Flickers of Flame Page 2

  For the first time since my arrival at Blakethorne, my aunt’s voice didn’t elicit comfort or relief. Dread curled in my stomach like a snake.

  “You still there?”

  “Um, yeah,” I stammered. “Yeah, I’m here.”

  “Sorry about the delay. I was in with Marco.”

  Concern for the man who was practically my uncle surged inside me. “Is he okay?”

  “Back on bed rest.” She sounded tired. “Less a resurgence than he’s just been overextending himself. Which I told him would happen—but what do I know?”

  The word resurgence sent a shiver through me. A couple of months back, Marco contracted a virulent strain of Languo, a virus that had been plaguing the ethereal community since before I was born. Although we’d stolen the treatment for him, he started the medicine so long after the first symptoms appeared that there was no guarantee it would be effective. By now, he would have completed the daily course of injections. We could only wait and hope he improved.

  “Anything to share?”

  The question jolted through me. Before I could stop it, the concern that had been growing since today’s exercise bubbled out. “I don’t know if I’m cut out to be a spy.”

  Liza released a heavy sigh. “Cut out or not, you are where you are, and you need to rise to the occasion.”

  I pulled my knees to my chest. “It was different before.”

  “Before what?”

  I almost relayed my epiphany at today’s training exercise, but it struck me my concern ran deeper. “When I first got here, I thought it was all a mistake. It seemed impossible that the Aether Blade could actually choose a demon. But it did. I’m not faking this whole Keeper thing. It would be different if I was.”

  Liza was quiet for a beat. “Look, the Aether Blade might be loyal to you, but you have to be loyal to your people. It chose you even after it had an extra chance to pick an angel. That has to mean something.”

  It seemed impossible that Liza and I were expressing the same sentiment but meaning two entirely different things. I tried another tack. “Do you really think the Aether Blade wants me to betray the Keepers?”

  “How am I supposed to know what that hunk of metal wants?” she demanded. “Besides, you’re not betraying them.”

  The assertion hit me like a punch. “But—“

  “Are the other Keepers making policy decisions?” she asked. “Are they stemming the flow of medical supplies to the cities?”

  “Well, no—“

  “Then you’re not doing anything to them.”

  I tried to come up with an argument, but she had a point. The Keepers were academy cadets. Sure, politicians invoked our names when bragging about the strength of our community, but that didn’t give us any pull when it came to legislation. Despite our status, we had no power.

  “All you’re doing is helping the people who need help,” Liza continued. “That sounds like a noble duty to me.”

  When she put it that way, it was harder to disagree. She was right. My goal here wasn’t to sell state secrets or overthrow the government. All I wanted to do was help my people, who were too often overlooked and shoved aside by those making the laws.

  “Any events coming up?”

  I winced. At least very other time we spoke, Liza inquired about the prospect of angelic galas on the horizon to which the Keepers might be invited. The one bit of useful information I’d passed along so far had come from overhearing two members of the Guard speaking at my introductory banquet. At the time, we both believed that meant I’d be privy to such tidbits regularly. However, it had been almost a month since I arrived at the academy, and since the initial excitement over my arrival, my schedule had settled into the monotony of school.

  “Besides exams? No.”

  Liza sucked her teeth. “Oh, well. Better settle in for the long game, I suppose.”

  I caught the note of forced brightness in her voice but decided not to call her on it.

  “I got some good news from Farrin.”

  Despite my mood, a smile twisted my lips. I had always liked Farrin Enslow, one of Liza’s oldest associates. He could make a piece of rock candy appear from behind my ear, and he was seldom too busy to regale me with what had to be embellished retellings of his most daring thefts. “What’s he got going on?”

  “He finally got the new distribution center up and running. This will streamline things so much. Instead of having to check in with a dozen or more people to see if they have the medicine or the supplies we need, I’ll just call Farrin and he can tell me.”

  “That’s great.” Having been the one tasked to make those phone calls, this system seemed like a much more effective use of time. “Where is it?”

  “Stone Hollow. Not exactly ideal. I’d rather it be more in the center of the kis, but it’s probably better that it’s somewhere rural. In other news,” she continued, “Derek showed up today.”

  My throat went dry. Derek Charge had lived with us in the bunker for the last two years. Although our stint as a romantic item ended quickly, the possibility of starting things up again was never fully off the table. The night before I came to Blakethorne, he begged me not to leave. When I told him I had to go, he disappeared.

  Instead of the news filling me with relief, anger bubbled in my stomach. “So, what? After a month he just sauntered back home like nothing happened? Did he even apologize for disappearing? Let me guess—he’s been helping Canaan sample a new shekar recipe, and this is the first time he’s been sober enough to remember where he lives.”

  “He’s been in Amberg.”

  My heart squeezed. I knew he spent some time trying to track down more Languo B-4 treatments, but I had no idea he’d traveled to the epicenter of the outbreak. “What was he doing there?”

  “Said he’s been helping with the protests. But the city went on full lockdown yesterday and he needed to get out before they started sweeping the streets for violators.”

  “Protests?”

  “Don’t you get the news at that academy?”

  I pressed my lips into a tight line. There were televisions in the student center, and I assumed one could turn to a news channel. But any time they were on, video game images filled the screens. “I’ve been busy,” I said lamely.

  “The medical centers insisted that everyone who got the medication needed to have proper verification credentials, but Mayor McGown shut down all government buildings, so there was no way for people to get their paperwork. When they complained, McGown suggested people go to a neighboring city to fill out the forms—despite the fact that most demons don’t have vehicles and there’s no intercity transit. Despite the fact that she’d already called in the Guard to patrol the city limits to keep people from leaving for fear of spreading the virus.”

  I balled my fist. That was always the way with angels. They set up impossible hoops for demons to jump through while angels sailed a smooth path to whatever they wanted. “Is Derek okay? He’s not sick, is he?”

  “He says he was careful,” Liza said. “Still, he had the sense to wear a mask when he stopped by.”

  “Stopped by? He didn’t stay?”

  “Said he needed to pick something up. He and the group he was working with are self-quarantining for the next bit—just in case any of them were infected.”

  My heart clamped in my chest at the thought of Derek being sick. It had been hard watching Marco deteriorate, but at least I was there. If Derek came down with Languo, who would take care of him?

  “Doing what’s right is seldom easy,” Liza said. “The best we can do is stay the course, because sometimes the only way out is through.”

  “We always find a way,” I murmured.

  “That we do,” she agreed. “We’ll talk again soon.”

  As I emerged from the closet and tucked my comm back into its hiding place, a knot tied itself in my stomach. Talking seemed to be all I was good for at the moment. Before my life got blown off course by the Aether Blade, a desire to do s
omething had been building inside me. I thought that thing was taking a more active role in Liza’s organization, but now I couldn’t do that. Stuck on Blakethorne’s grounds, I couldn’t do anything.

  But feeling sorry for myself wouldn’t solve my problems. If Blakethorne was going to be my home for the next year or more, I couldn’t just sit around waiting for scraps of information to fall into my lap. I couldn’t hope to find a way to help my people; I had to make one myself.

  Chapter Three

  I awoke energized the next morning. If I wanted new outcomes, I needed to change up my routines. Instead of waiting until seven when the dining hall began serving breakfast to hit the third floor bathroom, I set an earlier wake-up time and finished my morning routine before most of the other cadets were even out of their rooms.

  The air was crisp and chilly when I stepped outside, and my breath formed foggy clouds each time I exhaled, but I would warm up soon enough.

  Blakethorne was home to its own contingent of Guards. Most were just out of the year of training that followed graduation from the academy, but I’d spotted a few older, higher ranking officers patrolling the grounds. During my required training runs, I’d noticed knots of guardsmen standing around, gossiping. While it was entirely possible most of them weren’t high enough up the chain of command to know about anything pertinent to Liza or her contacts, I couldn’t be sure unless I checked.

  I took off at a jog, calling on the skills Marco had drilled into me about paying attention to my surroundings without drawing attention to myself.

  But after half an hour of jogging around the quad and along the line of trees that hemmed in the main part of campus, my efforts proved fruitless. Besides the fact that two guardsmen—Byers and Ruiz—had spent their night off in town together, I learned nothing from the snippets of conversation I heard.

  By the time I made it to the cafeteria, Clio and the guys were already at our usual table. After cycling through the line, I took the open spot beside Clio. But before I could take the first bite of my strawberry-and-whipped-cream-topped pancakes, I could tell something was different. Excitement buzzed through the air—and ours wasn’t the only table infected.

  “Hey, guys,” I greeted, trying my best not to sound winded after my run. “How’s it going?”

  Clio beamed. “Big. News.”

  From his spot across the table, Bridger wrinkled his nose. “Is it, though? The jury’s still out.”

  I glanced from Bridger to Thor, but the taller Keeper’s face was as unreadable as ever. A glimpse at Nate kicked up a storm of butterflies in my stomach. I recalled yesterday’s exercise and the warmth of his hand as it rested atop mine. I’d played the scene out over and over in the intervening hours, wondering what he had been about to say before the whistle blew.

  Before we learned about the spy.

  A shiver coursing down my spine, I turned back to Clio. “Don’t leave me in suspense.”

  If possible, her smile broadened. “The instructors put out a sign-up sheet. Next week, there’s going to be a field exercise.”

  I could tell by the look on her face that this was a big deal, but I couldn’t quite grasp why. “You mean like the Weapons and Stealth one yesterday?”

  She shook her head. “No. These are off campus. Led by lieutenants in the Guard, not professors.”

  My ears pricked. “Off campus? What’s the mission?”

  “No idea,” Thor said with a shrug as he plucked a piece of bacon off his plate. “They never tell us before the tryouts.”

  Not knowing wasn’t ideal, but the getting off the property was appealing. If I went running by the academy guards every morning, I still might never overhear anything useful. Chances of gaining valuable intel increased if I was around higher-ranking officers. “Have you guys done them before? What sorts of missions are they usually?”

  Bridger chuckled. “Have I done them before? Only every one since I got here. Would you like me to regale you with tales of the time I stood outside the front door of a city clerk building in the blazing sun for nine hours? Or the time I stood outside a door in a mayor’s office hallway so frigid I couldn’t feel my fingers by the time we were ready to leave?”

  Thor nudged him. “Don’t forget the time we walked the halls of that banquet center at Senator Lawther’s daughter’s engagement party.”

  Clio pouted. “You guys are making the field assignments sound lame.”

  Bridger flicked a scrap of scrambled egg across the table. “Maybe because they are.”

  “Not the last one,” Clio insisted.

  Bridger held up his hands innocently. “Forgive me. I forgot to add ‘standing on the street for hours waiting for the chancellor to drive by.’”

  His words took me by surprise. I knew Nate had been in West Cameron that day, but it hadn’t occurred to me that the other Keepers might have been there as well.

  Clio sighed dramatically. “These experiences are important. Tell them, Nate.”

  Nate pressed his lips together, looking like he was mulling over the request. “I mean, she’s not wrong. It’s important to get some real-world experience before we graduate so we’re better able to handle our appointed positions later on.”

  “But, come on. If I want to be stuck somewhere and bored out of my mind, I could just spend extra time in Angelic History class.” Bridger huffed. “What’s the point of field experience if we’re not actually experiencing anything?”

  “What, you think once we’re out of here, we’ll be spending every waking moment hopping from one adventure to the next?” Clio rolled her eyes. “Don’t you pay attention in Ethereal Law and Politics? The bulk of what we do is make sure that big battles don’t happen.”

  Bridger sucked in a loud snore. “Boring.”

  “I don’t know,” I said, trying to keep my voice non-committal. “I think Clio’s got a point. Real world experience is worth more than class time, right?”

  Clio sighed gratefully. “See? Eden gets it.”

  I glanced at the far wall where a long line of students waited to add their name to the list. “How many do they usually take on these field things?”

  Clio lifted a shoulder. “Depends on the purpose. There was one where they took at least fifty.” She elbowed Nate. “Do you remember that?”

  He offered a half smile. “All I remember is how mad all the upperclassmen were that we got to go. You were still thirteen. I had just turned fourteen.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “Thirteen and fourteen? Do they usually bring students that young?”

  Nate pursed his lips. “We were kind of a special case.”

  Clio shook her head. “No—don’t go acting like it was a favor that we got to go. We held our own in the tryouts.”

  I leaned forward. “Tell me about these tryouts.”

  “Everyone who wants a shot signs up, then the instructors design a test to see who’s up to snuff,” Bridger explained. “Although why anyone has to prove their hand-to-hand combat skills to stand next to a door is beyond me. They should really just have everyone who thinks they want to do it stand against a wall. The ones who don’t die of boredom win.”

  “So, it’s safe to say you won’t be signing up?” I guessed.

  He shook his head. “I’ll add my name after the line dies down.”

  His quick reversal caught me off guard. “But you’ve just been going on about how stupid these field missions are. Why would you put yourself through another day of guarding a door?”

  “It’s kind of expected,” Thor supplied. “Blade Keepers rise to every occasion.”

  “Even when that occasion is seriously lame. None of us has a decent reason not to do it.” Bridger snapped his fingers, a light coming on behind his eyes. “Except you. You’ve only been here a month. No one expects you to be ready to defend against a demon attack yet. Plus you’re still catching up in all your classes.” He leaned across the table. “You need a tutor? I mean, we have a test coming up in… something, probably. Maybe you can get
us both out of this without it looking bad.” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

  As appealing as spending a day joking around with Bridger sounded, I shook my head. “Keepers rise to every occasion. I’m a Keeper, so me only being here for a month shouldn’t stop me from trying.”

  As Nate beamed and Bridger scowled, Clio nudged me. “I wonder what’s going on over there.”

  I followed the trajectory of her gaze and found a thick knot of people at the end. At first I wondered if the sign-up line hadn’t stretched all the way across the cafeteria, but the group didn’t seem interested at all in the queue. Instead, they all focused inward at a speaker holding court.

  “Is that Shonda?” I asked, glimpsing the tawny brown and pale yellow dreads of the person at the center of the group.

  “Pretty sure. I wonder what she’s saying.” Clio turned her attention to me. “We should head over.”

  My stomach twisted. After her failed challenge for the Aether Blade, Shonda had given me a wide berth, but I didn’t want to push my luck by putting myself in her line of fire. “I should really finish my breakfast.”

  But Clio sprang to her feet. “Come on. Maybe she knows something about the field experience.”

  Before I could argue, Clio’s hand was around my upper arm. Although she didn’t yank me out of my seat, her grip was persuasive enough to get me moving.

  I attempted to keep my expression neutral as we approached Shonda’s audience. There was a lot of talk in the days following her challenge to me for the Aether Blade’s loyalty. Headmaster Kemp had advised us to say only that we had resolved the matter and not go into details—although that approach did little to stem the flow of rumors about the limp I nursed after Shonda stabbed me in the leg.

  “…all want to do your very best at the tryouts,” Shonda was saying as we got within earshot. “I know they say every training is important, but there’s never been one like this. As you all know, I’ve been on several of these special training exercises before, and they’ve all been… uneventful.”