“Slow down,” I protested.

Alice ignored me and secured her satchel onto her belt. The clips locked in place and she adjusted her sheath before turning around.

“It has to be him. Who else talks to the Prime? And knows about the strain.”

She turned to leave and I slipped past her, splaying my arms.

“Just hold on. You read the journal. There’s no way he’s the one.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Don’t we?” I shouted. She paused and I pressed. “He knows about the strain, but the way he talked about it… It can’t be him. He was angry at Elias, Alice. Why would he be another member of the strain. And his mana is cold, I’ve felt it.”

I pressed my hand against her collar, gripping her shoulder with a light enough touch but managing to slip my fingers past the cloth and onto her skin. Her skin was ice cold, so much so I almost expected steam to rise from my fingers.

Her eyes narrowed. “Cain.”

“Feel my hand? My fingers? My blood burning in my veins even when my mana is contained in my core? I’ve felt Devon’s mana, it was never this warm. It was cold like your skin, Alice. I know you have as well. No white fur, no white hair. He has red eyes not orange, and mana colder than snow.”

She gripped my wrist but kept my arm there. Her fingers wrapped around and pressed firmly against my flesh. The blue in her eyes practically blazed as she searched my own.

“Damnit.” Alice stepped back, letting our arms fall to our side. “But he’s a part of it. You know that.”

Garret surfaced and brang flashes of the conversation inside the Ashton’s bedroom.

I licked my lips. “I know. I’m not denying that. But logically, he can’t be the seventh.”

“Fine. We should still find him.”

Alice had stopped trying to leave but she continued to prowl the training room like a caged cat. Her fingers danced along the edges of her cloak as she paced.

Now that she was calmer then before, I finally relaxed. The last thing we needed was to get into something we weren’t prepared for. Elizabeth had claimed to have been alive during the last Harvest. What kind of level did a Grimm who managed to stay alive that long possess?

Especially if her strain was like mine.

“Elizabeth. She kept talking about taking decades to do things so I finally asked her how old she was. Know what she said?” I said, waiting for Alice to turn.

“What?” she asked.

“That she was alive during the last Blood Harvest.”

“What?”

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“Yeah, a little crazy to think about. But that’s the point. If she’s been around that long, just how strong is she?”

“Why didn’t you lead with this?”

I snorted. “Because usually you’re the calm one.”

She fixed me with a dead stare.

“All I’m saying,” I continued. “Is that we need to be careful. Around all of them, especially Ripper. She was especially clear about him.”

Alice finally relented, and stopped her pacing. “Could you ask her more questions?”

“No. Maybe. She was a gruff as just about everyone we meet, but she did help us. I don’t want to push too hard, not so soon.”

“Then what now?”

“We spar, practice our incantations, and rest? She did give us a lead. Krulg. According to her, he’d be open to answering questions. Just got to be careful about how we do it.”

“And Devon?”

“We find him after. If not, there’s no way he’ll miss showing up for Elias’ funeral. He wouldn’t dare.”

I watched her expression, but she nodded calmly. Too calm, her eyes were flinty.

She cracked her neck and pulled her axe free before heading toward the table with the leather sparring caps. “Kierra is resting. Adeline’s with her, but she’s fine, no abnormalities.”

“Those can happen?”

“Some Grimms experience intense night-terrors after the rite. With new strength, a few have even tapped into their strain and shift their hands.”

Alice slapped the caps on and tossed one to me. I caught it and slid my axe free, sliding the cap on before catching another and stacking them.

“And I’m guessing they don’t realize they’re hurting themselves in their sleep.”

She nodded. “The worst story I heard was a boy who pulled his eyes out. He didn’t have enough constitution to regenerate them. Had to fight blind.”

“That’s a real story?” I asked as we reentered the sparring pit.

“Maybe. I don’t move when I sleep.”

I know. You’re a statue. Until someone wakes you…

“How long is the recovery time?”

“A full night’s rest. She’ll be hungry.”

“A full night huh? I wish I had that after I received the system.”

Alice drew a line across the sand with her foot and stepped back. Her axe was held defensively, the spike positioned to impale. She stomped and ice coated the sand turning the patch before her into a thin sheet of ice that cracked and regrew even thicker.

“No talking. Fight till we drop,” she declared.

I sent my mana through my feet, willing the lava past my boot and across the sand. But unlike Alice and Elizabeth, it failed to create a field of flames. Instead, it sprouted from my leg, earning a raised eyebrow.

I sighed and let the flames spread throughout my arm and past my claws as they shifted. “I’m going to roll you.”

Words were wasted. Within the next twenty seconds I found myself tasting cold sand across my tongue.

—-------------------

Again, I woke before Alice and pulled myself up using the pavilion’s railing. Freki raised his head but I shook him away and moved to the river.

As I bathed I stopped to stare at my reflection and stared at the rune across my chest. It wasn’t something I noticed anymore but a detail scratched at my brain. At the very edge of the rune, the black ink looked off. As I stared at the lazy river light cut across my chest and I found the briefest shimmer of red flicker into existence before it faded away.

Despite several minutes of attempting to replicate the flicker, I sighed and rubbed at my chest.

Another day, Cain. You have other things to focus on.

It was time to wake Alice and get moving. If we were lucky, we’d get some more answers. Though, knowing my luck, despite what my useless stat said: it was likely we’d be leaving with more questions.

I’m getting really tired of asking them.

I exited the water and used flames to dry myself off before dressing myself in the clothes I washed the night before. Freki poked his head up and I nodded. He cocked his head and looked down before jamming his nose directly into Alice’s cheek.

She jumped to her feet and rolled into a crouch, ready to pounce as she summoned ice into her hand. When she blinked away the sleep she stood up and dismissed her magic.

“Food?”

Our stomachs growled at the same time.

“Yeah. Food first. Then we probe the potentially ancient Grimm.”

Alice bathed and I spent time petting Freki’s back. He prodded my chest and I pressed his nose.

“Later, buddy. Let’s focus on one thing for now.”

He whined but Alice returned and motioned for the door. I stood and stretched, taking in the peaceful room before cracking my neck.

“Let’s go.”