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He’s had the younger shadowbloods moved too. The ones I sensed—and then saw—in the Romanian base I now trace to a spot in Poland. Toni confirmed that Balthazar owns a large plot of land there and had been doing construction on it in recent years.
They aren’t all together. I just located Booker off in the middle of Finland. The only one left I know well enough to search out with Griffin’s ability is Ajax.
I lean back on my hands for a moment first, trying to regain my concentration. There are too many other considerations niggling at my mind.
It doesn’t help that I’m far from sure that mapping out the locations of our younger counterparts does us any good. Balthazar wasn’t with Nadia and the others when they left the mountain base. He’d already taken off on his own—he’s directing their movements from afar.
I thought it would comfort me a little to know where they are, but instead it’s only deepened my sense of helplessness.
I don’t know how to get them out. I don’t know what Balthazar is putting them through now that their powers are more useful to him.
He’s certainly been busy.
One of the other niggling thoughts has me pulling out my phone. When I flick to the news app, nausea curdles in my gut.
There’s a hunt for the “monstrous” terrorists going on in Turkey right now, soldiers storming enclaves they’ve identified as suspicious. I’m guessing that Balthazar has used the shadowkind who work for him under duress to get intel.
The army hasn’t been video-recording the assaults, but rumors of smoking carcasses are floating into the news reports. They’re hitting their intended targets.
Shadowkind are dying.
Balthazar has continued to spread his efforts worldwide. A couple of days ago, his shadowbloods destroyed Houston’s city hall building, killing dozens, and now the Americans are up in arms too.
And not just the military. Roaming squads of citizens, their weapons and vests no doubt arranged by Balthazar, have turned vigilante.
I overheard Rollick on the phone yesterday, ordering his Miami hotel shut down. Recommending that all his employees there either join us at the Spanish mansion or disperse into hiding.
He put on a nonchalant front about it, acting like this was just a momentary inconvenience that would blow over, but guilt winds through my chest when I remember the conversation.
Balthazar has been stockpiling money, property, and weapons for so long. Building his economic and political influence. Gathering information to inform his strategies.
But the key to launching this vast war on the shadowkind now was Ursula Engel’s computer. The one we stole from her.
The one I told him how to find.
I inhale deeply and lean over the map again. I’ll check Ajax’s position, and then I’ll search for Balthazar again. If we can pick out one place he’s returning to somewhat frequently, that would at least be another start.
I focus my attention on my memories of the slim boy with the near-black skin and thoughtful eyes. The act of concentration has become almost second nature after so much practice, even though the talent isn’t technically mine.
An image of Ajax forms in my head. I reach my arm over the map, urging my fingers toward him as if by a magnetic pull.
My hand drops. I peer down at the winding lines of country borders.
Balthazar has him stashed someplace in western China now. I haven’t tracked our former captor’s movements to any specific spot there before, but he has crisscrossed Asia more than once. For all I know he’s made a brief stop that I missed.
Or he hasn’t checked in on the shadowbloods there at all since I started monitoring his movements.
As my gaze lingers on the blank territory I touched, more than an inch from any major city, a tingling sensation forms at the top of my skull.
My pulse hitches. I freeze, unsure whether I should try to shake off the feeling or see how it develops.
In the midst of my indecision, a thin but audible voice murmurs through my thoughts as if from right inside my head.Riva? Is that you?
It sounds like Ajax, as well as I can remember the solemn boy’s low voice. I open my mouth and close it again, not sure how to answer him. If I speak out loud, will he hear that?
His talent was a weak version of telepathy. His original talent, anyway. Has Balthazar expanded the fifteen-year-old’s abilities so much that he can project his own thoughts into my head across all this distance?
I think a response as “loudly” as I know how.Yes, it’s me. Are you okay, Ajax?
