Mira's birthday party was not a celebration like the others. This time, I attended without drinking, involving myself in polite conversations, or dancing.

I simply couldn't stop thinking about Aurora, Adina and the Creatures. When I put my mind to something, there was no turning back --- my brain literally worked on a one-way track. And when a problem was solved, I simply moved on to the next one.

I never thought parties were exactly fun, just to be clear. But there was a lot one could learn about people and the world by engaging in social interaction. And some bits of it, come to think of it, were amusing.

But what stung the most was that I didn't work up my courage to ask anyone to dance. No one in the room had caught my eye, and it simply seemed innecessary to show off my skills when the most good looking guy I'd ever seen didn't seem like he would be interested in them. But there was no use thinking about it the morning after. The Prophet was very different from the boys and girls I'd asked to dance in my youth. First of all, the nature of our relationship wasn't similar at all.

And then, he might have thought nothing of my dancing, just something pretty boys did, something that Skandar probably could already do quite well.

Asking Roman to dance after the conversation I heard the other day seemed pointless. Even if Roman probably didn't feel those things for the other boy anymore, and even by asking I meant nothing by it, the timing didn't feel right.

There was something that deeply upset me about the way Skandar had treated Roman and the way he tricked him into being beaten up. I realised that not only I had hated the injustice of it, but that the Prophet deserved someone better. Asking him to fool around so soon after that wouldn't have been right.

I decided to stop thinking about it. Minx had warned us that the Court wanted to visit us and give us news about Aurora, and while I'd only met Mira, I was already warming up to her. The six of us felt like a team, or maybe it was just the realization that, anyway, we were going to have to be. There wasn't any reason I should have let my thoughts about dancing distract me.

Perhaps it was because it had come too easy, in the past, to impress the wrong kind of people, and now that there was someone that I admired enough to want to have an impact on, the timing of my actions never felt quite right.

That afternoon, when the Court arrived, I noticed how Chae-won was looking at the warehouse in distaste. While it was not illegal to live there, it was also true that everything about it screamed that it was something we wanted to keep as low-key as possible. I tried to smile warmly at them, only to feel a little discouraged when I noticed Atticus was already doing that.

"So," Tori took a seat, and motioned for her colleagues to sit around the table. "The five of us already know Jonathan very well --- thanks to Athanasios. And I gather the Prophet and his brother were friends or aquaintances of Minx. But how did you and Minx Morris meet?"

"It's a very lovely story, interesting to say the least," I replied. "I was wearing handcuffs at the time."

Roman gave me a weird look, and so did Tori. User laughed.

"It was one of those guards who always ban my newspaper, I wasn't enjoying it," I defended myself. "Though I heard other people do."

"Very well," Bertha commented dismissively. "But your meeting with Minx Morris is not what we wanted to talk about, is it? No, I came here to tell you news about Aurora and then decided it should be something the Court tells you directly. We will also issue an official statement about the way Creatures have been increasing."

"Please, if it's bad news say it now," Atticus pleaded, a stern look in his green eyes that made the Court see he wasn't begging, just asking. "I can't bear to wait any longer. You know Aurora is my girlfriend."

Chae-Won wrinkled her nose at this display of affection. "Aurora is in stable condition, though I'm not sure this will change in the future if she doesn't progress. But the good news is that she's resting and she's not risking her life, so far."

"An interesting fact," User said. "We asked her parents if we could use the Prophet's healing powers on her, and her mother told us she doesn't think it's the case just yet. Her father made a joke."

User, whom I knew as the most cheerful member of the Court, laughed to himself at the memory of the joke.

"Can you share it with us?" Atticus asked, a little curiosity slipping out of his voice.

"No, I don't think it's the case," User laughed.

Roman looked unnerved. "Do I get to decide if it is," he asked. "If the joke is about me?"

"It's about half the people in this room, really... alright, I'll just say it. Aurora's father told me, 'I've always known there would come a day I would see one of the Sibian brothers laying hands on my daughter, I just never thought it would be the little one'."

Atticus paled at the joke, Minx looked a little inquisive, as if he was about to ask questions. Then Mira decided to keep the conversation steady and professional.

"Did Aurora tell you any details about the Creatures? Something that could help us understand why they've changed?" she asked. I knew she was researching the topic, and all of us were worried, but Mira had already been told the truth by the Dybbuk. Or part of the truth, either way. We still didn't know everything. Or, perhaps, there was another reason her voice sounded tinged with pain, but it wasn't mine to pry.

"Yes, well, Bertha told us she thought she understood what the issue was..." Naftali started saying.

"Alright, let's drop the act. We know it as well," Roman blurted out. "The barrier between our realm and a few others is getting thinner. We were told by the Dybbuk yesterday."

"Roman," Atticus said politely. "We weren't supposed to tell them that."

"Which part?" Roman asked, as the members of the Court exchanged glances.

"Any of that," Atticus whispered.

"I don't see why," the Prophet replied. "Look, they were about to tell us Bertha's theory. It might have been completely wrong, and instead we knew what had happened to the Creatures and we weren't saying anything. We were just here sitting with our arms crossed and looking at them like we were idiots."

Bertha's eyes shifted from me to Roman. "Wow," she said. "You're really a good team... I forgot, what was it that you were all living together for?"

"It's something to do with my personal work," Minx said in a hurry. "My fiancee is a researcher... we study things, mostly."

His eyes said that we would also have to do the practical bit, the moment just hadn't come yet. And Bertha's face said that she wished the moment would never come.

"Prophet, my theory was also about the barrier between the worlds thinning," Bertha added. "I've heard about the Dybbuk, and this is why I asked the others to rush here as soon as possible. And as it happens I also know that the line between our world and the Chaos Realm is not a flat line, but it's closed with metaphorical seals. They are called wards, and there is a way to open them completely or to close them off for good."

"And can you tell us how to do it? Close them off, I mean," Roman asked. He didn't seem intimidated by Bertha staring him down --- he was, if anything, trying to stare twice as hard.

"I could," Bertha replied, and looked at the other members of the Court. Something was troubling her, I could tell. Besides, one couldn't know the Court as well as I did and not realize that something in the power that rested between that five people was never exactly in balance. They kept telling Athanasios that he couldn't join, but to me it looked as if they couldn't risk having a plus one, and not as if they already worked well enough alone.

"Still," she added, lost in thought. "I didn't come here thinking I'd tell a group of almost perfect strangers, three Watchers who are not part of us and someone who's not a Watcher, how to close the wards. I was under the impression that we would do this ourselves."

User paled at that. Naftali huffed --- he hated quests and physical labour. Tori simply nodded firmly, and Chae-Won's expression was unreadable.

I knew the Court would never listen to me, but it was worth it at least to try. "I don't care who's going," I said. "I want to come along. I don't mind if it's dangerous, in fact I would risk my life for it."

"You were less of an idiot when you were being an idiot on purpose," Bertha said.

"I might be foolhardy, but I also have a Skill that you're going to need. None of you have it, and it might not be possible to go on the quest without it."

"I don't want to hurt your ego, Loreta," User said. "But I'm pretty sure we can find other Watchers with Courage."

Minx looked at me. He didn't know the whole story, but he actually looked impressed I'd lied to someone in the Court and I'd pulled it off. Or perhaps he was genuinely moved that I'd decided to tell my new group of colleagues the truth.

Tori was about to say something, when she was stopped by Bertha. "Fine," she said. "I don't think any of us will bring you, or the Prophet, or the golden-winged Atticus, or Morris, or the possessed woman along, but I don't see the harm in telling you more about the wards."

I wondered how she knew Mira was the one who had been possessed by the Dybbuk, but maybe word had spread. I was trying not to get enraged at the way she'd said it as if this diminished Mira's worth, though.

Tori stood up. "No, Bertha," she said. "Just think about it. They're an odd group. I imagine Athanasios doesn't even know Jonathan is staying here. I don't know if we can trust them."

"We're the Court, of course we can trust people. It's within our right. No one would dare turn against us, and if they do, let them face the consequences."

"Tell us of the wards," Atticus said. "We don't want to face any kind of consequence."

It might have been truer of him than it was of me, but I let him say it. For all my exercise at it, I could never be polite or the right amount of frivolous with people like the Court. They'd seen me before I developed into what I wanted people to think I was. The smartest out of them knew my weak spots and the closest to Athanasios knew of my Skill.

Why, it was probably only User who'd never heard of it, for some circumstance or other, and this was why I'd let him believe it was something else. Why no one had corrected him, I didn't know.

"Alright, but I don't want to tell everyone in the room," Bertha said. "I'll choose two of them... the Prophet, for he's not able to do this quest on his own even if he wanted to, and Jonathan Loreta because I know Athanasios very well. And the boy is right --- his Skill is helpful."

Bertha, a usually demure looking woman in her sixties with a short bob of grey hair, managed to smile shark-like at me when she said those words.

"You said it," I smiled sharply back at her. "Me and the Prophet make a really good team."

Bertha scowled, and we followed her into a room. It was the one where I slept, and I didn't like how she could think of invading my privacy like this. Not that she knew what she was doing.

"Close your eyes," I told her. "I might have dirty undergarnments laying around."

"I hope this isn't my room," Roman said. "Because I definitely do."

I didn't, just to be clear. I liked to have all of my clothes neat, clean and pressed into a small armchair I'd used to decorate my room. I mostly slept in the clothes I wore, and this reason alone was enough to remind me to wash them frequently.

But Bertha didn't know that. She looked a bit on edge.

"I'm telling you these words just because I think that they won't leave the room," she told us, which wasn't a very engaging start.

"Why don't you start with something catchier, like once upon a time?" I asked.

"I'm deadly serious," Bertha said. "I am telling you, as a member of the Court, those words will not have to be repeated to anyone, not even to Minx and Mira, and your older brother, Prophet, I forget the name..."

"Atticus. And relax," Roman replied swiftly. "We have no intention of robbing you of the pleasure to break the seals."

"Well, what I wanted to say was a bit more complicated than that," Bertha admitted. She definitely stole a glance or two around my room, probably to gather information about me, understand what kind of adversaries we were. But my bedroom was empty but for the bed and the armchair.

"You know," she added. "When someone lit on fire the palace and killed most of the former members of the Court, it was one of the hardest times of my life. I cannot say that us five knew very well the other thousands of members, but I was aquainted with some of them. Still, I understood, with time, that not every bad thing is a tragedy. That was, indeed, a good thing."

"Centralized power is never a good thing," I muttered.

"Is it a new headline?" Roman asked. "Speaking of, have you already written to the members of the Brothers United Against Whatever?"

I scowled at the mockery of the name. "Yes, I have. They miss me and they told me they'll keep the picture on the newspaper with my face on it --- saves money and time from taking a new photograph."

"This is moving, but I was actually waiting to say something," Bertha said. She sat upon my bed, and we couldn't help but come nearer. I was afraid she was hiding a weapon somewhere, so I clutched the sword at my side.

Thankfully, I knew Roman could be trusted with having knives on his person at all times.

"You see, I realized that I should take honor in being one of the only five members alive," she said. "Which is also why I never accepted Athanasios' propositions. I do admire him, in a sort of way, but he isn't cut out for this job and the sooner he realizes, the better. You see, I used to think Watchers weren't being selected very well by nature, or the Endless One, or whomever decides that every act of martyrdom counts. There are weak links amongst our species, stupid individuals and some who are reckless to the point of being dangerous for the collective. Then, I noticed that there are even less Prophets, and today I came to think that perhaps they aren't being selected all that well, either."

Her eyes rested on Roman. I tried very hard not to growl or yell or anything.

"Thanks," Roman simply said with sarcasm. "Maybe it was my powers, but I could swear I've seen something like this coming for a while during your monologue."

"Stupid boys," Bertha said, which felt a little unfair. She didn't have enough data to comment on this. "The fact that Creatures are fighting back is an omen from the Endless One! It's telling us that there are worthless members amongst our race and that they will be dealt with when the Creatures strike! Now the fight is tougher, and so we must be. Some simply don't have what it takes."

Roman seemed too angry to process entirely that Bertha was a member of the Court and thus we should show her an ounce of respect. He took out one of his knives and threw it. It landed on the wall, near Bertha's ear.

"Never say again that my brother's girlfriend is worthless," he said. "Besides I patroled too and I've never seen so many Creatures at once. I've seen it for myself. It isn't something natural. It's just wrong."

"We all saw them," Bertha replied. She took out the knife gingerly and kept it. "It was a rush of excitement, for once. And it is true, that the best of us shine in those moments. I was patroling in Ichor with Jason Ducas, when the problem started and in the end Jason's fists couldn't do very well against all of the Leviathans --- he lost energy after a while. Not the sharpest tool in the shed, that one, and I wouldn't consider myself extremely upset if we lost him."

"I have the impression you're not listening to me," Roman tried to keep his composure. "I am a Prophet, even if you think I'm a crappy one. The way I feel things is different from how you would. And I felt that there was something wrong."

"Look, Sibian and Loreta," Bertha said, switching to our last names with an air of authority. "The issue is that I don't want to close the wards. If you do want to embark on this suicidal quest with your merry group of friends, you're welcome. Talk to my colleagues and they will tell you what they know, which is less than what I know. But if you want me to tell you how to do it you'll leave empty handed. I had to show to Naftali, Chae-Won, Tori and User I had the upper hand because they're aware I have all the information, but I don't want the barrier to close down. I'll let you in on a secret."

"Oh, another one?" Roman asked.

Bertha ignored him. "If it was me, who made the journey, I would open the wards instead of closing them. That way, when the Creatures come flooding our world..."

"They will kill everyone," I couldn't help but say. "All the innocent people too."

"Not if you see it as I see it," Bertha replied. "I simply think it will clear the Watchers armies from the worthless, the ones not up to the task. Even if some civilians die in the process, it's probably the will of the Endless One too."

"But the Endless One doesn't have a capricious will like it does in some bedtime stories, where it smites people just for fun," I exclaimed. "It watches our worlds and this is the very reason we all exist. And when it watches, it probably judges. That must be where the stories come from, and I'm not too sorry to say, that it probably judges you harshly."

Bertha seemed a little stung by my comment. "Fine," she said. "You're welcome to leave the room and ask my colleagues what it is you must do. But I know a lot more than them."

I exchanged a glance with Roman, and he seemed to share my point of view.

"No," I said. "We're not leaving, or letting you leave, until you tell us what it is, exactly, that you know."