“We are not mad. We are not murderers. We simply stopped believing.”

– Inscription found on a wall in Oko Lahab. Anonymous.


Ela, Unknown Location

Ela was once again sitting at the table, and once again she felt all eyes on her tired face. She had tried to get a good night’s sleep, but discovered she was incapable of it. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the faces of those she had recently lost. And she also felt fear. The knowledge that the Beacon had sent modificants after her kept her from falling asleep, and even when she eventually did, her dreams were filled with darkness.


The morning turned out worse than the exhausting night, and in the nearly blind mirror she barely recognized her own face, freckled, pale, and now marked by dark circles under her eyes.


Still, she tried to look better than she felt, something she had learned to do well over the past few years. So she sat up straight, hands folded before her, and stared firmly at Gramps as she finally voiced her decision:

“I agree.”


Her words drew everyone’s attention. Gramps smiled in satisfaction, Ked scowled instead, and Leimar snorted in amusement. The only one who remained indifferent was Sill, who continued absentmindedly switching between cleaning the grime from under his nails and sipping hot laghota from his mug.


“I’ll join you. But I have one condition.”


“Of course you do,” Gramps snorted and rubbed the palm of his hand over the beard on his chin. “Go on then.”


“I have to return to Karhen Rouz,” Ela stated bluntly.


Her voice was steady, and she didn’t avert her gaze, making it clear she meant it.


Ked frowned in disapproval. “To Karhen Rouz? Why?”


“Besides wanting to talk to my father,” Ela looked directly at her brother, her voice sharp with bite, “I also had an agreement with Reng. We were supposed to meet there. And until I know for sure that he was killed in the South with the others, I have to assume he’s still alive and will keep his part of the deal.”


Gramps snorted, as if to show how naïve that sounded. But her determination made him hesitate.

“All right, let’s suppose he survived,” he began slowly. “So what? He’s still a modificant, an alter. He killed in the name of the Beacon, just like the others. The Scavs won’t accept him among their own, and you can’t really blame them.”


Ela looked at him, her voice growing more urgent. “Reng wasn’t just a modificant. Tonot prepared him for something completely different than how the Beacon used modificants. Trust me, I was there.

He was meant to play a key role in his plan, the one that’s supposed to shut the Beacon down. That plan may have failed for now, but I have the means to set it back in motion. But I need time and everything Tonot left behind. And Reng is an essential part of it all.”


“And if he’s dead?” Ked asked cynically.


“Then we’re screwed,” Ela snapped back, and she noticed that her reply finally made Sill put down the knife he’d been using to dig at his nails.


“I know it’s personal for you,” he chimed in, genuine interest in his voice, “but let’s suppose your modificant really isn’t with us anymore. What would that mean for your plan?”


Ela took a deep breath to push back the anger her brother so reliably stirred, and tried to respond in a way that would satisfy Sill’s honest question.


“It took Tonot over twenty years to reach the point where he even had a chance to succeed. If we lost everything he gathered during that time, we’d be back at the beginning. Actually worse, because Tonot is currently out of commission and waking him again would require someone who knows what they’re doing to get back into the Beacon, rebuild his shell, and disrupt the synchronization with the Unconscious.”


Her words were followed by an awkward silence in the room, as no one really understood what she had just said. She knew it, and for a moment, she felt a sense of vindication. She was the only one who understood what this was really about.


Gramps sighed heavily. “All right,” he muttered eventually. “I’m trying to understand what you’re telling us. What I’m getting is that you know what you want, and it’s up to us to help you get it. But now tell me, what’s the actual chance that what you’re doing makes any real sense?”


“Honestly? I don’t know,” she admitted, determined not to hide anything. Trying to lie would catch up with her sooner or later, and she knew that with Gramps, she’d only get one shot at trust. “I’m grasping at whatever I can and simply hoping.”


They all turned their eyes to Gramps, tense and expectant, waiting for his decision. And it was clear even he wasn’t sure how much faith to put in what Ela was asking of him.


“Let me think for a moment,” he said quietly, got up, and walked over to the window.


He looked lost. The events of the past days had been too turbulent and had taken a completely unexpected turn. Ela and everything she had told him had shaken him deeply, because he realized how not having all the crucial information could flip everything upside down. Could it still be fixed? He didn’t know. But Ela seemed convinced it could. Or maybe she was just playing him.


“I don’t like plans that rely on prayers and assumptions,” he sighed at last. “But it seems we don’t have anything better right now. So I’ll give you a chance. Just one, understand? Because I’m not willing to sacrifice the rest of the Scavengers for your sentiment.”


“Don’t tell me you’re really going to drag us to Karhen Rouz just because she said so,” Leimar chimed in bitterly, now openly displeased.


“I want her help, her knowledge. And the trip to Karhen Rouz will be our down payment,” Gramps explained briefly. “But I swear, if I find out she’s playing us, I’ll be the first to throw her to the bastards that are after her.”


“You might not have to,” Leimar grumbled. “They’re not stupid. Anyone can guess she’ll want to go home, so it’ll be the first place they look. We’re walking into a trap.”


Gramps gave him a hard stare. “No one said this would be easy. And since we know it’s a trap, it’s up to us to outsmart them.”


“We’ve been there before,” Ked muttered, remembering all too well how their last direct encounter with modificants ended. He still felt sick knowing he’d only survived that massacre by sheer luck. “So we’re hoping they don’t slaughter us like at that munitions depot? We knew they were there and still walked in. This isn’t any different.”


“Ked’s right,” Leimar agreed. “We can spin whatever scenarios we want, but you know damn well that if it comes to a physical fight, we don’t stand a chance.”

“Letras should’ve thought the same,” Sill reminded them. “And we all know how things turned out in the South. We just need to think ahead, plan, not get cornered.”


“Exactly,” Gramps agreed and stood up from the table with renewed confidence. “That’s why we’ll do everything to avoid them but also prepare properly. Leimar, you’ll return to the Fourborde with Sill. I want you to gather the men and head straight to Karhen Rouz, where we’ll try to prepare for what’s coming. Ela and Ked will go with me. The three of us won’t draw as much attention, and if we take the pilgrim trail through Tacot Van, we can blend in with the crowd.”


“And then what?” Leimar was still not on board with Gramps’s plan, but the old man clearly wasn’t going to change his mind.


“And then? Then we pray that damned Reng is still alive. Meanwhile, Sill will cast his nets toward Prim and start looking for ways to weaken the Beacon and the Prim Council so we have a backdoor ready in case Ela’s plan fails.”


Leimar snorted in disapproval, but Sill just smiled with satisfaction. “Sounds like I’ve got an important meeting with Brooks ahead of me. Can’t wait to see his face when I tell him we snatched Ela right from under the Beacon’s nose.”


“Almost makes me sad I won’t be there to see it,” Gramps said with a grin as he stood up. “So it’s settled. Time to move our asses.”


Ela watched as everyone stood and began preparing to leave. She felt relieved that she had convinced Gramps, but at the same time, fear crept into her chest.


What if she was wrong? What if Reng hadn’t survived?


Or worse. What if he had survived but chose not to keep his promise?


“Hope you packed yourself a proper load of luck, girl,” Leimar muttered as he walked out. “We’re all gonna need it.”