Maeve

The clock was ticking. It was only a matter of time before they were onto me. For three weeks now I had purposefully “lost” targets.

I wasn’t in the habit of doing that normally.

I tried to force the worry to the back of my mind as I sat with Kalon, painting our nails.

“Any interesting missions?” she asked, smiling at me.

I shook my head and she went back to painting my nails and I watched her pensively, wondering if she had any clue of the darkness lurking in our so-called family. Or, like me, did she see signs and still chose to blissfully ignore them? Should I tell her? I owe it to her, she’d want to know. I opened my mouth to when a knock came at our door.

“Come in,” Kalon said without stopping her work.

One of our comrades opened the door and smiled at us. “Sorry to interrupt, ladies, but Azriel wants a word with Maeve.”

Kalon sighed, rolling her eyes and capping her nail polish.

“Of course he does. Guess you’ll just have to go half polished for now.”

I forced out a laugh, but it was hollow even to my own ears. I followed the Mariposa to Azriel’s office, chewing on my lip the whole way. We arrived far too soon. The Mariposa opened the door, gesturing me in.

“She’s here, sir.”

Azriel nodded as I sat down. “Thank you.” The Mariposa left and the door slammed shut behind me.

Trapping me with the man I no longer believed I knew. He leaned closer, his hands forming a steeple on the table.

“Are you feeling okay, Maeve?”

I arched my brows. “Yeah. Why?”

He scoffed like it should be obvious, “You’ve failed the last three missions, all of which were fairly simple for your expertise.”

I swallowed. “Yeah, I guess I just… haven’t been too focused recently.”

Azriel furrowed his brows, his eyes narrowing and his jaw clenching. “What else could you possibly be focusing on?”

A nervous laugh slipped out as I shook my head. “Nothing! I just meant that I haven’t been on my game recently. It’s just a… phase.”

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He remained skeptical, nodding slowly. “Must be the full moon,” he said warily.

I nervous laughed again, nodding more assuredly. “Something like that. Maybe just need some more sleep or something. I shouldn’t mess up next time.”

He studied me a long moment, before handing me an envelope. “I sure hope not, because your next mission is ready. And it’s of utmost importance.”

My eyes widened. “And you’re sending ME?”

Azriel tilted his head. “I trust you… I CAN trust you, right?”

I nodded firmly, grabbing the envelope. “Sure, yeah. Of course you can.”

Azriel only relaxed slightly, his eyes still holding a stern gaze. “Okay good. Now you won’t know exactly who your target is until it is time to strike, just to ensure you don’t blow your cover. Inside the envelope, will be a watch that when you press it, will show you where your target is in relation to your location. Don’t press it until I tell you it’s time to strike. No matter what, you MUST complete the mission. Failure of this one will spell the end of your life… here in the Mariposa.”

I nodded once more, wondering if I’d imagined the pause after “life”. “I won’t fail, Azriel. No matter what.”

“Good. Then get to it. You have a gala to attend.”

“A gala?!”

***

Kalon

Something felt off. And it had felt off for a while now. Maeve was being even more secretive than usual and now Azriel kept giving her missions personally. I was getting worried about her. So I went to the only person who was anywhere near as close to her as I was.

Harrow.

I ran to his dorm, peeking through the door window. Thankfully, he was alone. Opening it, I went in, shutting the door behind me. Harrow only stared at me from his bed.

“Hello. Can I help you?”

“What’s going on with Maeve?” I asked, firmly crossing my arms.

He cleared his throat, shifting his gaze away. “What are you talking about, Kalon?”

“She’s been acting weird! Weirder than normal. And Azriel keeps having all these private meetings with her and I’m concerned.”

Harrow finally looked me in the eyes, softening slightly. “Come here,” he said, lowering his voice. I did so, sitting at the end of his bed. “I don’t know much and what I do know can’t leave this room.”

I nodded, giving him a look to continue talking. “She asked me to let her in one of our missions. So I did. What I hadn’t realized was it’d be one of our most top secret ones. And she ended up seeing some things she probably shouldn’t have. She could’ve gotten in big trouble for it, and since then, Azriel has been keeping an extra close eye on her.”

“Our friend’s walking on thin ice right now.”

***

Maeve

The next day was the day of my mission. I was met with a dilemma. I knew how to sneak into places, how to assassinate and how to get away. But I had no idea how to attend a gala.

So there I sat on the day of my mission, chewing on my freshly polished nails.

“Maeve, stop that! You’re ruining my hard work!”

I stopped, looking up at Kalon and smiling apologetically. “Sorry,” I said sheepishly.

She crossed her arms as she looked down at me. “What’s got you out of sorts?”

I huffed. “My next mission.”

She scoffed. “You never get anxious over missions.”

I shrugged. “I do when my cover is someone going to a gala.”

Kalon was expressionless for a moment before finally bursting out laughing.

I rolled my eyes. “It’s not funny, Kalon. I doubt you know much about how to attend a gala either.”

She stopped laughing, but a wide grin remained on her face. “No, I suppose not. But I can figure it out.”