Master Akai in his unblinking black eyes.
He nodded slightly before divulging his conclusion. “This would be one of those facets I expressed earlier. I believe you've been set up to fail so that the status you've built up is ripped out from beneath you. All of us, even the Angels, argued over this point. Likely why they committed an Angel they considered disposable. I apologize to Angel Grace, but the fact persists that they wouldn't want any of their higher level Angels associated with a failed Office. We each sent a representative to Earth after you gave us the number. There are billions of souls to recover, and that's only if you count the humans. When you add in all of the animals, well, even the entire department working wouldn't satisfy that deadline.”
“And for our responsibilities, we are hampered by the late start. Even though we have fewer insertions, again, when the creatures are included, the quantities will be dramatically more than we could conceivably handle with so few Cherubs,” Grace stated, her voice firmer than I'd heard it so far.
Axton's acidic emotions leaked as he threw out his suggestion. “That's not feasible. Can we use students? The risk of them losing themselves to the energy isn't there. Plus, it's not like they can really mess anything up.”
A tingle of optimism rose, and I searched the next few pages. My heart plummeted when I discovered the death of his idea.
“No, students are prohibited. See?” I pointed to the tiny lines that proved how fucked we were. “Only Reapers listed as active, full time, and proven may be utilized.”
Axton switched to spewing out anger, but he didn't utter it. Instead, he leaned back and stared at nothing. Leaving him to his thoughts, I continued reading. By the time I finished the first section, I wanted to cry for real. We were being ordered into a position that we couldn't win. And I hadn't even gotten to the regulations on how many were authorized to be transported back at once or the drop off policies.
Lost in the words of despair, I almost missed Master Akai's suggestion.
“Why don't we take a break? It's nearly mealtime, and surely no one has eaten yet. Let me treat you all to a meal. And, since you'll be issued a ferrule soon, so any queries you have can be forwarded to me once you have more time to study this further.”
He drew his ferrule from his cloak and began punching in something before any of us agreed. Not that we really had a choice in the matter.
“Grim Grouping Mannix, would you three be kind enough to show Grace around when you go out? The official Office will not be set up for another few binals, so I'm certain she would benefit from familiarizing herself with this portion of the city.”
“Of course, Master Akai. It would be our pleasure,” Kian answered as he rose and extended his hand to Grace.
She accepted it hesitantly, and I burned inside from the slice of claws ripping at me. Could I get away with slapping her hand away? No. He was simply helping her up. Besides, we weren't an actual pairing. After she stood, he released her hand and crossed the distance to drop a kiss on my head.
Axton followed, but Trace didn't seem to want to leave. His concern and anger bloomed so thickly that it nearly suffocated me. Hoping to get him moving before Master Akai became keen to punish him, I patted his thigh and showed him a forced smile.
Instead of jumping up as I'd hoped, he twisted and leaned over, pressing his face against mine as he wrapped an arm around me. He felt like a statue, hard and unyielding.
In my ear, he murmured, “Will you be okay?”
When I nodded, he pulled back and stood. I watched them as they left, struggling to ignore the wrenching of my gut. Master Akai had been acting weird since the binal of our sentencing, but my past experiences told me that this placid shit he'd been pulling wouldn't last long. I also feared that it merely covered something more sinister, and it was a ploy to trick me into lowering my defenses.
The door closed behind Trace, and Master cleared his throat. Slowly, I turned back to the Reaper that both taught and tortured me. Who would I get—a father, a psychopath, or the cold taskmaster?
The uncertainty left my monster unsure of what to do, and it paused within. A creeping cold