Page 17 of Echoes of War

Sloan scoffed, the locks of her hair falling in contrast against her white shirt. She kept her head down and to the side, hiding the smug grin I wanted to smack off her Moore face.

Amaia’s eyes darted to her, a blush reddening her thawing cheeks. “What’s funny, Sloan?”

“The fact that you think we’re all blind,” she mumbled as she reached for one of her rolled cigarettes.

The side of my lip curled in disgust, “For once, I have to agree with the redhead.”

“Why am I not surprised by that turn of events?” Amaia took a step closer to me, the pleading clear in her eyes.

She knew she couldn’t do this without me, even if Alexiares managed to find abrujacloser to the city walls. Even if she merely showed them the spell. There were nuances that could only berepeated if taught, an intentional move on my behalf. If anything were to happen to my family, I needed that bargaining chip to bend the will of whoever stood in my way. What small moral code that remained left in our fallen world would not cease to exist because of my ex-boyfriend and his daddy issues.

“Sucks you can’t do the spell without me. If I say no, it doesn’t matter what you want to do.” I challenged, closing the gap between us.

I’d seen what catastrophes lay ahead due to her decisions. So many fucking visions, so many options, it was hard to keep timelines straight.

“I thought we were all mad about people taking away choices, or is it just her actions we’re picking over? Since you and Reina seem to be doing alright,” Sloan taunted, an odd mix of defensiveness over Amaia, yet pure bitchiness too.

Looking over my shoulder, I mean-mugged the hell out of her. I wasn’t fooled one bit; there was selfishness in her words too. If Amaia wasn’t the test subject, then one of Sloan’s people would be. Even if I had to drag them here myself.

“How many more people do you want us to lose, Amaia?” I asked, turning my back to Sloan.

“As many as it takes,” Sloan said, lighting her cigarette, taking a deep inhale before blowing it into the back of my head.

My right eye twitched, leaning against the center table I took in Sloan’s cruelty for what it was. Amaia had been Sloan’s best friend for years, and now, they were … this. Whatever the hell this was. I couldn’t tell, truly.

There were times I had walked past the large window to Sloan’s study that overlooked the city center, her and Amaia tossing back drinks. Laughing, dancing to whatever Sloan had playing on her crappy CD player. A few times they’d sat unmoving, leaned up against the wall. What they were laughing at or what they had the energy to dance for, who knew. All I knew is I couldn’t everimagine having a friend as cold and uncaring at Sloan. Numb to all but a few things.

We’d all lost a lot. Her sorrow was no excuse for her heartlessness, only an explanation.

Amaia broke the tension, staring into the distance as she replied, “If it takes my death to keep everyone else safe, then I’d say that’s a life worth losing.”

“That’s bullshit,” I exclaimed.

“That’s the truth, Tomoe, and eventually, you’ll see that.”

Amaia’s words sent a chill through my body. My heart beat faster in horror at the situation unfolding before my eyes. I knew how this ended and I hated it. This would set the course for everything, and right now, the future was bleak as hell. The room fell quiet once more at the harsh possible reality. She turned toward Sloan, asking if there was anything else she needed. When she shook her head no, she announced her departure.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to go enjoy a cup of crappy coffee. Send Alexiares my way when they get back. I trust you’ll fill Reina in on the rest. See you Saturday,” she gave me a mock salute.

Her words echoed in my head as I watched her leave, knowing they rang true. The thing was, Amaia’s death would solve it all, but not before more lives were lost. Long ago she’d warned me against looking toward the death of the ones I loved, for it would only bring me pain. Cause me to spiral on figuring out how to stop it.

A thick ball of nothing caught in the center of my throat, making it harder to breathe as I fought off tears. These last few weeks, I had only seen my sister when our duties required me to do so.I think … I think it’s time for that to change.

Alexiares

In my time heading toward the coast and my short stay at Monterey Compound, I had forgotten how much I fucking hated the cold. Yeah, I’d spent most of my life in Chicago and the weather had gotten ridiculously cold during some winters. But that was Before, now we were in The After and the cold was ten times what I had already considered ball freezing.

I wasn’t sure where Reina had wandered off to. If the other day was any indication, I had an idea on where to kick off my search. Walking through the muted brown city, it wasn’t hard to find the one person who managed to make a fashion show out of animal hides and thick fur coats. She claimed she wore them because if we had to kill an animal, it was good practice to use every part of it. I mean sure, but I was willing to wager that theappearance of the thick fur over the black wool leggings and bustier made her smile in the morning as she got herself dressed.

Keeping to the shadows of the brick and stone buildings, I stalked up behind her, snatching the bag off her shoulders, “I’ll take that.”

“Hey!” she exclaimed, spinning around trying to fight, but it was all too easy to hold her off.

One thing about Reina Moore is that she hated causing a scene.

She pulled at the beanie that had slipped off back over her mousy brown hair. “Pretty sure Amaia mentioned you thinking searching bags is a violation of privacy.”

“No such thing as privacy when it comes to keeping people safe.” I mocked Amaia, searching through her bag full of supplies.

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