Cold pricked at Biana's skin through her thick brown cloak. She had chosen it specifically for this job; earthy greens and reds and oranges wove patterns into the fabric, imitating the forest itself.
She was on a Council-issued mission to find a missing dire wolf. A few days ago, two Emissaries had found the pack dangerously near human civilization and had sent them to the Sanctuary. But Jurek soon reported one missing—apparently it ran away.
The job sent Biana to the Saint Elias Mountains, where she was to spend the whole day searching for the wolf.
If she was telling herself the truth, she didn't mind. She'd been needing time away from the Lost Cities for a while now, and the place was absolutely gorgeous. Wind whipped between the mountains, brushing over snow caps and whistling through the treetops. Every step Biana took elicited a crunch of leaves and fallen branches. If she looked back, she could see her mark among the solitary woodland, and a part of her ached to see the damage she was doing to this untouched place.
But she returned her gaze forward, reminding herself it was not untouched. The seconds were filled with twittering birds and buzzing insects and the mournful howl of—
A wolf.
It came from just north of where she was hiking, and she shifted directions, keeping the same pace. Part of that was because she wanted to stay, even a second longer, in this magical place. But it was also more practical; if she ran to the sound, she could scare the dire wolf away.
She was invisible for the same purpose—at least that was what she told herself. Technically, it wouldn't make much of a difference if she vanished or not; the wolf would smell her once she got close.
But focusing on letting the pollen drift through her, as Calla had taught her, gave her mind a purpose. It allowed her peace, something she hadn't had since...
Biana whimpered and grabbed her forehead as flashbacks threatened to surface.
Five years.
It had been five years, and she still could not forget it.
Why was she so weak?
Forget it, she told herself, as she had done so every time her mind slipped. Think about the good things—think about Dex.
This time she didn't tell herself to smile—she had done enough of that already. No one could see her here; she may be able to convince herself she was fine, but there wasn't a need to convince anyone else.
So she continued forward, stopping every once in a while to mimic a wolf's howl. Sometimes it came out too squeaky, sometimes too drawn out, but her training was serviceable, and every time the dire wolf howled back. She had taken to counting her steps at some point, needing a better distraction from her memories, and found herself in a small clearing after one hundred thirty-seven paces. The trees stretched thin limbs to the cloudless sky, and they leaned into the clearing as if forming a rooftop to this sanctuary.
The space wasn't quite a circle, but the imperfection only made it more beautiful. Biana could have stood there all day, counting her breaths until they fogged from too-cold temperatures—but opposite her, on the other side of the stream that trickled through the pocket of forest, stood the missing wolf.
His coat was a deep blue-grey, arching over an elegant back down to the tip of his thick tail. Claws digging into the ground as if angry—or afraid—he stayed still, looking straight at Biana, nostrils flared.
She released her vanish. Instinct prodded her to put it back on, but she ignored the urge. Invisible, the wolf would be scared—it was better for him to know what he was facing. Then he could see she was harmless.
Weeks upon weeks upon more weeks of spending time at Havenfield, learning from Grady and Edaline how to care for animals, as well as time spent with Jurek at the Sanctuary, rose to the forefront of Biana's mind. She had learned how to act around various protected species in order for her to be assigned a mission like this one. The trick was to make them feel safe, to not appear aggressive or violent. After all, a lot of the animals Biana tracked had been brutally hunted until near extinction. They were wary, nervous, and sometimes that meant it took longer for them to trust her.
It was because of this knowledge that she was surprised when the dire wolf did not run away but walked toward her, sniffing the leaf-covered ground and eyeing her the whole time. He leapt over the stream and came to a stop only a foot away.
Slowly, she crouched, becoming eye level, showing the majestic creature they were equals.
The wolf didn't react. His amber eyes shone with hidden knowledge, unblinking and intense. One was glazed with white and framed by a jagged scar. On his side there were more old wounds, the pink puckers where fur used to be.
Biana reached for her cloak, careful so as not to startle him, and unclasped it. It fell to her feet with a heavy sound, but the wolf didn't look at what had caused the noise. Biana leaned forward, slipping her fingers under the crimson sleeve of her dress and pulling it back.
"See?" she whispered. "I have scars too."
The wolf stayed unmoving, and she half expected to blink and find him a statue, the real wolf still out there, her mission incomplete. Instead the wolf brought his wet nose to her shoulder and licked it.
Biana squealed, the noise breaking the spell that had been cast around them. Birdsongs and cricket chirps refilled her ears, as well as the trickling of the water, the howling of the wind.
The dire wolf had jumped back at her outburst, but he had not run. She silently thanked him for that and reached for her cloak to cover her bare skin.
"Sorry," she breathed, giggling a little. "You just scared me."
The wolf, seeming to understand, trotted forward and prodded her shoes. Thankfully she was wearing hiking boots and not sandals, so he couldn't lick her again.
"What is it, buddy?" asked Biana, reaching for the pathfinder in her pocket. It would take her and the wolf to the Sanctuary, where Jurek and the rest of the pack were waiting.
As soon as the crystal hit the light, though, the wolf's eyes darted upward. Upon seeing the wand, he jumped and snatched the pathfinder out of her hand, throwing it into the stream.
"No!" Biana shouted, lunging for the spot it had been dumped and finding only rocks. The water had washed it away.
She spun to the wolf, who was staring at her as if she'd lost her mind. "You're the one who threw it!" she accused, digging in her boot pocket for her home crystal. She paused once she caught the wolf eyeing her fingers, and quickly drew them back. "I need that to get home," she said carefully, as if explaining the rules of Base Quest to a young child.
The wolf sniffed petulantly.
Biana crossed her arms. "Okay, then—what do I need to do to make sure you don't lose my home crystal too?"
He perked up, clearly waiting for this, and bounded to the other side of the clearing in just two movements.
Biana sucked in a breath. She had dealt with dire wolves before—the rest of his pack specifically—but their grace and agility never ceased to amaze her.
The wolf howled, a brief but chilling thing, and Biana ran to catch up with him. "Okay, okay, I'm coming."
They went like that for a few miles, him leading her deeper and deeper into the forest. He sniffed the ground occasionally, ran ahead, stopped, waited for her to reach him, and ran some more. The farther they moved from the clearing the denser the woods grew, until Biana could barely squeeze between the trunks of two trees that had twisted around one another. They reminded her of the Wanderling woods or the Crooked Forest, both sad thoughts. One reminded her of Calla, the other a bunch of dead people.
Biana shivered as her eyes were filled with an image of a towering tree with blond bark and delicate pink flowers, eleven weary-eyed Councillors, one not among them.
Another planting.
Another loss.
That day Biana's tears had dried up, and she had only watched as the elves around her sobbed.
She hadn't cried since.
The wolf—Grey, she had come to think of him as—yipped, drawing her back to the present. She dropped to the mulchy ground from between the twined trunks and took a step forward. An impossibly large tree towered before her. Its bark was white and silver, and about ten feet above the ground it split into two separate branches. They wrapped around the tree house that perched in the center. Brown vines hung around the rooftop like a veil; small silver flowers bloomed from them.
"This place...," Biana breathed, taking another step, "is beautiful."
It was also solitary, alone among nature.
"I didn't know there was a house out here," she said to Grey, finding the fact saddening. "I suppose even the most untouched of places have a human mark on them."
Grey barked.
Biana frowned, studying the house again. "Or maybe it's not human... Is this an elf's home?"
That made more sense. Out here, an elvin family could hide from the human world.
Soon, though, that wouldn't be necessary.
She sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. She wasn't sure how she felt about the rebuilding program. On the one hand, it was empowering to know the Council and Black Swan had accomplished their goals, goals they had been fighting for for so long.
But on the other, it had caused all this strife...
Grey barked for a second time, trotting toward her and grabbing her skirts in his mouth.
"Hey!" she said, trying to pull them away. His grip wasn't hard enough to make the fabric rip, but he was clearly trying to get her attention.
She let him pull her to the other side of the tree. There were steps carved into the wood, twisting up the trunk and to the front door.
But Biana barely saw them.
Her eyes were locked on the elf crumpled at the base of the stairs. He was facedown in the dirt, elvin cloak spread around him.
He was lying in a pool of blood. His blood.
She only knew because of the knife sticking out of his back.
Biana's stomach heaved, and she stumbled away, hand over her mouth, hand not over her mouth, whole body shaking. A shrill scream came out of her mouth. It didn't sound like her.
She ran back to the entwined tree trunks, leaning against them for support as she retched into the bushes.
Hands shaking, not sure what she was doing, she fumbled for the pockets in her cloak, coming to rest on a cool metal square. She yanked the Imparter out.
"Show me Dex," she commanded, his name the first to come to her mind. Somewhere in the haze of her frantic thoughts she recognized she should be calling Bronte or Alina—but it was Dex's face that showed on the screen, Dex's face that calmed her enough to form a coherent thought.
"Dex," she gasped, sucking in breaths of air. Don't think about the body, don't think about the body, don't think about the body.
"Biana?" Dex hadn't been looking at her at first—he was messing with one of his gadgets—but his head jerked toward her as soon as she had spoken. "What's wrong?" His eyes unfocused from hers as he looked behind her. "Where are you?"
"I can't talk right now," she choked out. "I'm fine—but... I..." She nearly gagged again as the elf's limp body resurfaced in her mind. "Please, meet me at Everglen."
"Everglen?" he confirmed, reaching for his cloak and swinging it over his shoulders. "Okay, I'm going, I'll be there."
"And Dex?"
"Yeah?" He stopped moving.
"Bring Keefe," she said. "We need to talk."
____________________
Biana was already at her home when Dex and Keefe arrived. She had managed to force herself to sit on one of the plush couches, spinning her rings—both the panic switch and the engagement one—around and around her fingers.
"Honey?" Dex called as he stepped into the room. As soon as he saw her he rushed over and wrapped her in a hug. "Are you okay?" he asked, pulling back.
"Yeah," she lied, smiling at him to sell it. She stood as Keefe came in.
"If you guys are gonna do all the honey-boo stuff or whatever, I'm out," he warned them, miming gagging.
Biana rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to reply—but there were two more people that followed in Keefe's wake. She gasped instead. "Amy?" She ran to Sophie's younger sister and hugged her.
"Oh, yeah, thanks," Amy said, patting Biana's back awkwardly.
"I thought I only told you to bring Keefe," Biana said to Dex, pulling away from the younger girl.
"You did, but when I called him he said he'd bring Amy and Jensi along for the party."
"It's not a party," she clarified, eyeing Jensi and Amy. "I don't even know why I called you guys here. I just..." She sighed. "You have to promise to not disclose this information. I don't know if it will be classified; I haven't even told Bronte or Alina about it yet."
"What is it?" Dex practically begged. "I can see it's a big deal."
Amy raised her hand. "For the record, I promise."
"Me too," said Jensi.
Keefe raised his eyebrows when everyone looked at him. "What? Dex hasn't promised either."
"We promise," Dex said, giving Keefe the stink-eye.
Biana barely heard him. She was fighting back images of blood, of fear. "I went on a mission from the Council," she whispered, "and I stumbled across an elvin home. But... the elf that lived there..." She inhaled a shaky breath. "He was murdered."
There was silence in the wake of her words. After a long moment, Keefe asked, "What do you mean, murdered?"
"He was lying in a pool of his own blood at the base of the tree," Biana said. Her voice cracked, and she felt Dex's arms wrap around her shoulders, keeping her steady.
"Are you sure it wasn't suicide?" asked Amy. Her eyes had widened, but Biana had a feeling the human didn't quite realize the significance of an elvin murder.
"There was a knife sticking out of his back. I don't think he could have reached behind himself to put it there."
"Do you know who it was?" Dex murmured, still holding her.
She shook her head, unable to speak.
"Do... you think it has to do with the Purities?" Jensi asked hesitantly, voicing her fear and surely everyone's thoughts. "Maybe they're starting to get violent."
"Why so soon?" inquired Dex, shifting into logic-mode. "They haven't been violent as of yet—so why start now? And why murder?"
"Remember Maruca's mom," Biana said. "The Purities were violent then."
"We technically don't know if she was attacked, or to what extent. Maybe they just came to her house or something; we don't know if they hurt her."
Keefe shook his head. Dex knew as well as they all did that that was a long shot.
"Maybe someone was holding a grudge and decided now would be the perfect time to kill their enemy," suggested Amy. "Y'know, with the world in chaos."
"You might be right," Jensi told her, "but you have to realize, murders don't just... happen. Not in the Lost Cities, anyway."
"Yet you all don't seem very surprised," she accused.
"We know firsthand what the Neverseen were like," said Keefe, voice growing harder. "I expected the Purities would make their move at some point. Looks like it's now."
"We technically don't know if it was them," Dex pointed out, then shifted from behind Biana, presumably to raise his hands in surrender. "I'm not defending them or anything, but it's true."
"You're right—we don't," Biana agreed, pulling away from him. She needed space to focus, to breathe. Yet her chest tightened when she saw the hurt look on Dex's face.
She turned away from him and faced the others, pushing the puppy-dog eyes out of her mind. "I have a duty to the Council; an oath I made to protect this world: to make my decisions with the people in mind, as opposed to myself. Which... limits me in what I can do right now.
"I know the Council—I know Bronte and Alina. The Nobility is so busy with the Human Reinstatement Program and all the other affairs... I don't know what they're going to do, but I think they'll tell me to move on.
"But I know the murder has something to do with the Purities. It has to. And even if it doesn't, someone has to find out. You guys don't have to help me, but..."
"I'm in," Keefe said. "I made an oath too, but everyone knows I'm the master of finding loopholes in the rulebook."
"I'll do whatever I can," Jensi added.
Amy sighed. "Which means I'll be helping—and before you protest, Jensi, I'm not mad about it or anything. I just thought this visit would be a little less dramatic than my last."
Biana knew she should face her fiancé, but her feet didn't want to move.
Finally, he spoke: "I'll help, Biana, as long as you promise to be careful."
"If anyone should be careful, it's you," she said, spinning around to smile her thanks. "After all, you're the only one who doesn't have a duty to the Council."
He didn't smile back, only meeting her eyes with his own sad ones.
"So what exactly are we doing?" Keefe asked, causing her to break the staring contest. He was fidgeting in the corner of the room. "I mean, I'm definitely not a planner—especially after all those years working with the Black Swan—but I need to have some idea of the game plan. Maybe Foster's influence is rubbing off on me. Or... it was."
Dex looked like he wanted to give Keefe a bro-pat or something, but Keefe sucked in a breath and spoke before he could. "Actually, that reminds me—this murder may not be the only thing we need to investigate."
"Ohhhh, right," Dex said. "The Purities came to Foxfire," he explained to the rest of them. "They were holding signs of protest against the Black Swan's mission to send Sophie, Tam, and Marella to the intelligent species' capitals"—his voice seemed a little strained at this—"but the thing is, no one but the Council, the Black Swan, and maybe a few members of the Nobility are supposed to know about that."
"You're saying there's a spy?" Amy asked.
"There is most definitely a spy," Keefe jumped in before Dex could answer, "and that spy is most likely our murderer."
The human girl just rolled her eyes at him. "Clearly Sophie's been showing you way too many crime shows."
"Logically, the murderer could be anyone," Dex added.
"But instinctually, I know our spy and murderer are the same person," Keefe rebutted. "It's an Empath thing, dude. Technopaths just don't get it."
Dex snorted.
"Guys, please," said Biana. "This is serious."
"Oh, wait, so you're actually taking things seriously now?" Dex snapped, clearly referencing their conversation at the march the other day.
Biana pursed her lips. The awkward silence was deafening.
"Amy and I should probably get back to work soon," Jensi said after a moment. "With work, it'll be extra hard to find time to help—so maybe we can do our part at the school. We'll find a way to investigate other Mentors, in case the spy/murderer is working at Foxfire."
"That would make sense, since the Purities came to Foxfire in the first place," said Amy.
"They could've come because of me," Keefe mumbled.
"It's still a good start," Biana said, nodding at Jensi. "Thank you."
Jensi looked from her to Dex. "And, um, maybe Dex can figure out how the Purities all manage to stay anonymous?"
"I've already been researching that," Dex replied. "I have my dad's old addler that I've taken apart and studied. So far I haven't found a way the Purities could have mass-produced theirs, but maybe when Sophie gets back I can ask her to enhance me."
"We shouldn't have to wait until Sophie gets back," Biana said, "but... if it comes to that, I guess we'll have to deal. Let's make that Plan B, though, okay? Besides, I know you're talented enough to figure it out."
She added the last part to make up for any lingering frustrations, but her fiancé wouldn't look at her.
So much for that.
"What about me?" Keefe asked, waving his hand. "What am I supposed to do—and don't you dare tell me to attend those lame Foxfire Mentor meetings, because those things, I tell you, are torture."
"Can you stay with me for a moment after everyone leaves?" Biana requested. "I may have a task for you, but it depends on what the Councillors say. Actually, we'll probably do it anyway, but I should still give them an opportunity to order it."
He winked. "I'm always up for a little rule breaking."
Jensi and Amy nodded their goodbyes and leaped away. Biana pulled out her imparter and fingered it as she faced Dex. "Is there something you want to tell me?"
Her whole body was practically shaking with the urge to start working, to call the Councillors, to do something. Busy, she could forget about the murder.
Busy, she could forget about everything.
Dex shook his head no, which was how Biana knew he did have something he wanted to tell her but wasn't ready. "So you and Keefe need to be alone alone?" he asked instead.
"If the Councillors find out you're here, they won't be happy. At least with Keefe, he's part of the Nobility."
Something flickered in Dex's eyes, and it hurt Biana—surprisingly so—to find that she couldn't decipher what.
"Okay," he whispered, pulling out his home crystal and walking into the light.
A part of Biana—the old her, maybe—wanted to follow him and beg his forgiveness.
But that wasn't her anymore. She didn't need him right now, so there was no point in seeking his presence.
"Are you gonna...?" Keefe inquired, smiling a little sadly at her.
She nodded and held the Imparter at an angle in which Keefe would be invisible. "Yeah, yeah. Sorry. Um, show me Councillor Alina."
The pretty Councillor's face immediately clicked on. She was looking away from Biana, probably at a mirror (gauging from the way she was stroking her hair and smirking), but despite the lack of attention, her first word seemed as haughty as ever. "What?"
Biana recognized somewhere inside her brain that she should have been annoyed, but the day she'd had had been too tiring for that. "My mission was successful, Councillor; I solicited my father's help in taking the dire wolf to the Sanctuary."
"Your father?" Alina asked, perking up. "What for? Highly inappropriate behavior, getting your father to work on such a classified case. Even more so given the recent Vacker controversy. Not that I'm complaining; I've always been one for attention."
"Clearly," Keefe muttered off to the side.
Biana closed her eyes and prayed to the stars Alina hadn't heard him; if the former principal and student started talking, the tension would amp up fast.
Thankfully, Alina was too preoccupied with her reflection to pay close attention.
"I asked my dad for help because I found an elf in the forest, Councillor. Murdered."
"Murdered?" Alina perked again, but this time the news was enough to draw her eyes away from herself. "Did you say 'murdered'?"
"Yes! In the woods!"
Alina's eyes darkened. "You were assigned to the Saint Elias Mountains, were you not?"
"I was."
She cursed under her breath. "It must have been Navik."
"Who?" Biana asked, straining to hear Alina's mumbling.
Alina startled, as if she hadn't realized she'd spoken out loud. After a moment she sighed and said, "Don't tell Bronte I'm telling you this, but the only elf that lives anywhere near to your mission is—was—Navik Hishia."
"Is that name important?" Biana couldn't think of a Hishia from the numerous Vacker parties her family had held.
"Not typically," said Alina, "but... he was assigned a mission about a week ago. He, along with other Emissaries, went to see if they could find where the Purities meet."
Biana felt her eyebrows rise. "Wait, did he...?"
"Yes, Miss Vacker, he did. He was the only one, and it was completely by chance."
"But the Purities figured it out," Biana finished. "And they came back to tie up any loose ends."
The words were so sick she could barely speak them.
To her horror, Alina nodded. "That seems very likely, at the least. But, Lady Biana?" Her cobalt eyes seemed to pierce through the screen. "You have to understand, this is highly classified information. Forget about what you saw—Bronte and I will clean the mess.
"I'm also aware you have a tendency to involve your friends in these sorts of things. That can't be the case now. Tell no one what you know."
Without another word, the Councillor clicked off.