Page 132 of The Souls Harvest
A man I haven’t been introduced to yet, but who has been silently checking on July all this time, jumps between them, facing Galen and pushing him away towards a wall lined with bookshelves, while Merya, despite her stoic reaction, drops to the floor panting and coughing.
“Galen, stop. Are you crazy?”
Shocked by the impact, Galen blinks, gaping as if out of breath, nostrils flaring, before taking his attention back on Merya, ignoring the man who’s just hit him.
“What just happened?” I hear myself asking, gripping the armrests so tightly that the skin of my knuckles and my injured wrist hurts.
July mouths me to remain still as she slowly begins to move towards Galen.
“July…” the stranger calls after her.
She stretches a hand behind her, inviting everyone to wait, “I’ve got this, Kris.”
Backed against the wall like a feral animal, Galen’s eyes dart around the room, his breath changing to a lighter shade of purple as he slowly calms down. But when July is close enough to touch him, he shakes his head and shimmies along the wall, away from her.
“He’s closer,” he mumbles. “It was just a flash, but I saw him and he has Evelyn.” Galen takes his head in his hands, pulling his hair and sliding down the wall onto the grey stone floor.
July kneels in front of him, gently brushing his leg. “Did he speak to you again?”
My gasp matches Mack’s as Galen raises his head, shaking, staring at July through slightly veiled eyes. “He showed me Libera as it imploded, taking with her those who didn’t want to follow him. He told me it is time for the deserving Harvesters to end their exile and finally enjoy their promised kingdom.”
In the room’s opposite corner, Mack stops tending to Merya at the sudden noise of a beeping alarm coming from the largest monitor.
“What is it?” Kris asks, voicing everyone’s thoughts.
July extends a hand to Galen, helping him up, and I mirror them.
In the room’s blue light, I know something is wrong when Mack grasps the edge of the panel with both hands, leaning forward, hisspine rigid, knuckles white.
“Roden’s here.”
Chapter 47 - Reunion
Mack
If I could, I’d switch off all the screens, pretending what we’re witnessing is not happening. It’s all a bad dream.
But I can’t ignore the loud stares on my back, anxiously waiting for me to confirm their fears aren’t real, and the cameras I strategically placed outside the building are simply malfunctioning.
My sister’s hand threatens to push me to my knees when she rushes beside me, climbing on my right shoulder while screaming and crying for us both because I’m too shocked even to shed a tear.
A small group of people, led by Roden Breith, advances towards the main entrance, ignoring the popping sounds and sparks released by the barriers.
Roden’s face is the same as Tabitha showed us many times, so that we wouldn’t forget it. The top of his walking cane twinkles like a small beam of light; his dark, long coat lined with dense fur clashes with the overall aspect of the strangers behind him, all battered and tired, some of them helping others to stay upright.
Next to him walks a woman, tall and slender but visibly curved as if crushed under guilt and hopelessness.
"Miss Popplewish," Lucretia whispers behind me, but her voice soon dies under Merya’s bellows as Galen and Kris try to pull her away, as far from the screen as possible.
One of Roden’s arms is stretched to his side, his fingers curled around Jyn’s neck. He’s tilting Jyn’s head left and right as if playing with a human-size doll, keeping his body lifted a few inches off the ground.
“Let me go!” Merya roars as someone grunts behind me.
I have just enough time to check what’s causing the turmoil, Kris bending over, bracing his middle, before Merya shoves me away and whacks the speaker button with her fist.
“You coward piece of shit! Stop hiding behind innocent people.”
Roden’s miniature reproduction snaps his head towards one of the cameras and grins. At the same time, Evelyn Popplewish addresses the group behind her, intimating one of them in particular to stay where they are, with her fingers splayed in the air.
