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Harmiston smiled a tired smile. “It’s a good thing the Wraiths kick their own out for infractions so the rest can have somewhere to go when everything goes wrong.”
Nadia suppressed a smile. He was far from wrong. Right now, three outcasts were who the Bolts relied on for help. What they wanted with her, she wasn’t sure of yet.
“How many of you?” she repeated.
“Thirty-seven. We were thirty-nine when we came back, but those hybrids …” one of the other Bolts said.
“I understand.” Nadia allowed for sympathy in her voice.
“She really does,” Jurnek said. “They killed a hybrid on the way here.”
Every neutral gaze in the room turned on Nadia and Harmiston at that. Not that the feat had been easy, but she couldn’t quite read the room at that point. Why was that significant?
“There was more luck involved—” Harmiston began but was interrupted by Kuryk.
“Luck plays more of a role in battle than most think.”
“Uh … I don’t know how to respond to that,” Harmiston told Nadia. “You’re the one who speaks Wraith.”
“Why did you steal the bag of bland asphodel? That was a setup if ever I saw one.”
“Our mistake, Shadow,” a female Bolt said.
“Sentinel,” Nadia pointed out. “I’m not a Wraith anymore. You better remember that.” She recognized most of the faces around her, but had, as a Shadow Wraith, had less to do with their education than the Shields.
“We see you wear the colors of a Ghost. How is that even possible? It’s hard for a Wraith to be accepted among them.”
“I wasn’t a Wraith when I was taken into their fold,” Nadia said. “So, why did you try to lure me here? That was one of you following me in the Shade, wasn’t it?”
“We weren’t quite sure you were the one we were looking for,” Jurnek said with a look toward Kuryk and Peyra.
“We tried talking to you when Neelofar died,” Kuryk explained. “But I understand that you didn’t hear me then. The Bolts were already in trouble by that time. We were going to ask Neelofar for help, but …”
Nadia nodded her understanding of his grief. It seemed Neelofar was the best thing to happen to young cast-outs and orphans. “She would have taken you all in,” she told them. “Without hesitation and with a stern voice.”
Peyra smiled wistfully. She and Kuryk both knew exactly what Nadia was talking about.
“But none of this explains your need to involve a Ghost. Why did you try to lure me here?” she repeated. They had failed, but the almost murder of Jurnek by a hybrid had changed the situation back to their intended one. Nadia was there, and they were talking.
Jurnek looked at Kuryk and Peyra, but they both shrugged. This was the Bolts’ plan now. They were only helping their friends.
Jurnek looked around and in that moment, Nadia was sure he’d reach far in the ranks of the Wraiths. He was young and a little insecure, but a natural leader, nonetheless.
“We are at a point where we can’t afford to abide by old rules of conduct in the Cube,” he began. “The Cube isn’t ours anymore. We need to survive and grow stronger. We need someone to lead us. Train us. We can’t do that and become true Wraiths ourselves. And if we don’t, how will we ever kill those hybrids who have infested our city?”
“All right, I take it back, Nad,” Harmiston said. “No child talks like that. They’re Wraiths all right.”
“I told you.” She smiled her tight-lipped smile at him and then addressed Jurnek and the others with a serious face. “How does this explain your search for me?”
“We need you to be that leader. We have no one, and we’re asking for your help.”
Nadia inhaled slowly, considering this. Then she shook her head. “No. I am a Ghost now, not a Wraith. And the Ghosts do not intervene in Wraith business.”
“But you were one of us. You know everything we’re supposed to learn.”
Nadia hated the sound of her own voice at her answer, but it couldn’t be helped. “I will help you find a safer place than this. And I will provide for you the best I can, but I can’t become a halfway Wraith. That’s not how it’s done. Besides, I’m tasked with finding out what happened to all the Wraiths by the Queen. That’s what I have to do.”
“That’s all, huh?” Kuryk said, and something in his voice made Nadia look twice at him.
