Page 13

Tomoe

T he dark circles under her eyes. Her dark, curly hair a complete juxtaposition to the dull complexion of her sepia skin. Amaia was the poster child for dark thoughts embodied.

We left the others behind at The Kitchens. I’d offered to walk her over to the school houses to share what my conversation with Hal had uncovered. She glanced to our left, the edge of The Garden’s a sad sight. We’d be okay—for now. I understood it was hard to believe when you couldn’t see the options of the future yourself, but there was still hope.

“Okay, hit me with it.” Amaia commanded as she kept her eyes focused on the world around us, her head held high.

“We finally found something from the archives,” I said, tossing my braid back over my shoulder. “Lucky me, Hal was the source.”

Her eyes widened slightly, brows lifting as her lips pressed into a tight line. “Yikes. How did that go?”

“Exactly as you think it would. Short and to the point. He gave me permission to look into his past so I took the faster option.”

I could do whatever I wanted. I didn’t need his permission. But after Alexiares had confronted me about how violated he felt about me ‘watching’ his past when we had an established friendship, I suppose at least a heads-up was due. After Seth, it would be dumb to say I would never cross that line. There wasn’t a reason to not trust the people around me after all that we’d been through together. Unless they gave me a reason, I’d respect boundaries.

She choked on a laugh. “Would expect nothing more from you. So, the outcome?”

The stone gray stairs leading to the entrance of GLQ was a tight squeeze. I fucking hated it. When we’d been a proper compound, people kept their distance. Now it was impossible to pass through without brushing shoulders with the person next to you. The communal bathrooms had also become an issue. No one wanted to wait for over an hour to take a five-minute bath in dirty water. We couldn’t build out fast enough.

It was almost as if our walls crumbling had been a gift from the universe. An opportunity to rebuild stronger than before. We held our silence until the crowd thinned out. Amaia ran her fingers against the tan bricks under an arch connecting some of the old dorms. They were temporary housing. What Prescott, Jax, and Amaia had lived in when the place first started.

“Before I say what I’m about to say, you should know this is only the word of one source.”

“I’m aware of how ethnographic documentation works.” She kept her voice low but her impatience was clear. Every day, all day, she was on a schedule. If there was even a second she could spare to chat with one of us outside of work, she wanted to take it.

“A simple reminder not to get ahead of yourself.”

“Heard.” She gritted her teeth and kicked a pebble down a side street in between a few of the Tuscan-style homes. “So out with the words or let me have five minutes of peace before I have to move on to my next task.”

Wet concrete mingled with the pungent scent of dusty earth. The construction of the area moved as quickly as it could. We’d decided to build up in this section. The infrastructure supported it and it wouldn’t be an eye-sore in the future given the architecture. At some point, people would care about that shit again and there was no need to do the work twice. Inefficiencies had been a pet peeve of the big three from the beginning. That hadn’t changed now that it was just Amaia left.

“Hal came straight from Texas after Laurel got my note. When she died, he didn’t hesitate—just headed west. That means he has no clue what’s happening near Covert’s border. Only thing he could do is speculate from his time on the road.”

A breathy sound of amusement escaped her. “Naturally.”

“Pansies were heading the same direction as them the entire time,” I continued and we stopped in front of Compound Hall. The Victorian building loomed over us, casting a shadow over her face. “They moved in large herds. Typical behavior at first. That was until he realized the pattern of their movements weren’t right. Organized. When one stopped, they all stopped. If one found food that couldn’t feed the masses, they continued on. Not bothering to stop and prioritize themselves is weird as hell but it lines up with Reina’s theory of migration.”

“What the fuck …”

I couldn’t help the way my lips curled, the expression on my face doing more talking than words could. “Said the same thing. They were everywhere. Thousands at once. More than you would think sustainable. And they ate everything. The OGs, we know they eat animals if they have no other option, but the priority was always human flesh. These guys, they took out entire fields. Cattle. Horses. Sheep. Cities filled with Transient travelers.”

“They blocked off the entire city of Albuquerque. Hal and the kids barely made through with a few other survivors. Thing is, the further away from Covert they got, the more they saw. Then, they came across one of the camps.”

“He’s seen them? Firsthand? Where are they?” Amaia took a step closer to me, her rapid-fire questions said with a faux smile as citizens passed by us. She offered them a pleasant nod before turning her attention back to me.

“Middle of nowhere,” I said, shoving my hands into the back of my jeans with the shrug of my shoulders. “In between major cities. He said it was about a week’s walk in between.”

The sun crested behind the steep, gabled peaks and ornate spires of Compound Hall. I swallowed down the lump in my throat. I didn’t come here much. Even before Jax died but especially since he had. This was his pride and joy. All the original buildings were. Compound Hall. The Kitchens. The Arena. The places decorated with culture, thought, and care.

I was grateful those places had been spared amid destruction. My two red-haired, freckled boys were gone forever, and I hated one for taking out the other.

“With Luke and Olivia slowing his pace, that’s about what? Two hundred miles?”

I dipped my head in agreement. “Give or take.”

“Did he say the last time he saw one before he arrived?”

“Gallup.” The fact that I had to watch Hal and the kids travel through New Mexico had been a sick joke from the universe. Talk about fucking déjà vu. “I know it’s not what you’re looking for?—”

Amaia reached forward, gripping my hands firmly, a penetrating stare. “No. It’s not, but it’s a good start and I trust that you can help us figure out the rest.”

“Let me guess. You want me to try to get in?”

“Mentally yes, not physically. Ronan knows what all of us look like. My guess is, so do all of his soldiers. If they ‘capture’ anyone on his radar, he’ll know we’re onto something.” Amaia paused, her eyes narrowing in thought. “Scope out their security set up. Ronan’s little toy can’t block out any visions beyond his borders. Team up with someone in our network if you need to. Riley can handle the rest.”

A mischievous smile teased my lips. “I love it when you give me orders. Don’t forget the ‘good girl’ next time.”

She gave me that deadpan stare she’d perfected—equal parts judgment and boredom. The slight glimmer in her eyes betrayed her serious demeanor. She turned, walking away without another word.