Erador walked down the hall on the second floor. Breck’s room wasn’t far from his own. Not everyone got a private room in the manor, but Breck was Taurin’s nephew.

  “Took you long enough.” Aminria got up from the floor and grabbed the lantern. “What were you doing?”

  Erador ignored her irritated stare when he found Hawth. Heat erupted in his chest as if fire would blow from his mouth. “What’s he doing here?”

  “He’s here to help,” Dethil said.

  “We don’t need him.” Erador glared as Shade shifted across the wall.

  Dethil stepped between him. “He cares about them as much as you.”

  “I don’t want him here,” Erador growled.

  “It’s fine.” Hawth backed away. “I’d rather leave.”

  Erador reached for the door knob and pushed in roughly, but it didn’t budge.

  Aminria brushed his hand aside and aimed her hand at the lock and it clicked open. “After you.”

  Erador opened the door and stepped into the room. It was smaller than expected with a twin bed, dresser, desk, and bookshelf. He felt like he was trespassing, but Breck wasn’t here to yell at him for snooping.

  Aminria placed the lantern on the desk. “What are we looking for?”

  “Something that might hint at why someone murdered him. A note... money.”

  Dethil shuffled through the untidy papers on the desk, some were drawings from children that had grown by now. Sescina said he touched many lives. It made Erador angry knowing he’d been murdered when so many cared for him.

  Erador reached for the top drawer, when a paper dropped to the floor. When he went to grab it a few more fell, and he looked up. With a blank stare, Dethil mumbled under his breath and his hand was gripped as if he still held the papers. He was having a vision from Slen.

  Why hadn’t Sescina removed all the venom?

  Dethil came to and returned to the papers, pretending nothing happened when he noticed Erador staring. He didn’t say anything. His throat tightened from guilt. He couldn’t bring himself to ask what he saw.

  Aminria scanned the books. “Science, math, biology. He’s as boring as you.” She raised an eyebrow at Erador. “How come you didn’t get along?”

  “Liking similar things doesn’t mean we like each other.” Erador moved to her, picked a book off the shelf, and rifled through it. “Plus, he wasn’t as interested as me.” He set the book back, his eyes glossing over each spine when he stopped on the familiar brown book with gold trim. “I let him borrow this and he never gave it back.”

  He pulled it off the shelf and opened to the first pages. A card slipped out and landed by his feet with the black back face up. Erador picked it up and turned it. A brown wolf was on the front howling with the sunflower in the sky. His hand tensed and he bent the card.

  Aminria looked around him. “What’s wrong?”

  “It’s his mark.” Erador strained his voice to a whisper. “I also found one in Eli's clothing and Pia’s on the bedside table in the infirmary.”

  Dethil stopped shutting a drawer, his eyes confused and wide. “Maybe he used it to mark his spot.”

  He said it with uncertainty as if he wanted someone else to agree, but Erador couldn't see it as a possibility after finding a third card.

  “What are you saying?” Aminria said.

  Erador closed the book and set it on the bed. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence.”

  “Someone planted them?” Aminria paused as he could see her trying to discern a reason. “Why?”

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  “As a game.”

  The floor creaked as Dethil shifted. “Someone is trying to kill all of us?”

  “I think so,” Erador said.

  Aminria crossed her arms. “Sounds like you’re grasping at anything. You’ve been acting awfully weird lately.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Mumbling things under your breath.”

  Erador scoffed. “I haven’t.”

  “I’ve seen you. You were even doing it while looking at that mask. You said he’s here.”

  Erador looked at Dethil and away quickly when he noticed his intense stare. He touched his shoulder where Slen left his mark the mark. He didn’t want to tell Aminria that the venom caused him to hallucinate. She would discredit his theories.

  “You don’t believe we’re being targeted after those deaths?” Erador said, moving closer in hopes to hint that Emera was a victim.

  “I don’t think anyone is placing cards.” Aminria looked him over. “The place you found them isn't obvious.”

  “Yes, they were. I saw the card sticking out from Eli’s clothing. Pia’s mammoth was on the bedside table.” Erador pointed the wolf card at his chest. “They wanted someone to notice them, especially me.”

  Aminria shook her head. “Why would they make it a game?”

  “Maybe they want to scare us,” Erador said. “Maybe they find it fun.”

  Aminria pulled the card from him and stared at it. “Let’s say they did place them. Maybe they’re throwing you off on purpose.”

  “How would that distract me?” Erador said. “These cards are my only clue.”

  Aminria pressed her hand to her forehead and moved away. “I can’t believe this.” She turned around. “You’re desperate, so you’re grasping at cards. This,” she said, shaking it. “These cards… I’ve found some in the hall and on almost every table. They’re everywhere. They could be used for anything.”

  Erador ripped the card from her. “These aren’t just any cards. They’re marks. They were targeted. There could be an order to it.”

  Aminria shook her head but remained silent. Erador hoped to see agreement from Dethil, but his expression was distant. It reminded him of Jerus.

  “Dethil...” Erador said. “You have to believe me.”

  Dethil rubbed his cheek. “It... it sounds like too much.”

  “Why?” Erador’s hand fell. “It’s better than nothing.”

  “Nothing?” Aminria raised her voice. “I have tried to look for information on that brooch. I also took you to a witch. We went to New Akthelia and that was a trip. I have done nothing but help. This…” She looked at the card and touched his arm. “Isn’t helping us. There is no order.”

  She said it softly, as if hoping Erador would give up his ideas. As much as his father claimed there was no ranking, there was always one. Father Judgment, Brother Retribution, and Sister Absolution were at the top. The Paradins were next but some were more skilled and more capable of leading them to find Paradise, and others were viewed more highly by Judgment. The followers were last.

  “If neither of you’re willing to explore this as a possible option, then go,” Erador said.

  Aminria pressed her lips together, fighting a frown. She bumped into him as she left, causing the card to slip from his fingers and slide under the dresser.

  “I’m sorry,” Dethil said. He walked out the door with his head down.

  Erador rubbed his hand down his face. He didn’t need them. He reached under the dresser and felt around, his hand pressed onto a flat metal piece. He pulled it out and blew the dust off the coin with brown crust on the edges. On the front was an eagle with wings spread and the back had a picture of a pendulum. Erador couldn’t remember the last time he saw money here. Lucrethia didn’t have currency; they obtained money from different kingdoms and saved it for supplies.

  He traced the eagle as his surroundings faded and he lowered the coin to a little girl in his lap. She looked up and smiled but it faded as the room went dark and the coin was on the ground covered in blood. A stick was raised in the darkness, ready to strike.

  Flinching, Erador found himself on the floor as he shielded his face. He looked around Breck’s room as his heart rate slowed. He opened his palm that squeezed tightly around the coin; it left an indent in his skin.

  He stared at the eagle again. That was the man’s final moment. He would never get to see his daughter’s smile, her freckles, her curly red hair or hear her charm bracelet jingle when she came running to embrace him. The crystal, moon, music note, and song bird were her charms.

  Erador cursed. It couldn’t be. He didn’t want to believe it was true. That the girl he had been seeing in the visions had been here the whole time. He’d forgotten the visions because he’d been told to suppress them all these years. It’s why Slen was near Sunflower Alley that night he was attacked. He waited near her house.

  He couldn’t tell her Slen was her father’s shadow. She wouldn’t believe him anyway.