“I don’t.”
“Why do you say that they don’t want you anywhere near the Adairs? And why only them? Why not the Quillans?”
“It started about five months ago. I found an envelope of pictures on my bed at home. Cabe and Noah were in most of them, and there were several passages marked up in one of my old books of nursery rhymes. The next few messages were similar: a nursery rhyme and a bunch of pictures. Most of the pictures showed me interacting with Noah or Cabe. They were the first friends that I really got close to at school, maybe the messenger got jealous that I was finally making friends.”
“What were the other pictures?”
“Some were of me sleeping, getting dressed, or showering. Some were taken while I was at work.”
“I see. Have you heard his voice?”
“No.”
“You said he. How do you know that the messenger is a male?”
“Oh.” I pressed my lips together, feeling flustered. Here was where things got a little bit tricky, because the messenger knew that Noah and Cabe were my pair, and it was the very reason he wanted me to stay away from them. “He has alluded that we… er… belong together.”
“So these are the actions of a single person?” Jayden frowned, his expression eerily similar to one of disappointment.
“I really don’t know,” I allowed, drumming my fingers nervously against the desk. “I always thought so. The Adairs offered to help, and then things got worse. The messenger kidnapped them and almost had them killed, and then there was the bombing…”
“I’ve been filled in on the other incidents in Seattle. Despite the Klovoda’s inability to make successful contact with you, we have been taking notice. It proved a tricky situation when the Voda heir himself declared you an untouchable, if not for the obvious evidence of you having been stalked and harassed, we might have suspected you to have bonded with them.” Jayden’s smile wavered, then, and I saw the glint behind it. It was a kind of playful intelligence, soft and blurred around the edges, enticing you to relax and loosen your secrets before the curtain is drawn away and you find the knife between your ribs. “I’ll admit…” he continued, “We haven’t been so concerned about that possibility since Silas reported the kidnapping of Noah and Cabe back in Seattle.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Don’t you?” Jayden’s smile became insincere again; he seemed disappointed once more. “Is it safe to say that this messenger knows you well? After all, he seems to have spent quite a lot of time watching you.”
“It seems so.”
“Well, if you had been bonded to the Adairs, he wouldn’t have tried to kill them, would he? You are aware of how the bonding works, are you not?”
“It would have killed me,” I mused. “I… I don’t really think about that part.”
“Of course you don’t.” Jayden laughed, the sound entirely humourless. “You aren’t bonded to them, so why would it cross your mind?”
“Right,” I muttered, watching him. He had a point… why would the messenger attempt to kill Noah and Cabe?
“Of course,” Jayden tore through my thoughts with his casual tone, “we know perfectly well why this stalker of yours staged that particular incident. I’m going to go ahead and assume that you haven’t figured it out yet, as you don’t seem to be particularly quick-witted.”
“Staged?”
“As I thought. Yes, staged. Your stalker is quite the little tech-bug, that much is clear. So why would he attempt to murder two of the most important Zevghéri people alive, in the middle of the day, with CCTV cameras watching on from every angle—not to mention the cameras he set up himself, just to make sure there was full coverage?”
Well. When you put it that way…
“Can I phone a friend?”
Jayden opened his mouth, and then closed it again, frowning. “Really, Miro is teaching you bad habits. Humour has its place, Miss Black. You have nothing else to say?”
“I’m still processing.”
Jayden sighed, rubbing at his temple. Must be hard, knowing everything.
“The stalker wanted to broadcast your ability,” he decided to inform me. “To whom, I don’t know. He thought to put you in a high-stress situation, just to see how you would react, and how your ability would manifest. Or,” his mouth quirked, “maybe he was just making sure that you weren’t bonded to the Adairs after all. In that case, I’d say that your reaction probably didn’t inspire a whole lot of confidence.”
“I killed a man.”
“I know.”
“For nothing, if that was all a set-up.”
“I know.”
I pushed up from the table, my skin seeming to quiver with the angry rush of blood that was currently storming through my veins. “What kind of people are you? I killed a man. You’ve seen it. You’ve all seen it. Why aren’t you doing anything about it?”
“Have you made a sport of it since?”
“Only on Saturdays,” I spat out.
He grinned and flicked his finger. My knees buckled, crumbling my form back into the seat behind me.
“The Klovoda would very much like to work with you, Seraph. Consider it your sentence. This messenger person poses a problem, however. We cannot have him encountering information that we consider confidential.”
I nodded and counted down in my head.
Three…
Two…
“What kind of work?” Quillan asked, moving behind me and gripping the back of my chair.
Jayden ignored him. “There is also the case of your self-appointed secret keepers,” he said. “Which of Lord Weston’s heirs are you actually involved with?”
I let out a small laugh before saying, “It depends on how you define involved.”
“Which one are you dating?”
“I’ve never been on a date with any of them, unless you count the date I had with a guy from school that Noah and Cabe crashed.”
“They’re letting you see other people?” Jayden seemed surprised. “Are you dating this other boy?”
“I’m seeing him this Saturday,” I answered, ignoring his other question.
Quillan shifted on his feet behind me and Jayden’s gaze snapped up, catching whatever his reaction had been. Internally, I swore at myself. I had been too preoccupied to tell Quillan or Silas about Saturday night.
“Hmm.” Jayden narrowed his eyes on Quillan. “I’ve heard the Adairs are dating other people as well. Are you trying to tell me that you don’t have a romantic relationship with any of them?”
“It depends on how you define romantic.”
“Do you have sex with any of them?”
“No.”
“Have you kissed any of them?”
“Maybe. I don’t see how any of this is your business.”
His smile was back, like me sticking up for myself had amused him. “I could force you to tell me everything.”
“There isn’t much to tell.” I sighed, tugging on the ends of my hair. The slight sting was enough to focus my thoughts and untangle the half-truths in my head. “I’m not dating any of them, I’m not having sex with any of them, Silas and Cabe have both kissed me.” I left Quillan out of it, because he was my teacher, and while Cabe’s kisses had lasted for a bare fraction of a second, I needed to confuse them by not putting an emphasis on one of the pairs over the other.
“Silas?” His eyebrows shot up, forcing lines of confusion and surprise to crease his brow. “You don’t strike me as his type. So they’re fighting over you, is that it?”
“They made a pact of sorts,” I answered honestly. “Nobody was to start anything with me until things were… resolved. With me, I mean. I haven’t… decided anything.”
“Wise of them,” Jayden covered the lower half of his face with his hand. He tried to pass it off as a casual movement, but I knew that he was laughing at me. After a moment, his hand dropped and he added, “But Cabe and Silas broke the pact?”
“I suppose they did.”
/>
“And they’re still not fighting?”
“Noah pushed Cabe and yelled at him.”
“And nobody would dare to yell at Silas?”
“He probably wouldn’t react favourably.”
“Is this the first you’re hearing of all of this?” He directed the question at Quillan.
“I’m her teacher.” Quillan’s voice was hard. “I knew about it, but I wasn’t going to put up a fight. I have no reasonable grounds.”
“This pact…” Jayden leaned back in his chair. “So you weren’t a part of it?” he asked Quillan.
“I wouldn’t say that.”
“Sounds like you did have reasonable grounds.”
“I’ll make sure to yell at Silas as soon as I see him.” The hard note in Quillan’s voice was gone, replaced by a lighter tenor that hinted at amusement.
“So you haven’t been involved with her?” Jayden glanced back to me, examining me in a way that he hadn’t, so far. His eyes carried over my features, touching upon my hair, my brow, my lips, and the exposed skin of my neck. It was oddly clinical, made even odder by the fact that he didn’t seem to have drawn any conclusion from my attributes whatsoever. It was as though he had been searching for evidence of a complex equation, only to find that two eyes plus one mouth plus one nose equals a face.
Quillan replied. “Everything is as she said. There’s no need to ask me for clarification.”
Webber made an uncomfortable sound in his throat, and I glanced over at him. I had actually completely forgotten that he was there. His brow was furrowed and he stared at the ground, his finger tapping at his side as he mumbled things to himself. When he realised we were all watching him, he straightened and turned to Quillan.
“I’m afraid…” His frown dipped, and then he was refocussing on the ground. “I’m going to have to ask for proof that the girl hasn’t been…” he cleared his throat, his face turning red again, “taken advantage of. This is somewhat unprecedented, Miro. I need to take precautions.”
“Very well,” Quillan said.
“Is there proof?” Webber asked, focussing on me.
Now it was my turn to grow red in the face. I clutched at the table, my breath rasping with embarrassment. “I’m a virgin,” I managed. “A doctor might be able to confirm.”
“Good.” Webber cleared his throat and tugged at his collar. “Er… perhaps we could arrange that appointment this afternoon?”
I nodded, feeling anger mix with the shame in my face. Jayden was smiling again, but there was confusion behind the motion. I was glad that I wasn’t straining, or the valcrick would have been zapping people in reaction to my surging emotions.
“Are we done now?” I gritted my teeth, aiming the question at the desk.
“Not quite.” Jayden spoke calmly, trying to sooth over my spiking agitation. “As I was saying, the Klovoda would like to work with you, but we will need to take somewhat drastic measures to ensure that you aren’t followed when we call you.”
“What kind of work?” I repeated Quillan’s question from earlier.
“Nothing that would put you in danger,” he assured. “All Zevghéri must go on a few assignments before they can be trained as agents. It helps us to catalogue your strengths and weaknesses.”
“What if I don’t want to join the Zevghéri?” I asked.
“You will. We aren’t the bad guys,” he assured me. “Our methods may be somewhat… unrestrained, at times, but we do what we must to protect the system, to protect our people. Zevghéri recruits and their families are safeguarded and sustained, and all we ask in return is for them to follow the simple set of rules that govern our society. The Klovoda has the wealth to support all sworn Zevghéri ten times over, and we exercise that wealth, as you may have noticed.”
“I have. What will happen to me if I don’t join?”
“Nothing, Seraph. You’ll not be forced.”
“I don’t believe you.”
Jayden’s eyes dipped to the table and then rose back to my face. His genuine smile was back—and still as frightening as it had been the first time. “Most Zevghéri are no different from humans,” he explained. “They belong to neither an Atmá, nor a pair; they are simply born into a Zev family that began with an Atmá and a pair, once upon a time. If they do not wish to be included in our ranks, anyone in their current household is dispelled. That could mean parents, children or a spouse; they are all suspended from our society until the non-Zevghéri leaves their household, and then they are welcomed back into our arms.” He spread his hands either side of the table in an accommodating gesture. “An Atmá, however, is a different story. You are the legacy of our people, and we take you very seriously.”
“So you’ll fight for me, even if you have to fight with me.”
“Ah, she has wits after all.”
I managed to not roll my eyes. “And if I do these assignments for the Klovoda?”
“You will be compensated. We will lend you a protection detail until this…” he waved his hand at nothing in particular, “stalker issue is sorted out. We will pay you a thousand dollars per assignment in the interim, and your monetary situation can be discussed further when the time comes to pledge yourself.”
“You don’t seem to be worried about the messenger. He almost blew up the school. I’m sure I wasn’t the only Atmá at school today.”
“You’re right. There are three Atmás currently attending Hollow Ground.”
“So? You’re not worried that your precious Atmás could get hurt? You’ve brushed off everything I’ve said about the messenger so far.”
“He’s not my primary concern.”
“He’s killed an Atmá before.”
“I know.”
I sat forward, my hands against the desk separating us. It seemed a ploy, now… this short distance between Jayden and myself. It would have been more accurate if he had been standing on a floating platform a thousand miles above me, communicating through a one-way radio.
“How do you know?” I asked. “Did Silas tell you about that, too?”
“There’s no need to sound so betrayed, Seraph. If he hadn’t told us, we would have been forced to take all four of you to trial for your involvement. This way, it’s all out in the open. But I think we are getting off-topic now.”
“Fine. Tell me what kind of assignments you want me to do, then. I’m not agreeing to anything until I know more about it.”
He tipped forward and his hands landed either side of mine on the desk separating us. He had broad fingers, blunt-looking and practical—opposing the sharp lines of his tailored dress-shirt and black tie. He wore cufflinks of some kind of metal, with dark-grey diamonds set into it, and once again, it seemed to contradict the hint of dirt that I could see beneath his fingernails. He fixed me with a stare, dropping all pretence of friendliness. “You will be asked to meet with Klovoda in a special place. They call it the Komnata.”
“The Klovoda’s Komnata,” I repeated dryly. “What makes this place so special?”
“The Komnata was designed more than five hundred years ago, because of the European wars of religion and the global spread of witch trials—” He paused, narrowing his eyes on me. “Why are you laughing?”
I wasn’t exactly laughing, I didn’t think, but… “The witch trials? As in the Salem Witch Trails?”
“That is one example among many, but yes. America had its Salem; Scotland had its North Berwick; Germany had a Trier, a Fulda, a Bamberg, and a Würzburg… to name a few.”
“Sounds like Germany was busy.”
Jayden sniffed, and then shifted in his seat. “I hardly think it needs explaining, and it certainly isn’t a laughing matter. That was the biggest threat our kind faced in the early modern period. It’s the very reason that Zevghéri are now more prevalent in America than Europe. I doubt you’ll meet many German lineages.”
“Sorry.” I sobered up. “You’re right. I just… wasn’t expecting that.”
“The Zevghéri hav
e been around since the beginning of man, our scholars have proven it. We’re an evolutionary step ahead of the humans—they can’t match us in strength, they can’t out-run us, they can’t out-think us, they unconsciously try to emulate the beauty of our men and women—do you think that we would have gone unnoticed, all this time?”
“I guess not.” I considered his words, and found that he was right.
Hollow Ground had opened my eyes to the true differences between the Zevghéri and the humans. At first, I had only seen the obvious: they had shiny cars and big houses, and they were all strangely attractive, in their own ways. Soon, as I grew used to seeing their fancy things and being surrounded by their beauty, I began to notice more. During music class, nothing ever seemed to get done, yet nobody was worried about their original composition due at the end of the year. They were the foot soldiers, just like Quillan said—so it wasn’t hard for them to keep up the back-breaking pace. They were smart enough to stay in the shadows, throwing themselves into the queue that looked out upon the glossy green fields of success, of achievement. They stayed there because the queue was overcrowded. I was suddenly absolutely sure that in every law firm, there would be a Zevghéri paralegal, working until the early hours of the morning, just as there would be a Zevghéri middle-school tutor in every affluent American neighbourhood, ready to bend the ear of a congressman’s straight-backed son, or a movie-star’s fluffy-haired daughter.
It wasn’t hard to see that every Zevghéri had a purpose.
The foot soldiers were the foundation; they paid their taxes to the Klovoda through strategic labour… but even they were different. They had to be, to get to where they wanted to be without moving up any higher, fighting off any competition at the same time. They had to be the best, irreplaceable, yet unnoticeable. It was impossible. It was ingenious.
“So…” I was suddenly extremely uncomfortable sitting at this table, with a man who was not only Zevghéri, but Klovoda. Poison’s lessons on Zev hierarchy were only now truly beginning to sink in. “The Komnata… was it built to protect the Zevghéri?”
“In a way. It would not have been wise to rally all of our people to the one area, but we needed a way to protect the Voda and his chosen people. There are three rules governing the Komnata, only three. First, you must be invited; without an invitation, the doors will not open. Second, you must be willing; without your willing consent, the doors will not open. And thirdly, you must be a Zevghéri.”