The candles flickered out simultaneously. "No, that's everything we know about her, nothings one way or the other."
"Maybe we're looking at the wrong person, what about...Oliana." Feya stuttered over the name, finding it hard to even mention something that felt like betrayal.
"Just because the woman's an incisive control freak, that doesn't make her evil, just easy to hate." Kelsey flicked the lights back on and started to herd the candles back into their closet.
Feya stumbled over her own thoughts. "Probably an easy target for us to turn against, right?" Kelsey frowned back at her. She nodded but there was nothing to stop the strongest of her thoughts seeping through her confused eyes.
"Nikkitah tried to turn you against Oliana didn't she?"
The good thing about a psychic connection was that ignoring worked. For most of the time, anyway. However Feya could not help but let her thoughts form a reply, despite her efforts to think elsewhere. "She may have made some ambiguous comments."
***
Outside the bunker, just as promised, Nikkitah emerged dressed in the same black outfit that camouflaged into the night. If anyone spent little more than a second looking out the window, they would have noticed her. This made Feya shiver - if someone like Nikkitah could stand so close to the bunker without being detected, then how could Oliana possibly tell them they were safe? Then again, Nikkitah had already proved that she wasn't evil, or that she had means of hiding it...
Without putting off the meeting any further, Feya and Kelsey stepped out from the bunker and dragged Nikkitah into one of the dark spots near the edge of the boundary line. When their eyes adjusted, they realised a man was behind the hedge closest to Nikkitah, his hands tucked into his long trench jacket and his head pointing down at the ground. When he looked up, he revealed two green slits for eyes and thin wide lips that stretched out into a perfect line. Kelsey took a step back in recognition, and Feya followed from common sense.
"Who's the man?" Feya asked.
"Alastor." The voice surprisingly came from Kelsey, whose weary eyes were scrutinising every move that he made. "He's a Demon." Her voice was factual, clearly detached so that she could not display any weak emotions such as the fear that pinned Feya's lips together. "No, he's the right hand man of Derribus - he's the Demon."
"Like I said," Nikkitah began to reiterate, "If your skin is too thin for this, then you're not strong enough to do what needs to be done."She seemed to have no problem with Kelsey's presence.
"How did he get passed the boarder?" Kelsey asked the Demon before raising a suspicious eyebrow at the ex-Ember. "How did you get past the boarder?"
The Demon folded his arms, pursing his thin lips. He did not speak, but gave Nikkitah a meaningful look.
"He's not over the border, and as for me; I am neither good nor evil. I'm a Revellette." Unlike Feya, Kelsey could remember the brief conversations when the word had turned up, and she knew enough to trust they were no immediate danger. Not yet, or at least not from Nikkitah.
"So why are you talking to us? Get it over with." Nikkitah returned a quick half smile that fell into a deep glare.
"There are many prophecies, such as the birth of magic, which although there is not much legacy on, the ancient prophecies have usually been more accurate than anything we can predict today. So much so, that Oliana has trained as a midwife just in case it even touches this generation, and so have I."
"You want us to train as midwifes?" Kelsey asked confused.
Nikkitah laughed. It was short and rusty.
Ashes to Embers - Chapter 9
Start from the beginning
