Feargus

  When Sebastian announced that Elijah had blown the whistle, he’d meant that both figuratively and literally. See, I’d left the Historian with the Anima whistle to let the brothers know when the mayor was ready to receive us. So, I told the trees I’d see them later, and I joined Zack and Sebastian on the other side of the wall near the mayor’s residence. Then, it was only a matter of us all going invisible and slipping through the city gates unnoticed.

  Per the plan, Elijah would have told the mayor to expect us, and asked that any staff or family be removed from the premises before our arrival. While we made our way toward the estate, we clocked several people filing out. We gave it two minutes and twenty-three seconds after the last person was through the door before we approached it.

  The brothers dropped invisibility for all, and with my gloves still on, I knocked on the door three times using the polished silver knocker in the shape of a tree.

  Hannah Roth was young for mayor, I reckoned. While I didn’t actually ask her age, I’d have bet by the looks of things that she was no older than thirty-five. I wondered if she’d been in office during the Verena Revolt, or if she’d been appointed afterward. I’d tried asking Michael more about his experience, but he didn’t remember anything about Verena or his role in releasing all those Partisans the city was keeping captive.

  Also, Verena wasn’t something I’d had the chance to speak with Faust about.

  Anyhow, the mayor opened the door, revealing herself as an anomaly as far as Amali people go. Her hair was quite long and a lighter shade than most, reminding me a bit of Marta’s—or even Zack’s. Her eyes were a pale shade of golden brown. Elijah had warned us the mayor expected some measure of reverence, and typically, kneeling was an acceptable greeting.

  Well, the brothers would kneel to no one, and let’s be real: at the end of the day, the mayor didn’t give two figs about the strange Strachan at her feet. All that mattered were Zack and Sebastian. I looked over my shoulder briefly. Sebastian, in a sapphire blue suit, wearing a mask with the eyes blacked out, smiled winningly. Zack, wearing his pine-needle green suit and holding the Cursed Canticle cane with the sapphire topper, furrowed his brow.

  “Stand,” he said to me, and I stood—exactly the way we’d planned.

  “Now, please move,” Sebastian added.

  The mayor shuffled out of the way, making room for me to enter the estate, and when the brothers followed behind me, I joined Elijah, Della and Derek on the sidelines.

  With a flourish of his hand, Sebastian closed the door with his mind.

  And from the peanut gallery, we four watched while the mayor dropped to both knees, folding her hands in prayer much the way Quinn had done.

  “Highly unnecessary,” Zacharias said in that rumbling voice of his.

  But I could tell by the way he shifted in place, and the way the corner of his lip twitched, that he didn’t totally hate it.

  “Don’t mind Zacharias,” Sebastian added. “Worship to your heart’s content, darling.”

  While the brothers tiffed over whether to be worshiped, I had a quick peek over at Elijah who seemed relaxed. Della and Derek seemed fine, too, both of them cracking subtle smiles when they caught my eye.

  Zacharias jerked his fingers upward. “Get up, please,” he said, “and tell us your name.”

  For meeting the supposed One True God’s long lost prophets, mayor Roth was steady on her feet, and when she introduced herself, she did it in a confident, lower tone.

  “Sebastian Vonsinfonie,” Sebastian replied, “and it’s lovely to meet you, mayor Roth.”

  “Zacharias—and whether it’s lovely to meet you has yet to be determined. Where’s your skepticism? We could be any pair of lunatics claiming to be prophets while you’ve debased yourself to groveling at our feet.”

  “I don’t need proof,” Roth replied. “Will you all join me in my office?”

  At her lead, we made our way through the mayor’s estate, which was as fancy and as silvery as the rest of Verena. This was something we anticipated, mind you. While it wouldn’t sap us straightaway, there was a limited time in which we could be around so much silver without it affecting us at least a little bit. It’d be a slow degrade.

  When we arrived in the mayor’s office, she offered the two chairs in front of her desk to the brothers. Sebastian thanked her and was seated, but Zack shook his head, gesturing for me to sit instead.

  “You may have questions for our first apostle.”

  Hannah Roth raised a brow when I, the first apostle, took a seat.

  Zacharias hovered behind me.

  “Feargus Finlay.” I offered my hand across the table.

  The mayor took it and shook, but she looked to the brothers questioningly. “A Partisan?”

  “Is that so surprising?” Zacharias asked.

  On cue, Sebastian removed his mask, revealing his pale grey eyes.

  “I don’t underst—wait, I’ve seen you before.” The mayor finally looked skeptical now.

  “I do seem to recall you having visited once or twice while I was being held prisoner,” Sebastian answered.

  “Prisoner, I—”

  “No need to apologize, my friend. It isn’t your fault your people have been misled as have my very own children—the true chosen ones who’ve been misguided, manipulated, and enslaved by the Six for centuries. But my love for you all transcends transgression.”

  “Chosen ones…?”

  “Partisans, darling.” Sebastian tapped the corner of his eye.

  The mayor considered this for a moment before her attention drifted toward the other three at the back who wouldn’t speak until spoken to, so, they didn’t give her much.

  “And he’s…?” the mayor looked to me then.

  “The man who saved our souls and finally reunited us,” Zacharias answered.

  Aye, that was me—saviour of souls for the day. I nodded sagely.

  “An eyewitness named a Strachan,” the mayor said. “Are you the one who broke in and stole our research?”

  “He is,” Zack replied. “On our orders.”

  “Why?” the mayor asked.

  “Although we would be remiss not to thank you and your predecessors for looking after our home city, you’ve pointlessly tried to replicate my blessing through unethical experimentation on Barrens and Partisans,” Sebastian answered.

  “And on our trees,” Zacharias added.

  The mayor swallowed heavily, shaking her head. “Only to help you,” she said.

  “We appreciate that,” Sebastian continued, “and we forgive you, of course. But now our souls have been saved, and yet the Six must still be stopped.”

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  The mayor was quiet for a moment.

  “Are you from Palisade?” she asked me.

  “Aye, and I have this for you.” I pulled a folded letter out of one of the hidden pockets in my fancy new jacket, passing it across the desk.

  The mayor didn’t waste any time opening it, and I could tell she recognized Faust’s handwriting straightaway—even if it wasn’t Faust’s handwriting. Obviously, it was mine made to look like hers.

  We all watched while she read.

  “An invitation to join the rebellion?”

  “That’s about the gist,” I answered. “If we’re going to fight the Six, we’re going to need what you lot have: loads of silver and a safe place to send our allies where the wrong side of the Assembly would never think to look.”

  And probably the trees, too—but I kept that bit to myself.

  “Zelda Faust is behind this?” she clarified.

  “She sure is. Because let’s be real: she’s been planning this from the start.” Look, that was an educated guess on my part, but even if it wasn't true, I'd make it true. “Why else would she give you lot independence if not that she was planning to align in the future? She wanted her Partisans back, aye, but the relatively clean rescue operation led by Commander Reider and the independence she rewarded you was a gesture of good faith because you were never really a threat. No offense, but your silver wouldn’t do much against a few Celestian on a faraway ridge hurling fireballs at the city. If she wanted you wiped, you’d be wiped.”

  “And I would be working with you?” the mayor asked of me.

  “Aye, as the brothers’ first apostle and as Faust’s proxy.”

  The mayor looked to the letter again, nodding along as she re-read it. “This revelation will shake the foundation of what our people believe.”

  “To be fair, you were right about almost everything,” I said.

  The mayor smiled calmly. “Except that you’re not all agents of the Six.”

  “Basically,” I agreed.

  The silence was thick while she thought about everything we’d had to say, and for the third time, she read Faust’s letter. Zack laid a hand on my shoulder, and Sebastian leaned in and whispered something in my ear:

  “I don’t actually have anything to say,” he said.

  But I nodded as though he were saying something incredibly important.

  “Okay,” Roth said. “I hardly believed it when Elijah told me, but when I saw you—”

  Zacharias hummed.

  With another soft smile, the mayor stood from her chair. “Let me show you something.”

  Behind the desk, she removed the silk cover from a portrait she had laying against the wall. The portrait was of the brothers as adolescents, and mates, my heart burst into a thousand pieces. Sebastian, still looking vivacious as ever, his eyes concealed. Zacharias, a little lopsided but with his same serious expression. They were precious.

  But there were six others with them in the painting—a woman and a man on either side of them, and then to their left, another man and a woman accompanied by a young boy.

  “Our parents,” Zacharias said. “I remember this day.”

  “Who’s the other couple?” I asked.

  “Our mother’s sister, her husband, and our cousin Ezra,” Sebastian answered, then asking, “Mayor Roth, where did you get this?”

  “It’s a family heirloom,” the mayor replied. “I, like all the other mayors of Verena before me, are descendants of your aunt and uncle, and your cousin Ezra.”

  “That has to be, what, thirty-five? Forty generations?” Zack asked, incredulous.

  “Unless there’s been a mistake somewhere along the way, this is what we’ve all been led to believe.”

  “Remarkable,” Sebastian commented.

  The mayor nodded, seeming serene with that important lineage of hers. “What do you need of us presently?” she asked.

  Zacharias squeezed my shoulder gently.

  “Nothing at the moment, lady mayor. Just the promise of cooperation. Eventually, we’ll need a safe space that isn’t riddled with silver. If you’ll be housing Partisans, best they’re not useless. We’ll come up with an identification method and let you know. You should also know, you’re not alone. The members of the rebellion have influence over Oskari, Jaska, Istok, and Leberecht.” So, we hadn’t secured Leberecht yet, but I reckoned we would. “Also, we have your citizens. They’re safe, but they want to return home, so we need your guarantee they won’t be in any trouble and that you’ll stop the experiments.”

  “Would you need us to maintain production of the S-Series?”

  I nodded. “That’d be grand, actually.”

  “That would require the leaves of the Quercus Memoria.” She looked to the brothers then. “Is it true? That they are the same trees from your childhood home?”

  They weren’t, but the brothers nodded.

  “We’ve tried not to harm them more than what we thought was necessary, often collecting the leaves that have fallen over pruning them,” the mayor explained. “The bark was being used in the P-Series experimentation, but I’ll put a stop to that.”

  “You know, mayor, I’ll admit: I had a peek around the forest and only spotted two of those trees,” I started. “Why haven’t you grown more?”

  “They’ve never produced acorns.”

  I nodded thoughtfully, extending my hand across the desk again. “That’s everything, then.”

  After a moment, Hannah Roth shook my hand, speaking with that same dreamy smile on her face. “This is just incredible. I wish my parents were still around for this. I’m devout but they were die-hards, and this is just something else.”

  “I’m certain they would be proud of you,” Zacharias said.

  The mayor flushed, shrugging off the compliment, though Zack had clearly hit a sweet spot.

  “Unfortunately,” Zack continued, “we have responsibilities elsewhere. Your citizens are on their way back as we speak and should arrive within the day.”

  When Zack stood, so did the mayor, and so did Sebastian and I.

  After another handshake to seal our allegiance, Roth walked us to the front door.

  Outside, we all went invisible and made for the forest.

  The thing about the Quercos Memoria is that at first glance, they were just small oak trees. Nothing wrong with small trees—like I said, I love trees, and I love small things—but they might have been underwhelming to someone expecting something mystical.

  But not to Della. “They’re beautiful,” she said.

  “I trust they would find you visually appealing as well, Mrs. Trager,” Zack offered.

  Della laughed, and Derek gave her a hug.

  “So, who’s going to sing?” I asked.

  “It sounds like you’re volunteering,” Sebastian answered.

  “I’d think they’d want to hear the brothers perform,” Elijah suggested.

  “How about we all sing together?” I said.

  “We’ll do your song,” Zacharias added. “How did it go?”

  I reminded them of the lyrics without singing them.

  Derek grinned. “That’s adorable.”

  “You’re adorable,” I answered.

  “No, I’m adorable,” Sebastian added, and we all laughed.

  Frankly, we were all in a pretty good mood after the success of Operation Verena. Even Zack appeared amused. And then, all six of us sang the song.

  We were two words into the second verse when the ground rumbled and the branches lurched. One, two, three, four, five, six—one around each of our waists.

  All at once, we fell asleep, but in our dreams, we were still together.

  Standing in an open field surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of Memoria trees, Derek had his arm around Della’s waist. Elijah peered around, adjusting his spectacles. The brothers looked to each other and smiled. But then the hundreds of trees vanished, and there were only two. They didn’t have faces, so their mouths didn’t move, but the four overlapping voices, two male and two female, were the same as they were in my solo dream.

  “We've missed you,” they said. “We’re so sorry.”

  “We’re the ones who owe you an apology,” Zacharias answered.

  “We only wanted to give you forever. We didn’t know.”

  “And if we’d have known, we’d have done anything to keep you from harm. But we have been given forever,” Sebastian replied. “And now we can keep you safe for just as long.”

  Dream Zack nodded.

  “What can we do for you?” the trees asked.

  “We may yet need your help, but it won’t be for some time,” Zack explained.

  The trees trilled happily. “We have forever, too.”

  I grinned like a fool while Della and Elijah sniffled beside me. Derek just looked astonished.

  “They won’t be taking your skin anymore,” Sebastian said reassuringly.

  “We like our skin. We need our skin, and our skin does not grow back. But we wear our scars as proof of survival, and we will survive.”

  I supposed this was how Anima like Zack and Jakob were able to curate dreams, the same way the trees seemed to. We all wished we could have spent more time with them, but the longer we were gone, the more explaining we’d have to do.

  The trees woke us up, and before we left, they asked us to sing the song again.

  So, we did. The ground rumbled when we were finished.

  As we walked through the forest, Sebastian reached into his breast pocket for his handkerchief, citing allergies as the reason he was crying. For the record, Anima didn’t experience allergies. We all went along with it, but then—

  Sebastian stopped mid-step, palming something. “Zacharias,” he said. “Check your pocket.”

  Zack checked his pocket, and after a moment, the brothers revealed the surprise to the rest of us.

  The trees had given them each an acorn.