Page 69 of The Order: Rise of the New Empire

Mason

"You were one of those things?" Silas questions, looking over the sketchbook in hand, the eerie drawing of the Shifter something a child might pull from their nightmares.

Having taken the sketchbook from the cabin, Silas's curiosities grew larger with every passing minute, his eyes stuck on the brief images Forest had managed to draw of my people.

"For a long time," I sigh, feeding the young boy what little information I can stomach.

"Marked stuck in a state of Deception, right?" Silas questions, my shoulders shrugging.

"Some perhaps, most of the other Shifters were results of nuclear fallout. Marked that became collateral damage to the effects of war. There are still pockets of nuclear waste in some parts of the continent."

Barely able to recall much before my time as a Shifter, the pain from the transition was unbearable, feeling as if my bones werebeing broken in every single way they could, my flesh ripped clean from my body.

"And your people know we are coming?" Silas questions, still on edge at the idea of most interactions given his time away from others.

"At this point they don't really have a choice. Either they kill me for trespassing or hear what I have to say. Not like they have many options in a world that is always changing, leaving them out of it."

Hiking up my backpack, I try and keep the conversations light, still pissed off at Bekah for tasking me with training Silas.

For most of my life, I have done things alone, never having to feel the presence of another breathing down my neck.

Now, the kid looks up to me like a deity, holding onto my every word.

"You know I remembered something last night," Silas whispers, my eyes barely glancing his way. "About the girl you asked me about from below."

Keeping my focus forward, the conversation finally takes a turn that holds some interest to me.

"And?" I question.

"The Prophet used her like a dog. Most of the time, the man never cared to give any of us a second glance. Unlike the rest of us, she held abilities years past what he had seen. She was like his own personal lie detector, able to get into anyone's mind to grab any information the Prophet wanted-"

Tuning out Silas, something itches at the back of my mind.

Atticus, the Commander from the Precipice.

The deep scar working down his face.

I took a glimpse into the man's thoughts.

Someone, another Marked, had managed to do that.

Someone young.

Could a child truly hold enough strength to harm someone like Atticus?

"Can I ask a question of my own?" Silas asks, glancing my way.

Shrugging my shoulders, I allow the boy to speak freely.

"What happens if this Forest woman doesn't choose to convert back? If her life and the Prophet's are entwined, wouldn't the solution be simple?" he questions. The repercussions of what would happen if she died is something he can't see.

I sense the darkness in Xavier.

I know it's something she keeps far from him.

"If Xavier lost her," I start, speaking with no boundaries. "I fear we will have something much worse than Elyon to fear."

"Why is that?" Silas questions, tucking his hands in his pockets like me.

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