“Well, that doesn’t sound good,” Seeley said, his tone dripping with sarcasm.

We’d both heard parts of Derek and Sofia’s conversation with Harper and Lumi. I’d gotten enough new information to put two and two together on a few things. First, I now knew the ritual had been attempted before, and that something or someone had stopped it. Second, something of the Hermessi’s making was out to get Taeral and his team, and that scared the life out of me.

Unfortunately, I was still stuck outside my body, continuously frustrated and terrified as yet another link on the chain turned black. Time was not on my side, and a Reaper’s presence next to me was clear proof of that.

“Understatement of the century,” I grumbled. Glancing around, I noticed the concerned expressions of my parents—not to mention River and the others left standing in the Novak clan. Sure, they’d gotten new and even encouraging information about the rogue Hermessi, but with Taeral’s team off the grid, they weren’t sure what they could do to help them.

And I could only imagine how Lumi was feeling. Taeral’s mission was supposed to be more or less routine. Granted, there were Hermessi actively hunting them, but they’d moved around without getting blown to pieces before. Then again, they didn’t have Hermessi-designed who-knows-what-type-of-creatures hunting them before.

“That doesn’t excuse you from answering my question,” I added, scowling at Seeley. I’d gotten the gist of what kind of person he was. We’d spent a considerable amount of time together, already. His expression markers were easy to pick up on, despite his chilly and slightly arrogant attitude. “Where do Reapers come from?”

He rolled his eyes at me. He should’ve learned by now that it wasn’t enough to sway me. Who knew how much time I had left here? I needed to make the most of it, maybe even find a way to get what I’d learned so far across into the world of the living. I crossed my arms and pursed my lips, determined not to back down.

Seeley shook his head in dismay. “You are incredibly persistent, Vesta.”

“Hey, I earned the answers here. Come on!”

He groaned, genuinely frustrated. But, to my delight, my pressure had worked. “Fine! I’ll tell you. But you have to stop asking so many questions. You’ve already been told more than any other spirit that ever lingered in this world. It’s bordering on spiritual abuse.”

That made me laugh. “So, where do Reapers come from, Seeley?”

“You’re annoying,” he retorted. “Reapers were all creatures of the living world, once. They were carefully selected to perform this job.”

I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at him. “They used to be alive? How’d they get selected? Do they have to be dead already to become Reapers?”

“I would die all over again if it got me away from you,” Seeley replied.

“Why don’t you just leave, then? Have another Reaper deal with me.”

“I can’t. You’re my charge. I can’t pass you on to someone else, and I can’t leave until I’ve collected your soul. Besides, I’m not a monster. I wouldn’t let any other Reaper deal with you.”

I grinned. “Already learning more. Who’d have thought that pissing you off was a workable strategy?”

Seeley blinked rapidly. This wasn’t the first time I’d pushed his buttons, but it definitely was the first time that it had yielded noticeable results. He let a frustrated sigh out, without responding. That, again, wasn’t the kind of thing to deter me. Not anymore. My own persistence surprised me. I’d been sort of fearless over the years, but this was a whole new level of brazen, even for me. Who annoys their Reaper before they’re reaped?

“So, what kind of creature were you, before you died and became a Reaper?” I asked.

“A sentry,” he said, glancing at Tejus for a moment. I could swear I’d just spotted a flicker of familiarity in his strange, black eyes.

“Aha. So, you definitely have to die before you become a Reaper,” I concluded, satisfied with having plucked another piece of intel out of him. He nodded, quite absent from the conversation and still staring at Tejus. “You’re from Nevertide, then.”

“Mm-hm.”

“Did you know Tejus?” I asked.

He shook his head this time. “I’ve been a Reaper for two thousand years now. But I do know his Hellswan lineage.”

“It’s an ancient one, isn’t it?”

“I started it,” Seeley replied.

Oh, if Tejus could see him now. His jaw would’ve hit the floor. “You’re the first Hellswan? Seeley Hellswan, then?”

“Yes. Those were the early days of Nevertide. I remember many of us belonged to different clans, piled around the ghouls who resided in our kingdom at the time… the very ghouls who gave us our abilities, that is. I got kicked out of my clan when I was young, then moved on to start my own. The Hellswan tribe. It’s come a long way since, I see.”

“Where did the name Hellswan come from?”

“From my ghoul. My adoptive master at the time,” Seeley said. He noticed my confused frown, then smiled. “Sentries become sentries by living close to a ghoul’s influence. Once it sticks to one’s genes, it never goes away. I was young when I got kicked out of my birth clan, so the fusion wasn’t complete. Then, I met Hellswan, the ghoul with no companions. I became his first, then developed my own clan, my lineage, which I named after him. In hindsight, that’s a bit ironic, but—you are certainly not privy to any additional information. I’ve given you enough already. Too much, even!”

“How did you die?” I asked.

Seeley shrugged. “I don’t remember.”

The way he said it made me think he didn’t want to tell me. There was a shadow covering his eyes—he definitely remembered. It probably just wasn’t something he was willing to share with anyone. Especially this annoying young fae. Even so, I was still intrigued by his mention of irony regarding the ghoul from which he’d gotten his sentry nature. I knew the Hellswans as the family that had risen to power in Nevertide, but I had no idea about their origins. This was old lore, the kind that probably not even Tejus knew about.

“I’m sorry you died,” I said, then mentally slapped myself for saying it. Who says that?!

“Everybody dies, sooner or later, Vesta. Even the immortal vampires. No one really lives forever,” he replied, then got distracted by eight diaphanous figures that walked into the sanctuary, so light on their feet that they seemed to be floating. I instantly recognized the rich curls of reddish pink hair and the violet eyes on most of them, like carved crystals, and the braided black manes on the last two. The layers of colored silks and gold jewels further reinforced their status as eight of the nine Daughters of Eritopia. “New development, I see,” Seeley added, muttering mostly to himself. “Though, to be fair, it was only a matter of time.”

He knew more about our situation than I did, and it irked me. Still, I had to be smart and patient as to how I got him to spill the beans. Otherwise I’d be stuck with a grouchy Reaper and zero clues about what could happen next for my people. So, I took a deep breath, watching as the Daughters reached Derek and Sofia.

“Thank you for coming,” Derek said to them. The others around were gawking at them, and I couldn’t blame them. The Daughters were incredible creatures—powerful and ethereal, yet limited and sensitive at the same time. They’d come a long way since before Azazel’s demise, and they’d become much more accessible to the Eritopian public, but they were still beings of wonder, creatures that captured everyone’s attention, instantly. “And at such short notice, too.”

“Viola said you needed us,” Safira replied. “We are close to capturing all the Hermessi cults on Calliope and Purgaris. We were just about to reveal another cluster of sect members hiding near Stonewall.”

If I remembered correctly, Stonewall had been one of the temporary refuges that Draven, Serena, and their allies had used, before the final showdown with Azazel. It had also been home to a pack of Bajangs, quite far from Luceria.

Derek nodded slowly. “Thank you for your direct involvement in this. The quicker we bring Eritopia under control, the harder it might become for the Hermessi to go ahead with their five-million-fae ritual.”

“Do not kid yourself, Derek,” Rubia said. “You know they’re powerful and ambitious enough to pull it off, whether we work against them or not.”

“I don’t remember you being such a pessimist, but I imagine there is still a lot we don’t know about the Daughters of Eritopia, isn’t there?” Derek asked, crossing his arms. The tension was palpable, and I was under the distinct impression that I’d missed something from their previous conversations.

“There it is,” Seeley mumbled, slightly amused.

“What?” I asked.

He shot me a cold stare, then shifted his focus back to Derek, Sofia, and the Daughters. “The unpleasant reveal.”

“What in the world are you talking about?” I groaned, tired of his partial revelations. He hated answering my questions, but I loathed asking them. If only he’d been more open in this back-and-forth, maybe I wouldn’t have had to follow up so much.

“Wait for it,” Seeley said, then shushed me.

“What is it that you’re implying, Derek?” Effissa asked, taking a step forward. She didn’t seem to like where this conversation was going.

“We learned some things from Harper,” Sofia cut in. “She managed to speak to some of the rogue Hermessi, and they mentioned that their brethren are coming up with new creatures to stop Taeral’s team from pursuing this matter further.”

Safira frowned. “Harper made contact with the rebel elements?”

“Yes. And they mentioned that these creatures come from the bowels of their planets. In Taeral’s case, from the pink waters of Cerix. You see, that sounded a little familiar to us.”

Silence settled in the sanctuary, as it dawned on me. The Daughters of Eritopia were born from magical eggs, pushed to the surface of the pink waters of Mount Agrith. Their origins were a mystery, supposedly even to them.

“Maybe it’s time we addressed where you came from,” Derek added. “Because I feel like you haven’t been entirely forthcoming with us.”

Safira’s eyes grew wide with outrage. “We’ve done nothing but support you to the best of our abilities from the moment we forged this alliance! Do not forget that. And do not accuse us of something we haven’t done, either!”

“Oh, snap,” I breathed.

“I know, right?” Seeley chuckled, visibly entertained. I would’ve conked him on the head for being such an insensitive creep, but I didn’t have a functional body to use against him, and… well, I figured he’d grown to care little about the affairs of the living, given his job title. He glanced at me, then offered a sheepish half-smile. “Sorry. It’s not often that I’m stuck by a spirit’s side for long enough to notice the drama around it. This is rather entertaining.”

I opened my mouth to reply, but Nibel’s voice drew my focus away from him. “Sister. We did agree we’d tell them if they asked,” she said to Safira.

“They didn’t ask. They’re making veiled accusations,” Safira spat.

“We’re confused. We’re hurt. We are worried,” Sofia replied. “Please, Daughters, if there is anything you’ve neglected to tell us, especially about your origins, now is the time to speak up. We trust you as our allies, and if you’re keeping secrets, it’ll hurt us all.”

Safira sighed and tucked a curl behind her pearlescent ear. “The thing is, we don’t know much ourselves. We’ve only guessed our origins, but we don’t know anything for sure. However, if what Harper told you is true, and I doubt it isn’t, then a few things make sense to us, as well.”

“You see, we’ve known about the Hermessi for a long time,” Nibel said, prompting her sisters to glower at her. Nevertheless, she continued. “Emphasis on ‘known about,’ mind you. We’ve never had direct contact with them, but there was a Hermessi cult here, on Calliope, too, many moons ago. About a million years or so, to be specific. From what we’ve learned since, the worship died out at different stages across the In-Between, leaving Cerix as the only place we know of where the Hermessi belief continued despite the passage of time. So, we knew about the Hermessi, but we had no contact with them whatsoever.”

“You didn’t tell us,” Derek replied.

“No. And for that, we are sorry. But my sisters and I have made an oath to one another to keep any knowledge about our origins a secret,” Nibel said.

“Not even Viola knows this, because of how close she is, personally, to you all,” little Nova continued.

“But you were told,” Sofia concluded, looking down at the young Daughter. Nova had been forcibly hatched from her egg too soon, and thus destined to forever look like a nine-year-old girl. Still, her wisdom was as ample and impressive as that of her sisters.

Nova nodded. “Yes. We’ve always believed that the Hermessi had something to do with our existence. Maybe it was our primordial instinct, or just the logic of putting two and two together—the Eritopians once worshipped them, after all. Why wouldn’t they be able to create beings such as ourselves?”

“It’s true, then,” Derek said. “The pink waters of Mount Agrith that created you. They’re the work of the Hermessi.”

“Yes. It seems so,” Safira said. Lucky for them that Viola wasn’t present for this particular exchange. She would’ve chewed their asses over withholding this kind of information, even if it wasn’t exactly confirmed until now. “The Hermessi reacted to Azazel’s rule of blood and chaos by making Viola, then Nova. We know at least one of the elements was active and awake then, if they were able to do this.”

“It must’ve been the Earth Hermessi,” Derek muttered to Sofia.

“Probably,” Rubia replied. “We are not your enemies, Derek. You must understand that. We were made to protect Eritopia. It’s written into our souls, practically. And we are more than capable and willing to rise against our makers to save our world. Of that, you can be certain.”

Seeley checked his watch. “You know, it didn’t take them that long to figure this out. The Daughters may be annoyingly secretive, but they’re not slow. Gotta give credit where it’s due.”

“You knew?” I asked him. He didn’t respond. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

“I did tell you I know more things than you ever will. I wasn’t bragging.”

“Screw you,” I muttered, then moved away from him.

“You don’t need to worry about turning against your maker in this endeavor,” Derek said to Safira. “You might as well know, since I’ve just made a case for how bad it is to keep secrets in this alliance… Your maker, the Earth Hermessi of Calliope, is one of the rogues.”

Relief seemed to wash over the Daughters’ faces. This was the best news they could’ve received, judging by their expressions. “Oh, that is wonderful.” Chana sighed.

“Don’t get us wrong, we still would’ve helped, even if our maker was one of the evil-doers, but still… it takes some of the pressure off, knowing that he isn’t,” Safira added.

Derek cocked his head to the side. “Have they never reached out to you? The Hermessi, I mean. If you’re creatures of their making, in a more direct sense, don’t you have a connection to them?”

“That’s the strange part. We know of them. And we certainly felt their collective awakening during the Blackout,” Safira said, “but no, they’ve never spoken to us directly. I think we’re fortunate that we weren’t asked to intervene against you. However, I now understand why: our maker is an ally to your people… to us… to the living creatures.”

I was still stunned by this. In a way, the Daughters had already had their allegiance tested, without knowing for sure that they were Hermessi creations. The idea had always been there, but no one had been around to confirm their origins, precisely, until Harper’s encounter with the rogue Hermessi. On one hand, I disliked their reluctance to share these unclear snippets of their past from the very beginning, along with the fact that they’d known about the Hermessi all long. On the other hand, it was good to see we still had them on our side.

The last thing we needed now was the Daughters’ sudden betrayal.

“I’m glad to hear we’re still in this together, then,” Derek declared. The tension I’d sensed earlier dissipated like a cloud before the rising sun. Mona and Arwen came by his and Sofia’s side, eyeing the Daughters carefully.

“So, is there anything you can do to help us?” Mona asked. “Regarding the Hermessi, that is. We’re quite limited on that front.”

Safira thought about it for a moment, then turned her attention to Nova. “You might as well tell them what you’ve been up to.”

“Are you sure?” Little Nova seemed uncertain and reluctant. But Safira’s comforting nod was enough to make her go ahead, anyway. Which is great, since I’m on the edge of my damn seat here! “Ever since the Blackout, I’ve found myself able to go into the strangest of deep sleep states,” Nova said to Mona. “It took me a while to figure out that I could see the elements of every planet, as I traveled across the universe. I heard their names whispered on the winds. Some felt new; others were as old as time. For a long time, I thought I was just having vivid and complex dreams, until the Cerixian Hermessi were mentioned.”

“You can identify the Hermessi of each planet?” Mona asked, her tone weighed down by skepticism.

Nova nodded briefly. “Yes. It will take me a while, and I will need my sisters by my side to keep me safe during this deep sleep, but I will get you as many names as possible.”

I shook my head in disbelief. “Why couldn’t they do this sooner, dammit?”

“Remember, the Daughters swore not to tell anyone about their origins. Nova’s dream connection is a dead giveaway. She couldn’t,” Seeley said.

“Better late than never,” Sofia said to Nova. “Your help is more than welcome.”

She’d taken the words right out of my mouth. Maybe, with Nova’s assistance, GASP could get closer to identifying the evil and the rogue Hermessi—as many of them as possible, if not all of them. The more we knew about them, the better.

“I’m worried, though,” I murmured.

Seeley looked at me. “How so? I thought this would be good news.”

“It is, sort of. But it’s not enough, is it? Until we find out what caused the first ritual’s interruption, we’re just running around like headless chickens—which is, by far, the greatest expression I’ve picked up from the Shadians, but I’m sure you get my point.”

“You’re afraid the Hermessi will intervene and hurt the Daughters, huh?” Seeley replied, wearing a sympathetic smile. I didn’t reply, but he knew my answer. It was probably seared into my expression. “The Hermessi who made the Daughters wouldn’t have revealed their existence to just anyone, don’t you think?”

“Are you trying to give me hints, here?” I asked, grinning.

“Maybe. But think about it. The rogue Hermessi have not been identified by their ritual-hogging brethren, have they?” he answered, and I shook my head. “Right, because if the bad ones knew who the rebels were, they’d be all over them, right?”

“Right.”

“So, doesn’t it make sense that, since the baddies don’t know that the Daughters’ maker is a rebel, they’d have no reason to go after them?”

“Yes, but they’re working with us. Surely, the… baddies, as you call them, would dislike their interference. Maybe even address it with their rogue maker,” I said.

“Provided the baddies know that one of their own made them,” Seeley replied, wearing a devilish grin.

I gasped. “You mean to tell me they don’t know the Daughters are creatures of the pink waters?”

“How would they?”

Holy crap, that made sense. We’d already dismissed the Hermessi’s omnipresence and omnipotence as being limited. They couldn’t keep up with Taeral’s teleporting crew, after all. And if Calliope’s Earth Hermessi had made the Daughters, surely he would’ve made them without the others’ knowledge. They were designed to protect Eritopia’s wellbeing, and that included its creatures, too, which the baddies were now hell-bent on destroying. As fuzzy as the logic of this was, I got it. I understood.

Seeley was surprisingly forthcoming about this—albeit in his own, riddling way. I couldn’t help but smile at him. It was the least I could do to show him my appreciation. The Daughters’ conversation moved into the background of my consciousness for a moment. Movement at the corner of my eye made me turn my head.

Something was moving. Invisible, the air rippling around it, as it approached my parents and my body. “Seeley, what the hell is that?” I managed, staring at it. I caught the faint shimmers reflecting off it, here and there.

Seeley followed my gaze. As soon as he saw it, his jaw clenched. “Dammit.”

“What?” I asked, a sense of dread creeping up on me.

As it got closer, I could see it a little better. The long limbs, the translucent skin, the beady eyes. It was as if it had suddenly revealed itself. And I could hear it sniffing at my life-chain. That scared me beyond repair. My parents didn’t see it. No one else noticed it.

“We’re the only ones who can see it?” I managed.

Seeley nodded, then took out his scythe. “Don’t make a sound,” he whispered. “It’s too entranced by the life-chain to notice me. Stay here.”

Before I could say anything, he dashed forward. He must’ve been made out of quicksilver, because his movements were so swift, he was barely visible with the naked eye. It worked in his favor.

The creature looked up from my chain and saw me—thus emotionally crippling me on the spot—but it failed to spot Seeley coming up behind it. The monster bared its shark-like fangs at me, strings of drool hanging from its lower jaw as a spine-tingling hiss came out. But that was all it could do.

Seeley’s scythe came down on it mercilessly.

The curved blade cut it down like a hot knife through a stick of butter. In an instant, the creature was reduced to a pile of shimmering ashes. Seeley smirked, then brushed some of the stray dust off his black jacket. Gotta keep that smart look perfect at all times, huh?

“What in the world was that?” I yelped.

Seeley glanced at me, seemingly unaffected by what he’d just done. He couldn’t hide his concern from me, though. I could see it lingering in the darkness of his eyes, despite his nonchalant expression.

“That, my dear half-wandering spirit, was a ghoul.”

I should’ve seen this coming. I’d read about them. Its appearance had felt familiar to me, though I hadn’t had a spare moment to make the connection. And my spirit was out of my body. Of course it would act like a magnet to ghouls. Only, they were such rare creatures! No one had seen a trace of them in a long time.

“Why was it here, out of all the places? I can’t be the only half-dead creature in this place! Look around!” I said, partially hyperventilating.

“There are a lot of you here, right now,” Seeley replied. “Hence why the ghoul was attracted.”

“Ugh.”

“He won’t be the only one,” he warned me. “You and the other fae are like glowing morsels of eternal deliciousness.”

Great! So, not only was I stuck outside my body, my parents grieving by my side and my fiancé out hunting Hermessi cultists while the world was a few million fae away from utter annihilation, I was also an open target for friggin’ ghouls!

At least I could take comfort in knowing that the world’s snarkiest Reaper was also capable of protecting me. There was no way he’d let a ghoul eat me, since it was Seeley’s sworn duty to reap me. I am screwed six ways from Sunday and beyond.