Page 60 of Of Sins and Sacrifice

“No, no,” Vitry mutters. “He can’t be dead.”

A bright light emanates from his body as his soul rises, in time for a messenger to come claim it for the other side.

I sigh. I suppose this is the end of his journey.

Another male rushes inside, his face draining when he sees Abbots lying on the table.

“We caught some flak on the right wing, but I didn’t think?—”

“Save it for the interrogation, Marshall,” Vitry’s voice thunders.

The male looks stricken. Nodding, he retreats from the infirmary.

“There’s nothing else you or anyone else can do, son,” the doctor addresses Vitry.

He swallows hard.

“I’ll write a letter to his mother,” he whispers.

With one last look at the dead man, he turns and leaves.

Hours later and after an entire day’s of work, I finally make it to my bunk bed in a room shared with five other girls. At least it’s soft and warm, and I even had some more meat to eat for dinner.

But there is something that niggles at my conscience and will not let me sleep.

We saw some twenty men today, all with different degrees of injuries. Of those twenty, five died in the infirmary. And of those five… Only two souls were taken by messengers to P’asala.

Ordinarily, some souls might not agree to follow a messenger to P’asala, and messengers cannot do anything about it. They are not sentient beings to try to convince those souls. But even in that case, I would have seen the souls linger and refuse to leave.

But I didn’t.

There was no trace of those souls.

Slowly, a smile pulls at my lips.

Three missing souls. That sounds like a demon, doesn’t it?

And the perfect opportunity to appeal to my brother to get my powers back.

I wait until everyone else is asleep, and then I get out of bed.

Sleep can wait.

NINE

It’sthe middle of the night. I would have expected the base to be quiet while everyone gets a restful sleep so they can continue their warring ventures in the morning.

Instead, most of the airmen who returned from their mission are up and partying. A few buildings are lit up, and music blares from inside. I almost bump into a few inebriated males as they stumble around and make crass jokes.

Damn it.

I require a quiet place to concentrate on establishing a connection with my brother. Without my abilities, I don’t even know how this is going to work. But it’s worth a try.

And if itdoesn’twork, then I’ll have to call him the old-fashioned way.

“Why is there nowhere to go fishing around here?” A male groans.

I hide behind a building.

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