To Overthrow the Guardians

Chapter 3: The Darkness Within

Whisper knocked on the door to Matt and Haven's office, her blue hand bare of violet spots unlike the right side of her face. She had something to tell the Sloans, and it wasn't good. She heard the low whispers on the other side of the door silence.

"Who is it?" Haven called.

Whisper knocked again. Since she couldn't see Matt and Haven, she couldn't use her mind to speak to them. She could make some sort of noise with her throat, but that would be embarrassing. That would be how a child would speak, with sounds instead of words. Not a Prophecy Person of her age.

"Is that you, Whisper?" Matt asked.

Whisper knocked again, as if to say "yes."

"Come in," Haven said. Whisper tried to turn the knob but found that she couldn't. "Oh, it's locked. I'll get it." Whisper heard her get up, push in a chair, walk over to the door, and twist the doorknob. Then it opened.

"I have some news about Mallory," Whisper told her. Haven frowned, and Whisper spoke her sentence to Matt as well.

"As do we," Haven said. "I'm sure we have similar messages to give to each other." Oh no. What had Mallory done?

Whisper walked in, and Haven shut and locked the door behind her as she went over and sat back down in her chair. They wanted to have a private conversation, apparently. But something had been bothering her since approaching the headquarters. Something in the room stuck out like a tall bushy tree in a flat empty plain. There was a darkness inside of Haven, and as Whisper looked at her, Whisper saw that Haven's eyes were a different color than usual.

"Haven, are you okay?" Whisper asked. Haven's worried smile turned into a quivering frown, and Whisper relayed the message to Matt.

"What's in me?" Haven asked. Whisper stared at her a little longer, thinking before she responded.

"A darkness similar to Mallory's, but not quite the same. They are on the same side, definitely, but they're not completely identical."

"Are you okay, Whisper?" Haven asked. "Tooth just came by and told us that most of the cured children are turning immoral for some reason. I'm one of them. The rest will probably follow, even you."

Whisper's all-blue eyes went wide. No, she couldn't become a villain! She tugged on a strand of the curly white hair she kept up in a high ponytail.

And she soon thought of Sneak. Over the years, she had become rather close to him, and she couldn't bear the thought of him becoming corrupted as well, especially since he was the only completely-Prophecy Person being she knew. She looked to Matt. He never gave up on anything.

"We need to make a cure," she told him and his wife. They both nodded, one after the other. "But I want you both to promise me something." Matt furrowed his eyebrows. "If I go bad, I want you to lock me up. I don't want to cause anyone harm."

"As long as you lock up me too," Haven said.

"Haven!" Matt exclaimed.

"I'm serious. Call the police. Lock me away. I don't want to torment you like I did when I was a Fearling."

"But I'll miss..."

"Promise us!" Haven said. "Wouldn't you want to be locked up if you were in our position?"

That made Matt pause. "Fine. But I'm not going to hurt you. Either of you."

"And there's something I came to tell you," Whisper said. "Mallory's gotten worse. He says that he's getting better, but I have a feeling that it's just a lie. The voices have taken hold of him. He believes them now." She paused. "I can't believe I didn't sense the darkness in us earlier. I should've." But could she even sense darkness in herself at all? She detected none at the moment, but maybe it was to come later, or maybe her darkness-sensing ability only extended to outside her own body.

"Yeah, we've heard a story about Mallory," Matt said.

"Don't be hard on yourself," Haven told Whisper. "Maybe it was just too weak before now." That had to be the reason.

"Apparently, Mallory sent Beth Howard out to kill Pitch, and she refused, so he fired her and her friend," Matt said. "Pitch's daughter came to tell us this so we would rehire them. I could've sworn I saw Beth earlier, though, and Mallory hasn't come by the tell us he's fired them, so he probably hasn't really done it yet. We plan on giving him leave until he is safe for everyone."

"Who are you going to replace him with?" Whisper asked. Matt opened his mouth but closed it.

"We...haven't thought of that yet," Haven admitted. "I know we need someone to take over his work, but it doesn't feel right to replace him. We will, though. We just need to find someone trustworthy." She paused. "Did you find Beatrice and Fracture?"

Whisper shook her head. "No. I'll have to wait until Christmas, when North finds out where they live."

"Well, it will be a nice Christmas present, don't you think?" Haven said with a smile.

"Yeah," Whisper replied, but something occurred to her. She probably wouldn't make it until Christmas unless she could somehow keep the corruption away or a cure was created in time. "As long as I can hold off the darkness until then. I can't believe that that's...happening to me." She hadn't done anything wrong yet, but when would it start?

"I've only heard of one Prophecy Person going bad ever," she continued. "He began using his Prophecy for his own personal gain, and he was banished from The to prevent him from knowing about and tampering with anyone else's." Her father had told her this. He had watched it happen before she was born. Since he had had the important Prophecy of the spirit and mortal realms eventually collapsing into one, and the immoral one was trying to elevate his own soul to live in both the spirit and mortal dimensions, her father was one of the people who had wanted him gone. The immoral one's actions would have made the Prophecy be fulfilled too soon. It was a relief that he hadn't been there when she got her Prophecy of darkness or light triumphing completely over the Golden Age, or he could have maybe twisted it in his favor, accepting bribes from either side in return for messing with it.

Whisper stood up. "I want to see the children." Especially Sneak. "I wish I had one of North's snowglobes left, but I used them all."

"You could stay here with us until Christmas," Haven offered. "Or until a neighbor kid loses a tooth, or you see Sandy or Jack."

"Thank you," Whisper said, though she would much rather go see how Sneak was doing.

"But first maybe you could help us break the news to Mallory," Matt said.

"Yes, I guess I could."