Thea’s words were still in my head as I went to meet Grace in the morning. By some stroke of luck, we were on the same guard schedule, and so I’d have ample opportunity to ask her about... about being a spy. About my mother, hopefully, if she was. I had to make my move quick. If Thea’s words were true, after all, the world would be in for a big surprise soon, and things would get... messy. I wanted to talk to my mom before then.

Grace was already there, chatting with the Angels leaving duty. There had been some attacks over the night, nothing too large-scale. Apparently, there had been a Demon at another entrance, though it hadn’t been any of the big ones. The siege had already become the everyday. It was something of a stalemate. So long as the Angels remained alert, so long as we had the power of Archangels like Viviana here, we were protected from the Demons. Sure, they could break into the outer shells, but the Sanctuary was built in ring after ring, each one more tightly-knit and connected, more densely fortified. Breaching the very centre would be impossible. But we couldn’t leave, either. Not while Quetzal was out there, with his enormous Echoes in the air, smashing down any ornithopters that took off, much less individual Angels who tried to fly away. And walking through the desert was equally deadly, with Ollie’s whales tunnelling beneath the sands and threatening to devour any who wandered too far from safety. Perhaps there would be a way out, but...

Well, it would be faster to catch the spy, wouldn’t it?

“Good morning, Quinn,” she said. “I hope you slept well.”

“Good morning.” I hadn’t. Couldn’t Thea have found more opportune times to meet with me? Anything would have been better than going in the middle of the night. “I... uh... I slept alright.”

“That’s good to hear,” she smiled. She was kneeling in the rubble, grabbing hold of the molten bits and pieces of Echoes strewn across the floor. Her hands were partially transformed, like translucent gauntlets whose carapace presumably helped against the heat and sharp edges of the broken rock.

“What are you up to?” I asked.

She blushed. “I’m... I’m taking a look at the Echoes, that’s what. Can’t you tell?” she chuckled. “They’re extinct animals, after all. It’s cool to see what they looked like. Or what the Demons imagine they looked like... or... how do Echoes get their shapes, Cimex?” At her words, a tiny, flattened insect crawled out of her sleeve.

“The Echoes’ shape is indeed based on what the creatures were like in life,” he said. “Although they are modified, sometimes drastically, as they are twisted by the anger they feel towards those who are still alive.”

“Thanks,” said Grace. “Isn’t that neat, Quinn? I mean, people are out there, speculating and wondering what these guys looked like in life, and we, as Angels, get to actually see them. That’s amazing.”

“You really seem to like them,” I said.

She picked up another piece... was that a skull? She beamed as she held it up in the early morning light. “Of course, Quinn. I’m a fossil nerd. I’m... it’s so thrilling to see these guys. I mean, look at this one. It’s a Thylacosmilus!” She held up what had once been an upper jaw, made of smooth slate. It bore a few short, spiky steel teeth, and two huge blade-shaped fangs at the front. “I guess that means that Mia was on duty last night. Sending in her sort of... of stuff.”

“You seem to know a lot about the Demons, too,” I said.

“Pardon?” She set down the skull and stood up to face me. She was a little taller, and a little scary. “Are you implying something, Quinn?”

“Um...”

“You don’t think that I’m one of the spies, do you, Quinn?” My face betrayed me. “Oh, come on, really?” She tugged at the gray jacket of her uniform. “You understand that I’m part of Flight Manifold, right? Unlike Flight Magister, which is based on... nebulous prophesies, Kei chooses our Angels carefully. We are vetted. We are selected based on our knowledge, our wisdom, and our trustworthiness. They ensure that each and every one of us is fully convinced in mind and spirit of the importance of our mission. There is no reason to suspect me.”

“But you know so much about the Demons.”

“It’s from experience,” said Grace. “You see, when I first became an Angel, I was stationed at Sanctuary 18. It was simple, at first. We killed the local Demons, took their paradoxes, sent them off to Sanctuary 1 to be purified. We had a strong crystal, and strong Angels. And that made us the target of some rather powerful faces.”

“Quetzal?”

“Quetzal besieged us. Just as he is doing here, on a smaller scale. That wasn’t a moving Sanctuary, not like this one. Once they’d found it, had gotten the location, we didn’t really have a way to move away. They may have been weaker then, but they were still so powerful. We fought over and over again, until we were ground into the dirt by their onslaught. I burned their faces into my head, their tactics, their preferences. Over two months of attrition, we dwindled one by one. And one of us betrayed us to them, in the end. They came like a thief in the night and destroyed nearly all of us. I escaped, just barely, but not before seeing her in their arms, smiling as she flew off and vanished into their void. I won’t forgive her. And I’d never betray our cause like that.”

“I... didn’t realize.”

“It’s fine,” said Grace. “It’s what happens. But when Nep talked to us about a traitor, well... I started searching myself, like a good member of Flight Manifold.” She grinned, reaching into her jacket and pulling out a hand crawling with insects. “A little spying goes a long way, after all.”

“What?”

“Well, so long as they don’t bite, there’s really no harm involved. And I get a good idea at what everyone’s up to.” She held out her hand. I recoiled at the site of so many insects crawling over her palm. They were small and flat and translucent, just like her own Imago. But there was something about them that seemed oddly familiar. And then I understood.

“They’re bedbugs?”

“C’mon, that’s what Cimex is,” she said. “That’s what I am. Oh, don’t look at me like that.”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

I averted my eyes. Bedbugs? “Sorry. That’s kinda... um... a lot.”

“Quinn!” she tried to laugh, but behind her smile she seemed a little hurt.

“S-sorry.”

“It’s fine. I understand. I just...” she gave another soft chuckle. “Don’t worry. I won’t let them bite you. I just want to keep an eye on everyone. To smoke out any traitors in our ranks.”

It seemed my quest to find the traitor had a much tighter time limit than I’d anticipated.

***

The morning wore on with little fanfare. The sands were plain, the garden was still, the classroom was... also still. On the other end of the class, two Angels were playing chess to pass the time. The most eventful thing that had happened thus far was a single Echo that had crept in under the door and swiftly met an end beneath my glaive. Grace had informed me that the creature was an extinct terrestrial beaver. I didn’t really care.

For my part, I’d been scrolling through social media, waiting for Russula to appear as Thea had promised. Blood Thunder had gotten what they’d wanted, after all. That said, Rocky hadn’t posted any updates still, and the buzz online was wondering what had happened to her. What was she waiting for? What were they waiting for? I just wanted it to be over with.

I looked up from my phone in time to see an enormous creature dashing across the sand towards us. I shook Grace and she squinted to make out what it was through the midday glare.

“Um... some sort of large bird, perhaps?” she posited. “Maybe an extinct—”

Her remark was cut off by the sounds of all the windows breaking, all at once. As the covers fell from the shards of broken glass, the hot son flooded the room. All around, a huge number of birds sat in the garden, singing a hideous cacophony of high-pitched screeches and whistles. Finally, the large Echo entered, a huge bird with a large, axe-shaped beak. On its back rode a proud-looking Demon wearing roman plate armour. Her helmet was hanging at her waist, letting her light blue hair blow freely in the wind.

“Oh, it’s Mia,” said Grace.

“This Angel...” Mia muttered. “No. No way.” The Echoed birds all streamed in behind her, forming a heterogeneous cloud of black, smoky feathers and wings and beaks and talons, shifting and glitching out ever-so-lightly as they hovered int the air. “This will be fun.”

“We’ll see about that.” Grace’s body melted away, replaced with the flattened, translucent body of her Imago. She drew her weapon, too, a long, pointed syringe much like Rachel’s, though this was ghostly pale.

The Angels at the back of the class had taken notice too, hurrying downstairs to let the others know about the incursion. But for now, it was just me and Grace. I transformed at well, stripping the flesh off my bones and feeling them melt, reforming into the familiar orange and black of my Imago. My glassy wings spread out wide behind my back before folding back into a more comfortable position. I drew my glaive, poisoned stinger ready to cripple our Demonic foe.

Mia smiled at that, too. “Oh my, it’s the weapon that so hurt our dear, dear Dawn,” she said. “Not physically, of course. It’s her pride that you hurt. That she’s stuck with a twisty, broken leg because of that vicious venom of yours.” She swept back her hair. “Well, I’m not quite so powerful as she. But you don’t have an Archangel to help you. Echoes? To me. Let’s have some fun.”

The Echoes streamed towards me one by one, black clouds tracing fragmented trails in their wake. They continued ceaselessly, each one arriving just as I could shatter the first. Grace was faced with the same, beating them away with her syringe. As the little guys distracted us, Mia was preparing to attack with her huge mount, its huge molten axe of a bill rearing to slam down on her.

I tucked in my wings and jumped to Grace’s side, carefully deflecting the strike. The creature’s beak smashed into the ground, scattering bits of tiles and rubble on impact. “What are you doing?” I yelled. “You already captured someone. You got what you wanted.”

She completely ignored me. The birds continued to stream at me while her enormous mount smashed its way toward Grace. Again, I tried to push away the stream of black, flickering stone feathers from my face. Though the sandy feathers blinded me, I could hear the sounds of crashing and thumping, and the crackling of footsteps on shards of broken glass. The Echoes clawed and scratched at me; between their scattered wingbeats I caught glimpses of their molten red eyes flashing by. The flock seemed more violent now, though I was in no personal danger. It seemed more like Mia was trying to distract me.

For what? To attack Grace?

I spun my glaive around and held the staff horizontally before my face, holding the Echoes at bay. They parted just long enough to see what was going on at the other end of the classroom. Grace was on all fours, staring up at the towering Echo before her, scrambling backwards as the creature pecked repeatedly at her. Her syringe lay scattered off to the side, discarded. She had no wings to fly away, and so merely crawled as fast as she could to avoid it. But she couldn’t keep it up. The Demon was dead-set on Grace. And I wouldn’t have any of that.

With a sudden twirl and a burst of strength, my wings thrummed to life, scattering the birds as I dashed across the room, slashing at the Echo’s neck as I crashed in front of Grace. Burning ichor sprayed from the wound, sizzling as it splashed down all around me. The creature reared, nearly toppling over before stabilizing, its sinuous neck cracking and snapping back in place to heal its injury.

“What are you doing here?” I yelled again. “You already got—”

Mia sneered as she continued her advance. “They got what they wanted. But I haven’t... not yet.” Her eyes were set not on me, but on Grace. “A little bug got away from us last time. And while the others will let bygones be bygones, I won’t tolerate that. You’re not getting away this time. Grace.” Her Echo resumed its assault, hammering its bill at her, each strike just barely deflecting off my blade and hitting the ground to our sides.

And then I saw her.

It was just for a second, in the corner of my eye. Out there, in the sand, standing all alone. But I recognized her instantly. Of course I did. Who wouldn’t recognize their own mother?