A/N: WE'RE DONE! THE FINAL STRETCH! On a whim, I've decided to post the last five chapters all at once. Ya'll have waited long enough to see this through to the end.

Chapter Seventeen

Returning to the world of the waking was in a strange way like having his sight stripped from him. He no longer could feel the ripples of auras all across the continent and his limbs were much heavier than they had been just moments ago. He raised both his hands to examine them in the afternoon sun – flexed them. Once he'd ascertained they seemed no different than normal, he turned his attention to his surroundings. The wide plateus and cliffs of the Glaveind Basin were unmistakeable. But how had he gotten here? The way was supposed to be blocked.

He recalled his friends coming to see him. Perhaps they'd placed some sort of seal that responded exclusively to him that let him through. That was probably why. Oh well, it didn't matter. Not in the least. The heightened awareness he'd acquired during his sleep was gone, and his oath was broken. He could not sense where his friends were, and even if he found Mikleo and Rose, he would not be able to do anything about their situation. He had nothing but the clothes on his back.

After growing accustomed to the consistent sensation of floating for the past who-knows-how-long, walking was a bit like dragging two bags of sand attached to his feet. Sorey's Shepherd's cloak rested heavy on his shoulders. He glanced down at himself, grateful that despite everything turning to lead, he hadn't woken up in the middle of the Glaveind Basin completely naked. His hand went to his hip, finding a familiar resting place on the hilt of his sword. With a flick of his thumb he popped the blade a few centimeters out of its sheath. It was just as sharp as the day he'd last drawn it.

It seemed like everything he'd had when he'd stepped into the earthpulse was accounted for. Though as Sorey patted down his own pockets, he couldn't help but wish he'd held onto at least a little bit of the money he'd handed to Rose before their final journey to Camlenn. Wherever he went, he was going to need some supplies first. His cheeks heated with a little embarassment. Making plans for millenia-long naps without any sort of plan upon waking. He could imagine the scolding Mikleo would have for him. The thought sobered him. He hadn't forgotten why he'd woken up early in the first place.

Now that Sorey was no longer in the earthpulse with Maotelus, he no longer had any connection or sense of the auras of his friends. It was the high end of midday and as Sorey glanced around him, he realized he could see the scars of battle around him with perfect clarity. No purple haze to obscure his vision. His expression hardened. Either the basin had miraculously been purified already, or - more likely - without the Shepherd's pact, he was just an ordinary human who couldn't perceive malevolence. And he'd broken his own oath that had granted him the Shepherd's gifts during his sleep by waking before Maotelus had been fully cleansed.

But he didn't have a choice. The darkness he'd felt in Mikleo and Rose... if another Heldalf was born, his attempts to purify the land would be meaningless. And of course he couldn't forget the flame of Alisha's life flickering dangerously close to being snuffed out. Sorey closed his eyes and tried to remember what he had felt. He didn't know where to even begin looking. He groped through the depths of his fading memory, the answers slipping through the spaces between his fingers. Apparently, in giving up his connection to the surface, he'd also begun to lose any information he'd gained from that connection while he was asleep. The penalties of breaking his oath were further-reaching than he'd anticipated.

Sorey's knuckles paled as his grip around the sword at his belt tightened. His teeth were grit in frustration and concentration. He had no leads, no idea where to go. He was standing at a literal fork. He could go to either Hyland or Rolance, but he had no idea which was the right call. He needed information, and the closest city was Marlind. But if that was wrong, he couldn't afford to waste time... no. He didn't have a choice. He needed information – a way to track them down. Marlind was still the closest city and luckily, and if he hurried, he could be there by nightfall. He turned in the direction the sun had just begun to creep and walked, trying to shake the stiffness of his long sleep.

The guard situation at the border was more tense than Sorey hoped it would be, but he supposed it made sense given how close the two neighbors had come to an all-out war. Wooden barricades were still set up and there were more knights stationed than Sorey could count on both his hands and feet.

"Papers, please," a blue-clad knight called out as Sorey approached, sounding more tired than authoritative.

Sorey froze, his face and posture utterly rigid, as he frantically patted himself down. Oh no. If he couldn't get through officially, the terrain made sneaking arund the checkpoint completely impossible. As he was patting his pockets, he heard the tell-tale crinkle of paper. He stayed any premature relief, holding his breath, until he'd unfolded the two papers that had been tucked away together. One was a travel permit issued by Sergei, and behind it was one issued by Alisha. He gusted a sigh of relief.

He could imagine the curious expression under the knight's helmet as he saw Sorey'd permit signed by the princess herself, but the knight didn't comment. He just said "Very well" and sent Sorey on his way.

Going on foot without the aid of a wind seraph was an inconvenience he was forced to remember despite it being the case for nearly his entire life. Sorey marveled dryly at how easy it had been to become used to the luxury of fast travel. His mortal pedestrian pace had him in Marlind just as the sun was dyeing the tips of the sky orange.

Despite the urgency of Sorey's mission, he couldn't help the small smile that tugged at the corners of his lips. The city was so much livelier than he had last visited. Even after he and Alisha had purified the city and set Rohan up as Lord of the Land, Marlind struggled to get back on its feet. It had no longer been a foul den of despair and corruption, but the city was still exhausted from its ordeal with the plague. Now it was a healthy hub of human activity. However, as he made his way through the winding streets toward the great tree, the was a nervous edge to the people's energy that niggled at the very corners of Sorey's awareness. It was so subtle, he wasn't sure whether it was just his own nerves being projected onto the townsfolk.

Rohan was exactly where Sorey had hoped and expected to find him - conversing with Atakk at the foot of the tree.

" 'Evening!" Sorey called out as he neared the two.

Both seraphic beings turned to him.

"Shepherd Sorey," Rohan greeted him, a question hanging on that last syllable.

"Sorey!" Atakk, hopped in place, waving his hand wildly in greeting. His oversized helmet slid over his face, and as he readjusted it he asked with poorly masked disappointment, "Lailah's not with you?"

Sorey came to a halt in front of them. "It's just me today."

Rohan frowned, and Sorey had a pretty good inkling of what the seraph was about to say.

"Rose was here a few weeks ago," said Rohan. "When I asked, she said you were purifying Maotelus and that that could take hundreds of years. Is everything going all right with that?"

"Ah, about that..." Sorey scratched his cheek awkwardly. "It was."

"But...?"

"It's complicated. But speaking of Rose, do you know where she is?"

Rohan raised an eyebrow before answering slowly, "I haven't a clue."

Sorey felt a sharp tug on his right pant leg and found Atakk glaring up at him from beneath the rim of his golden helmet.

"You can't just say 'it's complicated.' Tell us what happened!" the normin demanded. "Is Lailah okay?"

Sorey sighed. "Truthfully, I don't know. I just got a really bad feeling and decided I should wake up - which I know sounds lame."

"That does sound like a lame reason to wake up from a nap," Atakk quipped.

Rohan folded his arms, his brow pinched in thought. "Can you be more specific?"

Sorey rubbed the back of his neck. "I know it sounds impossible but I think I felt Rose... and Mikleo turn into a hellion."

Rohan's eyebrows snapped apart, his eyes widening considerably. "Are you sure? Can you still feel them now?"

"No." Sorey shook his head. "I lost that connection when I woke up. So I don't know what happened or where they are. I was hoping you or Atakk could tell me."

"I'm afraid there's not much we can tell you other than Rose definitely isn't here."

"And she was pure the last time we saw her," Atakk supplied.

It was Sorey's turn to fold his arms and look pensive. "You must overhear the townspeople talking. Can you at least tell me what I've missed since we took down Heldalf?"

Rohan and Atakk exchanged a glance.

"It was quiet for a good while," said Rohan. "But Hyland's crown prince was found dead not far from here. Suspected murder. Then there was an attack on the emperor of Rolance at the funeral -"

"Wait," Sorey interrupted. "The emperor of Rolance was at the Hyland prince's funeral?"

"Yep!" Atakk chirped.

"His official reason was to show solidarity, but rumors say it was part of some scheme," Rohan explained.

"So was the prince's death murder?"

"That depends who you ask. The public details of his death are obviously being controlled at the highest levels. I doubt even Uno knows anything more than we do."

"What about Alisha?"

Rohan shrugged and dropped his hands to his sides. "Last I heard she was headed to Pendrago as some sort of good will ambassador."

Sorey's tongue soured, the memory of her waning life still present at the forefront of his mind despite all the other details that had managed to fall through the cracks. "Do you know if she made it?"

"I haven't heard anything to the contrary."

Sorey closed his eyes, forming a plan of action in his mind. There it was: a lead. When he opened his eyes again, he met both Rohan and Atakk's gazes in turn. "Thank you for the information. I'm going to Pendrago to see if I can find Alisha."

Rohan's frown deepened. His gaze flicked to the darkening sky. "Are you going now? It's almost nightfall."

"I can't afford any more lost time. Besides," Sorey gave him a half-grin, "I've just had a very long nap. I'm good to go." As an act of betrayal, his stomach growled.

"What about food? You must be hungry," said Atakk.

"I don't have any money." Sorey made a show of pulling out the empty linings of his pockets. He held them out for a bit and then stuffed them back in. "Don't worry, though. I'm a good hunter. I'll catch something along the way."

"If you insist." Rohan didn't look convinced. "Safe travels."

"Good luck!" Atakk chirped. "Tell Alisha I said hi!"

...

Sorey was nearly at the city gates when he saw a fortuitiously familiar face chatting up a young girl at a street corner. The man he recognized was just saying his goodbyes and turned just as Sorey reached him. His eyebrows lifted in mild surprise, but his expression quickly recovered.

"You're Sorey," the man said by way of greeting.

"Ah yeah. I'm sorry I don't exactly remember your name," Sorey replied.

The man responded with a wry smile. "We've met less than a handful of times. I hardly expect you to remember. The name's Roshe. Funny coincidence running into you here."

"Yeah," Sorey agreed. "If you're here does that mean Rose is too?"

All joviality dissolved from Roshe's features in an instant. "Rose went to Pendrago with the princess, but..." His eyes flicked up and down the intersection. He ushered for the former Shepherd to follow. "Let's not talk here."

The sudden shift in tone dropped a stone pit squarely in Sorey's stomach. A million frantic questions were lodged in his throat and he struggled to swallow them until Roshe indicated it was safe to talk. The Sparrowfeathers/Scattered Bones member lead them back the way Sorey had come, but forked a left just before the road to the great tree. Each of the church's windows peered into darkness as they came upon it - it was long past the hour for normal church business. Sorey half-expected Roshe to reveal some secret basement he'd been using as a hideout, but instead he was lead through the cemetery. He carefully stepped around the graves, careful not to trip on any footstones.

Roshe stopped where the cemetery ended in a stone wall and leaned against it. "We can talk here, just quietly." His voice was a whisper.

Sorey glanced around, trying to make out any human shapes in the darkness.

"Don't worry. No one is going to come to a graveyard in the middle of the dark," Roshe assured him. "No one sane, anyway."

"You don't have some kind of hidden base of operations?" Sorey kept his voice low.

"Nope. It's just me working here right now. No one I needed to discuss secrets with. Until now, I guess. Anyway, you asked about Rose?"

Sorey nodded.

"Like I said, she went with Alisha to Pendrago. Alisha was on some suicide mission of good will without a single Hyland guard on her side - yeah that was exactly my reaction - so Rose decided to go with her. She said they both trust the captain of the Platinum Knights-"

"Sergei."

"-Yeah. But things went silent since Rose got there. Apparently some kind of endless rain was preventing her from sending message by bird."

Sorey bristled at the mention of the rain. He couldn't help but rightly wonder if it was a repeat of the effect by Cardinal Forton. He let Roshe continue.

"So Eguille went over to meet with the boss in person and deliver what we'd learned about the investigation in Ladylake. And I guess the rain has lifted because I got word via piegon this morning."

"What did he tell you?"

"He met with the boss once. She's infiltrated the cell of nationalists in Pendrago to try and figure out what they're up to. There've been a few gruesome murders which has put the princess under suspicion so she's been placed under house arrest for the time being."

"She's innocent," Sorey said quickly and a little too loudly.

"Of course," Roshe agreed without missing a beat, keeping his voice low. "But I can't blame the emperor for being suspicious. These murders only occurred after the princess arrived in Pendrago. Rose was trying to figure out what was going on, but according to Eguille, she's disappeared. He has no idea what's happened to her. And since she's been gone, well. Intel's thin but he said Alisha's hasn't been seen leaving her room, and they've brought doctors in and out."

"For how long?"

"At least two days as of his writing the letter. Which makes today day four. Haven't received anything since then."

Sorey wondered whether that coincided with when he'd sensed the malevolence surrounding Mikleo and Rose, but his sense of time was skewed. The situation was just getting worse and worse, the more he learned about it. He tried not to let his anxiety take control. He needed to milk everything he could out of this conversation. "You mentioned an investigation in Ladylake?"

"Yeah. The attack during the funeral. Both Rolance and Hyland are investigating. Evidence is strongly pointing to it being orchestrated by someone in Hyland's court, but Hyland is trying to downplay it."

"What do you think?"

Roshe shrugged. He cocked his head to one side, his long ponytail swaying gently with the motion. "The evidence is a little too compelling, if you ask me. We still can't ignore the possibility of a Rolance spy or anyone else really. And if you wanna know why I think that, well. Rose tasked me with trying to follow the tracks in the woods where the crown prince's body had been found. I circled the prince's manor in a wide radius and... found no tracks leading away from it after a certain point. At first, I thought that maybe the culprit had done a good job covering their tracks. But. Rose said the murder was sloppy-"

"It was murder?!" Sorey clapped a hand over his mouth, belatedly realizing he'd been too loud again.

"Oh, yeah," Roshe said with absolute confidence. "There was poison used and everything. So I thought maybe there weren't any telling tracks leading away from the manor was because the culprit had returned to the manor. There could be a Rolance spy among the people who live-slash-work at the prince's home. Maybe they're trying to plant false trails. No one from Rolance actually died at Prince Reynold's funeral...

"So I've been staking out the prince's house but I've reached a bit of a dead end. Hey, maybe you can help me." Roshe pushed off the wall with his hip.

"Normally, I'd be happy to but I'm worried about Rose and Alisha," Sorey politely declined. "I want to get to Pendrago as soon as possible."

"Even if you left this very instant, it'd take you days to get there." Roshe rested his hand on his hip in a way that reminded Sorey of Rose and it served to make his chest tighten. "Eguille's already there and he's called in help from the twins. We should let them take care of it. Following the leads we have here will help Rose in the long run."

Sorey sighed. It was a very logical argument, and Roshe had presented it so practically, Sorey might have been tempted to yield if he weren't already acutely aware of how much trouble Alisha and Rose might actually be in. Yet none of these were things he could explain to Roshe. Roshe was just an ordinary human.

"Maybe if you tell me more, I'll consider it," Sorey offered a compromise. This did sound important. But so was finding his friends. Maybe it wouldn't take long to do this favor.

"Great." Roshe clapped him on the shoulder, revealing a toothy white green that flashed eeriely in the darkness. "Like I said, I've been staking out the prince's place. Nothing interesting seemed to be happening but then, a few weeks ago, there was a sudden and very noticeable decrease in the number of bouquets being dropped off."

"So?"

"People write sympathy cards. What if, on those sympathy cards, were coded messages meant for someone at the manor. The person who collects them and screens them is undoubtedly a member of the staff and not Queen Edith herself."

Sorey frowned. "If that were the case, why did the number of flower deliveries go down so suddenly? And wouldn't it be careless to let it be so noticeable?"

"My best guess is that whoever was receiving the messages is no longer there and... I doubt many other people would notice, and even fewer would think anything of it," said Roshe. "But you see," Roshe began to gesture animatedly as he spoke in excited, yet hushed tones, "the drop in deliveries happened the very next day after Princess Alisha left the capital."

Sorey brought a hand to his chin. "That is a bit of a strange coincidence..."

"Exactly! Like their work here was done."

"Have you learned anything since then? Like where this person went?"

A little bit of the light in Roshe's eyes dimmed. "I only know that the bulk of their orders came from a florist called Celestial Arrangements. They're set up in both Ladylake and Marlind, which is already a wider net than most florists. I've been trying to get more information on them, and it's all been a little suspect. The business is only a year old and they've already got branches in two major cities. I've manage to steal a glance of their books. No other massive bulk orders delivered to a single destination since, but I've been profiling the addresses of other deliveries and... some of them don't exist."

"That's surprisingly careless."

"I thought the same thing. There's been terrorist stirrings all the way from Ladylake to Pendrago and we're spread pretty thin trying to root them all out. I could really use some help following up on the rest of these places. There's still a lot of ground to cover."

"I can't deny I'm suspicious as well, or deny you have a decent lead." Sorey held out his arm in what he hoped was an appeasing gesture. "But I have a really bad feeling about Rose and Alisha, and that sort of thing... I can't afford to lose that much time. I'm sorry."

Roshe sighed, running a hand over his hair, tugging its way down his ponytail. "You think the boss is in danger?"

"Yeah."

"Crap. Fine." Another sigh. "I won't keep you then. Be careful out there."

"Thanks, you too."

...

The tension in Pendrago was palpable. It had taken the better part of four days to get there on foot, with very little time to rest. He was walking on stilts. If he didn't keep moving, he'd lose his balance, his legs would buckle and he'd fall face first on the street. The palace towered over the rooftops, a beacon calling him. He knew that's where Alisha was. He wouldn't rest until he knew she was safe - until he knew Rose and Mikleo were safe.

He dragged himself through the streets, eyes locked on the castle spires. Through the persistent haze of fatigue, it hadn't occurred to Sorey that he might have trouble getting into the palace until he was nearly upon it. He blinked at the rows of guards stationed along its walls. He stopped to lean an open palm against the side of a building. That was a mistake. The exhaustion he'd been ambling ahead of in his desperation finally caught up.

His throat was dry, and his head felt like it had been swimming but was now too heavy to stay afloat. He hunched forward, his head drooping. Another mistake. His vision went starry and his stomach protested. There wasn't much it could say, having eaten very little in the past few days, but it made its feelings clear filling his mouth with bile-tainted saliva.

He'd remember clamping a shaking hand over his mouth. Then trying to take another step forward. But his time with Maotelus had done no favors for his physique, and his poor self-care, had him past his limit. The next thing he'd be aware of was waking in an unfamiliar room.

Sorey's eyes opened to see an unfamiliar ceiling. He had no memory of how he'd gotten here. But he had to get out. He had to -

He shoved himself into a sitting position and immediately regretted it. He was slammed by another wave of dehydration. He gasped hungrily for air. His vision blacked out for a moment. And as the dark spots fizzled away and his heart raced to catch up and deliver enough blood to his head, it carried another wave of nausea with it. He coughed. There was a crash of footsteps beside him, and when Sorey bent over the edge of the bed retching thick ropes of saliva, a bucket was there to catch it.

Sorey heard a voice speaking to him, but he couldn't make out the words over his own thundering heartbeat. His wavering gaze followed the hands that held the bucket to a face he didn't recognize. Sorey tried to read the man's lips, but he'd turned his head to the side and was shouting something to someone Sorey couldn't see. Then someone was gently curling his fingers around a glass of water, and lifting it to his mouth. He hadn't been fully aware of his thirst until that first drop of moisture touched his lips. Sorey downed it in one gulp. Then that same someone was gently pushing him back down onto the pillow. Slowly, the pulse pounding in his ears began to thin out and he could hear the world in motion again.

"Take it easy," the man was saying. "I'll be back with more water."

Sorey took a moment to examine his surroundings. He was laying in a bed with sterile white sheets. A couple of room dividers circled around his cot, leaving only a small person-sized gap near the wall. He could see through the gap another room divider - likely around another bed - and a small aisle between his section and the next. There was a second set of footsteps approaching as the nurse left.

A familiar face peered around the divider, and Sorey released the sheets he'd anxiously had bunched in his fists as relief took over.

"Sorey," Sergei said, his voice laced with concern, "what happened?"

Sorey chuckled, or he tried to, but it came out as more of a wheeze. "I was going to ask you the same thing," he rasped - surprised at how difficult it had been to find his voice. His throat was still dry even after a full glass of water.

"One of my knights found you collapsed a few blocks from the castle. Luckily, they recognized you from back when you investigated Forton and brought it to my attention. You're in the castle infirmary."

"Oh." Sorey blinked. He couldn't remember. "Well, thanks. At least I don't have to worry about getting into the castle." His attempt at levity fell completely flat. Sergei's frown deepened.

"What happened to you?" the knight asked.

"It's a long story..." Sorey trailed off as the nurse returned with a pitcher of water and a plate full of bread. The nurse set them down next to the empty glass on the table beside his bed.

Sergei saw him eyeing the food. "Take your time."

Sorey lurched upright, the nausea easier to fight now that he'd had some water in him, and tore into a piece of bread, continuing as he swallowed. "I was... doing Shepherd things. But I heard Alisha and Rose were in trouble and came here as fast as I could from Marlind."

Sergei folded his arms and narrowed his eyes disapprovingly. "Is that why you neglected to eat or sleep?"

Sorey scratched his cheek sheepishly. "I was really worried," he said around another mouthful of bread. There was no way Sergei would understand if he tried to explain what he'd felt in the earthpulse. That Alisha's lifeforce was waning, and it had been becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish Mikleo's aura from Rose, or that the two of them might have become hellions. He wished he could offer anything more but he had no illusions at how bad he was at lying.

"I suppose I can't fault you for that." The judgement in Sergei's features relaxed into resignation. "You were right to be worried."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Alisha's been in a coma with a terrible fever for the past week and Rose has been missing for just as long." Sergei discretely leaned a hand on the table, deliberately slowing Sorey down before he ate too much too quickly.

"That's terrible!" Possibilities danced in Sorey's mind, none of them good.

"Yes, it is, and it gets worse. Alisha's condition has only been worsening. The doctors worry it's some kind of poision but they haven't been able to identify what it is."

Sorey found himself gathering new fistfuls of bedsheet. "I want to see her."

Sergei looked him up and down, and for the first time since this conversation started, Sorey noticed he wasn't the only person who'd been neglecting himself.

"You need to rest more first," said Sergei. His eyes were rimmed red with exhaustion.

"You know I can't. You're one to talk. You don't look any better than I do."

Sergei blinked at him a couple times before saying flatly "My best friend was murdered just recently."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It wasn't your fault." He sighed. "All right, let's see if you can stand first."

Sorey swung his legs over the side of the bed and took another gulp of water and bite of bread for the road. Using Sergei as support, he eased himself onto his feet and slipped his boots back on. Sergei swung one of Sorey's arms over his broad shoulders and together they hobbled towards the guest wing.

There was a brief moment, where Alisha lay alone on the bed. Her face was pinched in pain and drenched in sweat. There was a washcloth over her forehead to catch her fever, and her chest was still with too-shallow breaths. And then there were three seraphim in his face yelling his name.

Sorey stammered helplessly in response.

"Could we have some privacy, please?" Sergei asked the attendant who'd been observing Alisha from the corner. They left with a quick bow, shutting the door behind them.

Lailah threw her arms around Sorey's neck, and Sorey tentatively wrapped his free arm around her middle. She squeezed him.

"Sorey, what are you doing here?" she asked as she pulled away.

He retrieved his arm from Sergei as the knight captain wached on with fascination and mild confusion.

"Something felt very wrong; I had to come back," Sorey explained.

"A lot of things are wrong," Edna stated plainly.

"Where's Mikleo? And Rose?"

Edna, Lailah, and Zaveid all dropped their gazes to the floor.

"What happened to Alisha?" Sorey pressed forward.

"Alisha," Lailah answered very slowly, worrying her lip between her teeth, "is our new vessel." She was unable to meet his eyes.

Sorey felt every nerve in his body turn to ice and the very wind in his lungs be sucked out. "How...?" he breathed, unable to manage more than a single word.

"It's complicated," Zaveid replied. "But basically Symmone used some sort of special Anamolous Orb to infect Rose and Mikleo with malevolence while they were armatized and... we didn't have a choice. Or we would have all become hellions because of our connection to Rose. But Alisha's resonance is too low…"

Sorey's mouth opened what what was most likely a criticism but Edna interjected quickly.

"Alisha volunteered," she added "We lost our connections to our old vessels after our pact with Rose was severed so abruptly. We tried to find new ones but..."

"Easier said than done," Sorey supplied.

"...Yeah."

"So then," Sorey swallowed around a thick tongue, "Rose and Mikleo are hellions?"

A series of glances were exchanged. It was Edna who finally spoke.

"They've become a hellion," she said.

"I don't..." Sorey rasped, "understand.

"They couldn't release the armatus." Zaveid tugged on the brim of Dezel's hat, hiding his eyes from Sorey. "They hellionized as they were."

A thick and heavy silence followed as Sorey processed this.

"Lailah," Sorey said suddenly. She startled at the sharpness in his tone. He held out his hand to her. "Reform a pact with me."

"O-of course!" She placed her hand in his. A pale warm glow enveloped them as the ritual was performed.

When it was over, Sorey experienced a brief rush of weakness. Sergei caught him before he could hit the floor and eased him into a chair. He glanced over at Alisha, who was still lay unconscious.

"It will take some time for her to recover," Lailah explained gently, "but she'll be okay now."

Sorey nodded in understanding, too winded to form words.

"Sorey?" Sergei intoned a question, deaf to the voices of the seraphim.

"Alisha'll be okay," Sorey panted. "Just need to find Rose." And Mikleo.

"How can you tell?" Not an ounce of concern had disappeared from Sergei's expression.

Sorey waved his hand. "It's a Shepherd thing," he said, still breathless. His lungs felt full of pins and needles as if they'd fallen asleep on them. His face felt hot.

"And you?"

"I'm fine. I just need a minute."

"I think you need more than a minute," Sergei said.

"Becoming the vessel for three seraphim at once is putting a strain on your already weakened state. Sergei's right; you should rest," said Lailah.

"I'm fine," Sorey repeated more firmly. "I need to find Rose and Mikleo."

"You're in no condition to be going anywhere!" Sergei snapped.

Sorey jumped in his seat at the sudden bite in Sergei's tone. He blinked wide-eyed at the other man.

"We're exploring every lead, and we still haven't found her yet," Sergei continued, his eyes dark with anger. "You're not going to find her wandering around on the brink of collapse. What if you faint again and no one is there to help you?"

Sorey opened and closed his mouth, helpless to respond. He'd never seen Sergei like this before.

"He's right, you know." Edna nudged him gently with the tip of her umbrella. "You look like death."

"And we don't know how Rose and Mikleo will react when we find them," Zaveid added calmly. "They won't be themselves."

"But..." Sorey managed weakly.

"Anything is possible," said Lailah.

"No buts," said Sergei. "I'm taking you back to the infirmary and you're not to leave until the doctor gives you the all clear."

Sorey surrendered, sparing a long last glance at his unconscious friend as Sergei hefted him to his feet and led him out of the room.