SAGE (under edit)

Prologue

On the day Sage's world shattered, she spent most of it smiling.

'He's probably sleeping, you know,' said Sage, stifling a giggle.

Leon looked down at her with an eye-creasing smile and said, 'I wouldn't be surprised if he was.'

Chase Suragi stood on Sage's other side, looking sullen as he regarded the ground while they walked. Sage leaned toward him and nudged his side with her elbow.

'Hey,' he exclaimed, snapping out of his thoughts. 'What was that for?'

'If you keep frowning like that—'

'The wind will change and your face will stay that way,' Leon intoned. He reached over and ruffled Chase's hair, which was a brown so dark it often seemed black.

Chase swatted Leon's hand away. 'Stop it. I'm almost fourteen, I'm not a kid anymore.'

'That hurts, Chase,' Leon said, acting wounded. 'You know how much it pains me to imagine you all grown up and fourteen.'

Sage laughed before she could stop herself, and when Chase glared at her she quickly covered her mouth.

'Don't encourage him, Sage,' Chase told her, and then he hurried his pace to stalk ahead.

'Oh, I think he might really be upset,' said Sage softly.

Leon shook his head, still grinning. 'He's just trying to act like his big brother.'

'But Raidan never gets upset,' she pointed out, and at the mention of Chase's brother her cheeks flushed.

'True,' Leon said, nodding, 'but Chase is trying to be like Raidan in a sense that Raidan is rather mature for his age, and quietly reserved. He rarely joins in a joke, too.'

'Unless he's with Dean,' Sage added with a smile. Her brother always managed to crack Raidan's sombre and serious demeanour. She often thought that it was her brother who reminded Raidan that he was, despite his skills and the responsibilities placed on him, still a kid.

'Unless he's with Dean,' Leon conceded. 'Considering Dean is probably taking his regular afternoon nap, we'll go get Raidan first.'

Sage caught up to Chase and leaned into his side, encouraging him to look at her with a smile. He sighed, slung an arm around her shoulders, and said, 'Don't worry about it. I'm not mad.'

'Good,' she said, though she knew deep down that he could never truly be upset with her. 'What do you think Leon will train you all in today?'

Chase frowned at her. 'He'll train you too.'

'Oh,' Sage murmured, pulling away from Chase. 'No, he doesn't need to. I'll only slow you down.'

'Don't be stupid,' Chase said. 'Just because you don't have the right combat skills now doesn't mean you won't ever have them, you know. You're smarter than all of us combined, except when you say stupid things like that.'

She smiled shyly. 'Thanks.'

With Leon sauntering behind them, Chase and Sage reached the Suragi house first. It was more of a manor than a house, Sage had always thought. It was also built on one of the largest plots of land in the city's northern civilian district, and could be found at the end of a wide cul-de-sac with several other houses either side that were almost as large. Though the manor was impressive, Sage had thought of it as rather plain and... lonely.

It wasn't the tiled rooftop of dark grey like most civilian manors had, nor the mute-green front gardens that were trimmed and without any flowers to offer more colour. It was the flagstone wall, and imposing steel gates, that were always closed.

Which was why Sage was surprised to find them open today.

Chase paused before entering and turned back to Leon. 'Do you want me to get¾'

At Chase's sudden silence, Sage turned as well. Leon stood a few paces back, but his entire demeanour had changed. No longer was he grinning or slouching with his hands in his pockets. Instead he stood, his eyes had narrowed, and he was staring at Chase's house as if he could see through its walls.

'Chase, stay out here with Sage,' he ordered, marching past them.

'What? Hey, wait!'

'Stay out here!' Leon told them again, his voice like a crack of thunder that made Sage flinch.

Leon bypassed the front door to skirt the side of the house, disappearing from view. Sage was instantly nervous, if only because Leon rarely raised his voice; something had to be wrong.

Ignoring Leon's instructions, Chase huffed in irritation and then ran through the gates.

'Chase!' Sage cried out, running after him out of instinct.

She reached him as he stopped at the front door, which she now realised had been left open by the tiniest gap. Chase frowned, but then he pushed the door open fully to let himself in, Sage a step behind him.

'Chase,' she whispered. 'Leon said that we should¾'

Her sentence ended with a gasp as they came to the living area, and her hands flew up not only to cover her mouth but to stifle the smell of blood that pervaded the air.

In the middle of the living area, between the expensive furniture and sprawled across the polished floorboards, was Chase's uncle. Blood covered his front and pooled at his back, and crouching over him was Leon who checked for a pulse. There was so much blood Sage didn't expect there to be a pulse at all, but Chase's uncle suddenly spluttered, heaving a deep, blood-filled cough that made Chase run to him.

'Uncle!'

'Raidan,' his uncle croaked, his face contorting with pain.

'What's happened?' Chase demanded. 'Is my brother okay?'

His uncle looked straight to Chase, eyes wide and round, and said, 'He – he attacked me.'

'Who? Who hurt you?' said Chase, his gaze flicking worriedly over to Leon.

'Raidan.'

Chase's brow furrowed in confusion. 'Raidan wouldn't¾'

'Dean,' his uncle gasped and Sage felt her heart skip a beat at her brother's name. 'He'll kill – kill Dean – he's a traitor¾' He grimaced one last time, and then he stopped.

Chase was still as well, his mouth open with shock as he stared at his uncle. Sage looked up to Leon, her voice quaking as she called his name, but his harsh expression made her shirk back.

Then Leon was scooping Sage into his arms, and hauling Chase to his feet before they were all running from the Suragi manor with the body of Chase's uncle left behind. Sage didn't even realise it was raining until a shiver set in, her clothes plastered to her body where she was curled against Leon's side, his arms holding her tightly as he ran.

The apartment she and her brother lived in was smaller than half of Chase's home, and housed only their minimal belongings. It was the place where most of Sage's memories had been created, where Dean had taught her how to cook and tucked her in every night because there was no one else to do it, and where Dean stayed awake with her playing games after she'd woken from a nightmare, and where Dean now lay on the floor, bleeding, bruised and – and not moving.

Raidan, dark-haired and blue-eyed, stood over Dean, a bloodstained dagger in hand and an expression so cold, so like stone, that it changed his face entirely. Around him – around Dean – the lounge was in chaos, with blood staining Sage's favourite blanket that lay discarded on the ground, shattered glass littered the floor from the broken table and the frame of the photo that had sat atop it – a photo of all of them, smiling, happy, unbreakable – and in the middle of it all was Dean.

Sage cried out for her brother but Leon didn't let her go, and Chase stepped forward before Leon could stop him, saying, 'How could you?'

Leon placed Sage down, but pushed her and Chase behind him as he moved to stand between them and Raidan, as if he was protecting them. They weren't supposed to need protection from Raidan though; Raidan protected them. He always had. So why – why was he—?

'Raidan, wait!' Leon shouted, just as Raidan shattered the window beside him and fled.