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He tilted his head backward, the moonlight making the bone of his face shine brightly, then let out a sound so dark and deep that it sent shivers right through me. The sound echoed out, no doubt drawing the attention of every guard in Larkwood.
Here we go…
* * * *
Hera
Somewhere along the way, seeing the Warden had stopped terrifying me so much.
Why was that?
She held as much power over me as she had before. If anything, she was more willing to harm me now, and I had alotmore to lose than I did when I first came.
Yet, as she walked in, the clicking of her heels loud even over the fighting, I found I didn’t react to her as I once had. She was just a woman.
A twisted, broken woman, but not a monster.
Which meant I could win.
She walked into the room, and immediately, the other guards pulled back. The Warden showed no signs of fear as she moved between them and myself, as if she knew I wouldn’t lash out at her.
Was that arrogance?
“You really are a problem,” she said. “Each time I think I have you handled, each time I think I’ve managed to predict your moves, you do the unexpected.”
I held my hands out as if to tell her I would get in her way every last time I needed to.
She laughed and waved the guards backward, telling them to leave us.
The action only set me on edge more, made me wonder just what she had up her sleeve. She wasn’t the type to sacrifice herself, so what the hell was this?
Once alone, her behavior shifted, loosening, as if without the onlookers she could act more casually.
Was this the real woman?
“I wish you understood,” she said. “Sometimes, I wish more people understood, really, but then I remember that it is my cross to bear. It is my task, and others don’t need to be privy to it just to make me feel better.”
She walked to a computer that sat on one wall of the large room, then clicked at the keyboard. A part of me wondered if I should stop her, if I should do something to try to ensure she wasn’t doing something that would harm me.
Except, another part, a larger one, wanted to understand her. She didn’t seem to be trying to trick me, so I let her type into the keyboard.
“Do you know where source comes from?”
My hands moved to sign a response, but I stopped myself and simply nodded instead.
“Most people know that much. It seeps through tears that exist between our reality and another, though few have any idea what sits on the other side of those tears.”
Her words took me back to Kit and Lilianna, both of whom had mentioned being able to feel those tears, had both talked about what might exist on the other side.
The Warden hit another button and a large screen flickered on beside her, one mounted to the wall for presentations. On it sat a lab with a shimmering space hanging in the air. “Most tears are so small, only source leaks through. Exposure to this creates shades by charging humans on a basic level. There are larger tears, though, and through those, we’ve glimpsed that there arethingson the other side.”
“What sort of things?”I signed back.
I doubted she understood my words, but perhaps some things transcended language, because she answered. “There is a reason I’ve worked so hard to learn all I can about shades—you are the best chance we have at closing those tears and learning how to overcome what exists on the other side. Most people believe I hate shades, but that isn’t true. You all are victims as much as we are, just unlucky individuals who were caught up in this outside of your choice. Still, once that happened, the only chance for survival for humans is to learn and use everything at our disposal.”
I frowned as I listened to her, as the video on the screen continued, showing darkness moving inside that tear.
“This entire floor of the North Tower is devoted to studying those tears, to understanding them, to learning how to both open and close them.”
