“You don’t always make it easy for people to like you,” Astra replied. She didn’t seem angry, though. More… conflicted. We’d learned enough about Brandon to understand that he’d done many things against his will. HQ had been using Hammer, his Aesir, to force him into submission.
“And I don’t really care. Besides, I would do it all over again if I had to,” Brandon replied, his brow dark and furrowed. “You know damn well why I had to do every single thing they’ve asked of me.”
Regine scoffed, shaking her head slowly. “You’re weak.”
“Yeah? Well, I don’t see your Aesir—or your sister’s, for that matter—anywhere!” Brandon retorted. “You left yours behind because you weren’t sure where it would end for you, right?” Regine didn’t respond, choosing to glance to the side instead. “Yeah, I figured as much. And you know what? I’m tired of the attitude. I’ve saved these people more than once, despite the risk of losing Hammer. Yeah, I’ve done some bad things along the way, but can you really blame me?”
“No,” Astra whispered. “It’s just so… infuriating.”
“Tell me about it. And to have two Valkyries—not one, but two of them—flaunt their high morals at me when their own sister is responsible for this mess, well… pardon me for getting pissed off,” Brandon blurted, drawing a stunned gasp from Myst.
“What did you just say?”
Regine was livid. “A Valkyrie made this place?”
“Hrista. Your sweet, perfect sister,” Brandon replied, letting out a heavy breath. His shoulders dropped, and he seemed genuinely sad and disappointed for having told them. “I may have left you to fend for yourselves with Torrhen back there, but I didn’t sit idly by either. I did some digging into HQ. I finally learned the truth.” We’d asked before, and he’d admitted to ignorance on the subject. But it was the grief in Myst’s brilliant blue eyes that soon distracted me from the revelation. I could practically hear the wheels turning in her head, and she was beginning to see how Brandon might be right—at least from what I could tell by watching her. Surprised by the news regarding Hrista, Myst had forgotten to shield herself from us. For the first time, she was an open book to me, and to anyone who paid close enough attention.
“You’re lying,” Regine spat, clutching her sword. “HQ sent you to cause strife between us! They know two Valkyries are stronger than one, so they figured they’d try to throw us off, huh? Is that it?”
Brandon scoffed. “I wish it were that simple. No. Do either of you remember the Reaper she was involved with?”
“A Reaper?” Regine asked, all the more confused.
Myst nodded once. “I do. Regine never heard of him. Hrista only told me about it…”
Without warning, ancient memories from twenty years ago began to emerge in my mind. Slowly but surely, snippets of the past slithered back into my stream of consciousness, and I remembered the First Tenners talking about the Spirit Bender. The mention of him peeking behind the curtain. He’d said something about “her.” Could Hrista be the one he’d referred to?
“What is this about?” Astra asked, still very much out of the loop on this.
“Hrista… she made contact with a Reaper. Order never knew about it,” Myst sighed. “There were feelings involved.”
“Yeah, and after the Visio incident, you both know Hrista was never the same again,” Brandon replied. “When Order came back and told us what had happened… remember?”
“I do, yes. So many souls had come to Purgatory at once, all of them from Visio,” Myst said, giving me a pitiful look.
Astra had no idea what they were talking about, but I remembered it all. I’d been sworn to secrecy regarding that entire incident, but I was hoping that Myst might tell my friends the truth. They deserved to know what had truly happened on Visio, before the Spirit Bender was destroyed.
Breathing out, Myst gave me a slight nod. “Everybody died,” she said, everyone’s eyes suddenly glued to her. “On Visio, before Death showed up. Thayen was only a boy at the time, as you know, but he is one of only two living creatures present who were allowed to remember the truth.”
“What are you talking about?” Viola asked me. But I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t give Death reason to come after me.
“He’s sworn to secrecy,” Myst said. “Please. Leave him be. The Spirit Bender killed everyone with an awful spell. It didn’t just take their lives. It sent their souls straight into Purgatory. I was there when they all arrived. They couldn’t be resurrected, not even by Death,” she added. My whole body trembled slightly as the terror of that day seeped into my bones once more. “Death destroyed Spirit, of course, but she couldn’t bring anyone back. So she summoned the Word, and with his help, she summoned Order, too—”
“Wait, so you’ve known about Order all along,” Astra said, catching on quickly, half-jokingly narrowing her eyes at me.
I offered an apologetic smile. “Sorry. Yes.”
“Thayen, you have nothing to apologize for,” Viola replied. “I always knew there was more to that story than any of us thought. We’re but tiny life forms, mere specks of dust compared to the forces that have built this universe.”
“Thing is… Order did what Death couldn’t,” Myst said. “She sent the souls out of Purgatory and into the land of the living. I was comforting Derek and Sofia and the others just before they came back to life. They were utterly confused by everything around them, poor souls.”
“Yes. And when everyone returned, nobody remembered a thing, so we just breathed a collective sigh of relief, thanking the stars for having survived that nightmare,” I added. “But now that you mention Hrista and her relationship with a Reaper, I’m pretty sure we’re talking about the Spirit Bender.”
Brandon’s eyebrow arched upward. “Death destroyed the Spirit Bender.” He looked
