Seth stepped slow through the undergrowth and immense vegetation. Blades of grass grazed his calf’s. The itching feeling made him even more irritated. His head was hurting almost as much as his chest. He didn’t know it was possible to feel so happy and depressed at the same time.

Quite the dilemma he was facing.

Seth wanted so badly for Emryn to take him up on his offer. Part of him also wanted her to see what he did. But that wasn’t the case and nothing was ever that easy. The echoes of rejection were fresh in his mind. Still, she could make her own decisions. Even if they were stupid ones.

“Boss,” a voice sounded from the bushes.

Seth watched as Kiarra stepped out into the moonlight. Her long dark braids fell over her brown shoulders, golden beads glistening as she moved. Kiarra’s usual sharp eyes were watching him closely. Like she was simultaneously checking for injuries and calling him a fool. She had a way of saying “what’s wrong” like “why are you so dim?”

“How’d your secret meet up go? Just as well as you hoped?” Seth could feel the judgment in her tone.

“If you say I told you so, I’m gonna pair you with Eiji the rest of the way home,” he warned. “And next time you choose to spy on me, at least be good at it.”

Kiarra smirked. “You only knew I was there because she heard me.”

Seth waved her off and brushed past her. “I’m not in the mood to fight with you right now.”

“How do you think the others feel? They’re not dumb. We all saw how you looked at that bloody Abrax girl.” Kiarra fell into step with him. “The rest of us were terrified but you? You looked like you just saw a ghost and were happy about it.”

She wasn’t all that far off. He had seen a ghost. All these years 636 had been alive.

Emryn McCannon

The name suited her.

Kiarra stopped in her tracks, putting one calloused hand to his chest. “There's something you’re not telling us.” She pushed her fingers into his chest hard. “Spill. Who is she and how are you not dead right now?”

Seth pushed past her, faking aloofness. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“She almost killed me, Connors,” she hissed. “She could’ve killed you just as easily. It takes time for you to heal.”

“Time that you wouldn’t have if she decided to bend you like a pretzel,” a voice from the trees added on. Eiji walked out holding a bag of food. Throwing the snacks into his mouth one after the other. His dark black hair covered his eyes. With his lean and short build, it was easy for him to sneak around undetected.

He would be the perfect spy. If he ever learned how to keep his mouth shut.

“I mean seriously Boss, secret meetings are so unlike you. Not to mention talking to psycho pretty girls. Other than Kiarra of course,” Eiji teased, smirking at the two.

“Psycho?” Kiarra wondered with offense.

“I’ll tell you everything,” Seth reassured. “But I’ll tell you as a group.”

When they made it back to Mallax’s temporary residence, the small group quickly gathered around Seth. News traveled fast and the whole camp was eager to find out what he was thinking.

There were only fifty of them but what they lacked in numbers they made up for in skill. When Seth was told by the other council members to steal supplies from Abrax, he was ready to lead the charge. He would do anything for Mallax. Anything.

“I’m sure you are all now well aware of a very dangerous new addition to Abrax’s ranks,” he started. Mummers went through the crowd. Well aware was an understatement. Emryn left an impression. “We were warned and we should have seen it coming. But she got the drop on us, killing five of our men in the process.” He paused. “Killing in ways no one has seen before.”

More whispers went through the crowd. Some came from fear and others disbelief.

“You’re seriously telling us that was real? It wasn’t a story Eiji made up?” someone wondered aloud.

“I told you I wasn’t lying,” Eiji defended, crossing his arms. “It isn’t that hard to believe. I mean this isn’t the first time I’ve run into someone like that.”

“Really?” Seth accused. Eiji was always telling far fetched stories. Half the things that came out of his mouth were lies.

“It’s true,” Eiji started and there were already a few people rolling their eyes. “I once came across a man, at least seven feet tall, and in his hands he held a gun. But instead of using it like a weapon he bent it into a bow and gave it to a rodent as a present.”

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“Here we go again,” Kiarra grumbled.

“And that wasn’t even the weirdest part. After he gave the squirrel its present, he disappeared. And when I say disappeared I mean teleported—”

Kiarra cut him off. “We don’t have time for this or your lies, Eiji.”

“I’m not lying.” He was.

“You can tell your fairy tale later.” Seth stood straighter as he addressed his team. “I went to meet her. Face to face.”

Now the crowd was in chaos. Seth was flooded with questions and critiques. Eiji started laughing. Crossing her arms, Kiarra gave him a smug look.

Seth held up one hand and silenced them all. The air was tense as they waited for him to continue. Many were frightened, though they tried to hide it.

“I used to know her.” Seth’s throat got tight. “I thought that I could reason with her and bring her onto our side.” There wasn’t a point in lying to any of them, he trusted them with his life.

Eiji’s eyes grew wide, he thought Seth was being irrational. Foolish.

“And it didn’t work,” Kiarra guessed, a lot of judgment in her tone.

Seth had to stop himself from hanging his head low in defeat. The rejection still hurt. His jaw tensed. Biting the inside of his cheek, Seth kept himself from lashing out.

“No, it didn’t work but she gave us a chance to run.” His fist was clenched at his side.

Emryn had made her choice. There was nothing more he could do for her. It was time for him to let her go.

“You want us to run?” Eiji asked. “How? They're blocking our only way back.”

Seth squared his shoulders. He wouldn’t crack under this pressure. Over the years, he had made many escapes, making his way out of numerous impossible situations. This would be no different.

“Split off into your groups. I’ll give more precise instructions to your leaders. We’re going to get past that bridge.”

Spirits lifted slightly. The audience dispersed and worked without needing more instruction. If their boss was confident, so were they. It was the very reason he couldn’t afford to show weakness.

All the pain he was feeling had to be bottled up and dealt with later.

“I told you so,” Kiarra mocked from beside him. “They follow your orders while they question your sanity.”

They weren’t the only ones.

“I lied to her,” he said, turning towards Kiarra. She raised her brows in question. “Emryn,” he clarified. “The girl from Abrax. I lied to her because she told me she’d be able to know if I did.”

Kiarra glanced sideways at him. “You wanted to see if it was true,” she guessed.

“I wanted to see if I could.”

She arched her brow. “And could you?”

“I told her the sound of you breaking a branch was a squirrel and that I could only heal people. I also falsely confirmed that my full name was Seth O’Connor.” They were small lies but he had managed to do so with ease. It was most likely Emryn detected lies by listening to a person’s breathing patterns or heartbeat. Which were both simple things for him to modify.

“Do you actually think you can trust her to let us go? She isn’t our ally you know? Especially not after you lied.”

“We need to get moving,” Seth redirected. “You're paired with Eiji on this one. We need to focus on getting home. We’ve been running circles around Abrax but it might not stay that way with her on their side.”

Seth had been using secret intel to move Mallax around their defenses for years. A heavy weight that he shouldered with only one other person. But it wasn’t enough to get them through this unscaved.

They had been lucky so far, even feeding them the wrong name. O’Connor and Connors weren’t that far from each other but it did the trick. They had no idea who he really was and it needed to stay that way. Seth was forced to kill a small blonde Abrax soldier in order to keep their secrets safe. She had known too much.

He do it again in a heartbeat.

“We can’t trust her,” Kiarra said. “If she’s in the way we might not be able to come back.” Kiarra intense stare communicated enough. He knew what she meant.

“We might not be able to come back but we’re not leaving anything behind.” An unspoken promise between the two. “And we can trust her. I don’t think she has it in her to kill me.”

“But she could kill the rest of us,” she argued.

It was like a blow to the head. His mind was flooded with the images of his fallen soldiers. Their bloodied and mangled bodies. Emryn had killed them. Kiarra could have been one of them. Emryn was the enemy now. It was hard to hate her but she needed to be left behind him. He wasn’t about to sacrifice his team for a friendship that only lasted a few months.

But he trusted her all the same.

“Emryn wouldn’t kill without being provoked.” He didn’t know who he was trying to fool.

“Connors,” Kiarra trailed off. It sounded like pity.

An echo went through the forest. It was like a shockwave down his spine. Followed by the sound of rocks falling into water, the combination of noises meant his worries had been brought to light. His eyes widened at the realization.

The others heard it too. Everyone stopped what they had been doing and flocked to him. Masks were raised and weapons drawn. The air felt thick and the pit in Seth’s stomach felt endless.

“Boss?” Eiji appeared behind him. “You don’t think…”

“We stole the bombs, right? All of them?” Members from his team were whispering. Something was very wrong.

The sound of the bridge collapsing was still traveling to their ears. Seth was no fool. There hadn’t been an explosion. A bomb was not the cause. Emryn was.

“I wasn’t the only one who lied,” he whispered. He turned to Kiarra. “Get some wolf-spiders and assign pairs to them. We’re splitting up.” He addressed the rest of them. “I need two teams and a distraction. Kiarra will be in charge of the surface group with Eiji, I’ll lead the rest underground. We’ll later regroup but we can’t let them get all of us before then. If one of us is free then we’re all free.” Cheers echoed his words. “When you aim, you better shoot to kill.” No matter what happened next, protecting his team was his top priority. He wasn’t going to be soft anymore.