Keeper of the Lost Cities: Rebuild [COMPLETED]

Chapter Thirty-Four - BIANA

"So what exactly do we know about the Purities?"

Biana looked around Everglen's living room at the faces of each of her friends. They were exhausted, but she'd had to call a meeting. It had only been a day since the last one, but to be honest, she was desperate for answers.

"They're called 'the Purities,'" Keefe piped up.

Biana frowned at him. "Very funny. But I'm serious."

"So was I. You just didn't let me finish. I was going to say, they're called 'the Purities' because they want the elvin species to be pure. This means no human-elvin babies."

"Uh... thanks, Keefe. They also don't like Pyrokinetics, since they mess up the bloodline apparently." She scratched this down on a sheaf of paper. "Okay, they want purity. What else?"

"Don't forget the obvious," Amy said. "They killed a guy? Remember that?"

"We technically don't know that they did that, but I'll add it as a possibility." Secretly she scribbled down a few more bullet points about what Navik had been doing before he died. At this point not telling her friends about everything, like Alina had specifically told her to do, wasn't possible—but at least she could hold a few things back.

"They have a Technopath working for them, one who's capable of mass-producing addlers and mufflers. This Technopath and murderer could be the same person." The voice came from Dex, and Biana momentarily froze before forcing her fingers to start working again. Don't think about it don't think about it don't think about it.

"Mufflers?" repeated Amy. "Like those things you put on your ears so they don't get cold?"

"Let's not get off-topic," Biana said at the same time that Dex said, "Tinker and I call the gadgets the Purities use to mask their sound 'mufflers.'" Both paused, and the room was filled with awkward silence.

Keefe cleared his throat. "They found out about the Black Swan's mission—a mission only the Black Swan, Council, and a select few were supposed to know about."

"Right." Biana hated how hot her face felt. It was suddenly hard to breathe.

"The Purities haven't gotten violent, except for the murder, if we're counting that," Jensi said. "Oh, and they use wooden signs made of Pures bark."

"Mysterium is often targeted by Purity supporters," Dex added. "It's not really talked about—I think the Council's trying to cover it up—but since Mysterium is where the 'nobodies' live and work, there have been a lot of things going on. Scuffles in the streets, vandalism, small things like that, but if the Purities continue to gain support, it could get worse."

"I don't think the Council would cover up something like that without good reason," Biana murmured, scribbling down the information.

Dex snorted. "Of course you'd say that."

She stopped writing. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Okay, guys," Keefe interrupted, holding up his hands. "Is there anything else we know?"

No one said anything.

He flinched. "Oooookay then. So which of those things is the best lead?"

Biana looked over the sloppily-written list. "Have you guys found any plausible leads for who the Technopath could be?" she asked Jensi and Amy.

"We tried Lady Iskra, but Jensi seems certain it's not her," Amy said. "We can still try investigating though."

"Dex and I went to Thapelo Chebota too, but we don't think he's the one either," said Jensi.