Bond connections. Like tendrils, tethering individuals together. Your Bond is much more settled, by the way.” She smiled. “No more tension. Whatever you’ve been doing, keep doing it.”
I looked between Alec and Tyler. Our commitment to be more honest and open had no doubt played a big part in that, but ultimately, I was convinced it was our love that had made us stronger.
“Please go on,” Mr. Takata prompted. He looked just as worried as Alec and Tyler.
“Right. Yes. Lighthunters have a sense of Bonds, connections. We can tell what state a Bond might be in. We can point people in the direction of their potential Variants or Vitals. We can track Bonded Variants and Vitals, like I did to help you find Charlie. How is he doing?”
“Really well. He was hurt badly in the rescue. A lot of people were, but we managed to get a healer to the hospital. He has some scarring from the burns. Lucian will probably have to be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life though.”
“Oh no. I am so sorry.”
“We’re just happy he made it out alive.”
“Nina, please.” Alec’s knee bounced impatiently. “We’ll catch you up on everyone later. What’s happening with the Light?”
“Right! Sorry. Part of why we’re able to see individual connections is because we have a deeper link to the Light. It is like a constant presence—both in me and all around me. A tapestry or a mist hanging over everything. Most of the time it is just a part of how I experience the world, another sense, like sight or smell. But when I need to use it, I become more aware of it. Like when you’re looking for an item in a messy room, you use your sense of sight with more intention. When I am looking for a particular Variant, I am more acutely aware of my connection to the Light.
“On the other hand, sometimes it makes itself known to me. Like when a loud noise startles you, you are suddenly more aware of your sense of hearing. When something is significant, it’s hard to ignore—sitting here with you, for instance. Your access to the Light is immense, Evelyn, your threads to your Variants solid and strong. It is not something I can avoid noticing.” She sighed and threaded her fingers in front of her.
“The same is true when there is something not so positive in the Light. I can tell when there are . . . I believe you call them Lightwhores completing a transaction—selling their Light like it’s a cheap thing. The Light feels heavy, tainted, in these moments.
“Over the past few months, the Light has been feeling more and more . . . off. It is not a particular incident or location we can pinpoint. It is more like a general sense of it being tainted somehow, strained, tense. It has us all on edge. We have never experienced a sense of wrongness of this magnitude. We are worried—worried enough to set aside our internal politics and try to figure it out. That is why we are visiting some of the more powerful Vitals we know. We are hoping by being near you, studying the way the Light is behaving, we may get a clue as to what is happening.”
I shared a worried glance with Alec and Tyler. “Nina, it’s probably Davis—what he’s doing with his machines.”
It was bad enough he was causing political and social unrest all over the world. I hadn’t considered that his fucked-up experiments could have an impact on the very thing fueling Variant abilities, the very thing that made us what we were. He was rotting everything he touched.
“Yes.” She nodded solemnly. “That is what I and most of my fellow Lighthunters believe also, but we thought it prudent to rule out any other potential issues. Plus, visiting with the Vitals allows us to explain the precarious situation, to urge them not to support this lunatic in any way. Maybe even to fight.”
Alec perked up. “Fight? How?”
“We do not have all the answers, but we do feel strongly that he cannot be permitted to continue unresisted.”
“Agreed.” Tyler took a sip of his tea and crossed his legs. “But if fighting is even an option, and you have the kind of resources you seem to be hinting at, why haven’t you done anything yet?”
“It is complicated.” Nina sighed. “There is a reason we have managed to remain secret. We rarely get involved in any way that’s not discreet.