Roses and Thorns

27- Daughter of Death

"Morgan!" calls Blitz.

Morgan hurries along, tapping something against Blitz's back with her paw.

Blitz translates as she goes, "We need to leave right now. Nimbus and Lark are already providing cover for us but we still don't have long. Is that clear?"

"Cover for what?" I ask, still dizzy with adrenaline.
"They don't know they're providing it, but we need to keep every authority figure in the town busy long as possible, especially if you're bringing him along."

"Where are we going?" I ask.

"The graveyard."

We rush through the sunset, side by side. Sirius sticks tantalizingly close to my side, and yet the two of us could not be further apart. He glances back at me, eyes full of sadness, and I know he's thinking the same thing. Still, with a pang in my heart, I realize he's mimicking the way we ran when he had the collar around his neck, when I was leading him at the festival.

"You weren't restrained by that either." I state, far too much hurt in my voice.

"What?" he asks.

"The collar."

"It shocks automatically." he replies. "Pressure activated, not magic. Could've broken it if I tried, though. Wouldn't have recognized my paws ripping it to shreds." He smirks at that, "Should've."

"You are the absolute worst." I growl.

"Save it for the murderer. She's about to reveal herself as the mastermind behind all this or shatter the paradigms of your life a little further."

We rush through the last bush of brambles, and I notice with a bitter satisfaction that the short fur of Hunter's ears is knotted with thorns. He tries to shake them off, wincing, but that only seems to deliver more pain. I want to tear my own thorns out or lick my wounds, but the pain is nothing in comparison to the anticipation. I walk past the graves, following Blitz and Morgan, and find that Morgan is turning the earth where my sister lay.

"S-stop! Don't... please..." I rush forwards, but Blitz holds me back. Morgan steps back, revealing no body beneath the earth. I cry out, pushing against Blitz's bulk, clawing at him, trying to magically force him away, but I'm too weak and panicked. Blitz steps aside and I look into the grave, staring at the enormity of absolute nothing, and Morgan nudges my side, depositing small stars onto the ground.

No, not stars- crystals.

Alabaster's crystals.

Blitz translates, "She says she was there for the murder, but that she never would have been believed on her own. She had no evidence, no way to convey it, and once the body was gone, it's likely everyone would have believed she stole it. She only came out tonight because there are innocent lives on the line... because..." he pauses. "This is word for word."

Morgan dips her head as he continues to the sound of the patter of her paws on Blitz's. He continued, "'I may not have committed the crime, but my reluctance to help has made me a collaborator in this bloody, awful game. I admit I feared for my own life many a dark night, stood by on many an eve, and got so close so many times only to stop myself. I have been a coward and a fool and could not be more sorry.'"

I look to Sirius, who is by omission, as guilty as she of prolonging the crime. He looks back with a quizzical expression. "Should we?" he whispers.

I nod. For now, we trust her.

There's that we again. He knows it's there. He knows my heart is racing right now at the thought of it, the thought of us.

Straightening myself out and keeping my gaze away from the ruined earth, I say, "No one is dead yet. No one but..." My breath catches. "Calliope. Oh Verhamera. If you weren't draining her energy, then what's happening to her?"