Ali's not in her home, and I'm not seeing any traces of her walking away, which means she flew off somewhere. I shrug off my backpack and pull out the walkie, then put it up to my mouth and press the call button.

"Alpha Wolf to Queen Bee, do you read me?" I ask. "Alpha Wolf to Queen Bee, do you read me?"

I release the call button, then wait. There's no response. Please, please, please don't have found her. Thirty seconds later, I bring the walkie back up to my mouth and press the call button again.

"Alpha Wolf to Queen Bee, do you read me?" I ask. "Alpha Wolf to Queen Bee, do you read me?"

Her walkie is on her, and the spare ones are in the garage. Please don't have been found and taken out by the Klen, Ali. I start moving, and every minute, I radio out again as I attempt to find where she might be. I scale the tallest building around and begin looking with my binoculars, but can't find her. Even still, she doesn't respond.

After nearly an hour of searching, I find a walkie on the ground, busted. By the way it's sitting on the ground, it fell from pretty high up. Was Ali attacked while she was flying? Looking in the direction of her home, I turn and face the opposite direction, then take off.

There aren't any signs of someone else on the ground here, so was the Klen member who attacked her up in the sky? Ali's not really capable of combat mid-flight due to the way her power works, so she'd have done her best to just fly away. That means she probably continued in a straight line, but even if she didn't, I'll probably find some tracks leading to where she is.

It takes me another hour to find her, pretty far off the straight path, and when I do, I want to shoot her.

She's swimming, her clothes and gear on the shore.

"Ali!" I stomp over, and she looks at me. "You dropped your walkie, and I've been trying to find you for two hours!"

"Why?" She asks. "What's wrong?"

"The Klen's here," I tell her. "They were distracting me with another Sigil-Bearer, but I took her out. She told me the target wasn't me, and the way she said it and smirked told me they were keeping me separated."

"I haven't noticed anyone," she tells me. "What about Tanner? Couldn't they be after him? Since he wants to lose his status as a Sigil-Bearer?"

"Only you and I know the real reason Tanner's in town," I tell her. "They wouldn't be after him."

Not unless they knew he was an empath, but they don't. They'd just want to see if he's a healer even if they did know, but that's not something they'd need to separate me from him to test. At least, not unless their intention was to have him see me wounded, but if they're using their brains for once, then they'd have sent enough of a force to actually hurt me and would have done so when he was nearby, so that he'd be able to find me easily enough.

"If they wouldn't be after him," Ali says. "And they aren't after me, then why were they distracting you? Think they'd be after the girl? What's her name?"

"The seven-year-old girl who can manifest a flame?" I ask. "They wouldn't need to distract me for that."

"Hm," Ali thinks. "Go back over what happened."

I explain everything that happened, from me first noticing the tail a couple of days ago to the signs of people checking out the ruins that I've been seeing since Saturday to when I killed the Sigil-Bearer just a little bit ago.

"You should have interrogated her further," she says.

"I don't have the luxury of being able to restrain her," I point out. "And considering the fact that she was out of range, she probably contacted the Klen and let them know she had me. I didn't bother to check if she had a radio, but she probably did."

"I don't know," Ali says. "Do you think she knew you noticed her?"

"She definitely didn't," I say. "I should've just come off as wandering about randomly, enjoying nature."

"Then it's possible that you're wrong and weren't being distracted."

"No," I say. "She definitely said I wasn't the target, and that smirk, she-"

I feel myself freeze. There's another Sigil-Bearer, but I'm supposed to be the only one who knows about him. I haven't even told Ian about him.

"I need to go," I tell her. "I need to go check on something. You'll want to follow me, don't. It's private. She never said the target was a person, I might know what it is."

I rush out. Hopefully, Ali believes what I said. If the target's not Jay, then it's still for the better that Ali doesn't know about him. But it might be him. Who else would they be after? The Sigil-Bearer wouldn't have entered that bank if she didn't intend on confronting me, which means that they had to have put things into motion when she approached me.

If she were just following me, she wouldn't have entered the bank. Only an idiot would have done that. She didn't care about how long the delay was, either, or she'd have tried to escape even with her shot knees. She'd have tried to delay me longer if that mattered, probably would've made it obvious to me that she was following by making noises or something, so that I'd be on alert and keep moving around.

She just wanted to get my attention long enough for them to do whatever it was.

No wolves or birds have come alerted me to Jay being in danger, which means they haven't gotten to him yet. I can run at my normal hurry for now.

When I finally reach near Jay's zone, I make sure no one's following me, then make my way into the building through the greenery, slipping past the fallen office equipment on my way to the garden. When I reach it, I find Jay snapping the neck of a chicken.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"Why do you look so flustered?" He looks at me. "You look like you just ran a marathon."

"Everything's safe here?" I ask. "Have you noticed any signs of anyone lurking about? Or attacking?"

"No," he sets the chicken on a table and begins removing its feathers. "Just me, you, the chickens, and stuff. I have the birds and wolves and foxes scouting out the area at all times. They've reported that everything is super clear!"

"You're sure?" I ask.

"Yeah," he nods. "Why? What's wrong?"

"The Klen's here," I tell him. "Again. And this time, they're acting smartly. One of their Sigil-Bearers was stalking me the last few days, apart from when I went too far into the ruins. Then just a little bit ago, she followed me all the way in and even approached me. She was distracting me, and the only reason I could think of for that is if they were going after someone. Only I know about you, but Ali's safe, so I thought maybe they'd found you."

"Oh," he says. "No, I'm fine. Actually, it's been pretty nice. I can send the birds further out if you want, just to be safe."

"Would you?" I ask.

"Sure," he says. "I'll have them check everything within ten miles of town. It's a bit further than you go, but maybe the Klen are also hiding further away, too."

"Thanks," I say. "I'm glad to see you're safe."

"Ha!" He grins as he finishes removing the feathers and begins separating the chicken. "As if they'd be a danger to me. I'm no Sigil-God, but I'm not weak. I know I'm stronger than most, even if you don't tell me so. They could probably bring an army and I'd be fine. Especially since I'd have advance notice."

"Alright," I say. "I'm going to head back. Make sure to let me know if there's an issue."

"Yes, sir!" He says. "You won't stay for dinner? I'm having chicken, gonna grill it over a nice fire. Gotta get it marinading, though. My own special blend!"

"No, thanks," I tell him. "I'm expecting…"

I completely forgot about something, even though I've known it for a few weeks. Tanner's arrival in town and everything since then caused it to slip my mind, but it's extremely important. Especially with the worry that something's happened.

Tabitha is supposed to show up tonight, and that means my cousin, too. The cousin who spoke the prophecy. The cousin who spoke the prophecy that the Klen found out about and is the whole reason rumors of a God of Destruction began to spread.

Crap. If they showed up early in an attempt to surprise me, and the Klen went after her while I was in the ruins, then I'm too late.

"I need to go," I tell Jay. "I'll be back to check on you in the next few days, but make sure to let me know before what the birds say."

I rush off, this time running to town. The limitations on this body are really annoying, I want to move even faster, get to town sooner. Unfortunately, the limitations on this body make it too slow.

As soon as I reach the range of the cell signals, I slow down and check my phone. Sure enough, there are several calls from Tabitha. Upon seeing that, I clear the notifications and call her back, and she answers almost immediately.

"Tabitha," I say. "You kept calling, did something happen?"

"No," she answers. "You sound out of breath, is everything alright?"

"Are you in Frendok?" I ask.

"We arrived a few hours ago," she answers. "Though you didn't answer your phone, so I assumed you were in the ruins, as usual. Why? Is something wrong? You sound panicked."

"Erin's with you, right?" I ask. "Like, you can put eyes on her?"

"We're at a nice little cafe," she says. "It wasn't here a couple of years ago, but their sandwiches are delicious."

"Almanar's Cafe," I set off in that direction.

"Yeah," she says. "What's wrong? Why were you wondering about Erin? You two never got along."

"Are there any Sigil-Bearers around?" I ask. "Or people who look like they might be military wearing plain clothes?"

"Well, Erin's here," she says.

"Other than Erin," I say.

"There's a handsome young man," Tabitha tells me. "He's sitting with some others, they're about your age. I'm sure the guys and gals he's with are students from the school you like to skip, though since the only Sigil-Bearer who's a local is that little girl, I'm guessing he came in from out of town. Other than him, no."

"Black hair, green eyes, a black shirt left unbuttoned over a dark pink tee, black skinny jeans and black sneakers?"

"Yeah, how did you know?" She asks.

"He transferred here a couple of weeks ago," I answer. "He's not what I'm looking for. Are there any people who might be a Sigil-Bearer other than him or who look like they might be soldiers of some sort, but dressed more casually, not looking armed or anything?"

"No, why?" She asks.

"Stay there," I say. "Tanner, I know you can hear me. Don't let them out of your sight until I get there, neither of them are fighters and your moderate level of training might have some use if something happens."

"What's going on, Nick?" Tabitha asks.

"You know the Klen?" I ask.

"Yeah," she answers.

"They're here, and they did something," I say. "They ensured I was in the ruins and then distracted me."

Now that I think about it, she probably realized I noticed her following me, despite the way she acted when I confronted her after she entered the bank. Her whole ploy was to keep me in the ruins, and she probably approached me after she contacted them and let them know I was far enough away.

But what were they doing? Why did they need to ensure I was away from town? They didn't go after Ali and don't seem to know about Jay, while not knowing that Tanner's an empath or that he wants to lose his ability. The local Sigil-Bearer, the little girl, isn't that important or powerful, and I doubt that any Sigil-Bearer who might have come to town already for graduation stuff would be targeted by the Klen.

Not in a way that would make the Klen want to keep me out of the way. That means it's someone I'm connected to. Yet even Erin was left alone.

My phone alerts me to another call as Tabitha asks me what's going on with the Klen, and I check it. It's Ian. Of course it's Ian. The timing can't be a coincidence, he knows something. If I didn't suspect that, I'd hurt myself and not answer him, calling him back later.

"Hold on," I tell her. "I'm almost there, but I've got a call coming in that I need to take. Tanner, keep them in your sight."

I hang up and answer the call from Ian.

"Yeah?" I ask.

"Don't worry too much," Ian tells me. "The Klen did try something, but it ended up foiled."

So he was eavesdropping on my call and realized I was panicking. I'll need to have some words with him about listening in on my phone calls to people other than him, especially when they're my family.

"How?" I ask.

"I'll let you know when you return to your apartment," he tells me. "Don't worry about it too much. Go enjoy dinner with your aunt and cousin, and don't worry about what the Klen tried."

"What did they try?" I ask.

"Nothing that will yield a positive result for them," he tells me. "I'll tell you when you're back in your apartment, but seriously, don't worry too much. They're going to be pissed you killed her, but that's what they get for sending someone who has a habit of jumping the schedule."

"They were planning on killing me?"

"They were going to send an Immortal Sigil after you," he tells me. "But she decided to go after you since you were there. Anyway, you're almost to the cafe, so-"

"Stop tracking my GPS, Ian."

"See you later!"

"Talk to you later, Ian," I say. "Love you, bye."

"Love you!" He responds before I end the call and pocket my phone, reaching the cafe just as I do.

Pulling open the door, I enter.