Sunblind Serpent: The Zodiac Without A House

”The officer knew the first warning.”

Silas adjusted the tape holding one side of his glasses together. ”But not the second.”

Dario leaned back against the workbench. ”Marek, that blank-faced young man, noticed.”

The depot had once serviced municipal vehicles. Most of the useful tools had already been taken. Three buses remained in the larger bay, none functional. One had a tree branch through its windshield despite there being no tree close enough to explain it.

Nobody had investigated that.

There were more immediate problems.

Nadia closed the office door behind her. Eren had already placed the bulletin on the table.

”Read the part again,” Dario said.

Eren sighed. ”I’ve read it four times.”

”Then a fifth will not hurt you.”

Eren considered arguing. Eventually, he did not. They were not close, but they were also not enemies. He needed other people to survive a world that had gone from merely detestable to genuinely wretched.

The paper had been taken from a temporary government station two districts away. Most of it concerned road closures, missing civilians, altered evacuation routes, and updated handling procedures for Awakened people.

Near the bottom was a short notice.

NON-NATIVE PERSONNEL HAVE BEEN CONFIRMED WITHIN LINDEN CITY.

Dario had already read that sentence several times, but what caught his attention more was the next part. All because he thought it mattered more than anything else at the moment.

Several unidentified individuals had reportedly entered Earth during the first hours following the Veil failure. Most had avoided direct contact with local authorities. Some did approach them, but they were speaking some language that was alien to Earth.

Eren continued, ”Male. Apparent House affiliation: Leo. Name provided as Rhovan Torsk.”

Dario repeated it quietly. ”Rhovan Torsk. That’s not a common name, I suppose.”

That stranger... that man had never introduced himself. Apparently, throwing six people around did not require one.

Eren read the next line. ”Classification provided by subject: Fifth Cycle.”

Nadia stared at the paper. ”That means nothing to me.”

”It means something,” Silas said.

”What?”

”He was stronger than Dario.”

Dario turned to him. ”Thank you.”

”You were wondering.”

”I was not.”

”You have complained about it every dark period since we got here.”

”I complained about him being thin and somehow being unreasonably sturdy as hell.”

Nadia almost smiled. Dario ignored her. It had been over a week, and they had grown closer to one another, having resolved the unnecessary shooting incident before, which was not actually intended to hurt anyone.

They had also managed to obtain Stillglass Seals, which helped them understand more of their abilities. Only more, though. Not completely.

Dario was still bothered by the fact that he was outdone by a slender young man. Effortlessly, at that. It also somehow irked him that this young man looked arrogant but at the same time, he felt like a celebrity who stepped out of the television.

The Taurus officer on Route Eight had been strong. Dario understood that better now. They had possessed the same Mark, but the officer had several hours of practice and had already learned how much force his body could produce without throwing it everywhere.

Rhovan Torsk had been different.

Dario had planted himself hard enough to crack the floor beneath one foot. For several seconds, he had actually managed to force Rhovan backward.

Then everyone in the corridor had turned toward them.

The gold-white light had become brighter.

After that, Dario had stopped moving forward.

”Fifth Cycle,” Dario said. ”And we’re what?”

Eren checked the bulletin again. ”It doesn’t say.”

”Useful.”

Silas leaned forward. ”I wonder what these cycles mean. Plus, it says he is non-native. That’s basically admitting that he’s an alien or something.”

”We already knew the fact that he is a non-native.”

Nadia took the bulletin from Eren before the argument could continue. The next section was less certain.

PURPOSE OF ENTRY: OBSERVATION/INVESTIGATION OF NEWBORN WORLD STATUS.

ARRIVAL ASSOCIATED WITH VEIL INTEGRITY FAILURE.

Below that were two additional entries.

AFFILIATION: HOUSE OF LEO.

LOCAL AUTHORITY STATUS: UNRESOLVED.

Nadia lowered the page. ”So he basically came here to watch us?”

”Apparently,” Eren said.

Dario thought about the detention center.

Nearly forty people had been gathered in the processing area when they arrived. Guards, detainees, medical staff, clerks, and civilians who had been brought inside after their Marks appeared.

Rhovan had been standing among them before Dario’s group reached the corridor. At the time, Dario had assumed he was helping the guards restore control.

He was no longer sure what he had been doing.

Silas tapped one finger against the table. ”I saw him before we reached the processing corridor.”

Dario turned toward him. ”From where?”

”Second floor.”

”You didn’t mention that.”

”We were escaping.”

”That has not stopped you from mentioning other things.”

Silas ignored him. ”He was moving people.”

”Moving them where?”

”Different places. Taurus bearers were being taken away from narrow rooms. Aries went toward the wider areas. I saw two Gemini bearers moved away from the communications desk.”

Nadia stopped reading.

Dario frowned. ”You saw him ordering that?”

”I saw him speaking to the guards. Then the guards moved them.”

Dario remembered the corridor again. Rhovan had told the four officers behind him to hold the line. Something had passed between them, and afterward the officers had moved differently. They had stopped hesitating over each other. Two had moved the civilians back while the others secured the side entrance.

Whatever that had been, it had not looked like normal authority.

Nadia asked, ”Did you see an Ophiuchus bearer or something?”

Silas shook his head. ”I wouldn’t be able to correctly identify them unless we have concrete information.”

Dario remembered the exact words anyway.

’If you find a black central Mark surrounded by thirteen separated scales, do not place unstable Awakened beside them.’

Then, the shorter warning:

’Do not provoke them.’

A little more than a week later, the order bothered him more than the fight did. The security officer on Route Eight had known one of those instructions.

But again, he was unaware of the other one.

”That’s where the warning came from,” Dario said.

Nadia looked at him. ”From Rhovan.”

”At least part of it.”

Eren took the bulletin back. ”The guards heard it from him. Then, somehow it reached everyone’s ears.”

Dario remembered the Ophiuchus-marked young man on Route Eight questioning the security officer.

’Who had given the order?’

’Where had it come from?’

’Did the officer know who first issued it?’

Dario had said nothing about Rhovan. At the time, there had been no reason to tell Marek about a stranger who had thrown him into a wall, knew too much about their Marks, and claimed not to be from Earth.

Marek had still noticed that the instructions did not match.

”That kid knew something was wrong,” Dario said.

Nadia frowned. ”Marek?”

”Yes.”

”He’s not a kid.”

”He looks nineteen.”

”He probably is nineteen.”

”That is a kid.”

Eren folded the bulletin. ”What exactly do you want to do with that information?”

Dario did not answer immediately.

They were still wanted.

The government report described them as escaped detainees in one section and persons of interest in another. Dario did not know which description he preferred. At least escaped detainee was specific.

Kellan had left before Route Eight ended. Rafe had gone his own way, and the shots from the pharmacy had ended any discussion about it.

Nadia had remained hidden for most of the following light period before finding Dario and Silas. Eren had joined them later. Since then, they had spent most of the week moving whenever temporary checkpoints appeared too close to wherever they were staying.

They just wanted to survive. If the government caught them again, Dario doubted they would be allowed to simply walk away a second time. Constantly moving was exhausting, but it still seemed better than being locked inside another facility while nobody explained what would happen to them.

Dario tapped the folded bulletin. ”Rhovan knew about Taurus.”

Silas nodded. ”Aries.”

”Gemini.” Nadia crossed her arms.

”And Ophiuchus,” Dario finished. ”Before the officer on Route Eight even knew all the instructions.”

”He knew more than the government,” Eren said.

”Maybe more than that officer,” Nadia corrected, crossing her arms across her protruding chest. ”Those are not the same thing.”

Dario considered it. ”Fine.”

”That famous Dr. Mercer knew too,” Silas said.

That stopped the argument.

Dr. Elias Mercer had become difficult to avoid. His name appeared in emergency broadcasts, internal notices, and half-finished reports copied between temporary government stations. Some described him as an adviser. Others still called him a person of interest.

Neither description explained why he had known about the Signs before most people had names for their own Marks.

Dario disliked having two men who knew too much. Especially when one of them had admitted he was not from Earth. Dr. Mercer might actually be the same. He sighed in defeat as his mind could not keep up with what was constantly happening.

Silas unfolded the bulletin again. ”There is another problem.”

”Of course there is,” Dario grumbled.

”Rhovan didn’t stop us from escaping,” Silas continued.

Dario frowned. ”He beat us.”

”Yes.”

”And?”

”He never told the guards to put us back.”

Dario stopped.

Silas was right.

Rhovan had told the officers to give Taurus and Aries more space. He had warned them about Gemini and voice-dependent systems. Then he had given them instructions about Ophiuchus.

He had never told anyone to return Dario’s group to their cells. The guards had done that themselves after Rhovan left.

When the detention center failed again later, Rhovan was already gone.

Nadia leaned against the table. ”Then why fight us?”

”Because we attacked him,” Eren said.

Dario looked at him.

Eren shrugged slightly.

That answer was irritatingly simple.

Dario rubbed the place along his shoulder that had hit the wall. The bruise had mostly disappeared. ”Fine. Then why gather everyone there?”

Nobody answered.

Silas had seen Rhovan moving different Marks into different parts of the building. The bulletin said he had entered Earth to observe and investigate. Neither explained why nearly forty people had ended up around the same processing corridor.

A sound came from the larger vehicle bay.

All four stopped talking.

Something moved between the abandoned buses.

Silas raised one hand.

Dario listened.

Footsteps crossed the concrete outside the office. Fast at first, then slower as they approached the broken side entrance.

A figure entered the bay.

Kellan Mora stepped through the doorway with dried blood along one sleeve. His Aries Mark was glowing faintly beneath the torn shoulder of his shirt.

Dario stood. ”Where have you been?”

Kellan closed the door behind him.

Nadia examined the blood. ”Is that yours?”

”Some of it.”

Dario stepped away from the workbench. ”Did you find Rafe?”

”No.” Kellan reached inside his jacket and removed a folded sheet of paper.

He dropped it onto the table. A photograph had been printed across the top. The black clothing was different, but Dario recognized the face immediately.

Rhovan Torsk.

Kellan placed one finger beneath the photograph.

”He’s still in Linden.”