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The very thought was ludicrous. Will-o’-the-wisps were solitary creatures by nature. I knew and spoke with family, but we didn’t cohabitate. As soon as a will-o’-the-wisp was old enough, they left, striking out on their own, hunting down their own treasure, building their own life. The very thought of belonging to a community, to a group of others… It was so foreign I hardly knew what to do with the thought.

“Ah, I can see you’re havin’ a mental meltdown.” Henry patted my thigh. “Don’t think on it too hard. Just let it sit there and ruminate. Sometimes you gotta do that with a thought. Give it a bit of space and a titch of light and see if it blossoms and sprouts a flower or two or if it turns into a nasty weed. When you figure out which way the thought grows, you can either tend it or rip it out.

“I’m gonna head out. I wanna check on Jima again. I’m probably the only one here he doesn’t view as a threat.”

Those words pulled me out of my mental trap. “I’m not a threat.”

“Didn’t say you were. Just said Jima might view you as one.”

“Why?” I was truly baffled.

“On account of your size,” Henry said as if it were obvious.

“My size? But I’m barely taller than him. I’m⁠—”

“Not when he’s in his ferret form.”

My mouth slipped open before snapping shut. “Oh, I…hadn’t thought of that. I’m still not a threat.”

“I know that and you know that, but right now, Jima’s strugglin’. I didn’t say it made sense. I’m just sayin’ that’s how it is. Sometimes shit don’t have to make sense to make it true.”

“No, I suppose not.”

Henry patted my leg again before using my pants to shimmy his way down to the floor. Going on all fours, he took off, scurrying across the floor and disappearing through the crack in the wall, a barely audible “take care, wisp boy” following in his wake.

“Wisp boy.” I scoffed but found a grin stretching my lips. Coming from Henry, the nickname was a form of endearment. The house dweller already considered me a member of the team. The question was, did I? Could I?

Fourteen

Martin

Keir had moved the wyvern eggs to his own, personal quarters. When I entered, I found them snuggled up, ringed by pillows and sitting on an electric blanket set to warm, not too hot. Keir was sitting in a chair, gaze fixed on them as if they might hatch any minute and fly away. Either that, or he was going to vomit soon. I couldn’t exactly tell which.

“Have you contacted anyone yet?” I asked, sitting opposite my old friend, the eggs between us.

Keir shook his head. “I’m still investigating who would be the best to approach.” He flinched. “I’m not sure there is a best option here, but I think a little prudence is called for. I stand by what was said earlier. If the parent of these eggs was still alive, then they would have been found long ago and likely the compound would be little more than caved-in rubble.”

I couldn’t disagree. “Then most likely their parent is deceased.”

Keir gave a slow nod. “But how did they die?” He finally moved his gaze from the eggs to me. I’d never seen Keir’s eyes so haunted. “Wyvern are hard to kill.” Keir swallowed hard. “Did… Do you think Huxley killed them? To get the eggs?”

Now I felt nauseous. “I think it’s entirely possible.”

Another slow nod. “If that’s the case, then the council has yet another atrocity to own up to. Not only wyvern egg theft, but the murder of their parent. I cannot imagine any wyvern would let that go easily.”

Neither could I. “Wyvern aren’t mindless animals. I have to believe they will understand. This wasn’t us. We didn’t know. We’re trying to solve the problem, not add to or compound it.”

“You could be correct. Goddess knows I hope you are. But there are no guarantees, not when it comes to offspring. Children are precious and rare in many of our communities, wyvern especially so.” Keir leaned forward, just as Tabitha did yesterday. His fingers reached out, as if to touch the eggs only to pull back. “They’re beautiful, what’s inside, doubly so.” Keir sat back, shoulders slumped. “What else has Huxley hidden in our walls, Martin?” Keir’s words were soft and full of agony. “Foolishly, I thought finding Hikaru’s tail remnant would be the worst offense, but this… Will each find bring even greater horror?”

My heart ached for my friend. “I don’t know. Unfortunately, there is only one way to find out.”

“Indeed, that is true. I never dreamed—not even in my darkest nightmares—what hiring Grayson Delarue would lead to.”

Something tightened in my chest. “Do you regret hiring him?”

Keir was quiet a beat too long for my comfort. “No. How can I? We cannot stop simply because we do not like what we find. The truth is too important. Huxley’s secrets need to be found. That is the only way we can purge the shadow born from our lives. It is the only way to truly move forward. We must right his wrongs.” Keir held up a hand, knowing what I was going to say next. “I know, Martin. I know I was not the one who did this, that none of us are guilty of the acts themselves. Our guilt is in our gullibility and naïveté, for allowing a monster to reign unchecked within our midst. It is our lack of earlier action that we must make amends and ask forgiveness for.”

“And we will be there, all of us, to beg such forgiveness, no matter who we must kneel before.”