discovered, the discrepancies we found before—all of it points to a purpose. No one goes through that much work for nothing. Everything is transactional, remember? And no, before you ask, I don't know the purpose, but my hunch is that when we start clearing Earth, we'll see souls disappear in the memories of those left behind. I am certain that someone is stealing essence.”
“Why? It's useless. That's our biggest obstacle in getting Reapers to volunteer, so why would anyone want a bunch of worlds of time wasters?” Trace asked before taking a bite of his aleto.
“Maybe they figured out a purpose for them. Or maybe they're just sick scratchers. I don't know. We'll only find that out once we determine who it is, and with the attention on Earth and losing all of that essence, I suspect they'll move up their plans. So, this is our chance. Identify a world, watch it, capture them, and just like that, we've saved more souls from that misery.” I needed them on board. With my position, I wouldn't be able to sneak away to spy on random forgotten planets.
“Fine. Is that why you wanted Grace with you?” Axton relaxed a little with the decision made.
“Partially. Did you notice her blush when I mentioned Corin? Every single time I spoke his name, her cheeks grew hot, and she ducked her head. She thinks he's worth a roll or two in bed, at least.”
“That's so mean, Zella.” Kian chuckled and twirled a pulo at me. “Tell me what happens.”
“Nobody said working with me would be comfortable. Close your mouth, Trace. And Corin's nice enough that if he's not interested, he'll have her convinced that it was her idea to forget him. Besides, we do have legitimate issues to discuss with him, and it's her position that is relative to the conversation. It's not like I'm tossing her into the room naked or even mentioning it.”
With their task planned and their curiosity satiated, they dove into their meals while I picked at mine. Axton noticed first and glanced from my barely touched box to my face. His raised brow made his question clear as his gaze kept bouncing between the two.
“I'm worried about Shadow, who I left with Grace. What? We must know what she's revealing to her father, and if she is indeed the meek little thing she presents while she's here.”
“Really, Zella? A spy?” Axton shook his head, tsking.
“Yes, really, Axton. Did it occur to you that perhaps she's just pretending to be all shy and quiet, so we'll let everything slip? Then she can toddle back to her father and give him details that would advance the Angels' standing with the King? It wouldn't be the first time. Shit, I've used that ploy before.” They undoubtedly had a different history than I did.
I wasn't clear if that made me happy they weren't subjected to the horrors of my childhood or if it made me sad that they weren't trained to thrive in the life they found themselves in. Perhaps a bit of both.
Kian's eyes grew distant as he thought, presumably going over every interaction he had with Grace. Axton nodded and returned to his food, satisfied with my reasoning. Trace hadn't ever quit eating.
He did pause, however, when I dropped my next statement. “I'm also trying to work out when we'll have time to travel to Hakkon. We need to have our devices replaced.”
All three heads snapped up and gawked at me. I waited them out, letting them come to their own conclusions and hoping they could follow my line of thinking.
The bite of food had no taste, but I shoved it in my mouth anyway, choking it down for the energy it provided. My monster slept, but my gut ached regardless, and each swallow only worsened the swirling, burning storm inside. I'd just taken a second forkful when Axton threw out the right answer. For an instant, I thought I understood what a prideful teacher felt like.
“Tracking. If we want to keep our spying quiet, we need to disable the tracking. But wait, should we be getting the books if they're watching us?” His brows furrowed, and he turned his arm over to glare at the device implanted in his wrist.
“It's fine. I'm not certain they are worried about where we go, but if they are, there's still a delay since the data requires a transfer. We'll need to handle it before we put them somewhere different, though. The biggest issue will