time ago, his ears might have already been fixed by then. Or she would have dissolved his body and built him a younger one. But he wouldn't have requested it- he liked the scars, particularly the twisted one on his right hand.

After a few minutes of backtracking and following a new route through the jail that he'd never taken before, he stopped in front of the door to Shy's cell, which was heavily armored and locked with three different deadbolts. Surprisingly enough, there were no guards.

Shy wouldn't have been stupid enough to try to escape, and nobody who had the clearance to make it this far would help her.

Soph whispered a short prayer before he pulled the master key out of his vest's pocket and unlocked the first deadbolt. The light above the door changed from red to yellow.

What are you doing? Ophelia gave you her orders. You've got to follow them to the best of your ability.

Her orders are going to get Shy and others killed for following her orders. I can't allow that.

He unlocked the second deadbolt. He froze for a moment while the key was still in, hearing a pounding somewhere above his head, thinking that the troops were closing on him, but it turned out to just be his blood rushing. The third lock was sticky, and the key caught- but the light above the door changed to green. Air whooshed into the room as the heavy metal door slid open.

Soph took a deep breath before he stepped into Shy's tiny cell. His chest convulsed as he jumped back. There was a human-shaped hole set into the floor, where Shy was sleeping- against her will, from the blood marks scraped on the floor. A forest of wires connected her to the floor, the edges of the hole glowing a soft blue as they hummed.

He took a step closer. Shy's skin was tinged a dark gray, her fingers a more intense color. Her eyes were open but unfocused, unmoving.

"Ophelia..." he whispered as he crouched down and felt Shy's neck, finding a weak pulse. He felt the cord embedded in her wrist and removed the tape before gently pulling. It gave way without much resistance. Shy's body twitched.

Soph continued to pull out the wires until Shy was completely free, the wires fizzing and sparking on the stone floor. He stashed his flashlight in his belt before hoisting Shy up over his shoulder.

"Halt right there!"

Soph turned around to see a guard he recognized from the newest batch of recruits, young knees knocking together as he held his stunner out in front of him.

Soph sighed. "I guess you're going to arrest me now, aren't you?"

"In the name of Lady Ophelia, I command you to stop!" the youngster's voice squeaked, stepping in front of Soph. "Or I'll shoot both of you!"

Soph rolled his eyes, elbowing the boy aside before breaking into a run down the tunnel. He took a left, the memory of an abandoned part being closed off flashing into his mind. Running past the cracked part of the wall, right where he expected it to be, he took a right and slipped under the yellow tape.

He laid Shy down and took his flashlight and twisted it to the dimmest setting. He set it down beside Shy's body. He rolled her onto her side, trying to get air into her lungs. Her breath shuddered, but she stayed still.

He whispered a short apology to Shy before slapping her across the face. She groaned and rolled onto her stomach. He slapped her back, forcing her to take a deep breath.

"Please, Shy," he begged, grabbing hold of her shoulders and propping her up against the tunnel wall, wincing at the bruise starting to form on her cheek. "I need you with me right now."

Shy's eyes closed as she began to cough- hocking so loud it sounded like her entire lung was coming up her throat. A dribble of spit trailed down her chin. She tried to crumple over, but Soph kept her upright.

"Can you hear me?"

"Yeah," Shy's voice rasped. Her head leaned against Soph's shoulder. "Wait-" She coughed. "You're that officer who arrested me! What are you-"

"I just wanted to keep you safe in our reach until the Sundering, just in case you had some secret plan or key to stop Bes that we didn't know about, but it's no use if Ophelia's going to kill you. But now's not the time for explanations. We've got to get out of here, or neither of us are going to live to see the true sun again."

Shy whimpered. "You got another Stardust around here?"

Soph shook his head. "We'll have to run."

"Oh, joy." Shy limped, and Soph helped her to her feet. She stood, her legs wobbling. Her face looked about ready to crumple. "I feel like a walking corpse."

"Because you are." Soph stooped down to collect the flashlight. He twisted it to brighten and pointed it down the tunnel. The thunder of footsteps began to echo down. "Ready to run?"

Shy lurched forward a few steps. He took her hand, Shy stumbling behind him but growing more steady. His pace picked up, and so did hers, until they were running full speed through the turns and twists of the jail system, passing other cells along the way. The prisoners cried at their passing, but they paid them no attention.

"Sophronios- What are you-"

Another guard stood in the middle of the narrow tunnel, older than the first- but Shy and Soph were going too fast to stop, and they plowed straight through him. The guard landed smack on his face as they passed over. They kept running, Shy's lungs feeling like they were about to explode, until they arrived at the heavy metal door separating the tunnels from the Capital.

"Listen here, Shy," Soph whispered, leaning in close as Shy bent over, her breath heaving. "Most likely, there will be police waiting outside the door, ready to shoot you. I'll stop them for a few minutes, but you need to run. Like. Hell. Do you understand?"

Shy froze.

"This is life or death. I said, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"

Shy nodded, her eyes pleading for just one more moment of rest, but Soph took her hand and threw open the door. It caught the three guards outside off guard, and Soph threw Shy in front of him. She stumbled to a full-on run as he turned and faced the guards.

"Sophronios!" The guards paled, their eyes widening and following Shy, speaking in unison. They pulled the stunners out of their holsters, turning to Soph, who was struggling to remain composed. "Committing treason, are you?"

"No." Soph took a step back, not daring to peel his eyes away from the guards. "But you're going to kill me anyways, aren't you?"

The guards's eyes narrowed as they focused their stunners on Soph's chest. "We have our orders."

"I'm sure you do."

Soph suddenly kicked his foot out, catching the jaw of the first guard and sending him to the floor. He barely had time to turn around before he heard the triggers cocking.

***

Shy immediately keeled over in the elevator, emptying what little was left in her stomach onto the floor- mostly bile with a few dregs of her last meal with Miranda and Norman mixed in. She grimaced, stumbling away, quarantining herself to the corner of the empty elevator.

The announcement panel almost immediately flashed to a warning from the security teams, a blank-faced mugshot of Shy devoid of emotion filling the screen.

LOCKDOWN PROCEDURES INITIATING. THERE HAS BEEN A BREACH AT THE JAIL. PLEASE REMAIN IN YOUR ROOMS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. LOCKDOWN PROCEDURES...

Shy held her breath as the elevator approached the next sector, expecting people to flood in and expose her, but the car continued to ascend. The lights of the Capital slowly flickered out around her until the car was left in complete darkness, only broken by the slight glow of the buttons.

And then the door whooshed open.

The same sky that had always welcomed her during her scouting sessions greeted her again, but this time, it was a pallid yellow, the color of oily old paper touched by human hands too much. She limped her way outside, resting on a jagged rock with a flat face on top. Her legs swung off the edge- it was only a few feet's drop, and then she could take off running.

Did she want to run?

Where would she run to?

Shy's breath caught, the full weight of her situation crashing down on her. Rena had disappeared to who-knew-where, and Miranda had gone back to the farm, and the sky was parchment, writing out her fate in gold letters for all to see before fading back into where the sun should have been.

Her life had started with running, and whenever something had threatened her, she'd ran. She ran with all her might until the finish line was crossed or the goal was reached or her legs decided that they had had enough.

She had always been running, and she would always be running, running away.

Shy stood up, meeting the face materializing in ink on the sky's parchment. It was a young face- the same one she'd met in the Institute. It leered at her, sticking its tongue out and blowing a mute raspberry.

Enough people had died for her, for this war.

Enough miles had been crossed.

It was time for her to stop running.

35

"Chire!" Shy yelled. The girl in the parchment sky turned her eyes down to her. "What do you want? Haven't you and your depraved family taken enough from me?"

"Oh?" The girl's voice boomed across the landscape, seemingly making everything in the mountains and the valleys tremble from terror- maybe "girl" was the wrong term; her voice had grown much more mature. "I don't have any clue what you're blabbing on about. I haven't taken anything from you." She swept a hand in front of her, causing a gust of wind to slap Shy’s face. "Everything is mine. My inheritance from Bes." She waved her hand, and the wind bent around in a loose vortex, threatening to turn into a tornado, forcing Shy to her knees to keep from buckling and tumbling down the mountainside.

"You coward! Always hiding behind other people doing the work for you!" Shy braced herself against the wind and took a step forward, standing at the edge of the jagged rock. "Come down here and fight me like a real god would. Like Bes would."

Chire laughed. "The thin mountain air must be getting to you! The lack of oxygen is making you loony." She sobered. "But I'll oblige you this time."

A flame appeared in her forehead, eating away at her visage until there was nothing left of that region of parchment but a big burning hole. The wind dissipated. A glowing orb appeared farther down the mountain, pulsing in and out as Shy slipped off the rock and dashed down the mountainside, the same paths and footholds as always guiding her way down.

Shy sprinted into the forest, weaving through the trees in pursuit of the orb, which had grown small chicken wings and was flitting through the forest. It stopped at a river before plunging itself into the depths. The waters sizzled as the orb darkened and then disappeared altogether.

"Dammit!" Shy yelled, spinning around to face-

She yelped, nearly jumping backwards into the river, struggling to maintain her balance near the riverbank. Nox stood in front of her, her eyes dead and blank. She stretched her wings out, stepping towards the flustered girl, completely serene even as the cut down the side of her face glowed.

"Shy..." Her voice was buttery smooth, neither Chire's or Nox's own. Something about her seemed almost iridescent, otherworldly. "It's been so long. Do you still love me?"

"Chire!" Shy took another step back. The river churned behind her, raging, threatening to swallow her whole. Her chest tightened. "Get away from me!"

"But you invited me," Nox countered, lunging forward and wrapping her arms around Shy. The both of them tumbled into the river, Nox tightening her grip, Shy scrabbling, kicking, trying anything to get the girl off of her.

Water filled Shy's ears as Nox let go of her and then wrapped her fingers around Shy's throat. She couldn't tell if it was the churning waters of the river or her own blood rushing in her ears- Nox pressed harder as Shy scrabbled to remove the fingers, the rosy fingers that had helped her, blessed her for so long pressing down on her esophagus, threatening to crush it.

They tumbled over and over in the river. Shy's vision tunneled as she flailed, trying to bring herself to the surface, but Nox didn't seem bothered by the lack of air.

Nox...

The world fell away from them, and Nox pushed away from Shy, releasing her fingers and watching as Shy rolled onto her back on the newlyfound ground, her breath heaving.

"I thought you would put up more of a fight. I'm disappointed."

Shy pushed herself up enough to face Nox, her throat burning with every breath. "Me too. I thought you would be brave enough to use your own body, Chire."

"It's not Chire. It's really me!" Nox shouted, coming in close to Shy. "You abandoned me in the Institute, Shy. And now you're going to pay."

Shy shook her head and stood up, wiping off her jail jumper. "I don't think so."

The world began to fill out around them, details slowly etching themselves in and filling with color as the two girls glared at each other. Damaged buildings in suburbs in the distance. An abandoned playground, swings swinging in the breeze. A tower, looming in the distance, purple windows emanating light.

Nox moved to choke Shy again, but Shy swung her fist around, catching Nox's arm and hurling her to the grass. Nox stumbled, lunging again and catching Shy off-guard and sending the both of them straight down to the ground. Nox spat a glob of blood onto the ground before flashing a grin right above Shy's face, her wrists pinning the other girl down.

"Tell me, Sheiko Prim, do you love me?"

Shy, instead of responding, knocked her forehead into Nox's. Nox rolled off of her, and Shy stumbled to her feet, backing up before Nox could do the same.

"Shy! Do you love me?" Nox asked again, blood dripping from her lips.

Shy, breath heaving, shook the hair out of her eyes. Something boomed in the distance- Shy turned her head to see an explosion on the horizon.

"Let me teach you something about Gehenna-Altaris," Nox said, shaking out her wings again and lightly stepping towards Shy at the same pace as Shy walking backwards. "The Seven Rules of Earthen Conduct. One: Anybody can be possessed and controlled for an infinite amount of time unless they've never willingly and knowingly stepped into a religious institution with intent to worship, in which case it can only be for five minutes." Nox lunged forward, catching Shy in the jaw, knocking her off-guard to the ground.

Shy rolled away and back onto her feet. "What are you doing?"

"I just want you to love me, Shy." Nox faked a tear, rolling down her dirty face. "Two: A possessed object may not be controlled in a way not allowed by its functions. If it breaks, the soul remains with the largest piece, unless it's smaller than a fingernail, in which case it's cast out." Nox frowned. "Like you were cast out of the Aviary."

"Don't remind me."

"Three: A soul without a vessel or other container has forty-eight hours to get one before dissolving and ceasing to exist. Four: Two or more souls may not share a vessel or object." She flicked her hand. Shy's legs turned to stone, and she fell over. She gaped at Nox, trying to drag herself away from the advancing figure. "Five: A human may not have its physical shape changed without consent, but it can made to hallucinate so without consent."

Shy found that she could suddenly move her legs, and she kicked at Nox as she returned to normal. Nox easily jumped out of the way.

"If you're going to kill me, at least have the courage to do it as yourself."

"But I'm not finished yet!" Nox stooped over, took Shy's arm, and wrenched her up. "Six: When a living vessel dies or suffers a mortal wound, the soul or souls that were inhabiting it are sent to soul reassignment and the souls have no chance of escape."

Shy tried to thrash away, but Nox pulled her into an embrace, Shy wincing as Nox bent her wrist back. "And the seventh?"

Nox took delight in the pained expression Shy was trying not to let show through. "I haven't made that one up yet. I'll let you decide. Do you want a deus ex machina? It'd be like you to try to get out of a hopeless situation without much work. Like, for example... your execution?"

Shy shoved Nox away, the latter giggling as she stumbled and caught herself on the pole of a basketball net. A bow loaded with a single shot materialized in front of Nox. Shy watched as Nox took it and tugged on the string, checking its tightness. "Let's finish this now, Shy. One daughter of Bes against the other."

36

Rena slumped against the door to the soul reassignment center tower. It was a relatively new tower; it hadn't been there when she'd been banished- but the floor tiles were cracked and hadn't been swept in ages.

Where was everybody?

Rena limped to the stairway, descending into the depths of the tower's basement, urging herself to keep putting one foot in front of the other. The first few floors were lit perfectly, but after the third one down, the lights began to flicker and spark on the ceiling.

Argentina... Argentina...

"Samhain?"

How close am I to death to hear her voice?

Rena quickened her pace, nearly tumbling down the dilapidated stone steps. The lights cut out suddenly; Rena felt her way to the handrail and quickened her pace, tripping and catching herself before continuing.

Follow me...

An orb of light appeared in front of Rena's nose, stopping her short as it weakly lit up the stairwell. The orb bounced in the air, hovering before zooming down the steps. Rena followed it, descending five more floors as her feet complained.

They reached the landing, and the staircase stopped. Below Rena's feet, a lattice of metal strips separated her from an abyss, echoing with every step she took. Clanking sounds echoed from the bottom of the abyss. She turned around. There was a door at the other side of the expanse, red light burning above the doorway, but all that remained of what walkway must have been there in the past was a single metal pipe.

Rena gulped as the orb bounced across the pipe like it was nothing. Rena crouched down at the edge of the landing, trying not to look down as she curled herself around the pipe and began to shimmy across.

Don't look down, the orb's voice beamed into her mind.

"Thanks, Captain Obvious-"

Rena slipped. The world flipped around as she slid upside down. She clung onto the pipe for dear life like a sloth, afraid to try to swing herself up for fear of losing her already loosening grip. She pressed herself against the pipe, cursing the weight that Gehenna-Altaris gave to her bones as she continued to shimmy towards the other side.

As soon as the other landing came into sight, she lunged for it, her fingers catching and digging into the lattice’s edge. She pulled herself up, rolling onto the platform, her lungs burning and begging for air.

There wasn't a ventilation system down there, was there?

It was no matter. She'd be dead soon anyway.

The orb flattened itself and slid under the door. Rena cursed her solid body until the light above the door faded to green. Air underneath hissed as the door slid open, revealing a vault with a single console in front of it.

Home.

Rena stepped forward. The orb was bouncing on top of a red switch, the console's screen dormant. Rena took the switch as the orb darted away. Her fingers curled around it, but she couldn't bring herself to pull it down.

Not just yet.

She was back in the van again, Samhain's head nodding on her shoulder seatbelt as they careened down the highway. She'd fallen asleep to a song about dying and regrets- Argentina had wanted to change the radio, but Samhain had stopped her, seeing it fitting for the occasion.

Rena turned to the orb. "Are you Samhain?"

The orb dipped in the air, indicating a nod.

She was in chemistry class, tears in her eyes as a problem she had no inkling of how to do stared her in the face. Below it was a multiple choice question, just as hopelessly cryptic- and more frustrating, because the correct answer was there, an improved grade just one pen stroke away if only it knew where to go.

Rena felt a small smile creep onto her face- a sad smile.

There was no more fighting left for her to do.

She let go of the handle and turned to the keyboard and typed out a long-winded command. The console shuddered to life, the screen printing out incomprehensible code at breakneck speed before a small vial filled with milky liquid clattered out of a slot.

Rena took the vial in her hands, handing it to the orb, who took it with an invisible hand, looking like it had been skewered. "This is the soul of a girl named Neimi Neyaska. She died in an explosion at the Institute. I want you to deliver it to her friend Shy. She doesn't have a soul, but I've got a silver string-" Rena flicked her hand, expecting the string to point straight down, but it curved upwards to the surface.

Rena would have paled had she not been a spirit.

"Oh, god, don't tell me she's here..." She turned to the console- "No, no no-" and then the orb again, panic rising in her voice. "Please, Samhain. I need you to get that to Shy and then get her out of here."

I'm not leaving you again.

"You never left me in the first place!" Rena pointed in the same direction as the silver string, her eyes threatening to tear up. "Go! Please!"

Why so eager to die? Just meet me on the surface!

The orb blew a raspberry before flitting out of the door, weighed down by the vial but staying airborne nevertheless. Rena turned back to the console, expecting it to begin spouting messages any moment about unauthorized access and begin the countdown.

She didn't mind.

"Samhain," she whispered, holding her head in her hands. "If you can hear me, save yourself as well."

Rena grasped the handle and pulled it all the way down with both hands. It clicked into the down position, the console showing a timer.

Five minutes.

The handle’s sticking in place. I’ve just got to relax now. It’s over…

Rena slumped against the wall, closing her eyes.

It’s over…

If you start running, you could probably make it.

Rena picked her heavy body off the floor and rubbed her eyes, taking one last look at the console, ticking down four minutes and forty seconds.

I love you, Samhain.

She burst from the room, shuddering as she wrapped herself around the metal pipe again and began to shimmy.

It was almost over.

It was almost over.

37

"Rule number one," Shy muttered under her breath as she circled around Nox, making it harder for the latter to ready a shot to the former. "Nox never went to church. She spent her entire life in the Institute and then in the Aviary." She flashed a smile. "Better make it quick, Chire."

Nox's face shifted to panic for a moment before she laughed, a hearty guffaw that her body didn't seem capable of supporting. "You're an idiot!" She scampered back, drawing back the arrow. "Nox's soul isn't around here! She's being recycled as we speak. This is my body now."

Shy’s breath caught. Is she being serious?

What reason do I have to trust her!

Shy rushed Nox as she centered her shot. Nox lost her grip as they collided, sending the arrow flying away and landing with a snick into the marshy ground by the basketball court.

Nox picked herself up, dropping the bow, wiping the dirt off her face and ruffling her feathers- Shy saw that the primaries had been sheared straight across, leaving half of each feather intact with a ragged edge. Nox rubbed her eyes, bloodshot-

A vial flew out of the sky, clinking as it landed on the ground along with a small glowing blue orb. Shy picked it up before dashing out of Nox's way, studying the vial and the milky liquid inside that she was almost afraid to put a name to.

Use it! a voice in her mind urged as the orb flitted up to hover at eye level. On Nox!

Shy waited until Nox rushed back at her before locking Nox's head underneath her arm. The girl squirmed, lashing out at Shy as well as she could, the two of them in a stumbling sort of dance, while Shy clumsily uncorked the vial with one hand and dumped it on Nox's head. She let her go as the orb clucked.

The light faded from Nox's eyes as she stumbled back. "You cheated," she whimpered before she fainted and collapsed. Shy rushed down, feeling her pulse, just barely there.

Shy pressed her lips to Nox's, slightly parted and exposing her pink tongue. Shy tried to recall her school days in health class as she forced air into Nox's lungs, doing nothing but returning fetid breath to her own.

God, that tasted like raw fish.

Shy retreated and coughed out until the breath in her lungs was hers again.

When was the last time I brushed my teeth?

You almost died, and the first thing that came to your mind was dental hygiene?

"Nox?" Shy whispered, propping the limp girl up. Nox's head flopped onto her arm. She ruffled her hand through her friend's hair, trying not to focus on the gash threatening to reopen.

Sorry to interrupt your reunion, the orb beamed into Shy's mind, reveling in her flusterment, but this place is about to blow wide open.

A rumble sounded in the distance- a pearly spaceship landed a few miles away. A dust cloud began to form, rushing towards them. The orb flew to the ground and dragged itself like chalk through the grass, drawing a rough circle in the ground. It added a few lines in the middle, and the circle disappeared, a purple vortex of water whirling in its place.

The orb flew back over to Shy, tugging on her clothes. Shy scooped Nox up in her arms, the girl’s head lolling onto Shy’s chest, and stepped over to the portal.

"I feel like this war was won too easily."

It's not over yet. But Rena wanted you to be safe. The orb hovered above the portal. Find Miranda and hide yourselves until after the sky sunders.

Shy took one last look behind her, the dust cloud closing in as the ground beneath her began to rumble. A hatch on the spaceship opened up; the spaceship began to suck in black wispy shapes from the ruined buildings.

Shy took a deep breath, pressing Nox as close as possible to her chest, and jumped in.

***

Rena slipped into the hatch of the spaceship just as the motors began to whine and close the hatch. Inside the massive docking room, thousands of souls materialized, some of them Rena recognized from Bes' army.

"Hey!" Selene yelled, waving over across the room, jumping up and down as families scurried to reunite and find one of their alien saviors to escort them to a cabin room. "Argentina!"

Rena stiffened, but she flew over all the same. "What happened to you, Selene?"

"Same thing as you, apparently, but without the murder." She giggled, seeing Rena grimace. "Relax. I know you didn't murder Samhain- look!" She pointed towards the hatch, which had just shuddered closed, just in time for one final blip of a soul to slip in.

The soul flitted to beside Rena and popped into a human shape, still clearly Samhain- but a few years older, not nearly enough to compensate for the lost time between them. She shook her head- rubbed her eyes-

“Argentina?”

Lost for words, Rena could do nothing but stutter.

Samhain rushed over to Argentina and wrapped her arms around her astonished girlfriend, squeezing tightly as if she were afraid that Rena would disappear at any moment. She muttered nonsense under her breath, burying her head in Rena’s shoulder.

“Oh my god- Argentina. It’s you. I- I’m sorry about what happened- I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye-”

“Sshh.” Rena stroked her hand through Samhain’s hair, still as short and fluffy as it had always been. “You’re safe now. It’s all over.”

"No, it's not!"

The remaining crowd began to rush to either one of the large windows in the docking room, looking down at their realm, their former home as they ascended past the clouds and broke into the stars. The land whitened- everyone turned away as a blinding light covered the land, tearing up buildings and dirt as a tornado passed through everything.

Utter destruction.

But there was still a shimmer in the land as they entered their planet's orbit, the alien spirits preparing the artificial gravity before taking off for their own realm. Even through the white spun sugar clouds that were all that remained of the once proud cities, Rena could see something shifting underneath.

Maybe one day they could return, build anew.

But would it be worth it? All the lives lost just to start the cycle all over again?

Samhain put a hand to Rena's cheek, trying not to flood her girlfriend with questions she'd have all of eternity to puzzle out. A sweet smile crept onto her face, blonde hair floating around her head like a halo, tears in her eyes.

The same Samhain Rena had fallen in love with sixteen years ago.

"So how about that apartment?"

38

Air whooshed above Shy as the portal closed behind them, throwing the two girls into a dark tunnel. A memory of a trip to a water park as a child surfaced, sliding down a waterslide, the walls of the slide dotted with thousands of pinpricks of light that flashed as she slid down faster and faster. The galaxy unfolded around her, more vast and terrifying than it had been in Stardust, threatening to eat her and Nox whole and spit them out halfway across the universe to float frozen for all eternity.

Shy clung tighter to Nox, feeling her friend's breath rustle the braids that had draped over her. Nox almost looked like a little child again as she slept, regaining lost time from the Institute and the sleepless nights under examination at the Aviary.

The other end of the tunnel opened below Shy, and they were unceremoniously dumped onto the frozen ground. Shy let go of Nox, landing on her back, the breath knocked out of her lungs- not like there wasn't enough to go around, because the wind was raging towards them, almost blinding. The sky, from what little Shy could see, was still parchment.

Shy shielded her eyes from the white-dusted gust with one hand as she grabbed Nox with the other. Hoisting the girl up over her shoulder, she peered into the distance, her breath picking up when she spotted Miranda's farmhouse across the field.

They were so close.

Shy took off running, only weighed down by Nox- her feet fought for every step, ignoring the bumbles and prickles gathering on her beaten-up jail-issued shoes until she was at the front door, pounding to be let in. She didn't even know if Miranda, Indo, or Ameliore were home or if they had abandoned the place long ago for a shelter-

Shy tripped and fell, letting go of Nox, who rolled a few feet. Her face collided with the hard ground. The taste of blood exploded in her mouth, and she pushed herself up, her surroundings only getting brighter.

The sandstorm around them abated, twisting around the farmhouse’s yard, Shy and Nox caught in the eye of the storm. Shy tipped her head to the sky. Directly above her, a hole appeared in the sky, eaten away by flames that grew by the second until they filled half of Shy's vision and threatened to lick the frozen treetops.

Shy dropped down to the ground and threw herself on top of Nox, trying to shield her from the flames, but they grew closer, the torn ashes from the hole scattering like meteors and landing in the field. Shy took a deep breath and forced it into Nox's lungs. Her throat burned from the dust, her back complaining as her clothes soaked with sweat, but she forced it out of her mind, focusing only on keeping the weak pulse in her friend's neck alive.

Breath.

Push.

Repeat.

Breath.

Push-

A blast in her ears. The world whited out around her.

And that was it.

EPILOGUE

"What do you mean, I can't go see Shy?" Ameliore stomped her foot, her frustration almost burning a hole in Miranda's forehead. "I'm her friend! I've known her for far longer than you have!" She shifted her weight, peering around Miranda. A few nurses approached them down the hall.

"Because..." Miranda answered, turning the room key over and over in his hands. "Ameliore, I'm serious. The scars are bad. I don't want you to see Shy in this state."

"You're not the boss of me." Ameliore huffed, trying to sneak around Miranda, but he caught her by the loose dress sleeve and pulled her back before she could reach the door handle. Miranda apologized for Ameliore's behavior as the nurses walked by, the girl squirming all the while. They waved it off with a giggle.

Ameliore's port rung in her pocket, and she yanked her sleeve away from Miranda before answering it.

"Yes, Lily? What is it? Make it short, please. I'm in the hospital."

"I want to talk to Mom," Lily said at the other end of the line.

"Fine."

Ameliore rolled her eyes as she passed the port to Miranda, who hesitantly took it.

"Hello?"

"Mom!" Lily shouted, making Miranda wince. "Something's wrong with the calendar on my port. It says it's springtime, and everything is kinda wet outside. Can you ask Shy why when you get to her room?"

Miranda sighed. "I don't think Shy has the answers to everything, Lily."

"But she went to Gehenna-Altaris!"

"For all of ten minutes." Miranda forced himself to sound less than miserable for Lily's sake. "Is there anything else you need before I go into the room? Shy's a little... sensitive right now. I'll need to turn off the port."

"Yeah." A rustling on the other end of the line. "Indo wants to know if it's okay to harvest the fruits in the greenhouse. They're starting to look a little overripe."

"That's fine." Miranda hung up and turned the port off. He handed it back to Ameliore. "I want you to stay out in the hall just in case she calls again."

"No." Ameliore crossed her arms. "I'm coming with you."

"Fine." Miranda shook his head, muttering under his breath as he unlocked the hospital room door.

The room was dim but for the tiny bathroom’s light, accidentally left on by a nurse on cleaning duty. Across from the bed- Ameliore could see Shy's feet wrapped in bandages- a whiteboard with labels and painter's tape to form a template hung on the wall, scrawled all over with schedules and complicated instructions for her care in the nurses' jargon.

Ameliore held her breath as she stepped further into the room, holding her hands to her eyes, opening her fingers a slit to peer through. Shy had been laid on her stomach; her entire back was covered in sterilized tilapia fish skins- something about experimental dressings to reduce the chance of infections, Miranda had remembered them saying- as were her arms and the back of her neck. Her hair, however, had survived the flames, braids parted down the middle and tied with cheap rubber bands into two ponytails to keep them out of the way.

"Shy?" Ameliore whispered, crouching down beside the bed. "Can you hear me?"

"No." Shy grunted as she flopped one arm to the side table, pressing down on the drug release button. Her arm slid off the table. "Help..."

Ameliore picked up Shy's arm, trying not to imagine the pain she must have been in as she laid the arm back on the bed. "Lily says hi. So does Ophelia."

"Ophelia can go screw herself," Shy mumbled.

"I'll make sure to tell her that." Ameliore bit her lip, thinking of something else to say. "Your chances of recovery are looking okay."

"Don't feel okay," Shy added. "Skin grafts..."

"Yeah, that must suck, doesn't it?" She glanced to the board, wracking her brain to make sense of the senseless scrawls. "Artificial skin growing in the lab? You won't be scouting for a while."

"Don't remind me," Shy shot back. She turned her head away, wincing in pain. "Nox..."

"She's down the hall," Miranda said. "In better condition. And she's got visitors."

"Good for her." Shy closed her eyes. "Leave me alone. I just want to sleep."

***

The door to Nox's room clicked. She perked up and sat up, a little sore but not nearly as burned as Shy.

Oh, Shy...

Two adults came into her room, both looking like they had traveled a great distance just to be there- and exhibiting as much enthusiasm as if they were finally seeing with their own eyes some famed national monument.

Nox shifted in her bed, uncomfortable. "I thought visitor hours stopped an hour ago."

"We got special clearance," the woman said, pulling up two chairs and handing one to whom Nox assumed to be her husband, both looking frazzled. They sat down on either end of the bed. "Can you believe how mature she's grown, Mish?"

"I wouldn't believe it unless I'd seen it for my own eyes," he answered, taking his glasses off and cleaning them. "Do you think she got your cute genes or mine?"

"Wait..." Nox's eyes narrowed, studying the intruders' faces. "Who are-"

"Your parents!" the woman chirped. "My baby Neimi..."

Nox pulled her legs close to her, shying away from the adults. "I don't have parents."

"Sure you do!" Mish pulled a scrap of paper out of his pocket and unfolded it. He lifted up his sleeve. A bandage on his upper arm. "We got gene work done. We're both matches, I'm afraid."

Nox shook her head, trying not to compress her chest too much as to alert the nurses. "I was donated to the Institute and raised as a common subject. No parent of mine would put me through that."

Her presumed mothers face darkened, reliving some memories she'd been trying to repress. "It was back in the second era, back when we lived far from here. The Institute was the only place offering abortions that didn't charge exorbitant fees-"

"Great," Nox moaned. "So on top of all my achievements, I get to add 'abortion baby' to them."

"But Neimi-"

"No." She pointed to the door. "Get out. You lost the right to call yourself my parents when you aborted me."

The mother, hurt, stood up as her cheeks flushed. "But it could have been so much worse- you could have never existed at all-"

"That would have been better." Nox closed her eyes. "Do you know how much torture they put me through when I was a child? Not to be melodramatic or anything." She unfurled one wing, causing both parents to recoil in horror. "I'm not fit for the suburbs, and a cage in the city would kill me. I don't have parents. I can't have parents."

"But you need a stable home and a loving support gro-"

"No." Nox opened her eyes. "What I need is fresh air and not having to constantly worry about other people's orders for a while." She pointed back to the door. "Leave, or I'm calling the nurses to have you thrown out."

The parents, dejected and hurt-looking, cast one final glance at Nox as they left the room. Nox threw her face down onto the pillow once they had left, fighting back tears.

All this time waiting for some sort of family to care about her, and she'd blown them off?

No. She already had family. Shy and Ameliore and Miranda and Lily. They were her family now. They were the only family she would ever need.

EPILOGUE THE LAST

TWO WEEKS LATER

Shy wheeled her wheelchair onto the balcony of her hospital room, right beside Nox with the help of a nurse who looked sleep-deprived. She bowed before exiting Shy's room altogether, leaving the two girls alone together.

Or, at least, as alone together as they could be in the open air, the first blooms of spring in the trees below them. The blossoms smelled faintly like cinnamon, a scent that Shy hadn't experienced in a long time, and now she had the freedom to smell them as much as she wanted.

"So I hear you turned down the option for blue skin," Nox said, giggling.

"Come on." Shy playfully punched Nox in the arm, little more than a slight jab. She was regaining strength every day, although she was certain that her physical therapist had a personal vendetta against her. She'd save any revenge for when she could sprint again. "Do I look like an alien?"

"Well, you did fall from the sky."

Shy looked about ready to puke, which only made Nox giggle more. "Come on. I'm teasing." Nox took Shy's hand, leading it to the potted flowers placed there by Miranda on his previous visit. She brushed her friend's fingertips over the soft rosy petals, the same color as Nox's lips.

"I sure hope you're just teasing. I'm in no shape to slap you."

Shy withdrew her hand. The sliding door to the balcony squeaked open. Nox spun around. Ophelia stood there in the same dress she'd been wearing the day they had received their mission, her hands clasped, clearly guilty.

"Sheiko," Ophelia said, her eyes to the ground, her voice deflated, Shy struggling to see her. "Nox."

"Yeah, that would be our names." Nox spun Shy's wheelchair around. "What do you want, Ophelia?"

"I came to apologize for getting you both involved in this. I had no idea it would take... this amount of personal sacrifice."

Nox and Shy's eyes met, and then Nox shook her head, turning back to Ophelia. "Well, there isn't much use moping about it now. The damage is done." She paused, turning her eyes to the sky. A flock of birds passed overhead- Nox's wings twitched to join them, but her primary feathers had just begun to loosen that morning, getting ready for the gradual molting that would give her back her freedom. "So what are you going to do now that there's no Bes or Anastasia to hide from?"

Ophelia dropped her hands. "I'm opening the Aviary to the public for anybody who wants to work there. Bomb shelter freaks, any other subjects who don't have the will or the way to make a life on the surface... I'll take them all in as long as they make themselves useful."

"So I guess you're going to implore us to return now?"

Ophelia sighed and shook her head. "I don't need trackers anymore. The rest I'm having retrained to be helicopter pilots to bring in newcomers." She eyed Nox. "That doesn't seem like your line of work, so I'm letting you go. Your place is not to rot away underground with the rest of us."

"Really?" Nox's and Shy's eyes widened, enthusiasm instantly deflating as soon as it had arrived. "What are we supposed to do now?"

Ophelia shrugged. "I'm sure Miranda would gladly take you in." A smile flickered on her face. "You'll find something. I know it. I have total faith in you."

Ophelia left the balcony, her dress sweeping the floor as she left the room. Shy turned to Nox, and Nox turned her wheelchair back around so she could see the street below her, full of people still celebrating the end of the Institute's tyranny, of having to worry about their children mysteriously disappearing in the night.

"So, Shy," Nox asked as the breeze picked back up, "I've got something to ask you that’s been on my mind a lot recently."

Shy perked up. "Oh?"

"Do you love me?"

Shy gulped, trying not to shudder, not to imagine the dullness of Nox's eyes the last time she'd asked that question.

"Yeah. Sure. If you want me to."

They both stared at each other in silence, Nox looking like she was about to jump the defenseless Shy, until they both broke out into laughter. Shy wiped the tears leaking from her eyes, afraid that she'd dehydrate right then and there. "No children, though."

"Could we even have children?"

"Half of the Institute blew up, remember?" Shy pointed out as they slowly sobered, Nox still trying to conceal the manic smile on her face. “You never know who might mess with us next.”

"The subjects that survived are in the west wing while the mayor of Wychester figures out what to do with them. And documents are still floating around, not to mention the rogue staff no doubt in hiding... Not that I want children."

Shy sighed. "That'll be our next great adventure, won't it?" She looked down at her hands, curling and uncurling like the blossoms below them, like her future could be. "Keeping another Institute from popping up. Maybe I should learn how to hack while I'm stuck in this place. Turn into some weird cyberpunk person living in-"

Nox stooped down and kissed Shy, silencing her. Shy was flustered at first but melted into her, arms trembling as she tried not to accidentally tumble out of the wheelchair.

Nox pulled away suddenly, blushing, and turned around. She unfurled her wings, letting the regained sun's light kiss them.

Someday, Nox would fly again, and she and Shy would run off somewhere where they didn't have to lie about who they were, where they were from. Maybe there would be someone, somewhere with power willing to listen to them, willing to ensure that there never was another Anastasia.

It wouldn’t be the greatest story she ever told, she hoped- that honor she wanted to fall to a greater adventure. Arrogance was for heroes.

It was for gods.

And Nietzsche was finally at peace in his grave.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

That's a funny word, acknowledgments. I always end up spelling it wrong, and something about it just feels... wrong. Like, uncanny valley wrong.

This book should have come out a hell of a lot sooner. It's hard to believe that I finished the rough draft of this book almost exactly a year ago and then just forgot about it until now. But since then, I've written two and a half books, currently waiting for revisions and rewrites of their own. So I suppose I should thank you, the reader, for putting up with hiatuses and postponed release dates for so long.

There are a great many that I should thank in this book. My best friend, a few others, fictional characters for inspiring a great deal of this book. But that would be cheesy, and I'm sure that the people involved already know who they are and want their privacy, so I'll leave their names out.

I suppose an apology is due for those confused by the lack of date stamps at the beginning of each chapter. It didn't feel... right, given the stretched-out timeline of Me Before You. Where would it begin? At the very beginning, counting the sixteen years between this book and the last, potentially putting off readers? Or starting the count anew, causing more confusion? So it was left out altogether.

A person once very close to me once said that there is no such thing as a perfect book, no matter how hard you try, and that there is a point where all you can do is call it quits and that you did the best you could do and move onto the next project. I know I butchered that quote. And I don't really care.

And with that, on New Year's Day, 2018, I pronounce The Phobia Interim done and complete.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

VANE VANDER is probably a bad person. Nobody really knows what she's up to. Sometimes, however, you can see a meme she made stolen by some other meme page and spread out around the internet, nameless, utterly severed from its origin. If you see one, be sure to say hi to it. Sometimes you can see her in her natural habitat at mayvaneday.org.

Copyright © 2018-2025 Vane Vander. All rights reserved.