wasn't the Reaper twins' greatest fan, but I did admire their abilities. From their expressions, however, I could also tell that they feared Death's retribution more than anything.
"Which is why we're here, helping," Nightmare retorted. "Brownie points and whatnot."
"What are brownie points?" Widow asked, prompting Dream to giggle.
"Ugh. Living inside Eirexis made you miss out on a lot of the good stuff," she said.
"Okay, so Kelara, Dream, and Nightmare will handle the Time Master," I said, drawing focus back to our main issues. "I take it none of you have been able to reach him through your Reaper telepathic connection?"
Dream shook her head. "Not for lack of trying. He's either unable to talk to us, or he doesn't want to. Frankly, I'm hoping for the former, not the latter. I have a problem with lack of communication in people."
"Said the Reaper who likes putting them to sleep and feeding on their dreams instead of talking to them." Eva scoffed.
Dream's eyes turned to two dark slits. "Less judgy, more worky, snake lady."
"Then we'll pursue the Spirit Bender," I said, once again having to draw their attention back to where our problems were. Dream and Nightmare's snark could be quite bothersome in the long run. My initial enthusiasm about having them on board was beginning to fizzle out, as the practicality of their presence began to present its share of problems. They were definitely best suited to being apart from our group, in light of their difficult tempers, and I did feel sorry for Kelara. But someone had to put up with them, and my team already had four Reapers—three of whom were like super-powered psycho children. "Assuming he took Death is the best way forward. That has to be part of the reason why he sent Kelara over to Dream and Nightmare, in the first place. He thought he'd get rid of her, which means he deceived her and he's got something to hide."
Seeley straightened his back, his head cocked to the side as if he was listening to something. "We’ve got a problem, though not unexpected, given that we figured him out. The Spirit Bender isn’t in the Neraka sanctuary anymore.”
“Figures,” Kelara grumbled, her arms crossed. “Part of him probably knew there was a chance I’d make it off Desplan with my mind intact. He can’t risk being found now, especially if he’s got Death.”
“Chances are Thieron will begin to glow again when we get closer to Death," Seeley reminded me. "If we find the Spirit Bender, and you see no reaction from her scythe, it'll mean he doesn't have her."
Soul snorted a chuckle. "Come on, man. How many times have you ever seen a coincidence turning out to be exactly that? Never. Death is missing, and Spirit went AWOL. The two are definitely connected. Enough with the ifs already!"
"Fine. Then we'll keep in touch… how, exactly? Your telepathic links?" I asked, looking at Kelara. She gave me a brief nod.
"I'll handle communications with Kelara," Seeley said. "If push comes to shove, I'll know where to find her, and she will know where to find us."
"Okay. That leads us to the next question. How do we pick up a trail for the Spirit Bender or Death?" I asked, leaning into the thick glass window.
Outside, silence reigned supreme. Most of the Perfects, Arch-Perfects, Faulties, and the remaining Draenir had gone into hiding, as far away from the sanctuary as they could. I had no view of the fae sanctuary from this part of the GASP base, but I knew it was hovering somewhere to the south, hundreds of feet above the island's lush jungles, humming and brimming with destructive Hermessi energy ready to be unleashed.
There were only a few hundred fae left for the elementals to affect. Only a few hundred till the five million magic number was hit, and everything came to a premature and unwarranted end.
"I might have a solution for that, actually," the Soul Crusher said.
Instinctively, I braced myself for anger. He'd probably been sitting on some crucial piece of information until now, not sharing it with us because, well, he was a stone-cold psycho. But he was our stone-cold psycho, and we still needed him. One had to take the bad with the good where the First Tenners were concerned.
"Pray tell." I sighed, giving him a sideways glance.
"I picked up a faint trail of Death," he replied, opening the palm of his hand. A wisp of white light glimmered between his fingers, like a tangled, incandescent thread.
The