Minx

Minx

Swinging her legs over the edge of the cliff lip, Minx dangled them over the bright impromptu town below.

Clustered together in the cavern chamber, hovels and homes were hewed with whatever materials had been available. The Under was a labyrinth of tunnels and chambers Rhea’s ancestors created beneath the Twin Cities, and even after two weeks of living in them, Minx still needed to mark her trail so as not to get lost.

The tunnels were created by the first Everleigh Maiden shortly after she became a Maiden. Rhea claimed that the reason for creating them had been lost to time, but ultimately, the tunnels provided an escape route for the last Maidens who governed the Twin Cities during the beginning of the uprising.

Now it housed the persecuted, the poor, the forgotten - anyone the Hands deemed unworthy of leaving unmolested, which meant mostly children and teens. Not that the Hands were above burning a witch child at the stake, but it was usually the parents that would be rounded up in the streets, just minding their own business. Setting off the Hands only required a misplaced look or a word.

Rhea explained their network of spies and informants, and how they would alert Wraza and her to ad hoc burnings or hangings. Such spectacles weren’t always scheduled ahead of time, and it meant the Maidens had to work fast to track down whatever family was left before the Hands could have time to figure out the victims left behind kids.

Rhea and Wraza did their best to house and feed the street urchins and orphans they collected, but life in an underground cavern was less than ideal for the growing youths.

A day spent exploring the Under, supervised, of course, let Minx see firsthand how malnourished the people were. It wasn’t just the kids with pallor complexions and waxy skin, but the few adults who found their way to the haven.

Minx asked Rhea if they were allowed to go outside to get some sun and fresh air. “No one is a prisoner here, if that’s what you mean,” Rhea had said, pointing to the mile-high ceiling. “Adults are free to come and go as they please, carefully, of course, and we have scheduled outings for the kids. But not everyone wants to leave.”

The threat of the Hands far outweighed some people’s need for the outside world.

“My family has been running these tunnels since the Fall. There are some families here that date back to then, and many of them have never left these tunnels. There are a few tunnels that have natural light, and that’s as much of the sun as some of these people have ever seen or felt.”

Minx had left in horror and did the only thing she knew how to do. With Rheas’ help, she found an empty space and built a garden. She filled it with plants and herbs, then created a new flower to hang over them.

It looked like a typical sunflower, but instead of seeds, its center gave off light. It was a poor substitute for the real sun, but it would do.

With her gaze fixed on the town below her, Minx felt the stone in her gut that had been growing heavier since arriving stir as the sunflower illuminated the little garden. It weighed her down, a mixture of guilt for her family having caused this, and shame for having the audacity to question their way of life.

Too many times she’d found herself seeking Rhea out with questions, thinking she’d been helping somehow. Two weeks of doing what she could, growing what she could, helping Gabriela make medicine, only for Wraza to throw it back in her face that morning.

“We don’t need you two to save us.” Wraza had appeared from the darkness, arms crossed and face scrunched up in annoyance as she watched Minx weave Night Creapers over a home. They were a new type of ivy she’d come up with, one that would feed off of the briny water that saturated the streets. She designed it to crawl through the cracks and holes of the decrepit homes, filling them in and fortifying the thin material that made walls. They also absorbed the humidity, sucking in the moisture and releasing dry, fresh air to fill the cavern.

Minx ignored her, focusing instead on her Night Creaper. The sudden change in temperature told her she’d hit a nerve, but Minx didn’t care. Wraza had been a thorn in her side since arriving, her moods flaring from pissed off to subdued within seconds.

“You’ve made that clear enough,” Minx sighed, seeing a few of the thin vines drooping against the sudden heat. She sent a flare of magic through them, and tiny silver scales appeared on the vines, protecting them against the heat.

“Nice trick, but do you think they’d be able to withstand my flames?” Wraza threatened.

Minx turned to face her, quirking a brow. “You would really risk burning down this house just to prove a point?” Wraza’s smirk fell, replaced by a mask of indifference. “Like I said, you’ve made your point. We will be out of here as soon as Sage can make the trip.”

Wraza scoffed. “We all saw how quickly her wounds healed. Her body is mended. There is something else going on.”

“But her mind hasn’t.” Minx retorted, the venom in her voice breaking through Wraza’s mask. For a split second, she could see the look of surprise, even admiration, on her face. Then it melted away as Wraza scoffed.

“We all have scars, plant girl.”

“Then you should be more understanding, fire chick.” Wraza raised a brow.

“Did you just call me a chicken?”

Before Minx could answer, the cavern filled with a low whistle, like a ship calling through a thick fog. Their bickering was forgotten, and both Maidens made their way up to the topmost tunnel, where the receiving chamber was.

Minx was asked to stay behind on the balcony while Wraza went inside, presumably to see why Rhea had used the whistle. Wraza was right, as much as it irked Minx to admit. Sage was healed, and even though she’d experienced something truly traumatic, there was something else going on with her.

She hadn’t left the infirmary since they arrived, staying in bed all day and barely speaking with anyone. Minx figured they’d give her a few days to rest, but then Sage started to refuse food and Minx knew something was terribly wrong.

Kade knew it, too. Noticing the dark look in the Demon’s eyes, she could tell something else was going on with her friend. But no amount of prodding or bribery would get Sage to say more than two words.

“I’m tired.” It was her only response until just the other day when she finally said more. Unfortunately, it was a string of curses that were launched at Alec, who had attempted to bribe her with some cake. Something triggered her, and she lashed out.

Minx only arrived at the end, finding Alec thrown from the room, the doors locked shut with bars of magic that only Kade could break. When asked what had happened, Alec simply said he’d squashed a spider on the wall, and Sage went berserk.

Kade quietly explained to them how Kami had an eight-legged friend when they found her. Minx asked him to go over everything that had happened when they found Kami, in great detail, as she had only heard the abridged version back at the Inn.

As he mentioned the storm Sage conjured with the help of Kami, their gifts mixing and melding, a thought took root in her mind.

Before she could voice her theory to anyone, especially Wraza, she had to speak to Sage. The implications, if she was correct, could be game-changing for them all.

Boots scraping against the earth alerted her to Wraza’s return. Minx cocked her head back, letting her chocolate curls drape over her shoulder as she looked up at the fiery Maiden. Wraza’s scowl made her lips quirk. She wondered if all the Halifax Maidens were so moody.

“You want to be helpful?” Wraza grunted out, causing Minx’s pulse to race.

“Yes,” she answered cautiously.

Wraza let out a sigh through her nose, and Minx could swear it looked like steam streaming from a kettle.

“I need… assistance.”

“You mean help?” Wraza cut her a heated glare, but Minx only chuckled as she pulled herself back over the cliff edge to stand with Wraza. “Whatever you want to call it, I will assist you in any way I can.”

Wraza’s cognac eyes studied her for a moment, as if weighing her words, and for the first time since coming to this world, Minx felt the utter weight of what her family had done. Yes, she’d seen how the effects of her family dealing with Demons and being exiled to a magicless world played out for those left behind, but Wraza wasn’t just anyone.

She was a Maiden, and her family, like Rhea’s, had had first-hand encounters with the past Orefell Maidens. They had been close, even. Somehow, letting them down, betraying their trust, and having those stories told and passed down generation after generation until they passed to Wraza made the distrust she harbored for them more… intimate.

The people of Neaviah had been let down by her family, and descended into chaos because of it. Wraza and Rhea’s families, having been decimated, were hunted down through the ages and forced to live in the dark.

“Give me a chance,” Minx said softly. “I am not my family.”

Wraza snorted, “This is the rare moment when I hope you are, Orefell.”

Minx raised a brow, confused.

“We have intel on some prisoners contained at one of the Hands command centers. Normally Rhea and I would take a small team to extract them quietly, but this particular center has proved to be… difficult.”

“You’ve tried before, you mean?” Minx guessed.

Wraza nodded. “Our gifts make us capable, but also dangerous, and in this case, downright a death sentence if we tried. But you,” she waved her hand dismissively at her, “your gift could be useful.”

“Are you certain we should try something like this so soon after the Inn?” Minx asked.

“Don’t worry about the Inn. Rhea just received intel that the Hands happened to be in the right place at the wrong time. They were casing the docks by the Inn when the blast happened, and they heard all the commotion inside. Thankfully, by the time they went inside the Inn, we were gone, and the keeper was too drunk to say anything coherent.”

Minx bit her lip. “These prisoners, are they going to be executed?”

Wraza shook her head slowly. “No, these are bound for Leox. For the Cleansing.” Minx blanched. The very purge Sage had crashed months ago, nearly blowing up half the city. “The city is intact enough to hold it again, with repairs, of course.” Wraza laughed ruefully.

“Alright, I will help you,” Minx said. “Who else is going?”

Wraza smirked, the fire in her eyes blazing as she said, “Just us.”