Page 20 of Requiem of Silence

An automobile drove slowly down the road, a beat-up jalopy, not one of the sleek town cars the crown provided for Darvyn. Still, she didn’t want to incite the curiosity of the neighbors by hanging about in the doorway. “Come in and close the door then.”

Not feeling like entertaining the nuisance of an unwanted guest, Kyara marched over to the couch and plopped down on it. Mooriah made herself at home in the armchair to her left, and they both looked out the picture window to the sand and surf beyond.

“I used to wish for this,” Mooriah said softly. She wore an unfashionable, drab dress with long sleeves, something similar to what she’d been wearing in the visions Kyara’d had of her in the World After—or wherever she’d been after having her Song drained by the Physicks. How the woman had managed to travel to the Living World was still a mystery—Mooriah had been vague, promising answers only if she got what she wanted.

Kyara sat rigidly. “You can keep coming here, because I suppose you have nothing better to do, but my answer won’t change.”

“What makes you think I have nothing better to do?” Mooriah asked, cocking her head.

“Because if you did, wouldn’t you be out doing it? You wouldn’t come back from the dead to darken my door every day, or walk right in whenever it pleased you.”

Mooriah’s gaze turned a bit sadder if it was possible. “There are a great many other things I could be doing, I assure you. But I know that I have a responsibility. And I am endeavoring to remind you of yours.”

Kyara took a deep breath. “I don’t have any responsibilities anymore. By design.”

“You need to learn to use your power. Now more than ever. The attack this morning? The wraiths? That is just the beginning. The prophesied events are upon us.”

“How do you know about the wraiths?”

Mooriah merely blinked at her, and Kyara huffed in exasperation. “Why don’tyouteach me then? You’re the only other Nethersinger in existence, for seed’s sake.”

Mooriah tilted her head. “Do you want to do it here, so close to so many? How many people could you kill if you lost control of your power?”

Kyara gritted her teeth; the woman was right. “Well then, we can go somewhere without any people.”

“Like the eastern mountains? Inside the caves that have been protected for millennia from power like ours? Exactly what I’ve been asking you to do.”

Kyara stomped her foot like a child. “I don’t trust the Cavefolk.”

She’d fallen into a trap of theirs before and Darvyn had paid the price. He’d nearly been killed by Murmur, an elder of the Cavefolk, who’d also wanted to teach her to better control her power.

“Their method worked, didn’t it?” Mooriah asked. But that was the wrong thing to say.

Kyara stood abruptly. “Get out of my house and never come back. I willneverlet Darvyn be hurt by me or anyone else—not if I can help it. If you think that you can use him as bait—”

Mooriah held up her hands. “I mean him no harm. And neither did Murmur. He would have helped him if you couldn’t have.”

Kyara shook her head, staring the woman down.

“And we arenotthe only two Nethersingers in existence.”

That stopped Kyara short. Mooriah looked up expectantly, anticipating Kyara’s reaction. “If you won’t do it for you, then do it for the child who, unless she’s trained, will be far more destructive than you could ever be. Do you want that on your conscience? When you could have helped her learn control so that she won’t bear the guilt you do.”

Kyara’s burning eyes blurred. Mooriah had struck a nerve, and it seemed the woman knew it. Fire raced up her throat as she thought of herself at eleven, wandering the Great Highway alone, a mounting stack of bodies already behind her.

“There is another?” she said through clenched teeth.

Mooriah nodded.

“A child?”

She nodded again.

“And why did you not tell me before?”

“It took me time to locate her. But she needs help. Your help.Ourhelp.”

A dam within Kyara broke and a rush of emotion burst forth; she barely held it back. “I want to meet her.”

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