“You still haven’t answered my question.”
“Milord,” Rewa nodded, tears streaming down her cheeks, “our people have been disappearing for the past two years. Innocent creatures, children and elders, males and females alike. We cannot explain it, and we cannot find them, either. Something evil treads our world, milord, and we cannot defend ourselves against it because we don’t know where to look for it or how to fight it.”
Silence fell heavily between us, and I noticed the glances exchanged among our people. Rewa saw them as well, and let out a defeated sigh.
“Milord,” she said. “It’s gotten worse in the last month. They’ve been vanishing by the dozens. Two hundred and fifty-seven of our people, our friends and family, gone without a trace. I am here because we need help…”
Caia
(Daughter of Grace & Lawrence)
My most ardent question at that point was related to how Rewa had made it all the way back to Eritopia in the first place. As expected, Jax was just as curious.
“You used swamp witch magic to get here,” the Lord of Maras said, apparently unimpressed by her plea for help. “Where did you get it from?”
The Exiled Mara’s shoulders dropped. She seemed frustrated but resigned to the fact that she had to do this dance with the Eritopians if she was to get any help for her people. I couldn’t blame Jax for being so inquisitive. He was protecting his world, just like his parents had done before him when they’d persuaded the swamp witches to exile the murderous Maras. He didn’t seem like the kind of leader who’d welcome them back without a second thought, given their history.
“While Neraka is quite isolated in its galaxy, and far away from the path of any interplanetary traveler,” she explained, “there was a Druid delegation that crash-landed on it many years ago. It happened before I was born, but we all know about it. A swamp witch was with them, and, from what they told our forefathers, they’d been on their way to a fae planet when the witch suddenly fell ill and diverted from the original course in the middle of her travel spell. She inadvertently dragged the entire Druid delegation down with her. My people helped them and nursed the swamp witch back to health. As you know, our blood has healing properties that transcend all species.”
“So, what, she just gave you an interplanetary travel spell?” Jax shot back incredulously.
“Basically, yes,” Rewa replied with a shrug. “She knew who we were, as did the Druids. But they saw how much we’d changed. They saw how sorry we felt, as a people. We were—and still are, for that matter—very ashamed. She left us several minor spells before the delegation departed, little artifices to boost our crops and protect our animals, mostly. This was many centuries after our exile. She called it ‘water under the bridge’, since we had no desire to return to Eritopia, anyway. She was grateful for our assistance, and she shared some of her magic with us. She simply copied a few pages from her spell book and left them behind. They included the travel spell, but we’ve never used it until now.”
“Why not?”
“We like our life on Neraka. We live in peace. Nobody disturbs us, and we thrive without disturbing anyone in return. We don’t need to travel beyond our new world. I had to, this time. I had no other choice. I had to reach out for help. My people didn’t like the idea to begin with, and I’ve had to struggle for months to convince our Lords to let me leave… We’re truly in a terrible bind, otherwise I wouldn’t be here.”
I noticed the mixed expressions on faces across the platform. There was an obvious difference between the Eritopians and us at this point. There was plenty of reserve and doubt for the natives, while the Shadians glanced at each other with subtle nods and looks of determination. My first instinct was to further investigate this—no one put themselves at risk like this, crossing a universe to return to a land where the people’s first reaction is to draw their swords at the sight of her. Not unless there was a good reason behind it, and over two hundred Exiled Maras gone missing over the course of two years seemed enough.
Sofia moved to stand by Jax’s side, her eyes on Rewa. The Exiled Mara’s jade eyes moved from one to the other, glimmering with curiosity and fear. She was even more uncomfortable than the rest of us.
“Why don’t you put your weapons down, first?” Sofia said politely, glancing at the Mara wards, then Jax. “She’s on her own and doesn’t seem to have any intention of harming us. If anything, she’s more scared of you than you are of her.”
“I’m not scared,” Jax replied dryly, but put his sword away, then nodded at his wards, who followed suit and stood back. “I can’t trust her, that’s all.”
“No one is asking you to trust her,” Sofia replied. “But our core as GASP means we listen, we investigate, and we assist the supernaturals who need our help. Rewa seems like one such supernatural.”
“I understand that your people have a dark history, as well,” Draven added, “and I’m sure it cannot be told over the course of a few minutes, either. Eritopia may not be interested in what ails Rewa and the Exiled Maras, but I believe GASP is.”
“Exactly,” said Derek, measuring Rewa from head to toe. “Perhaps we should consider putting together two intervention teams. One for Tenebris, and one for Neraka. We have the resources, after all.”
Jax frowned but didn’t respond. I could tell from the way his gaze bounced between Derek, Sofia, and Draven that he was conflicted. He’d made an oath when he’d joined GASP, and it seemed to disagree with his thousands of years of tradition as an Eritopian vampire. But his code was no different than ours, in the end.
“If you don’t wish to send any of your people to Neraka, given the bad blood between you and the Exiled Maras, I understand,” Sofia said. “We can send Shadians instead. I’m sure Viola would be happy to assist with travel arrangements.”
I glanced over at Viola, who gave us a firm nod in response.
“No, you’re right,” Jax huffed. “I’ve sworn my life to GASP, and it’s what we do, regardless of our personal history. We help creatures in need and we punish those who try to hurt or deceive the innocent.”
He glared at Rewa as he enunciated that last part, as a not-so-subtle warning of what would happen to her if she lied. The Exiled Mara’s eyes grew wider, but she shook her head, biting her lower lip.
“I’m not lying, milord,” she replied. “We need help. We are desperate. We can’t do it on our own.”
“I strongly recommend what Derek suggested,” Xavier chimed in. “We get two teams together. One will infiltrate and eliminate the rebels on Tenebris, and one will be a recon group, to check out the situation on Neraka and investigate, before we decide on whether to send more manpower to assist them. It seems like the reasonable thing to do, don’t you think?”
I looked around the platform, and even the Daughters were nodding, their glowing violet eyes fixed on Rewa. The Exiled Mara looked vulnerable and overwhelmed with so many of us around—she had no idea who or what the Shadians were, but she could certainly tell that we were different. There was a lot of power coming from us, and I had a feeling she hadn’t expected us all to be up here when she landed.
Harper gave me an intrigued look, and I knew exactly what her bluish green eyes were telling me: she was curious. I’d been around her for long enough to recognize the signs. She wanted to be on the Neraka team. To be honest, so did I. The whole situation, as exposed by Rewa, sounded very intriguing. Dangerous, too, but I wasn’t one to shy away from that, and neither was Harper. If anything, she saw danger as a challenge.
“Why don’t we resume this conversation first thing tomorrow morning?” Draven suggested. “We can all sleep on it and tackle it better after a good night’s rest.”
“If you say so,” Jovi muttered from the side, Anjani’s hand in his. “Not sure how much sleep I’ll be getting tonight, but if you stock up on fresh, hot coffee tomorrow, I’ll be good to go…”
“Okay, let’s meet tomorrow morning and hash out an action plan,” Jax agreed, then pointed a
menacing finger at Rewa. “You do anything remotely suspicious and I will cut off your head before you even blink. Other than that, what can I say? Welcome to Calliope.”
He was the first to leave the platform, accompanied by Heron and the wards. Rewa stood there, her eyes nearly popping out of their orbits, as Serena stepped forward with a polite smile.
“You’re welcome to spend the night here, in the castle,” she said. “We might have a spare room available, and I’ll ask one of the servants to bring you some fresh animal blood, if you’re hungry.”
A few seconds passed before Rewa finally caved in, shuddering and sobbing as she lowered her head. Her tears splashed onto the white marble floor. Viola and Serena both moved to console her, resting their hands on her shoulders.
“Thank you,” Rewa croaked. “A thousand times, thank you. I promise I will be a good and quiet guest. Thank you…”
“It’s okay,” Serena replied gently. “I’m sure you’ve been through a lot.”
“I have.” Rewa nodded and looked up at her, more tears welling in her eyes.
She glanced around the platform and stilled when she saw Blaze. I followed her gaze, and a strange pressure pushed my stomach down as I watched him move through the GASP crowd to get closer to her. He reached the front row and smiled politely. He looked particularly dashing in his black suit, with broad shoulders and rough, jagged lines, his dark hair combed to one side and his midnight eyes sparkling with curiosity.
“She can have my room, if she wants,” Blaze said, prompting my eyebrows to pull into a frown. I shook it off quickly and focused on Rewa’s face, which lit up with a warm smile. “I’m going back to Mount Zur tonight, anyway. I haven’t finished my training assessment report, and Jax will kick my ass if I don’t deliver it tomorrow before the council meeting, especially since we’re getting teams together for two missions, now.”
That didn’t come as a surprise. I didn’t know Blaze all that well, but I’d heard Jax reprimand him over reports more than once over the past couple of months. The fire dragon was a promising fighter and tactician, and a smart guy, too, but absolutely despised paperwork.
“Tha… Thank you,” Rewa managed, slowly leaning into Serena.
She seemed exhausted. I figured this encounter had been particularly intense for her after she’d traveled in a ball of light across the In-Between to get here. But I still didn’t like the doe eyes she flashed at Blaze. She didn’t even know him, but that wasn’t a look you gave someone just out of gratitude.
I decided then to speak up at the council meeting in the morning. I wanted to be on the mission to Neraka—partly because I was curious and welcomed the opportunity to explore the In-Between, but mostly because my instincts told me that we’d have our work cut out for us there. Finding out what had happened to hundreds of missing Exiled Maras was no walk in the park and, most importantly, I wasn’t ready to trust Rewa.
On that note, since all the Druid Archives had been transferred from Stonewall, I could also dig into the ancient records and find out as much as I could about the Exiled Maras. I needed to better understand who they were and what had driven them to disobey to the extent that their entire species was almost annihilated.
The tenth floor was off limits during the wedding festivities, given the large number of foreign guests roaming through the castle, but I had my access token. I could slip inside later that night and do some light reading. Perhaps I’d even find some mention of House Xunn, the one which Rewa claimed to belong to.
The more I stood there, watching Blaze, Serena, and Viola talk, while Rewa watched with fascination, the more irritated I felt. I stepped back and went downstairs, resuming my seat in the banquet hall and chugging a glass of spiced rosewater. One by one, the rest of GASP followed. Anjani and Jovi came back as well, as the wedding party had not yet ended and there were plenty of guests waiting for the throwing of the bouquet and the bridal garter moment.
The rest of the night was good and uneventful, but I didn’t see Blaze, Serena, or Viola again. I assumed they were still with Rewa. I exchanged a couple of glances with Harper, too, before she went to bed early. I didn’t stay much longer either, retiring right after the bouquet landed in Hansa’s unsuspecting arms.
Caia
(Daughter of Grace & Lawrence)
It was well after midnight when I left my room and quietly snuck down the stairs to the tenth floor, where the Druid Archive had been set in a massive library hall. I pushed one of the large walnut double doors open, and was surprised to see the lights were on, flickering in overhead chandeliers and on the wall sconces.
“Hello?” I called out, wondering whether anyone was in there, or whether the library had simply been left like this.
I heard shuffling footsteps and whispers from behind one of the giant, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves ahead. A head popped out from behind it, and I recognized Harper’s long black hair and twinkling eyes. She flashed me her pearly whites in a grin.
“Look who couldn’t sleep tonight!” She chuckled, then came out to greet me.
There were more voices from behind her. I walked forward, and we met halfway in the wide corridor between bookshelves.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“I’m guessing the same as you, reading up on the Exiled Maras,” Harper replied, then took my hand and guided me to the source of the voices.
I chuckled when I saw Fiona, Scarlett, and Avril there, huddled around a large oak table with piles of old registries and history books on top of it. They’d been taking notes for a while now, judging by the small pile of written papers to the side.
Harper and I sat down, and she handed me a dusty registry bound in leather with brownish waxed pages. I checked the cover, reading the title out loud.
“The Mara Archives, 3,200BA to 2,100BA,” I muttered. “What’s this?”
“We’ve been checking the archives in a chronological order. BA stands for Before Asherak, whose date of birth was marked as year 0 by the Eritopians,” Harper explained. “Kind of like with Earth years, AD and BC, you know?”
I nodded slowly, then started flipping through the pages.
“How long have you all been down here?” I asked.
“Not that long,” Fiona replied. “Harper was the first to get here. Avril, Scarlett, and I followed, but, funny enough, we didn’t tell anyone that we were coming down to check the Druid Archives, not even each other. But we were all curious about the Exiled Maras.”
“As were you, obviously.” Harper smirked.
“Yeah, I mean, you can’t blame me.” I shrugged, turning another page. “Have you found anything interesting yet?”
“Some mentions of the Maras getting violent and not respecting the Druid truce.” Harper nodded. “But nothing consistent just yet. We haven’t gone past Asherak’s reign yet, though, and that was thousands of years ago. But I think we’re getting close.”
“The Druids kept ridiculously accurate notes of each event,” Avril added, browsing through another registry. “I’ve found mentions of Xunn Maras, too, but they were just listings of a noble clan that used to occupy Morius, one of the southern citadels of Calliope.”
I thought about Blaze and the way Rewa had looked at him, then spent a minute trying to find the right way to ask the question that had been bugging me since I’d left the platform earlier that evening.
“What do you think of Rewa?” I sighed, leaning against the back of my chair.
“I’m not sure,” Harper replied, pursing her lips. “I think she was scared senseless up there, overwhelmed by us. She could tell we weren’t all Eritopians, and I think she could also tell we weren’t defenseless or weaklings of any kind. Foreign invaders do like to send scouts to check stuff out before they storm in.”
“Do you think she’s a scout?” I asked. Harper shook her head. Avril, Fiona, and Scarlett seemed to share her opinion as well. “Why not? What cleared her, in your mind?”
“Oh, she’s not cleared yet,” Harper s
aid. “I just think the probability of her lying is low. I couldn’t sense her emotions because she’s a Mara, albeit an exiled one. But her facial expressions, the tone of her voice… It all spoke of fear and desperation. I think that whatever is happening on Neraka is real.”
“But we don’t have enough data to make a proper assessment at this point,” Scarlett added. “So all we can do is presume.”
“We can also get ourselves nominated into the recon team for Neraka tomorrow.” Harper grinned. “So we can investigate and remove all doubt.”
“What about the Druid delegation that crash-landed on Neraka? Have you found anything on that?” I asked, shifting my focus back to the registry in front of me.
“Not yet, unfortunately,” Scarlett replied. “She didn’t give us any names or details, but there must be a diplomatic travel log here somewhere. To be honest, we’ve all focused on the Exiled Maras so far.”
“Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against Rewa, but what could it be that keeps taking their people like that? And they can’t eliminate it, even with the spells that she claims the swamp witch left them?” I shook my head, frowning. “I mean, they can travel between galaxies and whatnot, but they can’t find out who or what is making their people disappear?”
“We’ll probably find out more tomorrow, during the council meeting,” Fiona said. “You can ask that question then. It’s a good one!”
I flipped through a few more pages, scanning the handwritten text entries, but stopped when I felt Harper’s eyes on me. I looked up and found her staring at me with a raised eyebrow.
“What?”
“You have nothing against Rewa,” Harper replied, the corner of her mouth twitching, “other than the way Blaze was kind enough to give her his room, and the look she gave him in return, huh?”
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