Those Who are Not

Chapter 5: The Gift

     Xancel and I have met up every day since the day we first went on assignment together. We always had gotten done with our work at the same time so it just became routine for us to meet at the mansion. We wouldn't really do anything out of the ordinary, but we would joke around and talk about the other members and enjoy ice cream until the sun went down. However, one day something looked wrong in Xancel's eyes.
     "Come on, what's bothering you?" I asked, trying not to budge into his business but also a bit concerned.
     "Do you really have no memory of who you were?" He looked down at the front path leading up to the front doors of the mansion, the fallen pillars of the walkway crumbling around it. He looked serious for the first time since I've known him.
     "As far as I know, I don't remember anything except for my gem." I wrapped my palm around my emerald. "Why do you ask?"
     But Xancel never answered. I didn't want to intrude, so we just sat in silence for a while as the sun set through the dense trees as they swayed in the breeze. Then finally, he broke the silence by pointing at the sun.
     "Have you ever wondered why the sky turns red as the sun sets?" He summoned one of his sickles and threw it in the air a couple times. "As the sun goes down, light travels farther and farther to get to us, and it just so happens that the farther light has to go, the warmer it looks to us, which is why we see red and orange."
     "Yeah, you would know that!" I playfully nudged his arm and we both laughed for a while.
     The next morning, Vaix budged into my room, without knocking, and said that the husks were being called to the Tall Room for a very important meeting. I took my seat, two seats to the left of Marxed. Everyone had their hoods on, so I did the same. I tried to mimic what I saw everyone doing in my initiation. Marxed stood up and spoke first.
     "We have one more new member. She is gifted like Noxcron and will be useful to us in the process of reaching our goal." As soon as he said 'new member,' I immediately looked down to where I was a little over a month ago while he started the initiation process. As expected, a cloaked figure stood in the center of all of the chairs. However, this husk's cloak had no trim. This cloak had no pattern. It was completely empty with black. I could barely even tell what Marxed was saying while I was focused on the new member just standing there. She is probably feeling what I felt when I first arrived. Marxed said that she's gifted like me, does she have a gem too? There's no more chairs for her, there's only supposed to be nine members... When I finally snapped out of my thoughts, everyone else was faded away, and I sat alone in the Tall Room with the new husk, before she walked out without even noticing I was even there. I decided I would talk about it to Xancel later.
     "Did you see that new girl? She kinda gives me the creeps." We both sat on the roof again today, talking about the new member.
     "Marxed said that she was gifted like me... does she have a gem too?" I asked. Xancel looked puzzled.
     "Wait, he said that? I usually don't pay attention in those meetings. But even if she did have a gem, no one knows because no one has done an assignment with her yet. Nobody even knows her name!" He leaned back to relax and watch the sunset. We already finished our ice creams, as usual. I just kept thinking about the new member. I felt like I knew her, even though I have yet to see her under the hood. Xancel decided to head back to the castle, but I just sat there in the twilight, wondering the day away.