Gray POV:

Song for the start of the chapter

Over the next 12 hours, I opened gates, pulling bodies through to Churchwell Academy. Egrick commanded me where to find them and a team of infirmary specialists stood, ready to help. As Egrick stood by my side, I thought about what Else told me. She didn't believe I could trust him. She believed he was a fake, but I wasn't sure if I could trust her.

After I opened that first gate, Egrick quickly instructed me to save as many people as I could. He guided me to the location of everyone on our team through tracking on their vests. If he was really not to be trusted, would he even risk his skin to go through those gates to pull the bodies out?

As hours passed, both Egrick and I were filthy and exhausted. We had been up all night long, and I wasn't sure if I could do this any longer. My body ached with every spell I cast. But I kept going because I knew Else was out there. Each person we pulled through to Churchwell Academy, I wanted it to be Else. As much as I couldn't stand her most times, I felt a connection to her I couldn't deny. She was like a mother to me, and that battle couldn't be the last I saw of her.

"One more, Gray. Then we are done," Egrick said as he looked at a hologram image.

I nodded as I imaged the scene on the hologram and opened a gate to that location. I recognized the location as the alley Else and I ran into Beth. Frantically I jumped into the alleyway and looked around the scene for any sign of Else. My eyes spotted a corner of her vest under a pile of rubble.

I ran to get it but when I pulled the vest out from the rubble, Else was not attached to it. I looked back at Egrick with a frown, which he returned.

"Where is Else?"

Egrick frowned as he looked at his tracker. "That was supposed to be her."

The lack of sleep and exhaustion got the better of me as I stepped through the gate and closed it behind me. "This is just a vest, Egrick."

"Hell, do you think I know that?" he snapped back as he threw his hands into the air.

"Where could she be?" I asked as I closed the gate from the alleyway to the school.

He frowned as he looked around, questioning if he should tell me or not. "I think Graywick took her."

"But why would he take her?"

"Grayson, there is a lot about Else you do not know."

I had grown up with Else for years. She was practically a mother to me. But his statement rang true. I knew there was a lot I didn't know about her. She was full of secrets. She always had been. There was a time I tried to know her better, but after she constantly shut down the conversations, I eventually gave up.

"I know that," I replied, getting defensive for reasons I didn't understand.

He rose his eyebrows. "You do?"

I nodded as Birch came up to us. She cleared her throat to make her present known. "Hi, um, we just wanted to know, any more survivors?"

Edrick shook his head as he looked at his map one more time. The look on his bloodied face was full of defeat. We both knew we had lost. We tried to stop him but failed. That thought would lay heavy on us for a long time. Maybe even forever.

I didn't know how many people we lost in the battle and honestly, I preferred not to know the details. There was a lot we lost, not just soldiers but students as well.

I shook my head as I tried to clear that thought from my mind.

"No. That is all."

She nodded, then walked away without another word.

Wanting to think about anything else, I turned my attention back to Egrick. "Do you have the time to tell me more about Else?"

He sighed as he looked at his watch. "I will at some point. I will tell you everything I know. But for now, know that she was a lover to Graywick. She was a believer in his teachings. She fought beside him for years. And Graywick has a hard time letting that go. Else is powerful, and he wants her for his side."

This comment was not as shocking as Egrick voiced it to be. Now it made sense why she was in charge of me, why she hated it so much. Not only was it a demeaning task, but it reminded her of what she got away from. That was why she would always choose the crown over me time and time again. She had picked the wrong side before, and she wouldn't let it happen again.

I heard people say before that she was skilled and they never understood why she was only in charge of watching me. Now things were making sense. But in the back of my mind, I couldn't help but wonder how did Egrick know this information?

Else told me not to trust him. But was that because she had her own motives? Or was Egrick really not to be trusted?

"So he's going to try to convince her to join his side again?"

"That only makes sense to me."

I nodded as someone I didn't recognize came over to us.

"Egrick, we need to debrief."

"Ok," Egrick said as he turned to me.

Just as I started to turn on my heels to walk back to my room, I stopped when Egrick said, "I want Grayson beside me when we meet with the rest of the officials."

This was something Else had never let me take part in. She always said it was because they didn't trust me. But as the official nodded, I believed it was just because she didn't trust me. Frustration bubbled within me at the thought that Else chose to shut me out. It wasn't because of anyone else besides herself.

"Alright then, you both can follow me."

In silence, I followed him through halls and down to the basement. It had been months since I was imprisoned here, but as I reached the bottom of the stairs, the memory buzzed around my mind like a mosquito.

I was going to die, and the royal family was going to kill me. Else knew that, but she would not risk her skin to save me. I used not think I would never understand why she picked them over me. But now I got it. She was proving herself to them. It was always going to be them, no matter how much she cared about me.

We took a hard right and ended up in a small windowless room with a group of people standing around a map. I recognized many of them from the small cabin Else took me too just hours before.

"Good, everyone is here. We can start," a man said as he leaned over the map.

I had begged Else to take me to meetings like this. She made it seem like I would be rejected right away. But as I stepped into the room, they didn't seem to mind that I was here. It was almost as if I was invisible to them, not important to their goals.

"That battle was a complete failure. The loss of life was high, but I will not dive into details about that. We all know the hard facts. What we need to do is to figure out what we will do next.

"With Graywick on the throne we need to find a way to take him out of power before he causes too much damage," someone else voiced up.

"The longer he sits on the throne, the more of a grip he gets on the land," another said.

"And I think I have a plan for that," Egrick spoke up, then turned to me. "Grayson is our way in."

The group frowned in unison as they shook their heads. Suddenly, I wasn't as invisible as I thought I was. They knew I was here, but they chose not to acknowledge it.

"You underestimate him. But you haven't seen the way Grayson fights. Gray is trained. He is ready for this. We all know that his father will always have a soft spot for him and that is our in," Egrick said, standing up for me.

There was a silence that fell on the group as they thought about what Egrick had to say.

"So, you want him to play more of any active role in these meetings?"

"I do. I think it's clear we need him, and we need him to be involved. That is the only way we can stop Graywick."

"I agree with you. But I've been saying that for months," a woman said as she stepped out of the crowd.

"Should we do a vote, then?" Someone from the crowd asked. "Show of hands who think Grayson should join these meetings."

In silence, I watched as hands popped up. Within a minute, almost everyone in the crowd was raising their hands.

"Good. We can all agree that Grayson needs to be here, then. He is part of this group just as much as I am," Egrick said as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder, bringing me close.

Hours later, I found myself in bed, staring at the ceiling. The events of this day were enough to keep me up. Seeing Stella, the war, the meeting. All of these things buzzed around my mind, not letting me sleep.

I promised I would see Stella soon, but after the meeting I sat in, I wasn't sure how soon that would be. They wanted me here to train more. They were preparing another attack in just a few days, hoping to get a hold within the castle walls before it was too late.

Everything said in that meeting was enough to give me a sense of belonging. They needed me. They wanted me there. It was the complete opposite of what Else made me believe. What Else had told me were lies. They looked to me like I was the key to stop him. Finally, I felt like belonged here. Staying in Churchwell was worth it for this moment.

I couldn't help but feel grateful that Else wasn't around anymore. If she was, I wouldn't have been given this opportunity to be in those meetings to help stop my father. This was what I really wanted all along. Graywick needed to be stopped, and I knew I could do it. Finally, others saw that too. All it took was Else to be out of the picture.

"Else, why did you have to be like this?" I asked myself as I turned in my bed.

Resentment towards her only grew. It made me realize that I didn't want her back again. Without her here, I already felt freer, like I had a sense of purpose.