Page 41 of Mindeater

“What in the…” I trail off, eyes wide as they can go.

It’s a secret lab. Machinery I’ve never seen before remains intact. Vials and beakers line clean, metal shelves. A microscope is perched on a steel table. Diagrams and messy notes cover a chalkboard, with pinned papers framing it. A single word stands out amongst the chaos.

Nightpulse.

It’s…everywhere. Frantic words and phrases spill across the room.

This is where Patryn always disappeared to.

He left New Grove to do his research. And the subject of it…

I rush to pull out the papers I found upstairs and hold them to the light.

Saren, you clever boy.

If you’re reading this, then I am gone. I wish there had been more time to explain, but things rarely abide by wishes in this world. As you have probably figured out by now, I am a heretic. A rebel. The enemy.

At least, that is what the council will lead you to believe.

But you must not let them, Saren. I’ve raised you to think. To observe. To save your questions and find the answers when it is safe. If you have found this note, you are not safe, and I have failed you. Please forgive me.

There is something you must know. I have little time to explain, but I will try my best. If I am dead, Ryx will be taken to Ivory Hill. You have to find him, Saren. He cannot reach that place, or all is lost. The boy is special, quite like you are. All of his kind have already turned or perished. He is pure. He is whole.

He must remain so.

The countermand implant inside him will help stave off the transformation, but not forever. Eventually, as he grows, his body will change. You have to stop it. In his purest form, he can undo Telex rule. And the only way to keep him this way is to find his bonded.

I know you think that is you. It is not. You can not bond with a Nightpulse, my boy.

You are delicate. Soft.

I raised you to think, Saren.

Study my research. Learn his species as I have. Find Salem Winchester and deliver Ryx to him.

I’m proud to be your guardian, and I shall miss you so much.

–Patryn Ashford

I drop the letter. For about ten seconds, I stare at it in horror. Then I pick it up again and reread it five times. I memorize every word. Not that I can even begin to understand what he’s telling me, but I still try. I was meant to find this letter years ago. He assumed I’d go to the service tunnel as a boy. That I’d defy him. That I’d be strong enough to fight back. To escape.

Oh, how wrong he was.

He put too much faith in me.

“Patryn…” I blink up at the ceiling, clenching my jaw to keep it from quivering.

Who is Salem Winchester?

What if Ryx did end up at Ivory Hill?

What is his purest form?

Who is his bonded?

What the fuck is going on?

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