Of course on the day they searched the village, the sky decided to open up and rain icy, white fury over Hedalda. Snow fell in harsh slants, coating the roads and buildings. But it wasn't enough to deter Octavia. Her resolve was fiery enough to keep her going through a raging blizzard.

She'd risen bright and early and dragged Quintus and Sicero out of bed to search every inch of the village. They'd checked the Cathedral, the Hall, all the residences on the northern side of the town. The farm the bakery, the back road where her old residence sat. Only one building remained.

Octavia mounted the steps of the florist shop with Sicero and Quintus in tow. The bell chimed above their heads and the scents of flowers, spices and fruits greeted them along with hammering from the rear of the building.

Quintus rang the bell on the unmanned counter while Sicero laid out a thick roll of paper, searching for the building plans for the shop. Levi was supposed to accompany them, since he knew every building in the village inside and out, but he'd given Sicero the plans and elected to stay with his daughter.

Octavia planned to have a long talk with Lyra after this mess with the netherborne blew over. The child needed to know what she was up against, along with the options available to her. All two of them.

She perused the display of candles and picked up a thick one that smelled of lavender and another that smelled of citrus and poppy seed. Her room at the Cathedral stunk neglect and the Divine City's lies, and her rose-scented candle was running low.

"Three rooms down here, five rooms upstairs," Sicero said, arching a brow as she laid the candles on the counter. She didn't dignify the quizzical look in his eyes with a response. After all she'd endured, she deserved something nice.

Quintus banged the bell a few more times in quick succession.

The hammering stopped, and Pauletta rushed in from the back. "Good day, how can I help you?" She adjusted the bonnet holding back her auburn hair from her sweat-slicked forehead and rubbed her hands on her sawdust coated apron.

Octavia hadn't seen Arietta's mother since the Winter Ball. She'd caught glimpses of Eli and all the other parents when they came to pick up their children from the Cathedral.

"Nice seeing you again," said with a cordial smile.

"You too." Pauletta nodded at the candles. "Would you like to buy these?"

Sicero cleared his throat, cutting into their conversation. "Actually, we're conducting mandatory searches of all buildings in the village. We won't be long, and you're free to join us if you wish."

"I see. Well, Eli isn't here and..." Her words trailed off when Quintus pushed past the counter and disappeared into a room at the back.

"We won't be long, I promise." Octavia reached into her satchel for a pouch of coin. "For the candles. Sicero, we should check upstairs."

The High Priest led the way to the narrow stairwell, and up to the second floor. The quaint little, living room was just as Octavia remembered, minus Arietta bundled up on the couch. A folded blanket sat in her place instead.

"I'll start with the kitchen, so I don't get in your way," The High Priest said.

While Sicero searched with his eyes, she would search with her power. She closed her eyes and flicked her bell, her power trailing the chime and sneaking into every corner and crack of the home. The vibrations sunk into the walls and floors seeking any trace of dead or undead. They spoke to her in hushed whispers and told her nothing was here.

But that didn't mean this place held no secrets. Octavia rolled up her sleeves and tied her bell in her hair. She searched the chairs first, sticking her hands under the cushions, but found only dust and stray crumbs of food. A forgotten shoe sat under the couch, coated in a layer of dust.

Ashes littered the bottom of the hearth and only smooth wall was behind the painting above it. The books on the mantle were a mix of woodworking manuals and children's literature.

All the seams around the floor molding connected, and no telling imperfections marred the walls. She pushed the coffee table away and lifted the rug, gagging when a cloud of dust enveloped her. Nothing but more neglect hid under there.

Pounding footfalls sounded from the stairwell and Quintus appeared in the entrance a moment later. "Nothing downstairs."

Octavia put the rug back, using the dirt circle to help her orient it. "Nothing up here either." She put the coffee table back, matching the legs to the impressions in the rug and pat the dust from her clothes.

"The kitchen and bath are clear," Sicero said as he joined them. "Only the two bedrooms remain unsearched."

Quintus clapped Octavia on the shoulder. "Rest your feet. We'll take care of it."

Octavia sat on the couch and went to rub her face, but the dirt and grime on her hands made her curl them into fists instead. The village was half destroyed, and they hadn't found a shred of a nightwalker anywhere. The weight of it all bore down on her shoulders, forcing her body into a defeated hunch.

She didn't understand. Finding a nightwalker shouldn't be this difficult. Unless a nightwalker wasn't to blame. What else could it be? She ground her teeth together. A netherborne? Kaleri. Perhaps that beast had lied to her, and it wasn't a casual observer. It knew sin and symphony and could call the netherborne to Hedalda with a song.

But something in the back of her mind rejected that theory. Keleri could destroy them on her own, without the netherborne, and if that was the beast's plan along, it would've done it already. No, it had to be someone in the village—a practiced liar, even better than Octavia.

Interrogating the villagers was their next step, and if that plan failed, they would have no other choice but to accept defeat and evacuate the village. A hundred refugees was nothing compared to the larger scale evacuations she'd witnessed. The people of Hedalda weren't poor or lawless. Jaredeth could absorb them into his empire with little trouble.

But the person who'd allowed such a tragedy to befall Hedalda would still be amongst them. No, she couldn't allow such a person into Avaly's borders. They needed to find the conspirator. Quintus wasn't above anything when it came to prying information from people. While she hated such brutal tactics, the end would justify the means.

"We're all clear here," Quintus announced when he returned to the living room. "There's a hole in the closet of that kid's bedroom. It leads down to the storeroom, but apart from that, nothing of interest."

Sicero joined them a moment later, but only shook his head. "Is there anything else we can do short of evacuating the island?"

Quintus shrugged. "There is, but it's not going to be pretty if I have any hand in it. This place is driving me to madness and I'm bloodthirsty."

"Excuse me." They jumped at the sound of the voice.

Eli stood by the small hall, with a sleeping Arietta in his arms. "What are you all doing in my house?"

"Sorry for the inconvenience, Eli." Sicero held up the rolled up plans. "Mandatory search, every house, every building, you know how it goes. Apologies for the inconvenience."

He dropped Arietta's school bag by the entrance. "I see. It's fine then. Anything I can do to help?"

"Thanks, but I think we're done here?" The High Priest looked to Octavia, and she nodded.

She wanted to ask about Arietta, but thought better of it. Her last interaction with Eli wasn't the best. So, she only gave him a nod as she passed by.

"We need to head back to the Council Hall. I'd like to discuss this with Beatrix as well," she said as they headed downstairs. Her candles sat wrapped in cloth and vibrant purple ribbon on the counter, and she grabbed them before exiting the shop.

They piled into the carriage and rolled along the main road. She remembered the first time she'd taken this road. A pile of rubble sat where the inn and armoury used to be, and trees no longer obstructed the view of her old residence. With no bridge to cross, they were forced to round the pond, which made the carriage ride twice as long.

Octavia tore her eyes away from the windows and settled them on Sicero instead—a much better sight than the village. He sat opposite her, ankle crossed over his knee as he stared out the window. A crease marred his brow, and her hand twitched with the urge to smooth it away.

He closed his eyes briefly, and when he opened them again, his eyes met hers. A hot wave of shame fell over her shoulders, but it was too late to look away.

"Is something the matter?" he asked.

"I..." Octavia searched her brain for something and to use as an excuse. "Have you always had that bit of white in your hair."

He reached up and smoothed the white lock together with the rest of his curls. "No. I'm not sure where it came from. But it's been there since that night."

Quintus looked back and forth between them. "That night? He was there?"

"Do you remember that boy I found in the wheat fields? Unconscious. Riddled with blight," she added when he shrugged.

"Wait. That was him?!" He groaned deep in his throat, making a sound akin to gagging. "Had I known he'd become a priest, I would've chucked him in the river."

Octavia shook her head, before turning her attention back to Sicero. "It was likely the blight that shocked your hair white then. It always has some strange, cosmetic side-effect in non-necromancers."

"Sometimes, long-term exposure to the blight can cause those changes as well," Quintus added.

"Indeed, and..." Words failed her as a thought blitzed across her mind like a rogue bolt of lightning. Exposure to the blight. "Sicero, how long have the netherborne been breaching barrier?"

The High Priest frowned and gave the floor a thoughtful look. "A little over a year."

"That would be long enough." Octavia bit her lip, her thoughts racing. "I have an idea."

When they arrived at the Hall, the snow lightened to gentle flurries. They met the vestibule empty but voices drifted in from the atrium. There they found Beatrix deep in conversation with Pilar. She smiled as she explained to the elder woman her plans for the Cathedral after the Priests left, her eyes bright and countenance radiating with hope.

As the Head Councilor turned to greet them, the aura of hope didn't diminish, if anything, it brightened. "Did you find anything?"

Octavia grimaced. How much more hope would she dash away before the scourge was gone. "No, but there's something else I'd like to try. Can we to speak with you privately? You too, Pilar. I may need your help."

"We can use my office." While Beatrix led the way there, Octavia ran through her plan. While there was potential for backlash, it was better than the alternative.

In the office, Beatrix, Sicero and Pilar sat around the desk, while Quintus stood by the door. Octavia paced the floor, wearing down the hand woven rug. "I didn't want it to come to this, but we need to switch tactics. We've searched buildings, now we need to search people."

Beatrix leaned forward I'm her seat, arms folded stop her desk.

"I'm not sure what we're looking for anymore. We've checked and sounded every room of every building in this village, yet we've found no evidence of a nightwalker."

"And how will searching people lead us to it?" Sicero asked.

"If someone here has been exposed to the blight for more than a few months, it will show on their extremities," Quintus explained. "Their head, their hands or feet will have some notable change."

"And." Octavia stopped pacing and turned to face him. "The nightwalker couldn't come into the village without someone knowing about it."

Beatrix stood up fast enough to knock over her chair. Her aura of hope morphed into one of fury, her eye glinting as she stared daggers at Octavia. "What? Did you know about this all along?"

She nodded.

"Why didn't you say something? We could hold hearings, interrogations. This problem could have been solved already." She slammed a fist down on the desk, and a cup of pens careened off the side.

"Are all of you people so disgustingly impulsive?" Quintus asked. "Think about it. If we cause a big ruckus, people will throw accusations around, gossiping, alienating one another. We've dealt with situations where ordinary humans and even necromancers were colluding with the netherborne. It gets ugly fast."

With slow, stiff movements, the Head Councilor lowered righted her chair and sank into it. She worried the edge of her eye patch, gaze unfocused as she stared at the desk. "But who would do such a thing? What's there to gain from putting the entire village in jeopardy?"

Octavia shrugged. "We'll get to the why of it once the person responsible is caught. When are we due for another boat?"

"The day after tomorrow," Sicero said.

"Then we need to do this today. Whoever's colluding with the netherborne believes they've won. We need to catch them off guard and ensure they can't escape."

"I see." Pilar leaned back in her seat and crossed one leg over the next. "So you want to begin interrogations? We can have a room set up in the Cathedral."

"No, I'm hoping it doesn't come to that. We need to treat this situation delicately. Or, in other words, we need to lie." Octavia resumed her pacing. "Here's what we'll do. We'll gather every man, woman and child in the village and tell them we're beginning preparations to evacuate."

Beatrix swore. "That would cause an uproar, we can't just announce that out of the blue."

"Have you told them about the Divine City's decision?"

Sicero nodded. "It wasn't well-received. But that's not something we have control over."

She clasped her hands behind her back. "Evacuating the village would be the next logical step then. Surely, they would've thought about it. And that is what we'll have to resort to should we not find the anchor. I know you didn't want to give up on this place, Beatrix, but you have to think of the lives lost, and the lives that will be lost."

The Head Councilor gave a jerky nod. "What do I tell them?"

"That the Council has made arrangements to evacuate everyone from the island. This will only be a temporary evacuation while we bring in a team to deal with the scourge as Quintus and I alone aren't enough. Tell them that a boat will arrive tomorrow evening, and we need to ensure everyone is fit for travel. If anyone is sick or needs special care or attention, they must ride on a separate boat. Then they will have the rest of today and most of tomorrow to secure their belongings and pack. Make this as convincing as you can."

She looked to the elder woman. "Pilar, I'll need you to gather a few medics from the Cathedral. Tell them to bring enough supplies to set up a makeshift infirmary. It doesn't have to be entirely accurate, just convincing enough to trick everyone. Bring Levi with you as well. We'll need to present a unified front."

Pilar nodded. "Understood."

"Sicero, we'll need two rooms preferably connected. I don't want the checked mixing with the unchecked. Also, I don't want them to know Quintus and I are here until it's time for the medics to check them."

"Consider it done," the High Priest said.

"I believe that covers it." She turned to face them once more. "Everyone knows their roles, we need to move quickly."