appeared sickly and ashen. He’d lost the glow that I hadn’t really noticed before, and his eyes held a weariness that worried me. They closed, and in moments, his breathing slowed as he slipped back into sleep. I shoved down the disappointment and laid my head on his shoulder ever so carefully.
Trace took his place beside Axton on the couch opposite Grace, Kian, and me. “Why are we looking for Shadow?”
“She’s gone,” I answered, and for the first time since I noticed her missing, a wobble entered my voice.
Tears burned my eyes, but I blinked them back and dug my nails into my palms.
“Where did she go?” Kian mumbled.
“I don’t know,” I whispered.
“We’ll find her,” Trace declared, surety hardening his words. He stared at me, and I knew he believed it.
I nodded, borrowing some of Trace’s conviction to bolster myself until I could take time to think. Shadow, where are you?
Seconds ticked by in silence, then a throat cleared. All eyes turned towards the one who created the sound, and a practically vibrating Axton made a grand display of showing us all the little device that kept anyone from recording us. Axton swung it before each of us, then returned his hand to hover above the table. With it nestled in his palm, he eyed me as he flicked the switch to turn it on. Satisfied, he jerked his chin down, then lay the device in the center of the table.
“Can you throw up a bubble as well?” he asked when he sat back.
I raised an eyebrow, but Axton shook his head and made a circle with one of his fingers. When I glanced at Trace, he stared at me stonily, and I knew I wouldn’t get any answers from him, either.
So, I flipped on my ability to mess with the molecules around me and found the specific patterns for muffling our words. When I nodded, Axton inhaled sharply and shot up from his seat.
Startled, I flinched, jerking away from Kian, and my gaze darted to Grace. She was barely more than a pile of blond curls because I couldn’t see her face at all. All of that movement woke Kian, and he blinked slowly, glancing around as much as he could without moving.
“What’s…” he trailed off.
I rubbed his thigh and whispered, “It’s okay. Go back to sleep.”
Kian nodded, or at least tried to, before leaning his head to the side and scooting down until he could rest on me. I glared at Axton, but he didn’t even notice. His wide grin remained on his face, and he kept shaking out his hands and arms as if he were trying to rid himself of too much energy.
A tiny bit of buzzing seeded itself in my gut. Did he…
“I found him!” burst out of Axton, and he punched the air with each word.
Trace’s smile nearly split his face, Kian mumbled something about blue puppies, and Axton watched me expectantly. Grace didn’t appear to do anything beyond lifting her head, but I couldn’t even do that. I sat frozen, locked into my blank stare with my mind whirling.
Can it be true? Is it over? If we can get him before the King, before the people, they’ll have to admit it was no accident. When we reveal the other planets, that saves us, and it also forces the King to work with Oscal and the rest of the world. We would have to have help to clear all of those planets.
“Who?” fell from my lips in a ragged drop.
Axton’s smile dimmed a little, and a sinking sensation in my stomach kicked off sloshing nausea. Trace coughed, and I cut my eyes towards him.
He averted his gaze and spoke slowly. “Well, we don’t have his name.”
“We know the routine, though, and exactly where we can catch him,” Axton said more firmly.
I sat bombarded by outside emotions. My own were lost amongst the excitement, trepidation, fear, and dark-tinged desire. I could feel the edge of violence in each one of them, and that made me worry.
But as I looked around at each of them, I found myself unable to voice that concern. Everyone except Kian had smiles on their faces, even Grace. So, I let myself join their elation, leaving my troubled thoughts for later.
Chapter Sixty-Nine
According to Axton, they’d worked out the pattern. Whoever reaped the planets seemed to do so on a fixed schedule, and they all agreed on that. They greatly differed on their determination of how many were reaping.
Axton claimed that only