Bʀᴏᴋᴇɴ Hᴀʀᴍᴏɴʏ || Tʜᴇ Cʜᴏsᴇɴ Eɪɢʜᴛ: Fᴀʟʟ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ Bᴇᴀsᴛs Bᴏᴏᴋ Oɴᴇ

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴇɴ || sᴋʏᴇ

Lucia

As the others spoke with Skye and Tyler about the plan for the rest of the mission, I sidled up to Zay, who looked about as thrilled as I felt to have a new member. "So that's it," I muttered quietly. "They show us some spider tattoo and they're on the team?"

Zay's mouth twisted in a grimace. "I guess." She answered lowly, reaching up to run a finger over Olraz's scales. "I don't like it."

"Me neither." I agreed, keeping one eye on the new kid. "Especially not since they tried very hard to get away from us."

"Makes you think that they'll have no qualms about betrayal, huh?" Zay ran a hand through her hair, causing it to stick up in spikes.

I set my jaw and couldn't bring myself to reply. If Skye did betray us, I suspected that there would be very little of the team that ever trusted again. My heart fell to my toes as I realized I would likely be one of those that wouldn't.

Zay was quiet for a moment, clearly wrapped up in her own thoughts as well. Then she shook her head. "That kid rubs me the wrong way. Something about them just... fits. It's too easy. I don't like it."

I tilted my head to one side and studied the group. Zay was right. Skye fit in, almost perfectly. Despite my initial distrust of the kid, I couldn't help but feel the connection they made. "Yeah, I see it," I agreed.

We'd made the mistake of not trusting Zay's gut once before, and it had nearly cost us her life. I wouldn't make that mistake again.

"Okay, team!" Tyler clapped his hands, silencing the conversations instantly.

We all turned to him, eager to hear the plan— eager for leadership.

"We're planning to return to Greenhaven, have Skye take their vows and become a Greencloak," he paused and glanced at them.

Skye shrugged. "It's been a while since I've been part of something." They said it with a forced kind of nonchalance, eyes roving the group with a challenge in them.

Tyler nodded and continued. "The other thing we will deal with in Greenhaven is that... creature we came across. Though I have heard no reports of other such beings, we may not be the only ones to have encountered them."

"Maybe someone has found a way to actually kill them." Sasha mused. "You know, in a way so it'll stay dead."

Sabien made a face. "Well, it's not really a surprise that human methods don't work on it. It's clearly not human."

"Not human anymore." Skye corrected.

Everyone looked at them, startled.

They shrugged. "I've been around here for a while. That thing was human once. It came to my farmhouse, begging for shelter, hoping to be healed. I turned it away." They lifted their chin defiantly, but no one challenged it. "A few days later, that thing came back. Chances are that they're the same person. Or they were."

Navia frowned. "What would have the power to transform a human into something like that?"

"That, I can't tell you." Skye looked over at Tyler. "But it sure sounds like your Greencloak buddies may be able to."