"Raziel, take care of the horses, make sure they're fed." Anubis took a few matches from her pocket, setting fire to dry kindling in an empty hearth. Her face lit up in oranges and reds as she softly blew on the scraps of bark and moss until it glowed brighter and filled up the darkness of the fireplace. "Vasco and Lio, gather firewood—I believe tonight is going to be a cold night."

She looked to them, shivering in the cold of the abandoned cabin. It wasn't much, but it had a roof, three rooms, and some furniture—even a straw bed in one room. Whoever had owned the place had left in a hurry, leaving behind molded and rat-eaten bags of food.

"What about Jameson and me?" Dante asked carefully, crossing her arms tightly over her chest as she shivered in the cold emptiness.

"See what you can find for food. Our rations are running low and anything warm would be appreciated."

Dante's stomach growled at the thought of a warm meal. She thought back to snowy days in Kantloe where Ketil would make her tea and they'd pass the day reading various books about everything they could. Raziel would lounge in his oversized armchair, legs thrown over the back to where he almost hung upside down like a bat. And he wold remain there, a pencil between his teeth as he quickly wrote or chronicled or decrypted information. Even Anubis would come out to pass the time with the three of them, hunched over in her rocking chair, a pair of thick glasses perched on the edge of her nose so she could see the tiny gears of the clocks or watches or even basic automatons she loved to build.

Dante would have given anything for that moment—for a thick blanket over her shoulders, a thick book in her lap, Ketil knitting beside her while the others dabbled in their crafts. If they ever returned to Rajsend, now she would have Jameson and Vasco and Lio to add to the mix. She could almost imagine them all sitting around, preoccupied with small tasks and their own worlds, but an unmistakable presence.

Jameson pressed a hand to her shoulder, emptying some of his pack before shouldering it again. "We'll see if the people of this land will spare their scraps for two poor beggars." He bowed his head to Anubis before ducking out into the cold.

Dante followed him, burrowing into her scarf as a cold burst of wind whipped into them. "We're not really going to beg, are we?"

"There's nothing inherently wrong with begging—it's quite humbling." He trudged over the snow, reaching a clearing where multiple tracks of horses and oxen and their various carts marked the snow. "Lord knows, I've begged for food before."

Dante looked up at him, eyes tracing the scars across his face. "How old are you?"

His eyebrows furrowed. "How old am I? That's a good question." He paused. "I was twenty one when I entered Greenwater. And I've learned that I spent something like six years in prison."

"You're twenty-seven then?"

Jameson nodded, "I guess I am. I didn't even think about it. I'm twenty-seven years old." He shook his head quickly, "by this time my father already had four children and a plot of land. But I've been in prison instead."

"You're not much older than Raziel, he's twenty-five."

"But he's done something with his life. I wasted years in prison and watched my best friend die in the process."

Dante took his hand, "you can still make a difference, you know? You're with us now and we all have a job to do, something world-changing."

He nodded, "it's just weird to think of all that's changed in six years."

Through the trees they could spot a small farmhouse sitting alone amongst a plot of plowed land. "We'll see if these people can spare us something."

Dante still had a million different questions to ask him, but remained silent as they walked through the trees to the doorstep of the house.

Hounds brayed as they approached and Dante winced, watching a few dogs jump at them from chains. "I don't like this, Jameson."

"Don't be scared." He stepped onto the porch of the house as the door swung open.

A woman greeted them with a knife. "What is it that you want?"

Jameson stepped back, Dante behind him.

"Could you spare a meal for travelers?" Jameson whispered, watching the woman's face for any sign of emotion.

She shut the door on them.

"Well that didn't work." Dante sighed, crossing her arms tightly over her chest.

Jameson nodded, turning around. "Let's move on."

The door opened slowly, a young girl peeking her head out at them. Dante met her eyes and she tossed a small loaf of bread onto the porch. Dante grabbed it quickly, still feeling the warmth that radiated from its crust.

Jameson smiled, "Anubis will be pleased." He tore off a small piece, handing it to Dante. Her stomach growled and she ate quickly, barely tasting it.

Jameson ate his own piece slowly, savoring every bite. "There's nothing that humbles a man quite like hunger."

Dante looked up at him with wide eyes and he smiled. He had a terribly lopsided smile, one that stretched a little too far and showed crooked teeth. It was a good thing to see him smile. Dante could feel his hurt sometimes—his hurt and pain, so thick that it bled out in his sleep and sometimes into his waking moments.

She just took his hand as they walked, the forests urning into farmland.

"I bet these people have something to eat. Look at this land..." he let out a whistle. "This is what my family wanted to have, but instead they got something small, something that could barely support us. Tell you what, life isn't kind to a sharecropper."

"Oh I know. My father used to be a sharecropper, before he ruined his knee and started drinking. Then he just transported goods to and from market." She thought back on her father, some of the details of his face blurry. "I still miss him."

Jameson turned onto a long road, staring up at the trees that lined the roads. Dante recognized them as cherry trees—there used to be orchards full of them where she grew up.

"What's your real name? Dante can't be your real name. How did you even get that name?"

She looked to him with a raised brow. "Ketil told me not to say it, but it's Zorada Comtois. My father called me Zora." She shook her head. "After my father died and the Inquisition attempted to have me executed, Raziel found me and brought me back to the Spire. Anubis suggested I take a new name and I turned to a book. I took the name of my favorite character." She laughed, "silly isn't it?"

"I don't think so."

"They all have different names. Anubis' name is Katherine—can you believe that? Something so normal for someone like her. Then you have Vasco, his name is Nilo, I overheard him tell Ketil. And Raziel, well that's his father's name, his actual name is something with a T, but I can't remember."

Jameson stopped, pointing to what looked like a chicken house. "I'm sure they have food to spare here."

Dante stepped toward the chicken coop, looking at a few hens that roosted in the boxes. She looped a finger through the wire, scratching at a hen that refused to stare at her.

Jameson grabbed her wrist, "you don't want anyone to think we're stealing, do you?"

"No, I just wanted to look at the c—"

A man's voice interrupted her. "What do you think you're doing?! Stealing my hens! Thief! Thieves!"

Jameson grabbed her by the arm, pulling her away. "We're not thieves! Dante, stay behind me."

The angry man stomped toward them, a pitchfork in his hands. "You didn't think I'd catch you? For three days you people have been killing my livestock! My cattle and my sheep, even an ox!"

"No!" Dante yelled. "Jameson, tell him that we're just passing through!"

Jameson shook his head. "Put down the pitchfork, there is no need to overreact. We're just passing through."

"I have people to support, people I care about! I can't feed my family if you're killing my animals!"

"We haven't touched anything of yours." Jameson grabbed her by the wrist, "let's go Dante." He spun around to turn, but stopped, letting out a single long yelp.

Dante looked to him as he touched the blood that trickled down his shirt and jacket. His fingers traced around his chest, and he examined the red that stained the pads of his index fingers. He fell to his knees and the farmer took a step back, staring at the gore staining his pitchfork.

She took a step back as Jameson let out a grunt, falling a little more in the snow. He was really bleeding now. Dante could feel the rush of blood trying to escape his body.

"Run, Zora. Get help." Jameson's voice came out as a small whimper. "Get Raziel. Get Anubis."

Dante took off running through the snow as the farmer looked up to her. She did as he said, running hard and fast through the snow, sobbing as she did. She looked back at Jameson, his blood pooling against the sea of white.

Her feet hit the well worn forest path. Now she was running faster, trees and brambles hiding her. She ran even faster, blindly, all sense a bitter memory.

Raziel would save him. Anubis would save him. He would be okay.

She turned into the woods near the cabin, running straight into Anubis.

"Dante?" The woman looked down at her. "What's wrong? Where is Jameson?"

Lio appeared beside her and Dante grabbed onto his jacket, her hands balling into fists. "Jameson! They're killing him!"

Lio's eyes widened. "What?!"

"The farmer stabbed him with a pitchfork!" She sobbed and Anubis held onto her.

Anubis looked to the man now, "Lio."

Lio knelt in the snow. "Where is he?"

"By the house near the cherry trees. Follow my tracks." Dante wheezed.

Raziel came out of the cabin now, eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "What's going on?"

"Jameson's in trouble," Lio said, exhaling a long breath.

Dante looked back at him, holding tighter to Anubis.

"Come on Dante," Raziel said slowly.

He took her by the hand, carefully leading her into one of the other rooms. Dante sobbed into him.

"Are you hurt?" He sat her down in a wicker chair, kneeling in front of her.

"He stabbed Jameson." She was hyperventilating now, her hand braced against the wall.

Raziel looked away. "I can heal him. He'll be okay."

"I could feel him dying, Raziel." Her voice shook. "I could feel his bleeding. He's dying! He's going to die!"

"Anubis can bring him back."

"He won't be the same." She sobbed, holding tightly onto him. He hummed softly, stroking her hair as she clung to his coat. "It's okay. He's going to be okay. None of us are going to die."

The door opened and Dante looked up to see Anubis standing like a shadow behind them. "Raziel, Dante and I need to have a talk."

Raziel straightened up, looking back to her. "Anubis, don't—"

"Go, Raziel."

"She's a kid!"

"We don't get that privilege, Raziel, and it's time she started acting like it." For a moment, Dante thought she would slap him across the face, but the moment passed. "It's time we had a talk. One that I learned the hard way."

Raziel shook his head, "Katherine, please, I'm begging you to just let it lie."

"Don't call me Katherine." She pushed past him, kneeling in front of the girl. "Raziel, go."

He finally did, shutting the door.

"Stop crying. Straighten up." Anubis eyed her with ice in her stare. "Jameson is dead."

She sniffled, letting out a stifled sob.

"You could have saved him. It wouldn't have come to this." She stood with her arms clasped behind her, head lifted proudly. "If you would have taken quick, decisive action, Jameson would not be dead."

"No," Dante whispered, her hands covering her face. "Stop, Anubis. Please."

"No. It's time you learned a thing or two about us. Riesun are considered a curse from a plague. In the early years, entire villages would be burnt if a riesun was spotted. We were hunted like rats. Children, elderly, even the unborn—it didn't matter who. And for as long as we exist, we're going to be hunted down and slaughtered. You are a riesun, like it or not, and you are going to have to fight for your right to stay alive. You are going to have to fight for the people you love. If you had been decisive and had temporarily incapacitated that farmer, Jameson would be alive. Do you understand?"

Dante bit her lip hard.

"You not taking action is selfish. If you could stop someone from dying, why would you hesitate? Why would you hold back? All you do is run, Dante. It's time you stopped running and stood up for yourself and the people you care for! People depend on you and you act like a useless human paperweight!"

The door opened and Vasco stepped in, his head bowed so his hair hang in his face. "Lio's back."

Anubis nodded. "You will stay here."

The cabin door opened and Dante watched from the cracked door as Lio stepped inside, carrying Jameson's body over his shoulder. Blood coated the man, dripping from his fingers behind Lio in a thin trail.

"The farmer decided to more than kill him," Lio whispered to the. "...it's bad."

Dante ran past Anubis, the woman grabbing her around the waist to stop her. "No! No! Please! Jameson!" She screamed, kicking Anubis as she held her back. The tears came hot and fast over her cheeks.

Lio sat Jameson's body against the table, hie head bowed over the dead man.

Dead.

He was dead because of her.

Her hands clenched into fists and for a moment she lost all control of her ability.

Anubis cursed, letting her go as her nose gushed blood.

Dante looked back to her, Anubis wiping the back of her gloved hand across her face. Blood smeared against her cheeks. She looked to the younger girl with a frown, pressing her hand against her nose to stanch the blood. "Vasco, take care of this."

Vasco took her by the hand, leading her back into the room and shut the door. He lifted a finger over his lips for her to be quiet before staring out the crack between the door and frame. Dante still cried, holding onto him tightly, but watched and listened to the others.

"You can't bring him back, Anubis. He wouldn't want to live. Look at him—who wants to live looking like that?" Lio pressed his face into the curve of Anubis' neck, holding her closer. "There is nothing you could have done. He sacrificed himself to save her."

She took a long breath, walking away from him. "I can save him."

"No, you can't. You can't keep him alive like this."

"Raziel!"

"No Anubis."

She leaned over Jameson, her gloved fingers opening his eyes. She let out a small noise. "Raziel, you're going to heal him."

Lio and Raziel both made a noise.

Dante held her breath.

"What do you mean? I can't heal the dead." Raziel finally said. He touched Jameson's ashen skin. "Anubis, let him remain dead."

"No."

"Let him remain dead." Raziel paused. "Katherine, please. His life will be filled with pain if you bring him back."

"I told you not to call me Katherine."

"You can't seriously think about this. He won't want to live like this."

Anubis' face was a sheet of apathy, her eyes staring at him. She looked to Lio and then back to Raziel. "I don't think you understand, Sousa. This is an order." She grabbed the revolver from her belt, pressing the barrel to Raziel's chest. "I will repeat myself only once. I will bring him back and you will heal him. Understand?"

Dante and Vasco both let out a small gasp, pressing their faces against the door in an attempt to see more.

Raziel's eyes finally showed one emotion—fear. His eyes met Anubis'. "You'll just shoot me then? You'll kill me after everything we've been through?"

Anubis pulled back the hammer. "I will, Raziel. I will bring you back, but I will kill you first. And as you know, death changes people."

"This is a bad idea. He won't be the same. He won't live."

Anubis lifted her head, "it's a risk I'm willing to take."

They stared at each other for a long while before Raziel dropped his head. "Get to it then. I hope you know what you're doing."

Anubis released her grip on the pistol, letting it fall to the table.

"This is more than a simple puncture wound, Anubis. His body has been brutalized..."

"I can see that, Raziel."

"And you believe he's worth saving when he's mincemeat?"

"I will take care of it. Just do as I say."

Raziel only nodded as Anubis removed her gloves, beginning the process of bringing him back.

Dante sat back, Vasco beside her. They shared a look before Dante curled up into a ball in the corner, lost to grief and anger.

She would make that man pay for what he'd done. Anubis was right. It was time she started acting like a riesun.