She swallowed hard, turning to face Logan, to be sure he’d recovered before moving to help the others. He took a deep breath, filling his lungs with air for what might have been the first time since he’d been struck, and hugged her to his chest. “It’s over,” he promised, “it’s all going to be fine.”
She choked on the feeling of relief, barking out what was not entirely a laugh, and they moved together toward the others. The sudden stillness was gone, replaced by shuffling feet and confirmations of a kind of roll call. She stood in the center of the floor, her sister beside her as they took stock of the aftermath, and then Aern’s gaze set on the only remaining row of trees and Brianna’s heart went cold.
Logan cursed.
All eyes fell to the line of figures approaching from the west, the sun at their backs. They were of average height, and though their expressions were not especially menacing, the group of five wore long, white silk cloaks and moved in a striking synchronism that made Brianna’s skin crawl. The air grew still and she realized it was not the spectacle that was sending tingles over her skin, however disturbing it might be. It was the recognition, that instinct inside her that said shadow.
The line stopped a dozen paces before them and Emily leaned sideways a fraction of an inch, not taking her eyes off the scene to whisper, “I forgot to ask, do all of the shadows want to kill us?”
Brianna didn’t answer, but the warning inside her did not scream run. She felt the calmness in Aern, too, the way he stood at ease on Emily’s other side, waiting. It was over. They were safe.
They had to be.
The row of shadows moved, raising their hands to draw the hoods of their cloaks back and reveal their faces. Brianna felt those around her let out a collective breath, because the sinister air about them was suddenly gone. There were five of them, all women, but no two alike. Beneath their cloaks, they were just people. Shadows, but not threatening, somehow almost serene and pleasant. Not that they were smiling.
A tallish brunette with olive skin stood on the end, eyes roaming the crowd, and Brianna realized the others had moved. The soldiers of the Seven were gathering behind her. She scanned the line, hoping for some jolt of recognition, some sign from her vision, but there was nothing. Her gaze caught on the farthest shadow, white-blonde hair and faint blue eyes, but the woman did not so much as blink in recognition.
The centermost woman stepped forward, her hands crossing in front of her to clasp, elbows-out in a strange, formal posture. She inclined her head, bowing slightly over them, and said, “The sisters Drake.”
It was clearly meant as a greeting, but Brianna was dumbfounded as to how to respond. Emily, not so much.
“Who are you?” she asked, plainly ready to get this over with.
“We are the prophets,” the woman answered. “The last remaining seers of the ancient line.” Her hands dropped from their pose, falling to the side to give her stance a more normal appearance. Though Emily had asked the question, the woman had never taken her eyes off Brianna. “We have used our power to help guide you,” she said. “To bring this end despite fortune’s will to have it otherwise.”
Brianna glanced at the bodies of the ancients on the floor between them, finally beginning to understand what Callan had meant. “They were using you,” Brianna said, “and Callan kept you from seeing where Emily and I were, what we were capable of.”
The woman’s expression did not change. “The son of Acacius was of no consequence. We let him live as a means to an end. So that he would bring you to us.” She gestured toward the ground. “To this.”
To kill the ancients who were using the prophets for their own gain.
“So the prophecy…” Brianna said.
“The prophecy is real,” the woman replied. “But those who hold the prophecies hold the future.”
She got a flash then, the briefest impression of these five prophets, separated in chambers and unable to communicate or coordinate the lies they would tell the ancients. No way of keeping one another safe without hiding all truth. Callan hadn’t used them, they had used Callan. But they had told the ancients Brianna and Emily would destroy the world with their rule? Or had she meant the other prophecy was true, the one regarding Emily?
The woman smiled, a knowing look. She saw that the questions were there, saw they were purposely being left unsaid. She was no stranger to the obligations of a prophet. “We have done what we can for now, Brianna Drake. We have changed this fate so that we may all survive.”
Brianna’s thoughts were racing, going back over every vision and clue she’d gathered the last few weeks. It was not a coincidence that she’d envisioned the ancients Callan was blocking her from. Not an accident he’d kept it all hidden.
“You sent me the dreams,” she whispered.