A face appeared in the glass, but it wasn’t his.
A young girl was staring back at Rui, her large brown eyes looking toobig for her face. The ends of her dark brown curls were ashy, like the color was fading.
“Hello,” she said.
“Hi? Who are you?” said Rui, noticing the skull print on the girl’s purple dress. Was she a Reaper too? “Where’s Nikai?”
“Nikai cannot speak at the moment.”
“Did he send you? Does he have an update? Has he found out anything about the blue—” Rui bit her tongue. Why were the words spilling out of her mouth? Even through the mirror, she could feel a force pushing her to speak.
Rui had a sudden inkling who this girl might be.
The little girl quirked her head. “Show me your blue fire.”
“I can’t—it bursts out of me randomly. I can’t control it.”
“Randomly?” The girl seemed disappointed. “There should have been a pattern. But maybe you fail to see it.”
“There isn’t. It comes out of my hands, but I’ve used my sword with it once. I think it was a fluke and—” Rui cursed angrily. “I will speak because I want to, not because you’re making me. I don’t know how you’re doing it through this piece of glass, but I know what you’re doing,Seven.” Damned if she addressed a little girl withYour Majesty.
She felt the force releasing her.
Seven giggled. “Clever... what a clever little bug you are. You’re pretty, too. I can see why he likes you.”
Was she talking about Nikai?
“Why did you contact me?” Rui asked. “Do you have a message for me?”
“I guess.” Seven made no move to elaborate.
Rui’s patience was wearing thin. The Kings of Hell were an annoying bunch. “Out with it,” she said sternly.
Seven widened her eyes. “Nikai has discovered who contains Four’s power.”
Who?Was Seven saying that the other vessel was a person, too? Whatwere the odds of Four choosing two different humans; one to contain his power, one to house his soul?
Suddenly, Seven made herself small, pulling in her arms and legs like she was afraid. “The Nothing is coming,” she whispered. Her lips lost their color, and her face was pallid. She looked like she was fading, just like her hair. “You must save us, Rui. If the underworld ceases to exist, there will be nowhere for the souls to go. They will not be collected, they will wander aimlessly in your realm, and the Blight will take them.”
The glass flickered, and the edges of Seven’s face blurred. She was still mouthing something.
“What are you saying? I can’t hear you,” said Rui, picking up the mirror.
“...is waiting... will tell you...”
“Is Nikai waiting for me? Does he want to meet to tell me who the vessel is?”
The glass flickered again.
Seven’s face vanished, and Rui was left with a disembodied whisper.
“...he is waiting beneath the stairway to heaven ...”
46
Yiran
Yiran listened to the rhythmic tip-tapping of rain splattering off zinc roofs and onto potholed roads as he trudged down the uneven path. He was cold and wet and miserable. This wasn’t how he thought his first mission would go.
