Secret of Betrayal: Book Two of The Destroyer Trilogy (17 page)

Braden doesn’t say anything as he starts
walking. I’m studiously looking at my feet as we move forward, but I feel it
the instant we get to the barrier. I’ve never even managed to get this close on
my own before. We were both here earlier tonight when I attempted to break my
block, but this time I don’t know what to expect. I feel like a child again,
hovering on the edge of the unknown, and knowing that taking the first step
might very well be a terrible mistake. I sigh, and tell myself that at least I
can’t break any more bones here.

No, the worst that can happen to me in this
place is dying. But then again, there’s always a pretty good chance of that
happening in the physical world, too.

Squeezing my hand lightly, Braden asks, “Are you
ready?”

I nod, and then falter. “What do I do?”

“Same thing as earlier, just make the choice to
enter and step forward. The barrier is real, but it’s more a boundary than a
wall. Nothing is keeping you out, but you, Libby.”

“Okay then, let’s go,” I say, sounding much more
confident than I feel. Braden smiles and we step forward together.

The light bends around us, wrapping us in its
unearthly power, filling me until it feels as if I will burst. I can feel it
running through my body. It cleanses and purifies me. I feel whole for the
first time, though I never knew I was missing this piece of my life in the
first place. Giddiness bubbles in my chest and I can’t believe I have been
without this for so long. I could have been here years ago if I had only tried.
Braden smiles as though greeting an old friend. I am too shocked to do much of
anything besides stand there with my mouth open.

“Come on,” he says softly, “Daniel should know
I’m here by now. He’ll meet us on the other side of the boundary.”

“Who’s Daniel?” I ask as I follow him forward.

“He’s a friend of mine. We’ve known each other
for years. He won’t try to hurt either of us, and he might be able to help us
find the Ciphers you’re looking for.”

Another few
steps,
and
the comfort of the boundary falls away. Softly glowing light erupts from
everywhere at once. Formless and strange, it is the most beautiful place I have
ever seen. It takes me a moment to even realize that there is someone standing
in front of us. An elderly man with a pleasant smile steps forward and hugs
Braden warmly.

“Braden, it’s been a while. I was beginning to
think you’d forgotten about me,” Daniel says.

“Of course not.
I’ve
just been unusually busy lately.”

Daniel glances over at me and his smile widens.
“Yes, I can see that. Who is this lovely young lady?”

“Daniel, this is Libby Sparks.”

“Libby … Sparks,” Daniel says slowly. “There are
quite a few people here who are waiting to speak to you, my dear.”

“Yes, I know, sir. That’s why I’ve come,” I say.

Whatever Daniel is thinking at the moment, he
doesn’t share it with me. His pensive eyes turn back to Braden. “I never
expected you to be the one to bring the Destroyer here, son.”

“Neither did I, but things don’t always work out
the way you planned, do they?”

“No, I suppose not.” Daniel watches Braden
carefully for a moment longer before letting himself smile again. He claps his
younger friend on the shoulder and laughs. “Maybe this will help redeem you
with some of the others.”

Braden scoffs. “I doubt it.”

His friend just shrugs. “Well, I guess we’ll
see. Libby, my dear, I’ll take you to Saia if you’d like. She’s the one who
keeps everybody in order around here. She’s been hoping to speak with you for
quite some time.” He holds his hand out to me. I frown and question my need to
hold onto him. Daniel laughs at my hesitation. “You are quite new here, Libby.
This world looks simple and uncomplicated, but it is very easy to get lost.
We’ll make it to Saia faster if you let me lead you.”

Braden doesn’t seem to object, so I say, “Um,
okay.”

I pull my hand out of Braden’s, missing his
touch in spite of myself, and stop. My statuesque pose draws Braden’s and
Daniel’s attention. I stare, completely mesmerized at the thin filament of
spiritual energy connecting me to Braden. I pull my hand further away, but the
strand remains intact. Slowly, I turn my hand in a circle just to see what will
happen. The filament twirls around my fingers as I twist, then simply
straightens back out when I stop. I don’t even realize that the same phenomenon
is being repeated between our other hands until Braden presses his palms to
mine and pulls them away slowly. His boyish amusement makes me laugh.

“Now
that
is truly interesting,” Daniel
says, “but Saia is waiting. Take my hand, please, Libby.”

It’s a difficult thing to take my eyes off the
connection, and even harder to pull my hand away from Braden’s. But I know I
must. I take Daniel’s aged hand and the world around us blurs into
insubstantial mist. I concentrate as hard as I can, but I catch very little of
our trip. Only when the mists swirl and come to rest at my feet can I see
clearly again. A crowd of faces blink at me from the circle. The mixture of
stormy emotions in their expressions brings my earlier experience back to my
mind and I take a reflexive step back. Braden’s hand on my back calms me
instantly.

This isn’t my nightmare. This is my only hope.

I scan the faces in front of me and stop when I find
someone I recognize. The tall, beautiful woman I met while trying to break my
block smiles at me with such hope and happiness that I momentarily feel as if I
am a cloud myself. Right away, I know who she must be by the way the others
step graciously out of her way.

“Saia?”
I ask.

She beams at me. “Cassia, Libby, we have waited
so long for you to find us. You have no idea how much hope seeing you here
brings
to us. I must apologize for what happened to Casey.
Casey has been a friend to us for a long time. None of us wanted to see her
hurt, but there are a group of Ciphers who have grown very impatient waiting
for you to arrive. You need not worry about them, though. The Spiritualists
guarding us have already punished them.”

“That’s good, I guess,” I say. Given that it’s
really my fault the whole incident happened in the first place, I don’t like
the idea of the Spiritualists harming any of the Ciphers, but they really can’t
go around attacking people whenever they want.

“Saia, I have a million questions for you, but
you all wanted me here for a specific reason. Casey said something bad was
happening,
that Ciphers are disappearing. What more can you
tell me about that?”

Frowning deeply, Saia says, “For the past
several months, we have been losing people. Only five so far, but we’re a
close-knit group. Every one of them is missed greatly. We didn’t know what was
happening at first, but the last Cipher that disappeared was seen just before
it happened. Their spirit wavered and then disappeared completely, just as it
does when a Cipher’s body is about to die. But these five were all young and
healthy. The only time we witness a Cipher die is when their bodies wear out. I
don’t know what happens after that. They must turn into Sihirs, but we assume
the Guardians have some way of countering the
chnage
.”

“They must know when a Cipher is getting close
to death so they can prepare for it,” I say. I felt as if I had discovered some
expertly hidden truth when I thought of the Guardians finding sacrifices for
each Cipher, but they had to have been killing them all along. There’s no way
for the Spiritualists to take a Cipher back out of the spirit world once
they’re here. They would have had to figure out a way to keep the Sihirs in
check centuries ago. Being locked in the spirit world certainly doesn’t make a
person immortal.

Braden looks over at me with a doubtful
expression. I shake my head and mentally promise to explain the reality of
Sihirs to him later. “So do you have any idea what happened to the missing Ciphers?”

“Yes, Libby.
They’re
dead. This place has a special connection with death since death is the only
thing that can separate a body and spirit completely. Those of us that have
been here for a long time can feel it when a Cipher dies. We felt each of their
deaths.” She hangs her head with grief, as does everyone else in the crowd. “We
need you to stop this from happening again, Libby. We can’t do anything
ourselves. We are completely helpless here.”

“I’m trying to find a way to help you, Saia, to
help everyone here. We’re having a hard time figuring out how to get around the
Guardians and Spiritualists.” Every plan we’ve come up with so far has fizzled
out to everyone getting killed.
Not very hopeful.

The bell-like sound of Saia’s laughter surprises
me. “I wouldn’t suggest going up against the Guardians if that can be avoided,
but what do you mean you don’t know how to get around the Spiritualists? You’re
here, aren’t you?”

“Well, yeah, but how does that help?”

“It helps because they can’t see anything you do
here. They have no idea you’re in the spirit world at all.”

“How can that be? Casey told me about shielding
herself when she’s here, but I don’t know how to do that yet.”

Saia smiles at my confusion. “Shielding only
blurs what the Spiritualists can see. It doesn’t prevent them from knowing
you’re here.”

“Then why don’t they know I’m here?”

“Have you ever known another person beside
yourself who has both Spiritualism and Concealment?” Saia asks.

“Well, aside from Milo, no, I guess I haven’t. That’s
why they can’t tell I’m here? My Concealment is canceling out my Spiritual
presence? I didn’t think that would work. Actually, I didn’t even think about
it. I just figured the Spiritualists would find me no matter what I did since
they’re so strong.” I can’t believe something so simple hadn’t crossed my mind
before now. I have never even noticed that those two talents are never paired
together. How is that even possible? Talents can follow bloodlines, of course,
but otherwise they are supposed to be random.

“Milo,” Saia says, “who is Milo?”

Her question brings me out of my thoughts. “He’s
my boyfriend.” I throw that in for Braden’s benefit. “He used to be a Cipher,
but after I did a second Inquest on him he had six talents. The only one he’s
missing is Vision.”

Saia gasps.
“A Cipher?
And he was never taken?”

“No, his parents convinced the Inquisitor to
forge his Inquest and they went into hiding. He’s not the first, I’ve learned
from the Cipher families I’ve met, but most are caught and killed pretty
quickly,” I say. Another question occurs to me and I don’t hesitate to ask.
“Why don’t you know about Milo? You seem to know about everyone else.”

“We can’t see our own kind. They have no
talents, so we are blind to them. This place allows us to see power and its
effects, not people.”

“Huh,” Braden says, “I wonder if that applies to
Seekers, too.”

So do
I
. But that is a
conversation for another day. “Saia, I came here tonight not only because of
the Ciphers that are disappearing but because I need to know how to get all of
you out of here. We’ve been trying to figure it out, but we’re just not getting
very far.”

“I have already given you part of the answer,
and I think you have just given yourself the other half of the answer,” she
says.

“I have?”

She nods eagerly. “Yes. The Spiritualists can’t
track you here. They won’t be able to stop you from doing for us what you did
for Milo. None of us can escape this place on our own because we can’t get out
of the spirit world without talents. If you unlock our talents here, we’ll be
able to escape.”

“You want me to perform Inquests on everyone
here? Is that even possible? Don’t I need to be in contact with your physical
body for that to work?” I ask.

Braden chuckles behind me, and I have the intense
desire to smack him until I realize most of the crowd is doing the same thing.
Leaning close to my ear, Braden says, “Libby, even here, the body and spirit
aren’t actually separated. You touch someone’s spirit and you are in contact
with their body, too.”

Then, in an attempt to mollify my embarrassment,
Braden turns to Saia. “I don’t want you to think Libby has no idea what she’s
doing, because she does, but you’ll have to excuse her for not knowing certain
things. She has been unable to reach the spirit world for more than five years.
That’s why she didn’t come to you sooner. She only broke through her block
earlier tonight.”

“Oh dear,” Saia says. “You have had quite the
evening, haven’t you?”

I just sigh and try not to groan. I’ve had quite
the … well, life.

“Look, Saia,” I say, “I want to start freeing
you right now, but I don’t think that would be the best idea. Once I start, the
Guardians are going to notice their prisoners waking up and wandering around,
even if the Spiritualists don’t. This is going to have to be a one shot deal.
It’s going to take a lot of planning,” I say.

“But what about the
disappearances?”
Someone asks from the crowd. “How are you going to stop
those? We can’t lose any more Ciphers.”

“I don’t know. If we knew who was going to be
taken next maybe I could do something, but I don’t know how we could know
that.” Maybe if I could get more information about each of the five taken we
could figure out a pattern. Are they all Ciphers from the compound nearest me,
or are they from all over the world?

Braden leaving my side startles me. I turn to
look at him. He looks genuinely nervous facing this crowd. I hadn’t even
noticed until now that he had any real fear of being here. In fact, I think he
might have been hiding behind me up this whole time.
But not
anymore.
He opens himself up to the people he may very well have helped
put here.