Page 45 of What Blooms from Death

What else had he destroyed over the past seven years?

The ominous chasm I’d witnessed on the way to the grove where I’d found him…the cracked ground and crumbling mountains parallel to it…had he caused all of that destruction, too?

“If he’s causing such a disturbance, could you not have simply…gotten rid of him?” I wondered.

“All our attempts to kill him have been in vain. Something protects him from our strongest spells. And we keep expecting—hoping—the air itself will do the job for us, once he breathes it in long enough, but that hasn’t happened, either.”

Rather than trying to guess at the reason behind this, I said, “You saidwe.How many of you are there?”

My entire body tingled at the possibility of there beingmorenecromancers hiding within the shadows of this realm. Was this why I’d never met one in the world above? Maybe they were all down here, serving the dead and keeping order among them.

It made sense, didn’t it?

But then…how hadIended up in the living world, so far away from the rest of my kind?

And why had Orin never mentioned anything like this?

“There were many of us, once upon a time,” the woman said quietly. “But not any longer.”

She didn’t seem to want to elaborate. I was nearly bursting with my need to know more, but instead of giving in to my curiosity, I simply asked, “What is your name?”

She jerked her gaze to mine, as if the question surprised her. As if she didn’t know why I would care.

But I’d heard the loneliness in her tone just a moment ago. How her words seemed to echo with a cold, lost sort of emptiness. I knew what that felt like. And sometimes it was nice just to hear your name out loud—to remind yourself that you could still exist within the emptiness, even if everything else you loved and related to was gone.

After a bit of hesitation, she said, “…Thalia.”

I offered my hand. “I’m Nova.”

She stared at my hand for a moment before lightly gripping it and shaking it. “Nova of the Above. A necromancer who walks inthe light, alongside the Beast and his brethren. Pleased to meet you.” She didn’t seem trulypleased,but shedidappear more curious than hostile toward me, now.

Progress.

Still, I had to fight the urge to shrink away from her touch and her almosttoocurious gaze.

There was no way she could have known the true history I shared with the King of Light. She didn’t know who I was, or what I’d done—how Aleksander had ended up in this realm after I’d channeled the shadows from it into an attack against him. How I’d apparently sent him crashing down into this place, triggering devastation in it when he landed.

And I wasn’t foolish enough to tell thisThaliaall of my secrets right away, even if I was desperate to let every truth spill out in hopes of coaxing more information out of her.

“Tell me, Nova: Where were you leading the Beast?”

I hesitated, wondering how much more I should reveal. My gaze drifted down the hill, landing on Zayn first.

I liked him well enough, but I’d only been with him and the others for a day. I had no real loyalty to any of them—and I doubted they truly felt any toward me.

Besides, I’d come for the sword, not the king. And here was a potentially better guide to take me to that sword. One with the same magic as me. One who actuallybelongedto this realm.

“I wasn’t leading him anywhere,” I told her. “I came in search of something else, as I mentioned earlier. I just happened to find him first. I truly didn’t mean to wake him. I’m not even sure how I did it.”

She clearly didn’t believe me.

I wanted to insist upon the truth of what I said, to suggest we immediately leave Aleksander and the others behind without looking back.

Only one thing gave me pause.

“Whatcalamitieshave ensued since this latest awakening of his?” I asked.

I needed to know before I risked leaving him behind.

---