Her eyes stung.

It felt as if an electric current had suddenly burned through her mind. She couldn't breathe. She felt hot, and she felt faint.

Her vision was blurry, and she leaned closely to the nearest object she could find to support her. Her breathing was so heavy. It was too heavy. She was panting like a dog.

What happened? she thought to herself. She desperately tried to clear her vision. She was on the edge of panic and needed answers.

But no matter how hard she tried, her vision remained the same. She could slightly see the dark building she was leaning on, knowing it was wood by the feel of it. But around her… All she could see was orange, orange everywhere. She stumbled forward to the corner of the building. Her legs were weak. Her knees shook.

She dropped to her knees and leaned in close to the nearest area of orange, reaching out with her hand – and then immediately drew back. Her hand burned to the touch. She cried out. Her eyes watered, and then, the fog in her eyes clearing, she could finally see.

It was fire. Fire was burning and consuming everything around her. The skin on her hand was burnt and bleeding red. She had stuck her hand in a pile of burning coals and ashes. It was bad, but it could've been worse.

She quickly jumped back to her feet, feeling the adrenaline rush surge inside her. She leaned back on the building, grasping her pained right hand with her unharmed left.

She looked desperately around the group of small wooden buildings, hoping to find someone to find her and lead her to safety. She screamed for help. No one returned her call.

Behind the building she leaned on, to her left, a small rocky cliff lead up to forests, and then up to mountains, by the look of it. To her right, more burning buildings lit up the twilight sky.

Her instinct told her to go up to the mountains, away from the fire. Her common sense told her to run toward the buildings, toward possible civilization. She followed her common sense. She was injured and needed help.

She pushed off the building and used all the energy she had to keep herself upright on her feet as she bolted between the burning fiery wooden buildings. She was surprised at the power of her legs that she had thought were so weak, easily maneuvering through the deadly maze.

A piece of blazed roofing fell backward into the unpaved streets as she ran, tumbling towards her. Barely missing it, she forced herself to fall onto her back. The board singed the tips of her shoes, hitting her toes. Her eyes watered with tears as the pain shot through, forcing her body to pull her feet away as soon as possible. She cried out in agony as she forced herself to stand up on her feet and continue running.

In the distance, she heard the sound of horses neighing and galloping on the ground. Her eyes lit up. Help has come for me! she thought, smiling in sudden surprise. She stopped at an intersection, her weight on her heels, her left arm supporting her right. She screamed, "Here! Over here!" as loudly as she possibly could. In the distance, she saw a riding figure come into view. She almost broke down and cried tears of joy.

A man was galloping straight down the street at her. He had a fierce look on his face, and then in seeing her, he drew his sword from his sheath and rode faster. Her face fell into shocked confusion. The man pulled his sword back into a swing as he approached her. He screamed at her, his eyes full of rage, "DIE, YOU MONSTER!"

Front Lines Colonel Alicia Carter screamed at her men as each man came back to her empty-handed or without information.

"Get your asses back out there, and don't come back until the Source is apprehended! These are civilians, you dumb asses! Each moment you return without reason, another innocent life is lost!" She gritted her teeth and bit her lip, slamming her hands on the map of the area branded as the danger zone.

"Why the hell does this area have to be in my jurisdiction?!" She raged, her eyes shut in anger, her hands shaking. "Occupied areas like this are supposed to be under the Federal Guard!"

"Send me out, and let me help search." A man with silverish blonde hair calmly stated in the corner of the room. Alicia looked him in the eye, leaning up from the table. Although he sounded calm, Alicia knew him long enough to know he was on the edge of losing his cool.

She spoke to match his voice, calming her own. "Captain," she started, "Your leadership is needed here more than your presence is required there. Remember your position."

"Remember your position". That was always Alicia's way of saying "Shut up and do as I say". No one ever questioned it. But Edmund had grown tired of sitting here, when he knew he was needed out there.

"'My position' is outside, where it is needed," he snarled and he knew it. "The other captains have been sent out with their squads, while I am idling about here, watching you do the leading."

Alicia narrowed her eyes at him. "You know good and well why you're here and not there. This mission cannot be compromised due to misconduct. The target must be eliminated, no matter the cost. We can't let it escape."

Edmund gritted his teeth and hissed at her, "What if it's a trick?! What if the enemy is just trying to turn us on ourselves?! You're falling right into their trap, murdering an innocent person -"

"That's enough, Captain. You're being blinded by emotion, and it is obvious you are obstructing this mission. Go back to your barracks and sleep. Night is falling, and you'll need to be ready to go in the morning if the target manages to escape from us." Alicia turned back to her map, picking up a quill pen and drawing a straight line across the right side.

"You are sending me to my room?!" He objected, growling.

"Lieutenant Edwards," she called out. A man of about 22 poked his head out from the doorway beside Edmund.

"Sir."

"Escort your Captain to his barracks. Permission to engage if he resists."

"Yes, sir."

Edmund stood up straight, quickly walking out the door, taking wider strides to make the distance easier. The younger man followed.

"You don't look so good, Captain."

"Shut up, Edwards."

The sword was swinging next to her face, the horse's head flying just beside her own. She shut her eyes closed tight. I'm going to die...

After a few seconds that felt like a lifetime, she opened her eyes. Her eyes widened.

Her body had been moved 90 degrees to the right; she stood in the street intersecting the one she stood at earlier. Her knees again felt as if they'd give way. Another bolt of lightning went through her head. She dropped to the ground, grasping her head in agony.

She heard the horse kick up dirt, screaming as the man pulled back on the reigns in an attempt to make the horse stop and turn around.

I can't stay here, she thought. Despite the pain, she forced herself up and made herself run down the street in the opposite direction. She heard the man take down the road she was on, galloping behind her. He yelled at her, "Don't play your mind tricks on me, Beast!"

He'd catch up quickly. She couldn't keep to this road. Making her mind up quickly, she bolted into the burning wreckage of one of the wooden houses.

She jumped through burning, falling ceiling boards as she maneuvered through the long building. She noticed as she pushed her way through that there were shelves among shelves of food stocked inside. Before jumping through a window on the opposite side, she grabbed something off the shelf. She didn't look to see what it was exactly, but she felt she'd probably need it.

She heard the man run down the entire previous street behind her and turn the corner. He again was coming at her, but he was further down the road than he was before. Going through the building had saved her some ground. Taking the extra time to run down the street some first, she ran back into another building. She had to make sure he got close before she escaped from him, so he wouldn't get smart and just go straight down one of the adjacent streets.

Again, the building was stocked with food. Again, she grabbed something. She stuffed it under her arm. A thought passed her mind that these wooden buildings probably weren't housing units.

The window was blocked with burning debris; she couldn't jump through. Quickly, she turned her shoulder and hit against the wall as hard as she could. The wall easily caved for her to burst through the other side, her feet sliding through on her heels. She gasped, so surprised she almost stopped in her place. Amazing what adrenaline can do... she thought.

Diving through another building or two, she realized she had reached the building she had started at - and the rocky hill. Dead end, she thought.

Turning to look back, she saw the man barreling at her, the same way he looked when she had first seen him. She turned quickly. She didn't have a choice - she had to climb.

She had forgotten she had scorched her toes until she tried to stick them into the edges in the rock. She cringed at the pain that happened when she did and almost fell over. She couldn't climb. She was going to die.

Jump, she thought blankly. JUMP?! she thought again surprised, appalled she had thought of the idea in the first place. The wall was at least ten feet; she couldn't jump that high. She prepared to try to run left and juke the guy again before she again thought involuntarily, Bitch, you just transported a minute ago. JUMP BEFORE YOU KILL US BOTH!

Without thinking, she propelled up the wall, catching the edge of the top. "How...?" she questioned before realizing she was slipping. She had to pull herself up before she went down again. She quickly grabbed onto a tree root with her good arm and held on for dear life, trying desperately to come up. But before she realized it, the stinging had returned to her head. She almost dropped herself. She was too weak to pull herself up.

Below her, she heard the man chuckle. She looked down in shock.

"Well, well, well," he said calmly, as he stepped down from the horse. "If it isn't Captain Clarke's younger sister! I haven't seen you since you were a baby... Even though it's been so long, you have very distinctive markings - that dark black hair and violet eyes - it's very unnatural in the country. I heard that you had disappeared a while back, but it seems you came back and brought a little storm with you. Who would've known you'd be the Source?" He laughed.

"God, Clarke pisses me the hell off. So high and mighty, he thinks just because he moved up in the ranks at his age that he's better than guys like me who've been in the Army longer than he has. I can imagine his face when I bring him young Grace's dead body to add to the crematory pile. Priceless."

He pulled out a small flintlock pistol, and clicked the safety. He aimed it at her back, right below her shoulder blades. All she could do was stare at him in horror before, and now she ducked her head below her arms.

Goodbye world, she thought, tears running down her face.

Pow! The gun fired, hitting her square in the back.

​

2: A Little Knowledge

"Hey, Captain..."

Edmund put his feet into the doorway of the barracks, turning to the young lieutenant before he entered inside.

"What is it?"

The younger man took his hat off his head, holding it nervously in his hands before he looked his superior in the face.

"The Source... It's her, isn't it?"

Edmund looked forward into the barracks itself.

"Supposedly."

"Are they... Are they going to kill her?"

Edmund's fingers gripped the door frame harder.

"If they can find her."

Lieutenant Edwards stepped forward, grabbing his captain's arm, forcing the man to look at him.

"You should go find her first."

Edmund looked down into the young man's eyes. They were determined and honest. They didn't seem the eyes of a traitor. He grabbed the lieutenant's shoulder, smiling slightly.

"Thank you, Edwards."

Edwards smiled back at him. "Call me James, please sir."

"Alright... Thank you, James."

The captain jumped inside the barracks only to grab his hat along with his sword and gun belt, strapping them on quickly. He placed his hat on his head as he exited the building, nodding to James as he walked to the stables. No one was around - everyone was in such a panic that they weren't in positions as usual. He jumped on his white steed Eliza, pre-saddled when all the other horses were saddled up. He took Eliza out in a gallop towards where she had told him where she was going earlier that day...

Slowly, she blinked, her surroundings coming into view around her. She was laid underneath a tree deep in a forest without direct light, illuminated in an almost bluish-green essence. She laid there a moment, trying to remember how she got there. After remembering the last moment she could, she jumped up, adrenaline from the memory shooting through her veins. She felt her body over, checking for wounds and fragments of any types of weapons, specifically bullets. She couldn't find anything.

After that, her body was filled with relief, and then confusion. How could she have not been shot? She saw him cock the gun; she heard the gun crack.

Was it a dream? Was it all in her mind? Was it a nightmare?

She looked down at her hand. It was still blackened. She checked her toes; same analysis.

No, it couldn't have been a dream.

She tried to think back. The man had called her... Grace. He said her brother was... Edmund... Clarke. So, unless she was married, her name must be Grace Clarke.

She tried hard to think of any memories she could possibly had. She thought of her supposed brother, thinking hard on his name. She tried hard to connect anything with her own name. Nothing came to her.

What's wrong with me? she thought. Did I hurt myself when whatever happened to that place?

Then it hit her. What really did happen there? That soldier that chased her down called her things like "monster" and "beast". Did she do it? Did she light that place on fire?

And worst of all, what was that voice? The voice inside her head that told her to do impossible things, that maybe gave her the power to do impossible things...

What is it? Where did it come from?

Are you there? she thought to herself. No answer came back. Please... I need answers... Are you there?

Her stomach growled. She had grown hungry. What should I eat?

Suddenly, she remember grabbing the food from the stocks back in that place. Happily, she jumped up, searching around in the grass around the oak tree she sat at.

Nothing was there.

"No... No, no no, no no no!" She panicked. She flew dirt around, seeing if it was somehow buried beneath it. But no matter how hard she looked, still nothing was there.

"I must've dropped it... I must've dropped it when I was trying to climb that cliff." she reasoned, shaking. "Maybe... Maybe if I go back, I can find it."

But that man...

I'll die out here without food, she thought. She had to go back.

She looked around the dark forest, trying to find some hint at where she should go. Off to the left, behind the tree where she had woken up, she saw a dim light where an opening might be in the far distance.

Swallowing hard, she ran quickly towards the light. If that was where she wanted to go, she needed to go and get down there quickly.

She was helping around here, Edmund thought as he rode through the supply area of the camp.

Surprised, he noticed that there were no other squads deployed here.

Did Alicia miss this area?

He rode steadily through, until he reached the outskirts of the area, noticing quickly that there was smoke rising through the buildings in the distance. After a few rows, he saw that the buildings had been burnt through, quickly, until there was nothing but a frame and ash left.

Only a Savage could do this... He thought, but quickly dismissed the thought. There was no way... no way she could be...

He galloped through the rows, easily prancing over fallen debris as he moved across the field, only stopping when he noticed horseshoe prints in the packed dirt. Horses weren't usually allowed in this area, since they tended to try to sneak food out of their proper sections. Which meant the only way horseshoe prints could be here was if there was soldiers here of late. And since there was only one set of footprints, there must only be one soldier.

He followed the prints down the road until he noticed them doubling back. It appeared that he had gone forward some, then came back and veered left. Something must've caught his attention.

He traced the footprints down the left road, noticing they seemed to pause a moment in front of the buildings before tumbling down the road again.

He was chasing someone.

Quickly, he continued following the prints, down all the curves and obvious long paths that the man had taken, before he reached the very end of the supply area. The trail went straight up to the edge of the forest. Approaching it, he noticed blood, and lots of it, splatter across the rocky wall.

He rushed over, nearly tripping over the body laying there. He looked down in dismay, to see a familiar face laying down in the dirt, covered in his own blood.

Private John Cox. He was in Edmund's squad.

"Cox..." He pulled the man's jacket back, disgusted to find a wound just below his heart and right above his intestines.

"Captain... Ha... Hahaha..." The wounded man reached up, grabbing the captain's wrist, laughing while blood came up into his throat. "Haha... The irony... Will I die in your arms?... Heh..."

"You're alive. Hold on for me," Edmund said bluntly, taking his bright white coat, pressing it into the man"s injury to plug up the blood.

"There's no hope... for me. Leave me here, I want to die here... like a real man... like a soldier..." The man attempted to grab at the coat. Edmund swatted him away.

"You're not going to die. You've ruptured blood vessels or arteries, but there's no damage to any major organs that I can see. You need to get back before you lose too much blood, however." Edmund turned and whistled for Eliza. She began walking over toward the two men.

"Ha... I'll talk to you in the afterlife and... tell you I told you so... Hehehaha..." The man turned his head, coughing up more blood in his throat. "Why am I... coughing blood if I'm not damaged...?"

"We'll talk to a medic when we get back. They'll know more than I will." The wounded man seemed to nod with his eyes, looking up at his captain.

Edmund picked him up a single swoop, landing him down on Eliza's back.

"...Did she do this?" Edmund said slowly, not wanting to really hear the answer.

"Heh... Yes, she shot me... She shot me with my own gun... I don't even know how... I had the gun one second... And next... It was out of my hand and it fired at me... Hit me right in the chest... I didn't really see what happened... to her... But she must've gone into that cursed forested..."

"I see... I should-"

"If you go after her, you'll just end up dead... No one who's not cursed gets out alive... You know that, Captain..."

"She's the only family I got left." He said, his eyes growing sad.

"...She was your only family... My wife... They took my wife from me... I'll kill every last one of them... for taking my wife... from me... They made her into one of their own... They're not like us... They aren't like they were before... They forget themselves... They're monsters, down to the bone... All they know to do is kill..."

Captain Clarke looked down to Private Cox, apologetically. "You're injured. I need to take you back." He climbed on the back of the horse, behind Private Cox, positioning him in a way he felt was most comfortable and less dangerous, before galloping at full speed back to the center of the camp.

Grace, as she was comfortable calling herself now, looked down from the tree she had climbed as she looked down onto the scene she had just witnessed.

Her brother had just saved the man who had just tried to kill her. However, she couldn't help but feel guilty about it, overhearing the conversation they had had about her.

She was "cursed". All she knew to do was "kill". She had to believe that. A haunting voice, special abilities, burning buildings, and a man shot before her very eyes and couldn't even remember it.

She fell down from the tree, collapsing to her knees. She didn't mean to do it. She wasn't trying to hurt anyone. She wasn't even trying to save her own life with those... those powers; she was only trying to run away. She looked down at her hands. These were the hands of a murderer. If she kept herself alive, she'd probably live to kill again...

She didn't understand much about what was happening. But she didn't want the thought of an innocent man, woman, or child's blood on her hands to occupy her thoughts.

She couldn't do this. Screw the food, she didn't need it. She ran back into the forest, going as fast as her legs could carry her. She didn't stop. She just ran and ran until she ran out of ground. Which after a long while (she couldn't remember how long), she felt her feet hit the edge of cliff. Out of instinct, she jumped back.

She looked around her. A small stream she had seen before in the woods had now grown into a larger river, that was tumbling off the cliff into a waterfall beneath her. She couldn't see how far down. She couldn't see exactly what was down there. A lake? A river? A pond?

She held her breath. This was perfect. It was a 50/50 percent chance of life or death. If she jumped and missed, she would probably die. If she jumped and hit, well... she might live... if the water wasn't too shallow. Maybe it was more of a 75/25 chance. Either way, she could make herself jump without the fright of imminent death below her.

She was going to do it. She was going to jump. No regrets.

Grace stepped back a few steps next to the river, closing her eyes a moment, hoping the sound of rushing water would calm her. Suddenly, she opened her eyes and, in a bolt of energy and adrenaline, threw herself into the mercy of whatever stood below her.

3: Lost and Found

Dirt flew in the air around them as the two soldiers rode into camp. Cox had passed out about five minutes before, the blood obviously spreading through Clarke's pressed jacket, soaking it in dark red velvet. Edmund held the man tighter, reducing their speed to a trot as they neared the medics' tent.

As he rode nearby the command center, he noticed Alicia walking out, her long red hair flying in the wind. She narrowed her dark brown eyes as he took a hand off his injured private to tip his hat to her, moving his knee up for a moment to hold the man up. He could tell from her expression he was going to get a lecture for this later. Unfortunately, James may as well.

At the tent, he swung his leg in his deep blue uniform pants over Eliza and fell to the ground, his silver plated boots and knee armor rambling as they hit the ground. He quickly grabbed the man off his horse, carrying him princess style inside. Seeing Edmund walk in, the lead medic Joshua Murphy ran over, taking Cox from Edmund's arms and quickly led him to a bed. Medics began rushing around him, taking immediate care of the bullet wound along with evaluating the damage.

Murphy rushed Edmund outside. "Leave. We'll handle from here."

Edmund nodded. "Call for me after he is cared for." Murphy nodded in agreement, pushing him outside, and shut the door behind him.

When Edmund turned around, he noticed Colonel Carter was no longer standing outside the command center. While he was looking, a voice called out beside him:

"You and I are requested in the Dove's North Barracks, Captain Clarke, sir."

Edmund looked to his left. Lieutenant Edwards stood beside him, his face looking somewhat solemn. Edmund wanted to ask the boy why Alicia had apparently been waiting for his return when he arrived, how she could have found out, but he didn't. He felt the boy was ashamed enough as it is.

"Then let us go." He said calmly, taking his hat off his head and placing it on the boy's brunette head. "Keep that on while we're there. I feel if Colonel Carter saw me wearing it... Well, let's just say when she saw me ride in, I may not have given her a guilty reaction to my failure to keep an order, proof in regarding my use of... etiquette with my hat."

James looked up at his captain, attempting a smile. "It's too small on my head, Captain."

"Call me Edmund, James, except on business. Be sure to have that big head of yours checked out," Edmund joked dryly, patting the younger man on the back as they began to walk, Eliza's reigns in his other hand.

"Yes, sir, immediately."

The water was freezing against her skin, almost as if it ate at her skin itself. Gasping desperately for air as she threw her head out of the water, she ungracefully swung her arms in erratic motions attempting to keep herself above the water's surface and away from the gigantic waterfall that spilled beside her.

Not only was the water down here not shallow, but it felt as if it was about five times her height to the bottom. No possible way she could feel the bottom of the pool, or whatever was down here. It was black down here, as if she had just jumped into a pit. She had no way of knowing how wide this pool was. She wasn't sure which direction to swim in to get to shore. She wasn't even sure if she could properly swim.

Despite her attempts to keep herself above the water, she felt her arms grow weak on her and her body begin to sink. She panicked even more, kicking with all her strength, pushing herself to move across the water. Water spilled bit by bit into her mouth as she would bob in the water, gasping to keep air in, but taking in water when she went under the surface. Coughing and spitting, she tried desperately to get to the other side before her body finally went limp and sunk down beneath the surface.

She held her breath as long as she could, feeling the water envelop her. Her short brown hair floated in front of her face, blocking any view she might have had under the water, although it was so dark it would be nearly impossible to steal a glimpse of anything anyway. She let her limbs float loosely, sadly accepting her fate. She wanted to die, didn't she? She had made up her mind she wanted to die. Drowning was just not the idea she had in mind. Her lungs burned, and she knew soon she'd be forced to suck in the water.

Suddenly, she felt something grab her from behind, pulling her backwards. She screamed, the collected air escaping from her mouth into bubbles in the water. Adrenaline gave her a small bit of strength, allowing her the ability to struggle against her captor's grip, kicking and punching it as hard as she could do in the water. She couldn't get any of her hits to connect, however, unable to fully turn around, the thing's arms wrapped around her stomach in a tight pull.

Just as she decided to give up and breathe in the water now, wanting to rather drown than be eaten, she felt herself pulled from the water, her back and head hitting hard against the rocky surface as she felt her captor release her body. She coughed involuntarily, attempting to rid her body of the small amount of water that escaped into her lungs. She quickly threw her arms to her eyes, unused to the sudden light that was now around her.

"God, you're heavy," Grace heard a feminine voice beside her complain. "Did you really have to make it harder on me, struggling like that? You have a death wish or something?"

Lifting her hands slightly off her face, she quickly turned to her left, noticing for the first time that it was a person that had grabbed her, not an animal. She only got a outline of the small woman before the light pierced her eyes once more, and she threw her face down into her hands, moaning at the pain.

"Hey, careful there," Grace heard the girl say as she reached out and grip her shoulder. "You were under a Dark Charm. You need to take it easy."

"A Dark Charm?" Grace questioned, patting at her eyes, trying to wipe the tears away. "What's a Dark Charm?"

"It's a simple incantation some of the Mavrios are blessed with. Not exactly sure how it works, since I'm a Galazio. Which clan are you from if you don't know what a Dark Charm is? Leon Mountain? I heard there isn't any Mavrios there. Something about the air drives them away, or something like that."

"What?" Grace demanded, somewhat being able to see and drop her hands now that the Charm was wearing off. The girl beside her looked no more than nineteen, her dark brown hair drenched with water that fell down in waves to her chest. She wore blue threaded clothing that covered her entire body minus her arms and neck, made of some sort of water-resistant material that allowed the water to drip freely from her body. "What are you talking about? It's like you're speaking some other language."

"...Wait, you are one of us, aren't you?" The girl stood up, backing to the wall behind her, slowing pulling a small green dagger out of a sheath behind her back. Grace stood up as well, shocked, backing up to the opposite wall to the one the girl was backed to. Looking around, she now saw that they were in a tunnel to a cave, torches lining the walls as far as she could see to her left, an opening to the cave to her right. She was startled looking at the exit, water from the lake covering the entirety of it, almost as if magic kept the water from rushing into the cave.

By the way the girl spoke, maybe it was magic.

Grace decided to submit, throwing her hands up in the air to show she was unarmed and at the girl's mercy. "I don't know what you're talking about at all! Please, I don't mean to intrude, I just accidentally showed up here, I swear it!"

"Do you have a Mark?" The girl demanded, the dagger in her hand in a battle stance, her elbows bent, the bottom of the hilt of the knife barely touching the girl's right ear, the blade parallel to her line of vision. The girl was obviously trained, and Grace was grateful she had chosen not to fight her.

"A - A Mark? What do you mean?" Grace tried to think about anything that could be classified as a "Mark". "Do you mean the voice in my head? The weird abilities?"

"Voice? Abilities? No..." The girl hesitated, thinking for a moment. After a moment, she lowered her dagger, still holding it in her hands. "Turn around, on your knees, hands on the wall. Don't say a word."

Grace followed her instructions hesitantly. Soon after, she heard the girl whistle, the sound echoing gradually down the tunnel until it had faded completely. Only a moment later, she heard the sound of footsteps rushing down the tunnel floor. She cringed, afraid of what would happen to her. She tried to think about what should do if they tried to kill her. Should she let them? Should she try to run or fight?

She hoped they wouldn't try. Maybe before she had wanted to die. All she wished for was to not hurt anyone. But if these people could help her to control her powers, to prevent herself from doing anything dangerous, maybe death wouldn't be the only answer.

She was too forward about the idea of dying anyhow. She wondered why she felt so emotional about dying before. Maybe it was all the blood. She shuttered at the thought.

The footsteps stopped behind her. As a man's voice spoke, she turned her head slightly to get a peek of the man, only getting a glimpse of short brown hair and dark brown clothing.

"What's this?" His voice was husky and very deep. Grace assumed he must've been older than the girl.

"A girl I found splashing around in the lake. I assumed she was a messenger, but she has no clue who or what we are."

"Kill her then. She stumbled in the wrong place at the wrong time." Grace stiffened.

"Kaman, please listen. Can you not feel it? The Essence surrounds her body, like us," the girl whispered.

A pause. Grace assumed Kaman was sizing her up, the thought of his gaze burning through her body. She shivered, the thought of his gaze burning through her body, and wondered what this "Essence" was.

"You are a fool. I feel nothing." She heard the sound of metal scraping. A weapon. Her eyes went widened.

"Kaman! Put that away! OK, I admit it, I feel nothing either. But she looks genuinely confused, her memory wiped like everyone else. When I asked if she had a Mark, she asked me if it meant magic. Please, let us at least check her for a Mark before we do anything so drastic!"

Grace heard the sound of metal again, this time she hoped he was putting it away. Then she felt a grip on the back of the collar of the clothes she wore, and her feet left the ground. She let out a short shriek at the sudden motion. The next thing she saw was what she thought to be the man's back, her body thrown over his shoulder. "What are you doing?" she asked without thinking, forgetting the girl's instructions for the moment.

"I'm taking the girl to the cages," Kaman said to the younger girl. "You grab Marilyn and meet us down there."

"Right."

Grace saw the blue-clothed girl run down the tunnel ahead of them, her view cut off after Kaman turned around and chased behind her.