Gabe shakes his head. “No.”

“Then why would he care about your authority?”

“Because we funded his escape from persecution. But that’s another story. All you need to know is this: his loyalty is secure.”

“And after?” I ask, unconvinced. “After I get this Wraith? What then?”

“We’ll create a diversion in one of the other worlds,” he says. “Draw the Order’s attention away from you. Meanwhile your clan—Kuji, Malik and Vidhan—they’ll take you all the way to the lion’s den.” His smile fades. “Getting inside, finding Bea—and the rest—that’s down to you. You’ll know what to do, and how, when the time comes.”

“The rest?”

“Malik told me about your…exchange with Graziani. The way you managed to retrieve your sword. No easy feat, from that bastard.”

“I shouldn’t have let him have it in the first place.”

“Look, man, you made a mistake,” Gabe says. “You won’t again.”

I sit there, saying nothing.

“You were given that sword and your powers for a reason, Ana. You’ll need to discover them—all of them—and learn to use them. Not just for Bea, but for all of us.” Gabe strokes his chin and looks at me. “Your situation, this thing with Bea, it presents an opportunity. They wanted to snatch you before you knew who you really are, but they messed up. And, because of that, you’re a ghost. You can be anywhere and everywhere. So, now you will go to them—unseen. On your terms. On our terms.”

A knot tightens in my gut. “Just say it. What are you expecting me to do?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” he replies.

“Tell me. I need to hear the words.”

He pauses. Holds my gaze.

“Ana,” he says. “We want you to kill Shinigami.”

27

I stand in a room that’s square and tidy. The floors are varnished wooden parquet and the four beds neatly made with white linen. We’re on the first floor and there are two windows, which give on to a red dystopia. Beyond the glass, flakes of ash swirl in a gaudy, atomic light. My bed—the bed I’m ushered to by Malik—is next to a window and a few paces away from Akuji. Vidhan and Malik move to the other side of the room. I sit on the mattress in silence, trying not to think about what Gabe told me. Instead, I think about the person—the girl—who might have slept here before me.

There are worse places, a voice says into my head.

Akuji.

She sits on the edge of her own bed and watches me coolly. Behind her, Malik and Vidhan exit the room, towels in hand, and the door clicks shut.