“Hey, are you done yet?” Axton cut in before I could tell Trace to wait.
“Not yet,” Kian and I answered at the same time.
“Let's just wait on Grace, so I don't have to repeat myself.” I pushed a bubble around us—one that distorted our words.
We stood there, staring at the door. I'm sure we looked ridiculous to the rest of the Reapers in the lobby, but I didn't care. Grace was already a part of what happened and would be expected to add her statement to the file, so withholding any information from her didn't have any benefit.
Things began to feel awkward as if I were wasting time. I couldn't seem to help myself and asked, “So, how has it been going?”
“Fine, so far. We've done this before, remember?” Axton pursed his lips, and a tenseness seemed to straighten his spine.
So touchy. “I know. I'm asking about Grace and what you thought of how the Grims here are reacting to seeing Earth. We need them to feel invested. I'm not questioning you three.” Mostly.
Axton relaxed a little, releasing the rigid lines of his shoulders. “Right. Well, I think it has disgusted them, for the most part. It's rather shocking when you first encounter it.”
“Same here. Lots of chatter when they're dropping off. I expect they'll work without too many complaints,” Kian added.
“Yeah, until they grow tired of working two shifts. Then the grumbling will begin, and we'll see a drop off in participation. As soon as we finish getting the sectors started, we'll need to look at how to keep them from burning out.” Trace shrugged and pushed past Kian to lean against the wall.
As he passed by, he bumped Kian's shoulder. That only led to Kian jumping back and sticking his foot into Trace's path, tripping him.
As Trace regained his balance, Axton cut off the impending retaliation. “Stop. You two have too many eyes on you for this shit.”
The door dinged again, and as I pulled my gaze away from the two glowering at each other, I heard a whispered, “You just wait.”
Grace appeared, and I squinted. Something looked different about her, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Since I'd admonished her at the palace, she tried to maintain a public persona, one that suggested more confidence than I knew her to have. So when she walked in with her chin up and her steps sure, she seemed no different from usual.
It wasn't until she entered our little circle that I realized her smile didn't have the brittle edge to it that it usually had. Her walk contained a bounce that I'd never seen, and her glow shone a bit brighter.
“Hey, so, are you finished? Are they ready for our statements?” Her voice sounded perkier, too.
I'm not certain I can handle perky right now. Wait, that's not nice. “Oh, not yet, but soon. They're bringing in the rest of the Grouping, and I'm not sure if I'll have to fight Master Port to access them. Does he always say yes at the beginning of every sentence?” That had bothered me, and I couldn't imagine having to deal with it regularly.
Kian laughed while Axton nodded.
“It's annoying, isn't it? He even does it before he tells you no. Confused the shit out of us more than once,” Trace complained.
Kian pushed forward, his eyes wide and his mouth opened, prepared to launch into some story about Port when Grace spoke up.
She glanced from him to me and quickly asked, “Can you tell us what you found?”
Trace chuckled, earning a dirty look from Kian.
“Well, I do know they have a lengthy list of offenses. If they don't order them to death, I'd be surprised.” I shook my head.
It would be sad for their loved ones, but with the extensive history, some of which included disruption and dereliction of their duties, the cumulative punishments would add up quickly.
Grace cocked her head to the side, her brows furrowing. “Won't you be the one to decide? For Angels, everything must pass through one of the Powers' hands, but you Reapers confuse me.”
“No, since I didn't find a definitive link to Earth, I'm allowing Port to deal with them. That's why I didn't have an issue with calling him in. Now, if I'd seen them, say, erasing Earth's numbers or something like that, they would have been slated for immediate death and destruction. Or maybe I would have brought them to the King, pander to him a bit, and hint that we