Caleb pointed at the briefs on the table display. “I’ve put together a collection of cultural tidbits about Visio for all of us to study. Fashion. Customs. Laws. Anything we might use to blend in and not stand out. Fortunately for us, there’s no striking difference between the Aeternae and the rest of us. At first sight, at least.”

  “Caleb and I will stick to nighttime operations, if needed,” Rose said. “The rest of you can move freely during the day as long as you don’t overdo the interactions with the locals.”

  “We’ll all be fine,” I replied. “Pretending to be Aeternae is a piece of cake compared to finding and obliterating the Darklings. I have no qualms about blending in whatsoever.”

  “I wish you all good luck,” Taeral said. “You’ll need it.”

  Oh, we most definitely could use all the luck we could get. If there was a goddess of fortune out there in the universe, we needed her attention. What we were about to do was extremely delicate, but also critical—not only for the safety of Derek and Sofia’s team, but also for the wellbeing of the innocent Aeternae and the Rimians and Naloreans in their service.

  The Darklings had broken the universal balance between life and death, and we had to do everything in our power to restore some sense of order, whether Death was willing to accept our help or not. I, for one, was looking forward to this mission, and not just because of the rewards of its potential success.

  I wanted to be close to Amane again. I missed her, and I hadn’t gotten a decent night’s sleep since she departed for Visio.

  Kelara

  As soon as Astoria materialized around us, I sensed all the wrongs that had occurred in this place. I took deep breaths as I looked at the marble ruins, the monoliths standing tall and quiet, scattered across the former city.

  The ocean whispered from the east, the salty breeze settling on the tip of my tongue. The hazy sky felt odd and out of place, in some ways reminding me of Cruor. The Night Bringer looked at me, and I could almost understand what he was thinking, for I was thinking it too.

  “It looks familiar, doesn’t it?” he asked.

  “Please don’t tell me the Spirit Bender’s seal on the Unending caused this sky too,” I murmured. He shook his head.

  “No. My suffering caused an entire planet to go extinct. But the color in the sky… it’s oddly familiar. There is death magic everywhere, even if it doesn’t look like it.”

  The Soul Crusher, the Phantom, and the Widow Maker moved around, touching stones and abandoned chains on which death magic runes persisted, albeit black and powerless. The Morning Star stayed close to us, but I could tell she was uneasy, her gaze constantly wandering across the land.

  “I thought the sky was all mazir,” I said. “A protection spell cast by Petra Visentis. Or so Seeley said, anyway, from what intel he gathered.”

  “Perhaps that’s what Petra offered as an explanation for the reddish haze,” Night replied, wearing a faded smile. “It need not be the truth. That hue can only be created with death magic. It’s a spell designed to obscure whatever it covers from distant eyes. It doesn’t stop anyone from stumbling upon Visio, like Ta’Zan once did, but it probably reduces the odds of intergalactic travelers popping by in droves… It’s harder to see from afar, but not impossible, especially upon approaching it.”

  “We call it a Veil,” Morning chimed in. “But it looks more like a perversion, really. It should be much thicker.”

  “As for the mazir argument, how sure are we that mazir itself isn’t derived from death magic?” Soul replied, watching me intently. “After all, Petra’s a Darkling. A high priestess of mazir who just so happens to be super versed in death magic? We’d be foolish not to consider the connection.”

  “Where are we getting all this intel from?” the Widow Maker asked.

  I raised a hand. “I spoke to Seeley earlier. Lumi’s picking up information from the communications between GASP and Derek’s team. She might be in isolation and grieving, officially speaking, but she never got off the comms group. They don’t know she can hear everything they tell each other. They’ve got enough on this place to put together a pretty impressive binder, I guess.”

  “Petra has Nethissis, though. I don’t like that,” Phantom muttered, coming closer. “I thought Death wanted the witch’s soul protected.”

  “It’s not Seeley’s fault,” I said, suddenly defensive. “Petra outsmarted them.”

  “Which is all the more ridiculous. A living bloodsucker trumped one of our own!” Soul scoffed. “It’s preposterous.”

  “No, what’s preposterous is they’ve been doing it for four or five million years. Seeley wasn’t the first to get his ass handed to him on Visio,” I replied dryly.

  Technically speaking, none of us were supposed to know what Seeley, Sidyan, Lumi, and Nethissis had been up to under Death’s orders. But as soon as I’d felt us getting closer to Visio, I reached out to Seeley—he was my friend, and he had no reason to hide things from me. Of course, he didn’t know I was on my way to Visio with orders of my own. He seemed to have less trouble breaking the rules.

  “I should tell him we’re coming,” I said, inspired by his brazenness. “Maybe if we all work together, we’ll have a better shot at finding the Unending, too.”

  Soul did not hesitate to crush my hopes on this matter. “Don’t kid yourself. If Seeley has been interacting with the Darklings, then we have no business working with him. Besides, he’s got pet ghouls and a swamp witch to help him. We shouldn’t stray from our mission. We have to find the Unending.”

  With my hands on my hips, I cocked my head to the side and raised an eyebrow for good measure. “Any idea on a starting point, then?” I asked, albeit rhetorically. “Because all we’ve got right now is whatever intel I collected from Seeley, along with a feeling that mazir and death magic might be one and the same.”

  “Well, mazir might have evolved from death magic. They’re not one and the same,” Night felt the need to correct me. “But you’re right, we don’t have much to go on here.”

  “What about Kelara’s extrasensory abilities? She could tap into Cruor’s traumatic memories, after all,” Phantom said.

  Night and Morning both shook their heads. I understood why, because I could feel it. My head was an absolute jumble, and I couldn’t focus properly. “Visio is too… alive,” I said. “There’s too much happening. There’s death magic. Mazir. Spells have been put in place, for various reasons. People are living and breathing here. Vetruvia was easier because there were fewer creatures left alive. Cruor was a piece of cake in terms of sensing anything, because it was virtually dead. This… this is different.”

  “We’ll need a new strategy,” Night replied.

  “Gah, I so miss the early days,” Soul groaned, throwing his head back. “Remember? When it was just the ten of us and Death?”

  He sat on a cylindrical stone, crossing his legs and resting his elbows on his thighs, the fabric of his white silk wraps stretching around his muscles.

  “There were fewer souls to reap across all the dimensions.” Phantom sighed, gazing out into the distance. It was supposed to be a touching moment as they reminisced about the old days, about the beginnings of this world, but I had a hard time sympathizing, considering who they’d kept company with.

  “Back when the Spirit Bender was loose, you mean?” I asked.

  The Widow Maker looked at me. “He wasn’t always a monster, Kelara. He didn’t even like using his power unless he absolutely had to.”

  “I don’t know why it’s hard to imagine him as one of the good guys,” I muttered.

  Night chuckled softly. “That’s because it’s such a human concept. Good. Bad. Black. White. Those are moral constructs that don’t belong in our existence. Not everything we do is good. Not everything we do is bad. We always did what was needed. What was asked of us.”

  “Okay. What about right and wrong? Do we not abide by those moral constructs?” I replied. “The rules Death sets for us are right. Us breaking those rules is wrong. Or am I missing something?”

  “We all did right, by that logic,” Morning said. “For a long time, anyway. The Spirit Bender lost his way, yes, but what Widow is trying to say is that Spirit was on the right side. Something happened. Something broke inside him when the other Reapers were created. His purpose was gone, and Death didn’t want to let him go. The anger festered.”

  “Much like my anguish on Cruor,” Night reminded me. “Yes, Spirit was free to roam, but his suffering didn’t differ from mine. Not really.”

  “Don’t tell me you condone his behavior,” I said.

  “Not at all. But I understand it.”

  I found myself staring at the traces in the wet dirt. Ghouls’ claws and congealed blood that the rain had not succeeded in washing away. Broken chain links. Faded symbols engraved on various blocks of marble. Everything that had happened occurred because the Spirit Bender had facilitated it, millions of years ago.

  “I’m trying to understand what Spirit’s endgame was here on Visio,” I said, changing the subject. “After all, he succeeded in trapping the Unending. Right?”

  Night and Morning both nodded.

  “Can either of you feel her?” I asked, overlooking my own feelings. There was a weight pressing down on my chest, but I wasn’t sure what to make of it. Visio was muddier than Vetruvia and Cruor, where my death magic sensitivity was concerned. Maybe the twins could sense things I couldn’t.

  “Yes,” Morning said. “It’s like a weight pressing down on my chest.”

  Ditto. So I was definitely onto something.

  “But it’s difficult to pinpoint,” Night replied. “It’s like she is everywhere and nowhere all at once. As if she was disintegrated and redistributed all across Visio. Much like we were until not that long ago.”

  “Yet it’s different,” Morning added. “I don’t know how to explain it.”

  “Maybe it’s got something to do with whatever seal Spirit bound her with,” I suggested. “Night, you did say Unending got it the worst out of all the First Tenners Spirit hurt.”

  His expression morphed into something dark and sad. “That’s what Spirit told me when he trapped me.”

  Phantom stepped forward, her galaxy eyes wandering constantly. “How much do you guys want to bet we’ll have a better chance of finding the Unending if we get to the very core of the Darklings? After all, if Spirit did help these people, they’re likely to know something about our sister, too.”

  I couldn’t help but flash her a grin. “In that case, we should definitely get in touch with Seeley and his gang of misfits. We’re all after the same thing.”

  “No,” Soul insisted. “We do not make contact with Seeley or anyone else in his company.”

  “But we could follow their trail,” Widow replied. “Kelara is right.”

  Normally, I wouldn’t have taken such satisfaction from his statement, but it felt like a small victory against Soul, who’d gone from a caring and compassionate lifeline to his usual mean and cold self. I wasn’t sure whether he was doing it on purpose or not. Perhaps I’d misunderstood, and his sympathy during my Cruor ordeal had been something else entirely. Either way, it felt nice to beat him at this.

  “Told ya,” I shot back, grinning at him.

  “Yes, let us follow your Reaper friend,” Night said. “Maybe we’ll get closer to Unending. Maybe we’ll feel her more.”

  We had our work cut out for us. We not only had to find Unending, but we also had to figure out what sort of seal Spirit had put her under. From there, we had to figure out how to break that seal—and that was my biggest challenge. My instincts told me it would fall on me to resolve this, and I had a feeling I’d have to go into it blind, just like every other trial I’d been through.

  It was a tedious job… serving Death.

  However, leaving the Unending to suffer was not an option. For all the hate I had toward the Spirit Bender, I had to undo his legacy. I had to set things right.

  “I don’t get it,” I said, my shoulders dropping. “Seeley needs our help, too. Chances are he’ll be more than happy to help us. Since when do we all go around blindly obeying Death, huh? Aren’t you tired of this senseless secrecy?”

  Phantom frowned. “What are you trying to say?”

  “We need help. And Seeley needs help. Why do we have to move separately? Why do we have to struggle on our own when we could be stronger together? Why should we let Petra do whatever the hell she wants? She’s been mocking souls for eons, and she’s about to do the same with Nethissis.”

  “Death has been quite specific. We’re not even supposed to know about Sidyan and the others,” Widow replied with a shrug.

  “I want you all to look me in the eyes and tell me honestly that you think this is okay,” I said firmly, unwilling to let it go. I believed in our strength, not just our individuality, and I needed them to have more faith in themselves, as well.

  “It’s not okay,” Morning murmured, drawing startled looks from the others. “She’s right. Death is trapped. She’s proud. She doesn’t want the world to know how the Spirit played us all. She underestimates the extent of the damage he caused. We need to up our game, and Kelara has a point. There are more of us here on Visio now, trying to do the right thing.”

  “We’re better off doing the right thing together.” Night surrendered. “I for one am still reeling from the number of awful things the Darklings have been getting away with this whole time. Tiptoeing around these fiends is no longer an option. If we raise enough hell, maybe Unending will sense us, too. Maybe she’ll react… wherever she might be.”

  A sense of clarity washed over me as I watched each of these First Tenners reach the same conclusion. Even Soul, the master of counterarguments, seemed close to falling off the fence and picking the better side.

  “Our resources are limited,” I added. “We’re not allowed to bring in more Reapers. But we should be able to work with the ones who are already here. Maybe Death will loosen up some more if she starts seeing results.”

  “You’ve managed to free my sister and me,” Night said. “That should count for something.”

  Phantom nodded. “And if we start following the Darklings, and we actually find Unending? Yeah, I can see Death changing her tune on Reaper cooperation.”

  “You think she’ll actually let us bring in the whole force?” Widow asked her.

  “Maybe. We just need to figure out what the Darklings’ limits are while they’re leading us to Unending. I’m sure they’ll get us where we need to go,” Phantom replied.

  “Okay, fine!” Soul growled, stretching his arms as he jumped off the cylindrical stone. “Fine! Let’s go talk to your buddy Seeley, and let’s see what we can do to push forward. The more time we spend doing nothing, the more troublesome the Darklings will become.”

  “Aw, look at Soul caring about the living and stuff.” Phantom giggled.

  “Don’t get cute. It’s just not right for the Darklings to keep messing with souls and Reapers alike,” Soul said. “On that point, Kelara and I agree. Not so much on everything else, but let’s see where this show takes us, huh?”

  I had confidence in my approach. And now that I had all the First Tenners’ support, that confidence had suddenly grown to astronomical proportions. After everything Seeley had told me about the Darklings and their operations, I knew we couldn’t just stand back and do our own mission without interfering. They’d gotten away with too much for too long.

  It was time for us to strike back. Mercilessly.

  Seeley

  “You told Kelara?!” Sidyan shouted, his jaw still on the ground.

  I’d made the executive decision to share all our findings with Kelara, and I stood by it, despite Sidyan’s outrage. He had a point, since we’d already gone against Death’s orders and risked severe penalties upon her release. But there was just too much at stake to keep playing by her rules, especially when she couldn’t come here herself and sort everything out.

  “I know you’re upset,” I said calmly. “But I—”

  “She will obliterate us!” Sidyan replied, a vein throbbing nervously in his temple. “Dammit, Seeley, I’m in enough hot water as it is for having kept Maya. We weren’t supposed to tell anyone about our mission here!”

  “They can help!” I insisted. “Kelara said she’d talk it over with the First Tenners. Hopefully, she’ll convince them.”

  “Oh, so it’s not even a done deal yet. You told her without any assurance that they’d actually help.” Sidyan gasped. “Good grief, you’ve signed our death warrants.”

  “Technically speaking, you’re both already dead,” Lumi interjected. She seemed amused. Not that I could fault her. From the outside looking in, our situation was, by all possible definitions, ridiculous. Here we were—two Reapers, a gang of obedient ghouls, and a powerful swamp witch—and we could do nothing more than just follow the Whip around, hoping she might lead us to the Master of Darkness. All while Nethissis languished in rune chains, guarded by Atlas.

  “You know what I mean!” Sidyan hissed. “Don’t tell me you’re on his side!”

  “I’m on our side,” Lumi retorted. “The right side. And it’s done. Seeley made this decision without talking to us, probably because he knew you’d blow a fuse. Case in point, here you are, boiling over.”

  “Death will be so angry,” Sidyan said, pinching the bridge of his nose. He closed his eyes for a moment, clearly struggling to regain a calmer sense of self. “Damn.”

  “I had to do something,” I insisted. “We’ve been standing out here for hours unable to do anything. Petra’s got the upper hand, and I cannot for the life of me let her have this victory, no matter how small you might think it is. We need help, and Death isn’t sending anyone our way. Fortunately, I happened to learn that Kelara was bringing Soul, Phantom, Widow, Morning, and Night over to Visio. How could I not bring up our issue, huh?”