Myers was an outcast from Veymaw for as long as I can remember.

A neurotic elderly man who rarely left his cottage in the woods, he was labelled and mocked by most of the villagers. I never blamed him for not wanting to venture out, though that didn't mean I wasn't as wary of him as everyone else.

The only memory I had of Myers was a distant one of visiting his cabin with my father when I was a child. I could never remember why we went there, or what was discussed. All I recalled was the overgrown doorstep and vines that clawed all the way to the windows. I remember thinking we'd arrived at some sort of abandoned fortress.

But the lost memory Josul conjured suggests that wasn't the only time my father took me to see Myers. And that brings up all kinds of questions I didn't even know to ask.

As we wait afoot the overgrown cottage, Killian at the door and Lei, Casimir, Cadence and I sheltered in the treeline, part of me hopes nobody answers.

Killian knocks again, three hard bangs that echo through the small clearing. He raises his hand to knock a fourth time, but the door budges open an inch before his fist makes contact.

I hold my breath as Killian straightens his shoulders.

The door doesn't open more than an inch. I squint my eyes to try see through the gap, but it's pitched black. "Who's there?" A small, suspicious voice crawls through the gap.

Killian doesn't hesitate. "Killian Li."

The door slams shut, almost. Killian's reflexes are lightning fast. He juts his foot out just in time to jam it open.

"It's important."

"I already told you last time I don't know anything. I can't help you."

Last time? I exchange a glance with Casimir. Is that what Killian had been doing when he came to Myers' the day of the storm in Veymaw? Casimir's eyebrows furrow as he leans closer, listening to the conversation.

"You know something, Myers, something that could help us all," Killian says. "We just need your help."

"We?" Myers hisses the word, trying to pull the door shut again. Killian glances over his shoulder towards me, eyes dangerously dark. I take a step out of the forest, leaves crunching underfoot. Lei catches my arm but I shake her off, walking till I'm inches away from Killian in front of the door.

"Myers?" I lean closer, peering through the small slither. Myers face presses to the gap in the wood so only his left eye is visible. "We just want to talk."

His eye dart all around my face in erratic movements. "I do not know who you are, child."

"I'm Freya Raune." The name ignites no recollection in his eyes. "You knew my father. He was murdered last Red Moon the night after he took me to visit you in this very cabin."

Myers doesn't respond, but his eye never leaves me. His gaze makes my skin crawl, the memory of visiting his cabin the day of the storm coursing through my body as a warning. He'd been so erratic, his conversation disjointed and confused--like he wasn't truly there. When I'd mentioned the deserters, it was like a switch had been flipped. If Killian hadn't shown up that day, I don't know what would have happened.

But in the memory his words echo through.

Your mother was a pretty lady.

"I visited you again, not so long ago, before the cloud hit Veymaw for the first time. Do you remember?" He doesn't answer. I exchange a glance with Killian who tips his head forward ever so slightly. A nod. "You gave me something that day, something from... from Torrinne. Why?"

His eye darts between Killian and I, as if dissecting the space. "Freya Raune," he repeats, his voice merely a whisper. His eyes dart over my shoulder, to Lei, Cas and Cadence waiting in the trees. "You are Freya Raune."

I swallow. Nod.

"What are you doing with a shifter?"

If Killian is surprised that Myers knows what he is, he doesn't show it. I try to mask my own, lifting my chin and stepping closer to Killian. "Because I... I know the truth. About my mother."

Slowly, the door creaks open, leaving a large enough gap for the daylight to break through the darkness inside. Myers hobbles behind the door, his small frame barely visible as he eyes me and Killian.

His eyes draw over my shoulder, to Casimir who has moved to stand only inches behind me. "You have a deserter with you."

Killian nods. "He can be trusted."

"No deserter can be trusted."

A tense silence falls over the clearing. There was a time when I wondered if Myers himself was a deserter; rumours certainly said as much. But just as Killian wasn't, Casimir doesn't appear unsettled that Myers knows what he is. It unnerves me. For an erratic old man labelled a lunatic, it seems he knows more than all of us combined.

Lei nudges Casimir in the ribs, earning a scowl. "Show me where we can get a horse. We'll need one to get back to base."

Casimir opens his mouth to protest, but I speak first. "Look after Cadence." I squeeze his hand. "I'll see you soon." He glances at Killian over my shoulder, eyes mistrusting. "Trust me."

His eyes soften, and he nods, turning around to follow Lei. Taking Cadence's hand, he leads her numbly through the forest. I try not to let it affect me, the way she moves in a zombie-like fashion.

Turning back around, Killian meets my gaze. Myers has gone inside, leaving the cabin door swinging open.

"Ready?" Killian asks.

The word is so simple but holds so much. Ready for my life to shift further on its axis, to find out more information that dislodges my entire identity? I don't know if that's something one can ever truly be ready for.

"Let's go."

He catches my wrist, gaze holding mine. My stomach somersaults, his touch sending electricity up my arm. "If it's too much, if you want to leave, just say the words."

He releases me before I get a chance to respond, stepping ahead of me into the dingy cabin. Taking a shaky breath, I follow into the darkness. Inside, the hall is narrowed by clutter lining the walls, stacked so high it reaches the ceiling. A singular oil lantern lights the way through the obstacle of clutter till the hall widens into what appears to be some sort of dining room. I gaze around, shifting from foot to foot. It looks different than I remember it, just as cluttered and dark, but as if his belongings have been moved from one pile to the next to reveal a different patch of floor.

Myers sits perched on a small wooden stool in the middle. "Why have you come, child?" he asks, eyes bulging as he rocks side to side. "You are not safe here."

A warning or a threat. I'm not sure.

I swallow the lump in my throat. "How did you know my father?"

"What leads you to believe that?"

"He took me here, more than once. I remember coming when I was a child. And... and recently I remember coming last year, the night before the Red Moon when he was murdered and the shifters took my brother. Why?"

"You should not remember that."

"Why? How did I forget it?" I demand, tone urgent. The revelation that it was real, that I did infact come here anf that was a real memory, shakes me to the core.

"I am sorry about your brother, Miss Raune."

"It all seems like a big coincidence that I can't remember coming here the night before my father died."

Myers shoots to his feet, eyes narrowing into daggers. "I am not responsible for your losses." Killian inches closer. In my peripheral vision, I see his hand inch to his belt where his daggers are stashed. "You do not come here for answers only to accuse me of murder."

My heart hammers against my chest, but I don't inch backwards, even as Myers gets closer. "You're right, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that."

"That was not the first time your father brought you to me. And it was not meant to be the last."

I furrow my brows. In my mind, I see the brown of his cabin door, the blue of his bulging eyes. Even as a child, he was frightening. "I remember coming once as a child, too."

"Your father brought you to me every year on the eve of the Red Moon."

I exchange a wary glance with Killian. "Why can't I remember that?"

He doesn't answer. "Why did he bring her?" Killian asks.

"Because he was trying to protect you."

"Protect me from who?"

"King Ereon."

My chest tightens even at the murmur of his name. "Why?"

He glances between Killian and I before settling back on his wooden stool. "It seems you already know why."

"The cloud," I whisper, looking back up at him. "You've known about the cloud this entire time?" He doesn't respond. "And about me? About where I come from?" Turning away, he lets out a long sigh. "I need to know the truth."

"I promised I would never speak of this to anyone. I will not betray her."

"Her. Do you mean my mother?"

He doesn't say anything. "Myers, please. I know about the cloud. I know why Ereon wants me, what he thinks I can do. If you know something, you must help. The cloud is in Elel. In Veymaw."

Blood pounds in my ears as he stares at me, his gaze focused for the first time since we arrived. He knows something. Beneath the erratic exterior, something brews within him. An energy demanding to be released. I wonder if I'm the only one who can feel it.

"I loved her, once."

His words hang in the air, adding to the weight pressing in on my chest. "My mother?"

His eyes grow distant as he looks to the corridor leading to the front door. "I told her she was foolish falling for a human, but she did not listen." Bitterness drips from his words. "Even after I helped her escape that vile Ereon, helped hide her away, and rescued her. He got her captured again."

I suck in a breath of air. "Do you mean my father?"

"Love makes humans reckless. Stupid. They had a child. It was his fault she was found."

"You said love makes humans reckless," Killian says, voice low. "As if you are not one of them."

Myers looks back at Killian, his gaze steely. "Nala wasn't the only Kinjri hiding in Elel."

The revelation feels like a knock to the stomach. This man, labelled eccentric and crazy my entire life, has hidden a part of himself for as long as I can remember. He's hidden who he is to live peacefully in Veymaw. And it worked. Everybody knew he was different. But we never knew why.

"You're Kinjri?" I murmur. "Can you help us? With the cloud?"

"No Kinjri other than Nala can," he says shaking his head.

"Or the Cloud Piercer."

He meets my gaze but doesn't respond. "So you helped her father hide her from Ereon," Killian says. "How did you do that?"

"I helped him, a man I despised, even as Nala was captured and tortured because I made a promise to Nala that Ereon would never get his hands on you." He puts his hands to his head, closes his eyes. "I masked you. The potent scent of Kinjri in your blood. Each year before the Red Moon so the shifters would not find you."

In the darkness of the room, a blue light swirls through the air, floating like a cloud as it swirls around Myers' head. Killian takes a cautious step towards me, but I reach my hand out, the blue light dancing through the air to swirl around my finger. Warmth emanates from it, a familiar warmth.

"That's why I never sensed you," Killian murmurs, looking at me, then Myers. "Either of you. You're a masker."

Myers nods, eyes flashing open. The blue light drops away, reflected only in the blue glow of his eyes. "I masked you each year and then I made you forget. That night, your father was rushed, in a panic. I don't know that it truly worked. The shifters sensed you; they found your cabin."

"But they took my brother, not me."

"A fortunate accident."

I ignore the comment, even though it stings.

"It doesn't matter now, anyway," I say. "Ereon is looking for me. He knows who I am. He wants to use me to destroy the cloud."

"Ereon does not want to destroy it. He wants to gain control of it again."

"That's why we have to stop it."

He pauses, meeting my eye. "Your mother would never want you to do that."

"If we don't do something, then it's only a matter of time before we're all dead."

"And how do you plan to stop ot?"

I look at Killian. He looks relaxed, but I recognise the tension in his jaw, the way his hand remains poised by his belt. "I don't know. But we're going to try, with or without your help. But something tells me our chances or survival are much better with."

"Well, then." Myers rises to his feet, rolls his shoulders back, and gestures to the door. "I have something to show you."